Three months later,
"Did you find them? I don't like this place one bit! We should have taken that wolf killing bounty instead!" Zarestia hung off Orsted's neck with a tired face.
A vast desert expanded around them, as they stood above a rocky hill. Sand dunes littered their surroundings and the hot wind felt scalding to Zarestia.
"The bandits should be here soon..." Orsted replied as his eyes scanned the desert before him.
Even with the wind blowing sand everywhere, there wasn't a speck of it on Orsted. As if the sand had a will within them, they avoided his body naturally.
[Sand dragon slayer mode] - Orsted obtained this element by simply eating the sand curiously. It gave him natural control over sand to a degree.
That was the very reason Zarestia's body was stuck to his body like glue. She hated sand getting into her clothes and hair.
"Get off and use your wind magic already." Orsted felt uncomfortable as Zarestia placed her head near his neck.
"No~ I was wondering how it would feel to kill a person by strangling them. So is this how it's supposed to be?" Zarestia tried holding his throat curiously.
Feeling that she wasn't applying much force and just fulfilling one of her strange urges again, Orsted let her be.
Three months had passed since Orsted left the second-city, Banan, behind.
Making use of his bait perfectly, Orsted had led Zarestia around, while further deepening his relationship with her. It was to the point where she would sleep near him everyday, just because it made her more comfortable, thanks to his high spirit affinity.
Zarestia had spoken about her past a few times too, mainly about the incident in ancient times. The betrayal that left its mark on her to this very day.
Their journey route after Banan was:
The first-city, Kyo, the eighth-city, and now the ninth-city.
Crumbly desert - this was where Orsted stood currently and also the place where one of Zarestia's limbs slumbered.
After three months of training with [Arcane dragon slayer magic], physical changes were starting to appear. Black scales appeared in the back of his neck, where Zarestia placed her chin right now.
The [Dragon seed] within Orsted had developed around 20 percent. He had a feeling that it would blossom uncontrollably once [Dragon seed] development reached 60%.
Orsted's physical and magical prowess had increased compared to before three months too.
Since he had a surplus amount of lifespan, Orsted had modified [Dragon tribe's curse] two months ago. Now he could activate and deactivate it as he willed.
The lifespan used on this endeavour was recovered very quickly too. His dragonification boosted his lifespan, which was a very welcoming situation.
Seeing something in the far end of his sight, Orsted easily unhooked Zarestia's hands from his neck.
"Didn't you want to hunt this time? Go on." Orsted pushed Zarestia towards the bandit's moving carriage.
Confused at the start, Zarestia stared towards the place Orsted pointed - her eyesight still couldn't see any of the target. However, in a minute, she could see a cloud of sand leaving a trail.
"Let's go! I want to leave this sand wasteland immediately!" Zarestia's tired face was immediately replaced with motivation, as she flew towards their bounty objective.
Following behind her, Orsted warned: "Don't blow away their supplies again, they are valuable."
"Got it!"
Zarestia's cheery answer didn't put Orsted's mind at rest, he had no choice but to keep an eye out to save the bandit's supply in case.
"Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!" Zarestia repeated the same word with a cheery smile, as she almost arrived before the bandits.
Though having watched the same scenario multiple times, Orsted felt flabbergasted seeing Zarestia's weird way to cheer herself on.
It's always - 'Die, die, die' or 'kill, kill, kill'. And it actually did raise her battle intent apparently...
The view before Orsted was a testimony to how much Zarestia held back, while fighting Crane in Banan.
The bandits' couldn't even muster up a resistance, their bodies were cleaved in half, blown to pieces or beheaded the moment they entered Zarestia's sight. She truly did appear like a beautiful shinigami (reaper) at this moment.
There was no suffering, just an instant end.
Swoosh~!
With a sudden gust of wind beside him, Zarestia appeared and stuck to Orsted's side again.
"No matter how many times, I like watching those people run in horror! Puhahahaha!"
"Yeah...." Orsted swiftly collected all the loot.
With the bandit's out of the way, it was time to collect Zarestia's lost limbs.
Internally, Orsted felt a little unsure about his next plan.
'I hope she accepts....' Orsted worried even while knowing that Zarestia would most likely accept his next proposal.
"Let's get out of here already." Zarestia shook Orsted's white clothes to bring him out of his trance.
Having travelled for three months, Zarestia learnt a lot about Orsted - just like he did about her. He had a habit of spacing out sometimes and she had even seen him watching the air seriously a few times.
"Before that...." Orsted's voice turned sharp.
Zarestia met his eyes, which reflected her face.
"Um...Did you get taken in by my beauty too?" Zarestia tried to lighten the mood, but the seriousness on Orsted's face didn't lessen.
"In ancient times, you were able to control four elements proficiently, and were even referred to as a great beast by many. You said that those powers were lost alongside your limbs before, right?"
Zarestia held her arms below her chest, with an uncomfortable expression: "....That's right. Can you stop? I, I feel like killing again remembering about it..."
"Hold it in." Orsted brushed off her words and continued: "After you told me about your past, I have been looking into it for a while. About these lost limbs of yours, couldn't losing them be the very reason your mind got corrupted with killing intent?"
"What...? What are you trying to say?" Confusion flashed through Zarestia's eyes.
"If you collect the three elements that were lost, you might be able to not be taken over by bloodlust, once you obtain your light sphere." Orsted explained in clearer words.
"Is that possible?!" Zarestia jolted before him as if electrocuted.
"Yeah. If I am not wrong, one of your limbs is in this desert too." Orsted replied confidently.
"That's... amazing." Zarestia believed his words quickly, her trust on Orsted was very high.
The future had been haunting her for the past three months, she didn't want to be taken over by bloodlust again. Living her life stranded in some mountain, thinking of nothing but killing over and over again.
Zarestia couldn't help but feel a wave of sadness rising from her chest.
'Retrieving her lost limbs' - the words felt beautiful and poisonous at the same time to Zarestia.
"So....I can get them...back...sob." Her head poked towards Orsted's chest, as she hid her face by looking down.
'... Don't cry, really, you are expected to be thousands of years old. How am I supposed to talk about making a new contract in this situation?' Orsted helplessly patted her head to calm her down.
Apparently, Orsted had developed a little too much trust within Zarestia. Seeing how she believed him, even without seeing her lost 'Limb' as a proof. The situation went a little out of his expectation.
'In the first place, why does she not have trust issues even after being betrayed so badly in the past? Her mind works quite strangely now that I think about it....' Orsted fell in contemplation while rubbing Zarestia smooth hair.
Even if corrupted, a spirit's core personality doesn't change?