6 days.
6 days of traveling, fighting, exploring, taking notes, talking, and alternatively keeping watch over the fire whenever we made camp, either because we were too far from the nearest outpost when night fell or because neither of us wanted to rush for it badly enough.
I mean, I was ok with rushing it to safety, but since I was the slower of two I was afraid that I would end up being the one to hold us back while doing so, and there was no way that I would give Sheeno an excuse to pick me up again. My hormones were fluctuating enough already, thank you very much.
Talking about the [Wild Area], ‘massive’ doesn’t make justice to just how big it is; fortunately, we had to scout only a small chunk of it, so it didn’t take too long, but we still managed to see multiple biotypes, one very different from the other but still right adjacent to one another, and this was only possible thanks to the fact that this place was made up by a conglomeration of floating islands that came from multiple worlds, just like the rest of [Nexus], only on a more condensed scale. Most notables of the various sceneries we were amazed by were the small pocket of frozen tundra, where Sheeno’s mastery over ice turned the traversal into a joke, and a desolate hellscape that had bones coming out of the ground as if they were trees, that sometimes liked to spontaneously ignited into flame.
If I were to summarize everything that happened in the last week it would look like this:
* Talked with Sheeno about past traumas, and made it clear that we do like each other, although probably not in a romantic way yet.
* Fought a slew of [Monsters], weirdly most were quadrupeds of various types or worm-like burrowers.
* Gained a [Lvl], 2 [Strength], [Dexterity] and [Energy], and 1 [Acuity] and [Serendepity] (the last one I’m pretty sure it was just [Luck] messing with my fortune, making us accidentally end up in a three-way fight between multiple factions of different [Monsters]).
* Explored the entire area assigned to us, reporting no new irregularities apart from 5 new [Dungeons], excluding the one we already delved into.
All in all, everything went discretely well and the various experiences only brought Sheeno and me closer.
“Is it time to get back already?” Sheeno whined.
“Yes, you battle junkie. And on that note, I can’t wait for our reward: maybe I’ll finally be able to buy a [Spatial bag] AND afford half the rent for a decent house”, I replied.
The reward for the [Quest] was kind of up in the air, but I’m pretty sure that Merglobth would do good by us.
“I honestly think you’d do better with a set of [Monster Leathers] like mine, but maybe on the lighter side. After all your [Enchantments] can increase the intrinsic sturdiness of the material only so far, right? So, the first thing that you need to look up are things that will keep you alive, like reinforced boots or gloves, a helmet, and other stuff like that.”
“Maybe, but having a visible [Spatial bag] could help hide that I’m ‘brokenly’ [Aberrant], besides being obviously [Anomalous]”, I explained.
“Ok, yeah, that is a good point,” Sheeno agreed to my reasoning, “but by that same logic, a good reinforced glove, even only one on the hand not already covered, will help attract less attention to your already covered one… which you still haven’t talked about”, Sheeno made her counter-point.
And it was a good point, one that made me realize that I had completely forgotten about why I had a gloved hand in the first place.
“Oh, you’re right!” I exclaimed.
“Of course I am-“ Sheeno started gloating but I interrupted her.
“I meant the fact that I hadn’t talked about what I was covering up: It’s a [Demonic Blank Contract].”
I had already made up my mind about not keeping secrets with Sheeno, at least those that were only mine to keep, and I honestly had actually forgotten about the [Mark].
We were aimlessly walking around, checking the last spot on the [Map] where there could still be hiding something unexplored, with Sheeno in front and me right behind, since there was no further reason to scout the area, with us already having cleared it of hostiles long ago.
I explained all that to explain how I could end up butting my face against her covered abs when she decided to suddenly stop and turn around.
“YOU!!!” She shouted, pointing a finger right in my face.
“Me?” I asked, pushing the uncomfortably close finger down and replacing it with my own, confused by the sudden change of atmosphere.
“Don’t get cheeky on me! Where did you even get something like that, and how!?” She loudly demanded that I answered her, lightly slapping my hand down and bringing her finger right back up.
“Inside a chest in my first [Dungeon], and I picked it up without knowing what it was at first”, I replied, following my speech with a little shrug.
“You- How- Do- UUURGHH!” She threw up her arms in the air with a grunt.
Sheeno now was fully dusky in the face, and had seemingly lost the capacity for coherent speech, or at least the series of grunts she made gave that impression; at that point, I had to wonder if her demeanor was due to either anger or worry.
“Why are you taking it so hard? You know that I wouldn’t voluntarily get something like this,” I tried to explain while waiving the offending arm away from the rest of me, “and that I wouldn’t use it for any nefarious end either. Honestly, I thought you had started trusting me enough-“
“This is NOT a matter of ‘trust’, which you betrayed first-“
“I actually forgot, okay!?” It was my turn to throw my hands in the air.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“-BUT”, she kept going while sending a scathing glance my way, “what we’re discussing here is how actually absolutely RIDICULOUS you are further revealing yourself to be”, she finally stated her problem.
“Yeah, ok, maybe weird stuff keeps happening around me but-“, I was starting to get worried by her reactions, so I tried de-escalating the situation, but managed only to get interrupted again.
“It’s not that it just ‘keeps happening’, you’re the [Protegee] of the [Goddess of Luck] and I already expected something like that to be the case, but you’re just absurd on a whole ‘nother level! And now you even have another reason for which all those wild theories of yours regarding people kidnapping and murdering you could actually end up being true!” She said all that while vehemently gesticulating.
