Tower of Endless: Death Granted Entry

Chapter 28: Thankfulness

"...you also need to understand that I’m staying here willingly, and Lucen needs me here..."

Teacher Samuel lifted his foot and started walking away, and the action finally allowed Kohl to cough another mouthful of blood and breathe again.

As he walked away, his voice trailed.

"You should also be thankful... it’s just the two of us here."

Teacher Samuel walked leisurely and slowly, but unlike his gait, the speed at which he scaled the horizon was too fast. The motion didn’t match.

From the very beginning to the very end, his tone never once changed, nor did his hands, clasped behind his back, ever part.

He disappeared completely from Kohl’s sight, but—

"You owe me a favor."

Teacher Samuel was forcing a favor upon Teacher Kohl, just for the simple fact that none of his apprentices or students was there to watch him in his current state.

Leaving him behind in disbelief, unable to comprehend the situation... The old man who never bothered with anything was being aggressive over a single student.

Was he always like this, but he failed to see this nature, or was it a newfound change?

And the more important question—

"Why is someone like this staying here?"

For Kohl, it was an impossible situation to understand, enough for him to question his qualification to stay in this place, to question his rank as his equal.

How far had he climbed? How strong was he among his peers?

And more importantly—

"How old was he?"

Though Teacher Samuel himself was unbothered by the existential crisis he forced upon Teacher Kohl.

He strolled back into his branch. freewebnøvel.com

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Shhhhhhhhhhu

Shhhhhhhhhhh

Shhhhhhhhhhhu

Some familiar noise assaulted his supposedly peaceful night.

"Shouldn’t you be asleep now?" He turned his head in the direction of the noise, where Chef Ed was sharpening two knives against each other.

His hair was now free, and the kitchen apron was gone. His body was now shown to be indeed more than just muscular, if it wasn’t for the now visible huge belly without the kitchen counter to hide it.

"How could I miss such a late-night entertainment show?" Ed smiled, seemingly greatly amused and satisfied.

"He kept getting on my nerves for a while, testing my patience." Samuel didn’t stop, but his pace slowed significantly.

"I always wanted to chop his intestines," Ed had unspeakable excitement written on his face for a moment. "Well, I’m just a cook anyway," Before vanishing like a lie.

"Yeah," Samuel replied heavily as he started walking. "You’re just a cook"

"Seeing you more irritated than usual, is that new kid promising?" Ed asked, stopping him in his tracks.

Standing for a moment, Samuel lifted his foot and started walking again. "I don’t know."

"I think he is," Ed assured.

"Does it matter?"

"Who knows? If it doesn’t, why are we staying here?"

"It’s getting too late. Go to sleep." Samuel advised

"You started looking like an average middle-aged man with that mustache of yours; I thought that was the end..." Ed kept talking to himself, patting his large belly with complicated emotions radiating from his eyes. "I thought...

"The Samuel I knew was gone"

"I was never gone, I was just tired." Samuel’s tone was heavy.

"Yeah, sleep well." Ed kept sharpening his knives.

He sat there alone for a while. "I wonder if that bastard is still alive." He whispered to himself.

Hours passed slowly...

"Oaaaaaaaaah..."

Moon yawned, finally awake in the new bed, new room, and new life of his.

Feeling well-rested, abnormally so, his body was refreshed.

His old habits kicked in for a second. His eyes opened wide, darting everywhere, while his hand raced to find Liquid Mountain that was lying on the bed next to him.

His life was a cycle of danger finding him whenever he allowed himself to relax.

His eyes scanned back and forth between the room.

Before allowing himself to relax, he took a glance at Fate Alert, frozen.

For a moment, he was stiff, watching every corner of the room.

Before finally letting go of his blade, allowing himself to relax again and enjoy the moment.

While still lying in bed, he extended his hand to the curtains and opened them ajar, letting the light in. The sky was bright with a new color, different from both the first floor and the trial.

It was a bright golden color, pleasant to look at, but alas, painful for his just-awake eyes.

He shielded his eyes from the light with his hand, his fingers brushing the familiar salt-like particles. The dried tears that had run down his face during his sleep left white, salty marks upon his skin.

He pushed his body forward. It was time to use his very own private restroom.

He touched the small arcane circle on the circular basin, clean water started flowing.

Still amazed and happy, he just washed his face, not daring to take off his clothes again to shower.

His hair was entangled. He slowly started to release the knots with his fingers for now. He needed to either find a better way to handle his hair or cut it as soon as possible.

Once he was done, he put back on his shoes and strapped Liquid Mountain on his waist before moving out.

Whoosh~

Fooou~

BAAM~

Whoosh~

Fooou~

BAAM~

Weird sounds came from the hall downstairs. Unsure what they were, he walked unbothered.

Fate Alert was still frozen, so it was fine.

Probably.

Until the scene finally unfolded.

Uon, standing with an arcane circle surrounding each of his arms at a place that looked like a shooting range.

The spot where he saw the scorched target before falling asleep.

"Oh, little Moon, good morning. You’re finally awake. You sure know how to sleep."

’What does "know how to sleep" even mean? Everyone knows how to sleep the day they are born,’ Moon thought.

His face still smiled. "Morning, big brother."

The ’know how to sleep still bugged him,

’Huh?...’ Wakefulness suddenly hit.

"How long exactly was I asleep?" Moon asked, concerned.

"About that—"