Unsealing Emptiness

389 Why me?

Ozul didn’t continue to pay the man any more attention than needed as he felt a piercing gaze from somewhere.

The emotions directed at him were filled with nothing but hostility.

‘Who might that be...’ Ozul wondered as his eyes fell on a woman with a slender figure and quite a lot of exposed skin.

The woman wasn’t only directing her hostility towards him, but at everyone around her.

Ozul was genuinely confused.

This was the first time he had seen someone so deceiving. Her face was full of smiles, eyes arched in happiness as she greeted random people while receiving lustful gestures. But how she acted and politely smiled made it seem like she was too pure and innocent to understand those gestures.

‘It isn’t hostility, but a vicious kind of greed it seems...’ Ozul analyzed further and figured out exactly what emotions she was directing at everyone.

The direct target of these emotions also wasn’t him, but the wild man standing next to him.

‘Does she want to take advantage of him?’

.....

Ozul analyzed the woman thoroughly before finding himself a little interested in what events will unfold in this newly recruited ‘army’. He could use chaotic situations to his advantage depending on the situation.

Those who wanted to leave after hearing the word ‘Wild Beast’ slipped out of the crowd and made an exit under the watchful gaze of the commander. These people weren’t hindered, but the guards at the gates took the silver medallions back.

The crowd thinned a little, but not by a noticeable margin. There were still more than a hundred people gathered there.

Having no more patience and seeing the woman from earlier make her way toward the wild man next to him, Ozul walked out of the busy place. After finding a nice spot, he dropped to the ground to take a nap.

He hoped to rest until night fell and the soldiers were ready to depart.

Unfortunately, getting some peace amidst such an unruly crowd was but a fool’s dream.

Following him was not only his small gang of three but also the wild man who harrumphed before striding towards his location and falling to the ground with a loud thud. While that man’s presence helped made people flock away from them, Ozul found it more annoying having to deal with the woman approaching them in an unsuspicious manner.

‘Sigh...’

Ozul couldn’t help but turn his head to the opposite side. He didn’t want to be related to whatever schemes that woman was planning.

Even though she wasn’t targeting him, the current situation seemed to indicate that he inevitably be caught up in the mess.

The woman took her sweet time before stumbling over and coming face to face with the wild man who, even while sitting on the ground, could almost look eye to eye with a short man.

“Oh, hi there!” the woman gasped as if surprised to have stumbled across the wild man and shined a bright smile.

“...”

While Ozul had his back facing her, others didn’t. Raven, Blaze, Zier, and the wild man all looked at her silently. It was obvious that the wild man didn’t put her in his eyes, nor did he care to do so anytime soon.

“Hehe-he...”

The cringe on the woman’s face appeared only for an instant before it was replaced with a wronged smile.

Seeing her exposed skin not work the magic as it usually did, the woman tried to engage the only other people around, “So, we are all part of the Royal Army now, hm~”

“Since we will be seeing each other a lot, we should introduce ourselves, no? I will start. My name is Rose and I’m already at the Soul Materialization stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.”

Not only Zier but even Raven and Blaze had to give her some attention now. After all, there weren’t many peak Nascent Soul cultivators here.

Zier was almost drooling as he ran his eyes to the exposed thighs of the woman named Rose.

“My name is Zier and I’m at the Soul Nurturing stage. Nice to meet you-!” he spoke excitedly, a little too excitedly since he received a deathly glare from Ozul who was trying to nap. Cutting his introduction short, he smiled awkwardly.

‘The initial stage only, huh? Useless,’ thought Rose as she moved her eyes towards the others. Except for the wild man, these four people were the only ones from whom she couldn’t sense any Spiritual pressure.

She wasn’t stupid to think that they weren’t cultivators. They obviously had an aura concealing Spiritual Tools, so they were either very strong or at the very least, capable people. She could always make use of capable people.

Seeing Raven standing close to Blaze, Rose thought they were partners. Although Raven looked beautiful, Rose was confident in her charms.

Smiling seductively, she looked towards Blaze, expecting him to introduce himself next.

