NOVEL NEXT Chapter 54: Ayda's advice
"Either way, you still need to get going soon. If I calculated the time properly, then your freeze will end soon, right?"
Gracing me with one of her usual smiles, Ayda allowed me to see how far did she go from the simple yet crafty girl I met all the way back at the market. Her smile, despite being just like usual, showcased that she fully opened herself for me. In this smile, I could drown.
But I couldn't stop myself from feeling as if there was a distant echo of sadness and disappointment ringing in her soul.
"That's right. Well, for you it will look as if nothing happened. Sadly, that won't be the case for me."
Releasing a deep sigh, I shook my head as if in regret of my life choices.
"You damned idiot…"
Instead of replying in a logical way, Ayda's face suddenly turned openly sour as her fist gently smashed against my chest. Looking at me with her eyes upturned, I felt as if her adorableness would make me suffer from diabetes.
"I know I won't notice what will happen at all. But that doesn't mean I'm not worried about what will happen to you."
Turning her fist to an open palm, the girl powerlessly raised her arm before placing her hand atop my scalp.
"May the wind of fortune be with you."
Whispering in a gentle yet fragile voice, Ayda lowered her head in silent prayer. With her thumb pressing right against my forehead, I felt as if she just gifted me with the most intense ASMR session.
After giving my head a slight rub, Ayda quickly retracted her hand. With her eyes escaping to the side, her lips trembled a bit as she spoke.
"If it was me… You should make sure that your base on the other side is safe as well. If its possible, lay low for a while, don't try to take challenges too huge. Most of the times, it's possible to obtain great benefits and reinforce one's position without risking all that much."
Breaking through a momentary hesitation, Ayda approached me once again, this time gracing me with a light, encouraging kiss.
"Good luck with your endeavours."
There could be no better farewell than the one that Ayda just gave me. Even though I was aware of how simple the fact of a girl cheering me up was, I didn't really mind allowing it to improve my mood by leaps and bounds.
"I will be going then."
Rustling her hair in revenge for all the caressing that she subjected me to, I turned around and decisively marched out of the room, effectively ending up back in my basement. But that in no way was my ultimate destination.
With the clock now ticking, I quickly changed my clothes before picking up an old, rugged backpack from the corner of the room. It remembered the times where my school was actually a thing, with teachers preparing us to the adult life projected for all the teens from before the apocalypse.
"No time to waste, huh?"
Speaking to myself I quickly made my way back to the basement doors before pushing them open with a singular thought in my mind. While fulfilling the quest of the apocalypse world allowed me to freely travel between it and earth, it didn't mean the time freeze was still a thing out there.
With my matters in Ayda's world currently deal with, the best thing that I could do was to prepare for the serious expeditions in that treasures-rich land. If I ever wanted to make the most out of the goods that were left by the perished civilisation, I couldn't accept a lacklustre approach to it.
"Here we go then."
Pushing the doors open, I crossed the worlds, right back to the vast fields of burned sand. Instantly shielding my face from the sharp winds, I dived to the hole in the nearby wall.
Recovering all the makeshift equipment that I had prepared there took me only a few moments. Despite how it remained unattended to for a long while in this hostile world, with no human influence, fixing it was a walk in the park.
But instead of dropping everything and scrambling to save as many treasures as I could think off, I loaded a few useful pieces that I wanted to test on earth before actually dropping the backpack back in my basement and returning back to the apocalypse world.
With completely usual and cheap notepad along with a pen in my hand, I ventured through the corridors of the building, quickly jotting down a simple map of the single floor I ever dared to enter. For some reason, just the sight of the stairs in the very middle of the entire compound filled me with not only fear but also respect.
A civilisation that was capable of creating such magnificent structures, deserved at least that much of my memory.
Mapping down just this single floor alone was way more than a task that I could deal with in a matter of moments. After all, I still had to remember that every second passing in this world did so on earth as well.
By the time I arbitrary decided that my time was up, most of the compound's singular floor was already nicely marked on my makeshift map. The time to analyze it and figure out the details of my plan would come later. For now, equipped with my new navigation tool, I returned to my usual rallying point at the building's entrance before moving back to earth.
With the map fluttering in my hand and an army of people willing to fulfil every single of my wish, all I needed was a bit of time. In the end, it seemed that Ayda's advice was right on the point.
Why bother fighting if I can completely change the situation with so little effort in such a short time?