“…because of the sudden death of nine Peak Stage Wanderers, the Lotus clan has lost a lot of high end strength in the city, so they should not be coming after us for a while,” Vestia said, walking with her hands behind her back, while tilting her head to sneak a peek at his face from time to time. Kind of like how Alnea himself used to peek at his mother, and his master, when he wished to get a better look of their faces without getting caught.

“But we still cannot let our guard down. Especially since half of us are unconscious, and the other half will take nearly half a month to get back to our best state. We are at our most vulnerable state right now. They would not even have to do anything too complicated. Just a simple Blood Challenge, and… Of course, the Lotus clan itself should not have anyone strong enough to deliver on that Blood Challenge for a while. But they have many friends…”

“…I understand,” Alnea said, nodding solemnly at Vestia’s words, while trying to ignore the flush on her cheeks, and around her ears. He had never seen her be so restless and fidgety. Even though it was she herself had asked to spend a day with him, when the time came, she was acting like a little girl facing her…

Alnea suppressed his errant thoughts for the moment, and let out a smile, before saying, “Thank you for your hard work, Vestia. I will ask everyone to be careful too, when we meet at night. But that’s enough talk about work. Today is supposed to be just about you.”

“About us.”

“…About us. In any case, let’s stop discussing the Lotus clan for now.”

“It is not like I wish to waste our precious time discussing about those idiots either,” Vestia said, shrugging her shoulders to show her helplessness. “But I thought you should know about what kind of dangers we might face next.”

“…It’s alright. We will talk about them later. For now, let’s just focus on us.”

“Us?” Vestia said, supressing her restless energy for a few moments, reverting back to her old self. The self that liked to tease him whenever she got the chance. “So, you finally admit that there is an ‘us’?”

“…That is not what I meant, and you know it.”

“…Are you not going to give it a thought for even a moment?” Vestia said, exhaling an exaggerated sigh. “That makes me sad, you know?”

“…I did not mean to make you sad.”

“Then are you going to give ‘us’ a thought?”

“I…”

“Look at you, all tensed up,” Vestia said with a chuckle, not caring if it was embarrassing him. “I was just joking with you. Though I must say, it is very easy to make you fall into a guilt trap.”

“…Only because I care about you.”

“…I will take that as a win,” Vestia said, as a brilliant smile replaced her chuckles. “Anyways, what were we talking about?”

“…I was saying that we should not talk about irrelevant things, and just enjoy the day.”

“…That is not what you said. But I will take it.”

“So, what are we going to do?”

“So excited to spend the day with me?” Vestia said, with the edges of her lips rising a little more than before. “Maybe we should do this more often.”

“…We haven’t even done anything yet.”

“…Oh? Then do you want to do something with me?”

“That is why we are out here, right?” Alnea said, shrugging his shoulders, throwing the question back to the quick witted girl. “Anyways, I am yours for the entire day. You get to decide what we do.”

“…How about we start with a walk?”

“Are we not walking already?”

“We are,” Vestia said, with a hint of hesitation in her voice. “But something seems to be missing…”

“…It seems perfectly fine to me though,” Alnea mumbled, before stopping, and turning towards the blue robed woman, staring at him with curious brown eyes. “What should we do then… to find that missing piece.”

“Let’s see… For starters, how about we try holding our hands?” Vestia said, stretching out her left hand towards him, while tilting her head ever so slightly, and blinking her eyes at him so innocently. “…Or is that too much to ask?”

Her voice… It was a perfect mix of expectation, hesitation, and guilt… So much so, that for a moment, Alnea began feeling a little guilty for making the girl question herself. That was until he saw the mirth hidden in her eyes. These girls… They were all so good at acting and playing with emotions…

“…Stop playing tricks on me, Vestia,” Alnea said with a wry smile, before stretching out his hand to hold her hand. “Like I said before, today is supposed to be your day—

“Our day.”

“…Our day. A day for me to thank you for all the help you have given me. And all the help you will give me in the future… As long as you don’t make any outrageous demands, I will try to follow all your requests.”

“…I do not need your thanks,” Vestia said, shaking her head. “I helped you because I wished to. In fact, I never expected you to agree to my request… As for the potions… I would have given them to you even if you had not agreed to spend the day with me. We are in a team, after all. Our survival and success are tied together… At least until we are in the city. So, it would not matter even if go back right now… I will still continue to help you—

“But I have already given my promise,” Alnea said, shrugging his shoulders with a wry smile. “My day is yours to decide. I—

“Is it only because of the promise?” Vestia said, withdrawing her hand, and restraining all her emotions from her face. But she could not hide the slight sense of disappointment in her eyes, or the quake in her voice. “Have you come only to thank me for the potions?”

