186 I should've listened to Blaze?



I sighed and muttered, "Hah, let's proceed," before gracefully descending from the window, ensuring my landing was as silent as possible.

Blaze, on the other hand, seemed less than enthusiastic. "Are we really doing this?" he questioned, as if he had something better to occupy his time.

I chuckled softly, countering his reluctance with a hint of curiosity. "Well, I do have something more inviting than lurking around in the unknown... namely, a comfortable bed. It's quite late, after all."

Despite my suggestion, Blaze seemed hesitant for some undisclosed reason.

"However," I continued, pulling the hood of my cloak over my face, "I'm genuinely intrigued about this place. So, let's proceed."

With that, I began my journey towards the school gates, anticipating my first venture beyond the school grounds in the dead of night.

Despite the late hour, I was aware that a few vigilant teachers kept patrol around the school grounds at night. Their presence served as both a reassuring safety measure and a subtle deterrent for mischievous students. The teachers on patrol were well-trained and experienced, and they maintained a watchful eye on the school's perimeter.

As I approached the school gates, I carefully surveyed the area, making sure no teachers were in sight. The path was clear, and the night was unusually quiet. It seemed that tonight, fortune was on our side.

After a brief moment of contemplation, I decided to go for it. I crouched down, coiled my legs, and with a swift and silent motion, leaped over the imposing gates. Blaze followed suit, his agile form making the leap look effortless.

We landed gracefully on the other side, our feet barely making a sound as they touched the ground. With the school now behind us, I ran out of there without looking back.

As we ventured further into the night, the city's serenity embraced us. The soft rustling of leaves in the gentle breeze and the occasional chirping of nocturnal creatures were our companions. Solstice at night was a stark contrast to its daytime vibrancy, as the streets weaved stories of tranquility and solitude.

Blaze, despite his initial reluctance, seemed to appreciate the calmness. He continued our conversation, "You like walking in the night?"

"I like walking alone in silence," I replied, my footsteps echoing softly on the cobblestone streets. It was the kind of silence that allowed for contemplation, and I relished in it.

The night was just right, with a comfortable temperature and a gentle breeze. Moonlight cast elongated shadows, transforming familiar pathways into something enchanting. The city, so bustling during the day, now lay still, and it was a rare moment to see it in such a peaceful state.

We continued our journey through the quiet streets, neither of us feeling the need for words. It was one of those nights when silence was the best companion.

It took no more than half an hour until we reached the bargain alley. Everything was devoid of people, and some vendors were in the process of closing their stalls.

As expected, the door of the Herbal Emporium was locked.

"Knock on it?" Blaze suggested, his tone questioning.

"And who knocks on a door when entering in the middle of the night?" I replied. I activated my elemental vision to check if there was anyone inside.

The world shifted as the blueprint of the store appeared before my eyes. I detected a small source of mana inside the room, but other than that, there was nothing. I couldn't sense anyone inside either.

"The owner's not here," I stated as I placed my hand on the knob. To my surprise, it wasn't locked.

"Dafuq?" Blaze cursed in an odd manner.

With the door easily swinging open, I entered the Herbal Emporium. The interior was dimly lit, with only a few lanterns casting a soft, warm glow. Shelves filled with herbs, potions, and alchemical ingredients lined the walls. The air was thick with the earthy scent of dried herbs, with a faint hint of potions lingering in the background.

I walked cautiously through the narrow aisles, my footsteps muffled by the thick carpets covering the floor. Blaze hovered beside me, his curious gaze darting around the shop.

I noticed a fallen box on the ground, placed oddly as if it had been hastily abandoned. It seemed like the owner hadn't cleaned up before leaving.

In one corner of the shop, I spotted a mana lantern. It had a mana crystal to power it, which I could see when I activated my mana vision.

[A/N: Mana Vision detects mana, and Elemental Vision detects the elements that are powered or influenced by mana in the atmosphere.]

"Looks like there's no one here," I remarked, my eyes scanning the counters and cabinets. The shop was eerily quiet, and the stillness of the night seemed to have settled within its walls.

"What are we looking for, anyway?" Blaze asked, his curiosity piqued.

I hesitated for a moment, pondering how to explain my hunch. "I'm not entirely sure. I just have a feeling that something unusual happened here... perhaps some kind of document, an item, or anything that Aron might have taken from here," I explained.

We continued our search when, suddenly, Smokeball froze.

"Hmm?" I looked at him.

"Did you hear something?" Blaze asked me.

"Hear what?" I responded, puzzled. I hadn't heard anything unusual.

"Sharpen your senses," Blaze urged, a note of urgency in his voice. However, I had already maximized my sensory enhancements.

"I don't know what you're trying to say," I replied, a touch of frustration in my voice. I had pushed my senses to their limits. My sense of smell was so acute that the herbs in the shop were almost overwhelming, and even the faintest rustle of leaves outside was audible.

It was then that Blaze's ethereal form flickered, and he spoke with a sense of unease, "Something doesn't feel right here. We should leave."

"What do you mean?" I asked, sensing that Blaze was genuinely concerned.

"I can hear... some screeching, like cries... ominous cries," he said, his voice quivering with uncertainty.

My curiosity turned to alarm as I realized Blaze wasn't playing around. I listened intently, straining my enhanced hearing to its utmost limit. And then, I heard it – faint, haunting cries that seemed to emanate from a door hidden within the shop.

My heart raced as I faced the source of the eerie sounds. It was a wooden door, aged and worn, standing alone and isolated from the rest of the room. It looked completely out of place in the well-kept Herbal Emporium.

My instinct told me that whatever lay beyond that door was the source of the unsettling presence we felt. The atmosphere grew heavier with each passing moment, as if the room itself held its breath.

"Should we... investigate?" I whispered to Blaze, my unease growing.

"No," Blaze's flat-out refusal hung in the air like a reluctant gust of humor in the midst of tension.

"So we are investigating," I responded, my voice a breathless whisper, heightened senses detecting shallow breaths brushing past my left ear, a phantom hint of something unsettling.

"Investigation of what?" The voice that interrupted us dripped with a chilling, icy indifference.

A chilling click sounded in the dimly lit shop, echoing like the prelude to a dreadful revelation. My heart pounded erratically, and I instinctively turned to confront the unexpected intrusion.

But chaos unfolded in the blink of an eye, too swift for my senses to fully grasp. 

"Princess!!!" Blaze's panicked voice surged through my thoughts as I watched him get forcefully propelled against the wall. This time, the recipient of violence wasn't me.

"Agh!" A searing jolt of pain surged through my body. Time seemed to slow as I felt the wickedly sharp object, akin to a blade, pierce my right side. The sensation was excruciating, as if hot metal was slicing through my flesh. It tore through my abdomen with ruthless efficiency, and I could feel it exiting on the opposite end, leaving an agonizing trail of torment.

A guttural sound caught in my throat, a strangled cry of pain, and my head jerked involuntarily to the right. My vision blurred and swirled with a mixture of pain and shock, contorting my features into a grimace of sheer agony.

"The robe wasn't dwarven-made... I should've been honest, I guess," the voice murmured with an edge of remorse. My vision fixated on a pair of stark white eyes, staring back at me with an eerie, unsettling serenity.

And then, my vision surrendered to darkness, a shadowy abyss consuming my senses as I succumbed to the black void.

As darkness closed in around me, a regretful thought echoed through my fading consciousness: I should've listened to Blaze...