Refrain from Obsession - Chapter 9

Even at a glance, Louis, who had put on his round glasses that seemed to have a strong prescription, looked down to where Aer had fallen.

Even when trying to gauge the depth, it was too dark to see anything.

If it had been another child, they would have just gone back with that woman and only requested a rescue team, but Aer was somewhat special to him.

When he first met her, he was so surprised that he was flustered.

As far back as he could remember from his childhood, he had always heard people’s thoughts.

He often responded as if they were talking right next to him. Whenever he did, people’s expressions would distort strangely.

They would recoil as if they had seen a disgusting rat, or as if they had encountered someone they despised.

So after that, he didn’t answer no matter what he heard. Despite his young age, he quickly realized.

That he was different from others.

After that, even though he didn’t want to, he had to listen to people’s thoughts, and even when he was alone, it always felt like someone was with him.

In reality, there was no one by his side.

For the first time, he felt silence. Even with a person next to him.

Finding places without people had become almost a habit for him.

So as soon as he arrived at the academy, he found a quiet space where he couldn’t hear voices and sat there.

He wasn’t on guard because he always heard thoughts first when someone approached.

That’s why it was even more surprising.

She approached without a sound and spoke.

At first, he was wary, thinking it was someone using an ability or a magical tool to approach, but seeing her uniform and eyes, he realized she was someone completely unrelated.

To judge based solely on a person’s eyes and actions.

With this unfamiliar feeling, he couldn’t take his attention away from Aer, who kept glancing at him from the side.

After that, whenever he saw her eyes widening and her lips moving slightly at the sight of him, he became curious as well.

“Why can’t I hear you?”

The question grew even more as Aer was neither an Awakened one nor a healer, but an ordinary person.

Louis was waiting quietly. Until the friends he had called arrived.

At that moment, two eagles circled overhead, making noise. Although he was worried about the aftermath of using his ability after so long, time was of the essence.

In case she was injured. Or…

“Hoo, let’s not make hasty judgments.”

The eagles flew towards Louis in perfect unison. Louis grabbed the leg of the large eagle with a familiar posture.

Grabbing the leg of the other eagle as well, he slowly descended. The two eagles, fully supporting his weight, moved as he wished.

It must have been quite deep, as it took a while before he realized there was water below.

“There’s water here.”

As he felt relieved, he looked around at the same time. Not seeing her made him anxious again.

“You two, stand by up there for now.”

Louis ordered before jumping down.

Splash-

Feeling the cold water, Louis continued to experience unfamiliarity.

Having lived indoors for so long, the vibrant reality felt somewhat distant to him.

He climbed onto a nearby rock and caught his breath for a moment. Then, from far away, a voice echoed.

Clang- Clang-

Awesome- Oh yeah- Jackpot-

The owner of the voice was none other than Aer, whom he was looking for.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

As she scooped up the healing stones scattered nearby, it seemed like her spatial bag couldn’t hold anymore.

“Damn, it’s spitting them out again?”

It seemed the capacity was full, as it would spit out the healing stones when she tried to put more in. But Aer tried to stuff them into her jacket or pants pockets, determined to take more somehow.

“But I can’t swim in this state, can I?”

It seemed like she’d need to swim and grab onto something to get out of here, but that wouldn’t be possible with heavy pockets.

“Pft, what if I can’t get out of here because of the healing stones, like the fox in the vineyard?”

Aer burst out laughing, inappropriate for the situation.

When she first fell into the water, she felt dumbfounded, bewildered, and angry, but seeing the healing stones in front of her made her feel very good.

“Should I leave some kind of mark?”

She felt it was a waste to leave so many healing stones behind, and she wanted to record this place where healing stones grow.

She used her dagger to leave a mark on the visible wall. She wrote ‘Emergency Food’ in Korean so that only she could recognize it.

As she was giggling because it was so funny, suddenly a voice came from behind.

“What are you doing here?”

“Ah! You scared me!”

Aer, who had let her guard down because it wasn’t a place where people should enter, screamed and jumped.

With her hand on her chest as if trying to hold down her pounding heart, Aer turned around.

