Chapter 56 World B: 1 Tenas awakens from his sleep...
Tenas awoke from his sleep with a splitting headache.
Tenas gently rubbed his aching temples with his fingers and sat up from the bathtub.
Damn, I was so tired, I didn't expect to fall asleep while showering.
Tenas suddenly felt a surge of frustration. Ugh, so much work! And he had to handle it all by himself.
He couldn't remember how many nights he had stayed up before bed, but he had been working until his eyes hurt. While taking a shower, he was still half asleep, thinking about how much work he still had to do. He fell asleep as soon as he started thinking about it. Luckily, the water level wasn't high, or he would have drowned.
The idea of a guardian drowning is a bit too ridiculous. If they don't die in battle but instead die suddenly or from exhaustion, like drowning themselves in the bathtub, that could be a source of amusement for a long time.
I think I just had a wonderful dream; I dreamt of Ethan when he was a child.
When he was eighteen, he met Ethan, who was eight years younger than him. Unexpectedly, the two of them got along very well and quickly became close friends despite their age difference. They often played together and read books together.
Little Ethan was so cute back then, so adorable and soft, and he would call him "Tenas brother." It's a pity he stopped calling him that when he grew up. Now, he never gives Ethan a friendly look. When will this damn rebellious phase ever end?
Thinking back to the well-behaved little Ethan I first met in my dreams a few years ago, and then to the grumpy little Ethan I am now, who still yells at me to go to hell when I see him, I can't help but sigh that time waits for no one.
The contrast was huge; I felt a bit unwilling to wake up.
No matter how unwilling he was, he still had to accept it. After calming down, Tenas got out of the bathtub.
His wet feet stepped onto the cold floor. Because he hadn't dried himself, water droplets formed shallow puddles, and as Tenas walked, a trail of water appeared under his feet.
Because I fell asleep in the bathtub, my hair was still wet, and water kept flowing due to gravity.
The liquid flowed from her scalp down her cheeks, then to her collarbone, past a delicate yellow sapphire necklace adorning her chest, her full pectoral muscles, all the way down to the ground.
As if the water in his hair made him uncomfortable, Tenas grabbed a towel before leaving the bathroom and wiped his hair casually. The dry towel dutifully absorbed a lot of water, and the amount of water in his hair visibly decreased.
That's the downside of long hair; it's hard to dry.
Tenas wasn't wearing a bathrobe. He lived alone, and the French windows were always closed. Was leaving them open giving him a chance to be killed by a sniper?
The other guardians were unaware of this property he resided in; nobody knew except him, and it was even registered under someone else's name. Being assassinated was incredibly annoying! Although he could fight them off, they were like flies, constantly bothering him.
Tenas opened the refrigerator door, and a cool breeze hit him; he felt a bit chilly as he was still damp.
He took out a can of beer, closed the refrigerator door, and opened it with a flick of his finger. A few bubbles rushed out, and Tenas took a sip.
The cold beer made me feel much better, and even my drowsiness disappeared. My head didn't seem to hurt as much anymore.
Then he heard a heavy sound as something fell, and when he turned around, he saw a person getting up from the sofa.
The person, wearing a cloak, rubbed his sore face and looked around curiously, as if trying to figure out where he was.
Tenas maintains the posture of holding a beer in his left hand while preparing a powerful attack with his right.
When the other person turned around, a very familiar face came into view—it was Little Ethan. His killing move was deflected.
It was truly... a pleasant surprise.
Ethan, feeling dizzy, lifted his head from the sofa. He had passed through a portal and traveled through time and space. His body felt like it was squeezed into a jar, shaking violently. He felt nauseous and uncomfortable.
Fortunately, he fell into a sofa and got up to find himself in an unfamiliar room.
Looking around, he noticed a naked man standing not far away, drinking beer and staring blankly – it was none other than Ternas.
Dude! Why aren't you wearing any clothes?!
Oh, so he was the intruder. That's alright then.
"Ethan." In this parallel world, Turnas seemed to come to his senses and gave Ethan a smile, a smile even brighter than Turnas's on Ethan's side. How dazzling!
Ethan awkwardly got off the sofa. He was a little socially anxious about meeting a stranger, but the other person was someone he knew, a kindred spirit of Turner, putting him in a Schrödinger-like state of social anxiety.
Since Tenas knows his counterpart and they're laughing so happily, they must have a pretty good relationship? That's why Ethan asked Tenas if he was a Guardian first.
“Guardian? Of course.” Tenas’s tone was light, and as if noticing that Ethan was avoiding his gaze, he put on his bathrobe. “I’m the guardian of Sunfire City. I have a lot of work to do. I just took a shower and fell asleep from exhaustion. What about Ethan?”
“I am the guardian of Starfall City.” Ethan felt much more at ease upon hearing that Tenas was the guardian of Sunfire City. He explained the situation that both of them already knew and sought help: “...So that’s it. Our world needs more power to save our city’s will.”
“I see.” Tenas’s smile widened as he heard Ethan’s purpose, but he pretended to be hesitant at the end: “Then the power needed for the will of all the cities in the world should not be enough for me alone. Even if we have to travel through multiple parallel worlds, we will need to borrow more. I am happy to help you, but you also know that I cannot represent all the guardians. If we lend out our power, our power will also be weakened, not to mention the guardians of other countries.”
Ethan was somewhat disappointed by the failure on his first attempt, but he could understand.
