At Night

Inside the quiet building, the three people saw Arthur and exchanged glances, all letting out a breath of relief.

It had to be said: Arthur's appearance was highly disarming and approachable. Even though they knew the person before them had the strength to fight Terrifying Insect Beasts, their unease and tension still eased considerably.

The middle-aged man who looked the oldest stepped forward and addressed Arthur respectfully. "Hello! We're from around here. May I ask who you are?"

He asked cautiously, taking care not to offend the young man before him.

As he spoke, the other two remained quiet, simply watching Arthur with a hint of hope in their eyes.

Ever since Doomsday had arrived, monsters of all kinds had appeared one after another, inflicting heavy losses on the people of the various kingdoms.

So far, Arthur was the only powerful warrior they had ever seen who could fight those terrifying monsters barehanded.

If they could get to know him and build a good relationship, their lives would surely be much easier from then on.

Hearing their words, Arthur merely shook his head, to their surprise.

He couldn't understand a word they were saying.

The language barrier was the biggest problem, and there was no way to hide it.

Seeing the confusion and nervousness on the faces of the three people across from him, Arthur made no effort to conceal the situation. He simply said a few words.

The strange language reached their ears, and they immediately understood the reason. Surprise showed on their faces.

"That's not the language spoken here. Is he from another kingdom?" the middle-aged man who had spoken first asked in surprise.

"He might be one of the students sent here to study three years ago."

The slender young man standing behind him spoke with some surprise as well. "I remember that three years ago, a group of noble descendants from foreign kingdoms came here to study. He might be one of them."

"This boy must be a powerful knight. I've heard that the distant Aridou Kingdom has a strong Knight Order. They sent quite a few people here three years ago, too."

The other woman among the three spoke up as well, her eyes flashing as she looked at Arthur.

"Knights can't even stop bullets, let alone fight Insect Beasts head-on."

The young man beside her shook his head as he spoke.

"Enough!" A quiet reprimand came from the front.

The middle-aged man who had spoken with Arthur saw the other two whispering behind him and quickly shot them a glare.

As the oldest person there, he had much more experience than the other two and understood better what they ought to do now.

That boy possessed terrifying strength. He must have had an extraordinary background, and might not take kindly to their behavior.

Besides, with the language barrier, whispering among themselves would only make him more wary.

With that in mind, the middle-aged man slowly stepped back. Without hesitation, he drew a dagger from his clothes, knelt on one knee, and held it out before Arthur in both hands.

Arthur was a little surprised by the gesture.

The man's movements seemed like some sort of ritual in this world, and their meaning was clear.

Kneeling on one knee and surrendering one's weapon meant respect and submission in any world. It showed that one meant no harm.

Thinking this, Arthur couldn't help but feel some admiration. He slowly extended his left hand, took the dagger the man was offering, and placed it at his waist.

The gesture seemed to carry some significance. When Arthur accepted the dagger, the three people across from him visibly relaxed.

Silence fell for a time. They stood there for a long while, only moving again when it had grown completely dark outside.

"It's night outside now. Should we keep going up?"

The young man among the three broke the silence, speaking softly.

"We can't go any higher," the middle-aged man said, shaking his head. "They say there's a monster locked up in one of the rooms above. If we all go up there, something strange will probably happen during the night."

"That monster's presence is in this building. Ordinary monsters don't dare come here. We can spend the night here and leave tomorrow."

The other two silently nodded, offering no further objections.

As if something had come to mind, the middle-aged man gave a quiet sigh. He turned to look at the distant staircase, fear flashing in his eyes.

While they spoke, Arthur quietly walked to a corner and closed his eyes to rest.

In his mind, the Chip was rapidly analyzing the language spoken by the three people across from him.

But he had only just encountered it, and there was too little data to work with. Even with all the Chip's processing power assigned to the task, the analysis would still take a long time.

After a while, as Arthur watched, the middle-aged man slowly walked toward him, holding a small piece of dried meat.

He deliberately stopped a short distance away from Arthur.

The choice of distance was subtle: not so close as to make Arthur wary, yet close enough that Arthur could easily draw his sword in time.

Standing there, the man carefully tore off a piece of meat and put it in his mouth. Only then did he hold the dried meat out to Arthur with both hands.

Seeing this, Arthur gave a slight nod. Without doing anything else, he took the food from the man.

"The target food is non-toxic and safe to eat," the mechanical voice in his mind informed him.

Only then did Arthur hesitate no longer. He tried slowly eating the piece of meat in his hand.

Time passed bit by bit. As the night wore on, a peculiar sensation jolted Arthur awake.

"Unknown force field detected!" The mechanical voice kept ringing in his mind.

This was a preprogrammed function: as soon as anything unusual appeared nearby, it would wake him at once.

Arthur had already been woken several times that night, and each time, nothing serious had happened.

But this time, things seemed different.

Arthur quietly got to his feet and soundlessly drew the long sword at his waist with his right hand.

He silently approached the door and peered outside through a crack.

A faint glimmer shone beyond the door, surrounded by endless darkness.

Before Arthur could make out what it was, his heart suddenly lurched, and an inexplicable sense of dread washed over him.

What... is that? An eye?

Keeping his expression calm, he stared outside through the crack.

There, those strange eyes were still present, their light glimmering with hatred and madness.