Sheeno’s breath was starting to come heavy now, so I grabbed two of her hands in my own and tried to calm her down.
“Hey, hey! Calm down. I know this might look bad, but I did everything I could to keep it hidden and only me, you and Merga know about it. Also, with all the other weird things about me, I doubt a random person would look for any other hidden one, since they’d probably get blinded by the obvious ones”, I tried to reason with her.
I could see her thinking it over, and after a moment her heaving shoulders completely stilled.
“Wait, the [Dept Witch] knows about this?” She simply asked with a monotonous voice.
“Well, yeah. She was the one that gave me the fingerless glove with the [Anti-Scrying]”, I further explained.
Sheeno started taking deep breaths, trying to forcefully calm herself down, and after a minute or so she seemed to succeed in the effort.
“Ok… if the [Depth Witch] was okay with you having… ‘that’, and even helped you disguise it, then the situation might not be as grim as I thought…” Sheeno lapsed back into silence, obviously thinking about something.
“Are you alright?” I asked, worried for my friend.
Sheeno took another deep breath before answering “Yes, or at least I’ll be, thank you. But you’re still an asshole for dropping a bomb like that on me as if you were talking about the climate”.
“Yeah, that was decidedly not cool…” I waited for her reaction.
“Ugh, again with that pun? Really? Now? In a situation like this?” She asked, exasperated but decidedly calmer than before.
“Would it make you feel better if I told you that I have Merga in my [contacts] registered on my [Guild Card]?” I asked cheekily.
“You WHAT!?”
* * *
{Merga’s POV}
Merga had just finished pulling stuff into her [Spatial pouch], and decided to cast one last observing glance around the room that had been her study during the last couple of weeks.
Who knew she could get attached to a place once more? She definitely didn’t.
At first, she was called in to help with the aspirant [Adventurers] from the newly introduced [Humans], the one who called her didn’t believe she would respond in the affirmative either but then a small nudge from her [Patron] made her take interest in her fellow [Protegee], Darwin.
The same person who ended up fighting an [Aberrant Mini-Boss] in the training [Dungeon], causing her stay to be lengthened so she could help with clearing and destroying the previous training [Dungeon], and then build the array that would attract future [Dungeons] in the area into the same spot where the previous one was located.
Many called her a genius for being able to construct such intricate designs in so little time, but all she cared about was that she was delayed from pursuing something else of interest and instead had been stuck here until an appropriate type of [Dungeon] had stabilized in the area.
But now she was done and could finally say goodbye to little Eddd, impertinent Abaan, boisterous Skortch, and the dear Grog-
Her pocket started vibrating.
“What is it now!?” She frustratingly thought. Who had the gall to interrupt her just when she was about done? Would they deserve to get a [Sweepy] to the shin?
Merga pulled out her [Guild Card] from her pocket, and a light chime of bells started coming from it once in the open. She checked the [contact] that was messaging her and-
Darwin Dulcet: ‘Sup Merga? It’s me, the [Anomalous Human] that you gave the [Anti-Scrying] glove to.
She mave a little hop, happy that her most recent reason of interest was contacting her of his own volition, but she also started wondering why he might be doing so now, or why he thought that he had to remind her who he was.
Merga: Hi sweety, how is it going? And did you think I was some kind of old crone that you had to remind me who you were?
She sent the message and nodded to herself, proud of having transmitted the right amount of contrite to probably make him sweat, making him think that he had offended her with his remark.
Darwin Dulcet: I mean, you are EXTREMELY old, so that statement wouldn’t be that far off, but that isn’t the point.
Merga frowned and pouted both, irritated that her ruse didn’t work and that the little boy was so blatant in his disrespect.
She folded the arm that wasn’t holding the card under her beasts and gave them a squeeze and a jiggle.
“Old my hat, I’m still smooth and firm!” She muttered to herself.
Merga: You better watch what you say, since bad boys end up getting spanked~
Good, that should fluster him a bit.
Darwin Dulcet: Sorry, I’m not really into that.
“Who was this, and what happened to sweet young thing that would stammer after the lightest of teases?”
Maybe, just maybe, the little [Human] got further than she thought and graduated into maturity thanks to the [Princess].
Merga could only grin, after all, she was their match-maker.
She just hoped that ‘Queeny’ wouldn’t blame her for that, when the debacle with her idiot son was over.
Merga: My my, someone got witty. Did something change? Perhaps a new relationship blossomed or reached the next level?
This time the boy failed to send an immediate response, and she felt intense smugness at having finally put him on his back foot.
Darwin Dulcet: If your “Grandma-like teasing” is over-
Well, she’d never!
-I told Sheeno Fyratta about everything, including the [Demonic contract], so now I wanted you to write her something that would reassure her, instead of the teases that have left her wondering why someone so powerful was acting like that with the likes of me.
“Ah, that makes sense”, once more she was nodding to herself; if Darwin did really connect already on a deep enough level with the [Anomalous Heliokan], and he was comfortable enough to reveal at least the majority of his secrets to her, then having someone more experience and trustworthy to reassure his companion was only further proof that he cared.
But how did they get so close so fast? The last time she met the boy he was very asocial, introverted, and often shied away from personal contact. Was the [Princess] really that perfect of a match for him that they ended up working together that well from the get-go?
But the real question was: How could she hide veiled hints for Sheeno so she would take further initiative with Dulcet?