Chapter 299 - 299 Jealous Snake
Noah walked in silence. None of the people of the Khan Family"s group were talking much, to be honest. Most walked in silence, with an annoyed expression.
"Erm... Noah?" He was a bit surprised to hear her voice calling him, but since he"d noticed her walking towards him from the back of the group, he had already expected it to some extent.
"Yeah, do you need something?" he asked, looking back, as the girl hurried to his side.
"Not really, I was just a bit worried about next fight. Is there something going on?" she asked. Noah was certain she knew fairly well what it was about to happen, however, for some reason, she was pretending to be unaware. It confused Noah as to why she would do this, especially considering how she try to become closer to him over this day. It was almost as if she was trying to hide from him that she cared about him, going over the extra length to make sure he was aware of everything without saying it herself.
"Not really, at least not that I know," he said, feigning ignorance. "However, it seems there was a slight change of plans. Apparently, those guys of the Hyu Family messed with people they shouldn"t have," he said, showing her a smirk. His face, his smirk, his voice, they all worked together to get into that girl"s head, but Noah had no way of knowing it. But her clearly red face was a large omen of how far he"d gotten. Either way, he was too dense to realize it.
"I see... So, I guess, you"ll go all out, then?" she asked, fiddling with her fingers and biting her lip as she looked up to him.
"Only if need be. It"s always good to keep things in check," Noah salid while sighing. He didn"t know for sure what Carlos had planned, seeing he had told Marcel he was the one behind the Imps. "I hope he only said I had the demon person as a contact, and not that I am the person who"s behind them. d.a.m.n it," Noah cursed in his mind, seeing that if his ident.i.ty as the one behind the imps was to become public, he would get extra attention from people he did not anything to do with. "Whatever. So long as we have the backing of two of the nine families, I doubt anyone will try their luck," he thought, making sure he did not let his worries through.
"You mean... You still haven"t shown us everything you can do, then?" Noah held himself from frowning, as the sweet girl turned a bit incisive.
"I wonder what"s going on with her... Is there anything wrong?" he thought, looking around to see strange expressions on some of the group"s people"s faces. "Is..." he stopped walking, standing by the wall and letting everyone walk past him. Seeing Michael avert his gaze as he pa.s.sed him, Noah knew they had an unpleasant conversation while he was on the phone. All he needed to know now was, what they talked about. "Did anything happen?" he asked the awkward girl, who stood in front of him. He was also wary that this conversation had to be kept rather short, since those of the Hyu family were bound to walk down this hall soon.
"No," she said, looking towards the floor, but Noah knew from the few hints of his expression he could see that she was clearly lying, and in distress.
"Don"t hide it from me. Tell me, who hurt you?" Noah almost laughed at how cheeky he"d just sounded. But for this situation, it was a perfect line, and he knew it. As he said it, she extended his hand out, raising the healer"s face by the chin. Soon, her eyes met his, and she once again looked away.
"n.o.body, I"n just afraid..." she said, looking across the hall, before facing him once again. "You know, Michael said some things to us about next fight, and that only three of us were powerful enough to handle our own against the best of theirs," as she said this, looking on his eyes, Noah felt how terrified she was. And, against all odds for someone like him, he saw someone dear to him on that face, which broke his usual poker face. "I don"t want to die," her words cut through him like a dagger, as he saw her tears roll down the sides of her face. The powerful B Rank Blessed healer he"d fought alongside on those battles had crumbled into a powerless girl, who was now leaning against him with her fists. Somehow, she reminded him of the woman who gave up everything for her kid, and seeing her like this became unbearable.
Noah bit his lip in frustration, as he put one hand on her back, and another on her hair. He knew leaning on him wearing armor must be very uncomfortable for her, but she was still doing it. "You won"t die, I promisse you," he said, stroking her hair with a pained expression.
She let out a pained giggle, before getting herself away from him, drying up her tears. "Can you even promisse me that, dummy?" she said, a broad smile on her face, her cheeks still wet from her crying. "I"ll take your word for it," she said, looking at him with eyes like those of a pup, her hands behind her back, before turning away. "Thank you, for being here for me," she said with a soft voice, as he hurriedly walked away from him and towards the rest of the group, tidying up her face on the way.
"Haah..." Noah sighed loudly as he let himself rest with his back against the wall. "Why the h.e.l.l did I even do that?" he asked himself aloud, not understanding what led him to make a move. "Why did she remind me so much of her?" he asked himself, looking towards his feet with a frown. The girl had completely broken his complete unrelatedness to anyone other than his friends and family. "Can I even fulfill that promise, though? Am I strong enough to protect someone against those Rank B beasts?" he thought, as the doubt started creeping up on him. But he simply shook his head, pushing himself away from the wall, and looking around to see there was n.o.body around. "I guess now"s a good time to call her up. I need her opinion on this..." he thought, as a pentagram appeared on the floor, and a small black snake appeared.
"Huh... I guess you called me up in a strange place, didn"t you? What about the whole arena thing?" Lilith"s voice rung into his mind through telepathy, making him feel at ease.
"It hasn"t started yet. There"s still a bit of time, I actually need your opinion on something," Noah knelt, extending his hand so that she could coil around his arm.
"You? Wanting my opinion? Who are you and what did you do to the boneheaded Noah I"m used to?" she asked, provoking him.
"You... Why do I even," he shook his head as he stood up and began walking towards the arena exit, and consequently, the waiting room. "Actually, what I need your help is with a person. You know I"m not good with people," he said without talking, so that only Lilith could hear, even if someone were to be close enough.
"A person? Since when do you care about how to behave with people? Didn"t I have to give you social cues every single time since we met?" she said, with a teasing voice. While it was slightly annoying, she wasn"t going overboard, so Noah didn"t really care, but he still needed her help. "So, what happened?"
Noah explained her what had just happened, the whole conversation with the female healer, and what happened afterwards, including his promisse. But, contrary to what he expected, all he got back from Lilith was silence.
"Lilith?" he called her to telepathy, without her saying anything. He could see her slithering up his arm over his armor, moving up towards his neck. "She"s probably thinking about it, I guess," he thought, as he waited for her to say something. It was only after a minute, and nearly reaching the end of the hallway, the he felt something was off. "Lilith?" he called her, this time speaking, as he felt the small snake crawl up his neck towards his face. In a second, a pair of purplish black eyes appeared in front of his, along with a small slithing tongue. "s.h.i.t," he thought, as he realized a strange emotion was welling up in Lilith, one he"d never felt through their connection. "Lilith? Is there something wrong?" he asked, stopping as he stared deep into the eyes of the black snake.
"Nothing. There"s nothing wrong," she answered, coldly through their telepathy. "I just wonder what could possibly have happened between the two of you to make you promisse her something like this. Could it be you finally noticed another human being?" she asked, her voicefilled with disdain. It had been a few days since Noah had last heard Lilith sound like this, so full of herself, but it still troubled him that her behavior had changed so suddenly. "Could it be, that Lilith is actually jealous? No way, right?" he though to himself, staring at the depth of her eyes, before hearing a "humpf" from Lilith, as she lowered herself back onto his neck.
"I guess she likes you. Good grief you are as dense as lead, else it could be a problem," she said, while hissing with her tongue against his neck, making his hairs stand.
"Since when did she have this kind of a temper?" Noah thought, not before reminding himself of a sentence he"d heard from Bel, something about him being very close to his mother.