Chapter 412 (2/2)

Randidly hummed mentally, attracting Lucretia's attention. But he needn't have worried, she was always closely monitoring his thoughts. Pulling her senses away from her study of his Class, Lucretia said. ”Well... I've never heard of people actually living in a dungeon, but its fairly common to encounter... neutral, if not downright helpful monster tribes within a dungeon. These are usually weaker groups, so they aren't much help, but they might have information on weaknesses or something.”

”Plus,” Lucretia added. ”Considering you are inside the Raid Dungeon that has a goal other than 'kill the boss' they might have more information in that regard.”

Randidly nodded, then realized that he had just stood silent for 20 seconds while Annie stared at him, and focused his eyes. ”Alright, let's gather everyone up and talk it over. Then we are probably going to visit some elves.”

****

Sydney frowned at her sketch, then brought up the eraser to clean up the portrait. These lines were a bit...

Coppernicus' jaw clacked, clearly amused, even though his face was locked in its constant grimace. Sydney clucked her tongue in annoyance. ”you'd think being a skeleton would give you a bit more self-control.”

”I must admit, modeling is not one of my strong suits,” Coppernicus said, scratching the bone of his jaw. The rubbing of bone on bone made a strange grinding sound, and Sydney couldn't help but wonder if he even actually had itches, or just did it based on habit, or nerves. It was pretty clear that it was the latter, however, considering how little he reacted to rain or wind.

It wasn't that he couldn’t feel it, or he would be easily destroyed by enemy attacks, simply failing to feel them. It was just... some of the information given to him through whatever senses he had, vibrations Sydney suspected, was considered superfluous by his mind. Or by the governing soul that animated him, because his brain had decomposed...

”Why did you warn Drake about... a coming war?” Coppernicus asked, his voice soft.

Sydney shifted, trying to change the angle of her grip on the pencil, so she could finish the drawing from this angle. This then was the reason that he had agreed to pose for her. He wanted to sound her out. FIgure out where her mind was at.

Which was fair, Sydney supposed, her lips pressing into a thin line. The sketch still wasn't satisfactory, so she again produced the eraser and obliterated her previous work. The problem was that Sydney always overdid it when it came to situations regarding Randidly. When they were friends, it was fine, although she knew that it sometimes struck Ace as profoundly strange, the way they treated each other.

But now that they were ostensibly political leaders, their relationship had effects far outside just their minor interactions and Ace's peace of mind.

Gritting her teeth, Sydney opened the small box in her chest where she buried all of her rage and frustrations.

”Imagine...” Sydney said slowly, ”That you were born into this world and one of the first things that you saw was an ugly duckling. It was... an unfortunate creature, that could barely take care of itself. Ultimately, it is harmless, but you are told by everyone around you... that is your duckling.”

Sydney would like to believe that if Coppernicus still possessed, skin, he would be arching his eyebrow at her, for answering his question about speaking to Drake about a war with an abrupt story. But as it was, he simply tilted his head to the side. Which was adorable in his own way.

Regardless, she ignored it and continued. ”That duckling seemed to become more incompetent, rather than less, the more that I watched him. Or perhaps the deeper I looked, the more mediocre he revealed himself to be. Meanwhile... I was widely praised. In both physical competitions and in academic ones, I was... told I was a genius. And I worked hard for it. That was why I accomplished so much.

”So imagine my confusion,” Sydney continued, her mouth almost moving without her controlling it now, just following the emotions in their twisted way to make Coppernicus trust her, even if she was acting erratically. ”When I watched the duckling work just as hard, if not harder... and accomplish nothing. He seemed to threaten my entire worldview. For me, hard work led to results. But for him... for some reason, it just didn't. He was just a shy, quiet boy who... couldn't stack blocks without god knocking them to the ground.”

Now Coppernicus had stilled, his attention fully grabbed. Sydney guzzled down a mouthful of air and continued. ”So I went away from it and was glad of it. Better to stay away from this boy who was cursed by the heavens. My world settled back into place, and there was a shape to everything that made sense. Work hard, succeed. Slack off, daydream... and you will be left behind. I think, more than anything else, what people seek in the world is a shape... one that makes sense, and they can accept.”

“Isn’t that what we all do…?” Coppernicus asked, raising his hand and looking at his bony fingers. Sydney’s smile was tight, but her pencil continued to move, tracing the lines of his jaw.