“I always thought Lord Asbel is a man. So you’re Lord Asbel. I was wrong about you, you’re a big hero!” Sailum quickly apologized for his previous words, fearing that Nausica would have bad ideas if he said sorry too late.
Nausica had other admirers too but Sailum was the first one that regarded her as an idol. Now Nausica was unsure of how she should react.
Angor had enough fun watching their drama and joined them. “What are you two doing? He’s changing his attitude so fast.”
Nausica did not reply. Instead, Sailum explained the matter, using a bunch of complimentary words, and some occasional flatteries… Still, his explanation helped Angor understand why Sailum was worshiping Nausica.
The Blackberry Waters was home to villains. Many pirates who gathered there kept burning and pillaging the surrounding areas. When Nausica came, she spent three years leading a team around the area and repressed the entire place. She removed all improper elements. Since then, merchant ships could pass through the Blackberry Waters without running into accidents. It was all due to Nausica’s effort.
“Ahem. I do charge some tolls from them.” Nausica felt embarrassed about all the overstatements and tried to speak.
“It’s fine! You’re a pirate, you absolutely should take tolls!” Sailum disagreed.
Angor could not help but snicker at those words. The boy was still hating pirates a minute ago!
Just like Nausica said, Sailum was interesting.
Sailum kept flattering while Nausica listened with uneasiness. When it finally ended, she wiped some sweat drops off her forehead. She never had such a “difficult” conversation before.
Angor suddenly asked, “What’s the ‘chamber three’ you just said?”
…
A moment later.
“Ahahaha! So you’re the one who won by playing dead?” After Nausica explained what happened in the chamber, Angor laughed out loud.
Angor was curious about how Sailum passed his deathmatch. Easy, he pretended to be dead on the floor.
“But, even if you stayed until the last moment like that, you still have to fight the last survivor. I can’t believe someone like you actually killed someone,” said Angor.
“That man killed a lot of people. He found me out in the end and tried to kill me too, so I…” Sailum’s voice went lower. Seemed like he was still troubled by his deed. “That moment kept coming back to me. I never slept these days. Only reading books helps me forget that sight, even for a moment.”
Angor thought that it was funny that Sailum had such a pale face with those dark eye circles as if he put up a smokey makeup. Now he sympathized Sailum.
Angor never killed people before. He did not know whether he would get a terrible mood if he actually did it, but he could understand Sailum’s sadness.
Angor patted Sailum’s shoulder to comfort the boy.
Nausica preferred to get rid of the atmosphere too, so she turned to Angor and changed the topic by asking, “Now that you heard about both of us, how about telling us something about yourself?”
Nausica looked at Angor straight into the eyes. Sailum also calmed down and showed curiosity. They were itchy to know about Angor. Why didn’t he join the deathmatches? Why was the Phantom Servant being so polite to him? Even the wizard on the cloud whale acted friendly.
Angor knew what they wanted to ask, but he did not even know why Sunders treated him so well himself, so he could only give them a simple explanation about his life.
“I was born into a noble family. I have an elder brother so I didn’t inherit the title, but my life was good. My brother is really nice to me. I have a teacher who knows a lot and taught me many things. But he grew ill. We tried everything we could to treat him… Later, I met an Apprentice Wizard by chance. To save my teacher, I came here, to the Fey Continent.”