NOVEL NEXT Chapter 35 Humane?
Liam was certain that the students in front of him were all idiots, including the silver-spoon Olivia.
He expected a little bit more from all of them, just to be looked at in the same way as before. It was almost as if it didn't make a difference to them whether he was just a mysterious savior or an infiltrator from another Realm! That was plain stupid, and Liam couldn't trust what he saw.
"What does it matter whether you are a Demon or something like that? You helped us when we desperately needed it and you didn't abandon us when we were stupid enough to stand around like stone statues rather than fighting with all our might!" Kian responded after his lengthy explanation of how he did not see any faults with Liam's reasoning to reveal his identity only now.
Liam's lips parted for a second just to close once again. He was baffled at the response he received from the ducklings that were following him all this time.
Only when he finished sorting his thoughts to a certain extent did Liam open his mouth once again, "First of all, I'm not a Demon! I'm half human and half Devil…and second…just do whatever you want. If you die, it's not my fault, remember that!"
Even after he tried his utmost to push the students away, nothing seemed to work out. That was frustrating in one way but also confusing in a certain sense. From his perspective, the students were better off further away from him. They shouldn't be close to him if they wanted to survive a little longer.
However, it was almost as if they had glued themselves to him and would follow him through the Nine Realms if they could. The determination in their eyes told Liam that they would follow him, now with even more conviction than before!
'Did they really just accept that I'm their enemy? And they still want to follow me, even more than before at that?' Liam thought, not able to comprehend the logic there. 'Well, it's not like I initiated the Arcane Apocalypse or that I want to be in Haltan, in the first place…but…well whatever…'
Liam felt a bad headache creeping up and he chose to change the topic. It was not exactly helpful to keep questioning what was going on right now since nobody could understand how he was currently feeling, including himself. He was not sure what he was feeling right now or how he was supposed to feel either.
Should he be relieved that someone didn't push him away for being a Halfling, or was he supposed to be even more vigilant of the natives around him? Would he subconsciously lower his guard around the students just because they didn't seem to be more afraid of him now that he revealed his identity, or would he subconsciously be even more wary of their gazes?
It was weird that they thought he was handsome, and that he looked cool rather than frightening, or that he was not a disgusting existence since he was the breed of a Devil and a Human. This new feeling that emerged from the depths of his subconsciousness was certainly not bad, but Liam didn't like new feelings since their influence was the least predictable.
"Let's put aside all this chaos and pay more attention to the current situation," Olivia interrupted all of a sudden. She was still a little bit baffled that nobody but her could immediately tell that Liam was way too familiar with the Arcane System, Soultraits, fighting, and the detailed information he had since the Arcane Apocalypse started. Not many were supposed to have it, however, it was even more obvious to her that Liam was overwhelmed with the reaction he received from them.
Even if she couldn't fathom how his life must have been, Olivia had often read about Devils and Humans in novels, animes and other means of entertainment. If the reality was similar to the things she knew from those shows and novels, Devils and Humans were supposed to hate each other to the core. Liam's reaction was more than enough to show that he had never actually been accepted for who he was, which meant that he had planned to use his revelation to push them away.
Olivia didn't like the way Liam was handling the current situation, thus she chose to take over as long as she was given the opportunity.
"You wanted to search for more survivors and move them all to the gymnasium, right?" She asked Liam who nodded his head in response.
He was still a little bit flabbergasted but Olivia's nonchalant attitude allowed him to pull himself together much faster than he would have been able to without her.
"As everyone can tell by now, I don't know anything about this place. Is this some sort of an Academic City, or did I just accidentally run into this treasure trove?" Liam asked, which caused Olivia and the others to tilt their head.
"Treasure Trove?" Rex asked, wondering if Liam had somehow miscommunicated what he actually wanted to convey.
"Ignore that…how many students are usually in the library, and the different University buildings? Are there any other places where many people could safely hide from the rats, Meheks, and other monsters?" Liam asked while knowing sure damn well that he sounded like an amateurish idiot who had recently become a hunter.
His mind was in a weird state where he couldn't gather a straight thought, yet, be able to understand that he ended up blabbering something that made sense and at the same time sounded weirdly stupid.
"We have the biggest library in the entire valley. In fact, the entire city is considered a gold mine of information and knowledge for students. As for the hospital, it is also pretty close and you should find more survivors inside there. After all, there are only a few hundred students in the library all the time while there are thousands of people in the hospital every single day," Kian explained shortly without minding Liam's current behavior.
The way Liam behaved right now made him feel much closer to the students than before. He was more humane rather than a killer machine without emotions.
"Hm…alright then," Liam nodded his head which caused Kian and the others to look at him with expectations.
"Where are we going?" Kian asked while turning his entire body in the direction of the hospital, just for Liam to start smiling lightly.
"The library, of course!"