SIGH~

“Why are the gates closed?” Nero sighed.

“How do you know the gates are closed?” Emilia asked as she tilted her head.

“Can’t you see through the sky?”

“No,” Emilia shook her head.

Nero exhaled sharply and said with a confused look on his face, “Maybe because you are half-angel.”

Emilia didn’t say anything in reply and started pondering about something.

Nero nudged her, saying, “Let’s go. I am hungry.”

Emilia followed Nero, and they kept walking for a while. Nero was glancing back again again to see Emilia— then, he stopped and sighed deeply.

Emilia didn’t stop and kept walking, so she ended up bumping into Nero.

“What are you daydreaming about?” Nero asked.

“You are the one who suddenly stopped.”

“Well… you are supposed to show me the way because I have no idea where I am going.”

“Oh!” Emilia exclaimed and nodded, “Right, follow me.”

Emilia walked forward, and Nero followed her, but Emilia kept changing directions as though she didn’t know the correct path.

“Are you lost?” Nero asked.

“What? No… it’s just…” Emilia looked back at Nero.

“What’s wrong? Something is on your mind?” Nero asked gently.

Emilia nodded.

“What is it?”

“Can I go to the heavens?”

Nero raised his eyebrows and asked, “Why do you want to go there?”

“No, no,” Emilia waved her hands, “You are misunderstanding. I don’t want to go there; I am just asking if I can go there.”

“Hmm,” Nero pondered. “You should be able to. I had a friend who was a half-angel… well, not really a friend, but ‘we’ met her when we were traveling… you know… before I was sealed— but one day she suddenly disappeared without saying anything. I remember her saying she could go to the heavens freely, but she needed an angel to pass through the gates— other than that, nothing.”

“But I don’t think you can go now because the gates are closed, and you are a fallen angel… hmm.” Nero pondered. “I think that half-angel was also a fallen angel, though she never said anything about herself, and we had only traveled together for half-day.”

‘We?’ Even though Nero answered her, Emilia’s mind was stuck on the ‘we’ part.

After some seconds, Emilia was back to her senses, but now Nero was lost in his thoughts.

“What’s wrong?” Emilia asked.

“It’s nothing; It’s just… I can’t seem to remember the name of that half-angel.”

Emilia puffed her cheek and began walking after intentionally pushing Nero to the side.

“Hey! Be careful, what if something happens to Sophia?”

Emilia stopped and started trembling, then after a while, she started walking with heavy steps.

They walked for about half-hour, but there was still no sign of the forest to end.

“Are you sure we are going the right path?” Nero asked as he glanced around.

“It’s normal to get lost in the forest— especially at night,” he remarked.

Emilia looked back at Nero and said with her frowned face, “We are not lost.”

They walked for twenty more minutes and finally saw the walls.

Emilia stopped at the edge of the forest and said, “This is the town I live in, Astracliff.”

Nero glanced around and chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” Emilia asked.

“Nothing,” Nero scoffed and commented, “These Walls.”

“It’s for protection.”

“I know, and back in my time, most of the towns used to have walls, but these walls are way too big. What are they trying to do? Stop the titans’ attack?” Nero scoffed again and started grinning.

Emilia looked at Nero with a puzzled expression on her face.

Nero stopped grinning and cleared his throat, “You know, the titan I fought… that’s what I was referring to.”

Emilia rolled her eyes then said, “There is checking on the gates, and you need to pay money if you are a traveler.”

“I can jump over the walls.”

“Don’t you dare!” Emilia shouted. “This is my town, and you can’t do anything here.”

“What do you mean by your town?”

Emilia crashed into this town from the sky, and she healed slowly over hundreds of years. When she regained consciousness some months ago, everyone treated her as a normal human and helped her in all her needs.

“Didn’t the two mortal shits lived here too?” Nero asked.

“No.” Emilia shook her head and replied, “Only Venus, Matt, and I are from here.”

“They are good people, so if you hurt them, I won’t forgive you.”

“Alright, alright, but I don’t care about your forgiveness, though.” Nero walked forward, saying, “Let’s go now.”

Emilia grabbed Nero’s hand and stopped him. “Wait”

“What now?”

“Cover Sophia.”

“Huh?”

“Cover Sophia with a blanket or something.”

“Why?” Nero asked with a puzzled face.

“They don’t like angels.”

“Uhh… what?” Nero was even more confused.

“I will explain everything later; just cover Sophia for now.”

Nero shrugged his shoulder, then snapped his finger, and he was covered by a mantle. Nero took off the mantle and wore it to Sophia.

“Done. Let’s go now.”

Nero walked again, but Emilia stopped her.

“What now?” he asked.

“You need to wear one too.”

“Why? Do I look like an angel?” Nero teased.

“Stop joking, and wear a cloak.”

“What’s wrong with my handsome face?” Nero commented.

“No matter what you say and how you act, you totally look like you belong to a different race.”

“Oh!” Nero said with a resolute look on his face, “Let me guess, they don’t like any other races, am I right?”

Emilia nodded. “They hate any and all other races other than humans.”

“Legit racists.”

“What?”

“Ignore my lame jokes,” Nero snapped, and soon, his white hair changed to short black hair, and his red eyes changed to blue, and his pointy ears changed into normal human-like ears.

“I still look handsome, right?”

Emilia couldn’t take her eyes off Nero. ‘Now he looks similar to his mother and… when he was a child.’

“What’s wrong? You don’t like it?” Nero asked.

Emilia chuckled, then smiled as she said, “Is there anything you can’t do?”

“Who knows?”

Emilia walked forward and said, “Don’t do anything stupid, and do as I say.”

“I am not like you.”

They reached the gate, and the guards stopped them. There were eight guards outside the gate and ten guards on the other side of the gate.

The guards looked at Emilia, then moved their gazes at Nero.

“Show your pass, please,” one of the guards asked for the pass from Emilia.

The pass was like an identification card for the native town members, and Emilia didn’t have her pass as she had lost all her belongings in the dungeon.

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