Glecy had forgotten her books and parchments. She was totally mesmerized by Cana; she could not take her eyes off her. Even though Erus had told her Cana was a real person, her amazement did not change a bit.
"Can I touch her?" she asked, seeking Erus's permission as if Cana were a fragile relic.
"Ask her, not me," Erus answered, his gaze shifting to Cana.
Though they were bound, it was not up to him to decide such matters. Cana still had her independent will unless her life was at stake—and Glecy was far from being a threat.
"Hi, I'm Cana," Cana introduced herself, initiating a handshake.
"Ah, hi! I'm Glecy." Glecy was thrilled as she took Cana's hand. It was warm and soothing. As the healer and support of their team, she almost mistook the sensation for a surge of healing energy radiating from Cana. "Wow!" After a week of heavy paperwork and endless writing, her hands felt light and rejuvenated at Cana's touch.
She stared at Cana's hands and noticed her skin was as flawless as Erus's, only paler. She snapped back to reality when she tried to compare their skin, only to find herself locked onto Erus's gaze.
"Ah, right! The coffee—I mean, what kind of snack, Captain?"
Instead of answering, Erus looked at Cana. Cana met his eyes before turning back to Glecy.
"I'll go with you," Cana said.
"Great! Let's go." Glecy hauled Cana out of the meeting room, excitement plastered on her face.
Akiro and Ryden were left stunned at the clumsy way Glecy took Cana. They quickly turned their gaze to Erus to see if her boldness had made him mad. But he just reached for the parchments and rolled them up again before placing them on top of the books Glecy had brought with her.
"Are you a new recruit in our team?" Glecy asked Cana while they were walking toward the pub area.
"I have not been told about that yet. Erus had me registered in the guild, though," Cana replied.
"What did you just call the Captain?" Glecy stopped in her tracks, and Cana followed suit. She gave Cana a wide-eyed, incredulous look.
"Erus."
"Ah..." Glecy's mind froze for a second before she looked at Cana with pure worry.
A flash of memory hit her: the time Erus had almost burned a hunter alive for pestering them to join their party. That had been a proud noble's daughter who tried to leech off Erus's reputation. In a desperate, arrogant move, she had called their leader "Erus," thinking intimacy might sway him to accept her into the team.
But Erus hadn't shown a single shred of hesitation. If not for Glecy's intervention, that woman would have been reduced to ash long ago. That was the first time she had seen how truly terrifying Erus could be when he was mad, and she never wished to see that side of him again.
"Maybe you should stop calling him that?" Glecy didn't know how to explain it to Cana. She had no idea who Cana was in the first place; she only wanted to save her from a certain danger she believed the girl was unaware of.
"Why? Is there something wrong with calling him by his name?" Cana was equally confused. Why should she stop when Erus himself was the one who permitted it?
"It's one of his rules. It drives him mad to be called by that name."
Cana's eyes twitched. What Glecy described was the exact opposite of how Erus acted when she spoke his name. He would listen intently—there was no hint of madness there. Yet, Glecy seemed genuine, not like some lunatic making up stories to drive away a rival.
"Well, I'll ask him later about that so everything is clear," Cana said. She didn't want to invalidate Glecy's concern, but she refused to make a judgment without Erus. After all, Erus had told her to never trust anyone.
"Do you want us to come with you? We can explain it to the Captain, too," Glecy offered.
"Ah—no need. I'll talk to him once we get home."
Glecy's brain "stopped braining" at the mention of home. What did Cana mean? Were they living together? The mental shock hit her hard. Who was Cana really? Was she a relative of their Captain?
"Let's go?" Cana asked, now the one leading Glecy toward the pub.
"Yeah... yeah," was all Glecy could manage.
While at the pub's counter, Glecy could not take her eyes off Cana. Her feelings of being mesmerized had shifted into one massive question mark. She was trying to figure out if Cana was someone truly special for their Captain to treat her with even a hint of gentleness. She was beginning to doubt if this beauty beside her was actually any different from Erus—she might even be a relative from his mother's side. Perhaps she was a witch, too.
But the way Cana interacted with the barkeeper was a far cry from their stoic Captain. She was lively, seemingly knowing her way around people with an effortless ease that Erus utterly lacked. She was the exact opposite of him. Wait—why was she even comparing the two?
"How about you, Glecy? What do you want to eat?" Cana asked.
Glecy blinked, her internal monologue coming to a screeching halt. Wasn't she supposed to be the one accompanying and helping Cana? Why did it seem like it was the other way around?
"Ahm, one order of chips, two peanuts," Glecy finally answered, her voice still a bit dazed.
The barkeeper nodded, his hands moving with practiced speed. "Whose tab?" he asked, his eyes settling on Cana.
Cana paused. She hadn't brought any money.
"I'll—"
"That will be on me!"
Glecy was cut off by a bulky hunter who suddenly jumped into their conversation. He leaned against the counter, handing the barkeeper his token, a malicious glint in his eyes as he stared at Cana, smiling like a freaking maniac.
Cana looked at him blankly, her eyes methodically reading his facial features. Typical—all muscles, no brain. He wasn't to her liking in the slightest. Then, Cana looked at the barkeeper, signaling him to toss aside the token this maniac had handed over.
