Chapter 21 - Refusal

Darius who was right beside the two of them didn't understand what they were talking about.

Why were they saying that he was unlucky and that he was one of those?

He was one of what?

"Um, sorry, but what are you guys talking about?" interjected Darius as this conversation was clearly about him.

The dagger was now only secondary as this seemed to be a lot more important at the moment.

Both Ashe and the dwarf turned toward Darius only shaking their heads.

"Don't worry about it," uttered the dwarf.

It seemed that he didn't want to talk about it, but he wouldn't get away with that so easily.

"What do you mean, don't worry about it? Ashe?" exclaimed Darius, clearly infuriated that they didn't want to tell him what they were talking about.

However, even when looking at Ashe with pleading eyes, he didn't get any response.

'Just what is wrong with me?' thought Darius, worried.

He had noticed the gazes of some people in the streets, but he only thought of them as normal since his appearance was different from others with white hair and red eyes.

"Let's just buy the dagger," said Ashe, trying to change the subject.

However, Darius wanted to know, this was just the beginning of his second life. He wanted to know if he ignored something important about him.

"No, no, tell me what's wrong with me," he muttered with more confidence.

"Young man, believe me, it's better if you don't know," said the dwarf looking directly into his eyes.

This time the dwarf seemed quite serious as he even held both of Darius's shoulders, even if he had difficulty since he was so small.

"I don't care, if it's better or whatever, does it concern me?" asked Darius.

He didn't care about their opinions or whatever, he wanted to know and he was going to know because based on the look of pity that he had received from the dwarf earlier this thing simply couldn't be anything good.

"It does concern you, well... if you want to know I guess I could tell you," hesitated the dwarf, giving. a subtle look to Ashe.

Ashe however discreetly shook her head, it seemed that she didn't want Darius to learn about it at all.

"Nevermind, let's just pick a dagger for you."

This time Darius was truly frustrated as he had obviously noticed the look that the dwarf had given Ashe.

"Just fucking tell me, is it that hard," shouted Darius out of anger.

Why was it so hard to tell him?

Was it really something that bad?

"Darius, it's for your own good," muttered Ashe with a serious voice. "And forget about us telling you, that won't happen. Now choose your dagger and let's leave this place."

Darius hearing this knew that even if he continued to insist it wouldn't even amount to anything.

However, he now knew that Ashe was hiding something from him, and he would try his best to learn about it.

"Whatever," said Darius as he scuffed clearly unhappy by this whole situation.

'Did the old me know about it? Is it regarding those memories that I got when taking over his body?' thought Darius while selecting his dagger.

Darius clearly hadn't given up on finding out about what they had talked about.

He remembered that his memories when arriving had been quite vague and Darius wasn't sure what had happened to his previous self.

Still, it's not like he could go back in the past. He also didn't have access to any other memories than what he had been shown when arriving.

Then, Darius dismissed those thoughts as he looked in front of him, he had a dagger to buy and it's not like he would be able to figure anything by simply thinking about it.

There were many daggers on the wall and they all seemed of pretty good quality which worried Darius just a little.

*Creak*

It seemed that someone else had just entered the shop as Darius heard the door's creaking noise once again.

However, he didn't bother looking back as a dagger seemed to have caught Darius's eyes.

It was a completely black dagger which seemed sharp enough to cut everything in its path by the looks of it.

Not sure if it was going to be a good fit, he took it in his hands and tried swinging it a couple of times.

After a few swings, he stopped and turned toward the dwarf without much enthusiasm, remembering what had just happened.

"I'll take this one," he said handing it to him.

"Oh, quite the nice one that you chose since you're a friend of Ashe, it will only cost you 20 gold coins," uttered the dwarf, as he handed out his hand waiting for the payment.

However, there was still the same problem as earlier, he didn't have any money to give him.

"Um, about that, there's a small problem..."

"What is it?"

"Well, I kind of don't have any money on me right now. Could I come back later and give you the money?"

*Tap*

*Tap*

*Tap*

While Darius was doing his bargaining, a constant tapping noise could be heard from right behind him, it seemed that the person who had entered the shop not long ago was waiting right behind him.

"There you go," interrupted the person who was behind Darius handing the twenty golds as if it was nothing at all.

'What's happening? Why is she paying for me?'

"You see, I'm in a hurry, so if you could move out of the way that would be great," said the feminine voice which was right behind Darius.

'Who is this?' thought Darius, looking back and wondering why someone would pay twenty gold simply because she was in a "hurry".

Then, as Darius was about to ask her who she was, Ashe intervened simply pulling him to her side.

"You can go ahead and pay for yours miss," exclaimed Ashe with extreme care.

'Why is she talking like that? Who is she?'

{A/N: Do you like the current pacing or is it too slow? I'm wondering whether or not to accelerate a little the story. Would love to have some feedback.}