Only I Am A Reader
chapter-456

"Yeah. Ok… Will do."

Outside of the mountain where the irregular Anomaly had occurred, Leo, Yulia, and Rubin stood as their eyes wandered while waiting for Alex to get off the phone.

He was even more surprised that everything was dealt with more than Rubin who had personally witnessed it, but he didn't overreact like her. Rather, he returned to his silent uninterested attitude.

'That does make me wonder.'

Thinking back to Alex's reaction to the Lava Golems' appearance, Leo felt that something was off. Compared to the valiant bully that fairly treated strikes with an actual Werewolf, his response was too cowardly.

Of course, the lava's emergence was a great threat. However, Leo could think of a few ways that Alex could have joined the fight even without protective armor.

The simplest method of them all was acting as Yulia's weapon. She could freeze the Golems and he would pummel them into nothing before they were able to resist or melt the ice.

That way Yulia wouldn't have to give it her all at the risk of losing control, and Alex wouldn't have been considered incompetent.

'Had something changed or is this his true personality?'

Leo had a hundred suspicions that he could think of, but the possibility that the strong personality that Alex showed in the meeting was just an act wasn't negligible.

His Role might just be the kind that activated some sort of mental transformation that allowed him to better use his physical strength.

Who knew? Perhaps under the hard shell of a tanned bully, Alex might have just been a random nerd that was forced to change after his awakening.

'Unlikely but worth considering.'

For now, Leo decided that he would keep an eye on Alex if they had the chance to meet again. Just in case one of his other suspicions turned out to be true…

"It seems like they won't come after all. They were already going to drop by to help on their way to another mission, and since this has been resolved, they said we can handle the final inspection."

Those were the Senior Roleplayers who were going to come and dispose of the Irregular Anomaly before it got out of hand.

Clean-up was just as important, but this was something that fell within the expertise of a Detector like Rubin.

"Does that mean we can leave now?"

Unlike what his words implied, Leo was actually looking forward to meeting some higher-ups, getting praised, and being showered with chances to gain information.

However, it felt like he only got the tough part of being a protagonist, escalating hardships, yet didn't reach the reward phase.

"I believe so… Don't worry, I know you had it tough dealing with this. So I will make sure you get rewarded even if it's out of my quota. We will definitely reach out to you on the Roleplayer Forum!"

At least, Rubin's hopeful pink aura was on their side. Even when Leo hadn't expressed his greed for knowledge, she promised reimbursement for this traumatic event.

"They did already experience something like this, so it's only fair they get to learn about some of the details."

The suspicious Alex similarly played along…

'Let's see how thick-skinned they can be.'

Of course, Leo had no plans of giving up on the reward regardless of Rubin and Alex's stance. He believed that the World Reservation Council was smart enough to not handle this poorly, but…

'If they end up like those shameless elders in novels…'

Leo and Yulia might have been the seed for this Anomaly, but that didn't deny that the Council didn't prepare enough.

Although Leo wasn't a self-entitled person, he believed he was owed that much if he had to show the majority of his abilities to survive.

'I wouldn't mind leaving a rage post if necessary.'

The Roleplayer Forum may look like a childish playground, but the Council wouldn't have bothered with it if that was truly the case. Real opinions mattered.

It also didn't seem like the main admins of the forum were partial to the Council from what Leo observed during his browsing days.

"Got it, I will wait for the good news… Do you want to go together until we reach the closest bus?"

Putting this incident behind him, Leo turned to Yulia and invited her for a short walk. While he might be planning to give her the cold shoulder as Leo, Arthur was supposed to be a completely different person.

"Um, Yeah! I mean… Sure."

Considering how mentally exhausted she was, Yulia couldn't hide her excitement at Leo initiating this friendly gesture. She tried to play it cool in the end, but it was too late.

"Let's go."

That being said, while the two really did walk and even got on the same bus together, no further discussion between them.

"A…"

Yulia really wanted to use this chance to create an actual bond, but every time she tried to see something, she hesitated, choosing to shut up in the end.

On the other hand, Leo had gotten even more curious about Yulia's protagonist backstory, but once again, he had nothing to offer in return.

A story about one of his other selves might have sufficed. Still, it was more likely to be considered as a sarcastic made-up story in response to whatever Yulia might reveal.

'I will have to crack this later.'

Building upon his experience in Murim, Leo already knew the importance of a good ally when times became tough.

Their situation was a bit complicated, but Yulia was the best ally he could get at the moment… Especially since his acquainted Roleplayers could almost be counted on one hand, the reliable ones were even less.

"See you… Later?"

At this point, Yulia was already starting to realize the way Leo wanted things to be.

The purpose of his current disguise was to separate his normal life from that of a Roleplayer, her wanting to mix that was obviously a poor attempt at making friends.

"Yeah."

Taking off from the bus station, Leo went back into his diverting Rollercoaster. This mission was undeniably an eye-opener, but he sincerely hoped that this wasn't a sample of what was happening all over the world.

While he wasn't exactly comfortable with having the protagonist syndrome, he wholeheartedly wanted himself or Yulia to be the reason for the irregularity.

Leo truly didn't want to experience a world event like the Otherworldly Monster Invasion once again. At least not at his home.

"Huh?"

Taking a look at the Personal Book to calm himself like he always did, Leo was surprised to find that the Energy Bar had advanced by a whole two marks!

'Does this have something to do with the Anomaly?'

What Leo just did was a pretty good reason to suspect that. Could this be the purpose of an Anomaly? Energy Supplying? Roleplayer Growth Promoters?

In reality, Leo wasn't sure if that was the case or if the Energy Bar was just being itself, random and unpredictable. However, he knew just the thing to do.

"Can we play another chess match today?"

His father was missing again from dinner once he went back home, but Leo decided to enjoy a few more family moments with his mother before he was whisked away for who knows how long.

"Of course! You are oddly enthusiastic about it today."

Mia's motherly senses tingled again. Yet, looking at Leo's calm eyes, she chose not to ask. The only way she could get a proper answer was if he personally spoke out. All she could now was play along.

The following day passed without any hiccups just like the calm before the storm. However…

[ The Energy Threshold of the Reader has been reached. ]

[ You can choose to start your next 'True Reading' Experience within the next 720 hours. Otherwise, it will automatically start once the time runs out. ]

On the second day after Leo's return from the Initiation Mission, the call of destiny arrived once more.