VIP Chapter 548: A Kind of Trust (3k)
“So, the three of you, why did you follow me? And hide in… well, if we’re calling it hiding, such a strange place?”
Will stood with his arms crossed in front of a plain, slightly old small square table at the Adventurer’s Guild, piled with letters, looking at the three people.
“If you’re looking for me,”
It was just past dinnertime, and not many people were left in the Guild.
Iaar took off her hat, her ears drooping—she liked to use her drooping ears to cover her hearing when she was caught doing something.
Liya put on the witch’s large hat she had taken off again, but this time she covered her face.
Treya, on the other hand, had shed all her disguises. Her long silver hair cascaded smoothly over her shoulders, and she sat obediently across the table, but her fingers tapped distractedly on the sunglasses in her hand, opening and closing.
“Mmm…”
“Well…”
Iaar and Liya looked around.
They were in sync, wondering how to explain.
—Should they first mention that they felt Will was acting a bit off during the meeting?
—Or should they first clarify what Will was supposed to do?
However, just as they were hesitating and unable to speak immediately, Treya was quite “direct” in this regard.
She raised her head, stared into Will’s eyes, and blurted out:
“Because… we were worried about you.”
As she said this, she even reached across the table and took his hand.
“…Huh?”
Although Will had expected it—after all, with the three of them following him out, there wasn’t any other plausible reason.
But…
He looked into Treya’s eyes. For someone usually so “plain” in her emotions, at this moment, her light blue eyes seemed to shimmer with a ripple.
Her pointed elven ears twitched noticeably.
Her worry was perhaps much deeper than he had imagined.
“Worried? Why would you…”
At this moment, Will hadn’t realized their demeanor, and then he felt Treya grip his hand even tighter.
“Will. We’re by your side now. You don’t have to carry all the pressure alone like you used to.”
“Mmm… yeah… you’ve really misunderstood…”
“That’s right! Dear! We understand that you must be very worried about her! After all, you’ve dug out all these letters. And… you don’t have to force yourself to act so calm.”
Seeing that the situation was getting out of hand, Iaar stood up and sat next to Will.
“In a-ny case, since Shuna is a very important person to you, she’s definitely important to us too. So, we can figure out how to rescue her together!”
Iaar clasped Will’s fingers, intertwining them.
“And, Will.”
Liya noticed that Will’s sides were fully occupied, so she sat opposite him and pointed at him as she spoke.
“We’re not the same as we were before either. If you’re really worried, just say it all out—you’re the one who taught me to be straightforward, so why aren’t you learning it now?”
“So, you’ve definitely misunderstood. I… I’m not hiding anything. I’m actually quite calm. There’s no pretense like you imagine.”
But…
After he spoke, he realized…
He had just received Shuna’s eyeball. Shuna was currently “kidnapped,” and as a hostage to threaten them, the Death Hall might kill her…
He knew all of this, yet… he was indeed this calm?
“Then why would you… suddenly come to the Adventurer’s Guild and dig out all these problems?”
Iaar asked first.
“Uh… because my contact method with Shuna was through finding her encrypted answers hidden within the letters…”
As he spoke, Will glanced at the letters he had hastily sorted on the table.
“But, when you were talking to that person just now, you seemed quite angry.”
“My information was exposed, so of course… I’d get angry, right?”
Will chuckled.
But, it was true that ever since he became the “Guild Master,” at least in his role as Guild Master, he had been putting on an act.
“You even burned one of them. You’re not the type of person to start fires in the Adventurer’s Guild…”
“Anyone who sees an advertisement email… would… get so angry… they’d want to burn it… so, I actually am…”
Listening to Treya, he saw the letter that had indeed been mixed in, the one that most resembled Shuna’s letter to him.
It had already been burned to ash, turned into dust, and lay on the table. He couldn’t even remember what the advertisement was.
“…”
The words he wanted to say were suddenly choked in his throat.
Along with his unfinished sentence, the three people present fell into silence.
“Dear? What… what were you about to say just now?”
Iaar cautiously poked her head out, nudging Will’s face with her finger. He seemed a bit stiff.
“Uh… I…”
Will seemed to understand.
He…
He was indeed not quite right.
It was even more obvious in front of them.
“So, Teacher Will, just like you often tell me, you should pay attention to your mental state as well.”
