After the fight, I took down the |Earthen Wall| I had put up and let Fina out. Once I saw her face, I knew that I was in for a long lecture.
"You...! Do you have any idea how worried I was?!" [Fina]
"I know, I know. I'm sorry for pushing you away." [Solace]
"That's not the issue! It's that you didn't trust !" [Fina]
Trust her?
"What do you an? I do trust you." [Solace]
"Not enough for to watch your back in the middle of a fight!" [Fina]
"Oh. That." [Solace]
It's not that I didn't trust her to watch my back, it's just that I didn't want her to get hurt. How can I convey that without making her more mad?
"I just wanted to keep you safe." [Solace]
"That's the problem! What about yourself?! Who's going to keep YOU safe?!" [Fina]
I've never seen her blow up like this.
"Please, I can handle myself." [Solace]
"No! You can't!" [Fina]
"What?" [Solace]
Okay, now that was confusing.
"How can I not handle myself?" [Solace]
"You want to see how?" [Fina]
"Yeah. Prove it." [Solace]
She whipped out her little hunter's knife in a reverse grip. I've seen her use it in combat a few tis, but mostly with cooking and nial chores. Did she really think it could hurt ?
"Are you going to attack or sothing?" [Solace]
"What do you think?" [Fina]
She then switched her grip on the blade where it would face upward.
"Huh?" [Solace]
It didn't take long to realize it was aid at her throat.
"What're you-?!" [Solace]
I lunged and caught the blade right before Fina tried to stab herself.
"ARE YOU CRAZY?! DID YOU REALLY JUST TRY TO KILL YOURSELF?!" [Solace]
I definitely felt a good amount of force behind the knife. I could feel the cold tal in my palm, afraid that the thin blade would sohow slip from my grasp. If not for , Fina really would have died.
"You see?" [Fina]
"SEE WHAT?! DO YOU NOT REALIZE HOW IMPORTANT YOU ARE TO M-" [Solace]
I cut myself off. Then I cald myself and continued to speak.
"Do you not realize how important you are? Every life is precious. Don't throw it away." [Solace]
Fina didn't seem willing to listen to that.
"Did you not see?" [Fina]
She was still going on with her "you see" bullshit.
"Okay, I'll bite. See what?" [Solace]
"The mont I was in danger, you defended ." [Fina]
I don't see where this was going.
"Look at your hand." Fina]
"My hand?" [Solace]
I don't see the problem. It was just holding Fina's knife.
"You're holding it by the blade." [Fina]
"And?" [Solace]
I an, I'm pretty much invulnerable to most weapons at this point.
"The issue I wanted to bring up is that you would harm yourself in order to protect . How can you call that handling yourself?" [Fina]
"But the knife can't hurt . I can afford to hold it." [Solace]
"What if it could still hurt you? You would do the sa thing, no?" [Fina]
I had no words.
"Even still, I wouldn't die." [Solace]
"Like how you were getting beaten by that man in the cave?" [Fina]
"Which cave?" [Solace]
What caves have we been in before?
"You know, Leon's master?" [Fina]
"Oh. ...Jukhan?! You an Jukhan?!" [Solace]
"Yes. Him. I didn't want to use him as an example, but he really had it out for you." [Fina]
"Jukhan is a special case. This argunt is invalid." [Solace]
Even when I tried to wave it off, Fina was adamant.
"You were willing to let us run so you could fight him yourself. And don't you dare try to say you were going to win." [Fina]
I an... Maybe I could've won, right? What do you guys think? Maybe if I spamd |Thunderbolt Lance| enough?
"Okay, enough. We don't have ti for this. We need to find Wilharrow and the others." [Solace]
Just as I let go of Fina's knife, she grabbed my collar.
"No. We're settling this here and now." [Fina]
"Fina. We really don't have ti for this." [Solace]
"Alt, you need to understand you are important too." [Fina]
Of course I am. Do you know how much of the fighting was all during this journey?
"I know. I'm literally the strongest one in the party." [Solace]
Fina went quiet.
"You still don't understand?" [Fina]
("Oh, great. Looks like I answered wrong again.") [Solace]
Is what I thought before she pulled in for a kiss.
"Mph?!" [Solace]
I got a taste of what seed like forever, even though it was a re instant. By then, I was gently pushed away as Fina wiped her mouth with her arm.
