Supreme Devil Lord: I Can Refine All Energy-Chapter 63: Warped

Eric walked over to his side and stared at the duo looking at him with raised brows for a moment before repeating, "How much does he owe you two?"

Ryu and Shial narrowed their eyes at him, a hint of wariness flashing in their eyes.

From his clothes, they could tell he was someone from the middle city, and the slight hint of suppression they felt looking into his eyes told them he wasn’t someone they could afford to offend. They were familiar with this sense of suppression and intimidation because they felt it when they interacted with people of status or warriors from the middle and core city or from the warriors.

Though they felt he couldn’t be a warrior because he didn’t project that aloofness and danger they felt from the warriors, just his status of being someone from the middle city was enough for them to be wary and even respectful.

So, they clasped their hands despite feeling confused as to why someone like him was seemingly trying to help Liam. "Greetings, young sir. He only owes us 1000 credits that his late father had—"

Eric nodded and took out his crystal card, saying, "Here, I’ll pay them."

The duo glanced at his crystal card, then at him, and then at Liam before hurriedly taking out their respective cards.

Ryu handed over his, saying, "He owes me 450 credits, young sir."

Eric transferred 450 without saying anything before turning to Shial, who respectfully handed his card over and said, "He owes me 550, young sir."

A moment later, he was done paying them, and Ryu and Shial bowed slightly toward him and took their leave while thinking what could Liam’s relation with him be for him to pay his debt without Liam requesting him to?

After they left, Eric looked at Liam, who had lowered his head, his shoulders shaking slightly.

Seeing this, Eric didn’t say anything and just hugged him, causing Liam, who was trying his best to control his emotions, to be unable to hold back his tears.

He sobbed on his shoulder, his hands clutching his robe, "I’m sorry, Eric. I... I know you didn’t mean to harm us, but... I... deep down, I can’t help but feel if we weren’t friends or at least I hadn’t gone to your house yesterday, my father wouldn’t have died."

Hearing this, Eric’s feelings of guilt and self-blame returned. He closed his eyes, took a breath to control them before he patted his back, and said, "It’s normal to feel that way, Liam. If I were in your place, I would be feeling the same right now. So, no need to feel bad about it."

Liam cried for half a minute more before he slowly calmed down and pulled away from him.

Eric looked into his reddened eyes and said, his voice filled with guilt, "I’m sorry, Liam. If I had killed that guy last night, this wouldn’t have happened. It is all my fault, and I’m really sorry for that. If you want to scold me, hit me, or anything else, you can. Go ahead and vent your frustrations."

Saying this, he lowered his head, ready to be hit or verbally abused, but... 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Just... leave it, man." Liam let out a desolate sigh, which made Eric anxious. Liam was his best friend and could be called his sole friend, whom he couldn’t afford to lose. That was why he wanted him to vent his anger at him and then forgive him. But... he didn’t want to do that. His heart fell.

"Liam—" Just as he opened his mouth to say something, Liam interrupted him.

"I can’t do that, Eric. It was my decision to help my friend when he needed me. Maybe if I could go back in time, I would choose to do the same; of course, I would make sure to tell you to kill that bastard." He chuckled, clearly trying hard to lighten the mood, which only served to make Eric feel even worse.

"Alright. Let’s not talk about something else." Liam said after taking a deep breath and wiping his tears. "What did you say about taking us to the middle city earlier?"

Eric nodded, happy to shift the topic, "I want to take you, Aunt Leah, and Elsa to the middle city where you will be safe even if Luke and that warrior’s employer try to find out what happened to them."

Liam looked at him in silence for a moment before hesitantly saying, "Wouldn’t it cost a lot—"

"You don’t need to worry about all that. I will take care of it." Eric interrupted him.

Liam shook his head. "You have already helped us a lot by paying those two. We can’t burden you any—"

"That’s no burden." Eric snapped, feeling angry seeing him trying to deny his help, "I have found a way to earn good money, so there is no need to worry about credits."

After a pause, he narrowed his eyes at him and continued, "If you think I’m doing it out of pity, then you are wrong because I am not. I’m doing this because not only are you my best friend, but also because Elsa is my soon-to-be wife, and therefore it’s my responsibility to help you all."

He knew Liam enough to know he was trying to decline his help not only because he was worried about being a burden on him, but also because he didn’t want his pity. So, he made sure to tell him that.

Liam went silent for a few moments before he hugged him and patted his back, "Thank you, man."

Eric felt relieved and hugged him back. Liam then pulled away and said, "Please wait for a short while. I’ll go and talk to Mom and Big Sister."

"Okay." Eric nodded while feeling pained in his heart seeing how Liam was being polite and somewhat formal with him.

...

A few minutes later, Liam came out. "Eric, come inside. Mom wants to talk—"

While speaking, he paused when he saw Rosalie standing beside Eric, his eyes narrowing into slits before his expression warped in anger.

"What the fuck are you here for?!"