"Tell me, Woman — how long have we been traveling together?"
There was a sort of serenity reflecting Lucian's eyes as they reflected the almost endless horizon of the Wasteland. The Wasteland was vast, it almost reminded Lucian of the expanse of space — anywhere he looked, everything looked the same. But if one were to look closer, one would find that every inch is different from the last.
"W…What?"
"How long have we been traveling together?" Lucian repeated his words as he crossed his arms while resting on top of Rosa's head.
"2…" Rosa's lips slightly struggled to move as she had to assist Adelfred, while also carrying all the jugs of water, probably 2 gallons, hanging from her waist; not to mention having to carry Lucian, who was carrying two Scorpion Assassin blades that were almost as long as her arms, and then the Geiger counter, "2… 2 hours?"
"I see," Lucian closed his eyes and nodded, "Then…
…why can I still see the plateau we were in behind us!? Is this planet flat!?"
"No…?"
"Obviously not! So, why can I still see it!?"
"Eep!" Rosa could really only grit her teeth as Lucian started brazenly moving around the top of her head like a little child… and he is supposed to be, according to him, millions of years old, "I'm… I'm going as fast as I can, please…!"
"This won't do, this won't do at all," Lucian then let out a small but very deep sigh as he started crawling down from Rosa's head, and very much like a snail… he was leaving traces of ooze on Rosa's face — except the ooze was… semen, "Ack, not here. I don't want to touch your mutated face that looks like it's about to fall off."
Lucian slightly crawled to the side to avoid the part of Rosa's face that was mutated. And as he reached Rosa's waist, he grabbed all the jugs of water and carried them with the strands of his hair before leaping out of Rosa.
"Is that better, Woman?"
"Y… yes, thank… thank you," Rosa let out a breath of relief as she adjusted Adelfred's arms over her shoulder.
"Now, onward!" Lucian then pointed to the horizon, "Adventure awaits us, my young ugly creature!"
And so, once again, Lucian, Rosa, and Adelfred continued on with their exciting adventure…
…where nothing absolutely happened.
"Why is this so boring!?" Lucian could not help but just drop the jugs of water on the ground as he screamed in frustration. The veils of the dark were about to greet them, and Rosa was already extremely tired as she just dropped to the ground at the same time as the jugs,
"In the books I've read, there's always adventures!"
"You've… you've read books, Lord Lucian?" Rosa let out a small gasp before whispering to herself, summoning a glint of fire after doing so — she then grabbed some dried sticks from the ground and started putting them on fire since it was getting cold due to the sun already setting on them.
"Of course, I've read books, you mongrel," Lucian let out a groaning scoff as he glanced at Rosa in disgust, "And you're already tired…? And please do not call me Lord or any other title, it's disgusting. Lucian is just Lucian."
"We've… we've been walking for more than 6 hours, Lor—Lucian," Rosa very gently fixed Adelfred's cloak to cover him from the cold.
"Well, if you weren't carrying that thing we would have probably covered more distance," Lucian shook his head as he just slithered closer to the fire, throwing more dried branches on it, "I guess this place used to be a forest?"
"It was…" Rosa sighed and nodded, "...until those Murcans developed their weapons and everything just turned into this, the Wasteland."
"They developed weapons because they can't use magic?"
"Yes, and—"
"And your kind oppressed them a thousand years ago — leading them to seek advancements elsewhere," Lucian raised his eyebrows, "History is all the same… only the players are different. But this is supposed to be a Wasteland with a lot of monsters, so where are the monsters!?"
"That… it's Adelfred's spell," Rosa shook her head, "He has the ability to repel the corrupted creatures."
"Oh, really?" Lucian leaned his head to the side as he stared at Adelfred, whose face was already completely unrecognizable as a human, "That is a very useful skill…
…I want you to turn that off now."
"W…what? Why?"
"Because I want to see some grotesque monsters," Lucian shrugged, "And I assume he's that weak because he's exhausting his mana keeping the skill active all day?"
