Something came from behind the door, akin to someone rummaging through his room, while in reality, there was not much to do in the space.
I took a deep breath and pulled on the door's round handle, revealing the room of acrylic-covered walls and murals of ancient beasts drawn across the broad walls.
"Back so soon? It hasn't even been a day yet."
Loki said with a tight smile from a far edge of his room, somewhere where used paint tubes and broken canvases were supposedly littering the pastel floor.
He stood
"You brought some furniture."
"It's nothing fancy, I just took whatever they had to spare."
'...Who?-'
"The workers, I mean."
He said as he pushed the couch up to his wall with a low grunt.
"Phew." His hand swiped across his face. "I should work out more."
Not minding him, I made my way in, expecting to step on fresh paint that previously was smeared all over the room's floor like an abstract painting.
But to my surprise, it was cleaned spotless, without a single drop of paint littering the smooth oak floorboards, which creaked silently under my shoe.
"I asked the workers to clean up my room since I finally finished my painting and won't have much time to start another one either way."
"What? Of course it's a painting! You just can't see the soul I put into making it!"
He spoke about that pitch-black square that still hung next to the window, making me look at it for a second and once again realise that there was nothing for me to see in it.
"Sure..."
I tried to somewhat improve his mood, but it seemed that my response made him purse his lips and walk over to the window, leaning on the edge and peering into the distance with his crimson gaze.
'O-okay?'
Trying to shrug it off, I looked around the now clean room before finally making my way to the couch and dropping on it with a sigh.
Loki seemed to notice my mood as he sent me a glance and, without turning around, spoke to the wind that passed his face.
"How was it?"
"...awful."
"Knew it."
He shook his head.
"Who did you even escort?"
I relaxed on the couch, sinking slightly into the strange silk-looking material. With half-closed eyes, I answered him unwillingly.
"A guy I met in Grondier. He called himself Marco Wenric, and he seems like a good guy since it was thanks to him that I actually got here safely... oh, he's also the reason behind Cesar's absence since he somehow managed to steal one of our tickets and escape from him."
After the short explanation, Loki turned to me with a frown.
"Called himself? That's the name recorded in the files that are kept hidden even from sapphire-graded delvers who work day and night, monitoring each corner of our country. Are you implying that he's lying?"
"No, that's not what I meant."
"Then what?"
"...doesn't matter."
He eyed me suspiciously for a moment before heaving a heavy sigh, most likely still recovering from his lack of sleep.
"Anyways." He didn't bother to look at me as I continued.
"How am I even supposed to do this stupid job? I didn't even get to escort him, and he just ran away into the tourist area by himself-"
"Are you seriously that slow?"
He cut me off, throwing a sudden insult that caught me off guard.
'What?'
"You're not supposed to literally escort them! Gosh..."
Loki wasn't someone who usually spoke to people in such a crude way; he only did it to a handful of individuals whom he trusted or kept close, no matter what happened. He was always like that, acting gracefully outside while being the complete opposite when by himself.
It had been over a year since the last time we met, and yet there seemed to be nothing that had changed between us, like the events of the past didn't affect him in the slightest.
My eyes briefly fell over the gold pendant he had wrapped around his palm, with its blood-red gem still held tightly by his fingers.
'The only thing that can keep you sane is something you love the most..."
"Did you say something?"
"N-no, sorry."
I rubbed my eyes lazily, staring off into the ceiling, which, unlike other parts of his room, was as white as the citadel's marble walls.
"You're not going to paint it?"
I asked, genuinely curious about his choice to leave it unscathed.
Loki looked up and simply shook his head as he strolled against the wall while pressing his other, free palm against the painted figure.
"Why should I?" He asked as he pulled his hand away and walked over to me, pulling the stool that stood next to it with him.
It scraped against the wooden floor until coming to a stop a step away from me.
Loki sat on it with one leg over the other, staring deep into my eyes while interlocking his fingers.
"Listen, Vlad. You're in no situation to ask me stupid questions like this and act as if we are some sort of friends. Your task now is to take over after Cesar, since a certain individual decided it would be funny to steal instead of asking for money from the citadel."
"And?-"
"And you're supposed to escort all of the thirteen other people that will arrive here in the next two weeks, since you were so stupid to realise it earlier, let me spell it out what it means."
He took a breath.
"You need to gain their favor and impress them to the point that the name Grondier becomes imprinted inside their minds! They shouldn't be able to forget our great citadel's might and especially people who reside within it, which means you, me, Cesar, Sera, and Grim, understand?"
He seemed to have finished his speech, panting lightly as if the rant made him lose his breath.
Wait a second...
"Who the hell is Grim?"
"Huh?"
"You know, the guy you mentioned, me, you, Sera, and Grim."
Loki blinked a couple of times like he couldn't hear me, even though I explained it clearly.
There was no one in Grondier who came by the name Grim, not that it was a common name or anything, I wasn't sure whether or not he phrased it wrong and meant someone like Jayce or even one of the prominent knights from the gold order.
He looked me up and down with a strange face and then checked his pulse band. His eyes darted across the little flux screen until they came to a stop on something at the bottom.
"Hm, so that's how it is."
"What is?"
"Never mind that." He shook his wrist and once more locked my eyes with his.
"Do you understand what you have to do now?"
"I... Guess?"
Loki sent me a glare before sighing to himself and standing up from his stool, his hands wrapping the pendant over his palm almost instinctively.
"Just, don't mess it up next time. It went that way because he already knew what kind of person you were, so it's obvious he wouldn't take you seriously."
'That's true..."
"The next group, however, won't be as well-mannered as you expect."
'?'
I raised my brow.
"How come?"
He seemed to think it over, looking at the window and then at his pendant before tightening his grip.
"They're coming from Blood Kingdom."