Rei didn't like the quiet. Not this kind, anyway.
The kind that settled not in the room, but in his head. The kind that felt like the world had inhaled and forgotten to exhale.
He was standing. That was all. Just standing. Arms loosely crossed, posture relaxed, eyes dull. The guild hall around him buzzed with the same life it always had. Tables thumped. Coins clinked. Someone laughed loud and sharp at something crude.
But it wasn't real to him. Not anymore.
His eyes drifted upward.
Still no chandeliers. Just oil lanterns and sun-cracked rafters.
He sighed.
"How the hell do they even bathe here?" he muttered to himself.
There was no answer.
Rei didn't expect one.
This world was still ridiculous. Magic, monsters, stats, "skills," whatever the hell that meant. People here talked about power like it was a number on a badge. Back on Earth, that would be laughable. But here? It was law.
He didn't really care about it. Not the way they did.
He didn't care about kingdoms or factions or magical bloodlines. None of that interested him. Not unless it got him what he wanted:
Money. Power. A name.
The kind that made people shut up. That made them step back instead of step forward. That made the ones who used to sneer at you look down at their feet instead.
That's all.
That's all he ever wanted.
So yeah, he'd play this game. He'd level up. He'd wear black and fight monsters and sign up for missions with fancy ranks.
But deep down, he didn't believe in any of it. Not really.
Until he felt it.
It wasn't like the cold wind that sometimes followed Ailith when she was serious. And it wasn't like the hot-blooded aura of angry adventurers looking to prove something.
This was different.
A silence.
A shift.
He turned around.
She entered like a whisper.
That woman. Draped in black. Boots soft on wood. Her face mostly hidden beneath a hood, but her presence was not.
She walked like she didn't need the room to notice her. Like the room already did.
Rei felt her power. He didn't understand it, not in the way these people would explain it. But Ailith had told him before—some people don't just use magic. They have skills. Powers that bend the air around them, that press down like invisible weight.
It was happening now.
People shifted uncomfortably. A few lowered their heads. The receptionist's smile grew stiff.
But Rei's body?
Nothing.
Calm.
No resistance. No tremble. No instinct to pull away. The pressure had no effect on him.
He didn't even flinch.
Odd, he thought.
But what pulled at him wasn't her. It was something behind her.
No—not behind. Watching. Through the open doorway. Past her shadow.
A presence.
Familiar. Not in a remembered-face kind of way. But in the way your body knows a song you forgot you liked. The way a scent pulls you somewhere you've never been, but feels like home.
It wasn't hostile.
"He remembered the cultists when he arrived in this world the Crimson.how his body moved at the moment it felt killing intent and killed those guys mercilessly and I didn't even feel anything and was smiling like an idiot in front of money"
This wasn't like that.
If the presence behind the woman had meant him harm, his body would've acted. It would've moved on its own.
Instead, it stood still.
She spoke. Asked something. Got her answer.
He didn't care.
He only listened because he had ears. Not because it mattered.
She stepped in front of him.
Introduced herself.
Reka Nywars.
Guild Master. City Lord. Madam 07.
He looked her dead in the eyes.
"I'm Rei Noven."
That's it.
Not because he was trying to be cold. But because what else was there to say?
He wasn't here to play noble games or smile at political figures. He was here because he had to be. Because strength gave you money, and money gave you power, and power made people stop laughing when you walked by.
When she turned her eyes away, when she addressed Ailith, he didn't listen. He let the words pass like background noise.
Instead, he kept his senses tuned.
To the thing behind her.
Watching.
He didn't know what it was. But he knew it wasn't dangerous. Not to him. Not now.
Maybe later.
Maybe eventually.
But not now.
And then, like nothing had happened, they were walking out. He and Ailith. Down the steps, through the side road. Into the open city.
The wind picked up.
Not strong.
Just enough to move the edges of his coat.
He walked a few steps ahead, hands in pockets. Ailith said something behind him—probably a comment about the woman. Maybe about the mission.
He didn't respond.
Because he felt something.
It wasn't words. It wasn't an emotion.
It was a smile.
Not his.
Someone else's.
Not seen. Not heard. But felt. Somewhere behind the veil of the world.
It wasn't threatening.
It wasn't kind.
It simply was.
And for the first time in a long time, Rei smiled too.yeah he smiled genuinely for the first time since arriving in this world
Just a little.
A twitch.
Nothing anyone would notice.
But it was real.
Because maybe, just maybe—this world wasn't just another survival game.
Maybe something was waiting for him.
Or maybe someone remembered him.
He didn't know.
He didn't care.
But he walked forward.
Because that's what you do when the world dares to watch.
You walk.