398 Dream or reality? [3]

"I'd like to have this please."

Sitting inside a restaurant, Amanda could hear Ren's voice coming from in front of her. He was currently ordering a meal.

"Yeah, I want this and this."

He pointed at the menu on the table.

"This one looks interesting too."

After ordering a couple more meals, lifting his head he looked at her.

"What about you? Did you order already?"

"Mhm."

Amanda nodded her head.

She had already ordered beforehand. Unlike him, she only needed one meal to be full.

"Oh, I see."

Ren nodded in understanding.

He then turned towards the waitress.

"I guess that's all."

With a simple nod, the elven waitress left.

Staring at the back of the waitress, Ren leaned back on his chair.

"Who would've thought that they had restaurants here too."

The place they were currently in was one of the most famous restaurants in Issanor. Ren chose this place.

The internal design of the place gave off a calm and tranquil feeling with simple yet elegant designs. Plants appeared all over the place, and a wispy scent of lavender lingered in the air.

"How is Nola doing?"

Whilst absorbed by the environment, Ren's voice suddenly reached her ears.

Turning her head, she answered.

"She misses you."

Amanda proceeded to take a sip of her drink. It was the same honeydew they served back at the hall.

"Is that so?"

"Mhm. She always talks about you."

"..I see, looks like she hasn't forgotten about me."

Lifting her head, Amanda could vividly feel the relief in his voice.

Nodding her head, she took another sip of her drink.

"I bring her to the guild from time to time when your parents are at work."

"At the guild?"

"…she likes the place quite a lot."

Maxwell, her butler was especially attached to her. Thinking about it, a smile crept upon her face.

"You must really like Nola."

A smile soon emerged on Ren's face as he looked at her. The smile didn't last for long however as he soon lowered his head.

"How old is she now? Four? Five? It's been a while since I had last seen her. If only…"

"It's okay."

Amanda reassured.

Pursing her lips, she put her drink down.

She wasn't the best person to ask when it came to relationships, but from having interacted with Nola long enough, she knew that Nola did not resent him in any way for not being there.

"Just make up for it later."

"Make it up?"

"Spend time with her later."

"...I don't know if I'll have time in the future."

"Ah."

Staring at Ren, an idea suddenly struck Amanda.

"I can take a video message if you want."

"A video message? Good idea!"

Vigor returned on Ren's face.

He then turned to look towards his left and right.

"Where should we take it?"

"Let's take it outside."

Amanda suggested. It wasn't really appropriate in here since the guests had to keep a certain volume. Fortunately, Ren seemed to have noticed this as he soon nodded his head.

"You're right. Let's take it after we eat."

Following his words, a calm atmosphere enshrouded their surroundings as neither one of them spoke for the next couple of minutes.

Catching a glimpse of Ren who was sitting opposite of her, Amanda had a complicated look on her face.

Apart from the morning training sessions, this may be the first time that they had truly talked to each other alone.

Ever since his disappearance, Amanda had a lot of time to reflect on herself.

She was currently unsure about her feelings towards him. Back when he first disappeared, she realized she liked him.

It was an odd emotion that she had never felt before, but it didn't last long as his death and her work had taken her mind away from such matter.

Now that he was back in front of her, Amanda didn't know what she felt about him.

'Do I like him, or do I not?'

Her mind was conflicted.

Being the next-in-line guild master for the number one guild in the human domain, she had her fair share of suitors. It would be a lie if she said she didn't.

They were all handsome and had nice backgrounds, but…

No matter how many tried to approach her, Amanda could only feel repulsion from them. They may try to hide it, but Amanda could see through their greed. It was clear that they were only after either her beauty or her guild. None of them truly understood her.

"Let me fix that for you."

Distracting Amanda out of her thoughts, Ren suddenly leaned forward and corrected the posture of her utensils. She was so distracted that she had only noticed it now.

"Better right?"

He asked with a smile before leaning back on his chair.

Staring at the utensils, Amanda lowered her head and softly mumbled.

"Thank you."

Her heart, which had not once moved, finally skipped a single beat.

Not many knew about her small obsessive-compulsive disorder. It was a small disorder that made her obsessed with cleanliness and symmetry. It bugged her whenever she saw something that wasn't positioned properly.

And even if they did, no one would go out of their way to help her.

At least, not till she met Ren who did these small gestures from time to time back at the Lock.

It was perhaps small stuff like this that made Amanda conscious of him. It was as though he knew exactly what she liked and disliked.

"…Amanda."

Ren's voice suddenly sounded. Lifting her head, Amanda looked at him and their eyes met.

"...Yes?"

"Tell me if I'm not seeing things."

Extending his hand, Ren proceeded to point towards the window of the restaurant.

"…"

Turning her head, Amanda's eyes dulled.

Standing outside of the window, with her hands cupped together to get a better look at the insides of the restaurant, was Emma.

Glancing around the place for a brief moment, her eyes soon met with hers and Amanda could vividly see Emma's eyes lit up.

Before she could even say anything, Emma entered the restaurant and headed in her direction with a brilliant smile.

"Hahaha, Amanda, fancy seeing you here."

"Mhm."

Amanda nodded her head.

"Am I disturbing?"

