I threw Merga a weird look.

“What are you talking about? Aren’t we all going to the ‘frontier’, or whatever they’re calling it? Why wouldn’t you come with us, now that you can get away from those assholes as much as we want to?”

“While I would have put it differently, I thought you were being transparent in your desire to protect our young Darwin from the shadows”, Undine seemed as confused as I was, although she could have avoided the ‘young’ part, especially when she became touchy when someone mentioned her age.

“I’m not going to say to the [Depth Witch] what she should do, because I’m not suicidal like this one-“

“Hey!” I felt the need to object when Sheeno just casually pointed at me with a thumb, but she just barreled through the interruption.

“-but it is weird that you would leave us to our own devices after all that has happened.”

“I’m glad that you all have grown enough of a spine to be able to question my decisions so openly~”, the witch said with a sweet and condescending tone, making the other two women flinch.

“Ignore her tone: She actually prefers it when people talk to her as an equal”, I refused to have my [Party] be bullied so shamelessly, so I decided to burst her bubble.

“Boohoo. You could leave a lady to her hobbies, you know?”

“I don’t think one would normally compare ‘mentally and socially torturing someone’ as a hobby, and you probably couldn’t even pull such a thing out of people under torture.”

“Now who’s bullying who?”

“Stop reading my surface thoughts!”

“Oh, is that what I’m doing?”

“Yes, but I can’t prove it because even the [Gods] have problems doing it, and the implications are kind of concerning so I try to not think about it!”

Where was [Unyielding Sovereign] when you needed it? That thing [Evolved] from something that I had thought had sort of worked in stopping [Luck] from prying into my mind too much… so yeah, the implications weren’t the greatest.

“Oh, pish posh!” Uncaring of my inner monologue, but definitely aware of it, Merga just waved a hand dismissively.

“Before you two continue… ‘arguing’, could we maybe get an answer to our question?” Undine, sensing that our ‘bickering’ was coming to a close, decided to try her hand at getting a straight answer out of the witch.

“What question?” Both I and Merga asked at the same time, which made our heads snap toward the other also at the same time.

“Please, tell me that she’s just messing with me, and not that we’re actually more similar than either is willing to admit.”

Do you want the truth or…?

“Fuck.”

The open-ended question was response enough, and [Buddy] knew it. So now I just needed to rein in any sadistic tendencies I might have in the future, or I already knew how I would end up.

“The one… about why you wouldn’t come with us?” Sheeno continued with a complicated expression, her eyes jumping us two, and I immediately knew she was coming to the same conclusion I just did.

Which, while it was nice to know that we were on the same page so often, in this particular case it was less so, for obvious reasons.

Of course, Merga could just be messing with us all… but this was one of the rare cases in which my [Aura] had worked on her and I could tell that her reactions were genuine, unfortunately.

“Ah, that’s simple: My strong [Void Affinity] would attract too much undue attention with the [Army] and give a chance for more [Demons] to pour through the weakened [Veil] in the area, so, not wanting to be the cause of more pressure for them more than what they already are under, I will be doing my own thing not too far away. That also means traveling through my own means, because my powers next to a [fulcrum] would just be a very obvious beacon that would tell the [Demons] where to attack”, the [Depth Witch] explained her point as if obvious, and maybe it was for someone with all the contextual knowledge, or [Information], but it just left us with more questions, and only half an answer.

“I guess that makes sense, although I don’t like the implications that we’re attracting undue attention even now, and have been for a while…” my feelings on the matter were understandably complicated.

“I specified that the problem was that the [Army] was in a place where the [veil] that protects our world was thinner than normal, didn’t I? The chaotic nature of the [Wild Area] instead makes said [veil] naturally more resistant to outside incursions, so that’s why I was able to remain here for longer than normal, with also Darwin working like a multiplier that my presence normally brings.”

That was kind of… sad. If what she was telling us was to be believed, her mere existence made it so that the more she stayed stationary somewhere, the more likely it was that a [Demon] found its way into this [Nexus]. That practically made it so she didn’t have a house, a home, somewhere to belong; or if she did, it had to be in a chaotic place, away from other people, isolated for everybody’s sake.

I… wasn’t the best at dealing with other people’s emotions, even once I got my [Emphatic Aura] and could effectively tell them apart… but at that moment, irrelevant of preconceived difference n power and standing, I knew I was doing the right thing.

Stolen novel; please report.

I hugged Merga, and I knew that I was able to do so only because she allowed it in the first place. Thankfully our height difference wasn’t too obvious, so I avoided the usual awkwardness. After a moment, she hesitantly reciprocated the gesture, and then even Sheeno and Undine got closer in solidarity, but I doubt they dared do much besides patting her back.

Contrary to me, they were still bothered by the difference in ranks, Sheeno probably more so than Undine, but they equally tried to push through for a friend in need.

Said friend gave a small chuckle before pushing away, her strength gentle, not forceful, but I let her anyway.

“Look at you. Where did that small ball of unstable anger go, and where did this caring person come from?” The teasing smirk was back on her lips, but, as a whole, she definitely looked more relaxed than before.

“Hey, the ‘small’ part was uncalled for, and I’ve always been caring… I’ve just been really bad at demonstrating it…” I awkwardly scratched a check while biting a bit on my lower lip.

“And I must admit that I’m surprised that you two just went along with his impulses”, Merga turned to my companions, who looked even more awkward than I felt, which somehow made me feel somewhat better.

“While he might never admit it, he’s the default leader of this [Team], so I have no problems following his lead”, Undine answered after a moment of hesitation.

“I thought Sheeno was our leader- you know, with her being a [Princess] and all-“ I started refuting her claims, but I was smacked in the back of my head with an oversized hand.

