Without further ado, he proceeded slowly, raising his head and showing his watery eyes:'' R-Really?!''
''If it isn't too big of a problem for Rubra, I will accept readily.
I don't know how to thank you, I was desperate about how to survive in here because of me not having strength, but thanks to you, I now have hope for mine and my brother's future!''
Showing a smile that left Eric speechless for a couple of seconds, Rubra answered him:''Don't worry, I'll help you save your brother!''
At that moment, Eric started watching her with such (fake) high regard for her that she couldn't hold eye contact. This happened because of the mental burden she felt from those golden, breathtaking eyes.
Rubra was a beauty herself, but that wasn't a problem for Eric.
His past experience made him resistant to mere external charm. He was the closest possible mix between a human and an AI.
At least, so he thought...
''So, shall we go to sleep? ''
These words were unexpectedly uttered by Rubra, she had hardly any social know-how, so she initially thought of it just as a way to make sure no beast would kill Eric in his sleep.
''Isn't that something only married phoenixes do? ''
His question hit her as an unexpected attack.
''W-w-what do you mean? I wasn't asking you to sleep with me in my same bed, but around the same location, to be sure no monster can harm you! ''
Eric was relieved from her bashful answer and answered her while joking.
''Too bad, sharing a night with a phoenix would have definitely been an experience to talk about. ''
At that moment, her face, slightly pale but with a rosy and healthy color, suddenly became red like her firey hair.
The orange, perpetual sunset they could observe from the hill was still reflected on her beautiful face, but strangely her down-threading eyes seemed dangerous.
In fact...
Suddenly, flames more than ten times stronger than the ones that before surrounded Eric started creating in the air around her body and slowly enveloped her.
Then she raised her face, watching him with a slight grin.
''Human, be careful about what you desire.
Fire is second nature to us phoenixes.
Any emotional or physical change, be it intentional or not, can produce flames as intense as the stars in the sky near our body.
Now guess what would happen to your body near such kind of flames. ''
''... ''
Eric watched her with an agape mouth, slightly trembling.
But on the inside, the truth was different.
*Duh, I'm an lv. 5, for fuck sake. Anyway, thanks for the useful lesson, Miss Rubra. *
Seeing his face, she felt slightly guilty, so defused the tense situation calling back her flames.
''Moreover, what you said could happen only between two married phoenixes! ''
He was actually happy hearing her answer for two reasons.
The first was the same as he thought before.
Having information about such a rare race was equivalent to a treasure in the restrictive world of Ouroboros.
*If a map is a treasure, I can't guess how high may her words' worth be. *
On the other hand, he felt strangely safe hearing his training bus be restricted from some kind of moral or racial law to attack him during the night.
Honestly, if such a situation were to happen, all he could do realistically was either bite his tongue out of rage and refuse such a situation, risking losing what his strange destiny reserved for him, or submissively accept that situation and wait until becoming strong enough to have his revenge on her too.
*That's nice. My hit list is already over ten persons long. The less I have to add, the more saved time! *
That cynical, ruthless thoughts were still in his mind. Even though he assessed Rubra's personality as not dangerous, he knew his first impression couldn't be 100% correct, so he continued to keep his mental guard high.
Realistically, at this point in time, his destiny was in the hands of this new-met phoenix, so the best thing he could do was butter her up in any way he could come up with.
Deciding what would be his next character, he changed his mask into that of a competent Simp.
He had seen a lot of them during his days in high school and then at his workplace.
They, for whatever reason, felt like they were not enough as they were.
For this reason, they tried to attract the attention of the opposite gender through gifts of various kinds.
Free homework, free food snacks in high school.
Free assignments, free lunches, dinners, and gifts later at work.
The most ironic thing was their workload and loss of money increased as they changed setting from their school to their workplace, but their results were more or less constant.
In high school, they became the 'best friend' of the girl they wanted a sexual relationship with. Later in life, all they could hope for was to receive the attention of people attracted mainly by these purely materialistic baits.
In this way, they ended up being surrounded by leech-like women, and the normal ones weren't even in the picture, as they thought that such a flashy and needy man couldn't possibly have a nice personality.
*Yes, that's the right choice at this moment!
The more I can steer her thoughts about me away from any sexual desire, the safer I will feel in the future.
I'm not manipulating her.
I'm just creating a solid friendship!
Ahahahah! *
In these kinds of moments, he felt 'evil in a nice way'.
He wasn't actually doing anything wrong or damaging. He just decided systematically, how to behave himself with a person in order not to be assaulted in the foreseeable future.
*That's right, this is just prevention.
Forward self-defense! *
In high spirits because of his own original way to circumvent a possible future problem, he regained his smile but widened it a bit in a creepy way.
For a second, he watched her before immediately watching the ground.
His shoulders became slightly rounded, and his hands came one closer to the other. While speaking, one hand started scratching the other as if out of nervousness.
''So where should we go, Lady Rubra? ''
Seeing his expression, and his new sudden gestures, she felt a slight shiver down her spine out of repulsion, and for a moment, she was unsure if it wasn't actually better to leave him alone during the night.
''Yes...follow me. ''
*Yes, that's the look!
That's the look of contempt I wanted! *
In this way, the two, with completely different thoughts, started walking towards the west, to the slightly darker place where they would pass the night.