Unsealing Emptiness

It wasn’t a surprise that when he showed his intent for Jinx to stay around him, she did not disappear like usual. Even previously, Ozul had guessed that she could understand him perfectly.

Ozul left the Neutral Lands and flew towards the Silverbird Kingdom at his top speed without making a stop anywhere in the middle.

The day passed, and even in the night, he continued as he sat leisurely on the Ball of Purity with Jinx at his side. That black feline never seemed to be amused by anything.

All she ever did was sleep, but Ozul was not complaining. Having found her was unexpected in the first place. He had yet to find out what she could do.

The only thing he did know was that she could make it so one cannot touch her. Only he was the exception, or she only let him touch her. Ozul remembered the time when Raven’s hand had passed through Jinx.

Not only that, Jinx had the odd ability to appear just about anywhere without making any sound. She was skilled in this to the point where many fail to notice her even if she is right around their feet.

.....

When the sun rose again, Ozul was already bored and wanted to sleep, but there wasn’t a town in sight. Only when it was midday did he found a town and decided that a short nap wouldn’t hurt.

He picked the first hotel that came into his sight and entered with Jinx quietly following behind him.

If Ozul’s appearance with the pitch-black conical hat wasn’t eye catching enough, the pure black cat with a pair of deep red and blue eyes gracefully walking behind him attracted all the eyes to him.

But by now, he had learned to ignore those stares to a tolerable extent.

However, this time, he felt an unusually curiosity-filled pair of eyes peek at them from afar. Ozul stopped and turned his head in the direction from which he felt the stare.

“!!!”

Ozul hurriedly took a step back because the stare that he felt from meters away was from a man that was somehow already only a couple of feet away from him!

‘Who is this guy...’ he could not help but think because the person appeared to be an old man with a long white beard.

He looked skinny and was even barefoot. He wore simple dark grey robes that hung loosely on his body.

While Ozul observed him with caution, the old man had all of his attention fixed on Jinx instead as he ignored the man with the conical hat. There was a small hint of curiosity on his face as he observed Jinx from up close.

Ozul was alerted because he was certain that earlier, he had sensed the gaze coming from meters away. He didn’t doubt his senses because the old man felt a little different from others.

What worried him the most was; he couldn’t sense this old man’s cultivation base!

One thing was certain, the old man was unusual, and if he couldn’t sense his cultivation base, that meant the old man could be so strong that he did not have the ability to measure his strength.

And if that was really the case, Ozul needed to be extra careful with him.

Still ignoring Ozul, the old man smiled like a child and muttered, “Woo~ Look at this little kitty~ She is beautiful~”

“...” Ozul became speechless at his overly child-like attitude. He had expected many things, but this.

‘Who is this guy...’ Ozul didn’t like unpredictable characters like Oliver. Not to mention, this strange old man was most probably many times stronger than him.

“Hehe~ Can I touch her, young man?” The old man asked, but without even receiving an answer from Ozul, he bent down to pick up Jinx.

Ozul’s eyes widened as he remembered that Raven couldn’t pick up Jinx when she wanted to.

Ozul didn’t know how much the old man had already perceived, but he could still sense his emotions and knew that he wasn’t suspicious or held any ill-intent towards him for now.

However, once the old tried to pick Jinx and his hands passed through her as they did with Raven, then he wasn’t sure what thoughts that old man might assume about Jinx.

He wasn’t even sure how strong this old man was, if he set his eyes on Jinx, he wasn’t sure how he would react.

‘... oh wait... if he won’t be able to touch her, then he will never be able to...’ Ozul was contemplating when he realized that he needn’t worry about her.

‘Still...’ Ozul didn’t take any chances and moved between Jinx and the old man.

“She will scratch,” Ozul said, not letting the old man get near the carefree black cat.

“Oh, haha~ Of course. Of course. Cats scratch, how could I forget that?” The old man didn’t seem to mind that he came in between him and the cat and laughed while nodding his head as if he had just remembered that cats do scratch.

Again, Ozul expected the old man to get angry that someone got in his way because that is how one with an absurd amount of strength would usually act.

‘Maybe I thought wrong...?’ Ozul started to doubt his own senses at this point. In the end, he started to think that there could be someone else staring at them from afar as well, and this old man might have been a different person.

Still, he couldn’t deny that this old man felt weird to him. There was definitely something wrong with him, but he couldn’t pinpoint what.

“So~ I can’t even touch her once?” The old man asked, hoping that a little patting wouldn’t hurt.

Ozul stared at him for a couple of seconds to confirm if he was acting or not. In the end, he believed the old man’s emotions and decided that he was genuinely like that and hid no ill will for now.

“She will scratch,” saying that Ozul walked away inside the hotel. If he couldn’t be sure about the old man, it was better not to linger around him.

“Pity...” The old man muttered from behind.

He decided that when he returns, he will ask Raymond or Alver about this.

However, just as he walked to the receptionist, he noticed that the old man was following behind!

Ozul immediately turned around and said, “Jinx doesn’t like others touching her. I will ask you again to drop such thoughts.” He tried to be as polite as he could, but he was getting annoyed by now.

He just wanted a little nap, why did this child-like old man appear out of nowhere?

“Oh? Haha! I understand, young man. But I have booked a room here~” The old man replied with another laugh.

Ozul looked at him suspiciously but he didn’t seem to be lying, so he nodded his head and went to the middle-aged receptionist. He rented the room for one night, though he only wanted to take a little nap.

When he walked to his room, the old man was still following behind him. It was starting to get annoying and even when he didn’t turn around to see it, the constant smile on the old man’s face wasn’t helping the situation.

Ozul ignored him and entered his room. Jinx followed right after.

The old man, on the other hand, entered the room next to Ozul’s without speaking another word.

. . .

Inside the room, Ozul released a sigh and got on the bed. Jinx did the same and they both went to sleep.

A few hours later, Ozul woke up with a yawn. He decided not to spend the whole night since Luthien would leave the Royal Palace in 2 days.

As he got out of the room, he remembered the old man had entered the door just next to his. He tried to sense if he was inside but found that the room was completely empty.

When Ozul was about to leave the hotel, he stopped at the counter and noticed that the same receptionist was still there.

“Do you know about the old man who had entered behind me?” Ozul asked, throwing a silver coin from his Spatial Pouch. He understood that the man wouldn’t be so eager to answer his questions otherwise.

Seeing the silver coin roll on the counter, the middle-aged man quickly pocketed the coin before he started speaking, “If you are talking about that weird old man, then he left only an hour ago.”

“When did he rent the room?” Ozul was only curious.

The receptionist made a thinking pose, and replied after a while, “Just in the morning. He said he was going to look around the town or somethin’.”

Ozul nodded his head and walked out of the hotel. It was still night, but he started his journey back to the Silverbird Kingdom.

‘Strange old man...’ As he flew towards the Kingdom, Ozul thought of how weird the old man felt to him, though he soon shook those thoughts out of his mind. It was a big world and strange things happened around every corner.

Moreover, he had other things to think about right now.

. . .

Although Ozul quickly forgot about the old man, it was different for the latter as he currently roamed around the streets, thinking about his encounter just a few hours ago.

“Haha~ that young man sure was interesting...”