Chapter 353: 353 - Commitment

Chapter 353: 353 - Commitment

Noah wondered what to do, as he saw her bite the side of her lip and swallow dry, a thin line of blood streaming downwards, as she collected herself, and swallowed her pain. "Thank you," she said, her eyes clearning up, and the face of a strong woman overpowering the feeling of helplessness from her swollen face.

"I..." Noah stuttered. He bit his lip and swallowed dry, not to get overwhelmed by the feelings welling up inside him. It was a strage mixture of guilt, anger, regret and contempt he had not found a way to deal with. But his price stood firm, and he knew he'd done what was right. After all, he folowed the old man's will to the letter. "No, Al, look," he said, putting his hand fowards and drying up her tears with his thumb. "We'll make this place the best and largest one in town. I'll do whatever it takes until we make his dream come true." Noah stood firm, a faint slime escaping his lip as he confidently stared at his workplace friend. Tears started flowing from her eyes once again, but a broad smile painted her face.

"Yes!" she said, smiling, despite the tears flowing down her cheeks.

And as one of them reached Noah's thumb, an intense sadness assaulted him, as he saw the old man laying on the ground behind her. For the first time in some years, tears started to form in his eyes, although none of them made their way down. He swallowed, shoving away his sad thoughts, as he stepped forward, hugging her, before taking a step back. "I think you should head home now. I'll deal with the rest," he said. She silently nodded, and took wavering steps towards the back, disappearing into the employee room.

'Lilith?' he called, as he realized the snake was dead silent for a long time now, while still hanging on his waist.

'Yeah?' she responded, not a tinge of emotion in her voice.

'Ah, Nothing. I was just wondering whether everything was okay,' he said, looking down to see her eyes staring up at him.

'What? It's not like I can't read the mood, you know? I mean, that girl deserved at least that much attention. And for once, you didn't sound like a complete dumbass with a dense-ass-head,' she snarked at him, making Noah roll his eyes.

Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, you know? At last, I owe the old man at least this much.' He took a look around, taking a towel from a table, and covering the man's body, leaving only his sleeping-like face out.

'Did you really mean it when you said those things? About fulfulling his dream?' she asked, curious.

"Yeah..." he pondered aloud, making Bel and Maggie look at each other with a dubious look on their faces, while Carlos merely glanced, going back to his phone. "I would never have joked or lied about it." For the three, it was but a line without any context, but to the girl listening in from behind the door, it was relief.

'ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ No(ve) l Bi n',

'Did you have to say it like that? Out loud and all?' Lilith asked, cringing.

"There was someone else listening in," he answered, as he saw the girl slide down the closed door and sit on the floor with pyakugan. Her presence was, of course, there. There's no way a regular human would be able to do what only a select few Blessed can do with difficulty. But to Noah, this really didn't matter, and he only did it to further calm her down. Although she was to him nowhere near as important as carlos, and he was yet to get around to visit his place ever since his powers as lucifer had awakened, he still cared a lot about the people and the place.

"So... I guess we go to your place now?" he turned around, talking to Carlos.

"I think you have to deal with the matters first, you know? Like, him and all..." Carlos answered half in disbelief, but he could understand how, to Noah, this kind of thing was often not something he had to deal with. "I'll call the authorities and have them pick this up, get the documentation and whatnot. We'll have to wait here for at least a while," he said, sitting down at a table, Bel and Maggie following suit.

And while he was sitting down, with Noah and Lilith watching in disbelief, Noah's phone rang.

"Yeah?" he said onto the microphone, not having bothered to check the caller.

[Hey man, it's me. It's about that massive boss monster from earlier,] Michael's voice came through the speaker, as Noah heard him without saying a word.

[The materials are very valuable, and that leader guy from the Shizen Family is annoying us about finding the guy you talked about ad giving him the money for the materials.]

"I don't need it. But if you guys want, just contact him and deposit it. He'll deal with it for me. Also, did you just say Shizen?" Noah's curiosity piqueted upon hearing the name of a Family that was not participating in the arena last time, which means, they had one the arena right before the one he joined.

