Chapter 41 - #41 Frightened Little Kitten (1/2)
----On the Oarburgh's side----
”Mera-sama! Are you alright?” Gilberda asked still with her mask on while helping Mera to get up.
”I am fine, his kick didn't cause any damage.” Mera sat up and started rubbing her arm.
”*sigh* Then everything is alright. I don't know what I would do without you...” Gilberda sighed in relief and then said with a sad expression.
In such a situation, Mera would normally try to cheer her up by sėxuȧŀly ”harassing” her but...
”Yeah...” She replied with 1 word while looking into the empty space with a confused expression, still sitting on the ground.
'?! What is wrong with Mera-sama?! She would normally swear to get revenge and then have some fun with me to cheer herself up. What is going on inside Mera-sama's head right now?' Gilberda thought with a shocked expression because even she was aware of Mera's strangeness.
'...What was that? When he touched me and I could feel his burning hot hand on my shoulder...why didn't I hate it?!' Mera's mind was in disarray, she had no idea what to think about what just happened.
”You are safe...” Finally, Babara and Taeko caught up to them and Babara immediately commented in relief.
”What was that?! Why did you stop me, miss Babara?!” Gilberda asked with a confused and angered expression.
”It was necessary, I will explain it later. Merraid, do you want to leave or observe them for a little while until they will meet up with the Rebel army?” Babara replied and directed her gaze at Mera who was still sitting with absent-minded expression.
This was Babara's first time seeing Mera in such a state which definitely surprised her.
'What is going on with her? It looks like her feelings are in disarray...don't tell me her ŀust will also be directed at men after this encounter...no, that's impossible since she really hates them but it doesn't mean there can't be exceptions. *sigh* It seems this incident will create even more troubles in the future.' Babara thought while very carefully observing Mera, with her experience she was able to more or less guess what she is thinking about. She also didn't forget to cast a quick glance at Taeko standing near her who just tilted her head in confusion.
'Was I just really thinking about using Akashi to also get nearer to Esdeath? Was I thinking about threes- NO! No man can touch Esdeath.' Mera thought after she finally calmed her mind down however she wasn't even aware that she called Akashi by his name and not by ”that man” which already was very strange in her case. And the most ironic thing is that she rejected the idea of Akashi touching Esdeath but never mentioned herself.
----Akashi's side----
We are finally returning to the camp through the forest while supporting each other because even though Esdeath recovered to stand on her own and walk, she didn't recover enough to jump around so we were supporting each other while jumping from one branch to other.
”Akashi?” She called out my name with a slightly curious expression.
I glanced at her face which was only a few inches away and then returned my gaze in front of me.
”It's not exactly a Teigu. My house worships fire and Fire Lord but since there are no records of such person we simply worship just fire. It's something I have been born with.” I didn't bother trying to convince her that it's just Teigu since my abilities were indeed beyond Teigu's capability.
”So you worship this Fire Lord...?” She asked with a curious expression.
”Me and worship something? Haha, nah, I just accepted fire as my friend. If I had to worship it to get this power I wouldn't bother to.” I said with an amused expression.
If I didn't have any of these powers, I would play it safer and probably tried to join the Oarburgh clan since they have very nice techniques and I would only be able to survive as a cunning ȧssassin in this world where many people have weapons with powers of nature or body manipulations or other things.
---
'Shouldn't it be the other way around? Whatever...I still have something in my mind that's bothering me.' Esdeath thought and prepared herself to ask another question.
---
”What that vile woman said before...about the love makes everyone stronger. What do you think about it?” Esdeath asked me with a curious expression.
”Her term of love is twisted, it's more like ŀust for her but to answer your question...Yes, didn't you experience it beforehand in our fight? I have become this strong because I have people I care about and I don't want anything to happen to them.” I replied to her with a teasing smile.
”Then what should I do if I don't have anyone like that left...?” She instantly asked me question that surprised me so much that we had to stop for a while.
”That's...very hard question to answer. You can find someone who has the same interests as you and slowly form a friendship with that person and with passing time, you will discover if he is your true friend or just seeking benefits from you. But let me give you advice, never go finding someone like that if your goal is just to become ”stronger”, that's not how it works. You will become stronger if you will want someone like that because you want to ”belong” somewhere or someone you can talk to. It's very complicated and I am not a suitable person to answer your question.” I explained with a thoughtful expression while touching my chin.
”...I see, what about you? Do you have any friends like that?” She nodded after a while of thinking about my words and asked another question.
”Hmm, I have my servants but I treat them as friends. There is also one girl that I care about.” I blurted out without even thinking about my answer.
”...Do you love that girl?” She suddenly asked after a small moment of silence.
”*cough* *cough* What? Ah, it's not like that...she is even younger than me plus love is still a few years away from me.” I coughed when she asked me that question and I couldn't help but remember Kurome's cute face while calling me Nii-sama. She almost made me cough out my lungs.
”...I have never asked you but how old are you?” Esdeath frowned when she heard me talking about my age.
”12” I said with a poker face.
”WHAT?! You look at 15!” Esdeath exclaimed with a surprised expression.
---
'I lost against someone so young...*sigh*' Esdeath thought with a complicated expression while looking at Akashi's face.
---
”I hear that a lot, let's focus on getting back so we can recover before the battle with Rebels.” I turned at her and replied with a small smile.
[Health: 327/610] I am slowly healing but it will most likely take the entire night to fully heal up.
When we returned to the camp, we parted ways. Esdeath went to her tent to tend to her wounds and get some rest while I went towards my own tent.
However, when I entered my tent, I found someone who shouldn't be here.