New chapter!!
Anyways I am going to decrease the chapter lengths from now on.
While this one is around 2.8k words, from next one the length will be around 1.5k words.
This will allow me to upload faster, though it isn't permenant if i ever feel like it or get too much motivation i will just upload a longer chapter.
Along with that, I am currently working on two other fanfictions.
Whenever I am stuck on this fic and have a desperate urge to write something I will use them as my creative outlet, that is because this fanfic requires a lot of thinking to write, mainly because i dont want to do lazy work and then upload something I am not satisfied with later on. Most of the time thats why updates take longer too.
***
As the tension from the rope decreased, Cassie realized Reinhard had stopped.
"What happened? Is it another carapace scavenger?" She asked, her voice sounded tired and confused.
"No, it's a person." After a pause, Reinhard continued. "Might be Nephis."
Cassie's tone changed immediately.
"Really? Let's go there then."
Reinhard hummed in response and headed towards her.
I have a feeling that this is going to be painfully awkward.
In a few more meters, Nephis would have no problem hearing their footsteps approaching.
He summoned his sword just in case.
Just as they got in range, he saw her summoning a sword memory and turning towards their direction.
She realized far quicker than I thought.
A few seconds later, they got out into the clearing from behind the coral trees.
Nephis was facing them, her sword pointed.
Reinhard strode forward before stopping a few meters away; Cassie stopped behind him too.
He could see wariness turn into caution after a flash of recognition in Nephis's eyes.
At least before her calm demeanor, just like in the academy, came back.
"Reinhard," she said.
Reinhard exhaled and gave a nod, dismissing his sword.
"Nephis."
For a moment, there was silence.
Why does this feel like a cowboy standoff?
Nephis lowered her sword but still seemed cautious; she looked behind him, at Cassie.
"Who is that?"
Reinhard stayed silent for a few seconds.
I have to do the introductions, huh?
He stepped a little to his side.
"Cassia."
Nephis looked at her for a second before realizing.
"The blind girl."
Insensitive much?
"Yes, it's me," Cassie replied quietly.
Nephis, ignoring her, looked back at Reinhard and asked.
"You're together?"
She seemed slightly less tense than before.
"Yeah."
Isn't she being too cautious?
I wouldn't get anything by harming her in a place where sleepers are supposed to team together to survive.
Nephis watched him in silence.
Even Cassie felt the tension in the air.
She hesitated before speaking up to try and lighten the mood.
"Uhh. We've been heading toward the coral pillar on the hill."
Then she paused for a moment, doubting whether she should actually say it or not.
"Well, I am a seer, actually, so I saw a vision of us meeting..."
Nephis's gaze turned towards Cassie slowly, yet Reinhard could notice something sharp in her gaze.
"A seer?"
Cassia hesitated. "…Yes."
Then Nephis calmed slightly as if some of her questions were answered; she didn't turn towards Reinhard, but he could read her well enough.
You are not that good at hiding your emotions, young lady.
Then he glanced at Cassie.
Also,we are less than 3 minutes into the conversation, and you have already revealed what your aspect does, by the way.
Reinhard deadpanned.
Still, it was good that there was someone who could keep the conversation going among the three of them.
Imagining how his and Nephis's conversation would have gone if Cassie weren't here was just hell.
Though adding to a conversation was easier than leading it, so he decided to speak up.
"Also, I saw you last night when you lit that fire."
Nephis looked back at him immediately.
"That far?"
"Yes."
This was the reason he originally wanted to go with something a little more secretive, like, 'I saw a bright light last night from the coral pillar; was it you?' But keeping his flaw in mind and to avoid an awkward situation where he ended up saying more than he should, he switched the sentence to be far more direct.
While she was still looking at him, Reinhard looked at the sky. It was nearly evening.
Looking back at Nephis, he asked.
"Will you take us there?"
She paused for a moment before making up her mind and speaking.
"Ok."
Then she turned around and started walking.
"Let's go." Reinhard said to Cassie and followed her.
***
With Reinhard's attributes and Nephis knowing the way, they soon got to the coral pillar, even if Cassie's speed hindered them a bit.
It was almost nighttime now.
Right after reaching the top, Nephis started preparing a fire to cook the meat they got.
Reinhard, having nothing to do, went to the opposite side of the direction they had approached the hill from.
After obtaining [far sight], he looked around and in the distance noticed a large stone statue of a knight. The statue had no head; it seemed as if something had violently torn it off in the past.
