Chapter 29: Geneva

Food and rest—those were the only two things on my list of things to do for tonight. I was impatient, so hitching a right on Pochi was out of the question. Instead, we met up at the rendezvous point, shared the good news with Maelise and Emera, then made it out of the forest, where we noticed a cabin. The lights were on through the windows, the small of a freshly cooked meal wafting under my nose. I felt not a shred of guilt when I kicked the door right open, noticing three Aganthagan soldiers ready to sit down with a full spread on the table. There was a moment of dumb confusion shared between them before they sprung, but they were of the fighter class, and with their weapons sitting on the corner, they couldn’t do much with their special abilities.

My energy was drained, but I was more than willing to fight for food. Hunger was an excellent motivator, and me and my party made quick work out of killing them, and using their small hide out for the evening.

I’d had my fill of food. Despite the grilled buck meat being incredibly dry, I enjoyed it. I washed it down with more of Maelise’s milk, then took Emera’s offer of rinsing and drying my clothes by the fireplace. Surprisingly enough, she wasn’t tired, Emera having the energy of an ox.

The same could be said with her energy in bed.

I went into the closet and cashed in on some clothes. The trousers I could manage, but the tunic was huge. Regardless, I couldn’t complain. At least I was washed up and dry. And now it was time to settle down and allocate my points.

Between the forest goblins and the Aganthagan soldiers, I went up three levels, Faye went up two, and Maelise and Emera went up one. Which meant that I was at level 36, Faye at level eight, Maelise at level 28, and Emera at level 50. I allocated my 18 points, and reviewed my stats:

Relo-Stats

Name: Knives Arlyan

Race: Human

Class: Fighter [Kill System]

Rank: Warrior

Level: 36 - Experience: 21233 / 36000 (next level)

Points to be allocated: 0

[] Brawn: 114

[] Agility: 79

[] Charisma: 20

[] Willpower: 43

[Special Skills]

Single Bullet Berserker

Riot Slash Attack

[Items]

1400 nudas

5 packs of 20 12 gauge bullets [c]

10 snack bars [c]

1 mana restoration vials [r]

Ruu [ur]

Cotha [ur]

Mana: 37/100

--

I planned on retiring for the night, my eyes catching Maelise in the hallway sneaking into our stolen bedroom while she tiptoed on all fours. The stealthy cat took the opportunity to sneak in while Emera was busy by the fireplace, tiptoeing past the minotaura who was happily humming to herself as she dried my clothes in the living room. I watched her cartoonish footsteps down the wooden floor on the armchair, shaking my head at her foolishness. I get it, she wanted me all to herself tonight. And despite my exhaustion, I was ready to entertain my ranger.

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Maelise slowly closed the door behind her after she gave me a cute little wink.

A battle for attention between neko and minotaura? Was this my life now?

I got up for the bathroom, Maelise’s breast milk finally calling to me. But as I walked down the east hallway, I heard grating coming from Faye’s room. The door was halfway open, so I pushed it in, noticing Faye rummaging around, on the search for something. She was so distracted that she didn’t even notice I was lounging against the doorway with my arms crossed, staring at her. Until I cleared my throat, my white mage yelping as she jumped.

“Are you looking for something in particular?”

“Butcher,” she gasped, with a hand on her chest. But she didn’t answer my question. Instead, she continued searching, my white mage on edge.

I could tell she was paranoid about something. I wanted to try and open the floor again, despite knowing the end result. If she didn’t want to talk about it a few hours ago, I doubt she wanted to talk about it now. But earlier, she was in slightly happier moods, so I went for it anyway. “You want to talk about it?”

“How about you mind your own business?” she spit back. “This is nothing of your concern.”

“You know, I know a little about keeping shit inside. It festers and feeds, until you lose all sense of yourself. You can snuggle and pamper Pochi all you like,” I said, my eyes pointing down at the wyvern sleeping on the corner, “but you need to talk to someone who would actually listen.”

She gave me a loud aggravated sigh and marched right up to me, her face beat red with anger. “I have nothing to talk to you about!”

I narrowed my eyes on her. “Are you upset or disappointed? Or both?” I paused, watching as she tried to hold back the shakes. “Faye, I’m sorry I couldn’t—”

“It’s not about that!” she blurted out. “It’s… it’s everything!” Her shoulders tensed, and I could tell that she was on the verge of tears. She turned around and started to pace back and forth, trying to formulate the words before they spill out of her trembling lips. “All right, maybe getting shot in the chest was part of it! But… I am severely shaken! And I don’t know where to put myself!”

“You put yourself in the last place you want to be, and you talk about it,” I instructed her, Faye pivoting to me before she looked away timidly.