[Ah, yeah. That guy who was "leading" us was the son of the head of the Shizen. He's a peak B-Rank Blessed, but they say the only reason he's not an A-Rank Blessed is because he underreports his achievements.]

"Now that's an interesting person," Noah muttered back at the call without noticing.

[Hey! You're not leaving us for him, are you?] Michael shot back with surprise on his voice.

"How could I? I'm an Elder, remember? Even if I wanted to, the backlash would be too large to deal with. I'll pass," Noah said while shrugging, wrapping up the conversation.

[But man, that fight was insane! Just who's the kid who was fighting the monster with you? That brat is probably what, sixteen?!] Noah held his laughter as he though of how old Bel actually was. [His blessing must be amazing! I think him being S-Rank is not far fetched! A-Rank is but a matter of course considering he just sliced through that monster so easily!]

'ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ Novel(B) in.ᴄᴏᴍ ᴛᴏ ᴇxᴘᴇʀɪᴇɴᴄᴇ ꜰᴀsᴛᴇʀ ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ sᴘᴇᴇᴅ.',

"I can't tell for sure his blessing and power though. He's more of a relative of an ancestor," Noah brushed the talk off, not wanting to say too much about Bel, since, after all, he was not even sure he could be measured like a normal Blessed by the machines.

[Please introduce him to us later. He would be great to fill up the hole in our lineup.] The way Michael said that without any worry or pain wretched Noah's stomach. This one line meant people from the Khan Family's team had died against that monster, yet, he did not care one single bit for them other than showing his pain.

Noah was used to people dying in fortresses, he never cares about them either, but it was another matter when he had fought alongside them many times. He would have expected at least some level of sadness in his voice, and the complete lack of emotion left him silent.

[Noah? Noah? Can you hear me? Hey, Noah?] And without realizing, he'd already spend a while silent, making Michael wonder whether the call had gotten cut off.

With his hand holding his phone slightly away from his head, the tone of a finished call started playing, before his phone turned back to the home screen, Noah still in a daze.

"Did something happen?" Carlos was the first to notice Noah's strange behavior, but Noah pulled a seat, and sat at the table in silence, before puttign his phone down and looking at him, before uttering a single word. As their eyes met, Carlos could guess what he'd just heard. "How many?" he asked, already expecting but not wanting to say the death part aloud.

"Don't know. He didn't even bother mention them... Just said we could use someone as strong as Bel to fill the gap," Noah said, putting his hands together onto the table.

"Damn... that's just heartless," Carlos said, biting his lip in disappointment, Bel and Maggie not wanting to butt in.

"Well, it's not like it matters to me, I know it wasn't any one I care deeply about, so it should be fine. I just won't let anyone I care be a part of it unless they can protect themselves rather confidently," Noah said, before brushing the thought aside by shaking his head, and standing up and walking behind the counter. "You guys want some ice-cream?" he asked, trying to shove everything aside for a second.

Maggie and Bel were quicik to agree, and Noah scooped a handful of wafer bowls for them. After all, they had last the large one they were eating with the whole thing. Many would say it was one of the strangest and least appealing scenes they would have ever seen, as the rubble and dust littered the entire floor, with tables and chairs thrown around everywhere. And more than anything, the fact that Bel was still slathered in dried blood.

But to Noah and the kids, it did not matter at all, so they stayed around for a good minute, eating the icecream with smiles on their faces, until Al emerged from the room behind with a casual set of clothes.

"Al, since we gotta wait here for the government people, why don't we eat the rest of the ice-cream? The lights are gonna be down for a while, so it's gonna get ruined anyway," he said, turning around to see her frozen in place.

"Oh, right, sure," she agreed, blankly, before walking behind the counter to pour herself some and grabbing a chair for herself from the ground.

'Are those people completely numbed to everything?' was a though that crossed Lilith's mind, as she too enjoyed her small cup of ice Noah had gotten her.