"You seem less inclined to speak tonight," Mina said as she worked to draw more lines on the paper.

Obviously.

There wasn't anything she needed to talk about tonight.

"Should I feel like I need to talk to you, princess?" Volcatia asked. "We're not friends. I said I'd help, but I'm not gonna sit around and pretend to be your fucking nursemaid. You told me what you want, now ask your question and I'll leave."

Well said.

Short and to the point.

No time wasted.

Mina stayed quiet for a while as she continued to draw and scribble on her paper.

Tedious.

What the fuck was she drawing anyway?

Eh.

Volcatia didn't really care.

She was feeling anxious.

She had somewhere she wanted to be, though she also didn't want to be there.

"I'd like for us to be friends," Mina said at last, halting her pencil and looking back up. "What do you think of—"

"Not interested."

Smart people were always like this.

As soon as they found out what she could do, they wanted to be friends.

She'd had enough of that.

The girl might be a child, and she might be annoying, but she was still a princess.

And Smart.

The few people she'd met who had that sort of status had been the worst.

Say, Volcatia, we're being assailed on our western border. Would you mind helping out?

Volcatia! Just who I was hoping to see! We've declared war on our old enemies to the north. With your aid, our victory will be assured!

Fuck off.

Mina rubbed her chin. "You dislike me, don't you."

"You're boring."

"Am I?" The annoying girl's face formed into an odd expression. "I'd thought our discourse regarding chariots of steam and racing some days ago was quite enjoyable. You seemed to share my view at the time."

Volcatia grunted. "That was before I knew what a burden you were. And before I knew you were a princess."

Maybe she was going too far.

If the girl started fucking crying again, Carl would go back to being boring too.

"I see," Mina said after another painfully long time spent continuing to rub her chin in silence. "Put more plainly, for the former, you believe I've made Carl unhappy, yes? And for the latter, you believe…" She frowned. "What bearing does it have that I've inherited royal blood?"

"You did. He was so much more boring."

"Well, I've apologized sincerely to him with regards to that matter." She stared up into Volcatia's eyes. "I am sorry for how I've behaved. Truly. I intend to ensure that I'm never able to behave in such an undignified manner again."

She was telling the truth.

Volcatia grimaced.

She couldn't feel any lies in her words.

Annoying.

"And the matter of my bloodline?" Mina asked again.

"Citizen of the Empire. Anyone from here can tell you how much we fucking hate how royalty's always demanding respect and fealty."

It was true.

Citizens of the Empire did hate royalty from other countries.

Wasn't really related to the question, but it was true.

Volcatia was cunning in some ways.

Besides, when compared with Aquila, what the fuck was any member of royalty or nobility good for?

Aquila got shit done.

She didn't tell people to respect or worship her.

If you didn't show enough respect, she'd beat it into you.

She didn't waste time talking around things.

If she needed to say something, she'd just fucking say it.

"If that's what your dislike truly stems from, then you can be assured that I've no desire for any of that," Mina said. "Before fleeing from Charus City, I'd long been removed from the line of succession. Were it possible, I'd just as soon forget about the matter entirely and live the remainder of my life without anyone ever knowing."

Again the truth.

Annoying.

"I…" The girl looked down. "I've been making attempts to shake myself from some of the mannerisms ingrained in me by my tutors. Hence my seat here on this floor rather than the chair." She looked up again with a small smile. "Can you imagine royalty willingly sitting upon the floor? Surely not," she scoffed. "I even spoke with food still in my mouth earlier tonight for the first time in years. I'd never imagined how freeing it would feel!"

Okay, that was a little weird maybe, but it made some sort of sense.

Maybe.

"Ah, and I'd almost forgotten!" Mina said, dropping her pencil and clapping her hands together. "Carl mentioned you'd claimed to have killed my mother. Is this true?"

Now things would get boring.

All that, and now she'd ask for help reclaiming the throne or some other boring shit.

"Yeah. Very dead. Throne's wide open now."

Mina grimaced, her expression changing to one of total revulsion. "Let's not speak of thrones ever again, if you please. I'd only asked about my mother so I could give my thanks if it was true."

Weird.

"For all I care, the entire kingdom can rot," she continued. "My mother was among the worst of them." She shuddered. "It's her fault I… Well, no matter. You have my deepest gratitude, Vol."

And then she bowed her head.

If there was one thing Volcatia knew about royalty, it was that they never bowed their heads to anyone.

Okay, fine.

Maybe…

Eh.

She wasn't going to make any big decisions now.

Volcatia decided to take out the head of Tomas from her Inventory and tossed it down onto the floor. "Carl said you'd wanna see this."

Mina glared fiercely at it. She let out a low cry, then dove forward and grasped it, beginning to smash it face-down against the floor over and over. "Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you," she chanted with each strike as blood and bone splattered off of it.