"You're not important to the party. You're important to ." [Fina]
I was stunned. Shocked. Baffled. Aghast? Speechless. My mouth hung open as I tried to understand what the hell just happened.
"D-Did you just... kiss ?" [Solace]
"I wouldn't call it handholding." [Fina]
I could feel my face burning up as that mont replayed in my mind.
"So? Do you understand now?" [Fina]
"...Yeh-Yep! I uh... I understand! One hundred percent!" [Solace]
I think I slurred so of my words trying to collect myself.
"So when we encounter enemies, what will you do?" [Fina]
"Trust my back to you!" [Solace]
"Good." [Fina]
I kind of felt like I was getting trained like a dog. What originally seed like a passive and innocent girl was actually an aggressive tiger waiting to pounce.
"I'm glad we've co to a consensus." [Fina]
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
It was so god damn awkward after that. There wasn't a ntion of what just happened, and not even a word for anything else. It was just her following as I broke down walls.
("Ugh... The silence is killing ...") [Solace]
Maybe it was all just a daydream? It would make a lot of sense if that were true. Either way, the awkwardness ca to an end when I finally broke into a room that seed important.
"Oh?" [Solace]
Through the wall was a massive room. It had massive pillars, massive torches, massive everything. The walls had depictions of a man fighting a bunch of things and more. A dragon, an army of demons, finding a sword or two, slaying a really big dude with six arms, and so on. They all had so kind of writing as well, but I couldn't read it.
("Is it not |Mystic Tongue|?") [Solace]
Now that I think of it, I also noticed so stairs leading up to a black and gold coffin. I an, it was like they raised half the room slightly higher just for it.
"Fina, any idea what this place is?" [Solace]
My words fell on deaf ears as Fina mumbled to herself. It appeared that she was too busy reading the walls.
"This is... the first hero's tomb?" [Fina]
Turns out Fina's conjecture from before was correct.
"We still need to find that one relic right?" [Solace]
"Yes, but... According to the stories written on the wall, it's inside the coffin." [Fina]
"Is there a real body in there?" [Solace]
"Should be." [Fina]
"...Huh." [Solace]
I'm not sure how I feel about graverobbing. Maybe if I think of the coffin as a chest?
"Well, if we really have to fulfill the request..." [Solace]
I approached the coffin. It was around now that I found it off that there were stairs of only eight steps for it.
"Wait!" [Fina]
The mont my foot touched the first step leading to it, I felt an imnse weight fall onto my body.
"Urgh!" [Solace]
("What is this?!") [Solace]
I saw nothing attached to . Nothing fell on as well. It was just an invisible force pressing down on .
"Take a step back!" [Fina]
I did as she said. I felt instant relief as the weight vanished once I got off that step.
"Fina, do you know what that was?" [Solace]
"It's a curse." [Fina]
"Curse? Not a spell?" [Solace]
"No. Spells have difficulty persisting after death. Curses on the other hand grow stronger as ti passes." [Fina]
"Great..." [Solace]
This may not be sothing I can brute force through.
"What kind of curse is it?" [Solace]
"People who approach the coffin will feel the first hero's burden with every step. Or that's what the walls say." [Fina]
Assuming that's true, the weight will only increase the further I go. Definitely not sothing I can brute force.
"Do the walls say anything about a solution?" [Solace]
"It says a true hero with the willpower to bear the burden will receive the first hero's torch." [Fina]
"That ans...?" [Solace]
"It's waiting for the chosen one." [Fina]
"Oh, okay." [Solace]
Does this guy think he's Excalibur or sothing?! The first hero must've been hella pretentious. Then again, we ARE trying to rob his grave.
"Can we dispel the curse?" [Solace]
"This... I haven't studied how to dispel a curse this powerful. That class is for third-years." [Fina]
"Ah..." [Solace]
Sotis, I forget that she's just a student.
"If we're to follow what the walls say, we should just wait." [Fina]
"Wait? Why?" [Solace]
"Apparently there are multiple entrances to the hero's tomb. However, they all end up here. So, theoretically, our party mbers will arrive here too." [Fina]
There's one thing that has mind boggled though. I skipped all of the paths and just randomly started breaking walls. The fact that we ended up in this room was pure luck. How am I NOT the chosen one for that?
"Sure that's fine." [Solace]
In the end, I had no choice other than waiting.
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