Death, Devotion, Dissonance

Phel looked around and saw the distinctly familiar red-haired boy looking towards him with a serious, yet curious expression.

"Arza?"

"Is what you're saying true?" Arza asked again.

"Y-yes. It is true. Are you going to help him?"

Arza nodded briefly before looking at Teouka. "Is it true that the school wouldn't mind if he dies?"

"Like I said, depends on the circumstances," Teouka shrugged, though Phel could see a faint smile appearing on her face.

Hearing this, Arza thought only for a second, before turning towards Phel. "Then let's go save Evin, shall we?"

What occurred next made Phel want to wallow dig a hole in the ground and die inside it.

Arza immediately set foot towards the Temple, while asking Phel questions about the situation. How many enemies were there, how long Evin was staying inside there and what he was doing to resist, what Decatur's plan was, and whether both sides had any reinforcements.

But even after hearing the whole situation, Arza's confident expression did not waver. In fact, he even looked a bit disappointed when he first heard that only the 13 nobles were there, but some form of anticipation appeared on his face when Phel mentioned Lopar's group.

Phel could only suspect it to be empty bravado… but a part of his heart couldn't just dismiss Arza like this.

And ever since meeting him through Evin, Phel always felt that there was something different about Arza. A lot of times, his friends tended to randomly gush out about their problems to Phel. When he mentioned it to his mother, she suggested that perhaps he had a calming aura that others felt safe in. In fact, out of the dozens of friends he had, Phel only met a few people who were close to him and that did not talk about their problems to him: his father, his mother… and weirdly, Evin and Arza.

With his parents, Phel could understand why. Whenever his parents seemed like they were about to talk, they'd smile gently and steer the conversation towards a different, lighter direction. After all, what kind of parent would be willing to complain and vent to their children?

But he couldn't really tell why with Evin and Arza. Sometimes, Evin would seem like he's about to confide in him, but like his parents, he would seemingly decide not to at the last second.

As for Arza, it was even weirder. It was like the boy never possessed any worries in the first place. No, it was like Arza never saw problems as… problems. His disagreements with his friends, Evin hiding secrets from him, his mother having trouble conceiving another child, his father facing the oppression of the kingdom… He spoke about all these private topics like he was speaking about his hobby: with a lighthearted tone, a smile on his face, like he was telling some amusing story. A part of Phel knew that it was probably a bad thing, but there was a charm to it that Phel couldn't ignore.

And seeing him run like this towards the Temple single-mindedly, Phel couldn't say he didn't like it. Arza was a thousand times better than him, who took an entire day to set his priorities straight. Of course, a coward like him couldn't match up to a person like Arza, fearless and ever-confident, always moving according to his own wishes and desires.

"We're here," Arza murmured, slowing down to take a look at the Temple.

"I think the group of commoners already went inside. If nothing changed about the plan, then they should be trying to break the floor at this point."

"Then let's go inside."

"H-hey, shouldn't you become familiar with the Temple before going in?" Phel said, "Even if you're confident, doesn't mean you should just blindly charge in."

"Hmm? I'm already familiar with the Temple, though?" Arza cocked his head. "After all, I've already cleared it once."

The sudden revelation momentarily silenced Phel, who was processing the information he just received.

"Wait, that's impossible. We've been here since yesterday afternoon," he retorted. "When would even be able to clear them?"

"Yesterday morning. This was the first place I came to since it was closest to my starting location," Arza grinned.

"Then, you must've met the Turned ones inside… and you managed to kill all of them?"

"Those naked guys? Well, at first I was a bit shocked, but it got easier when I started to see them as enemies… So they're called Turned ones."

"Yes. Didn't you see the papers and research lying around in the final room?"

"I did, but I knew it wasn't something I was interested in, so I just took the card and left…" Arza shrugged. "Regardless, let's not chit-chat here and go save Evin."

Phel nodded and followed behind Arza. At first, they heard a faint, yet continuous sound of banging. It wasn't long before they found a group of commoner mages hammering down on the floor in a ketricite room.

Just like the corridor Evin was using to protect himself, apparently, when one revealed only one of the ketricite blocks sandwiched between the two stone layers, the entire room, or corridor would reveal its true nature.

Arza quickly walked over to them and incapacitated them. As always, Arza didn't chant and he also didn't try his gestures. He simply ran over to them, knocked out seven of them with a chop to the neck before they could even understand what was happening, and the choked the remaining one.

"Was there always a ketricite room here?" he asked confusedly.

"Yes. Although everything seems to be made of simple stone blocks, there's a hidden ketricite layer underneath them. I guessed that it was designed so that students don't skip floors?"

"Huh, I guess that makes sense. Anyway, this should give Evin a little breather," Arza said and hurried underground, smiling all the while.

As they neared the ketricite corridor, they began to hear the faint, yet consistent clinking sounds coming from deep inside.

Phel was sure that the students had brought in a large amount of stone and rearranged them in the form of a wall, and that Evin was trying his best to destroy it.

Now that everyone's attention was on Evin, Arza just had to sneak past the enemies and take care of Decatur. Phel didn't know exactly how that was going to happen, but Evin was always confident in the red-haired boy's skills. But sadly, Arza himself had a different opinion regarding the matter. Right when they appeared in front of the students, he did the exact opposite of silent entry.

"Evin! Evin! Can you hear me!? Give me a few seconds and I'll immediately take care of this little problem for you!"