The Author's POV

Chapter 402 - Doubt [1]

Ci Clank—!

Closing the door behind him, Kevin got out of his apartment. Taking a deep breath, he stared at the scenery before him with lethargic eyes.

Closing his eyes for a brief moment of time, he soon opened them again and proceeded to head down.

"There you are, Kevin."

Waiting for him below was Emma who waved her hand in his direction.

Kevin's feet came to a pause. Staring at Emma who was waiting for him from below, Kevin's unfocused eyes became a little bit more focused.

'Emma…she's alive.'

Faint fragments of the vision replayed in his mind as he stared at her. Each time recollection resulted in a stinging sensation inside of his heart.

Smiling weakly, he nodded his head and greeted her back.

"Yeah…I'm here."

His voice was rather weak, but it was loud enough for Emma to hear. Of course, Emma was able to notice that something was wrong as her brows knit together.

"What is up with you? Are you okay?"

"…I'm good."

Kevin gave a short reply. Then, placing his hand on the handrail, he walked down the stairs of the building.

Not convinced by Kevin's words, Emma leaned forward. A worried look flashed across her face.

"…You don't seem to be okay? Should we have you checked?"

"I'm really fine."

Kevin raised his head and met Emma's eyes. They stared off for a good minute before Emma eventually relented.

"Alright, if you say so."

Staring into the distance, she flipped her hat backward.

"Let's go then. The others are probably already waiting for us."

Rummaging through her pockets, Emma took out a pack of gums. Taking one of the gums she placed it in her mouth and started chewing.

"Munch…munch…want one?"

Extending her hand, she offered one to Kevin. Raising his hand, Kevin politely refused.

"No thank you."

"Munch…munch…suit yourself."

Putting the pack of gums away, Emma blew a bubble gum and proceeded to head towards the center of the Issanor.

Pop—

"Ukeh!"

But just as she took two steps, her bubble burst apart and the gum splattered all over her face.

***

Today was the day of the conference tournament.

As the sun slowly rose from the horizon the atmosphere in Issanor became extremely lively and filled with excitement.

This was the event that everyone was eagerly awaiting.

Not just for the prizes, but for its meaning as well. It was the event that decided the fate of the alliance between the three races.

When I arrived at the main tournament square, the place was already boiling with noise.

Separated from each other, numerous dwarves, elves, orcs, and humans alike gathered in groups as they chatted with each other.

Apart from the members of the other races who were fairly relaxed, every human wore an expression of nervousness and excitement. This was understandable however as the tournament held a lot more meaning to them than the other races.

'Looks like they are already here.

Staring into the distance, I caught a glimpse of Amanda, Melissa, and Jin.

They were without a doubt the center of attention. They looked like famous celebrities surrounded by a bunch of fans, all trying to curry favor from them.

Their behavior was understandable, however. After all, not only were they extremely good-looking, but their talents and achievements at their age made them individuals to look up to.

Without a doubt, they were the future pillars of humanity.

A faint smile appeared on my lips as I witnessed this scene from afar.

'Some things just never change.'

The scene was quite familiar as I had seen it multiple times back at the Lock.

Despite the fact that they had all grown up and were entirely different people from the past, their shine never disappeared. In fact, they shone more brilliantly than ever before.

"Alright, now…where are the others?"

Taking my eyes away from them, I glanced around the crowd and looked for Waylan and the others.

To be honest, I was supposed to have come with them to the place, but since I didn't want to skip my training session I decided to just go by myself. Amanda was also training with me, but it appeared that she was a lot faster than me at changing.

Guess the stereotype of girls being slow at changing was just a myth.

'I see them.'

Fortunately, it didn't take me too long to spot the others. Standing at the far corner of the human section I caught a glimpse of a familiar figure. It was Douglas. Behind him were the others.

Apart from me, everyone was currently not wearing a skin mask.

Well, they didn't need to. The only ones that had to hide his identity were Waylan and me. The others not so much. I was quite thankful for this. It made the search a lot easier for me.

Fixing my clothes, I headed in their direction.

"You're finally here."

Upon arriving, I was immediately greeted by Douglas who had a calm smile on his face. I nodded back.

"…Yeah, my training session was a lot longer than I expected."

"That's fine. We're not in a hurry. "

Douglas reassured with the same calm smile.

I softly smiled in response. Then, turning around I proceeded to greet the others. Apart from Leopold, Smallsnake, and Ryan who weren't planning on participating, Ava and Hein had nervous looks on their faces.

This was quite funny to me as not too long ago they were brimming with confidence. But as they stared at the people around them, their previous confidence completely deflated.

Well, I understood where their worries came from. After all, there were a lot of talented people present today, and everyone here was pining for the top prices.

That included me as well.

I was also aiming for the top spot.

There was an item that I absolutely had to get at all costs. It was the item that only the winner could get and with it, I would have no trouble breaking through to [A-] rank in half of the time that I originally anticipated.

"…hm?"