Volcatia sighed.

Fine.

She was interesting.

Some time later, Mina finally stopped. She was covered in a light splattering of blood from her face to her waist, and the floor was slick with gore.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

A good rhyme for her.

"Ooh," Mina panted, "that felt quite refreshing." She reached up and wiped a patch of blood off her forehead. "Oh my, it was a touch more tiring than I'd anticipated, however."

"Here." Volcatia tossed a towel from her Inventory at her, landing it onto her head.

"My thanks," the bloodied girl said, dabbing at her face while still breathing hard.

It was amazing that Carl hadn't woken up from all the pounding.

Yeah, it seemed like she'd been at least a little wrong.

Mina was interesting in her own way.

Maybe not enough that Volcatia felt the need to be friends, but she wouldn't mind being acquaintances.

The girl continued to pat herself down.

She very clearly had great legs.

Volcatia frowned.

Nah, that would get weird.

It wasn't like she was desperate.

And the girl's legs weren't that great.

"Should you ever decide otherwise, I'd still like for us to become friends," Mina said, showing a smile.

"Mm. I'll think about it."

She probably wouldn't.

It was hard to be friends with someone she could watch.

Yeah, she was now remembering what had happened with the friends she'd once had.

It wasn't a good feeling.

"You know where you're able to find me," said Mina. She turned and walked back over her papers to sit in the same spot on the floor. "Dungeon cores, if one of you wouldn't mind removing the head and all this blood, I'd be grateful."

The remains of the head slowly turned to dust and disappeared into the floor along with the blood.

"Core," said Saxum.

Was that…

Was Saxum the rock on the floor there?

Volcatia stared, but it was impossible to tell it apart from a completely ordinary rock.

"As for my question…" Mina tapped her pencil against her chin. "Curious as I am, I'll forego it for tonight. You've brought me closure and great relief in a matter I'd wished to put out of mind. This bargain we've struck is already quite uneven, and I believe I'm now even further into your debt."

"A princess in debt," Volcatia said as she thought about it.

She didn't like having people indebted to her.

That meant she had to see them again to claim it.

Even if she had no intention of claiming it, she'd still remember.

It confined her.

Even in her friendship with Carl, she could leave at any time.

"Let's not," she said. "I owe no debts, and I'm not owed any."

The way she'd always kept her life.

She had a different thought. "You can't go out into the city, can you."

Mina sighed. "No, I'd imagine not. My sister surely schemes to capture me for further torments."

Boring.

But…

Volcatia sniffed.

Yeah.

The girl smelled.

Not too surprising if she'd just been sitting up here for all this time, though from the look of her she'd at least been bathing.

Fine.

Maybe just a few.

"Here," Volcatia said, grabbing a big handful of clothing out of her Inventory and tossing it onto the chair across from her.

Mina looked between the clothing-covered chair and Volcatia. "How've you managed to acquire Carl's Inventory magic?"

"Magic? Nah, it's a System skill." Volcatia looked around all the clothing she'd stuffed into her Inventory and pulled out a giant clump of undergarments. "There, now at least maybe you can smell like a princess again," she said with a small chuckle.

The girl pouted.

There was something about her that made Volcatia want to needle her.

Not seriously.

Just the tiniest amount.

Maybe it was the knowledge that she was a princess.

Or just that she was a Char.

Mina stood up and began picking through the clothing. "This is quite a collection, Vol," she said. After a short while, she raised an eyebrow and held up a pair of netted stockings. "I can see you've planned for every occasion."

Volcatia shrugged. "Charus City has a lot of big, empty villas with the rebellion happening. Saved myself the trouble of having to buy shit later."

Mina tossed the stockings aside and held up a wispy, see-through piece of cloth that seemed like it maybe was supposed to be worn as an undergarment. "Yes, I can well imagine where this originated." She threw the cloth away too. "At least I might be capable of breathing in some of these," she muttered as she picked through the pile of clothing. "I presume you intentionally retrieved this long-ear clothing from your Inventory that it might fit me?"

Long-ear?

Right.

It was easy to forget that she was a Char sometimes.

"I think you mean elf," Volcatia said.

The girl's hands slowed, and her head turned. "You don't regard them as devils?"

"Should I?"

"Do they not plot the downfall of humanity?"

Volcatia chuckled.

How long had it been since she'd had someone try to explain that to her?

It didn't go well the last time since she didn't really speak Char.

"What're they gonna do? Tell us depressing stories until we all kill ourselves?"

Mina looked confusedly at her.

"There's only a hundred or two left," Volcatia tried to explain. "They're cowering in the forests and plains in small groups or alone. Mostly too fucking afraid to group up in case humans find them again."

