On the way back, me and Lilith stayed in the back with Kale and Chris in the front. We followed the X markings that Kale had made and came back to the river, Kale and Chris went ahead as they bickered about the Owl creature. While we were about to cross the river, me and Lilith had our conversation.
"So…" I started, Lilith stood by me near the water as it lapped at our feet. She looked at me as if waiting for me to ask the question she already knew I was going to say. The dragon eye of hers still activated. "What did the bird say to you?" I finally asked.
Lilith sighed as she kicked her feet out of the water. Now wearing her cloak, only her boots were visible…not that I was looking…Splashes rippled through the water as she spoke.
"When you went to help kale, that thing spoke to me…about how he's seen him amongst the followers of that lady he was talking about…" she looked down at her reflection, adjusting her hair with it. Her hair was somewhat of a mess so she was brushing with her hands as best as she could. "It kept saying that He rambled about how I was different from before…which I don't know what that means?…" she looked back up as her hands flew from her hair, a confused look traversed her face. "Why? Why is he there? Does he not see me as normal?" I watched as her tone grew more aggressive, her hands balling up tightly as she gritted her teeth. "He runs off, slapping my mom and ends up helping the person that's trying to kidnap a kid?! No bother with trying to come back?!" The tensity of her voice grew louder as she turned to me. Even through the gritted teeth and anger, tears rolled down her eyes as she put her hands up against her face. "Idiot! Idiot, Idiot! And what's wrong with me?!"
"Hey, you two alright?" Kale called out from across the river. He looked at Lilith with a concerned look. Chris alongside him.
I waved at the two. "Just needed to talk with Lilith, something came up…"
"Something wrong?"
"Yeah…but I can handle it!" Kale hesitated when I said that, but shrugged and turned to chris. The two seemed to have wanted to wait for us as they started to talk.
"Kota…" I turned to look at Lilith when she said that. "Is something wrong with me?"
I tensed up when she said that, how honest can I be with that question? She seems to have a whole Vendetta against her dad, killed already. And she's a dragon hybrid, which is pretty rare. But was there…anything actually wrong with her? She hasn't told me anything that seemed to have bothered her. Is this just a way for her to open up to me?
"…Do you think anything is wrong with you?" I asked. "I can't really see anything wrong with you…but that's just someone looking from the outside…what do you think is wrong with yourself?"
Lilith pulled her face from her hands, still teary eyed as her expression softened. "I…I'm not so sure myself…My head's been spinning ever since we got here and it's got worse…" My eyes lit up when she said that, she was opening up!
"Something wrong with your head? Has it been going on a lot?" I asked.
"It's…like a voice."
Huh? A voice? I mean…Isn't that normal? Don't we all have a voice in our head when we think? Of course it's normal! Not insane at all!
"It's not my voice though…it's like a man and another girl…it's so weird…"She continued.
Ah…that's weird. I scratched my chin and Put my head down, looking at myself in the water as I thought.
Two voices in her head. One is a man and the other is…A girl…No, Arael couldn't be in her mind. She hasn't even made contact with me unless it was through a dream. If she could just input a voice in my head, she would've done it already. So that marks her out. Perhaps it's a vision? Does this world believe in future telling or someshit? Like do people in this world predict the future? Maybe Lilith is one of them? But that's just adding more crazy stuff to her.
"What do they say?" I cautiously asked. What if the voices were actually predicting the future? This whole conversation was just a product of something she heard a bit ago? No, that's insane. I'm just overthinking.
"The voices?…They don't really say anything in particular, it's just anger and sadness when it comes to them…Like they yell at each other or…" Lilith trailed off. "That's it…"
"Hm…I honestly don't know what to make of it." I was being honest, The fact she had voices in her, speaking made me more confused. It could be due to the trauma she witnessed as a kid and with her father…But as of right now, I have no idea…
Lilith looked off at the river, looking more sad than angry than she was before. There were no tears rolling down her face, but her lips trembled as she folded her arms. "Sigh…I guess there is something wrong with me."
"Hold on, wait a minute." I reached to touch her shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with you." My reassurance took some of the edge off her as she mellowed out. "Look…I'm not sure what's going on in your mind. But at least you aren't like your dad. You're you. Nothings wrong with being different." I wasn't that good with handling issues like this, especially with girls . It reminds me of the girl that I tried to help in my past life before everything turned upside down. The one I tried to help from having my friends assault her…I wish I was able to properly explain what happened…
Lilith fell silent as the only noises we heard was the rambling of us made by Chris and the water flowing through the river. It was a long minute before I patted her head and crossed the river. "Come on, Lilith. We can talk more about this at home…."
As I walked through the water of the river, I looked back at Lilith to see her response, only to see her slam into me, hugging me tightly. It caught me off by surprise that I panicked for a moment.
