9- Secret of the Bell Temple (1)

Loka was leaning on his hand while his eyes were fixed on his writing.

"When do you plan to sleep?"

He almost jumped from his place. He looked up and saw Raihle by the library’s door.

His hair was loose over his long white robe, and his skin was as pale as moonlight. If it weren't for the heat his gaze brought to him, he would've thought he was a ghost.

Raihle approached him and placed a steaming cup in front of him, Loka forgot to smile and didn't give the cup any attention.

"Are you okay?" Raihle asked, repeating the same words he said earlier today, only quieter and with more caution.

This time Loka's lips curled when he answered, "I'm fine. I lost terribly, but I'm fine."

Raihle looked at his clothes. "Were you bruised badly? Did you ask someone to help you bandage your injuries?"

Loka felt more confused at the words coming out of such a stoic face.

"It's alright, they aren't so bad." He forced a chuckle, "I didn't know his highness was so strong; I let my guard down."

"No, you were good." Raihle said with honesty, "It's just our styles don't match."

Loka's was delicate and beautiful; his was brutal and barbaric.

Loka's lashes shadowed his eyes. "You are right; who trained you?"

Raihle thought for a moment, "Mostly myself; I had to learn to survive."

‘Otherwise, Jiha would have killed me when I was a mere nine years old.’

His neighbor and childhood friend had a part in it, but...

"Also, learning something is the only way to be able to teach it."

It wasn't only his sword techniques; he had to learn many other skills to pass on to his students.

He taught them various things, but the most important objective was teaching them how to survive.

Loka looked at him silently; he couldn't find a way to get a glance past Raihle's vague look.

"I'm sorry." Raihle said calmly "Hurting you badly wasn't my intention."

Loka's eyes widened, and his lips subconsciously parted, but then the expression broke to pieces. He moved his face so Raihle wouldn't see it.

"You don't have to apologize to someone like me, your highness."

"It's natural to apologize when you feel you committed something wrong. It has nothing to do with who you are or who I am."

Loka's body shivered, but he was still hiding his face from him. Raihle's gaze went to the notebook he was writing in.

"What were you doing?"

Loka's hand covered the notebook. "I was trying to write some notes for you; I thought it would help you learn everything better."

Raihle only read a few lines of his notes before he covered them; they were simple and clear and would be very helpful to him.

"Is that so? Thank you."

Loka finally turned his face, he still looked a bit off, but Raihle didn't ask what was going on in his mind, it would make him feel worse and force him to lie.

"It's my dut."

"But it's too much."

Loka paused and listened carefully to Raihle's quiet words. "You don't have to be so caught up with me. Loosen up some of the responsibilities you are strangling yourself with. It's okay to let things go and just focus on eating and sleeping well. You are good enough, however you are."

He pointed at the hot honey-milk cup. "Drink some of this and go to sleep."

Loka blinked repeatedly and tried hardly to lift the edge of his lips together, He looked at the cup and saw a small kitten face made with the foam.

'Did he wake a servant up and ask him to make me something like that?'

He made a sound close to a laugh.

"It's funny; sometimes I feel like you are treating me like a child."

He embraced the cup's warmth between his palms.

"Thank you," he said under his breath.

Raihle didn't respond and left.

The dark alley's smell was suffocating. 

Raihle covered his face well; his features were shadowed under the hood of his cloak.

The echo of his steps stopped in front of a tavern's door at the corner of the street.

He pushed the door open, and his foot hit a body on the ground before he walked any farther.

He lowered his head; it wasn't one body but rather plenty.

Different men collapsed on the floor without making a sound, but the movement of their chests convinced Raihle that they were alive.

He kicked the arm out of his way and proceeded to the one person standing behind the bar, wiping a teacup.

"Are you lost?" The man's voice was thick and loud; it matched the massive size of his muscles and the baldness of his head. The scars on his head extended to his neck, and they were visible through his thin, sleeveless shirt. The other side of his neck was covered in tattoos and ink strokes.

"Yes." That was this man's business code; he was already informed by the little friends.

The owner of the tavern glanced at him while wiping another glass without interest.

"Where do you want to go?"

