bert looked behind his back, twisting himself around as he looked at the cupboards leading towards the kitchen; switching to magic, Norbert scanned, only seeing the magic in the air, permeating from those around the table, the slight signs of the goddess's presence disappearing, ever so slowly but getting quicker and quicker. The tap’s sigils are used to create the water for washing, and the respective ones on the hot and cold tap for their appropriate temperature.
Turning back towards the table, the hairs on his neck still standing up, reaching for the water, Norbert tried to look behind himself. Picking the cup up, he threw the contents over his shoulder, hearing a stuffed murmur from behind.
"So, how long have you been following me, Hyeon?" Norbert asked, reaching forward and taking the jug, filling his cup with water, a satisfied smile on his face.
"Since you returned from the jungle expedition," Hyeon said, stepping behind Norbert, heading to the other side of the table and standing behind Sally. Norbert's face, on hearing the response, dropped the smile from his face at the discovery. The weeks the lady would be following him without him even realising.
Norbert, looking at Hyeon, asks her, "How did you stay up so long?" He asked her, remembering his multiple all-nighters he had taken over the past weeks.
"You didn't move around a lot, so it was easy. Unlike your whistling, I wanted to shove pencils in my ears whenever I heard the three of you to stop the horrendous noise you created." Hyeon replied; Norbert saw her face twist up in pain at remembering what she had heard.
Norbert shook his head. "You don't understand the beauty of what is being done here." He said to her, Obsius and Count von Count shaking their head in turn as well.
Hyeon glared at Norbert and the three, "Purposefully whistling horrible tunes to get on people's nerves. I understand that completely." She said to him. Breathing out, leaning forward on the chair, "You three have taken to new levels of annoyance, and the worst part is the three of you enjoying it. No wonder Stumpy wanted to strangle you." Hyeon said to them.
Norbert leaned back in his chair, quickly reviewing what had happened over the past few weeks; if he had done anything, he would need to be wary of her finding out. Nodding to himself that nothing could be found, having always been in public, most of the time reading.
As Norbert sat there, lost in thought, he came over him.
Thinking of his stints just reading or doing the same thing repeatedly, he was reminded about his views of the black door, the ink going out of it, and the creeping feeling going over his shoulder. The eminent warning that he felt there. His body shivered by itself, what Luck had said about something wearing on her shoulders, a tinkling of a thought connecting the two.
Turning serious, Norbert turned to Hyeon. "Did you see that in the hallway?" He asked her.
Hyeon gave him a weird look, not understanding what he was saying. Perplexed about the thought, was it just in his head the black doors he saw, the infection taking place? The purple veins in his blood and his elixirs were finally showing themselves that he had been losing it.
Dismissing the thought, not having had any elixirs recently or pushing himself, he believed it would be showing its signs quicker than weeks later.
Looking around the table, Norbert wondered, "So, what will happen now?" He asked.
Hearing silence from around the room, shrugging his shoulders, Norbert stood up. "I'll assume it's what I've always been doing, then," Norbert said, getting quieter as he started walking away.
Sally looked over to Norbert. "Where are you going?" She asked him.
Norbert turned, looking between Hyeon and Sally, jumping between the two women. "Just to have a look at this place." Norbert said, walking off to the door he saw before, hearing a step following him, roaring, "And it would be appreciated if I could be by myself."
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The footsteps behind him stopped, heading towards the door. Norbert opened it up, quickly closing it behind him. Breathing in profoundly, Norbert thought about what was happening; looking in the room, he found himself chuckling at the spiral staircase that looked back at him.
He was surprised not to see the usual spiral staircase but a standard straight one going to a floor above. Norbert walks through, seeing a door at the top of the staircase. Holding his hand to it, feeling no resistance as he pushed it forward, walking into the next room.
Stepping through, I felt it close behind him with a slam, turning around and confirming the door was still there. Holding the handle, Norbert pulled it, confirming seeing the same stone staircase. Closing it silently, Norbert looked around the room he found himself in.
Seeing another balcony pushed inside compared to the other one, Norbert walked towards it, seeing the same view as the one underneath him. Looking over at the snow falling away, Norbert looked around the room, finding someplace to sit down.
He saw the room sparsely occupied. Only a chest at the foot of the bed, a chair next to the bed with a cushion and two bedside tables on either side. The same white stone with grey and black veins throughout. Norbert looked forward, nodded at it, and looked at the purple bed covers with red pillows. Norbert wondered who was the designer to choose these two colours being forced together.
Picking the chair up, pushing his energy to make the stone light enough to move quickly, Norbert brought it out onto the balcony. Setting it down, Norbert sat on it, looking at the barrier stopping the snow from going further in.
Unbuckling the sword from his hip, Norbert laid it against the balcony rail, angling it steeper and steeper until his face was hit with the cold wind.
Giving it a shake, confirming that it wouldn't move, Norbert leaned back in the chair, breathing out as he felt the cold wind hit his face. Closing his eyes, the snow hit him as he relaxed, slowly relaxing each muscle, the tension he felt before leaving his body.
He dropped his hand to the side, letting them both hang, feeling the excellent stone touching his fingertips through his gloves. Norbert thought about what he had seen in the hallway, a nagging suspicion always there that it was leading to something, a key to whatever issue Luck was dealing with.
Thinking about Luck and the issue she was going through or the thing on her mind. Wondering if whatever was affecting her would soon affect him as well. Letting it go, Norbert thought about the plan he would need to do.
As he thought about what to do within the Halls of the Mountain King, he thought: why didn't Sally trust him? After jumping for her every whim and everything he told her, he knew she would be fact-checking him on everything he had gone through. He looked around for his backpack, realising he had left it downstairs, remembering the bestiary she had given him, the amount of time it would take and allowing him to be there.
I thought about his time on Earth, how they went together around the place, seeing Luck over there and that she had picked Jack out of everyone, his roommate and best friend. Feeling the paranoia closing in around him, Norbert breathed out, thinking about it rationally.
As known, the most obvious answer was likely true. Mulling the thought, Norbert wondered what could explain it all. I came to two thoughts: Lily and Hyeon both being there and Count von Count, the vampire, still following him around.
After sticking with him for so long, the vampire was nowhere to be seen; the reason for him to stick so close to him was not to be left behind, and now he couldn't even be seen. It was too far away if he was called to the other room without knowledge.
Why would they have three people watching him and one he didn't even know about following after him? Knowing they knew about his vision, and if he couldn't, he doubted that others doing scans would also be able to see her.
The only thing coming together would be if someone were after him, not even thinking about the list of people that could be, the amount baffling him and growing longer. He was astounded as the list continued to grow of the people in mid to high places that he had annoyed throughout it.
Wanting to push it to the test, Norbert stood up, picking up his sword as he stood on the balcony rail. Looking up, Norbert saw the mountainside above him, slick with ice and snow, the rocks seeming to have no traction.
Stashing his sword on his hip, Norbert took a coin out of his pocket. "Head, I go up there; tails, I go downstairs," Norbert asked the air.
He flicked the coin in the a and saw it rise into the air before he caught it. Palming it to the top of his left hand, Norbert looked up, seeing the queen's head looking back at him.
Nodding in confirmation, happy that the both of them were thinking the same thing, Norbert placed the coin in his coin pouch. Taking a dagger out of his belt, Norbert pushed energy into his legs, jumping into the air and latching onto the rock wall. With struggle, Norbert dug the daggers inside, hearing the ice chip under it. Knowing he would need to sharpen the blades after this.