Yeah, she remembered that story a little too well.

Sylmare hadn't been alone back then.

There were only another three or four elves with him, though she couldn't quite…

Too fucking depressing.

That was all elves were.

Mina's face had become even whiter, and her hands were gripping a shirt tightly. "I see," she said. "And…you've seen this?"

"Yeah."

More and more interesting.

She'd expected a Char princess to be more resistant to the idea.

But instead, the girl brought the shirt in her hands up to her mouth and began to retch violently.

Maybe not that interesting, the more she thought about it.

Or was it?

She was having a hard time deciding.

After some vomiting, the noticeably discolored white shirt fell from Mina's hands to the floor, and she sagged against the clothing-covered chair. "I… I believe I'd like to be alone for a while," she said quietly.

Seemed like as good a time as any.

Volcatia put her chair back into her Inventory and moved.

The forest was noticeably darker than when she'd left it, but Sylmare was again laying in his usual way in the same small clearing.

She looked around.

Where was…

Maybe she shouldn't.

Her feet carried her forward, and she made noise as she walked.

"I…wasn't sure you'd come back," Sylmare said, his magicked voice carrying the intent of his words to her.

"I wasn't either." Volcatia said. She laid down next to him, mirroring his posture. "Where's Delsanra?"

Sylmare remained silent for a while. "Beneath us," he said at last.

Volcatia turned her head.

The elf continued staring at the sky. "I've had a long time to think about it after you left before," he said in a soft voice. "Back then, I only saw the chance to have all my problems solved. I didn't listen to what you told me. I couldn't." He bounced his foot on his knee. "If I did… If I did, it meant we could never recover. Our kin would return, but they wouldn't return."

He stopped talking, and she wiggled to move a little closer so their elbows would touch. He smiled briefly at the reminder. "We all split up since then," he continued after a while. "Even a group of four or five might be too many to be lost all at once, they started to say. I fought it at first. But…"

He sighed. "They came again. Alloralla was taken, and her screams of pain followed us as we ran. Yunaesa… They killed her by accident. Then they beat the man who did it. Kesefeon, Ruven, and I tried to flee. They caught Ruven. Kesefeon wanted to return to try freeing them—or at least Alloralla—but it was impossible with their numbers, and he was blinded by his passion. I tied him with vines as we hid. He swore he'd never forgive me, and I haven't seen him again since I released him. Or anyone else."

Volcatia felt…

It was awful, yeah.

Cruel.

But the world was cruel.

Awful, even.

She'd seen it when she arrived in Gatterpoint Harbor, where the costs of food were such that people died regularly in the streets and were swept up to be burned with the trash.

She'd seen it in the fiery desert city across the sea, where she couldn't even speak the language but saw so many deaths caused by lack of water.

She'd seen it in the Mocuria Kingdom far to the south, where weird monsters assaulted towns endlessly until people were so worn down they died of exhaustion.

She'd seen it a couple days ago, when her friend laughed with her as they built a dungeon for people to die in.

The world was awful, but it wasn't her problem.

It couldn't be.

She was just one, and the world was too big.

Was it fair for her to save one person and not another?

She'd wondered about that at some point.

Some people didn't even want to be saved.

Delsanra was proof of that.

If Volcatia was smarter, she knew she would have been able to figure out what to do.

She wasn't a hero.

She never had been.

She'd thought she was once, but that was just more of the same.

She'd only wanted to be stronger.

To see the System numbers go up.

And now she wasn't human anymore.

"I spent a lot of time thinking," Sylmare said, pulling her back out of herself. "About what I'd say if I ever saw you again, among other things."

Volcatia sighed.

He rolled onto his side to face her, his head resting on his forearm. "I'm sorry, Catia," he said. "I shouldn't have asked you to do—mmf."

Volcatia hated listening to apologies.

She knew what he meant.

Her lips met Sylmare's, and she pressed his back into the ground as she rolled on top of him. He moaned lightly before he pushed her back. "No, we shouldn't," he protested. "It's—"

Volcatia kissed him again.

It was time to stop talking.

"Catia, please," he panted when she pulled away.

She kissed him again, swiping at his lips with her tongue, knocking forcefully until he let her in.

He said no now, but he moved his head forward to chase her lips when she withdrew.

She grinned.

Sylmare was always like this.

Volcatia placed her hands on his cheeks and kissed him once more, zapping him just how she used to as her tongue twined with his.

He groaned.

She sat up on top of his middle some time later, feeling behind herself with one hand while she trailed the other down his chest. "Miss me?" she whispered. Her questing hand reached under his leather, furred skirt and stroked his thigh on its way upwards.

His hands went to her hips and drove her against him, and Volcatia shuddered.

Sylmare still had amazing legs.