 "The Abyss."

The man's movement paused for a second, but then he continued in a sighing voice, "That's not a place for your kind."

 "My kind?"

"Humans." He finished with his glasses and cups, put the towel away, and leaned his elbow on the bar counter. "Why do you want to go?"

 Raihle said dryly "I don't think that's any of your business."

The bald man almost laughed, but he only smiled.

"You're right, I'm just a guide." He pointed his finger downward.

"The Abyss is everywhere; only you can open a gate without help from monsters or other residents of the Abyss."

"Where can I get that help?"

He didn't speak and looked closely at him; even though his face was covered, he could easily be sure that he was a young boy and possessed a strong last name.

"You can't." He spoke truthfully. "It's a terrible place; that's why they have been sending the empire heirs down there as a test before ascending them to the throne."

Raihle stopped and thought for a second.

'The empire heir...n't that me?'

He remembered reading about such things in children's books, but he didn't know it was an actual tradition.

'So, I don't have to worry about getting there now.'

"I said you couldn't go there, but I never said none of them could come up here." He grinned widely, showing his golden tooth.

He signed him to come closer, Raihle leaned in and heard him whisper, "I happened to know someone, or actually something, had come up here, and it's making a mess."

Raihle looked at his eyes; they were big and sharp, and he seemed like he was telling the truth.

"Did you see what it is?"

"No." He said, smirking, "But I believe it's a goblin."

Coldness crept under Raihle's skin.

Why did everything bad end up being related to goblins?

He hadn't seen much of this world's creatures, but surely goblins were his least favorite.

He swallowed a sigh before asking, "What makes you believe that?"

"Because whatever that thing was, it made a contract." He laughed, "And everyone knows contracts are goblin favorites, especially the bigger ones like the Blood Contract."

Raihle's eyes widen. Weren't the blood contracts right under the soul contracts?

He remembered Blue saying that sometimes it can bring great power to both sides of the contract, but breaking it costs a life or a limb, and usually only higher-ranking goblins are able to achieve the demands of blood contracts.

So, a creature has made a gate to the surface and made a blood contract with a human, for what? And which of the high thirteen goblins was it?

"I need to know who made the contract and what he's doing."

The man's lips twitched, and he crossed his arms over his chest.

"That will cost you a price beforehand. You're a first-time client, aren't you? My name is Deek, and I only accept gold."

Raihle frowned, but it's fair enough; the man owns a business, but he hadn't any gold and couldn't simply ask Hugo for some.

So, based on the information he received, he suggested, "How about another kind of payment in exchange?"

Deek frowned harshly. Veins started to pop out on his large neck.

"I don't mess around here, Ki_."

"First grade tea and the unpublished copy from the newest book in the recent popular romance series."

"What?" His facial expression twisted, and his color almost turned white. "But how..."

'So, they were right?!'

When Raihle first heard the Little Friends say that he was drugging his clients to sleep so he could enjoy his quiet time reading a romance book and sipping tea, he thought they were completely crazy.

But they also said he was the man who never hit others unless they were bad guys and always did honest work without getting innocents involved, so he was the best option he had.

When he saw his face, he scratched the image of him crying over a fictional romantic couple from his head immediately.

However, it turned out he was wrong.

"How could you know that?"

Raihle cleared his throat. "I have my resources anyway; do you accept the deal or not?"

Deek started to giggle and jumped from behind the bar, Raihle flinched but couldn't step back before he was tightly squeezed in his embrace.

"What the hell_"

"Finally!" Deek sobbed, "A friend who understands me!"

'What?'

He tried to push him away, but that only got him squeezed harder.

"You have no idea how many times I tried going to book cafes only to get kicked out! No one believed me when I said I'm a fan of classic romance!" 

He removed his body from Raihle's while clenching his shoulders.

"But now! Someone who shares my passion!" 

He was on the verge of tears, while Raihle stared in absolute disbelief.

'Share what? Man, just let go!'

He pushed his hands away from him, and Deek let him go with the brightest eyes in the world.

"I will give you the payment when I get it; it shouldn't take long." He said that and ran away from that creepy place as fast as he could.

