Chapter 67 The City Of Warriors Part 3

The night wind blew gently, and the small flames of the bonfire swayed with the wind. Yul and Hajime looked at each other for a while, trying to see if the other understood and felt the same way. The more silently they looked into each other's eyes, the vaguer their answers became. Each of them has their own doubts about the feelings the other said.

Yul didn't know how to answer Hajime. He tried to choose the best words to say to Hajime without hurting Hajime's feelings, because after all, he still needed Hajime to help him retrieve the five keys. There are many feelings in him. He's not sure if he has feelings for Hajime or if it's just because Hajime is an important person who must live till the end. All he could do was stare at Hajime without saying a word, he knew that a long silence would make the situation even weirder, but Yul really couldn't think of what to say to Hajime.

When Hajime looked into Yul's eyes, he saw a familiar look. He had seen the same look before. That kind of look makes people still doubt their own decision. He knows he's seen it before, but he doesn't remember the faces of those who have similar gazes to Yul. In order not to make the atmosphere worse than it is, Hajime said, "You are not obliged to answer anything." Hajime laughed it off. He tapped Yul's shoulder lightly. "You asked me a question, and I was just expressing myself." He stretched his arms. "I think I'm sleepy now. You can keep watch then." He stood up and started walking back to where he slept.

"Hajime," Yul said suddenly. "I don't know what feeling you're referring to, but I want you to know that no matter what happens in the future, I will protect you with my life."

Yul's words were like sharp knives, piercing directly into Hajime's heart one by one. Hajime knew deep down that his feelings and Yul's feelings were not the same. He also understands that the reason Yul protects him is because Tanzang Kingdom needs him to retrieve the white dragon tail, and Yul is mainly doing his job to make sure that the task is complete.

"Hajime, what are you looking forward to? Your fate will not change in this universe or the other. You are destined to be alone. You must realize that when you take your first breath, your fate has been written in your palms, nothing you try will change your destiny," Hajime's inner voice said to himself.

Hajime took a deep breath, trying to hide his disappointed voice. With tears streaming down his cheeks slowly, Hajime said with a smile, "I can guarantee that as long as you keep me safe, I will help you complete your mission." He raised his hand and waved to Yul. "Stop talking, I'm very tired now." He wiped away his tears and walked back to the other three people who were already asleep on the ground.

Although Hajime was far away from U-ri, U-ri could hear Hajime softly sobbing. If the night wasn't too quiet, U-ri would have missed it, but tonight the mating crickets weren't on Hajime's side. U-ri rolled his eyes to the left, and found Hajime, who was sleeping on his left facing away. After U-ri listened for a while, Hajime finally fell asleep, and he slowly got up to find Yul still sitting by the bonfire a few yards away from them. U-ri got up and walked towards Yul.

Yul looked up at U-ri and said, "You don't have to keep watch."

U-ri scoffed, "I know." He sits next to Yul. "It doesn't matter how many days or months we spent sleeping on the ground." He chuckled lightly. "I'm still not used to it." He took out his pipe and tapped it lightly on a log, then took out a small bag, grabbed a pinch of tobacco leaves, stuffed the dried shredded tobacco leaves into the chamber, and picked up a small stick from the bonfire. Picking up a small stick, lit the crushed tobacco leaves. He took two buffs and looked at Yul. "If we successfully complete the mission. Bring back the white dragon tail and destroy the black hole. What are you going to do after that?"

Yul turned to look at U-ri and asked, " Why did you suddenly ask this question?"

U-ri took another puff of smoke and said, "I just want to know."

Yul asked, "What about you?"

U-ri smiled and said, "I may ask His Majesty to send me to Dreake, I want to see that library."

Yul said, "Maybe, I'd better go back and continue to be a palace captain."

U-ri asked, "What do you think Abrafo will do?"

Yul said, " Not sure, but he will probably continue to serve under my father."