"That's… true, but—"
"Ask him to turn it off," Lucian looked Rosa in the eyes, "I'm sure he already feels like a complete waste of space just by having his lover carrying him all day. Don't you, Freddy?"
"I…" Adelfred could really only let out a small groan; his voice, almost as if being scratched in sandpaper.
"My love, have… have some water!" Rosa quickly but very gently helped Adelfred.
"He can't even drink on his own," Lucian shook his head, "That's not living, Rosa. Turn off the skill."
"But—"
"If you're worried about the monsters, I will deal with them."
"W—" Rosa was about to say something, but then heard a small, quiet giggle escaping from Lucian. She glanced back at him, only to see him trying to cover the sinister smile on his face while he repeatedly whispered —
"I will deal… I will deal with them all, pft… I'm going to level up… pft."
Rosa then watched as Lucian started checking himself on the Geiger counter again while still trying to stop himself from giggling, but failing all the same.
"Are you… not going to sleep, Lucian?" Rosa asked as she embraced Adelfred since he was starting to shiver, "Adelfred… turn off Repel. It's… it's okay, Lucian said he'll protect us. Are you… sure you're not going to sleep, Lucian?"
"Sleep? Pft, overrated," Lucian waved his hand, "And this body can't sleep. But you do not have to worry about me, I can close my eyes and meditate. Throughout the years of my endless existence, I have learned to shut down my senses to pass the flow of time."
"I… think that's called sleeping?" Rosa squinted her eyes, slightly wincing as she expected Lucian to try and reprimand or slap her again, but he did not. Lucian was just staring at the fire; his left glowing eyes, seemingly even brighter than the flames it was trying to reflect.
Of course, she did not really believe that Lucian was millions of years old — for her, Lucian was just a newborn creature; completely unaware of everything. But when she looks at him like this, it almost makes her want to believe that he truly is a being that has lived for eons.
"Do… you know what you are, Lucian?" Rosa then let out a small sigh as she carefully moved closer to Lucian as soon as she felt Adelfred dozing off.
"Sure," Lucian shrugged, "I am a sentient sperm that can merge with unborn babies — despite the form you see, my body is actually entirely semen; I just took the form of Eduardo and Shakira's baby."
"That… you have a very vivid imagination, Lucian," Rosa smiled as she looked at the fire, "I've heard of creatures gaining intelligence equal to Hestians… but I've never really thought I would meet one in my life."
"And what about you, ugly creature?"
"Hm?"
"Do you know what you are?" Lucian then looked Rosa in the eyes.
"I'm… Hestian," Rosa answered.
"Are you…?" Lucian then turned to look at Adelfred before turning his focus back to Rosa, "Go to sleep, I'll be closing my eyes too."
"That…" Rosa just stared at Lucian for a few seconds before nodding and moving back to Adelfred, "...Good night, Lucian."
"Hm…" Lucian did not even glance at Rosa before closing his eyes, and as he said, shutting down his senses.
"What the—?" Lucian then opened his eyes, only to be greeted by the warmth of the sun. But that wasn't the reason why he woke up—no, why he regained his senses again—it was because of the person kneeling in front of him,
"What the—cover your face, you ugly creature! Back, back!"
Lucian quickly slithered back as he saw Adelfred… seemingly praying to him.
"S…Sacred Spirit, please appease your anger," Adelfred quickly showed his palms to Lucian.
"Rosa, control your ugly beast!" Lucian then pointed his blade at Rosa, "I told you, I am not a spirit or a god or anything!"
"I… I'm sorry, Lucian!" Rosa quickly tried to get Adelfred up.
"Let… let me finish my prayer, my love!" Adelfred shook his head, "I pray to the King of the Gods for sending us his emissary, I thank Zeus and—"
"Zeus…?"
"!!!" And before Adelfred could finish his prayers, both he and Rosa could not help but just freeze on their spot as they felt a chill run down their spine. The two of them then turned to look at Lucian…
…only to see a completely blank expression on his face; his green glowing eyes, shining even more violently.