CHAPTER 194: THREE GIRLS’ LATE NIGHT CHAT

Carlos’s frown deepened.

"Which district did they set up the ritual in?"

Black Sinner passage rituals needed tons of intelligent souls as sacrifices.

This meant when the ritual kicked off, they absolutely couldn’t stay hidden.

"We’ve gotta keep enough mobile fighters in reserve."

Carlos was starting to get an idea.

As long as they had enough mobile fighters, they could tell Black Sinner mind games to go screw themselves.

"Me and Rock Sand City’s bigwigs are all part of the Black Sinners’ game plan. The key to breaking out of this mess is bringing in heavy hitters they don’t know about..."

Without even thinking about it, his sister—who was closest and showing up soon—was Carlos’s only shot.

"Sis should be here any time now..."

....

Right about then, on the road to Rock Sand City, a cavalry unit was pushing through the night.

"Carlos! You better wait for your sister!"

After finding out about the Golden Sand Society spilling Black Poison Faction intel, Iris felt her gut twist with worry.

She could sense the Golden Sand Society had to be cooking up some scheme.

Carlos was flying solo—he better not do anything stupid and walk right into those old bastards’ trap!

...

Rock Sand City, at some inn:

"Yellow scorpion skewers are the bomb!"

"Nah, white scorpion skewers are way better!"

"You haven’t tried four-legged snake—that flavor is out of this world..."

Kathy, Heidi, and Grace had been living it up all day.

After getting cleaned up, they flopped comfortably on their beds, shooting the breeze.

Grace propped her head up on her arms:

"Did you catch what the Rock Sand City folks were talking about?"

"What?" x2

Kathy and Heidi both tensed up at the same time. They knew exactly who Grace was about to bring up.

"Didn’t you hear? Carlos rolled into Rock Sand City too."

Grace looked confused at her two buddies.

All throughout today’s wandering around, they’d heard Carlos’s name more than anyone else’s:

’Perfect Incarnation,’ ’Dream Guy for Every Girl and Noble Lady,’ ’The Strongest Badass of Our Time’...

Thinking back on all the buzz from today, Grace still felt blown away and could barely wrap her head around it.

"Who would’ve thought that in less than a year, Carlos has already become a big shot who can take down criminal organizations packed with high-level powerhouses."

Beyond being shocked, Grace felt seriously bummed out inside.

How the hell was she supposed to pull off the Commander’s mission?

Even though she’d always wanted to throw down with Carlos, right now she definitely couldn’t take him.

In the future... well... unless something crazy happened, she definitely still couldn’t take him...

Damn, what was she gonna do?

Heidi’s purple eyes got all emotional:

"Yeah, it’s just like heroes in those old stories. And I should be the hero’s..."

Just about to spill it, Heidi suddenly caught herself and forced different words out:

"...biggest fan."

The emerald earrings felt slightly cool against her skin, reflecting her slightly red face.

That was way too close!

Heidi didn’t want to get into it with Kathy right now.

Huh? Why wasn’t Kathy saying anything?

Weird. Usually when we’re talking about Carlos, Kathy gets the most fired up. Why’s she so quiet this time?

Heidi wondered to herself.

Was she out cold?

Grace noticed it too:

"Kathy, you asleep?"

Kathy yanked her head under the covers, pretending to sleep and making soft breathing sounds.

Heidi and Grace looked at each other.

Knocked out that fast?

Grace turned to look out the window:

"Come to think of it, it’s been almost a year since we’ve seen Carlos, right?"

Heidi nodded:

"Yeah, way too long. When Carlos came back to Ember City for the competition, we were heading off to the Withered Lands and totally missed him."

A whole year. The family had gotten tons of help, but her own progress...

If it wasn’t zero, well... okay, it was still pretty much zero.

Under the covers, Kathy silently thought:

It’s been 321 days, 22 hours, and 23 seconds since I last talked to Carlos.

When she first heard her childhood friend had also come to Rock Sand City, her heart practically exploded with joy.

It felt like fate was pushing them back together.

But as she heard more and more—hearing about the huge stir Carlos was causing in Rock Sand City, hearing countless girls and noble ladies on the streets gushing about him—while feeling crazy proud of her childhood friend, she couldn’t help but feel like total crap about herself.

Can we really be together?

Kathy gripped the emerald necklace at her throat so tight it hurt.

All those times before awakening, the happiness and excitement when awakening, the massive gap between them now.

Kathy’s mood was all over the place, complicated as hell.

Hmm... strength-wise, there’s no way in hell I’m catching up to Carlos.

Kathy was brutally honest with herself.

Even though she was a genius too, compared to her childhood friend...

Damn, how could a regular genius stack up against a complete freak of nature?

If only she had Sister Iris’s power.

Looks-wise...

Kathy touched her soft cheeks.

Among people her age, she was confident she had serious advantages.

But compared to older, more experienced women, she felt like she didn’t stand a chance.

That intoxicating vibe that came with time seemed totally out of reach.

Thinking of her childhood friend’s drop-dead gorgeous looks, Kathy smiled like a lovesick fool, then...

Agh agh agh! Not good enough! Totally not good enough!

Kathy curled up under the covers and started thrashing around.

"Kathy? Kathy?"

"What’s going on?"

The sudden movement caught her two friends’ attention as they quickly sat up to check on her.

Kathy immediately went still. Her head slowly poked out, faking confusion with sleepy eyes:

"What’s wrong?"

"...You just..."

Heidi cut Grace off:

"No... nothing..."

Wasn’t she just squirming around like a worm?

They were all good friends—they should cut each other some slack.

"..."

Kathy felt like Heidi was looking at her weird.

But at least she didn’t have to explain the thrashing.

"Anyway, since you’re up, Grace and I were thinking that since we know Carlos came to this city, we should go see him. Kathy, what do you think?"

Heidi smiled, asking for Kathy’s take while keeping a close eye on her reaction.

"Go see Carlos..."

Kathy’s face was all twisted up.

So annoying. She obviously wanted to sneak off and see him by herself.

Why did they want to tag along too!

Were they even real friends? Didn’t they get the whole ’give a girl some alone time’ thing?

But since Heidi had brought it up, Kathy couldn’t say no and then sneak off on her own.

Huh? Actually, that might work!

No, no, no. She could go with them, then after that, go see him again by herself.

"Sounds good!"

"Alright then, let’s do it!"

"...Where’s Carlos staying? Do you know?"

"..."

"Let’s crash first and ask around tomorrow..."

The room finally went quiet, with just the three girls breathing softly.

Kathy: "We’ll see each other again soon, Carlos."

Heidi: "This time I need to step up my game, or how can I face the Duke?"

Grace: "Snore! Snore! Four-legged snake meat! So good!"

The three girls, each lost in their own thoughts, drifted off to dreamland...