Rain - night.
Rainy night.
A common word, a common weather, a word that is almost synonymous with Nostramo.
Khalil opened his eyes.
No, he's not sleeping.
In fact, the peaceful and quiet sleep has been far away from him for a long time. Unlike ordinary people, the scene he saw when he closed his eyes was not the peaceful and gloomy black.
He will see many things but not peace.
Sitting up, Khalil's expression looked a little dazed, and the pain in his muscles and the whine of his bones were far away from him. Even so, he took several deep breaths to calm down.
This has almost become a habit for him, and he needs to be calm enough to handle everything that may happen next.
The nobles will not give up, and Khalil knows this better than anyone.
"It's very noisy outside."
The ghost in the corner said so.
He squatted on the ground and gently poked a wooden board he picked up from the garbage dump with the index finger of his right hand. When not exerting force, his nails can be less sharp. Therefore, the board is still intact.
But, it’s hard to say after that.
At this moment, a neon light swept right outside the window, shining its noisy light through the window.
Therefore, Khalil could clearly see the ghost's dirty and sticky black hair. They were scattered on his pale forehead and looked terrible.
He frowned at that.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah...tonight is weird, Khalil."
Ghost raised his head and blinked: "I went to No. 17 to observe. The location of Scarlet Finale has been taken over by another group of people... They didn't fight for many days like before. This is so strange.”
"Number 17?" Khalil asked.
He did not pay attention to the key information provided by the ghost for the time being, but turned around and asked about another seemingly insignificant trivial matter.
"Gargoyle No. 17..." The ghost lowered his head and answered quietly. "I like it."
"Ah, so you named them again... which bit?"
"ah?"
"What do you like about it?"
Hesitating, the ghost raised his head again. He grabbed the board and shook it twice in his hand before answering Khalil's question.
"It...its surface is smooth?"
"Answer me in the affirmative, Ghost." Khalil smiled slightly. "People should be firmer when expressing their likes or dislikes."
"Its surface is very smooth." Ghost said as he straightened his back. Even the sound is louder.
"anything else?"
"...It's new? It's new, Khalil."
Ghost laughed. He was not very used to this expression, so he acted stiffly. However, this is already progress.
"It's new," Ghost repeated. "I like it."
"So, do you like the new gargoyle better?"
"No, it's not." Ghost shook his head, still not putting down the board in his hand. "I've found numbers 18 and 19, but number 17 is my favorite."
"So, why?"
"because......"
The ghost's voice ended here, and he looked at Khalil blankly, not knowing how to proceed. He couldn't think of any more reasons.
Really poor expression ability.
You rattled off twenty-three different ways to cook mice on the way back to me, and it was useless no matter how much I tried to get you to quiet down. Now, you can't tell the third reason why you like Gargoyle No. 17.
Staring at the ghost, two thoughts flashed through Khalil's mind.
'Broken mind', and -
"Do you have any memories of the past, Ghost?" Khalil asked.
"ah?"
"The past, your past."
Ghost answered Khalil's question with a blank expression.
With a soft sigh, Khalil could only repeat his question again and add a description.
He has realized that when talking to ghosts, it is best not to use metaphors or deliberately only half-speak.
"Where were you before you met me - or before you entered that mine that was full of rats, very warm, and full of mud?"
"..."
The ghost didn't answer immediately. He frowned and began to think. Khalil didn't rush him, he could see the ghost's efforts on his face. Therefore, he won't care too much about the results.
...Of course, it would be best if the ghost could tell me something.
Khalil could figure out one thing even with his toes - the ghost could never be a naturally born human being or creature. He cares about it.
"I......"
"Um?"
"Fire...and, I'm landing."
whispered the ghost, who now looked nothing like the innocent monster Khalil knew him to be.
His body was trembling, as was his face, and the muscles under his skin were even trembling, as if having an epileptic seizure, but the ghost himself didn't notice it.
In other words, he noticed it, but couldn't stop it.
Khalil frowned seriously and gritted his teeth. He had realized something and was ready. Frankly speaking, he already regretted asking this question.
In fact, I regret it very much.
"Twenty..." Ghost continued painfully, his voice trembling.
At this moment, something began to stir in his dark eyes. Like rotten corpses swallowed by the swamp, they reluctantly want to see the light of day again.
Khalil clenched his fists suddenly, and an ominous premonition began to well up in his heart.
He tensed his muscles and whispered: "Stop, Ghost."
"...Destiny! Destiny!"