U-ri said, "You don't want to serve under your father? When he retires, he could simply pass the title to you. You know, no matter how good Abrafo is, if the golden rule is still in effect, he will never be a general."

Yul sighed and said, " I promised my mother that I won't join the army."

U-ri said, " It's nice to be a man who keeps his word." He sucked another puff of smoke. "What about Hajime? What do you think he will do after we complete this task?"

Yul said, " He said he was going to find his true love."

U-ri said, "You know when I was young, there was a painting that I liked very much. It was well painted and meaningful. When I first saw the painting, it looked weird, but as I continued to look at it, it turned out to be a very beautiful painting with a very deep message. While I find the painting somewhat interesting, the price is too high. Every day when I walk from my house to the palace, I'll glance at the painting to see if the salesman will lower the price, but for the longest time that stingy salesman never lowered the price. Until one day I noticed the price dropped." He chuckled. "I want to see how low the salesman will drop the price, actually the salesman continues to drop the price every day… Hehe Hehe… I have enough money to buy it, but I keep pushing it aside. The reason is that I just want to try my luck. I told myself that no one would buy the painting because only I could see the meaning behind the image. The painting hung in the shop for two months. Then one day, when I walked home, I found that the painting was no longer there, and that's when I started to get annoyed. I have money, I can buy it, but I choose not to. From that day on, I never took that road to the palace again." He took another puff of smoke. "One day I was invited to a minister's tea party, and it was there that I saw the same painting that I refused to buy. Every guest who enters that guest room will notice the painting. I asked if I could buy it from the minister, but he refused to sell it. Later, the kind minister sent me a copy with a note."

Yul asked, "What's on the note?"

U-ri said, "The kind minister said that although he couldn't give me the original painting, he found someone to copy every detail of the original painting. When I saw the copied painting, I regretted it very much. I regretted it until now. After that day, I never paid attention to or bought any painting again."

Yul asked, "Why not? Since you already got a copy, shouldn't you be happy?"

U-ri shook his head and said, " But the copied painting is not the original painting I am obsessed with. This situation has taught me a life lesson, so when my wife comes to propose marriage, I can only agree."

Yul smiles at U-ri, "Really? Your wife really proposed to you."

U-ri said, "Yes... many people said that it was inappropriate for her to propose to me, even my father asked me to wait, but I didn't want to regret it later, so I agreed to marry her." U-ri sighed. " You never know how important something is until it's in someone's hands. Yul, people use fate as an excuse to delay their decision, regret it later, and blame their regrets on fate when they should be blaming themselves for the decision they made. In this world, there is no fate, only regret or no regret." He tapped Yul on the shoulder twice. He got up and walked back to sleep.

Yul knows he might not be the smartest of the five but he's not stupid either, he fully understands the message U-ri is trying to tell him, but he can't promise to love anyone because his future is unknown, so he doesn't want to give anyone any hope.

Yul was still thinking, when suddenly loud thunder started to bloom non-stop. Lightning struck the ground one after another, not far from where they were sleeping. The ground began to rumble, as if hundreds of volts were flowing underground. At this time, the four sleeping people had fully awakened.

Abrafo looked at the night sky and said in horror, "What is it that can make such a thing?"

Michio pointed beyond the wall. "Look over there. Every lightning strike just hits there," he said. "Why?"

Hajime said, "It seems that the person who controls the lightning target is there."

A loud roar sounded from within the stone wall, causing the five men to cover their ears and stare at the stone wall. Protruding slowly from the stone wall with its head down is the huge head of a white dragon. Its head was lifted to the sky, condensing the surrounding chi energy, from its mouth quickly blasting a powerful energy ray towards something on the ground. The powerful white energy ray made a hole in the stone wall, and the powerful energy ray continued to travel towards the five men that were standing more than a hundred yards away from the stone wall at the speed of light.

Hajime quickly took off his bangle and threw it into the sky, forming a magic protection field around the five men, and the magic rays collided with the magical bangle.