Chapter 49: [47] Leaving Behind

Before the sandy beach of the iron tower, Claire widened her eyes at the image of the sulking Via. For a moment, she took her in and realized, as if for the first time, that this girl had emotions.

"You knew him," She said, not as a question, crimson eyes stuck on the bunny.

"Knew him?" Via laughed and turned back to the tower. "I adventured with him for a bit! Damned strongest person I ever saw. It was him deciding to leave for wider prospects that caused our spar when I asked to follow him."

She shrugged, "Well, you see how that turned out. And you can see why I'm just a bit jealous of you two. Isn't it nice to be so powerful?"

Claire didn't sit well with that statement. She shook her head. "It is definitely nice, I won't deny that, but are you not pretty strong on your own?"

"Now, I am," Via nodded. "Do you know why they call me the 'Killer Bunny'? Or why I smelled of human blood? It's because I worked hard for this strength. I threw myself into both dungeoning and sparring. I fought the strongest people I knew, and managed to crush them. In the end, my skill awakened to a higher rank and I developed my fighting style. The 'killer' part is a bit exaggerated as all nicknames are, but with how bloody my spars usually turned, I could see why they would go with that—plus, I did wipe out some bandits that tried a hand at kidnapping me."

"That last part should have came first." Claire replied.

Via chuckled and turned around, facing the town of Mosted, with its sandy ground, and its squat, rectangular buildings. She watched momentarily as adventurers weaved through the place, shook her head, then took a step with a grin upon her lips.

"I'll meet you two back at the center. I've got business to get to."

"You're strong on your own, Via."

"I know. . .thank you," She waved a hand back, boots sinking into sand.

The two girls watched her depart. To Claire, it seemed to her that the person named Via Goodwill had once developed feelings for the Sword Saint, feelings that had been shattered, and emotions that she struggled with to this day. To her, it must have looked as if she were rejected due to her strength.

'Honestly, the Sword Saint just seems anti-social. Strength shouldn't matter if he really wanted her to come along with him. . .unless it was to protect her.' Claire thought. 'I suppose it takes one to know one.'

She felt Alicia's hand wrap around her own, the soft warmth of the girl radiating through her cold skin. A jolt ran through her in momentary surprise as the two temperatures mixed.

"Hmm?" The ice queen raised a brow, stared puzzled at her partner, and shook her head. "Don't worry, I'm not going to leave you."

Alicia smiled innocently, her grip tightening. "I just wanted to hold your hand. Can I not?"

"You can."

It wasn't the first time they had held hands, nor would it be the last, but the prior day's memory mixed with the public setting was another matter. Still, Claire merely produced a faint smile as she watched a few adventures disappear in a flash of white and the odd stares thrown their way.

'She's just so cute sometimes.' Claire thought, moving closer. She lifted the mask of the girl for a moment and, their hand in each other's grasps, kissed her. Even with their sparsely crowded surroundings, the two ignored the world and shared their temperatures to a deeper degree.

"Let's do some sightseeing, shall we?" She asked, once they separated.

"Mhmm," Alicia nodded.

———

"Haahahahaha, I finally have a knife with me! Demonic Cores, here I come!" A certain knight in full armor laughed, almost driven to tears of bliss, as he swished a rather large knife in the air.

"Ugh, shut up, Allen!" Via jumped up and kicked the loud and rambunctious knight in the head. Her foot landed, hard with the clank of her iron-laced, boots and the male found himself striking into sand.

". . ." The rest of the group looked on in agreed silence. It did not seem like the bunny was in a particularly good mood, and Claire wondered if that was due to their previous chat.

Albert Stref was the last to appear at the town's center, him along with Vander Slade. The mass of the raid group was already collected and mingling, but the two came running through the sandy length of the place fifteen minutes past 12.

"Wow, you have no stamina whatsoever," Via commented, eyeing the boy who quickly dropped to a hunch.

He painted and panted.

"You guys took your time." Claire added.

In addition, she noticed he had ceased to flicker in and out of the physical realm. His body looked, though still as ghostly as before, solid and concrete even as the wind seemed to blow his cloak like a shadow and sand danced around him.

