Chapter 569 569. DEEP GUILT

Barricading the room with his mental waves, Noah began the story of his life as a human on the distant planet; Earth. He spoke of his life, his jobs, and his former family. He said of his then-friends, his hobbies, and the many things that entailed that lifetime. And of course, he spoke of the fact that he had spent more time in Cregar than he did there.

He told of the incident that had led to his death and the events after that, he spoke of the system which they now shared, and he told her about the people he met, giving as much account as he could.

He spoke about the first town he had been to; Mariw--about the first set of humans he met in that world, he finally spoke about James, about the events they went through together and what he had done for the man.

He told her about the royals and what they had done to him, and by filling in the gaps, he explained to her how he had been betrayed so much so that death had been his only real escape.

Noah told her of his many adventures and how he arrived at the guild, how he even arrived at her town. Essentially all that could be considered important. She would be the first person in Cregar to hear of his full experiential account, and this had taken hours to say.

Needless to say, Erolia had been greatly astonished, first from the fact that he came from a world that wasn't theirs which was the reason for his strange abilities, but mainly the fact that he now belonged to a new race.

The news about James had been a surprise; as all that he said was, and Erolia managed to gain a complete picture of why he behaved a certain way toward that royal group.

Asking if she wanted to return to her soul space she spent the next hours immersed in the stories Noah told. Her tier 4 mind could perform wonders, as she could watch and quite literally re-live those moments with stunning accuracy.

The morning soon came and she returned with renewed vigor, she already disliked the man named James and since their emotions were connected Noah knew and could talk her out of acting rashly toward the man.

He felt no anger towards seeing James, who had obviously moved on, things might have been different if he had his full emotions available.

Noah had not slept throughout the night, rather he renewed his plan and had already begun preparing the items of sorts that would aid the entire mission.

Wearing a change of clothes, both Noah and Erolia left the room with matching masks on. By this point, the entire group was already ready, they all had info on what they would do when they arrived at the city, however, there was another issue at hand.

"We are too large for one group. We need to split," James suggested, stern. He honestly felt disrespected by the group leader from the great guild, but there wasn't much he could do.

Even more so to aid his feelings, all five had secretly been given the task to watch that group for any interesting traits.

Noah made no disagreement with the claim, he already thought about it after all. There were nineteen tier-4 experts in that group, Noah could keep Erolia in his chest for the time being, but their size was already too much, they would need to form smaller groups.

"We'll enter as our own group," Noah announced speaking about him and Erolia, in truth he planned to keep her in his soul space until they legally entered the city. "You all can form groups of three or four."

No one fought against the idea, at least in the meantime.

"Four seems like a nice number per group, I'll enter as my own group while the rest of you mix amongst yourselves," James nodded in agreement, his decision to be a group on his own catching their attention.

They quickly formed a group of four each, leaving four large groups, excluding Noah and James' group, which would mean a total of six groups, even if James was a one-man group.

They also decided to arrive at the city's gates at different intervals. There were five gates so each group could pick one even if it would take more time to arrive at a different one.

"The moment you arrive inside the city I suggest you begin your search. We'll meet here by the end of the day," Noah explained while a map floated at the group's center. He pointed at a small piece of land a few kilometers from the city's larger districts.

He had seen it during his journey across the city.

They all nodded at that point and left the underground building.

Each one of the groups flew towards its designated entrance. Noah had decided to take the farthest which was literally on the other side of the city, tens of miles away from their location.

That decision had also not been met with any resistance, but in return, James announced he would be taking the second farthest, which was about 28 miles from the farthest gate.

They couldn't help but see a sort of competition between the two. No one addressed that awkward issue, however.

One by one they departed from each other, and coincidentally, James, Erolia, and Noah were left alone in the sky.

"I wish you success in your search, Aiden," James gave a soft smile, even if Noah could almost smell the pretense behind it. He slightly bowed his head in return. His mask not allowing any emotions out.

Noah tapped Erolia and she nodded, he remained about to fly away when James suddenly called out.

"I feel like I've met you before." He revealed and Noah tilted his head to the side.

I doubt you have... you'd be terrified of me if not," Noah explained calmly, but James took it as an insult. He didn't show his anger, however.

"An interesting way to put it indeed…" James held his chin as if in thought.

"Mhm…" Noah responded falling silent also. "I did have a good friend named James once." He revealed watching surprise light up James' features.

"He died in a pitiful incident, unfortunately," Noah further revealed.

"Oh… I'm sorry for your loss," James responded, taken aback. He suddenly felt guilty.

"It's alright. Funnily, he also aspired to be a knight of the kingdom as many did. I'm somewhat glad his namesake at least achieved that," Noah continued giving that last part to close off whatever suspicion the man could have.

James gave a difficult smile, deep guilt developing in his chest. Events he had long since buried suddenly surfaced, disturbing him.

"I'm glad I could be a source of gladness," James replied already ready to leave.

Noah simply nodded at the imperial knight. All five of the knights had obviously donned normal attires.

"If it's okay with you, we can be friends, in memorial to your late friend," James spoke suddenly unsure of why he had said such. It felt insensitive.

"That would be great," Noah replied, faking a smile so that at least his upper face lit up.

Seeing this, James regained his composure and managed to extinguish his guilt.

"I believe we should get going," Noah immediately declared and James nodded, watching both figures shatter the sound barrier to streak across the skies at astonishing speeds. Even his body got thrown backward as a result of their take-off, but he regained his balance in the sky.

James spent a few seconds in the sky as though in thought when space quaked behind him and a figure silently appeared.

"You're lucky you didn't get yourself found out. What part of staying a safe distance don't you understand!?" James reprimanded the white-clothed figure. They were strapped from head to toe in white fabric featuring lines of colorful inscriptions.

"I apologize sir." The person revealed themselves to be a female. She also stood in the higher stage. Due to his low power, James had been given a personal guard that acted in the shadows.

James sighed at that apology. "I'm almost surprised he didn't find out… So what do you think of him?" James asked still staring into the distance.

"He's special, and honestly feels dangerous… he's also a light affinity like me," she explained and James could not but feel surprised.

"Do you think we should be suspicious of him?" James questioned, now focusing on her figure

"Yes. They all are, but that's to be expected. Cultivators that last this long need to have many things up their sleeves," she explained.

"Nevertheless, I can follow him. He's oblivious to my presence," she suggested, but James shook his head, feeling sentimental.

"I could encounter trouble that would need you, my personal guard," he declared, and the lady immediately understood. There wasn't any need for words so she returned to her invisible state.

James spent a few more seconds in the sky before shooting forward.

He would later thank his stars for not sending her on Noah's trail. After all, she would have mysteriously disappeared had he allowed it.