The statue was clad in elaborate plate armor with seven shining stars carved into his breastplate. In his hands, he was holding a gargantuan sword, pointing it at the ground.
That must be the statue Cassie was talking about. So Sunless is probably taking shelter atop that right now.
He sighed.
That also means we should be heading there tomorrow.
Reinhard walked back to the middle of the pillar. Nephis was cooking the meat, and Cassie's bottle memory was on the ground near her.
A few minutes later, the dark sea surged and, around half an hour later, rose completely.
The three of them were sitting near the middle while eating the meat Nephis had cooked. There was no seasoning, but having eaten nothing since the past day, all three of them were hungry.
Taste, however, was only a problem for the two ladies.
[New attribute acquired.]
[Attribute Name: Flavor Grace]
Hah.
He glanced at Cassie to see if she noticed.
Just at that moment Cassie looked at him for a moment; after reading his attributes, her expression changed for a short moment before she went back to eating normally.
Jealousy is the grave of affection, you know.
Or something like that...
He smiled internally.
Still, he was thankful she hadn't revealed his aspect ability to Nephis; he never told her to hide it from others, so if she did tell her, it wouldn't be unfair.
But she was smart and considerate enough to know he wanted it kept hidden and did so.
Just then the stone statue came into his mind, and he decided to mention it.
While looking at the food in his hands, he spoke up.
"There is a huge stone statue west of here."
He turned his head towards Cassie.
"I think that's what you saw in your vision."
She turned towards him, and so did Nephis.
"Really? Sunless is probably atop it then. I think we should head there soon."
Cassie reached the same conclusion as him.
"Yeah."
After a few moments of silence—
"Is th—" "Wha—"
Nephis and Cassie spoke up at the same time before pausing and turning towards each other.
Reinhard almost chuckled externally.
Haha, what are the chances?
Before the awkward moment could continue, Cassie said to Nephis.
"Uhh, yes?"
Nephis revaluated what she was going to say for a moment.
"What is the vision about?"
If I were in your place, that would be the first thing I would ask too.
After that Cassie explained her vision to Nephis.
Since they had already eaten and it was nighttime, they decided to sleep.
Before Reinhard could speak, Nephis volunteered for night watch duty.
Cassie went to sleep first; Reinhard lay down a good few meters away. Nephis went to a coral protrusion near the edge of the pillar and sat down with her back leaning against it.
She was facing their direction.
Nephis's eyes were as useless as Cassie's during nighttime. But Reinhard had perfect vision due to an attribute.
Since they were on an island with dark sea surrounding them, it made more sense to sit while being turned outward.
But Nephis was facing them instead, though 'them' here was the wrong word to use.
She was more specifically focused on him, and while that rationally made sense since he was the only one who could attack, Reinhard doubted that was the full reason.
Why is she so unnaturally cautious against me?
Then again, he would have been the same if it wasn't for his undoubted confidence in his abilities.
Even during the start of the academy, he could beat her in a sword fight, even if she was hiding her aspect and perhaps her real skill with the blade; with his aspect legacy, physical capabilities, titan's corpus, and battle mastery, there was just no way she could beat him.
He still had a lot of ways to be cautious, though, even in his sleep.
For example, one would be an attribute called [Light Sleep]; as the name suggested, it allowed him to wake up instantly at even a sliver of noise or disturbance in an area around him. That's why he was laying a good distance away from Cassie and Nephis.
This attribute is bound to fuck my sleep badly if I use it, though.
Mentally shaking his head, he focused back onto the issue at hand and started observing the oblivious Nephis.
During the day she was cautious but tried to hide it, but at night she naturally assumed he couldn't see in the dark as well. Or even if she thought otherwise, her guard was still lowered unconsciously.
Meh, whatever. I just want to sleep now.
Just then, he heard rustling.
It turned into footsteps.
Nephis was slowly approaching his position.
Just when I was about to go to sleep.
He groaned internally.
The reason why he wasn't wary was simple: Nephis wouldn't try to assassinate him while approaching with such heavy footsteps. It was pretty easy to tell that she was just trying to see if he was asleep or not.
I wonder what she wants to talk about.
When only a few meters of distance were left between them, she stopped and stood there for a few seconds.
Why didn't you think of what to say before coming here!?
He could practically feel her gaze drilling holes into the general direction of his face.
Then she asked in a low tone.
"Are you awake?"
"Yes." He sat up slowly.
Nephis frowned.
She realized he was awake and knew she was there, yet he didn't speak up.
Hah, why should I?
"Is something the matter?"
"Let's talk, not here."