". . .I didn't know how to use my skill. He said he had a transformation skill similar to mine and showed me how to use and control my own." Vander spoke, slowly, taking deep breaths between his sentences. "It takes a lot of initial concentration. Which I'm supposed to get used to as time goes on—until it becomes second nature."

"Does it?" Claire asked, uncertaintain. She also had a 'transformation' skill and she had never once had any bottlenecks in the learning process.

"Does it?" Alicia mimicked her as she, too, had never had a single problem with her transformation skill.

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". . ." Vander.

". . ." The raid group.

". . .look, don't compare yourselves to us." Via sighed, as if irritated. "We're not all lucky shots in the world."

Claire's eyes froze over for a moment, but she merely shrugged. "I would say all of your skills and stats came from luck, to a degree, as well. After all, you were born with or awakened them."

She didn't understand a lot about this world, but she could figure that much.

"We two just happened to be luckier than most, and that's no fault of our own." She continued, crimson eyes cold to the group. Then, she smiled, and spoke, much softer this time, "Though, I do admit, we might be idiots about most things, as you can tell."

That last statement brought about a bout of laughter and chuckles. Seeing someone stronger than you in everything was a problem. Seeing that that same person had a clear weakness when compared to you was a reassurance.

'How simple.' Claire thought. If it wasn't for Alicia's warmth at her hand, she thought she might have been colder. Yet, when she glanced at her partner, the girl's eyes appeared a bit angered, as if she might lash at the group at any moment.

"Calm down, would you?" Claire whispered. "It's only the words of others. I can't have you rampaging every time. Do it for me, okay?"

". . .mhmm."

"Good job," Claire smiled, patting Alicia's head as the vampire calmed into bliss.

A cough resounded, drawing everyone's attention.

"I'm glad you're all having fun, and I do apologize for being late," The blonde haired male spoke with a smile, "But it's about time we get a move on."

Everyone nodded as he pointed south of the town, his finger trailing over the squat buildings to a forest littered with trees that reached the sky.

"The last sighting of a Guardian was within that Forest of Illusions. No one has yet to see a Portal, so we will be tracking the guardian down, while killing any beasts we encounter. Furthermore, we should get a chance to pass the mana well, as well."

He clapped his hands together, "With that said, I hope everyone has settled what they must, let's get going."

And thus, the group was on the move once more. This time, Claire walked a bit slower, at the back of the group, with Alicia's hand in her own.

"You're pretty skilled," Via said, walking to the side of the two. "At changing people's opinions. . .when you try."

"Why thank you."

"Erm—sorry about that. I didn't mean it in. . .you know, that way. It was just, just something that came out before I had a handle on it, I guess?"

The bunny was awful at apologizing, Claire thought in odd amusement.

"It's alright, I've already forgotten about it." She smiled, even as the negative experience would forever be retained within her. "Though, I should say, you seemed like you were in an awful mood—a mood fit enough to eat you whole."

"Our talk this morning has just been getting to me," Via mused, "But maybe you're right. Getting jealous over other people's powers, no matter how they obtain it, won't get me anywhere. I mean, it's not like I'm not strong myself, right?"

"That would be wise. And that's true."

Via grinned, "That's why I've decided to meet the Sword Saint again and spar him one last time. My anger should be directed at him, not you two, even if you made me feel as if I was in his presence once more. If I lose. . . I at least want to show him how far I've come on my own."

Claire paused, took a moment to glance at Via's face, which seemed renewed, then continued her steps with a genuine smile.

"You're admirable in your own way," She said. "Cliched, but nonetheless admirable."

"Huh? Are you praising me?"

The Ice Queen chuckled and swung the hand she held Alicia's with.

"Maybe, maybe not, who's to say?"

Via Goodwill's past was revisited in Mosted, and the part of her still driven by it died in that Dungeon Town. Now, as she left the sandy place behind, a new goal was birthed.

'I will surely lose,' She thought. 'But damn if I don't lose with pride.'

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