“And I also have no problems going along with his actions when he’s thinking them through: He has yet to steer us wrong in those cases, so I trusted him”, Sheeno ended up being more direct.

And even though they were saying good things about me, I still felt like they were dissing me in some way. They kind of sounded like back-handed compliments, so maybe that was it.

Maybe sensing the lull in the conversation, the flying ship’s door decided to pop open at that moment, saving us from the moment getting any more embarrassing than it already was, and a familiar pirate sauntered towards us with a jaunty pace, stepping down the ramp that was unfolding right under his feet.

“Who’s rready forr anotherr smooth rride, aboarrd me ship?” The slightly overweight and jolly [Captain] announced happily one he got within handshake distance of our group.

Merga merely looked at us with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, I guess that’s our call. Hopefully, we’ll meet again in better circumstances, but something tells me we’ll next be meeting on the battlefield”, I nodded at her, after shaking the light-skinned Nymph’s hand with a grin.

“Good to see you again, [Captain]; and Merga, may our fates cross again”, Sheeno also shook his hand, and only then gave a proper goodbye to the witch.

“May our fates cross again, Merga; and well met, Captain”, Undine adopted a more professional attitude for them both.

“Have fun kids Until next time, but for now it’s adieu. And you owe me a glove, mister!” The [Depth Witch] said with an unnaturally big smile.

“Wait, how did you-“, I did a double take when I heard her speak French, but the moment I tried to question her about it she was just gone.

“I must say, you all keep interresting company!” The [Captain] looked as unperturbed as his usual, even after meeting the well-known calamity that was my mentor.

Thinking about it… wasn’t she the one that got us to meet in the first place? If that’s so, he probably knew her already, and his reaction is much more self-aware than it normally would come across as.

“That’s one way to put it…” Sheeno muttered quietly, but she then quickly squared her shoulders and looked at the [Wind Nymph] right in the eyes, “am I to understand that we’ll be departing immediately? No need to wait for any kind of refueling?” She was quick to ask.

“Lady Fyratta, I assurre you that everrything has been orrganized so that we wouldn’t need to stop forr any longerr than it would be strrictly necessarry to pick you all up”, the [Captain] adopted a more professional tone when speaking with whom I think could be considered a former employer.

“Still, I’m bothered by the fact that the [System] lets me abbreviate both [Guard Captain] and [Ship Captain] to simply [Captain]: It’s downright confusing, even if using the word in brackets sort of fills in the conceptual blanks that make it make sense.”

As you said, it all makes sense for all parties present when used, because the [System] nudges the subconscious the right way, so I do not see the point of your problem.

I could spend the time to explain the intricacies of acting like there’s a hypothetical fourth wall, but instead I decided to just mentally shrug at him: He was me, sort of, so I was sure he would come to a similar conclusion, eventually.

“Good, we wouldn’t want to give anyone the opportunity to come after us”, my mate kept her discussion going, nodding stoically at the other man.

“No, ma’am!”

“And I’m sure that this time you and your crew made sure to triple-check that there were no traps left aboard?” This time her question was preceded by all 4 of her arms crossing in front of her chest.

At that, the Nymph cringed a bit, “Yes, ma’am: We actually hirred a new [Technician] whose sole [Job] is to make surre that a situation like the one we had beforre can’t happen again”.

The response finally made Sheeno relax a bit, and even I ended up sighing in relief, letting out a breath that I didn’t know I was even holding in.

Then it was time for Undine to have her extended introduction, and after her [Status] as a [High Priestess] was disclosed, she cemented herself as a ‘miss’ in the [Captain]’s head.

Only I was relegated to being referred to simply as ‘lad’, for some reason.

And without fanfare, or excessive screening, although we did have to go through a couple of [Dispelling] and [Identification Wards], we boarded the flying ship that would bring us to our next fight.

* * *

“I know I should have asked this before we got to this point… but why aren’t we using my [All-purpose Mount] to travel?”

The other two passengers in the lavish red and purple room gave me exasperated looks, with my girlfriend even reaching over to pat my head condescendingly.

Which I let her.

“For a multitude of reasons, really: First, your vehicle isn’t as fast, at least for long-distance travels, as something made by multiple experienced professionals. Second, with a larger crew we have the safety in numbers, which will become essential if we get attacked-“, while all that Undine was saying made sense, even if that first point stung my pride a bit, I felt that I had to correct her on that last one.

“You can turn that ‘if’ into a ‘when’, knowing my [Luck]…”

“Good point. Anyway: Third, they have charted routes that they can safely follow to reach our destinations. And fourth, which isn’t the last reason in general, but just among those I felt I needed to point out, the [Army] might shoot us down when they notice an unidentified flying object rapidly approaching their position”, she ended her explanation with a pointed look, which was deserved, I guess.

“…You know, I never considered the fact that I was the UFO in this situation, which is kind of cool-“

“Focus, love: This is kinda important, and you did ask for it”, one of her pats transformed into a light shove, which pushed me out of my own head.

“Sorry, sorry. I got it; I was just getting lost in a tangent”, I excused myself with a self-deprecating laugh.

“I know”, was her simple response, and suddenly her pleasant patting turned into a ruthless ruffling of my hair, and at that point I shoved her away, ignoring her laugh.

We were having such a good and peaceful times that I almost forgot how those other two [Guild Masters] tried to act in the end.

Emphasis on the ‘almost’.

Which is why that it was only natural that the [Captain] just had to interrupt the moment.

“To all passengers: We might have attracted unwanted attention, so expect some turbulences.”

The wall-mounted speaker shut off with a click, and both women started looking at me right after.

“Hey, you can’t blame me for it: I just called as I saw it.”