"H-hey Lilith, the water's freezing! We should do this when w-"
"I don't care. Just let me…show you my thanks…." She awkwardly said, she avoided eye contact with me as she looked past me towards Kale and Chris. "I'm not good with words either, but…I just wanted you to know that I'm glad you listened…" The intense energy she had at first seemed to have dissipated and replaced with a relaxed and calming one.
Even with my feet freezing in the water, I slowly was enveloped by her warmth, why the hell was she so warm? Oh…Half dragon, I remember Tera mentioning something about Lilith being warmer just due to her being a dragon during our class. I found myself clasping onto her just to heat up. And we held each other in the river. The two of us didn't say anything.
"It's been…a weird day." I finally said.
"Yeah…" she mumbled back.
We went from doing our first Bounty to fighting an ogre to fighting a damn owl and now we end up finding out about her dad? Probably the weirdest day I've had since I came to this world..
Lilith then slowly pulled herself from me, wiping her nose…wait, my cloak is more damp? Has she been wiping her nose on me?
"Wha-did you wipe your nose on m-Hey, come back!" She ran to the other side of the river before I could catch her. Seems like I've lightened her mood as when she crossed, she turned and smiled, the Left eye of hers was back to normal.
Maybe I am doing the right things in this world.
Crossing the river myself, kale watched me with intrigue as all of us began to walk back, Lilith was ahead of us along with chris who kept
"You two finished with your…?" He asked.
"Our talk? Yeah, she was just…having personal issues."
"Hmm…I'm assuming you managed to resolve it?" Kale looked over at Lilith. "I only know about some of her issues, she talks a lot about these headaches she gets."
"Yeah, she told me about those. I didn't really know what it was about. But she seemed relieved to be able to talk about them."
Kale scratched his chin for a moment, eyeing her before looking back at me. "Perhaps she needed to vent at someone. Or maybe just vent to you."
"Yeah, but why?" She could've easily told all this to kale. Quite frankly, I think those two were closer to each other. I mean…I did learn something from her venting.
Kale frowned when I asked that, his eyebrows raised up as if in surprise that I'd ask such a question like that. He opened his mouth to speak, but shut it quickly as he sighed. For a moment it seemed like he was remembering something as he let out a smile.
"Yeah…You really are Gerald's kid…" He said that and quickly walked away from me.
"Like Gerald's kid? What's that supposed to mean? Kale?" I asked confusingly. I followed in suit behind him.
As all four of us walked, I overheard Chris speaking with Lilith.
"You guy were like CLANG, ROAR and then the owl was like CAW CAW" Chris seemed to be very interested in the fight we had, with Lilith awkwardly laughing at his…interpretation of it.
"Then kale, Oh he got smack with a WOOMPH, and he flew, it was really bad for him, but he flew! And then you fought the thingy and it was like super flashy, you were like WOOSH and ZMMM and the crow thingy was like AW CAW CAW. And I was like 'woah!'. He continued, moving around and impersonating Lilith when she fought the owl monster.
Kale looked back at me and finally answered what he meant. "What I meant was that…both of you are oblivious to Girls feelings. Gerald was pretty dumb when it came to girls, but I can't blame him. I mean, he was somewhat of a charismatic man who could easily sweep girls off their feet. At least Synthia caught him before he kept on going. But you…nevermind, I'll let you figure it out."
Figure it out? What? But then I slowly remembered the conversation I had with Gerald some time ago about Lilith. My very own answer.
My feelings will change when her feelings change as well. How long has Lilith known me?
Two years? I've known her since I was seven in this world and I'm twelve now. Of course something between us might've changed since then. I rubbed my chin in deep thought as I reaccounted every act she's done with me.
Maybe Lilith is starting to make her moves now. Now that she has Tera to help her. Some point, she'll eventually confess. Hopefully…
Lilith noticed that I was staring at her, giving me a glance and pleading for help as Chris kept on going. It seemed her annoyance was at her limit as he kept on talking. Perhaps I should do something about that. Like Kale said, I'll figure that whole situation out at some point.
Moving past Kale who was still smiling, I got beside Chris and patted his shoulder, which got his attention.
"Oh, and It's Kota! The Silent Caster! Ha-PSHHH!" Chris held his hand out imitating a fire. "Big old fire bl-ouch!" I bonked his head.
"You're annoying, plus you're attracting attention to us." I said.
Rubbing his head, Chris grumbled before pointing his finger at me. "No one touches the prince like that! You're lucky the two of you are strong!"
"Dude, you are so lucky that I haven't launched you with an earth pillar."
"Are you threatening me?" He looked shocked, gasping and holding his hands up.
"Am I?" Truth be told, I thought of it as more like an invitation for fun.
"Hmm…alright, go ahead. I dare you to lau-." A Pillar from the ground erupted below Chris as it flung him a few feet away in front of us. Luckily, he landed it, stumbling on his feet for a moment before turning towards me. "Woah!" Even though I've Launched him unannounced,There was a smile on his face.
"Lilith, you heard him say he wanted me to sit again, right?" I looked at Lilith when I said that.
