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 me!" [Fina]
Trust her?
"What do you mean? I do trust you." [Solace]
"Not enough for me 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 times, but mostly with cooking and menial chores. Did she really think it could hurt me?
"Are you going to attack me or something?" [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 me long to realize it was aimed 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 metal in my palm, afraid that the thin blade would somehow slip from my grasp. If not for me, 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 calmed 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 moment I was in danger, you defended me." [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 me holding Fina's knife.
"You're holding it by the blade." [Fina]
"And?" [Solace]
I mean, 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 me. How can you call that handling yourself?" [Fina]
"But the knife can't hurt me. I can afford to hold it." [Solace]
"What if it could still hurt you? You would do the same 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 mean 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 argument 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 mean… Maybe I could've won, right? What do you guys think? Maybe if I spammed |Thunderbolt Lance| enough?
"Okay, enough. We don't have time 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 time 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 me 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 me in for a kiss.
"Mph?!" [Solace]
I got a taste of what seemed like forever, even though it was a mere 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 me." [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 me?" [Solace]
"I wouldn't call it handholding." [Fina]
I could feel my face burning up as that moment replayed in my mind.
"So? Do you understand now?" [Fina]
"...Yeh-Yep! I uh… I understand! One hundred percent!" [Solace]
I think I slurred some 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 seemed like a passive and innocent girl was actually an aggressive tiger waiting to pounce.
"I'm glad we've come to a consensus." [Fina]
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
It was so god damn awkward after that. There wasn't a mention of what just happened, and not even a word for anything else. It was just her following me as I broke down walls.
("Ugh… The silence is killing me…") [Solace]
Maybe it was all just a daydream? It would make a lot of sense if that were true. Either way, the awkwardness came to an end when I finally broke into a room that seemed 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 some 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 some stairs leading up to a black and gold coffin. I mean, 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 moment my foot touched the first step leading to it, I felt an immense weight fall onto my body.
"Urgh!" [Solace]
("What is this?!") [Solace]
I saw nothing attached to me. Nothing fell on me as well. It was just an invisible force pressing down on me.
"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 time passes." [Fina]
"Great…" [Solace]
This may not be something 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 something 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 means…?" [Solace]
"It's waiting for the chosen one." [Fina]
"Oh, okay." [Solace]
Does this guy think he's Excalibur or something?! 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]
Sometimes, 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 members will arrive here too." [Fina]
There's one thing that has me 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.