When Raihle got to his room, he immediately slammed his head on the pillow.

He wished to fall asleep so he could relieve the throbbing headache on his forehead.

Only that he couldn't turn his brain off, and trying to sleep made his head heavier and the pain stronger.

His hand was under the pillow when he suddenly felt some heat.

He instantly got up and threw the pillow away, then froze in place.

It was the journal Real Raihle left him; it was heating up slightly.

He hadn't picked it up since last time, and he figured he would just get himself more pissed off if he read the same words repeatedly.

This time he opened it and saw a new line had been added on a clear page.

{Uncover the secret of the Bell Temple.}

"What the hell are you talking about?"

He sat on the bed and shouted at the journal.

"Do it yourself, you bastard! Did you steal my body to order me around? I will punch you so hard once I get my hands on you!"

He got up on the bed, knocked down the journal with a kick, and pointed at it. "I can't even sleep while you're wearing my skin and doing whatever you want."

Surprisingly, shouting at the real Raihle made his headache better, and eventually and reluctantly, Raihle headed to Hugo to talk about the Bell Temple.

Hugo wasn't happy to see Raihle come to visit him. Loka has just gotten into the office and is surprised to see Raihle there.

"If this is about the training, I already told the captain that there is no longer a need for that. Just focus on your studies." Hugo quickly told him to go away.

Raihle didn't know he saw him the other day, so he assumed Loka or Douglas had told him.

"That's not what I'm here for." He said, "Do you know the Bell Temple?"

"Hm?" Hugo furrowed his brow. "The Bell Temple? I know it; what about it?"

Raihle carefully asked, "Is there anything strange about it?"

"No, not that I know of. It's just like any other temple."

Not according to Real Raihle.

He said to uncover its secret, and in order to uncover a secret, it has to exist first.

Raihle switched his eyes to Loka, and he answered, "I've never visited it before, but I haven't heard anything strange."

So, it's something that only Real Raihle knows.

What does he want from uncovering the secret?

'Moreover, couldn't you do it yourself?'

He shook his head before his blood pressure rose again. To understand Real Raihle's actions, he needed to take the steps he had left behind.

"I want to go there," he told Hugo.

"Absolutely not," Hugo immediately refused. "You should be thinking of visiting social events and parties and getting your reputation up as much as you can. There is a small temple in the eastern palace; go there if you want."

Raihle's eyes sharpened, "I don't remember you being given the rights to trap me in my palace, Hugo." His voice was calm, but it made Hugo feel like someone had sneaked an ice cube in his back.

And why did his first name sound so terrifying in his voice?

"You know I'm older, and I have a title myself; you can't just call me by_"

"Hugo." Raihle cut him off, and Hugo swallowed his tongue. "I will go either way you want or not."

Hugo pressed his lips together and cursed his life before realizing something. "Wait, what day is it?"

Raihle was slightly taken aback by the change in his face.

"It's the fourt_."

Loka tried to answer, but Hugo spoke first: "Never mind, we are going." He grabbed his coat and walked past him, saying, "Let's go."

Neither Raihle nor Loka understood his change of heart but went with it.

The city where the Bell Temple was located wasn't too far away, and the three of them got into the carriage.

"So Raihle," Hugo started and emphasized his name, He thought that calling him by his first name would provoke him the same way it did to him: "How are you two getting along?"

Raihle was focused on staring outside; he didn't turn or pay attention to him.

"Getting along with who?"

"Loka, of course," he eyed Loka as he smiled, "I was doubting about it, but when I saw you dueling the other day, I thought you had already become friends. It's good to be close to someone your age."

"Right, you must be lonely being single and friendless at this age."

"Pftt!" Hugo choked on his own saliva. ".. what makes you think I'm single?" He tried his best to sound normal, but he wasn't fooling anyone.

Raihle answered simply, without giving him a glimpse "You wouldn't be stuck with me or spend more time drunk than sober if you weren't alone."

He had a valid point, Hugo admitted to himself.

"Well, you, Raihle," he emphasized again.

Raihle cut him off plainly. "Yes, that's my name, you can pronounce it very well. Good for you."

That's when Hugo decided to stay silent for the rest of the trip.