"Thank you for worrying, but—" I said as I spun around, her light brown eyes slightly widening as her attention moved from the bottle of water I put beside her onto me. Now that we were outside and so close, I could take a good look at Mara's figure. What stood out compared to the previous image I had in mind was her watery gaze and swollen lips. "Why do you care so much?"

She could've simply woken me up and been done with it. In comparison with Logan and Ava, we haven't kept frequent contact. Or other members of our party for that matter. The last time we met and had a conversation was in this crumbled district. Since then, there haven't been any developments to speak of for her to act in this way.

"What kind of question is that supposed to be?" she asked, something scratchy in her tone I couldn't quite comprehend. "Do I need a reason to be worried about someone else, Gray?"

"We haven't known each other for long," I told her that simple fact. Mara acknowledged it with a small nod of her chin. "There was no need for you to go as far as to talk with me so that I could calm down. Why would you go so far? Is it because we're in the same party?"

"Yeah," she answered briefly. "Is there something wrong with being concerned about your teammates?"

"Not at all," I replied, knowing I would've probably done the same for any of those sleeping sloths upstairs. But I still had to find a way to send her back to sleep, while also grabbing a can to feed Melody. I'd rather not have the griffin's patience running thin. Hearing her chirping her lungs out wasn't something that I wanted. "But we only met once before."

I guess I just couldn't understand how she could bring herself to care about people who she barely met, without any apparent ulterior motives. It was weird. More than that, bizarre. Even when I met Lucas for the first time, I was mostly curious about Melody rather than anything else. Meeting him here was just a lucky coincidence. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to come due to the lack of members within our party. Still, it wasn't as though there was no benefit for him in this ordeal. This is a learning experience that's bound to be significant for him. Also, the primary reason for playing along with Lavender was that I wanted to figure out a little bit more about the Underworld. Once again, in return, she satisfied a portion of her curiosity about this individual whom she has never met before. I never considered getting closer to her than that. At a glimpse, everything seemed to be a fair transaction.

With Mara, however, I couldn't see the benefits of getting along with me yet other than the balance of our group. Perhaps better access to our resources since I was the porter? Which wasn't really plausible in and of itself. I mean, she could've simply asked for what she wanted. I would have given it to her without batting an eye. Anybody could be a porter, so I could be replaced with relative ease if I turned out to be more of a nuisance than anything else. That's how it went at most jobs I had. As much as I got along with Logan, I doubted he'd choose me over the entire party as a whole. It was kind of depressing to even consider that, but I've learned that being a little skeptical couldn't bring you any pain.

Should I consider things from a different angle? Even then, the only conclusion that I could reach was that maybe she was annoyed hearing me blabbering in my slumber.

"I'm going to sleep," Mara muttered with a sigh, gently putting her hand on my shoulder for balance as she hopped off the ledge. She made up her mind. There was no way she'd indulge in any of the crap I spouted. Not that it had any meaning other than to distract her. "Will you be fine keeping watch on your own, Gray? We could do it together."

"It's fine," I told her, holding the door for her. "I'll walk you upstairs."

"You don't have to be such a gentleman," she grumbled, daggling the bottle in front of my eyes. "I'd be happier if you paid closer attention to your surrounding instead."

"Keep it. I'm just hungry," I grumbled, following after through the mini corridor and upstairs. "I'll steal a can of food, then keep watch downstairs in the kitchen. No one should complain, right?"

She only let out a bitter smile as she uttered, "Don't worry. My lips are sealed. I should do that much for the gentleman that escorts me," before zipping the sarcasm off her lips.

"It was my pleasure," I yelped as she sneaked into a different room. Through the dried and cracked wood doorframe, I could see it was relatively small and bleak, probably meant for guests rather than family members. Only Lucas lacked the commonsense to simply chose a different room and sleep on an actual bed instead of the parquet.

"Night," I added, watching her curl her body into a little ball on top of the torn bedsheets as she repeated the same words back, holding the scabbarding tightly in her grasp and up to her chest.

The reason all of us slept in the same room was obvious. None of us really wanted to be alone in a place as dangerous as this one. No one said anything out loud about it, but the loneliness one could feel within these ruins was quite overwhelming. Still, although it'd be less of a burden on my psyche if she were to be in the same room as the rest, I saw no actual reason to complain aloud. She was still within reach, just a couple of meters away. That was fine.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Do I resemble any of them while I'm asleep?" I whispered to myself, then shook my head, wondering what I was even wasting my time considering.

I crouched down and began searching through the backpack. The first thing that I reached toward wasn't the can of food though, but the artifact lingering at the bottom. Cerulean runes glittered as I pulled its tip out of the sheath. All I could do was look at it, unable to even avert my eyes from the fragments of pure mana. It was a pity I couldn't sell it. Truly a pity. Not only that, but once the mana inside it runs out, and because of my inability to wield mana, I'm going to remain with just a pretty object that'd break like any ordinary knife. A phone without batteries, if you will. Totally useless. Not only that but if anyone found out I had such an object, there were bound to be some troubles.

