"I still feel like we're not doing the right thing..." Alice complained, following Shono. They were still trying to be cautious, but they advanced a lot faster. Shono had spotted a few Aberrations along the way, but they hadn't been forced to fight them. Alice was nervous. She still hadn't come to terms with the idea of those two facing the Superior alone. She'd seen how powerful those beasts were, even when they'd all fought them together. And there was no guarantee that they'd manage to isolate it from the rest of the creatures. But she trusted Kar. Him and Een were good tacticians, so they wouldn't thoughtlessly put their lives in danger. She was sure they'd only go up against the Superior if they were sure they could win. However, Alice couldn't help but feel like she was taking the easy way out. They were running away, heading for that safe spot, essentially dumping all the responsibility on their teammates. They'd been walking for a while, too. To her, all those narrow streets looked the same, but Shono seemed to know what he was doing.
The man stopped, telling her to do the same in a hoarse voice. Another Aberration had come into view. No matter how much Alice ached for some action, she knew they couldn't be reckless. The creature sniffed the air, its feathers fluttering slightly. It wasn't uncommon behavior for an Aberration, but Shono was incredibly tense.
"Be ready to draw your weapon," he whispered. "I've got a bad feeling about this."
The Aberration hadn't noticed them yet. Meaning that, if combat ensued, they had the upper hand. She slowly pulled the sword out of its scabbard, making sure not to make any noise. In the next moment, Shono let out a battle cry and charged at the creature. Alice's eye twitched. It was unusual for him to act so rashly. He'd completely ruined their surprise attack. They were dealing with a feathered Aberration, a regular one at that. She could've probably killed it alone if he hadn't started to run towards it like a madman. But then again, he was Shono. He most likely had a good reason for choosing to do things that way...
His mace struck the Aberration square in the chest, causing it to stumble backwards. Somehow, they'd still managed to take it by surprise. It didn't even have the time to react before a second blow followed the first, aimed at the same place. Having completely lost its footing, the beast crumpled to the ground. Shono used his weapon to quickly create a bunch of openings for Alice's sword. She almost forgot to stab the creature, mesmerized by the man's skills. She'd seen him do that countless times. But Kar'd always been the one to kill the beasts. Shono had taken the beast down so smoothly that it was almost unfair to call it a fight. When scouting, she'd always been paired with Een. Their strategy revolved around the both of them attacking at the same time, but from opposite directions. Usually, they usually immobilized the Aberrations using that method. Seeing Shono do it all by himself made Alice wonder if her brother would be able to fight like that in the future, too.
"So that's what Kar was talking about when he said that the main difference between Shono and us was our lack of experience..." she whispered to herself.
"Over there," the man cautioned, pointing to a nearby building. "The creature seemed especially interested in that place. It wouldn't surprise me if we were to find someone hiding there."
"You figured all that out just from the way the creature was acting? I mean, I didn't notice anything off about it."
But Shono was already heading for the small house. The way he handled things oddly reminded her of Kar. We'll, those two had known each other for the longest of time, so it wasn't that surprising.
The building itself wasn't anything special. Alice hesitantly went up the single set of stairs connecting its two floors. There didn't seem to be any Aberrations inside. She knew that, because of their large bodies, the creatures avoided enclosed spaces as much as possible. But that didn't stop her from feeling anxious. Alice suddenly stopped with a jolt and her eyebrows crinkled together. Was that a child? There was definitely a child lying down on that pile of rocks seemingly shaped like a bed. Alice hesitantly got closer. The girl looked to be around nine or ten years old. Her eyes were closed, but her chest rose up and down rhythmically. She was still alive.
"Shono, come here!" Alice called, both to summon her teammate and to, hopefully, wake the kid up.
Shono ran upstairs, gripping his weapon tightly. Alice tried talking to her, but it didn't seem to have any effect. Upon seeing the two of them, Shono's expression immediately darkened.
"This is an unexpected turn of events. It's not going to work. She won't wake up. Not now, anyway. She's just like the Captain. No, maybe I'm wrong. I sure hope I am." A bitter smile flashed across his face. "Nevertheless, we can't just leave her here.I'll carry her."
Alice blinked rapidly and nervously. Exactly like Kar. She wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, but that didn't change the fact that they had to take her with them. Shono wouldn't be able to fight. And they'd have to slow down their pace significantly. Their task had just gotten a lot more difficult. She climbed down the stairs, struggling to remain calm.
"Poor girl... I wondered what happened."
"Who knows? After all this time, we still don't really know what'd happened back then, either. With Captain, I mean. It might not necessarily be necessarily be the case with her, but, when he woke up, he couldn't remember anything. If all that noise didn't wake her up, I can't help but think that something similar happened to her too. But we should focus on reaching our destination for now. Safely. Hopefully, she'll come to before long. I'm just glad she's unharmed..." Shono said absently, swallowing a sigh.