CHAPTER 167: DIFFERENT

Rise took a closer look, not minding how Thalia became embarassed by his stares. The usual coldness in those mesmerizing eyes was tinged with surprise and nervousness.

"Your name is Thalia?" Rise asked, making sure. He already stepped back, though only slightly, but most of his attention was still on the beautiful woman in front of him.

For some reason, his voice carried some weight even if he seemed only to be asking casually. It made the surroundings particularly heavy, earning gasps and groans everywhere.

The pressure on Thalia was heavier. She swallowed, unable to give a usual attitude and majesty. She could only nod her head, afraid her voice would betray her awakening fear.

She was still a guild leader and could not express her nervousness openly. Even more so with everyone watching.

The silver-haired man in front of her, no matter how angelic his face was, screamed terror. He was dangerous.

Not to mention... the man slightly behind him who was only watching everything unfold with a serious expression. He was almost like the royal guard of this dangerous and unruly king.

Rise did not know what the Thalia before her was thinking; if he did, he most probably would correct her mindset. Kamille was his king, not the other way around.

He pursed his lips and contemplated before he turned around and looked at his guild leader.

"She said her name is Thalia." His voice was not loud, but with almost everyone having supernatural instincts, they could hear him just fine.

Kamille indulged his antics and nodded.

"I also heard that."

Rise nodded and returned his gaze to Thalia.

"And she looks just like her! Like... they are the same person." His voice was becoming lower, and as if a light bomb lit up in his mind. "Woah! Maybe, they are?"

Kamille looked at Rise, finding him adorable. It was already obvious that this Thalia was not the Thalia they knew. Though saying they were the same person might not be far from the truth, but not the whole truth either.

Rise was only joking, of course. He did not want to just shout like, Are we in some kind of parallel universe or something?

That would be giving hints to these unfortunate people about where they came from. He was not that generous yet. He was in love, but he was still Rise. He did not magically become kind just because he was in a good mood.

"Who are you?" Thalia finally found her voice this time. She was nervous, but she was still an S-rank Esper; composing herself was manageable.

Rise’s brow rose and stared at Thalia. To those eyes that held only suspicions, devoid of admiration and emotions.

Slowly, a smile emerged on his lips, a soft one, but his eyes said otherwise. His voice became twice as relaxed as well.

"You’re not her."

Thalia frowned heavily at this, feeling a sudden tug at her heart.

"What do you mean?"

Rise did not answer her. Instead, he looked around. There were not many familiar faces. Or maybe, it was because he did not know a lot of people to begin with.

He turned to Kamille again. "Guild Leader, what should we do?"

There were only two options. While fighting was the most exciting, that was the worst option, it seemed. Ignore the fact that it was the most obvious choice as well.

Sure enough, their mind was connected as always.

For the first time since the start of the conversation, Kamille spoke with the Thalia of this world.

"We’ll speak. But only to you." This was not the Thalia they knew, but this face still evoked their goodwill. "You choose where." His voice filled with authority that even Thalia’s guild members, who became annoyed by his tone, could not step up to go against Kamille.

In the end, as this was the obvious choice, Thalia agreed despite the opposition from the onlookers who came from different parties. What could they do?

The unknown was always the most scary. Unless they find out the duo’s capability, no one would provoke them first. This did not mean they had already stopped investigating the cause of this anomaly, especially with the two individuals emerging from the said event.

For now, they have reached an agreement.

"Wow, this place is more ruined than ours." Rise voiced out in admiration. While he sounded amazed, to those who heard him, he only appeared insensitive.

It was especially for the inhabitants of this world, or whatever it was. They glared secretly at him, but as always, when did Rise care about these?

It was only Kamille who showed a serious expression; the wind around them seemed to shift like a hurricane was about to attack them, and the temperature dropped to a significant degree.

The ever-so-oblivious Rise only hung at Kamille’s arm tightly, and continued to scrutinize his surroundings.

What he said was true. This world seemed to be twice or thrice as destroyed as their world. While it had yet to reach the level of Zenos’ world, it was getting there.

Rise did not even think they still had green zones at this time. Of course, seeing one place was not enough to actually determined the stage where this world at or the similarities their world had on each other.

Only Thalia somehow gave the idea that this world was somehow the same as theirs.

"This is the Evergreen Guild Headquarters," Thalia spoke in a cold tone, hiding most of her uneasiness.

Rise did not mind her tone, and he looked around. When his eyes landed on something almost automatically, as if that was one thing most people would look at as they visited the Evergreen Headquarters.

Almost instantly, his eyes widened slightly, and he turned to Kamille, who was also looking at him with the same expression.

Thalia frowned at this. He had been observing the two, and they looked familiar, too familiar, even with everything, though surprised with some.

This was more apparent with the silver-haired than the other, who occasionally glanced at something, but his sole attention was with his companion.

"Wilted." Rise mouthed, which Kamille agreed with a solemn expression.

It was confirmed. This world... might be far worse than he initially expected. The tall tree, the symbol of the Evergreen Guild, was now wilted.

Thalia also glanced at what they were looking at, and her expression became subtle. She returned and looked at the two, now with more curiosity than suspicion.

Did they know that a huge, vibrant tree stood there before? But how?

These questions were only waiting to be answered, and if only these two ominous visitors would cooperate.

In silence, they arrived in the empty room prepared for the talk. Though it looked more like an interrogation room with only a few furniture inside.

Rise clicked his tongue, somehow displeased. But at least, it was clean, so he did not voice his dissatisfaction and sat on one of the couches. Kamille followed him.

"Where are the refreshments?" Rise looked up and asked. Kamille, who had just leaned, almost shook his head in amusement. He did not say anything and let Rise continue his show.

Thalia’s lips twitched. This man sure appeared leisurely. Was he treating all this like a vacation?

If she knew what Rise was thinking, then she might already vomit blood, and his image would be broken right there and then.

It was because Rise was thinking just that! For him, gate raiding was like a vacation, and with happened between him and Kamille, he was thinking even worse. He was clearly treating all this like their honeymoon!

Thalia had no choice but to glance at someone and order so-called refreshments. Not only her, who was speechless, but everyone listening at this moment.

As a compromise earlier, Thalia let their conversation be heard, and so she had a recording device with her. This could only happen with Kamille and Rise’s tacit permission.

This was an important meeting for the other party, but it did not mean it was the same for them. Neither of them was exactly a good person with a hero complex.

It was already enough for them to save their own world, but extending to other worlds? Rise did not have the slightest intention to do that.

Not even a suspected parallel world, though he doubted it. This was a mutated gate after all. Something that was clearly important in the storyline.

Rise did not know why it appeared so early, but this was all the more reason to be vigilant against it.

Not long after and the refreshments finally arrived. Rise’s eyes held a faint blue hue for a moment before they disappeared after confirming the food was fine to eat.

He was not pretentious to refuse food, and so he dug in immediately, completely relaxed. Thalia and the others watching were once again dumbfounded.

This person... he was treating this place like a hotel, right?

Somehow, this offended them more than being aggressive.

"Kamille," Rise called out, then realized, and he paused, looking at his Guild Leader, who now wore a slight, surprised expression.

He did not want to call him Guild Leader, as this would also be a hint at what kind of relationship they had. This definitely was not because he wanted to get used to it. Definitely not.