Still, I'd rather have the means to do something than not. Knowing the depth of this weapon's prowess puts my mind at ease. That is why the risk of bringing it along was well worth it.

I shoved the dagger back where I took it from, then analyzed my surroundings. Everyone was sleeping soundly. A good thing. No one noticed what I just did. Once I confirmed no one was awake, I reached for one of the cans we had. Let's not forget the primary reason I'm here, shall we?

I moved back the way I came from on the tip of my shoes, scrunching my nose as I soon as I heard Mara's coughs. She kept going for a while, then took in a deep wheezing breath through her nose. Did she fall asleep so quickly? Probably. Hours of constant concentration as she scouted ahead were taking a heavy toll on her. There was no reason for her to feign something like that. I took a step in, but there was no apparent reaction from her. Yeah, definitely asleep. I kept looking through the room, but the answer finally reached me as my gaze fell onto the dust lingering on top of the furniture. I ran my finger on top, leaving a clean trail on top of the material as I brought my finger up and began rubbing the dust remaining on it with my thumb. An allergy of sorts? Could be. Mara never mentioned it before, though.

Cleaning wasn't an option. I lacked the time and leisure to do so. Still, that didn't mean there was no solution whatsoever. I crept closer to the window, then opened it up. A cold wind rushed in, airing the whole room. I took in a deep breath, noticing a significant difference compared to the stale atmosphere from before.

"This should help..."

And I'm sorry for questioning you in that manner just to distract you, Mara. That was my apology as I spared her one last glance before sneaking outside.

"I've kept you waiting," I muttered as Melody fell into my arms, unable to keep herself in control anymore. I couldn't help but give her warm feathered body a good scratch. I missed her, even though I wouldn't admit it if asked.

That aside, I opened the can and put it on the ledge. It was large enough for Melody's beak to fit in without any issues, which was rather relieving. I wasn't going to feed her with a fork or anything, just like her bound certainly would. With a quiet chirp, she began devouring the whole thing. As I watched her, I couldn't help but notice its different wrapping. It wasn't one of the cans Ava prepared for us, that's for sure. I must've randomly picked it. Strangely, I got the impression that I did something wrong, yet could put my finger on it. Just what is it that I did wrong? As Melody gulped down the last contents of the can, I kept tapping my fingers on the ledge, my mind trying to reach toward something inconceivable. The griffin chirped, snapping me out of it as she flapped away, the collision of metal against the sidewalk resounding about half a second after.

"Just how many rations did Lucas prepare for himself?" I questioned myself as I picked the can from the ground.

It was obvious that since we were a bigger group, we'd have an appropriate number of resources at our disposal prepared in advance. But Lucas prepared his own rucksack, in which he hid Melody and just a few rations of food. There was no water or clothing. That much became apparent as I ravaged through my memories. I couldn't help but consider his preparations as shabby. Then, what else am I missing? Just why do I feel this way? Is Lucas dumb enough to come to this place without adequate rations? No, he was naive, but not an utter idiot.

"But what if the reason he came here wasn't the same as the rest of us...?"

Mercenaries, hunters, porters, whoever they were, came to this place for apparent reasons. Profit or fame, in most cases. Lucas himself didn't seem to be particularly interested in any of those. His appearance didn't denote so. We were about the same age, but there was still some baby fat on his cheeks. His hair wasn't greasy or anything like that and his nails had recently been clipped. The beast tamer's attire wasn't anything extracurricular either. There wasn't anything screaming out that he was in a dire need of money. If he did, he hid it so well that I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. But, once again, that conclusion was laughable at best. The easier, and more logical explanation would be that he visited this district simply because he was curious about it. Yeah, I think I'm heading in the right direction...

"No," I corrected myself, interrupting my initial line of thinking as I threw the can in the air before catching it. "He isn't really interested in this location..."

What if he wanted to test his bond with Melody? The distance in which they could communicate? Yes, that made sense. The 4th District was the only place he could achieve that without having others see him. Or, at the very least, drastically reduce the chances of being witnessed. We came here prepared to stick around for a couple of days and Ava made sure we were prepared accordingly. Albeit begrudgingly since they made the weight I had to carry bigger, the others brought some rations themselves to be sure that everything would turn out alright. Lucas, on the other hand, came into this district with the intention to stick around for a couple of hours at most. There was no reason for him to prepare thoroughly.

I hurled the can again before slamming it onto the ledge with a thud as the conclusion fell off my mouth: "Which means I dragged him into all of this."

I wasn't doing either of us any favors by doing things in this manner. The truth is that I'm simply exploiting him. I pressured Lucas into doing something he didn't initially want to do. I took a few long strides ahead in the middle of the street, arching my body before tossing the can on top of the building. Although I could make some lousy excuse about starving in case the rest were perturbed by the noise and asked questions, I'd rather not think about it. Albeit in a clumsy fashion, I got rid of the evidence. No one will manage to find it there, I'm sure. Except for Melody and Lucas, obviously. Those two could find out about it with ease.

As I stepped inside, a sigh escaped my throat.

"Whatever..."

I'm sorry I'm such a lousy excuse of a human being.