Chapter 73: Guess Who

"What could he possibly want this late?"

Rhos asked the question in an irritated tone, his attention slipping away from the floating words before him.

While going through Morri’s Record, he maintained a careful awareness of the apartment and its immediate surroundings. That was why he was able to recognize who was at the door.

Like always, Rhos had unconsciously memorized every single person’s spiritual energy signature, habits and scents during the three months he has been living here.

The man was one of the residents farther down the hallway. Rhos noticed him leaving his apartment before the knocking.

Nearly every night around this hour, he sneaked out of his apartment and headed toward the rooftop for a midnight smoke.

His girlfriend worried about his health and wanted him to quit, but addiction was difficult to break. For this reason, the man became sneakier about his smoking addiction.

Tonight, however, the familiar presence of the man didn’t continue toward the stairs. Instead, it stopped outside Koa’s door.

A nervous voice followed after another knock.

"Sorry to bother you this late. I know everyone’s probably asleep, and I wouldn’t normally come knocking around this time, but something urgent came up and I really can’t wait until morning"

Rhos frowned.

What could be urgent enough to bring him here?

He looked in the direction of Koa’s bedroom. There had been no movements from her so far, Morri too probably, though he couldn’t tell.

But whatever this was, he could deal with it without waking them.

"Hold on. I’m coming"

The Spirit Archive vanished the moment he stood up. After all of his efforts to make it go away by ignoring it, it finally went away on its own.

Well, even though he wasn’t done reading it, he wasn’t worried about it disappearing. He could bring it back, and he already confirmed that other than himself and Neth, nobody else could see it.

Neth disappeared in a tiny flash of light before Rhos reached the entrance. When he undid the locks, the man spoke again.

"Thank you. Really, I appreciate it, and I’m sorry again for disturbing you at this hour. You know how it is"

’No, I don’t’

Without voicing that out loud, he pulled the door open.

"No problem. What did you....?"

When the door fully swung open, Rhos’s words died in his throat and his expression soured immediately.

His heightened senses told him that the resident from down the hallway should have been standing there.

But his eyes told him otherwise. What he was looking at wasn’t the man. In fact, it wasn’t a man at all!

A young woman waited on the other side.

She had short, messy black hair that framed a face partially hidden beneath bandages, most of them concentrated along the left side and completely covering one eye. A long black coat hung over a shirt and short skirt with dark leggings covering her legs.

The remaining eye sparkled with delight as her scarred lips stretched into a wide grin. The man’s nervous voice continued coming from them.

"Surprise, darling! What do you think of my Totem Art? I’ve never told you this one. Pretty convincing, isn’t it? I was worried your ridiculous senses were gonna ruin the surprise, so I put extra effort into–"

Rhos punched her in the face.

The force of it sent her colliding with the opposite wall. Fortunately for her, he held back enough that the impact didn’t do any serious damage to the wall and to her.

But she still bounced off it and landed in an undignified heap.

"Owww! Rhos, what the hell?!"

Jack Ripley’s pitched voice returned as she rolled onto her back and clutched her face.

"You punched me! I’m already covered in bandages, can’t you see?! I’m an injured girl here. Where’s your compassion? I came all the way here to see you too!"

It was in the middle of the night, people were sleeping and she was making too much noise. Rhos stepped into the hallway.

For one hopeful second, Ripley seemed to think he was going to help her, but he just grabbed the back of her coat and began dragging her.

"Wait, what are you– hey!"

Ripley’s visible pale blue eye widened.

"Wait, wait, wait, where are we going? Darling, use your words! You’re being too rough. Communication is important in every healthy relationship, not physical violence!"

Ignoring her, Rhos continued walking. Her loud voice should have woken up a couple of people by now.

Thanks to the unwritten rule of minding your own business, nobody was going to come out and help her.

Her boots scraped along the floor behind him.

"Is this about the stabbing? Because I already feel terrible about that! I didn’t mean to stab you. It was an accident, and accidents happen all the time between people who care about each other!"

Rhos reached the stairwell and continued upward.

"Why are we going up?"

So asked Ripley, staring at the steps ahead, making her grow increasingly nervous.

"Darling, I am sorry about that. Completely, sincerely, genuinely sorry. I didn’t mean it, I swear! My body just acted on its own, and technically you were the one who jumped between me and the little Wrath girl. Really, this is your fault!"

Several flights later, Rhos pushed open the rooftop door and stepped into the night.

The Elderwood Biome’s eastern lower ring stretched around beneath the scattered lights, its buildings clustered beneath the immense distant presence of Yggdrasil.

Rhos continued toward the edge. By then, Ripley finally stopped squirming.

"Why are we on the roof?"

He reached the ledge and lifted her.

"Darling, before you do anything impulsive, I’d like to let you know that the Black Tortoise Sect teaches that forgiveness is considered an extremely–"

"Get lost"

He threw her over the building with one hand.

"Kyaaaaaah!"

Her scream dropped away with her, fading into the streets below.

Rhos didn’t bother looking over the edge. He dusted his hands together, turned around and headed to the rooftop entrance with complete indifference.