[BL] Guardians of Fate
Chapter 123 - 26: The Stirring Shadows [2]

Chapter 123: Chapter 26: The Stirring Shadows [2]

"No, no. I don’t think it’s a war," someone retorted, his voice getting louder by the minute. "I heard a while ago that the Scarlet Kingdom is busy producing more weapons and gathering strong Guardians to aid their cause. They would lose more than half of their resources if they went to war, and we all know that their Queen would disapprove of that."

"Then why do you think the soldiers and citizens evacuated the city?" another protested. "It would make sense for the citizens to leave, but the soldiers as well? It was also rumored that they saw a captain’s uniform! The captains never leave that city!"

"Well, they might have just escorted the people to safety, and then—"

"Haven’t you noticed the troubled waters since last night? The beastspawns have also gone wild! The hunters we have here can no longer hold them back. They’ve suddenly become more violent!"

"I think someone also saw a bunch of Lingers leaving the area around Angelbay City. Isn’t that usually a bad omen?"

Ardyn and Leon stiffened. They exchanged uneasy glances.

"What if..." one patron said uncertainly. It was a man with red hair and freckles. "...something worse happened?"

"Like what?"

Another patron shook his head. "Don’t say reckless things and start a scare fest."

"I’m not! But something crossed my mind..."

"What is it?" one man asked curiously. "Maybe it’s something everyone should consider!"

The man with red hair hesitated before lowering his voice. "What if... it came back?"

The patrons were confused. "What if what came back?"

"The—The monster," the man clarified quickly. "What if it’s back?"

Everyone stared at him for a moment before chuckling under their breaths, as though what he had just said was absurd.

"Ridiculous!" they exclaimed. "It has only been three years since the monster was sealed away. It’s impossible for it to return this early."

They waved the theory away in a dismissive manner, clearly confident that it could not happen at all.

However, the red-haired man’s face flushed, and he seemed pretty convinced of his theory. "But doesn’t it make sense?" he argued. "The signs are similar to whenever it reappears each cycle. We had gone through it a couple of times, hadn’t we? I’m telling you, it’s a good possibility—"

The patrons frowned. "That’s nonsense! Why would it come back after it was sealed away, then? The sealing crystal lasts for a period of eight years. It’s powerful enough to contain the monster, and nothing can ever break it. You should already know this by now."

"Of course I do!" the red-haired man said heatedly. "But hear me out... what if the past has come back to haunt us? Don’t you all know about what happened in history? The trespassers from another world?"

The tavern instantly fell into silence.

The man’s voice was loud enough to fill the entire space, and after the words left his lips, his face turned redder than before, and this time he seemed embarrassed.

Heads turned to look at their table, and the only ones who didn’t were Ardyn and Leon, who sat stiffly in their seats.

Ardyn, in particular, felt his palms sweat with nervousness. Sure, it wasn’t an outrageous theory that the people would eventually come to, but humans’ reactions were generally hard to predict.

He felt the paranoia creep up on him again, as if someone in the tavern would suddenly point a finger at him and everyone would immediately ambush him on the spot. At the mere thought of it, Ardyn could hear his heart pounding in the eerie silence of the room, beating and pulsing so loudly it felt like it was trying to crawl up his throat.

And then, about a minute later, the tavern erupted in an explosion of murmuring.

"A trespasser? An Otherworlder? Perish the thought!"

"Ridiculous! They are now nothing more than a myth!"

"But what if a trespasser really did arrive? What if—"

"Idiot! How certain are we that the Calamity has even returned? For all we know, something else might have happened to Angelbay City!"

"Like what, then? What would cause all of their soldiers and citizens to flee the city?"

"Yeah! It ain’t natural, that’s for sure! You don’t just uproot an entire city on a whim. It must be something serious!"

"We are not sure that every single one was evacuated yet! What about the King and Queen? Surely they would not abandon their kingdom!"

"Well then it must be a war! Otherwise—"

"But if a multitude of Lingers was spotted—"

"Hold on! Let’s all not get carried away. What if they are facing an external threat? We all know that the beastspawns have been acting violently lately. Perhaps the creatures are gathering at the borders or something like that."

"But if there’s really an Otherworlder, it lines up, doesn’t it? I heard that there’s been a sudden storm in the Emerald Kingdom. In the Sapphire Kingdom, snow fell from the skies out of nowhere when it isn’t even wintertime. In the deep oceans, there were multiple whirlpools everywhere—"

"Now where did you get that information? You’ve never mentioned that before!"

"I wanted to bring it up but—"

"This is stupid! Look, if the monster has really returned, or if an intruder has really crossed the land, then the kingdom would inform us, no? We should wait for the official news before making any assumptions. Otherwise, we would just be creating fear among the masses."

"But isn’t it good to be prepared? What if we also need to evacuate?"

"As I said, the government will inform us! We should exercise patience at this time! Causing panic among us will not help anyone!"

Some of the townspeople began to argue heatedly. Some panicked while others tried to dismiss the concerns and theories as outrageous.

Meanwhile, in the midst of these chaotic conversations, Luke finally returned to their table with a woman trailing behind him, carrying two trays with three dishes on them.

Ardyn watched as the woman set the dishes down and wished them a good meal.

Luke handed out the dishes one by one. "Here’s mine, and then here’s yours."

Then, as if sensing Ardyn’s unease, he added in a gentle voice, "Don’t worry too much. Everything will be fine."

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