“This is a lot more than I expected… and we aren’t even dealing with these sin gods yet. How am I to expect that it’ll only get better from here?”

“It won’t,” I said bluntly. “It’ll only get harder. I don’t want to lie to you, Faye.”

“As you shouldn’t!” She breathed. “Butcher… do you recall the night we met? The night we were both taken into the portal?”

“How could I forget?”

“Well… I was looking for someone past my curfew. I was looking for my sister, Geneva.” She sat down on her desk chair, my mind lost from that name. I could have sworn Faye Belmauer only had two sisters, neither of which were named Geneva.

“She’s the true youngest. She had an arranged marriage with Benjamin Yeager, a thieving entrepreneur, whose only angle was getting into my father’s business and stealing his riches. But the thing is, he was incredibly talented with his words. He had a clever snake’s tongue, and used it to manipulate my father into marrying Geneva. Of course, behind closed doors, that man was nothing but nasty to Geneva. But no one but me believed her. Benjamin turned our family against Geneva, and it was awful! I hated them, all of them! For choosing a complete stranger over family! It was despicable, and Geneva got so tired of it, that she became an outcast in the family. Little by little, I watched her only low spirit deteriorate, all because of that man. It was hard watching her fall further and further into depression, made an enemy in her own home. Until that night, Benjamin beat her, the night of the dance to celebrate their approaching union. She ran and told dad, and Benjamin fabricated a story to make it look like she was having one of her episodes. When dad didn’t listen, she ran away, and I went looking for her. Her word and her very well being meant nothing to the Belmauers, and I was ready to abandon my family for my sister, so she could understand that she wasn’t alone, and that I believed her. Till this day, I swear they’d been under some type of hypnotic spell, to put that man before Geneva so easily like that! Maybe there was another agenda, because it seemed so very unreal. My heart broke for her, and knowing the type of town we lived in, I couldn’t have my seventeen year old sister out alone! But then I ran into trouble, and you found me. Now you know, Butcher, why I need to go back to Ebonmere as soon as possible! Now you know why I need to survive this! Now you know why… I can’t comprehend how feeble I was!”

“What?”

She shot right off her seat, with her fist in the air. “I need to survive this! But all of this fear of being too weak is holding me back.”

“Faye, you’re not weak,” I reassured her, walking right up to her and taking her shoulders in my hands. “In fact, you’re the strongest member in our party. You’re not only the lowest experienced, but you’re a white mage. And I’m not saying this to belittle you. Don’t you understand? You wake up every morning just like us, to stare threats in the face, knowing how very limited you are with offensive attacks. You’re a healer, not a fighter, and that truth still doesn’t hold you back. You are brave, and you are also human, Faye. That son of a bitch deflected my bullet and you ate a shot in the chest. No one, not even yourself, should expect to have taken that easily. And even when I dug the bullet out, you had enough strength to withstand all of that pain, and heal yourself right after. You’re not feeble. I don’t want you walking around thinking that you aren’t important, or that you’re weak, or that you can’t do this! I remember making you a promise, that I will protect you, and that your goals are my goals. I stand by that promise, but sometimes shit like that happens. And after what I saw, the pretty little princess from Belmauer castle saving her own hide, you made me confident that you can peddle through the worst of it.” I stroked her bangs away from her eyes, feeling her jagged breathing settle down. “We’ll win this war, Faye. And when you get out of here, you’ll find your sister. I’ll make sure of it.”

She smiled subtly, but it was enough to put my heart at ease. I hated seeing my girls bothered, by illusions of incompetence, lack of confidence, fear, whatever. Once she took a deep long breath, she could finally rest her shoulders and relax. Faye then looked up at me with bright smiling eyes, and said, “Butcher…  I never got to thank you for saving me back there.”

“It was my fault you got hurt in the first place.”

“Oh, is that why you’ve been holding your tongue from me? Have you been feeling guilty?” She snorted. “You didn’t divert the shot. That stubborn parasite did. And for that, you shouldn’t feel sorry. So if you don’t mind, I’d like to go back to how things were between us, if that’s okay with you.”

Boy, wasn’t she sassy?

I chuckled. “Yeah, I can try.” I said, then took the priestess for another emotional rollercoaster. I cupped her face and kissed her on those perfectly plump lips, her softness breaking me. Faye was stunned, and at first, she didn’t kiss me back. But once the blood started rushing to her heart, she kissed me back, giving me a deep and sensuous kiss.

I had her flavor on my tongue, and I wanted more, but I respected her boundaries. I didn’t push my luck, gently pulling back as she gazed at me awestruck. My thumb stroked the corner of her hanging lips, and I gave her a content smile. Maybe now she could stop being busy sulking around, and keep busy with trying to understand where that random kiss came from.

“Good night, Faye.”

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