Tower of Endless: Death Granted Entry

Chapter 29: Bad Timing

Across from Moon, stood Uon inside the hall. The arcane circles around his hands disappeared.

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

Uon thought. He tried to calculate on his fingers. "About that, I think it was around... 3 days maybe?"

There was a sudden pause. "WHAT?" Before Moon screamed into his face.

"Don’t worry, Teacher Samuel checked on you. He said your Echo capacity was decent and your body was capable of sustaining itself for a while," Uon assured.

’This is not the problem, you idiot. My vacation was cut short,’ Moon thought, lamenting.

But there was also another problem, the fact that Samuel entered the room and checked his condition...

’Does he know... If he does, is it not as grave a problem as I thought it would be?’

His mind raced, yet he was unable to find the answer... He was just a rootless weed, a small shrimp in a shark tank... and throwing himself into someone else’s hands was not the way he could survive.

But that didn’t change the fact that there was one thing he must strive for by any means necessary.

’I needed backi—

Uon cut off his thoughts. "Let’s go eat. Chef Ed forced me to split your portion with him every meal..." his eyes started tearing. "I’ve suffered."

’Suffered what, you bastard. Do you even know the worth of the food you’re eating?’ "Yeah sure, let’s go eat."

"Finally," he exhaled in relief before looking around. "Little Moon, head there first. I’ll get the tools back in place and catch up."

"Sure." Moon waved and walked out.

On his way there, he briefly made eye contact with Mishu again, though this time the cat was licking its paws under the bright sky.

Moon made sure not to hold this eye contact for more than a split second to ensure his safety.

He was exceptionally hungry, and it was understandable... It was his first meal in 3 days.

According to Uon at least.

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In the eatery, Teacher Samuel was sitting, read to start eating, and Chef Ed was behind the counter as usual.

But the atmosphere was more tense than usual.

"Right, can’t you make something different?"

"Like what?"

"Like anything."

"Anything like what, Samuel? I made stir-fried rice with vegetables, with eggs, with meat, with mixes, with tomato sauce... There are so many things." Ed explained while counting on his fingers.

Samuel’s eyes left the platter and found Ed’s. "It’s not about variation."

"Are you saying you don’t like my cooking?" Ed felt offended.

"What if I don’t?" And Samuel was successfully provoked.

"Mustache bastard, did you live longer than you should?"

"I don’t want to hear that from a guy who looks pregnant."

"Good morning," Moon entered the eatery, oblivious to what was happening.

Ed had a knife in his hand, glaring at Samuel. "How about I chop off that mustache of yours... along with that head?" He hissed slowly, releasing a wave of Echo.

Ding!

Fate Alert

30% → 35%

Samuel, in return, placed his hand on the table, open. "I think I can help you lose weight, blowing everything below your chest." His own Echo was released back.

Ding!

35% → 40%

Moon’s eyes darted back and forth, unable to assess what he was seeing or make any sense of it.

He slowly, without taking a breath, took a step back. He closed the door again very softly.

As soon as the door was closed again, he turned around and broke into a sprint. He ran back to the hall without looking back.

’The place might explode’ He thought, not allowing himself to slow down.

Once the hall was closer, "BIG BROTHER UON!" He called for Uon to come out.

He kept shouting, but inside the hall, Uon was not aware.

Until he actually opened the door, stepping out, humming leisurely, did he notice the shouting.

"Oh, little Moon, what’s wrong?" Uon asked, concerned.

"The eatery..." Huff, huff. "Teacher and Chef are about to fight," he urged, panting. The distance was not a short sprint.

"Oh." Uon started laughing before patting him on the shoulder. "Don’t worry about it," He patted Moon’s shoulder. freewebnøvel.coɱ

"Let’ go." He walked ahead of Moon.

’What was that?’ Moon was unsure; his feet refused to move for a moment.

In the end he decided to follow, but he was ready to run away again as soon as a new alert came.

Before long...

Once at the eatery door, the building was still intact. But Moon couldn’t relax yet, even when Fate Alert returned to the normal 30%.

Or, the not very normal 30%.

He was not sure. He always felt that this 30% might kill him suddenly, but he was helpless.

Uon, unbothered with his wild thoughts, smacked the door open.

THUD!

Still humming, "Morning, Teacher." "Morning, Chef." Uon waved his hands each at one of them.

He greeted before going for the second table and sat down, waiting for his platter to be ready.

"Oh, morning, kid." Only Chef Ed replied.

Hearing Ed’s nonchalant voice, Moon peeked inside, only to find everything normal.

Samuel was eating quietly. Ed was preparing the platters in a light mood.

He walked in stiffly, greeting again. "Morning, Teacher, morning Chef."

"You are finally awake, stupid kid." Ed gave him a sharp, threatening look. "Your portion was almost thrown in the trash," Anger evident in his tone.

’Guess Uon was not exaggerating.’ That much was obvious now.

Moon looked down. "Sorry, Chef," he spoke as guilty as he should. "I will be on time for every meal starting today," Moon assured.

Ed couldn’t help nodding in approval. "Good kid."

Moon looked back at the still humming Uon. "Big brother, when are the ascenders you mentioned coming?" He wasted days sleeping and needed to assess his current situation.

"I think maybe... in 3 or 4 days..." Uon replied, now in deep thought.

Click ~x2

The platters were ready. "Stay, I’ll bring both," Moon said, walking to the counter.

He wasn’t sure about what should be done anymore, where he should start, what he needed to know before the new arrivals came.

And Samuel was another variable he was unsure of.

He sat down, placing both platters. "Big brother, why do I not see anyone else here but us?"

"There’s only us here," Uon replied, certain.

"I’m asking about teachers, staff, cooks."

"Yeah." Uon’s eyes shone in realization before, "There’s only us here," turning back to his platter.

"What?"

"Hmm?"

"You mean, there’s no one else here but one teacher, one chef, and one assistant?" aiming his index finger at Uon’s face.

"Yeah."

Moon couldn’t help rubbing his temples. "How is that even possible?"

As a slave, he had seen soldiers train, teachers and such... Even if he didn’t receive his own training.

These places where soldiers trained were not even as big as the hall he was staying in, yet they had many instructors.

"Most of the branch is arcane arts optimised. Cleaning, cooking, even the library... I just overlook the arcane that was already set in the facility." Uon explained.

"What about teaching, the actual teaching?"

"Oh," Uon raised his eyes to Moon, "none of these brats are worth teaching anything."