She turned and started walking to the edge, near the same place she sat before.
Reinhard sighed.
Troublesome.
He was still curious about her reasons for asking for a conversation, though.
Standing up from his spot, he approached her and sat down a meter away.
When she finally heard him settle down, Nephis glanced at him with a guarded look on her face.
She is far more expressive in darkness.
"So, what is it?"
Nephis didn't beat around the bush and directly asked.
"Why are you keeping her with you?"
He looked back at the dark sea, contemplating on how to answer that question.
Of course she asks that!
His flaw was also something he had to be careful about.
Reinhard knew he at least had a few parts of good in him. He could willingly help someone as long as it didn't require him to give much of his own.
So he tried to think of loop holes.
Was there perhaps a 'geniune' part of him keeping Cassie with him just because he could?
He knew the dream realm was a scary place, but even though this was an undiscovered part of the dream realm, he considered his chances of surviving for some time pretty good, as long as they didn't encounter something too strong.
So even if his flaw was out of question, he would still protect Cassie.
But in this moment that wasn't the 'complete' reason. Which meant only saying half the part counted as deception.
So he either had to tell her it was because of his flaw or not say anything at all.
After a last internal sigh of resignation, he spoke up.
"I cannot tell you that."
I would rather die a million times than willingly speak about anything related to my flaw anywhere outside my own mind. Even if only a word.
He glanced at her from the corner of his vision.
She had an unreadable expression on her face.
Why would she a-
Wait...
Suddenly every single thing he had heard from the academy till now started connecting in his mind.
There were several obvious explanations.
The simplest was that she was merely cautious because he was stronger than her.
But something about her behavior still felt… off.
It seemed targeted.
She had been wary of him from the very start—even before she had any reason to judge his actions here.
Even carrying Cassie, a blind liability, had only lessened that wariness instead of removing it.
That meant the issue wasn't just his strength.
It was him specifically.
Or rather, what he represented.
His mind drifted back to the Academy.
Slowly, a more fitting possibility formed.
Nephis might be expecting someone.
A sleeper. Someone dangerous enough that she had already prepared herself to distrust the strongest unknown in her cohort.
Right now, Reinhard simply happened to be the most convenient candidate.
That conclusion made the most sense.
Especially considering who she was.
The last survivor of the Immortal Flame clan.
More like the mortal flame clan now.
While Reinhard was performing his 'genius-level' pattern recognition, Nephis sat there unsurely on how to take that answer.
Hmmm, should I just talk to her about it directly?
Most of the time doing that removes all the misunderstandings.
But not always....
He made up his mind.
Reinhard wouldn't be direct; he wouldn't cautiously probe either.
Why would he? He wasn't afraid of her.
And he wasn't going to pretend otherwise.
Maybe after everything has happened, I have become quite egotistical myself.
…No. That wasn't quite right.
It wasn't about pride.
He just didn't like being measured and treated like a variable beneath someone else.
After taking a quick glance at her, he spoke up.
"You're wondering if there is a reason behind it. Something that would benefit me."
She turned towards him.
"…isn't there?"
"There is."
Nephis's eyes narrowed slightly.
"You are refusing to explain it," she said.
"Yes."
"Then how am I supposed to trust you?"
Getting desperate now, are we?
"You're not."
"I don't need you to trust me," he continued.
"As long as you understand one thing."
Nephis waited.
Reinhard glanced at her.
"If I meant to harm you, I wouldn't be doing it like this."
There was silence for a few seconds.
"Why tell me that?"
"Because you are already treating me like a threat. I don't know what your situation is; if we weren't supposed to stick together to survive here, I wouldn't care either. I am simply being clear about that."
Silence followed.
Nephis turned her gaze toward the dark sea.
Her eyes were less cautious, more contemplative.
"…fine," she said.
A smile appeared on her face as she turned towards him.
That shit is so uncanny.
After a moment, she added:
"I'll keep watching you."
"Sure."
That would do.
Now Nephis would know he was most likely not the assassin.
But she would still be cautious, because as an external factor he was still very dangerous to her if they ever had a difference in opinion.
Reinhard didn't mind that.
After their conversation he went back to sleep; due to his attributes, only a few hours of sleep were enough for him to recover completely.
But unfortunately, after around two hours, a sudden storm descended upon the dark sea.
Cassie woke up at that time too.
By morning the storm dissipated, and Nephis finally got the chance to sleep.
Near midday she woke up and he cooked some meat for her to eat.
After she was done, they were finally ready to head for the headless statue.