Arc | Chapter. 85: Meaningful Conversation

Chapter. 85: Meaningful Conversation

Enough time had passed for the Grand Duke to reach his destination. His name was none other than Alderman, and in spite of his unscrupulous reputation, he had closed a fair deal recently ⁠— in fact, it had been quite to his disadvantage. But that didn’t matter, not for his goals anyway.

With a wagon and his horses, he entered a cave where the person he served awaited. And moments later a voice spoke.

“Did you get what I wanted?”

“Yes…” Alderman nodded. “Thousands of samples.”

“Good, you may take the horses and leave.”

Alderman nodded once more and began to do as told. As for why the person he served wanted the everlasting ice, he didn’t know…

But who was he to question what the Heroine of Water had in store?

* * * * *

The disaster in the adventurer guild had been resolved without too much chaos thanks to the Guildmaster intervening, which is something that Meika was grateful for. However, she didn’t really expect to have daily training sessions, but reality was different. Meika quickly found herself enduring painful sessions on the daily.

But Meika knew it was worth it, especially because her trainer, Faral, seemed to have the best in mind for her. At first she didn’t notice, but after some time she realized that Faral did not push her much past her limits, only forced her to do as much as she could realistically do. And this type of training was making Meika constantly push to the boundaries of her being, and slowly she was overcoming them.

Whether it was endurance, her reflexes, or even her strength, all of it was improving even without leveling up. It was something that Meika never fathomed⁠— she expected to learn useful skills, techniques she could employ in battle, but this was completely different.

This was a way for her to grow stronger, to truly grow stronger. It was akin to learning techniques, but that would also help in the ways levels did. It was an increase to her whole battle experience, but also to something more.

Meika felt that through this, she would become unmatched within B Tier, and that⁠⁠— that was something she never expected to come from this, but she was more than happy to continue down this road, and hopefully Faral would be there for her. But even if she wasn’t, Meika felt that she had stumbled upon something that few knew.

And that was…

The thrill of pushing your limits.

With a grin, she parried an attack and went on the offensive.

* * * * *

In the end, things had been calm once more after returning, though I was well aware that well⁠— things couldn’t remain calm out of the simple fact that Ceylon had to level up. So after the third day, I decided to take out Ceylon myself. Malz insisted on coming but I denied her this time. I guess, I just wanted to have that alone time with her.

It had been… sometime since we had been alone, even if it actually hadn’t been that long. Though I wasn’t blind to my emotions, I definitely was… clingy with Ceylon, for better or for worse. A sigh left me.

“Is something wrong, Arc?” she asked, raising her brow.

“Nothing is wrong.” I shook my head before looking at her. “I suppose it’s finally settling on my mind how much I like you.”

Ceylon stiffened. “T-That is weird to suddenly say, why the occasion?”

“Nothing special, nor do I even know why I find myself so attached to you,” I said calmly. “I just do, and I guess I feel like I can be myself with you.”

I wasn’t even nervous about Ceylon’s reaction, which was just… weird. But I guess it was proof of my comfort. Not like I understood how relationships or stuff worked⁠— even back on earth I never had a partner of the sorts, not like I had the chance⁠; but I hadn’t even so much as felt attraction to someone. Then again, it was probably due to circumstances at the time…

Well, the past didn’t really matter.

I watched as Ceylon seemed to shift in a mix of being flattered and embarrassed, which I honestly found quite endearing, but I paid it no mind as I listened to her reply.

“Well, I’m glad I make you feel that way. For what it’s worth, you also are the closest person I have. Though…”

“Though?” I asked, confused.

“Well, I do feel like we just bonded very quickly and hardly understand each other. Not like it’s wrong, but…” She sighed. “I guess it makes me slightly insecure that once we are in better places, we both will move on from each other⁠— not like I want to move on from you, but…”

And she trailed off. Her statement was… slightly weird to me, but it wasn’t to say that I didn’t understand where she was coming from. What she essentially was saying was something along the lines of: we essentially weren’t in good places mentally and quickly clung to each other. Which, well I understood.

“Well, I mean there isn’t that much to know about me,” I began. “I think it’s more than obvious but I’ll be royally pissed if you start to regard Malz over me. I also think that it’s obvious that I get annoyed over being disrespected or feeling like my efforts aren’t appreciated.”