The power they need is too immense; if they were to borrow it from just one guardian, it would take forever.
“However, I can help you persuade the others, but you have to promise me one thing.” Looking at the discouraged Ethan, Tenas seemed a little sorry for him: “If you can do that, I can guarantee that I can lend you the power of three guardians. You know, I have good relationships with a lot of people.” He then gave Ethan a wink, looking incredibly cool.
Ethan instantly perked up. Tenas could almost see his non-existent ears standing up, and his counterpart, exactly like young Ethan, looking at him expectantly: "What is it?"
“It’s Ethan’s side job right now. It’s a bit too dangerous. We think he doesn’t need to do it, but he insists on doing it.” Tenas said helplessly, “We’re not short of money. We can get more precious materials if we want, but he just likes to do that dangerous work. We are very worried about him and want him to quit his job and focus on his Guardian work, but we have failed.”
Upon hearing this, Ethan's first thought was that Turners had misunderstood him as a prostitute. He paused, then wondered if it might be a misunderstanding: "Could there be some kind of misunderstanding? Like, the job isn't that dangerous?"
“How could it not be dangerous?” Tenas laughed, but this time the smile was faint and didn’t seem very funny. “It’s very dangerous. Many of his colleagues have died, and his leaders have all died.”
Ethan felt that the description didn't sound like streetwalking and that he probably couldn't persuade her otherwise.
He should be very clear about what he is doing, even if he is in a dangerous situation.
“I’m sorry…” Ethan was a little afraid to look at Tenas, and told him what he thought: “...So it is like this, I should know in my heart that once someone has made up their mind, it is not so easy to persuade them, so I probably can’t persuade Ehtan.”
Tenas looked disappointed, but there was no way to persuade him otherwise. If his counterpart really liked that side job, he couldn't convince him to quit and return to being a Guardian. Besides, he only had a side job; he wasn't giving up being a Guardian.
“It’s alright.” Tenas flexibly changed to a more relaxed condition: “Then can you help me smooth things over with little Ehtan? After his leader died, I tried to persuade him to quit that line of work. He was probably too heartbroken, so he argued with me and refused to resign. We’ve been giving each other the cold shoulder for a long time, and now he rolls his eyes at me whenever he sees me…” He sounded a little pitiful at the end.
How about trying to ease the tension? This approach has a much higher success rate than the previous one. Shouldn't we encourage them to talk and apologize to each other?
Rather than giving up his beloved side hustle, wouldn't it be easier to rekindle his friendship with his friend? Ethan agreed.
“I remember there’s some kind of magic treaty with the mages, right?” Tenas seemed to remember something, and a bright smile returned to his face, making him shine. “Let’s sign that one, that way no one else should be able to find any problems with this mission.”
Ethan, of course, agreed. He drafted the treaty, signed his name on the parchment, and pressed his fingerprint on it. Tenas also signed it.
After signing the parchment scroll, he disappeared on the spot, leaving only scattered stars where he vanished; the contract was thus established.
"Should I go find Ehtan now?" Ethan asked. He wanted to finish this quickly so he could borrow power from other worlds. Time was of the essence; who knew how long it would take? Who knew what the flow rate was like in these worlds? What if it was 1:10 and they were doomed? By the time they got back, who knew how many years would have passed?
Furthermore, the divination also indicated that this time-travel journey would be fraught with danger. Although there were easy-going individuals like Tenas, it was not guaranteed that all the guardians would encounter easy-going guardians.
What if you encounter a formidable guardian or someone from the evil faction and get killed?
“No rush.” Tenas took a bottle of Coke from the refrigerator and handed it to Ethan. “He’s been working on a side job lately, so it’ll be a few days before we see him. You can stay here with me for the next couple of days, and I’ll let you go when he’s free.”
Ethan quickly waved his hand in refusal. Although he was still a bit socially awkward, he was much more confident than before and had learned to say no. He wouldn't drink a potion to induce vomiting later just because he was embarrassed to refuse someone: "I have some special health issues and can't eat. Thank you for your kindness."
Tenas paused, his voice softening considerably: "Can you tell me why you can't eat? If you're being presumptuous, then forget it. But if you don't mind the long night, we can talk."
Ethan didn't really want to say it, because every time he did, he would receive pitying looks from others. But looking into Tenas's deep blue eyes, he couldn't bring himself to say no.
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Author's Note: Ethan = Ethan
Tenas = Tenas
I absolutely loved the first world; the relationships were quite complicated, and it was probably the longest one yet.
Ta-da! First up is Turner, Ethan's best friend from his childhood!
There's another villain in this world that I absolutely adore—a truly wicked person! This Tenas is the kind of character who uses emoticons to act cute, and when I first created Kagerou, I couldn't help but incorporate some of Tenas's personality traits.
Tenas：Ethan↘↗(=^▽^=)
Ethan: convex
Then, this world was indeed more friendly to Ethan, but only if it was Ethan who fell in. Anyone else would have to switch to hard mode. It was deliberately made so that Ethan arrived when Tenas was more vulnerable [he was too tired after working overtime for several days, fell asleep in the bathtub, and had a beautiful dream about something that happened in the past, making him more emotionally sensitive and volatile]. Therefore, the world would be more willing to help Ethan; otherwise, it would have been better to test him to see what was going on.
There shouldn't be any spoilers, right? [Question mark] Please look forward to the love, hate, and grudges in this world.
Looking forward to your comments, I'd love to see who else is following this.
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