The first thing was that there was no way he was going to leave this woman by herself. While she hadn’t shown any capacity of divine powers or magic, that did not mean anything. She could merely be hiding her true abilities behind her facade. That was something he had seen back in those memories as well: her capacity to hide behind an act of cowardice at times were quite uncanny. Though, all of that was made worthless when she was so quick to rush to anger at times.
But what did matter more than anything was her capacity to lie. Even now, she stuck to her words so well that he had to admit that he was wondering if she was lying or telling the truth. Either way, what he did need to focus on was one thing: making sure that she could not do anything to screw them over when they went to free the town.
So, one of them would need to stay. That was not up for debate, this was something that had to be done. There were sadly no other ways around it: they’d need to keep an eye on her.
The Crusader was not the best option for this, unfortunately. The longer he thought about his associate staying, the more he realized one thing: that was something that would only end in tears and destruction. Both sides were so antagonizing to each other that he was certain if he were to leave that man behind, he’d probably stab the woman out of principle.
That meant he would need to stay behind. Unfortunate, but something that could be used for his benefit. He was honestly a bit tired still, even after absorbing that bit of divinity earlier, and getting the chance to rest would be quite useful. Not to mention the fact that he no longer had any useful defenses, seeing as how his shield had been cleaved and nearly destroyed.
The Crusader was the best option here. He had a bow and arrow that he could use to deal with any opponents from range. The greatsword that he had was enchanted, given the power to rip apart anything, regardless of the fact of how thick or strong the enemy’s defenses were. There was the fact that he was not even close to exhausted yet, meaning that the man would be the perfect choice to go in and wreak havoc upon the ones responsible for the fog in the town.
“Alright. Here is what we will do: we shall take a day’s rest to recover. This way, we can be far more prepared to deal with the threats that lay ahead.”
“Wait, are you saying–”
“Never mind the possibility that this is a mere trap, we have to go in. There are monsters and the high possibility that the one responsible for the fog lays within. More importantly, we have to recover after that battle. Our journey going through the tower and fighting off that giant has used up a good bit of energy and divinity to get here. Going in once more blind will only result in a repeat of the constant streaks of bad brawls. We need to rest up.”
“Well, that–”
“Please don’t tell me you two intend to rest up here.” The woman whined as she groaned as she held her head in her hands, “The last thing I want to do is have you two in my private quarters. Could you simply not rest in some random area before coming back here?”
“If we are to go somewhere else to recover, then the problem comes when we need to come back. After all, you’ll simply try to change the layout of the tower to disable our movement. In fact, I expect you to try to stall us the moment we leave this room, possibly moving to have all the monsters charge in on our area to take care of us once and for all.
“Oh come now, I have already said I do not have that kind of power, I–”
“You have shown the capacity to create portals to go to different locations, and a means to spy on us. Whatever lies you have prepared to lower our guards will not work this time, woman.” The Crusader scowled, “Besides, I would rather not waste my time in the presence of someone as vile as you.”
“Oh, bite me, you–”
“Enough, children.” The Spartan chided as he sighed and rubbed his eyes together, before looking up. “We’ll be resting up elsewhere. Just get us there and bring us back when we wake up.”
“What?! You trust her?”
“It isn’t a matter of trust so much so that I understand getting us mad at her would be rather foolish,” he clarified, “Think about it. What kind of benefit does she gain by making us enraged? If she were to stab us in the back right now, then we would be focused on taking care of her. She doesn’t have the same fervent loyalty as all the monsters within this land, whether that be due to her clear disdain for her lord or if due to her hatred of her situation. Whatever the case, she is someone that can be negotiated with and a possible asset… for now.”
“For now.” The woman drawled out.
“Don’t try to make the matter worse by harassing my associate.”
“Fine, fine.” She rolled her eyes as she opened up a portal. The view showed a luxurious room, one that was clearly reminiscent of the complex the two had made their safe house earlier. “Here. I’ll go ahead and bring you back here after you wake up and get ready. Then we can go ahead and get the fog monster taken care of.”
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“Good.” With that, he grabbed the Crusader’s arm and began to drag him away, “If you betray us, then you can expect death to be something far easier to deal with.”
“Pfft. Ha. Hahaha!” With that, she started to laugh hysterically, tears running down her face as the two moved away. Well, that consisted mostly with the Spartan dragging his associate away, but then before the portal could close, he could hear her comment regarding that.
