After 20 minutes, Zick went to Varine's room to wake her up. Like always, he had a hat on his head hiding the black horns.
Zick thought to himself: 'I am already turning into a babysitter, huh?'
Walking in front of Varine who was sleeping peacefully, Zick pinched her cheek without hesitation. He made sure to not apply too much as to rip her cheeks off.
"Ah!" Varine got up, holding her right cheek with red eyes.
"From tomorrow onwards, If you don't wake up early in the morning, no food for you, and if you are not able to follow my instructions through, I will leave you behind," Zick spoke with a little angered look, putting pressure on Varine's mind.
"...yes," Varine answered without much change in her expression.
It was not weird for Zick to berate Varine like this. Instead, it seemed natural.
Right now, Zick looked like someone who wanted to make Varine give up and leave his side.
'Hmm....' A realization dawned on Zick, a loophole had gone unnoticed by him.
'I can just go away without anyone noticing, if I really wanted to keep my distance from Varine this is what I should have done.'
'Instead, I stayed behind for no reason...Varine hasn't noticed this flaw as she is still young but she will without a doubt notice it in the future.'
In the first place, Zick had made his plan in a rush so he hadn't gotten the time to think deeply about it.
Varine didn't need to prepare anything so Zick started leading the way as she followed behind.
Zick passed on some money to the receptionist for the damage he caused. He also asked the way to the clothes shop and magic tools shop to her as it was annoying to look for them in such a big city.
Even while heading toward the clothing shop, Zick had not stopped thinking about how to patch up this loophole.
Suddenly his red eyes shone in sharp light.
'I can use the excuse of staying with her until she has enough strength to protect herself, by using this she would not doubt my intentions in the future.'
Zick looked at Varine from the corner of his eye, 'I will have to start making her train like there is no tomorrow while traveling to give the impression of wanting her to increase her strength quickly.'
Finding the solution, Zick relaxed and looked forward in the street.
Few people looked at them but their gaze didn't stay on them for long.
Varine looked like a slave no matter how looked upon. If it was in the middle continent, people would have frowned and would have looked at them with apprehension.
But in the eastern continent, Slaves were common and were sold like hot pancakes in the street.
Even Zick had seen a few slave dens while walking through the city so it just showed how common it was.
The gazes of other people didn't bother Zick and Varine; they were expressionless the whole time.
Following the directions given by the receptionist, Zick and Varine reached the clothes shop in a few minutes.
Zick didn't bother looking around and ordered the shopkeeper to bring ten sets of clothes that would fit Varine well. He let Varine change into better clothes in the changing room and waited in the reception.
CLICK~
Varine walked out of the changing room soon wearing a dress with a combination of blue and black.
Finishing buying clothes, Zick headed towards the magic tools shop at a normal walking pace.
Jeleat city surprisingly had a big shop for magical tools right beside the plaza so Zick reached there soon and brought a normal space ring and a ring imbued with [Purification] magic, passing them on to Varine.
The ring with [purification] magic cleanses the air around the wearer. It can also purify dirty water and many similar things.
He also brought multiple healing and stamina potions along with the rings.
'Just that one space ring cost 50 platinum coins and the other ring was 300 platinum coins, sigh...It's not like me spending my money on others.' Zick heaved a sigh internally and started heading toward the inn.
The [Purification] magic can only be cast by peak rank mage so making an enchanted item from it was quite an annoying process it seems. So it sold for an astronomical amount.
Zick didn't want Varine to be afflicted by the Revelner disease too. She was still 12 years old so she would die very fast.
Varine stared at the grey ring with a red gem on her finger. Zick had passed it on as if it was garbage but Varine knew its value.
The customers who came to the underground slave center wore such a space ring. So she knew that this ring cost a lot.
She was not able to see the exact amount as Zick and the shopkeeper had exchanged money directly from the space rings.
'I will repay him once I am strong enough...' Varine promised to herself.
While walking suddenly Zick's leg tripped to the right, causing Varine to hold his sleeves involuntarily with a surprised look as a way to support him.
Zick clenched his jaw feeling his head throbbing in pain and his ears buzzing. His eyes turned blurry as he stood in one place lightly holding his head.
