Chapter 53: Being by my side is dangerous, you know
Shiltina’s footsteps came to a halt.
The words that echoed by her ear felt hauntingly familiar.
The last time she had heard them was in a hotel at Deep Blue Port, during that endless sleepless night.
Shiltina turned slightly.
Then, beside the steel corridor, she saw that familiar, slender figure.
He was wearing a pitch-black trench coat, a holster with a heavy revolver hanging at his waist, and two emblems pinned to his collar—one engraved with a dark iron-colored silver moon, the other bearing the image of an eye pierced by a straight line.
He looked exactly the same as when they had once fled through Deep Blue Port, pursued by the tide of the Iron Cross.
Black eyes met light brown pupils.
Their gazes locked in midair.
Without a word, Shiltina understood why Rast had come.
“According to the regulations, a Tier 1 Nightwalker, as a newcomer in the protected phase, doesn’t need to take part in high-risk missions like Nightworld Remnants.”
“As one of the Twelve Seats of the Round Tables and the chief commander of Red Frost Territory’s Nightworld Remnants Assault Division, I have full authority under the academy’s rules to revoke your permission to enter the Remnant.”
Shiltina met Rast’s gaze directly. “If you came here to repay the so-called debt of 1,600 gold Kols I mentioned before, then there’s no need.”
“That was just a joke I made offhand at the time.”
She glanced at the Starfall University badge pinned to Rast’s chest. “Now that you’ve enrolled, you should know very well just how much the Nightworld means to Starfall University.”
“If it weren’t for you, we couldn’t have cleared the ‘Nightworld Remnant – Deep Blue Port’ so easily. Who knows how many more sacrifices would have been made in that historic echo…”
“That alone is worth more than any amount of Kol coins.”
“You don’t owe me anything. In fact, it’s I and the Academy who are truly in your debt.”
“I asked Dean Silver to look after you, used the privileges of the Twelve Seats of the Round Tables to assist with your enrollment… but all of that is just a meager token of compensation—far from enough to truly repay you.”
…
“I know.”
Hearing Shiltina’s solemn words, Rast nodded.
“But, just like that time in Deep Blue Port’s harbor district, when you insisted on upholding your ‘Ranger’ code and ruined the plan I had carefully set up just to come back and save me…”
“My coming here isn’t just to repay a favor or a debt.”
“I also have my own reasons for needing to grow stronger through the Nightworld—and to uncover its truth. From what I’ve learned, compared to ordinary historical instances, the Nightworld Remnants, though more dangerous, also reveal secrets that would otherwise remain hidden.”
Rast walked up beside Shiltina.
Then, he spoke softly in a voice only she could hear, right beside her ear. “On you… I sense the scent of a kindred spirit.”
“Someone bound by the ideals of the deceased… striving their whole life for a goal others deem foolish and unrealistic… unwilling to turn back, even if it means drowning.”
“You’re not the only one like that.”
He smiled slightly. “If we’re kindred spirits, then we should suffer together, support each other, and huddle together for warmth, shouldn’t we?”
Shiltina’s light brown eyes narrowed slightly, staring dazedly at the youth in front of her.
She had thought that after leaving Deep Blue Port—after stepping out of his nearly omniscient domain and returning to the world she was more familiar with—Rast would gradually shed that veil of mystery, becoming someone she could fully understand.
But now it seemed—
She had never truly understood Rast, nor what lay in his heart.
As if unwilling to meet those deep, well-like eyes any longer, Shiltina shifted her gaze.
Then, she noticed a snow-white ferret cautiously hiding behind Rast’s neck.
“Dean Silver.”
Shiltina’s light brown eyes locked straight onto the ferret on Rast’s shoulder.
“Don’t look at me, this guy forced me to come.”
“He said if I didn’t help, he’d point a gun at Rodri’s head and make him steal the high-speed train keys and drive it straight into Red Frost Territory. I couldn’t stop him.”
Dean Silver sighed helplessly and leapt down from Rast’s shoulder.
“Honestly, the more I think about it, Shiltina, going to a Nightworld Remnant alone was pretty reckless.”
“I believe in your strength, but this time, the Remnant might involve space-time laws. These kinds of problems can’t be solved by brute force alone—they’re your weakest area.”
A glint of silver moonlight flashed in her blood-red beast eyes. “Having him with you might not be such a bad thing.”
Seeing that fading silver glow, Shiltina nodded thoughtfully.
“I understand.”
…
The metal corridor leading to the Nightworld’s entrance stretched nearly a kilometer.
Along the way, they said nothing, walking forward in silence as the monotonous metallic walls shifted around them.
Until at last, the space at the end of the corridor came into view.
At the very center of the room was a familiar sight to Rast—an illusory door veiled in a thin mist of night, shimmering like ripples of water.
This was the entrance to the Nightworld.
The two humans and one beast stopped before the ripple-like portal.
“I’ll handle things with the Academy for you.”
“What happens between you two, I don’t care. I only know that you both owe me now.”
Dean Silver huffed twice.
She turned around, her once-light movements now slightly heavy.
“Magical beasts are stingy by nature. Anything they invest in, they make sure to recover the cost, so…”
“Come back alive.”
In the next moment, Dean Silver’s figure vanished with a faint spatial ripple, as though unwilling to remain and witness the parting scene.
Shiltina double-checked her consumable items and tools.
“Being by my side is dangerous, you know?”
She didn’t look at Rast, just lifted a lock of chestnut hair falling beside her forehead. “A lot of people say those who team up with me end up buried by my obsession.”
“If you’re scared, there’s still time to back out.”
“That’s what I should be saying to you.” Rast smiled.
He stepped forward—and together, he and Shiltina entered that illusory portal.
And then—
Everything around them, whether flickering light or drifting wind, froze in an instant.
Only the ever-thickening night remained—
Gently enveloping the figures of Shiltina and Rast.