Chapter 310 (1/2)
Randidly turned to Thea first. Of them all, he expected the surly and conflicted woman to be the easiest to handle, at the moment... “Congratulations.”
To his horror, Thea started to shake her head, slowly at first, but then with increasing speed, her brown hair bouncing back and forth. “No… no. I’m so sorry. I didn’t deserve this at all… I just… cleaned up. And I almost messed it up…”
She straightened, her eyes bright, and offered Randidly a stone that she produced from her pocket. It glowed softly, filled with strange crimsons, violets, and emeralds. “Here, I can’t do anything about the skill, but… you deserve this. You did all the work. You… are really the hero.”
“Thank you… but no, keep it.” Randidly said, waving his hand. “I wouldn’t have been able to kill it alone. That belongs to you.”
Her eyes widened, the shock clear on Thea’s face. Then she became uncomfortable, biting her lip. But still she held out the stone, and reluctantly said. “No… you don’t understand. This is the Stone of Fate. With it, you can-”
“Oh I get it.” Randidly said shrugging. “But… don’t you need it much more than I do? Believe me, when I’m fully healed, I’m much more capable than this.”
Sure, he was interested in it, but his experience going to Shal’s world had taught him that he couldn’t be everywhere at once. There were some paths that were not his to walk. It was probably better for the health of the area if Thea grew in strength, rather than more strength being concentrated within himself. Although he did plan on asking her later if he could watch her use it. If his new skills gave him insight into how that process worked…
He turned away from a very pale Thea before she could continue. Instead, Randidly decided to focus on the Wild Rider. “Thank you for your help as well. My companion needs a body, I was wondering-”
“Of course,” She answered smoothly, her voice reverberating strangely out of the hood, seeming to be composed of the calls of many animals, rather than a voice of a young girl. “There should be another parade soon anyways. There are many who have pledged to me who desire a bond that will last a lifetime. The ceremony will take a week, but if you are willing to agree…”
After thinking it over for a minute, Randidly nodded. He did have some things he wanted to do in the meantime, but this week would be focused on healing himself, now that he had a much more direct way to manipulate Aether. And as time went on, he should grow more skilled anyways. A week wasn’t much time.
The Wild Rider turned and regarded Simon, who seemed abruptly very nervous by the Rider’s gaze. “You, too, Simon, are welcome to participate. Your skills… are lovely.”
After a moment of hesitation, Simon nodded. Randidly chuckled, but said nothing. Honestly, of all their skills, Simon’s were probably the weirdest and most creepy. The kid hadn’t tested it yet, but his skill could manifest almost ANYTHING while he was in his Astral form. He could create a monster. It would be a good idea if he took a few tricks from this past Raid Boss’ group.
In addition, his healing skill was called “Mending Fluid” which Randidly had had a very hard time not laughing at at first when Simon presented him with it to drink-
The Wild Rider snorted, which sounded extremely strange through the voices of 1000 animals, but then covered it up with a cough. Randidly blinked, and both Thea and Simon turned to her, curious.
Even through the hood, Randidly could almost sense the little girl blushing. “My Regalia gives me a certain amount of telepathy… reading minds at a very surface, immature level…”
Randidly chuckled, but said nothing, while Thea and Simon seemed incredibly confused. So she enjoyed crass jokes? Randidly hoped she was older than she looked-
Now the Wild Rider stamped her foot, then turned on her heel and left the tent, heading outside. This time Randidly didn’t bother to hide it, and chuckled aloud. The sheep gave him a very unamused look, but Randidly could only shrug. It’s not like he was out to impress this random sheep.