"No. Put it under Erus' tab, including Glecy's," Cana commanded the barkeeper.
The barkeeper froze. The maniac looked as if he'd been struck by lightning; his eyes went wide, and he couldn't speak, as if something had lumped in his throat. In an instant, the "sexy beauty" vanished, and Cana became a dreadful monster in his sight.
Cana turned her gaze back to the maniac. She grinned at him. "Better not to try... even in your next life."
The barkeeper, snapping halfway out of his shock, tossed the token back to the hunter. The man was so paralyzed he didn't even try to catch it; it hit the floor with a hollow metallic ring. Beside them, Glecy felt her heart drop into her stomach. She was reeling—not just because Cana had used that forbidden name again, but because she had the audacity to put Glecy's own purchase on the Captain's tab.
A cold sweat broke out on Glecy's neck. She looked at the peanuts and chips as if they were poisoned. Should she be preparing to die now? Because if Erus found out his rules had been crossed and his coin was being used to feed her, a quick death might be the best she could hope for.
"Peanuts again," Ryden commented when he saw Glecy's order. They had not noticed him arrive.
"Boss, four spicy chips," Ryden told the barkeeper. Then, he noticed how disoriented the man was. "Are you okay?"
He looked at Cana. She did not look like she had scared the man. Then, he noticed the bulky hunter beside her, scrambling to find something on the floor. The hunter wasn't just disoriented—he was terrified.
"What happened?" Ryden asked, glancing at both Glecy and Cana. Power-tripping was definitely not Glecy's way. But how about Cana? She looked innocent, somehow.
"I forgot to bring my money, so I put our order under Erus' tab," Cana answered.
"Oh..." was Ryden's reaction. Maybe he should get used to hearing the forbidden name of their Captain if it was Cana using it. "But how about him?" He pointed to the bulky man with a flick of his eyes.
"Typical guys."
Ryden's mouth parted at Cana's reply. He was amazed, struggling to believe she had the guts to say such things. She looked innocent, but she wasn't ignorant. Not even close. He was finally starting to see why Erus tolerated her.
But what exactly had she done to make a hunter like this so terrified? Maybe it was just the fact that she spoke Erus's forbidden name out loud. Did the man really just believe her right away?
"Put that under the Captain's tab too," Ryden told the barkeeper.
Glecy stared at Ryden, her face full of shock. "Are you dead serious?"
"Captain's orders," Ryden replied. "He forgot to tell Cana himself, so he told me to buy whatever she wanted instead. It's a good thing Cana is smart enough to catch on."
Glecy shut up, not daring to argue further. She noticed that Ryden did not falter when Cana mentioned Erus' name.
The hunter who tried to mess with Cana immediately scrambled away. He had heard how the Grand Abyss members were casually talking to her. It only proved that Cana was not just using Erus' name to scare him; she was one of them.
To Cana, it was just a mere test about the said forbidden name. She was curious why Glecy told her not to use it, but she did not expect such a reaction. Now, she was even more curious about what Erus could have done before, or who he really was in this place to be feared this much.
The people in the pub who had not heard clearly what they were talking about at the counter were murmuring. They were not surprised by the hunter who ran away. They were curious about the new girl who casually hung around with the guild's top party.
"I'll carry it," Ryden said when Cana reached for her order.
"Thanks."
Ryden guided Cana toward the exit of the pub, heading for Nick's office, while Glecy went back to the meeting room to get her belongings. The noise of the murmuring crowd faded as they stepped into the stone-lined hallway.
"If you don't mind, may I know the rules regarding Erus?" Cana spoke out of the blue while they were walking in the corridor.
Ryden was a bit startled by that; he hadn't expected her to talk to him while they were alone.
"He forbids anyone from calling him by that name."
Cana looked at him but said nothing.
"He has a no-touch policy—especially with women—unless it's necessary. He forbids people from giving him food unless they are members of his team. And he forbids weaklings in his team."
"That's all?"
"Yes."
Cana scratched the shell of her ear. What kind of rules were those? She had crossed almost all of them, yet Erus hadn't given her a single punishment.
"How about the punishments for anyone who disobeys?"
"Losing the part that committed the disobedience. Or death."
Cana looked at her hands. They were still intact; no fingers lost.
"So, has anyone done it before?"
"A lot."
Cana stopped walking. "What?" She quickly resumed following Ryden. "And they were all punished?"
Ryden glanced at her. With lips pressed tight, he nodded.
Cana fell silent. She could guess now that Erus was no small fish in this place. His word was the law everyone had to follow. But what about her? Was she going to die too? Erus had promised to train her, so why would he kill her?
And then, she realized something. Her eyes narrowed.
"That was a good one. You almost got me there," she told Ryden with a naughty look in her eyes. She would have been fooled if she hadn't remembered how Erus saved a group of travelers and even healed a child before they arrived in the city.
Ryden was caught off guard by her sudden change in reaction. He was now the one confused by Cana. He was a serious guy who never joked.
Did Cana take his words as trolling?
Other girls would be terrified hearing such stories, but how could Cana misunderstand his seriousness as some kind of joke? She had already witnessed how that hunter crumpled on the ground at the mere mention of Erus's name. And yet, she did not believe him?
How was Erus treating this woman? She was built different.