“My name is Blaze.”

That was it.

He wasn’t going to state his cultivation stage. He couldn’t stop Zier, but he knew perfectly well that they were wearing the aura concealing Spiritual Tools for a reason.

Although disappointed, Rose didn’t back down. She looked expectantly towards Raven, but her introduction was even briefer, “Raven.”

“Right...”

Since Ozul wasn’t even facing her, she directed her gaze toward the only man left. The only person that really mattered. She had faced multiple disappointments in a short period of 2 minutes, but she was still hopeful.

Their eyes met as she blinked innocently, “You should introduce yourself as well-”

Ignoring the woman, the wild man eyed Ozul and yawned. “Brat, you make me sleepy as well,” muttering to himself, the man straightened his back before lying down as well.

Now there were two men lying on the ground and ignoring everyone else.

Blood rushed to Rose’s head as she seethed with embarrassment and anger. Although she understood that the man was an Origin Realm cultivator, she felt humiliated. Her anger, however, was barely shown on her face.

“You are not one for introductions, I see. No worries! I think we can still get along just fine!”

Now even Zier was looking at her strangely. This woman was forcing it too much, wasn’t she? She was ignored by the same man twice yet she acted as if nothing had happened and continued to talk as if they were chums since childhood.

Having realized that such an approach was absolutely useless against the wild man, Rose decided to take a step back and observe for now.

As she quietened down, she noticed that he was particularly interested in the boy who was sleeping with his back facing her. To her, however, he seemed just a normal man. Shabby clothes, messy hair, and no manners; all of that hinted at yet another peasant. To Ozul’s luck, she hadn’t seen his face yet.

The Star slowly drowned in the horizon as Rose awkwardly sat beside the group wondering how they coped with such a numbing silence.

Two of them were sleeping, while the other three were cultivating. Only she sat there wondering what was so special in the boy and how to get the wild man to pay her attention.

‘Wait! Is he into...???’

She suddenly had a thought but didn’t want to believe it. However, the more she denied the thought, the more plausible it seemed.

Meanwhile, Ozul shifted uncomfortably in his position.

The intense emotions at his back were too sharp to ignore. Not only that animal-like man but also that woman who wore short clothes.

Luckily for him, it wasn’t long before the soldiers had prepared everything, and the commander who had been standing watch over them like a statue all this while took a step forward,

“His Highness, The Imperial Prince, would be joining this mission!”

As he said those words, those with a keen sense of hearing could already hear the thumping of the ground as a majestic horse could be seen approaching them from a distance.

The Imperial Prince clad in the traditional armor of the royal family appeared as he evaluated everyone with a cold gaze. His eyes stopped in Ozul’s direction for a brief moment before he continued and his horse brought him beside the commander.

‘He wasn’t eyeing me but this guy right?’

Ozul honestly couldn’t tell from that gaze. The Imperial Prince’s emotions were that of interest and a little expectation. In whom exactly, he couldn’t tell.

“Ready to depart!”

Unlike what everyone expected, the Imperial Prince didn’t give any grand speech to raise their morale or cheer them on. He simply directed his horse to lead them out of the royal estate.

Looking around, Ozul found a little more than twenty soldiers including the Imperial Prince and his commander who stayed watch over them since the morning.

At the head of their team, the Imperial Prince and the commander were leading with a few more soldiers while the rest of them were at the end and at the sides. The new recruits were sandwiched in the middle.

‘It’s like they are herding sheep...’ Ozul thought, looking at the encirclement of the soldiers.

Even the wild man grunted in dissatisfaction at such a treatment, but they didn’t dare say anything. Not even he spoke out in the presence of the Imperial Prince.

The Imperial Prince hadn’t uttered a word, but he had already changed the entire atmosphere and the attitude of these people.

Some were afraid while others were excited to ‘show their might’ and be recognized by the Prince.

Being recognized by a peak Origin Realm cultivator was something they could only dream of, yet they wanted to hope.

From time to time, Ozul felt three pairs of eyes stealing glances at him.

‘Why me...’