Treya didn’t often make unconscious gestures of affection like Iaar, but at least at this moment, she wanted to imitate it, poking him with a slightly stiff face.
“Hey, you… you guys…”
Liya also slammed the table and crossed it.
She flicked Will’s head, retaliating for his earlier flick, and gave his head a ‘bang.’
“Alright, that evens things out.”
To Liya’s surprise, after she did all this, Will didn’t immediately retaliate as he usually would.
Instead, he rubbed his forehead.
“…So that’s how it is. Perhaps seeing your reactions as my mirror… isn’t so bad.”
Will sighed and gave a light laugh. At this moment, he was no longer as “indifferent” as he had been when facing Shuna.
His expression revealed a “worry” that all three of them could see, much more evident than before.
He was indeed “worried” about Shuna.
That’s why he was so anxious, rushing out without even explaining clearly, and getting so angry at what looked like an advertisement letter.
“Mmm… I am indeed worried about her. Perhaps more anxious than ever. I’m sorry for being so scary. Now that you’re here, I should consult you more.”
After speaking, Will looked up at them.
“However, it really was a misunderstanding. In your eyes, I looked like I was about to go to the Death Hall alone and blow up Daisianwei at any second.”
“Haha…”
The three who had been worried just moments ago changed their expressions, breaking into smiles.
“I-I’ll say it first. I’m not jealous at all. Now, Captain Will, you must have already made arrangements, right?”
Liya raised her hat, her sparkling red eyes looking at Will.
“Dear, this way is more reassuring.”
Iaar was very happy. Her tail, which had been drooping, was now wagging.
“Mmm. I admit I did misunderstand for a moment. But… on second thought, you’re not the type to just rush in and confront enemies without any preparation.”
Treya also calmed down and thought for a moment.
“You really did consider it.”
“So, shouldn’t we have dinner later? I wonder if we can still make it back in time to cook with Ms. Lucifer and the others.”
Iaar was already so relaxed that she was bringing up dinner.
“You, your mind is always on food,” Liya pouted. “I envy you for still having an appetite after seeing that eyeball.”
“The eyeball is alive, so it feels okay—doesn’t that prove Shuna is also alive? Isn’t that a good thing?”
“Treya, you’re even scarier this way!”
Will watched the three of them go from tense to completely relaxed.
Speaking of which, ever since they returned, they had maintained such a relaxed atmosphere.
Was it because…
They trusted him?
That’s why they had dressed up like that, followed him secretly, yet laughed as soon as he admitted it.
Then…
If their reactions were like a mirror for him…
“!”
Will’s final doubt seemed to be resolved.
Why had he appeared so “calm.”
“Dear, what’s wrong?”
Iaar was always the first to notice Will’s subtle changes in expression.
“Ha… haha… so that’s how it is?”
From a light chuckle to hearty laughter, Will laughed.
Then, he rubbed Iaar and Treya’s heads, and deliberately reached out to pat Liya’s head.
“Wh-what’s wrong all of a sudden? Weren’t we just talking about dinner?”
“Thank you. You’ve helped me discover… an emotion other than worry.”
He sat down and looked at the letters on the table.
But, undoubtedly, his calmness wasn’t “fake.”
When he heard what the three of them said, he realized why, despite this sudden situation and so many things deviating from his “plan.”
And to the extent that an eyeball had been delivered to him.
He had still maintained his “calmness” at the first moment, and beneath that calmness, he had come here first to find the problem with Shuna’s communications.
If something like this had happened to someone else, he would definitely have worried, but not like this.
It was precisely because this had happened to Shuna…
Will looked at the table, and the eyeball that had been removed seemed to leave a “shadow” watching him.
The tips of his fingers still retained the strange sensation of the eyeball.
“Another feeling?”
Iaar tilted her head curiously.
“A feeling…”
He placed his fingers on the messy letters.
“A feeling that she must have done something. That she would definitely not stop here. That there must be something she risked her life to send me.”
After his worry, there was a “trust.” Just like how the three of them trusted him.
A trust in Shuna built over many years.
“This is something she could definitely do, would definitely do, and would definitely succeed in.”
Will clenched the paper.
“So, more than a momentary worry, it’s this confidence… a desire to find what she left behind with her life.”
He let go and unfolded another letter unrelated to Shuna, placing it on the table with the newly formed creases.
“This is something I can definitely do, will definitely do, and must do.”
“She must have thought the same.”
