Chapter XXXVI: A Person He Could Trust

Days passed after the incident happened, and the monster that amused the town square immediately spread like an epidemic.

Every time it passed into someone else's ears, the stories got twisted in the mouths of people to the point that they only believed in their viewpoint.

"I heard that the frightening creature is related to the case of the missing kids."

Blamed by the old lady who's standing in the crowd, blending with the other people who're spreading fabricated words and stories about Akil, who almost destroyed the whole little town.

"Isn't it scary?! Just the thought of the world ending."

"How scary it might be!"

Hearing it made Erwin frown from afar.

Knowing that people already knew about Akil's existence and their exaggerated thoughts about him, they would probably make a scene the moment they found out that he wasn't just an abandoned kid.

Luckily, no one seems to know his human figure and appearance, which would make him hide in the pack.

After hearing enough of the gossip about Akil, who became the talk of the town, Erwin immediately went into the inn, which was made out of thick boards of plank and mahogany.

"That brat, again!"

Erwin's blood began to boil as he felt a sense of irritability, knowing that the kid inside the room was nowhere to be found.

He searched the whole area and checked outside the window to make sure the kid had run away for a second time, but instead of finding a footprint, he did not find anything.

'That damn kid! ' 

Irritated, Erwin grabbed his hair in frustration just to find the kid peacefully sleeping inside Khalid's room, where he was lying down on the bed with Akil sitting on the wooden floor beside him.

"Thought that he was causing a ruckus again?"

He turned his head when he heard Reinhardt's deep voice, standing in front of the door.

"Ha-"

He replied with a sigh, trying to calm himself down.

'Forget it.'

Akil rubbed his eyes as he heard other footsteps entering the room.

Even though his vision was blurry like a windshield covered in fog, he still stood up and walked straight towards Erwin, slowly bowing his head as he apologized sincerely for his past behavior.

He might look like a child right now because of his rebirth, but Akil's soul was already at an age where he knew what was right and wrong, and he was aware that he had done something wrong that might put not only his life but also Khalid's in danger.

If he ever did not possess the curse of immortality, then he was already probably resting in the afterlife for sure.

"I apologize for my mistake."

Akil continued to bow his head as if he didn't have the intention to look at him in the eyes.

'I'm sorry, Hyung.'

His hands were trembling from the guilt he had caused, which made Erwin grit, clenching his teeth from annoyance.

"You're lying on the bed because of me.' 

All that he could think about right now was blaming himself after Khalid passed out while he was being carried unconscious in his arms.

"Tssk. Pathetic!"

He sneers.

"Apologizing for your own mistake does not mean that it will fix everything!"

Erwin affirmed; no one knows if his words affected Akil, but they made him speechless for a while as if he were devoured by his thoughts, looking at the polished wooden floor inside the inn.

Minutes passed, and Akil decided to raise his head, ready to face Erwin.

'I know that it will come to this point; that's why..."

With a serious look in his eyes that pierced through him, Akil continued to speak.

"I've never asked to be forgiven."

All of their foreheads wrinkled from what they had heard, and based on Erwin's behavior, they were rather shocked that someone younger than him had roasted him like a bean, something Dal could not even think of doing.

When silence ate the entire place, Akil stood up straight as he walked much further towards him, where he could be almost half the size of Erwin, who was 170 cm taller than Reinhardt.

"Because if it were to be done by someone else to Hyung, then I would have already killed them."

The look of his crimson eye creeps deeper into their souls as if they were being sucked deep into the pit of hell, they can even feel chills flowing through their nerves after hearing an unexpected word come out of the mouth of a fourteen-year-old boy.

'This kid is crazy! ' 

Dal thought, glancing in Erwin's direction, but after noticing how his emotion had become undetectable, based on the gloomy aura he was emitting, Erwin seemed to be far more than furious.

'That weird calling again!'

It was Akil calling out Khalid with an unfamiliar name that made Erwin grit furiously without knowing the meaning of it that most Korean citizens like them use in the cruel world they once lived in.

"Argh..."

When they heard a groan coming out from a man lying on the bed, all their attention was immediately locked on him, as they looked somewhat relieved and worried the moment he was trying to get up.

"Hyung! Are you alright?! Can you hear me?!" 

"Hyung i-"

Akil ran towards him in excitement and was about to reach him with his hands when Erwin slapped it so hard that he was left frozen on his feet, dumbfounded about his actions.

"Insolent! Stop calling His Highness by a weird name!"

His eyes were flaring as he blocked Khalid behind him using his arms, who was holding his left hand.

After realizing what he had just done, Akil sighed. 

"Right…" 

He looks at them and lets out a faint smile.

'What does he mean by that? ' 

Thinking that they would never even understand the situation they were in that even though they would try to explain it a million times. No one would even believe if he told them that they'd just reincarnated in a fantasy world for an unknown reason.

'They would never know that he is my foster brother.' 

He thought, shaking his head. 

"My bad." 

He replied, looking like an innocent child in disguise.

"You don't have to apologize for something so trivial." 

He jolted out as he heard Khalid's manly voice, which was as captivating as a melody in their ear.

"Milord!" 

Shouted by Erwin, pushing Akil aside, making him fall flat on the floor.

As soon as he fell to the ground, Khalid's body let out a cloud of smoke before returning to a fragile-looking kid that was covered in a long blanket, looking as if he was used to having the small body of a kid.

"Ah-hyung shrink!"

'Eh? What just happened? '

All of them were left in shock, with a blank expression painted on their faces.

He covered himself first with a blanket as he stood up to help Akil, whose tongue seemed to have been cut off by a cat.

"I guess you have a lot to say to me, Akil."

He reached out his right hand, which left Erwin with a dissatisfied look in his eyes, not liking what he was seeing right in front of him.

"But you have to be checked first, milord!" 

His eyes were begging for Khalid to listen which he also seem to notice.

Khalid who seemed too eager to find out the whereabouts of the slave traders in able to find Lillibet left him no choice but to reject Erwin's request.

"No need for it."

His reply and the tone of his voice made him sigh, and this time a derealization seemed to have hit him, making him carve a galad smile on his face as if he had understood everything.

"Then... rest well, milord."

Just like that, they all leave the room, where only the two-looking kids are left inside, but before they even take a few steps back in front of the door, Dal fills Erwin with tons of questions.

"Why did you let that boy be left inside?!"

Agitated about what was going to happen made Dal's curiosity win over him, but as Erwin replied, he noticed how his lips formed a smile, but at the same time, it was the opposite of what was reflecting in his eyes.

"It's fine....because he is someone he can trust."