'Damn it....' Zick cursed internally.
From the morning, he felt tired, seeing he could still go on Zick had continued. But suddenly he felt immense fatigue brush over his body.
The torture he went through in the night had taken quite a toll on his body, it was a pure test of his perseverance.
Feeling his mind getting fainter, Zick took out a healing potion and gulped it down at once.
"Haaa.....haaa....haaa..." Clarity started returning to his eyes.
"Are you alright, sir Zick?" Varine couldn't help but become worried seeing Zick acting in such a way.
'Is he alright? He looks extremely pale from before so I thought that something was wrong, but for it to be true...' Varine considered rapidly as she looked at Zick with worry.
Varine's small hand touched Zick's palm, making her expression freeze in no time.
It was cold...Zick's hand was extremely cold, almost like a corpse.
Zick pulled away his hand from Varine and breathed in deeply.
"I am fine, let's go back to the inn," Zick spoke with a calm look but internally he was confused. He could feel Varine's gaze change for some reason.
"Yes...." Varine answered back with a slightly dazed look.
Zick started heading towards the inn again ignoring Varine who looked at him blankly, his mind was already wandering somewhere else.
'I should leave this city soon. Hehe, this city would soon be affected by the revelner disease after all.' Zick smiled coldly at the people of this city.
The servant who took Seveleen to her room had touched her body so they were affected by it without a doubt too.
Zick had made sure to not let anyone notice by covering Seveleen's body with mana, but the receptionist must have noticed something amiss by now.
Now, the Gorthect empire too will be haunted by the disease which threw the Hevertec kingdom to the depth of despair.
'Let it spread more and more. Let all the kingdoms and empires suffer from this disease to the extreme. That way, the more famous I will become after finding the cure to this disease.' A dangerous glint appeared in Zick's eyes as he stopped himself from sneering.
After arriving at the inn, Zick ordered breakfast for himself, Varine and Seveleen.
Sitting on the dining table opposite Varine, Zick started training in mana with no hesitation. He felt the changes in his mana nerves.
'I should be able to breakthrough to peak rank knight in half a month.' This made Zick cheer up, ignoring the pain he went through in the night.
Seveleen came down to eat breakfast after a servant notified her following Zick's order. She was suppressing the revelner disease through magic so no one noticed her being afflicted by a dangerous pandemic.
Seveleen sensed Varine's presence making her curious.
Sitting at some distance from Varine, Seveleen started talking to Varine friendly. She knew that Varine was just a kid.
"Ah, My name is Varine...." Varine said looking at Seveleen who had her eyes closed.
Seeing them already getting along, Zick ignored them and waited for breakfast while training.
The food was served in a few minutes and everyone started eating.
Seveleen was pleasantly surprised by the enchanted item Varine had on her finger. She started talking about it, especially about its ability and rarity.
From this, Varine learned of the value of the ring given to her by Zick. This time she was very moved by how he gave it to her so easily.
Suddenly a thought appeared in Varine's mind: 'Does he think of me as his niece?'
Thinking of it this way, Varine felt herself infinitely closer to Zick.
But she immediately shook her head with urgency, throwing the thought away.
'The moment I hold any good emotions for others, they die. I will go away after repaying Sir Zick so nothing bad happens.' Varine started eating the bread with a calm look.
Zick had listened to Varien speak so he knew what they were talking about. The end result disappointed him a little.
'Vatine keeps her distance from others just like how it was in the novel, but it seemed to have worsened for some reason.' Zick thought while putting a spoon of soup in his mouth.
He was not aware that another tragedy had already befallen Varine so it would take some more of his effort to make himself someone who Varine can't live without.
'She must have already gotten quite close to me though not to the extent I estimated. I can only try again later, I have a lot of time left. Varine won't leave my side until she thinks I am safe.'
After all, he had joined the Everlor organization for her sake — is at least what Varine thinks.
Finishing the breakfast, Zick reminded Varine and Seveleen to be prepared by the middle of the day and started heading to the receptionist.
"Connect the teleportation circle to the Nerbext city in the Hevertec kingdom." Zick spat out with unknown intentions.