Seems I've made Lilith lighten her mood as she snickered, she had a smug look. "Yeah, I think I did." I then lifted my staff which prompted Chris to wave his hands.
"Wait, wait, wait! Alright! Don't launch me again!" Chris panicked.
"Then settle down! Yeah, we saved you. But we are still out in the open, where Goblins are." I told him. "just…Keep that voice of yours down until we get out of the forest." Chris's expression swapped from panic to relief as I said that. I looked back at Kale to see if what I did was right, and he was still smiling. Looks like I handled this one right.
"Ok…Let's keep going. I should be ahead of you guys since I know how to get out. I'll try to have us avoid that Goblin nest we encountered earlier." Kale Moved past me and ahead of Chris, Waving at us to follow him. "We should be back before the Sun sets, we have been out here for quite awhile now…" Looking up, I noticed that the sun was high in the air, it was most likely the afternoon now. We left pretty early in the morning, I wonder if anyone is worried about us? Maybe Tera came to visit us, Or Griffin or Sura? Only way to find out was to head home.
As we started to follow Kale who was traversing the snow ahead of us, Chris got between me and Lilith.
"You guys are so cool! Just wanted to say." he said, Looking back and forth between the two of us.
"Really? The brat is saying to us? Aren't you the one who babbled at me for being noble blooded?" I asked, But Chris shook his head.
"No, NO, No. That was before I knew what you could do! Before what any of you could do!" He looked at Lilith. "You got super fast sword combat! Like him!" He pointed at Kale.
"What about me?"
"Oh, You! I've never seen anyone do Magic like that! How'd you…Just do the silent casting?" Chris asked curiously.
"Kota has the Duvul trait." Lilith chirped in.
"Duval trait? Like…you have special powers?"
Seems like Chris wasn't educated in magic, which was understandable. But to be fair…I don't even know how the Duval Trait worked. It was magic Enhancing and somehow had better mana efficiency…Okay, maybe I have noticed that ever since I started using Magic. But I feel there is something else about it, besides the side effect of possibly being the host for the God of magic. Maybe This trait lets me also learn things faster? I wouldn't know. I haven't met another Silent Caster like me, So i'll have to leave that idea on the burner…
"Uh…No? I don't think so? I just…do magic better than most people." I finally answered Chris.
"I can tell! The mage my father has doesn't have anything against you!"
"Woah, don't talk about Richard like that!" Kale said back to us.
"But he doesn't! He knows only king ranked Earth magic!" Chris said.
"Okay, well Kota is still training and learning. Kota might be stronger, but he isn't as wise as Richard." Kale looked at me. "No offense."
"None taken." Is it weird I'm being compared to a king's mage?
Chris continued talking as we slowly headed out of the forest. Though annoyed at first, Me and Lilith soon gave up and let him banter on about us, Kale diligently trying to find us our way back. By the time we finally found where we first came in, Chris had finally stopped talking about what had happened, but rather asked me and Lilith about ourselves.
"So both of you are from the south then?" He asked. Both me and Lilith nodded at his question, the boy shook his head in acknowledgment. "And…how'd you two meet?"
I looked at Lilith to see if she would answer, but it seems like she also had the same idea. Deciding that I would be telling my version of it, I looked back at Chris and told him. "So…Lilith used to actually be bullied. And one day in our town, I managed to pass by and see one of the bullying acts happen and I stopped it. I shot a bunch of waterballs at them. And then I helped Lilith and brought her to my home for a bit. It actually turned out we were neighbors!"
"Woah! That sounds…" Chris looked at Lilith as if to confirm what I said was actually real, to which Lilith nodded. "That sounds like a weird way to become friends!"
"I wouldn't say weird. I came in like a hero!" I pumped my chest out as I said that.
"Yeah, that's weird. Stop that. Don't do that. You're making me rethink my view of you." Chris disgustingly said.
Lilith laughed at that. My heart, you're supposed to be on my side!
"Haha, don't worry chris. Kota is my first friend I had and I'm glad he is…" Lilith happily said.
"And what are you? Didn't you have a red eye?" Chris asked.
"Yeah, I did. But that's because I'm half dragon."
"Huh?" Chris gave her a confused look. "Half dragon? Like the ones my mother told me about?"
"Yeah, probably. My father…was a dragon." Lilith awkwardly said.
"Huh…huh? So…huh?" Chris tried to wrap his head around that. He rubbed his brown hair in confusion.
"Ah…don't think about it so much. I'm still mostly human…my mother is fully human."
"Dragon…human…what? Kale, is this true?" Chris asked him.
Kale looked back in amusement. "Yeah, that's why I took her. To tame a dragon."
"That's insane! You are…are a half dragon thing!" Chris enthusiastically said.
"And to let you guys know, we're getting close. I'm seeing the road we took." Kale pointed, past him and in the distance, a brownish road laid await for us. We were almost out.
Once we get out, we'll head to the Bounty hall and get our reward. And for chris…I'll just let Kale figure that out.