“…When I made that promise, I did think to accompany you just to thank you, and keep and my word,” Alnea said, prompting Vestia’s eyes to darken even more than before. She did not show it on her face, but the way she clenched her fist showed just how much his words had hurt her. That was never his intention though. So, he reached out to hold her hands, and gently pry open her fists, all the while smiling under her confused eyes.

“But all that changed after I faced my fears… Although I do wish to thank you, I will not deny that I like your company. And there certainly is a part of me that is looking forward to spending the day with you… all alone. At the same time, I also wish to make you smile… Because I like your smile. I have never told you that, right? In any case, what I meant to say was that I want to repay a little of the favour you have shown me by making you smile.”

“…Then say it like that in the first place,” Vestia said, turning her flushed face away from him to hide her embarrassment, before recalling his words, and turning back to flash her dimples. “Do you like this smile?”

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“…I do.”

“Then I will keep it on for the rest of the day,” Vestia said, giggling at him, as she withdrew her right hand, letting him keep holding on to her left hand, before leading him away. “Let’s go. I have prepared a surprise for you.”

“…Speaking of surprises, I have prepared a surprise for you too,” Alnea said, reaching into the pouch hanging by his waist to take out a scroll. A blue scroll, with black handles and brown indentations, matching perfectly with the blue robed girl he handed it over to.

“What is it?” Vestia said, looking curiously at the scroll in her hand. “An Arcana, or a Martial Style?”

“You will know when you open it—No, don’t open it right now. Wait for when you are alone… in your room.”

“Tsk. Stingy as always,” Vestia mumbled, as she put away the blue scroll, before resuming her steps. “I already expected as much though… Why are you still standing? Do you not want my surprise? Come on, follow me…”

Chattering endlessly, talking about all sorts of things, and finding all sorts of ways to tease him, Vestia led him through the streets of the city for about an hour or so, before finally stopping in front of a building. A normal building, just like all the other buildings around it, built to house the visitors of the city in tiny rooms.

“…Is the surprise supposed to be inside the building?”

“Won’t you know if you walk in with me?” Vestia said, with the corner of lips upturning in a smirk. She did not give him the chance to even think about her question though, let alone answer her, before pulling him into the building, and into a room on the ground floor. Barring their mansion, it was the first time he had been to a room on a ground floor in the Lost City.

Coincidentally, it was also the first time he had been alone with a girl in such a small room. If he did not count the caves he had lived in with Cecilia and Yuri, that is. But those were just caves. And that too, in the Night Canyons, surrounded by Oren Beasts, and all other sorts of dangers. Back then, he did not have the leisure to think about anything that had nothing to do with increasing his strength, or chances of survival. At the moment though…

“…This was the preparation you were talking about yesterday?” Alnea said, glancing around the room, trying his best to not look at Vestia in her eyes, or near the bulge on her chest… It was fine when they were out in the open. But in a closed room, her chest seemed to have an extra charm to them. It was as if they were consciously attracting his attention—

“Among a few other things,” Vestia said, breaking him out from the attractive spell that her chest had cast on him. Thankfully, she had not noticed his rude behaviour… Or if she did, she did not point it out. Regardless, from the way she was smiling, it looked like she was not in the least bothered by their close proximity… Maybe he should set a few restrictions earlier…

“What did you bring you me here for?”

“…Can you not tell?” Vestia said, shrugging her shoulders, and pointing to the room around them. “What else can we do in a room?”

“…I don’t understand what you are talking about,” Alnea said, involuntarily stepping back from Vestia before realising what he was doing. Fortunately, instead of being affronted by his action, or pouting in dissatisfaction, as he expected her to do, she burst out in laughter, and kept laughing until her eyes began to tear up.

“…I am sorry,” Vestia said after finally catching her breath. “You were just so cute…”

“…It’s alright,” Alnea said, scratching the back of his head. “But I really don’t understand why you brought me here…”

“To give you an unforgettable experience… Alright, alright. I will not tease you anymore,” Vestia said, barely containing her giggles, before reaching into her pouch to bring out a crystal that looked like two hexagonal cones being stitched together at their mouth… Almost like a memory spr. Except, instead of being black, grey, or red, the crystal in her hand was blue.

“…Is that—

“A memory spar,” Vestia said, looking at the crystal with a hint of remembrance.