The ghost roared sharply, and veins popped out on his neck.
Then he screamed and fell backwards.
"No! No! I don't belong there! I don't want to go back to the darkness!"
Screaming, the ghost fell heavily to the ground, his dark eyes still staring at the ceiling of the shelter. The limbs twitched and the pain was excruciating.
Karil's preparations worked. He approached the ghost the moment he fell to the ground. His right hand even held one of the ghost's hands, and was about to use his strength to pull him up. However, at this moment, Karil You are like being struck by lightning.
There were sounds... coming from his ears.
Wait, is that really a sound?
Or is it just his own imagination? Amidst the sharp noises and terrifying whispers that penetrated the curtain, Khalil let go of his hand in pain, and endless numbness and pain were coming from the skin in contact with the ghost.
The ghost still screams, and he...
No.
Shivering, Khalil exhaled a blast of icy air. A cold blue light lit up in his eyes - and then, in a burst of ruthless indifference and cold trembling, he noticed it.
they.
Something from another world, another dimension.
They were slamming into his heart with superhuman imagination, like a building collapsing, trying to unearth the truth hidden deep in the heart of Khalil Lohars, the son of the lost nobleman of Nostramo.
They screamed with malice, piercing Khalil's heart with tiny, poison-coated blades.
They wanted his past, his story, his desires... They made promises without knowing everything, from worldly wealth to endless power, even showing him Nostramo has a new look.
But...there's no Khalil Lohars here.
"Get out." The ghost said tremblingly but firmly. "I have nothing to give you, I have no desire for you to drive..."
The ghost stretched out his right hand and quickly grabbed the ghost.
"Get out! Get out!" He roared and ordered, the blue light in his eyes shining so brightly for the first time. "Stay away from him!"
------------------
"Khalil? Khalil? Wake up!"
The panicked cry of the ghost made Khalil open his eyes tiredly. He wanted to speak, but the dry lips stuck together were stopping him.
...I don’t even have this strength anymore? He thought dumbfounded.
"Khalil?!"
Shake, shake, shake - then, the ghost picked him up tremblingly and placed him on the tattered chair that he had found, very gently and carefully. Then, there was a breeze.
Khalil saw the ghost fanning the rotten board. His mouth was pursed, his eyes were wide open, and his face was paler than anyone else on Nostramo.
"...Don't," Khalil said reluctantly.
"you are still alive!"
Yeah, I'm alive, but if you scream a few more times I might die... I really will die.
Khalil glanced weakly at the ghost, who had evolved unprecedentedly at this moment.
He understood what Khalil meant by his eyes alone, and then the ghost immediately became quiet, grabbed the legs of the chair, and stopped talking.
Of course, this couldn't last long.
After a period of silence, Ghost spoke cautiously.
"Are you okay, Khalil?"
"...Water," Khalil said with difficulty.
The ghost suddenly jumped up, kicked open the door at a speed that ordinary people could not catch, and ran outside - Khalil knew what he was going to do. There was a small rainwater filter on the top of the shelter.
Three seconds later, Ghost ran back quickly. He took out a tin cup with a chipped mouth from under the hem of his robe, and slowly handed it to Khalil's mouth.
Apparently, he hadn't forgotten that it was raining outside.
...
...
"Are you okay?" Ghost asked cautiously.
"Better - and thanks for bringing me some water, Ghost," Khalil said. "Also, I'm sorry I asked you that question."
"..." Ghost pursed his lips in silence and lowered his head.
"Keep your head up," Khalil said softly. "Don't act like you made a mistake...you've done good enough."
The ghost raised his head and looked at him blankly, not understanding what he was talking about.
Khalil just smiled slightly.
You're doing good enough, if you could hear those things all the time...
He sighed, "But I still have something to tell you—keep your head up."
"oh."
"In the future, if you have the same feeling as before when you are performing tasks alone..." Khalil said slowly. "Whatever you're doing, come to me immediately."
Ghost was stunned for a moment, and then his expression became happy at a speed visible to the naked eye: "Won't your countdown return to zero?!"
"...Is it raining outside?"
Khalil turned his head and looked at the open door. He could clearly use his eyesight to discover the truth of this question, but he still asked this question, and he didn't even forget to close his eyes.
"ah?"
"Is it raining outside, Ghost?"
"It's raining, Khalil—isn't your countdown going to zero?"
"...Is it raining heavily outside?"
"It's not bad, but will your countdown return to zero?"
"..."
It's also raining tonight in Nostramo, but not too hard.