While in thought, raising my head, I suddenly noticed Melissa and the others heading in my direction. I deeply sighed at the sight.

'This is definitely Melissa's doing…'

She knew just how much I hated attention, and she was definitely coming to me knowing that it would attract the attention of the others. How petty of her.

Under everyone's watch, the three of them stopped right in front of me. As they stopped, I suddenly felt hundreds of eyes directed in my direction and my mouth twitched.

Secretly rolling my eyes, I asked in an annoyed tone.

"Why are you doing this to me?"

Of course, I didn't hide the displeasure in my voice as I tried to make it as evident as possible.

"…Doing what?"

But of course, Melissa being Melissa feigned ignorance and pretended to not have understood the implications behind my words. I sighed in exasperation once I saw this.

"Here."

Extending her hand, Melissa handed me a set of cards. Lifting her head, she nudged her head in the direction of the others.

"Although I don't think you will need it, I believe that your friends might need them."

She was obviously referring to Hein and Ava.

"Guess I'll take you up on the offer."

Nodding, I took the cards from her. Then, turning around, I handed them to Hein and Ava.

Hein already had an idea of what the cards did as he saw me use them against John not too long ago, but Ava didn't so I spent the next couple of minutes explaining to them how the cards worked. Once I was done, the both of them looked at Melissa with grateful looks on their faces.

Moving my head sideways, and staring behind Melissa and the others, I wondered out loud.

"By the way, have you guys seen Kevin by any chance?"

Kevin wasn't really the type to be late.

His absence kind of felt weird. Or maybe I was just overthinking things? Could just be that he was hanging out with Emma since she was also missing.

"They're over there."

Right on cue, just as I was wondering about Kevin's whereabouts, Amanda suddenly spoke as she pointed towards the distance.

"Where?"

"There."

Squinting my eyes, I tried to look in the direction of where she pointed, but my vision wasn't as good as hers so it took me a while to spot Kevin.

Fortunately, it didn't take long for me to finally see them.

"Oh, I see them."

Walking with Emma next to him, Kevin's head hung low. Emma looked like her usual self, but Kevin looked a bit different than usual. There was this weird aura surrounding him.

'Is he sick or something?'

My brows knit at the sight. Not only was his aura weird, but his hair was disheveled and his overall complexion looked extremely pale. The current Kevin looked to be in no state to participate in the tournament.

While I was looking at Kevin in the distance, seemingly having noticed my stare, Kevin raised his head and our eyes met.

"…hm?"

But the moment our eyes met, a strange scene occurred as Kevin's body froze and his body trembled. It was faint, but it was enough to catch my attention.

Taken aback by his reaction, I tilted my head.

'Is he okay? Why did he react like that?'

***

Meeting Ren's eyes, Kevin felt his body completely paralyze from top to bottom. A cold chill ran through the top of his spine as his pupils dilated.

Staring at Ren, Kevin's eyes flickered slightly.

'…He looks familiar to that figure's back.'

This thought only last for a brief moment of time as he soon snapped out of it.

"Huh? …what just happened?"

For a brief moment of time, Ren's figure overlapped with the guy from his vision. It sent chills down Kevin's spine.

Staring at Ren once again, the feeling that he felt before was no longer there, but there was this strange mist enshrouding his figure making Kevin doubt his eyes.

Raising his hands, he rubbed his eyes…but the mist around Ren never disappeared.

Blinking a couple of times, Kevin deeply sighed.

"Sigh…I must be seeing things from not having slept all night."

Whatever the vision was, it was messing with his mind. Was he perhaps starting to get paranoid? Kevin did not know…but the nagging feeling inside of his heart never disappeared.

"Kevin, are you coming or not?"

It was then that Emma's voice rang from the front.

"Coming."

Nodding his head, Kevin followed along.

While he was walking, many tried to strike a conversation with him, but he politely waved them off. He was already used to such scenes.

It wasn't long before he arrived before the others.

"You guys are finally here."

Ren greeted, waving in their direction with his signature lazy smile.

Pop—

With a loud pop, Emma's gum burst apart and she nodded her head.

"Um."

"…Hey."

Kevin followed up after her as he awkwardly waved his hand.

Even though Ren was wearing a mask, the aura he gave off was the same. It was easy to tell him apart.

Walking up to him, Ren worriedly asked.

"Kevin, you alright?"

Lifting his head and staring at Ren, Kevin put on a bright smile as he nodded his head.

"Yes, I'm all good."

"…That so? Alright then."

Extending his hand Ren patted Kevin on the shoulder.

"You look a bit off today. Did you perhaps train all night? Don't tell me that you were that nervous?"

"Haha, you got me."

Kevin responded with a forceful laugh. Lowering his head and staring at Ren's hand, Kevin's eyes became slightly unfocused.

As he stared at Ren, the strange feeling inside of his heart slowly started to disappear as the mist around Ren slowly started to clear up. His mind slowly started to calm down as a result.

'Yeah, whoever that figure in the vision was, it wasn't Ren. He would never do such a thing…'

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