“…But isn’t that something that only the city can make—

“It is not that only the Lost City can make memory spars. Other clans, and even the Union knows how to make objects with similar effects. It is just that the Lost City can make them on a much larger scale. And at a much lower cost. Besides, who told you that you cannot make your own memory spar? Did you forget the most basic rule of the Lost City? As long as you have enough Blood Coins, you can enjoy all sorts of luxuries… even creating your own memory spar…”

“…It must have been expensive.”

“Not as expensive as creating it back in my clan would have been… And I did earn quite a fortune from the Black Desert Trial…”

“…Did you spend all of it in the memory spar?”

“Don’t be silly. Although memory spars are luxury items, they are not so expensive. They are just some ornaments after all, and not some precious treasures… But for me, the memories in this memory spar are my most precious treasures. And they are the surprise I have prepared for you.”

“…Why?”

“…Do you not wish to know why I am so fond of you? Why do I try to keep clinging to you? Or why I made you make all those promises with me?”

“…That has nothing to do—

“You will understand once you go through them,” Vestia said, placing the memory spar into his hand, all the while smiling at him… Was it because of what he had said earlier?

“…How much memories are in there?”

“If you squeeze them all together… then probably around a year’s worth of memories, I guess.”

“…That’s a lot of memories.”

“I know.”

“…It will take me a lot of time to digest them… maybe even hours.”

“I know.”

“…Are you sure you want me to use what little time we have together to go through your memories?”

“…It’s a little complicated… You will understand everything once you go through my memories.”

“…Although there are so many things that I wish to say… But I will believe you this time,” Alnea said, removing his sword from his waist, and placing it on the ground, before sitting down next to his sword, and placing the blue memory spar against his head. “I will try to finish this as soon as I can…”

Saying so, Alnea reached out to the memory crystal with his Spirit. Moments later, the memory spar dissolved into a bluish fog and drilled into his head, bringing him all sorts of memories. And headache, of course. But this was not the first time he was using a memory spar. Neither was it the first time he was going through memories that were not his. Even if he did not count memories of Alnea Oathkeeper from the world of Attuners, he had once also seen—lived through Yuri’s memories.

The latter was a completely unique experience though. And back then, it was Yuri herself who had borne the price for letting him live through her memories. In contrast, not only did he have to bear all the price himself when he lived through the memories of Alnea Oathkeeper from the world of Attuners, he also had to deal with all sorts of side effects.

Vestia’s memories, on the other hand, did make him pay the price himself, but they were much gentler with him. And there were no side effects either. Except for the emotions he felt when he saw those memories. Although those memories did not contain her deepest secret, like her Roots, he already knew a thing or two about her conviction. And the reason why she had become the way she was… He understood her weak Heart…

Alnea let out a heavy breath, as he opened his eyes, taking a few moments to reorient himself, and calm the waves in his Heart. The memories… Vestia… Glancing at the window, he noticed that though he could not see Enn, the sky was still quite bright. Rather, it was even brighter than what it had been before he had used the memory spar. Around two hours then, he noted. That left them with five to six hours…

“…Do you understand now?”

Alnea turned towards the voice, and found Vestia looking at him with a hint of expectation, hesitation, and a whole lot of nervousness.

“…I am just fourteen years old… Why did you have to drag me into this mess?”

“I am just three years older than you… And I was even younger when I… Besides, you have not stepped into this mess yet. You can still leave me—

“After all that I have seen through… Do you think that I will let you face everything on your own? And isn’t that why you let me see your memories in the first place?”

“…I cannot hide anything from you…”

“…Let me warn you first. Because of some special circumstances, Yuri will not be able to help us. And most probably, Lia will not be able to help us either.”

“…I never expected them to help anyway. Especially Cecilia. Her clan… They would not let her meddle into something like this.”

“…And the elder that you talked about earlier… the one behind us… She will not be able to help either. If we are doing this, we will be all alone.”

“…It does not matter. Not anymore. I admit that at first, I did come closer to you with the intention of seeking help from your elder, but spending some time with you, I am sure that I do not need anyone else’s help. Just you alone are enough.”

“…You sure are confident in me.”

“Of course. I am always proud of my instincts.”

“…I saw.”

“…Forget about them. Those memories… I showed them only for you to better understand my circumstances. You are not allowed to tease me with them.”

“…Don’t worry. I won’t.”

“…So, what is your answer? Will you help me, or…”

“Does that even need to be said?” Alnea said, losing all his solemness for a grin. “Of course, I…”