Unsealing Emptiness

Since there was no one here, Orsella looked at Ozul’s figure with curiosity visible on her face.

Orsella was a curious woman and never jumped to conclusions based on some rumors alone. So unlike others, she didn’t particularly dislike the trio which had supposedly just gotten lucky.

Through observation, she was sure that there was something unusual about the trio.

‘It just doesn’t make sense for them to survive unscathed while even people stronger than them died.’- Orsella thought while look at the Ozul, who had the hat covering his face while he slept without any care in the world.

The only conclusion she could come to was that the man in front of her was probably the key person.

Raven and Blaze were only Rank-5 Mages. And it wasn’t possible with the little strength they had to survive what even Rank-7 Mages couldn’t.

.....

Another reason that Orsella had allowed the man to use the cart was that she wanted to see if she could get something out of him.

However, instead of talking to her like she had expected, Ozul just went to sleep!

Orsella may not have been the most beautiful woman out there, but her woman’s charm would entice hundreds of men. Together with her natural beauty, she was also physically fit, which added another appeal to her.

So she had expected him to be the same as other men and try to start a conversation with her. However, Orsella didn’t know that even if she was the number one beauty in the entire world, Ozul wouldn’t bat an eye.

Not to mention, Ozul himself had an appearance that would probably shame the gods.

Only Orsella could not see his face entirely because he was back in the cart, and now when she also hopped in, he was wearing a hat.

‘This man. No matter how I look at him, he seems so harmless! Yet... yet, there is this feeling that if I were to attack him, I would be utterly helpless.’- Orsella thought to herself.

She couldn’t even sense any Mana from him, so the situation confused her to no end.

Her instincts honed through hundreds of battles, and the logical conclusions all pointed towards Ozul being unusual, but she just couldn’t find any real evidence.

‘Should I do it? He is sleeping already, so he won’t find out...right?’- Orsella contemplated inside her mind.

In fact, she had a Spell to test the prowess of others. The Spell, however, demanded the target to be near Orsella. Moreover, the person she is trying to examine would not need any extra effort to find out that someone is using the Magical Spell on them.

This Spell allowed Orsella to examine people, but she rarely used it since no one liked to be probed by others, and this was especially true for Mages.

After thinking for a while, she couldn’t contain herself any longer and decided to give it a go. Her curiosity got the better of her rational thinking as she conjured the Spell.

“O’ Spirit Lord of....”

Since she did not want him to wake up, Orsella whispered the chant to conjure the Spell.

Slowly, the Mana in the atmosphere gathered around her before a wisp of glittering blue light went towards Ozul.

Orsella was confident in her abilities and herself that she didn’t even take into account that Ozul could wake up due to the disturbance in the Mana.

The glittering blue light came into contact with Ozul. Orsella was about to make it go inside his body, but something unexpected happened.

Suddenly, a part of the black pointed hat on Ozul’s face turned into a wisp of smoke!

The black smoke instantly arrived before the glittering blue light that was speeding towards the Ozul. It didn’t even let Orsella react before her Spell was dispelled only by a touch of the black wisp of smoke!

Right after that, the black smoke went back to the hat and turned into the part that was chipped away earlier.

“Little girl, you shouldn’t use such tricks. It’s rude, you know.”

Just when Orsella was looking for an excuse, she heard the lazy voice behind the hat.

Ozul did not even bother to move his hat to say these words. Which pretty much explained Orsella of how less he cared about the situation.

“I... I just-”

“You just wanted to check me out... because things don’t make sense, do they?”- Ozul interrupted her stuttering in the middle, finishing what she may have wanted to say.

“How do you know?!”- Orsella asked, surprised that the man could read her thoughts.

“Just a guess.”- After saying that, Ozul went silent as if nothing had happened.

Orsella stared at him for a couple of minutes, waiting for him to continue since she thought that he was in deep thoughts or something.

Only she didn’t know that behind the hat, Ozul had already gone back to sleep!

After a few minutes, Orsella finally couldn’t take it and nudged him with the feet to check whether he was asleep or not.

“Huh?! What is it now?”- Ozul’s voice, filled with annoyance, came in from behind the hat.

“What... You were done just like that? Weren’t you gonna say something else? Like... I don’t know, maybe yell at me or something?”- Orsella asked nervously.

First of all, she couldn’t even see his expressions to know what he may be thinking, and now when she was caught in the act, she didn’t know what to do.

“Oh, Should I have said more?...”- Ozul muttered to himself, but his low voice was heard clearly by the woman before him.

After a few moments, as if he had come to a decision, Ozul lifted a little bit of his hat while still lying down.

Though Orsella couldn’t see Ozul’s face due to how dark it was, her whole body tensed up since she knew that he was looking at her.

“Be careful from now on; I don’t like people annoying me. I also don’t like that dirty and twinkly Mana entering inside me.”- Ozul said, confusing her even more.

“And it’s not like you would have found anything anyways.”- After the whispers followed his earlier words, Ozul dropped the hat, no longer caring for what she thought about it.

Orsella was dumbstruck. She didn’t know what to do anymore. Though she was an End-Stage Rank-6 Mage, she didn’t dare to say anything in front of that man.

She would have already started fighting with him if she was not in the wrong. It was her fault to probe into other’s privacy in the first place, how could she have the face to rebuke him?’

*Sigh...*

‘How could I be so dumb to do that?’- Orsella sighed while leaning back against the corner.

After a while, she crossed her legs and started meditating to avoid feeling awkward in the silence.

However, her mind couldn’t concentrate on anything. Ozul’s words still rang in her mind, reminding her that there was a mystery in front of her. And as all the humans, she wanted to solve that mystery.

Though it all went south, Orsella still found many answers. She could at least confirm that Ozul was indeed not as harmless as he appeared to be from outside.

Even if she did not feel any Mana from that wisp of black smoke, it was still not something an average human could do!

Not to mention that it only needed that wisp of smoke a single touch to disperse her Spell! And she was a Rank-6 Mage for crying out loud!

‘And also, did he say that Mana was dirty?! Who in the world hates Mana?!’- Orsella had raging thoughts inside her.

She wanted to yell them out at the man who was the reason behind her irritation, but no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t muster up the courage to disturb his sleep again.

– – – – – – – –

Outside the cart, Raven and Blaze were walking side by side.

Even being surrounded by so many people who were just as powerful or even better than them, the duo did not feel overwhelmed.

Instead, both of them had their fighting spirit reignited. They wanted to fight them even after knowing that they stood no chance against some of them.

“Do you think Ozul would be fine with that woman inside?”- Raven asked without looking at him.

“Of course, he will be. Do you think anyone here could even hurt his hair?”- Blaze replied while puffing his chest as if it was his achievement and not Ozul’s.

“I know. I do. It’s just that...”- Frowning, Raven did not finish her sentence.

“It’s just that you don’t like him being with other women.”- Blaze said, completing her sentence for her.

“How do you kno-”

Just as Raven was about to continue her chat with Blaze, both of them noticed something in the distance that caught their eye.