“…Louis? How did you get here?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

Louis looked into her round, pink eyes and then took off his glasses.

He roughly wiped the foggy, wet glasses on his clothes before putting them back on. In that brief moment, Aer inwardly exclaimed in admiration at Louis’s face.

Oh my.

How can a man look so much like a doll? His skin is as smooth as porcelain, and his eyes are so big…

As she stared at him blankly as if entranced, he suddenly turned his head.

“This is…”

The healing stones emitted a soft glow. As he noticed the light coming from inside and spoke with a voice tinged with curiosity, Aer quickly responded.

“Actually, I was about to go up right away…”

“I see, so that’s why you weren’t visible.”

Normally, one would have waited for the rescue team at the point of fall or tried to escape on their own, but there was nothing at the point of impact.

Fortunately, he had followed the sound, but he thought that if even that hadn’t been there, they might have missed each other.

Louis stepped inside to look around and plucked off one healing stone.

Watching him from behind, Aer let out an exclamation.

Ah, even his appearance is doll-like and pretty, holding it with his small hands is so cute!

“Your hands are small, but you’re incredibly strong?”

As Louis turned his head towards her, who had unintentionally let half of her inner thoughts slip out, Aer added, waving both hands as if flustered.

“Ah, I was so surprised that I misspoke. I had to hit it several times with a dagger.”

“…I see.”

Louis felt a bit strange, as he hadn’t thought he was that strong.

Then Aer asked something she had been curious about since he appeared in the cave.

“By the way, perhaps…”

“Yes?”

“Did you come to rescue me?”

Knowing Anna and Ian’s personalities, she hadn’t expected a quick rescue.

She thought that if she returned to where they had started, there would be a professor, so they might send a rescue team, albeit late.

Or she would have escaped somehow on her own. That’s why she bought the magical tools.

But she never thought that Louis, who was an ordinary person like her, would come down himself.

So Aer was deeply moved.

“Thank you so much, Louis.”

Louis couldn’t look directly at Aer as she spoke with her hands clasped together.

He was extremely flustered because he had never received words of gratitude from anyone in his life.

“…You said to rely on you.”

So he responded by recalling what she had said. Aer smiled brightly at those words.

“Yes, I’ll be counting on you from now on too.”

“…Sure.”

“Ah, you know what this is, right? Or maybe you don’t?”

“…Is it a healing stone?”

Louis asked deliberately, even though he knew.

“That’s right. These are expensive, so take some.”

Aer wanted to help Louis somehow. Her gratitude was great, but perhaps her desire to become close to him was even greater.

The only schoolmate who didn’t know about her dark history, or rather, her unsavory rumors. That’s why she felt more drawn to him and comfortable.

While thinking this, she also worried that he might change his attitude if he learned about the rumors.

“Don’t you have anywhere to put them?”

Louis only took three for now. Then Aer pressed close to him and felt around.

“Do you only have three pockets? You should be able to fit more.”

“…I think this is enough.”

Since they were both wet, the areas where they touched seemed to be sensitive even through their clothes.

“Come on, try putting in more.”

Aer broke off pieces of healing stones herself and put them in his pockets.

“See, more can fit in.”

“…I think this is enough.”

Louis’s heart was pounding. No one had ever touched his body like this before, and he couldn’t read any of her thoughts, so everything felt awkward and tense.

“Shall we go sell these on the weekend? I think we can’t sell them just anywhere, we’ll have to go to a designated place. Let’s go together?”

Healing stones were more expensive than ordinary gems, so they weren’t easy to trade.

But that didn’t mean there was no way. After all, every country has places for illegal distribution.

“I don’t think I can this week…”

Louis, feeling a bit overwhelmed by her active approach, muttered while turning his head to the opposite side.

His heartbeat had been getting louder since she had been close to him earlier. As he covered his reddening face with his hand, Aer simply replied in a cheerful voice.

“Then, let me know when you have time, Louis. I’m not in a hurry either.”

“Okay, let’s do that.”

“By the way, how should we get out of here? Will a rescue team come?”

“I asked the healer, so a rescue team should be coming.”

At Louis’s words, Aer’s expression twisted strangely.

“…Her?”