Chapter 43

“What with the long face? Something happened this morning?” Mykel asked as he smoked his cigarette while looking at Vincze and Sven.

“How did you know exactly when we are going to awaken? It doesn’t make any sense!” Sven asked while scratching his head out of frustration.

“Nothing about him makes sense, that’s something that you should remember and it will give you peace of mind,” Rozan said as he ate his bread at the dining table while staring at those two.

“Still, how? Can he see the future?” Vincze asked while looking at Nagy who had been staring at Agnez cleaning her sword.

“No, if he can see the future, Miss Lyneth won’t be…” Rozan paused and pursed his lips. “Never mind, just pretend that you didn’t hear anything,” he continued and immediately focused on eating his bread.

“So, what are we going to do now, boss? Today is the day,” Gunnar asked as he kept checking on the news about the preparation for the breakout.

We will do nothing,” Mykel answered with the cigarette in his mouth. “I have told you guys so many times that you can’t become strong if I have to help you all the time,” he explained and walked to the kitchen to grab a bottle of vodka. All of them were looking at Mykel and waiting for his next words.

“And that applies to them as well if you decided to help them,” Mykel said. “Sure, now you help them, but what about the third breakout? the fourth breakout? And so on if they can’t clear the higher floors? We can’t cover every district on our own,” he explained as he sat down next to Rozan.

“You need to stop caring, Gunnar, you too, Jeanne,” Agnez said while she kept cleaning her sword. “They have been spouting nonsense when they said they have failed and have learned their mistakes but there’s no such a thing as learning after a failure in the tower, you fail you die. Those words only applied to those who survived and cleared the tower,” she continued and stared at the blade of the sword.

“Can you just go straight to the point because I’m dumb,” Gunnar said as he crossed his arms and looked at Agnez.

“What I’m trying to say is, the more you care about them and help them, the weaker they will be because they will learn nothing. They will become strong if they keep on surviving on their own. To put it harshly, the more people die, the stronger those who survive will be,” Agnez answered as she pointed the sword at Gunnar.

“But we did, we didn’t lose a single life to reach this point so doesn’t that means they could do the same?” Jeanne asked while sitting in front of the computer.

Agnez sighed. “Do I really have to explain everything? Why don’t you tell them, Rozan? You seem to understand the big picture of what I’m trying to say,” she asked as she looked at Rozan.

“The reason why we are here right now is that we have experienced it ourselves. Gunnar, you reached level 6 because you were leveling up inside a tower with random people, right? You said it yourself that you had to find new people since almost everyone in your party died. That proves Agnez’s word is true,” Rozan explained. “Jeanne, you cleared the Azazel tower on your own until you reached level 12, right? That means you know how to survive and proves Agnez’s word that getting no help from anyone makes you stronger,” Rozan continued.

Agnez snapped her fingers and pointed them at Rozan. “Thank you!”

“Let’s not forget that Mister Mykel is the one who trained you guys, so it was also thanks to him because we are so lucky to have him,” Edith said. Agnez smiled sarcastically at Gunnar while she pointed her hand at Edith.

“Care only to people who care about you because they’re the only people that will come to help you,” Mykel said as he stood up with a glass of vodka in his hand. “All of you in this room are precious to me, except for those new kids over there because they haven’t proved their worth to me,” he said as he looked at every one of them.

“Mykel…” Jeanne said as she raised her hand and looked at him.

“Hmm?” Mykel hummed.

“Then can I go?” Jeanne asked with a worried expression.

“Right, Asmond is going to be out there,” Mykel said and Jeanne nodded in agreement. “Alright, you can go,” He said as he pointed at the door.

Jeanne immediately grabbed her stuff while everyone was looking at her. She grabbed her sword and armor then she noticed those gears that she had were all because she had been gathering materials from the towers with Gunnar and the others.

Jeanne sighed and grabbed them then walked to the front door and left. In the hallway, she saw Lyneth chuckling while Gerrard was walking next to her and making funny expressions.

“Jeanne? Where are you going?” Lyneth asked and looked at the sword and armor on Jeanne’s back. Gerrard raised his eyebrows and tilted his head while looking at her with confusion.

“I’m going to help a friend of mine, he’s going to need my help,” Jeanne answered while smiling nervously.

“I see, be safe and come back soon,” Lyneth said as she patted Jeanne’s shoulder and Gerrard nodded in agreement.

Jeanne stood inside the lift and before the door closed, Gerrard waved at her with a worried expression. She waved back at him and started to think that she abandoned them and betrayed the others for doing this.

Before the door closed, she remembered what Agnez and Rozan said earlier then she put her hand in between the door and left the lift. If she went there and helped Asmond, she only going to prevent him from getting stronger. She also remembered that Kastor was the one who trained him, so he should be fine on his own and didn’t need her help at all.

Jeanne went back to the suite and everyone looked at her with confusion. She didn’t care about their stares, all she wanted to see was Mykel’s expression but she couldn’t find him anywhere.

“What’s wrong, Jeanne? Did you forget something?” Gunnar asked as he pointed the remote at the TV.

“No, where’s Mykel?” Jeanne asked as she put all her stuff on the floor.

“He’s smoking on the balcony,” Agnez answered as she sheathed her sword.

Jeanne immediately went to the balcony while everyone was still staring at her with confusion, especially Lyneth.

Jeanne looked at Mykel on his own with a cigarette and a bottle of vodka in his hands. “Mykel,”

Mykel turned around and looked at her with a surprised expression. “Jeanne? I thought you were going to help Asmond, what’s wrong?”

Jeanne walked to the balcony and stood right next to him, she looked at the view and it was beautiful. “What are you doing out here on your own?” she asked as she looked at Mykel’s hair getting blown by the wind.

“I’m just having thoughts,” Mykel answered as he smoked his cigarette.

“Thoughts? What kind of thoughts?” Jeanne asked while keep staring at him.

Mykel smiled and looked at Jeanne. “You,” he said. “I was thinking about you and a bit worried if something might happen to you. I guess I don’t need to get myself drunk now,” he continued as he put down the bottle of vodka on the floor.

“Why?” Jeanne asked.

“Why what?” Mykel replied and looked at her.

“Why do you want to get drunk?” Jeanne asked again.

“If something did happen to you, I’m going to blame myself for letting you go since as I said earlier that you’re precious to me, the others as well of course,” Mykel answered as he looked at the birds flying past them.

Jeanne looked down and smiled while blushing because she was so happy to hear that, and that was exactly what she wanted to hear and see from him the moment she came back to the suite.

“Are you sure that you’re not going to help Asmond?” Mykel asked as he stared at Jeanne with his squinted because the sunlight blinding his eyes.

“He will be fine on his own since I have told you that he was personally picked by Kastor,” Jeanne answered as she exhaled deeply. “If I interfere, he might not be able to become a strong Awakener and will depend on me again another time,” she explained.

Mykel chuckled softly and rubbed Jeanne’s head. “He will survive, and I’m sure about it, so you don’t have to worry,” he said while keep messing with her short hair. “You trust me right?” he asked as he lowered his body and looked her in the eye with a gentle smile on his face.

Jeanne blushed as she nodded. “Yes, I always trust you,”