Emma asked. Lowering her head, her eyes soon paused on Ren.

"Are you…"

"Yes, it's me."

Ren casually answered.

"Mind if I join?"

"Do as you please."

Ren sighed before pointing toward the right side of the table where there was an empty spot. Emma's eyes lit up with glee.

"Thanks!"

She then unceremoniously sat down and called for a waiter.

"Excuse me, can I order something?"

Emma's loud voice reverberated throughout the whole establishment.

Turning her head, Amanda's eyes soon met with Ren's. Then, turning their attention back to Emma, as if synchronized, they both sighed at the same time.

"Haaa..."

"Haaa.."

Lifting their heads, their eyes once again met and a chuckle escaped from Amanda's lips.

"Hehe."

Ren merely smiled in response. But it was clear to Amanda that he was trying to hold his laugh back.

"What's so funny?"

Emma's voice suddenly rang. With her head turned, and her eyes squinted, she alternated her gaze between Amanda and Ren.

"You guys aren't laughing at me are you?"

"…No."

Turning her head, Amanda feigned ignorance. But of course, this didn't go unnoticed by Emma who eyed her like a hawk.

"You're definitely lying. Tell me what you were laughing about."

With her head turned, Amanda's mouth remained shut. Regardless of how Emma protested, she just continued to ignore her.

"Tsk."

This continued for a minute before Emma eventually relented and clicked her tongue.

Taking the menu, she proceeded to make her order.

Fortunately, for the next hour, no more incidents occurred and they were all able to enjoy a nice meal together.

***

Ci Clank—

Returning to my room from lunch, I felt exhausted. The food was good, but it was a lot heavier than I had expected.

I still had fun though. Not as much when Emma joined, but it was fun.

'I'll get some sleep.'

Was originally planning to train some more but I felt extremely lethargic at the moment.

"…huh?"

Right as I was about to head to bed, my feet came to an abrupt halt and my body froze.

"W…what?"

My eyes locked onto the corner of the room. More precisely on the top of my desk.

"…What is that doing there?"

I took a step back.

Wariness flashed across my body as my eyes locked onto a small red book in the distance. Ever since I was brought to the Monolith, I thought that the book had burned into nothingness.

Since I couldn't put it in my dimensional space, I thought I had lost it forever, but…

'Why is it here?'

Uneasiness flashed across my eyes. Normally I would've been happy about it, but I wasn't.

For it to suddenly appear out of nowhere. Something just wasn't right.

"Huuuu…"

I took a deep breath, calming down my nerves.

Carefully looking around the room to make sure there wasn't anyone present, I took a step forward.

Just in case, I channeled the mana inside of my body, ready to use it at any moment in time.

Halting my steps in front of the book, I took another breath. Then, extending my hand forward, I placed my palm on top of the book.

"…Nothing."

Once my hand touched the book and nothing happened, my shoulders relaxed a little.

'Perhaps I'm just overthinking things.'

Still, that didn't mean that I was less wary of the book. How did it suddenly show up in front of me out of nowhere? Did it just automatically follow me?…but why now and not before?

There were so many questions I had in my mind, but regardless of how much I thought about them, I couldn't find the answer.

In the end, after contemplating on the matter for the next couple of minutes, I finally decided to open the book.

"I wonder if it still shows me Kevin's point of view—huh?"

My hand froze.

Flip—! Flip—!

"Hold on…"

Moving my head from left to right, my mouth trembled slightly.

"...Why is there nothing written on it?"

The book was blank. Completely blank. There was nothing written on it. My eyes opened wide at this realization.

"Just what in the…"

SHIIIIIIIING—!

A bright light suddenly shot out from the book, enveloping my body completely.

"Wha—"

Throwing the book away I took a couple of steps back, but before I could take even more steps back, the light completely devoured me whole.

What came after the light was darkness.

***

I couldn't tell for how long I was out, but for a long time, my body felt numb as a heavy pressure bore down on me from above. It felt as though a truck had been placed on top of me.

I really couldn't put it into words, but the sensation never disappeared as I soon regained my consciousness.

Abruptly opening my eyes, I sat up straight. Or at least tried to, but the heavy pressure bearing down on me from above prevented me from doing so.

"Haaa…haaa…"

I had difficulty breathing, and my mind was groggy. A heavy stench of alcohol invaded my nostrils.

"Ukhhh!"

I groaned in pain.

It was an indescribable pain. As I was getting choked, I was deprived of oxygen. I couldn't breathe, and I couldn't talk. All I could do was struggle…

My vision began to turn cloudy. I couldn't feel my limbs. My body felt numb, but I didn't see anything like my life flashing before my eyes.

'It…hurts!'

I tightly clenched my head as I internally screamed to myself.

As I held my head I felt an odd sensation, but I couldn't quite make out what it was. The pain had overtaken my entire mind.

The pain lasted for over a minute before it slowly disappeared.

"Haaa…What…haaa…just happened?"

Lifting my head up, I tried to make heads or tails about what had just happened, but when I did, my body suddenly froze.

"W…what?"

My heart started to quicken, and my already rough breathing started to become even rougher.

"Impossible…no, no, it can't be…"

Lowering my head and staring at my hands, horror struck me.

"Haaa…."