"The latter part I understand... but you followed me because I smell good?! Are you hearing yourself right now?"
She nodded. "Our tribe, or rather, humans of the Phase Class have very good noses. We can sense intentions from a mile away. Out of all the people I've met throughout my life, you're the only person who didn't have such a smell. You didn't have any bad intentions. Are you here for fun? Is this a vacation for you? Either way, I know you're a good person. Otherworlder or whatever, I'll stick by your side. You can use my status in return."
Upon saying that, she winced one more time. She bit her lips, her legs crossed. Lev watched as the colors drained on her face and she squirmed in pain.
While thinking about how she planned on sticking to him for security, Lev noticed her erratic movements and he went to her without asking any questions. Now that he was focused on her, he detected the smell of blood from her.
Slash!
"Hey, whatare you doing?! This is a crime, you kn— mmph!" She squirmed, the pain shooting up her head.
"Stop moving. It will only hurt more if you don't relax. Y-y-you're bleeding." Lev muttered, looking over to her left hips. Right below her bosom was a huge wound as if she was scraped or burned... or both.
"Don't t— gah! It hurts!" She moaned, biting on her shirt.
"I told you not to move! Urgh!" He continued, tying her shirt into a makeshift croptop before tending to her wounds. Lev couldn't look straight into her stomach because of her chest but now that that's out of the way, he emptied his thoughts and grabbed a bottle of antiseptic from the nearby drawer. He didn't know why he was aware of the location of the first aid kit but nevertheless, he was thankful that he didn't have to go around the deck asking for one. "I guess every room has a first-aid kit. Lucky you, princess." He commented.
...
Meanwhile,
Benedict was about to head out from his room when he realized that he forgot the report on his desk. He wasn't hurrying or anything so he leisurely took his time walking through the hallway.
"Hey, whatare you doing?! This is a crime, you kn— mmph!" He heard the muffled sound of a girl coming out of Lev's room.
'Oh wait, that was the girl from the Caix Tribe, right? Wait— what on actual— ' As soon as he thought that, his mind immediately assumed something salacious but he knew his childhood friend isn't a beast even though he's of the Carnage Class. But curiosity got the better of him and he pressed his ears on the door leading to Lev's room.
"Stop moving. It will only hurt more if you don't relax. Y-y-you're bleeding."
"Don't t— gah! It hurts!"
"I told you not to move! Urgh!"
"What the— " Benedict didn't waste any time and used his master key to open the door to Lev's room. "Hey, Lev, you shouldn't do that! What do you think you're— "
Pause.
The first thing that Benedict saw was the blood flowing down from Titania's legs downwards.
Gasp!
"Lev, what are you doing?!" Benedict was speechless. The worst-case scenario had happened in his mind and there was no going back from it. From the looks of it, the girl from the Caix Tribe wasn't complaining as well. And yet, she was bleeding so much. 'Was that even possible?' Benedict thought to himself.
"Benedict, phew, come help me out here." Lev called out, gesturing for his childhood friend to come closer.
"Help you?! Did you just— Lev what on— haah, you know what, I'll pretend I didn't see anything. Just finish what you're doing and please... please don't make any more weird noises!" Benedict conceded. Before Lev could say anything, he turned around, heading out of the door.
"Benedict! She's got a huge wound on her stomach! I need your help." Lev asked for a second time, losing his patience. His voice shifted into a low growl as the nature of the Carnage Class kicked in. Since he was busy disinfecting the wound, he couldn't drag Benedict to his side.
'Also, did he just turn a blind eye from an injury?!' That thought triggered Lev for a moment but he quickly regained his composure. He didn't want another incident where he bashed someone's head in.
"What?! Why didn't you tell me sooner?!" Benedict didn't think twice about rushing to Lev's side. Since Lev was completely blocking Titania's body, he couldn't see what was going on. But now that he understood the situation, he couldn't help but panic slightly. As an assistant captain, he should've been prepared for the worst, but after seeing the amount of blood coming out from Titania, his legs turned weak. "That's a lot of blood."
"That's a lot of blood, my ass, what were you trying to do back there?" Lev hissed, just remembering Benedict turning around made his blood boil to the point that he wanted to smash his head in. He dismissed the idea though, since that wouldn't end well for his record. He already went in for the kill towards the captain. If he were to do that to the assistant captain as well, he might very well be ejected in space.
"Sorry, here's the bandage. I'll do the disinfecting. You're more adept at dressing a wound than me so you can focus on bandaging." Benedict said after flinching from what Lev nagged him about just now. He was totally in the wrong, misunderstanding the situation when there were no misunderstandings to begin with.
"Fortunately, the wound is just big, not deep. It would've been more troublesome if it were." Lev explained as he started wrapping the bandage around Titania's waist.
"Will it scar?" Titania gulped at the question.
"No, it's just a light wound. Your sweat made it seem like there were more blood than usual." Lev explained.
Titania heaved a sigh of relief. "Thanks,"
.....
A few minutes later, Benedict excused himself from the room after the treatment was done. His ears flushed red from embarassment after his assumption. As for Lev, he princess-carried Titania to his bed as he relaxed by the single chair in the room. Once again, Titania retaliated by swinging her legs around, hitting Lev on the chin once which caused her to laugh. But then she felt the pain of her wound once again and she winced for the umpteenth time.
"So... how does your status work? Do you like go around and get discounts in the market if you're a royalty?" Lev sarcastically asked.
"Yes, there are a lot of perks when it comes to being royalty. In the Main Earth, I heard that royalties could get the best seat in restaurants. Or get more rewards from missions. You know, the usual. It's like playing a game using a premium account... except the game is in real life."
"I thought you were savages. Who would've thought games exist in your planet as well."
"How do you think we survived those times when we had to stay underground?"
It was such a valid question that Lev just nodded in response.
Beep! Beep!
Beep!
Beep!
"Recruit, you have to go to the deck right now,: Aggro's voice came from the communications device on Lev's wrist.
"Stay here, get some rest," Lev advised, pointing a finger at Titania.
"Don't point at me," She answered.
Click!
After making sure that the door to his room was locked, Lev headed towards the deck where all the controls to the ships are located. This is also the place where he hit Captain Zed's head with a strategy table. He shuddered at the thought before tossing it at the back of his mind.
Once he got there, he saw that everyone in the expedition team was already gathered in front of the captain. "The recruit's here, we can finally start our meeting." Captain Zed greeted.
"Ehrmm... after much contemplation," Captain Zed said, even though it was obvious he didn't think that long about it. "Our dear recruit over here will join you on your next expedition... and so will the Caixian girl."
Lev expected this to happen and so he just nodded in silence. Upon saying that, Captain Zed turned around and heaved a sigh. Assuming that they were being dismissed, Lev turned around as well to head back to his room and tend to Titania's wounds and well-being.
Before he could take another step, however, Aggro grabbed him by his arm and stopped him short in his tracks. "Not yet, Captain's not done giving orders. Stay where you are." He whispered with a stern tone, making Lev go back to his line and stand as stiff as a board.
"Captain, where are we going this time?"
"There's a new mission that we intercepted from the Main Earth— a mission to bring what's called the Chalice of Death. As far as anyone's concerned, this Chalice can prevent someone from dying, even if he or she has a terrible illness." Captain Zed continued.
"Someone already found out its whereabouts? Shouldn't we head over there and claim it for ourselves now?" Seidrich brought up.
"Yes, someone finally traced it to a certain universe and it had been given the ss-rank difficulty as a mission. After all... we're going to Tartarus."
"WHAT?!" Everybody screamed in unison.