Agent of Seraphim-Chapter 56: Sharing Secret

It was a fantastic feeling to be stranded the second time, consecutively.

’At least this time I had Ruby with me...’

Brand took a long walk, checking on the surroundings of the underground, now that the demon worms did not attack him on sight.

When he walked past them, the demon worms didn’t react to him. But when he got close to them, the worm would let out a low hissing sound, as if warning him not to approach it any closer.

He couldn’t help but wonder, what did the demon worms view him as? For them to have this reaction...

Clearly, even in the human world, strangers in the streets would behave the same way. It was the same even between human interactions.

When we met strangers, we wouldn’t show much reaction to them. But when strangers got close together without any introductions, they would feel wary.

’Is it the same?’

Brand continued to walk ahead while checking the Map for Ruby’s location. Ruby had woken up and seemed to be wandering around, as her map indicator didn’t show a fixed walking direction.

’Maybe she was worried that she would be alone in this dark and murky place that is full of worms?’

The distance between him and Ruby was too long, so he continued to browse through the System log.

[Reward Calculation in Progress.]

"This is the reward for clearing the raid," Seraphine explained to him when she saw his eyes were glued to the message.

"What took it so long?" He couldn’t help but ask. "The System was always quick in delivering missions and even rewards."

"Even back then in the middle of the Scarab Swarm..." He realized something while he muttered.

"It must be because the reward was calculated by the GHOST System." He teased Seraphine, knowing that she would sometimes be tense when he talked behind Seraphim.

’She would always be the first to defend against her boss.’

As he expected, Seraphine puffed up her cheek and pulled his hair to show her displeasure.

’Why is she able to touch me when she is ethereal?’

Seraphine then flew and hovered in front of him.

"The System is calculating your achievement to make sure you are properly compensated!" Seraphine’s eyes welled up with tears as she said it.

"Okay... relax." He grinned at her acting innocent. "That’s sweet, coming from the System."

"Seraphim is negotiating with the World..." Seraphine dropped a statement that stirred his heart.

"Huh? Negotiating?" He was dumbfounded by what he had just heard.

"Yes!" Seraphine exclaimed. "You almost died from the raid!"

’That was unexpected... The horrible angel with the form of a mechanical eye is worried for him?’

’At least I’m not a disposable pawn in her eyes.’

"She is using this as an excuse to give you a blessing."

"What kind of blessing?"

"Still negotiating. It takes time, so you just focus on exploring the ruins for now." Seraphine concluded the conversation just like that.

***

There was no reference for time flow here, making it easy for one to lose their perception of time.

After walking away from the ruin, everything looks the same. Even the red text in front of him stayed the same.

"How long have I been walking?" Brand asked the little angel.

"Half an hour?" She responded while checking the map.

From time to time, he would find a few demonic creatures apart from the demon worms. Some would try to attack him.

Now, a creature that looked like a rat but with the size of a cat had lunged at him. The rat looked creepy, with uneven teeth and without fur.

"So what if you are bigger than the normal rats? You’re still a rat." He kicked the rat creature in the face and smashed it with his shield. It was not difficult to kill the lesser demons, but it gave him a disgusted feeling with each kill.

The pungent smell it leaked was worse than the stench of the demon worms.

"I need a secondary weapon, which is disposable..." He was annoyed, having his shield splattered with blood. Worse, on his clothes and skin.

It was nice to get some experience from the unique monster kills, though.

"They started to appear after the raid was completed." He turned to Seraphine.

"Yeah. They were afraid of the demon worms." Seraphine explained. "Even among the lesser demons, there were ranks."

"The rats occupy the lowest rank."

"I see..." He muttered while narrowing his eyes as a human-shaped silhouette entered his field of vision.

The human figure slowly revealed herself when the mist dispersed, replaced with a bright red aura representing flame.

"Great seeing you!" He was excited when he finally found Ruby. But she looked more gloomy than joyful.

"You ditched me..." Ruby’s voice was sharp but muffled.

’She thought I abandoned her?’

’I thought she was not afraid because that’s how she always presented herself...’

"That’s not it... I was..." He stopped when he saw her giggling.

"I know, you had to rush to the ruins, right?" Her voice was light, as if she was feeling relief.

"W... Wait... How do you know that?"

There should be a gap of time, as she was asleep at the time. She also shouldn’t know about the ruins and his mission, right?

Ruby was holding her pendant tightly in her hand. After holding her pendant tightly in her hand for a while, she looked into his eyes. The pendant in her hand suddenly flared up, emitting sparks around her hand.

"I had something to tell you." Her eyes sparkled with light, making it impossible for Brand to look away, even if he felt nervous.

Even if her hair had lost its orangish glow earlier, it still appeared flawless in his eyes.

And her lips...

’No... what am I thinking?’

—PAK

Ruby’s eyes widened as she watched him slap himself out of nowhere.

"Sorry, I was distracted. I’m ready to listen." He looked into her eyes, waiting for her patiently.