After climbing up the small mountain of snow, Kai looked out at the distance and took a deep breath, enjoying the sensation of fresh air going down his throat.
Looking around, he was that most of the path they had been walking on had been erased by the avalanche, but he could still roughly make out the way they had to go, so at least they wouldn't get lost anytime soon.
"Alright, come on up, it's safe."
Turning back around to Cecilia after having done a quick scan of the area with Soul Sense, Kai slowly helped her out of the cave and climb up the snow.
The first thing that Kai done after emerging from the cave with Cecilia was envelop her with some flames to warm her up. He had been hesitant to do so because he obviously didn't listen in science class when it was to do with fire and oxygen, but now that they were out he was able to make her warm.
The second thing he done, though, might end up taking a bit longer, considering that they had to find Petunia.
He wasn't sure if she went anywhere, or even if she survived the avalanche. He knew that Esurient had, but just because Esurient had killed something didn't mean it was with Petunia.
Still, he was sure that she would be safe.
Glancing to his left, Kai was surprised to see that he could actually make out the rock Petunia had hidden behind when he and Cecilia went off to fight the Demon.
So that was obviously the first place they would head.
Carefully traversing over the loose snow, Kai held onto Cecilia's hand as a precaution, just in case she ended up slipping or anything like that.
... Not because he was potentially worried about what he might see on the other side of the rock.
Step by step, they got closer to the rock with nothing happening. It was only after they got a little closer to the rock did Kai notice something off about it.
It kind of looked like it was... glowing. There was a golden light surrounding it, no, not surrounding it, behind it.
Climbing down from the hill of snow that the avalanche had created, Kai approached the rock and glanced over the top of it.
And what he saw made him smile.
Behind the rock was a slumbering Petunia, Remy and Esurient both also sleeping in her arms. They looked utterly peaceful, as if they hadn't nearly been swept off the mountain by an avalanche.
Actually, now that Kai was looking at it, how lucky were they?
The edge of the avalanche was about ten metres away from the rock they hid Petunia behind, so what were the chances it would just barely avoid her?
Kai chuckled to himself as he smiled at the glowing child.
Maybe the Luck flames he had bestowed upon her before fighting the Demon had actually worked.
Hearing his chuckle, Kai watched as Petunia's sleeping figure began to stir, her eyes fluttering open as she looked up at him.
Her eyes then widened.
"Kai?"
Just as the young girl was about to stand up, she was suddenly pushed back down again when Cecilia fell to her knees and embraced the girl in a tight hug.
"Oh, thank the gods you're okay. You didn't get hurt, did you?"
Kai watched as Petunia's tough girl act faltered. The look in her eyes softened ever so slightly as she hesitated to hug Cecilia back, but ended up giving in and doing so a moment later.
No matter how hard she tried to hide it, Petunia was still a child at heart.
After the hug had ended, Kai felt something clinging to his leg. Looking down, he smiled to himself as Remy climbed up his body and laid down on his shoulder. Kai petted the rat for a moment before turning to Esurient.
At the same time, Petunia's eyes lit up as she also turned to the Ruby blade.
"Oh, you should have seen it, Surie protected me from some weird monster. It was really big and had big teeth, but Surie fought it and ended up knocking it off the mountain."
Kai nodded his head, listening intently to the young girl's story. He had been wondering why there had been no corpse if Esurient had killed something, but turns out the beast had just died to fall damage.
"So Esurient protected you, huh?"
Petunia's expression darkened, her gaze locking onto Kai's eyes as she uttered one single word.
"Surie."
Now it was Kai's turn to say a single word.
"Esurient."
Kai contemplated if he actually wanted to go through with this. Was it really worth it to get in an argument with Petunia over such a simple thing as a nickame-
"Esoorient is a dumb name. Surie is better. Who names something Esoorient."
Making fun of his combat abilities, that was fair enough. Making fun of his IQ, also kind of fair enough, although Kai would rather no one done so. But making fun of his naming sense, now, that was something he would not take sitting down.
"Actually, Esurient is a really good name. It suits the blade, and they also like it. In fact, they were ecstatic when I named them."
Petunia rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Despite being less than ten years old, she was already acting like a bratty teenager.
Kai glanced over at Cecilia darkly while she turned away to avoid his gaze. Just what had she been teaching her while he was asleep?!
"You talk to your sword, huh. What exactly does Surie say?"
Eye twitching, Kai huffed and placed his hands on his hips.
"I'll have you know that Esurient, yes, I'm saying their right name, is a very gentle soul. They've been with me through thick and thin so obviously I talk to them. They simply want to be strong, a good dream to have. And I'll have you know that I also talk to Umbra!"
Reacting to her name, a pitch black wolf peeked her head out of Kai's shadow. Her tongue out as she panted happily, not a single thought behind her eyes.
Kai couldn't have thought of a worse time for Umbra to revert to acting like a dog.
Proud of herself, Petunia snorted and look down from Kai's eyes to a certain thing that was resting on his shoulder.
"Let me guess. You're gonna say you speak to Remy next."
"Yes- Wait... No, I don't."
Now that Petunia had pointed it out, why had he never used Telepathy on Remy? If it worked on Umbra then it would surely work on the rodent.
Picking up the rat from his shoulder, Kai held Remy in front of his face and gazed into the rodents eyes. They were pitch black and looking into them, Kai... Kai.
"You know what, maybe it's better that I never spoke to Remy. It would kind of ruin the immersion."
Petunia huffed and turned her head, which Kai took advantage of as he let out a deep breath and placed Remy back on his shoulder.
"I'm sure. And Surie is much better than Remy."
Outraged, Kai placed both of his hands over the rats ears and hissed at Petunia.
"Don't say that! What if they heard you? Remy likes you, you can at least like them back. Now, apologise or you don't get any food or water."
Now it was Petunia's turn to be outraged. Her jaw fell open as her eyes widened in shock. After all, she had been left without food or water for an unknown amount of hours, but it had been at least twelve.
"You can't do that, I'm a child!"
Kai grinned, proud of himself.
"I can, and I will. Now, unless you apologise you-"
A second later, Kai felt a palm connect with the back of his head, softly smacking him.
"You're right, he can't do that. Now, come here Petunia, I'm sure you're cold and hungry."
After smacking Kai, Cecilia turned and mouthed the word sorry to him before turning back to Petunia and guiding her by the shoulders to the tent she had been setting up for the duration of that argume... conversation.
Kai sighed to himself. How had he ended up in an argument with a child? It's not like Petunia was even that bad...
That thought quickly died when after Cecilia went into the tent with Petunia, the young girl poked her head out the flaps of the tent and stuck her tongue out at him before quickly retreating back to the safe space that was anywhere near Cecilia.
Kai shook his head in defeat.
"The nerve of that girl..."
Sighing to himself, Kai took a look at his own safe space. Umbra's head was still peeking out of his shadow, Remy was still resting on his shoulder and Esurient was simply floating around him, not a care in the world.
Kai lowered his head and sighed to himself once more.
He wasn't sure what was going to kill him first on this ascent, whatever guarded the third Trial, or Petunia's cheekiness.