“Death is far more terrifying than anything.”
With that, the mystical surface vanished behind them, and they were left behind in the gigantic room. This time, there did seem to be a room covered with glass of some type that held a steam bath of some sorts, which was something that he could admit made him a bit excited. There were several towels, a rack full of bottles, and last but not least, a kitchen. Though the area was empty of any type of food that they could dine on, this was still something viable.
If anything, this truly was the perfect place to take a good night’s rest, even a celebration. A place to wipe down and a location to relax. The one thing that would make all of this perfect was if he did not have to deal with the angry Crusader by his side at this time.
“What. Was. That.”
“That was the act of diplomacy, the means required to get this town freed of the mist and the monsters.”
“I understand that is your goal. But you cannot be serious with all this! You are putting your trust in that woman for some asinine reason! Why do you think she is trustworthy when she has proven and shown she is capable of evil? She does not have good intentions in mind, she–”
“Calm down. If she planned to do something to us, she would do that now. Relax.”
“Relax?! We are letting a godless monster get away with whatever she desires and– Take this seriously!”
“I am.” The Spartan replied as he got busy taking off all of his armor and putting away his equipment, “I am focusing on getting all of my energy up. We still have plenty of booze, yes? That will have to do for now, there is no way for us to go hunting at this time.”
“Why are you being so lax about this? We are being tricked, no, you are being played as a fool!”
“Please. As if that would be the case.” He responded as he started to head towards the bathhouse, “If anything, we shall be using her.”
“I get that but– hey! Wait!”
With that, the two entered the steam room. His associate did not seem happy about the situation, as he scowled the whole way through, before giving a death glare at the Spartan.
“I don’t understand you. You were all about safety and caution, and now you’re throwing all that out the window by trusting someone that is clearly evil. What is up with you?”
“It is not trust. It is knowledge.” The Spartan sighed as he racked his hair back, “You have to look at the way she’s acting and her speech. She’s scared, probing and trying to use us. That means she expects us to do something for her–”
“That much is obvious. Don’t treat me like a fool.”
“The matter of the case is, she’s doing all this because she is incapable of acting. That means she expects us to go in and die, or go in and kill the threat. Yet, all of those leads to one thing: her achieving greater power. Something that we can both agree on. No, what we are going to do now is use her to our advantage.”
“Yet you are willing to work with her.”
“Temporarily,” he clarified harshly, “She is to be taken care of. I have seen her past, she is not to be trusted. No, what we can do here is use her powers for our benefit. However, we will need to split up. One of us needs to deal with the fog monster and the other needs to deal with the woman in the tower.”
“So we are going to backstab her then?”
“Only when her true intentions are clear.” He stated, “Right now, we need to focus on one thing at a time. I’ll stay behind to keep an eye on her, and you can go through the underground to take care of the fog monster. This way, we have our priorities set in mind. We cover both threats all at once.”
“Wait, wait.” The Crusader raised a hand, “Why are we splitting up? Would it not be best for us to focus on the monster in the underground?”
“We need to keep an eye on the woman. Should she strike, one of us staying behind should be enough to take her down. Besides, we are going to be teleported to the monster, and that would entail us being far too distant to reach her in time. Thus, the best way for us to move forward is to split up.”
“Hrm.” His associate frowned as he leaned back, letting the hot steam rush all around his body, “My only worry is if I were to face some dangerous situations down there. If I face several monsters that are at the same threat level as the giant we faced earlier, then I will be in dire straits.”
“Do not worry. I am sure I can convince the woman to allow me to intervene in some manner to save you should you fall into some kind of dangerous situations. Now, relax. I have thought of several things to allow us to deal with any incoming problems.”
His associate didn’t seem to like that idea, but there were no other words that could be said. With that, the two of them took the time to clean up, get their stomachs full of alcohol, and in a bed that was rather comfortable. The Spartan laid in the bed as he looked up at the ceiling, thinking over all the different ways these could go.
He didn’t know if the woman had been able to eavesdrop on their conversation. She could see, yes, but he wasn’t certain if she could hear. He hadn’t heard any noises when she was spying on those civilians from earlier, so his only hope was that the steam was enough to get her view off of them.
And if that failed, well, he had a good plan of what to do either way.