Unsealing Emptiness

Feeling the light from the gaps of the camp, Ozul put on the samurai hat and stood up. Walking out of the tent, he noticed that the mercenaries were packing up their stuff.

It looked like all of them were almost ready to start the journey again. As Ozul looked on the right side, he saw that Raven was checking on their carriage.

On the other hand, Blaze was practicing with Ice shards. His control over the Ice that he produced had been considerably better than when he had first joined the team.

Ozul approached him, and after observing for a little while, he advised, “Keep it up. Your improvements are visible but focus on your body more. As of now, your physique is not up to par with your other skills.”

Only when Blaze heard his voice did he realize that Ozul had been standing so near him, looking at him with approving gaze.

Ozul asked before he could say anything, “So, You couldn’t sleep?”

.....

“Uhh... Young Master, how did you know?” Blaze scratched the back of his head. Though he also didn’t need to sleep, after following the routine of sleeping every night, it had almost become a habit of sorts. However, he couldn’t sleep at all last night.

“First of all, call me Ozul. Although I was fine with anything before, it causes many to misunderstand the situation. So there won’t be a Young Master anymore.”- Ozul addressed the troublesome issue.

“Oh, as you say... O-Ozul.”- Despite Blaze readily accepting it, he had difficulties calling him only as Ozul.

“Good. Now, as for how do I know? It’s simple... I just know it.” Ozul plainly explained. It wasn’t that he was trying to be mysterious or anything. But after a little thought, he concluded that explaining would take too many words.

After hearing the reason for how Ozul knew, Blaze was left speechless as he smiled bitterly. To begin with, it was his fault to ask any of his ways. Even after so much time together, he would sometimes forget that Ozul was always like this.

“Anyways, it’s a good thing.”- Ozul muttered to himself, leaving Blaze puzzled as to why it was a good thing.

He didn’t understand the reason since before it was always Ozul that encouraged them to sleep, and now he was also the one to say that not sleeping was good?

‘I’ve been too lax before. Sigh... why have I started to regret my previous decisions so much recently?’- Ozul internally sighed.

As of late, there had been many things that Ozul realized that he should have done differently.

The feeling of helplessness when fighting that monster had reminded him of the day when he was born.

First, he felt helpless when he was forcefully dragged out of his comfort and brought into the world of lights. He had felt even more powerless when his mother died while holding him. Then the feeling hit again when those wolves in sheep’s clothing cut away his limbs.

Grandma Carol’s death had also affected him even when he showed nothing on the surface.

But living for 6 years in that warehouse had dulled his motivation. Only a few days ago when he fought against the monster did Ozul remembered it all-how it felt to be helpless again.

How, without enough power, people took things away from him and he could only watch weakly. Not even capable enough to protect the things which he loved.

‘I have wasted enough time, I can’t afford to be lazy all the time now.’ Ozul thought after internally sighing again.

Just as Ozul was in his own thoughts, he heard Clive’s shout, “We are leaving!”

“We should get going, Young Ma- cough... Ozul.” Blaze instinctively used that term, only to realize when he noticed Ozul squinting his eyes at him.

Raven again sat on the driver’s seat. However, unlike before, Ozul didn’t go back to sleep in the carriage. This time he jumped straight up to the roof of the carriage.

With the pointed hat on top, he sat cross-legged on the roof.

Blaze looked at Raven for answers, but he smiled wryly when he noticed that she was looking at him for answers as well. Both of them shrugged it off easily; Ozul always liked to do things out of order.

Even some of the mercenaries looked at him, surprised that he was willing to be out in the open. Their thoughts were as such because, since yesterday, they had noticed that they would hardly ever see him.

On the roof, Ozul calmly observed his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was that the team of Rank-7 mages led by Rufus was still there, hiding in the trees. None of the other mercenaries had managed to sense them.

Even Raven and Blaze were unaware of their existence, but Ozul didn’t bother to tell them.

Just at this moment, Jinx suddenly came out on the roof as well.

“What? I thought you didn’t like it so bright?”- Ozul asked while looking towards her.

In reply, Jinx only sat in front of him and limited herself to only stare at him.

“Me? I still don’t like it. It’s just that I have greater priorities...”- Even when Jinx had only stared at him, it seemed as though Ozul understood what she was trying to say and replied accordingly.

Jinx again just stared at him for a little while before Ozul seemingly understood what she was conveying.

“Well, fair enough. “- He said before Jinx lay on the ground, curling itself to sleep. She looked truly just a black furball.

After this little event, Ozul shifted his focus on his surroundings. As he saw Blaze, he noticed that his posture was still stiff.

It wasn’t hard for Ozul to know the reason. Though Blaze wasn’t a coward, his past behavior would instinctively show up when he was put in a similar situation.

Before joining the team, Blaze was constantly under mental pressure, this subconsciously caused him to turn a little anxious whenever he was in danger.

The only situation to this problem was that Blaze eventually gets the hang of it.

On the other hand, Raven was perfectly fine even knowing that dangers lurked everywhere around her. It was not only because of her blind faith in Ozul but also because she had completed many missions together with Ozul in the past years.

After observing everything and analyzing the current situation of the convoy, Ozul leaped off the roof and went inside the carriage.

Jinx followed him in as well as both of them wanted to sleep. Although he had decided to put more effort, there was nothing that Ozul could do right now, and sleeping was never a bad idea!

As Ozul closed his eyes, he couldn’t help but think of Raven and Blaze’s growth.

‘They would never be able to learn to fly if I keep them under my wings.’ Ozul tried to think of some scenarios where he could let them train by themselves.

“It will be a long journey. I hope something exciting happens...” He muttered to himself with his hands behind his head, using them as a cushion.