I frowned as I continued to think.

“I honestly think I’m quite the simple person, perhaps if you see it from a standpoint that my ego is probably sky high for the average person, then it’s quite easy to see what things annoy me and what I’m okay with.” I tilted my head. “Anyway, as far as my family and stuff…”

“Yeah?” Ceylon raised her brow, more curious than ever.

“Well, as I said before they don’t matter.” I struggled to control my emotions for a moment before massaging my nose bridge. “But if I had anything to say, well aside from don’t ask me about it, is that; I hope they suffer.”

My voice came out a bit cold, but I held off my tongue. In the end, it was something that I didn’t want to think about, or even waste my emotions on. The past is the past, and in the end, I wasn’t on earth anymore so it’s not like it even mattered in the first place.

Ceylon swallowed. “Right… that must be awful⁠—”

“It’s fine, let’s just talk about you instead. How about that?” I smiled gently.

Ceylon nodded slowly as we walked through the streets. I⁠— as always ⁠— got weird glances due to my modern winter outfit, but people seemed to recognize me nowadays, so I got a lot less attention than in the past. It was… a relaxing thing.

I closed my eyes as I listened to Ceylon speak, though she said something that I didn’t expect.

“Can I hold your hand?”

I blinked, somewhat concerned. “Sure, but… will it be alright?”

“It will be,” she said, showing me a small handkerchief. “I guess I just want to be held while I speak.”

“Alright.” I nodded, smiling as Ceylon held onto my hand through the textile fabric of her hand.

And with that, we continued to walk, now drawing more glares than ever. Which seemed to make Ceylon think about something before beginning to speak.

“Arc, to me you’re like an older sister I look up to, not only that but you have supported me when no one else did, so…” she trailed off before mustering me an embarrassed smile. “I guess i just see you that way now.”

“Oh.” I was surprised, before a smile settled on my face. “That’s nice.”

“Yeah…” She nodded. “As for me, I don’t think I find too many things bothersome, or that irritate me. I think, I’m well… easy to sadden. If you were to suddenly leave me to my own devices I’d be quite depressed…”

I nodded, simply listening to what Ceylon was saying, then after a breath she continued.

“I think, I’m quite resentful of my brother? I mean, it’s not like you have seen him or anything, and I don’t care about him. Nor do I even like…” She sighed. “I honestly don’t really care for my family, perhaps it was how I was treated but I just can’t find it in me to like… care. I don’t resent them, but I don’t love them either. The idea of losing my family is distressing, but not because I love my father, but the concept itself is what I find distressing…”

She seemed hesitant.

“I guess, I find the idea of having a family comforting, but I don’t actually care, as selfish as that is. So well; before I get to where I want to get. Do you think this is… wrongful?”

“Well it is… very questionable,” I agreed, not wanting to say it in brutal honesty. “But, at the same time, given what you’ve been through, it's not really… well wrongful to feel that way. You don’t owe your family anything really.” I shrugged. “So what do you want to get at?”

“Well I’ll be pretty upset if you try to force me to bond with my family or something,” she said meekly.

“Ah.” I nodded. “Don’t worry, I won’t do that.”

Ceylon smiled lightly. “Aside from that, I don’t think I have too much going on. I’m not driven or anything, and I guess as weird as this sounds. I hope to accompany you, maybe when I get old enough I’ll want to start a family or something; but for now this is what I want.”

“Huh, I see.”

“Ah, of course if you say no, I won’t force you or anything,” she said, flustered.

I paused for a moment, and then, I began to chuckle before I started to laugh in the middle of the street. I couldn’t believe what she just said.

“W-What’s so funny!?” Ceylon panicked.

I continued to laugh under everyone’s gaze, before finally I calmed down enough.

“Ceylon.”

“Yeah…?” She asked, confused and nervous.

“Don’t be dumb.” I smiled, and she flinched. “In what world would I deny you?”

She blinked. “Does that mean…?”

“It does; I hope you can accompany me for a very long time.”

And much to my surprise Ceylon got teary eyed, before she jumped to my embrace and began to sob in my arms. I felt slightly weird, as I smiled.

I certainly hadn’t expected the conversation to go this way.