"He's been staring at me for a while now," Nain said, looking at Jhed.
Jhed still hadn't moved. Silia watched from under the bed.
"He's frozen. We need to get out of here. Those adventurers have arrived too. That man's sword only clashed with the other adventurer's, and yet he and his whole team flew that far back. He's incredibly strong. Skilled. He's this boy's companion." Silia thought to herself.
Was Jhed's regret genuine, or was he just going through the motions? Only he knew. Something massive had just happened around him, and he hadn't moved an inch.
Or maybe he simply didn't know how to react in moments like this.
Downstairs, Shine sat with Maruls and his team. Maruls had taken serious injuries. His right arm was in considerable pain — he held it at the shoulder with his left hand.
"Here — everyone drink a healing potion." Shine handed them out.
They all took them and drank immediately. Uni, Metye, and Asfer felt some relief. But for Maruls, it didn't do much.
"Is he still in pain?" Shine asked.
"Not at all — I'm fine. Please don't worry." Maruls said with a smile.
But Shine could see the pain clearly.
"What were you all doing here?" Shine sat down.
"We came looking for Silia — she stole your teleportation card. Then we heard Jhed screaming and thought he was in danger. We rushed in to help. But there was a monster upstairs. Why did you attack us though? We were just trying to kill the monster." Maruls said.
Shine was quiet for a moment.
"I expected this. People — especially adventurers — will see her as a monster and attack. But I'm going to protect her. And find a way to heal her." Shine said to himself.
"She's not a monster," Shine said, looking at them. "She's our companion. A monster bit her — that's why she looks like this. But she isn't one. You don't need to attack her." Shine said.
Everyone went quiet. Shine was serious now.
"Please forgive us — we attacked without thinking." Maruls said, hand still on his shoulder. The other three looked ashamed too.
"No — none of this is your fault. Don't apologize. I'm the one who should be sorry. Your injuries happened because of me."
Upstairs, Jhed stepped forward. He came and stood in front of Nain. He looked into her eyes.
For a few moments, nothing.
Then he lowered himself and placed his head at her feet.
"Forgive me. I will never take my anger out on anyone again. I will never lose my temper." Jhed said. His voice was thick. Tears visible in his eyes.
Nain felt her own regret rise. She wanted to apologize to him too. But she couldn't speak — the growling kept breaking through.
Silia watched from under the bed.
"What is he doing? He seems clever. But why is he apologizing to a monster? Hurry up and get them out of here." Silia couldn't make sense of it. Human emotion was beyond her.
Tears appeared in Nain's eyes. But like Jhed, she didn't let them fall. It had taken her a long time to learn not to. No one was at fault for that.
Outside Daichi's house, a crowd had gathered — the wall had come down onto the road. More adventurers arrived.
"This must be the thief's work. Let's go in." Several adventurers tried to push inside.
"Please — don't tell anyone about Nain." Shine asked quietly.
"We won't. But those adventurers are trying to get in — we have to stop them. Let's go." Maruls stood up and moved to block the entrance, the other three behind him — pushing back the crowd with one hand.
"What are you doing? The thief is inside." one adventurer said.
"There's no one inside." Maruls answered.