"Lady Rose..."
Upon seeing her everyone stood on guard against her and glanced at Aron to see how he'd react. His expression didn't change but he did furrow his eyebrows as he looked at Lady Rose slowly approaching him.
"Why not start the airship and get moving before anything else occurs, in the meantime you and I have matters to discuss." Lady Rose stopped a few inches away from Aron and stopped clapping, upon hearing her words Claudia glanced at Aron worriedly but she received a nod from him that somewhat reassured her.
""Everyone please get inside so we can assign posts! We'll be leaving soon!" Claudia instructed before leading the others inside the airship.
Jagu, Jin and Evanora only left after Aron gestured them to do so, leaving him and Lady Rose alone on the deck.
"What do you want?" Aron asked Lady Rose plainly but she didn't immediately answer, instead she walked over to one of the rails and leaned against it. Her gaze focused on Galos City as the airship slowly began to rise. "Has your offer already been withdrawn?" She questioned nonchalantly.
"From the way our conversation ended in the library, I took it you were ready to become enemies. Why the sudden change of heart?" Aron walked over to the rail as well and leaned forward before asking her this. He was anything but pleased to see this woman on the airship.
"I was or rather I still am. Once the news of a possible ruin gets out they'll be many greedy and powerful parties eager to find it, if I wasn't ready to make even you an enemy then why bother going after it at all."
"In truth you don't need my help and I don't need yours, however you and I have unique circumstances so I have a proposal for you." She spoke strictly still and her mature tone showed she wasn't one to back down.
"I suppose we do, let's hear your proposal." Aron still didn't glance at her and was in a state of extreme awareness, he absolutely couldn't let down his guard.
"An alliance, you're a crew largely composed of commoners which makes you a top choice even when I compare you to other stronger vanguards. I don't think I need to explain why I would prefer working with commoners instead of aristocrats. As for what I offer in return, I'm knowledgeable in many areas and my name alone will mean you won't have to enter battle carelessly..." Rose paused during her explanation and glanced at Aron to see if he was inclined to agree yet.
His emotions remained hidden but his mind was definitely processing what she had said. 'Aristocrats probably aren't as free to work as us and their loyalty in the end is to their houses which can lead to many problems down the line so it's reasonable for her to want to work with us but I feel she's not being completely honest.'
'As for what we gain it's not bad. Being a commoner crew will obviously mean we'll be targeted, so much so that groups may even work together to get rid of us. Although I'm confident in handling the weaker groups, the crew may get injured and we'll become less efficient. There's only so much I can do alone.' Aron furrowed his brows in displeasure at the thought.
He himself would have largely preferred to work alone but such was difficult. He was now seeing for himself just how important allies can be in a civilized and lawful society. Until he evolved to a point where he had no equal it was foolish to try and achieve everything alone.
"Your proposal is fine but say we do find, how will the items we find there be distributed?" Aron raised an important point, if this wasn't tackled now they may be conflict later on.
"I only care for knowledge, the books and scrolls. You can have everything else. This is good offer is it not?" Lady Rose replied quickly which showed she had already thought this far as well. She wasn't just blindly looking for it. Both her and Aron had something they were hoping to find in the ruin.
"I can agree with that as long I'm allowed to see each book or scroll once. The rest of the crew are mostly interested in items anyway so no internal conflict should arise at that time." Aron was of course also interested in knowledge, if there's one thing he could gain most from Pesia before returning to Limbo then it was that.
Wealth wasn't important as currency varied in the different regions of Limbo and origin worlds. As for items, the fact that the highest tier individual present was around the fifth tier meant the items were around the same. With this in mind he didn't need to stress over finding gear. Knowledge was the one thing that differed most, be it in Limbo or Origin Worlds.
"... I suppose that much is fine. Although I ask that we don't investigate each other further, I'm curious about you to some extent and I'm sure the feeling is mutual but neither of us want our secrets revealed so can we respect each other in that regard. If so then this alliance will be perfect." Lady Rose once again raised a good point and somewhat eased Aron's worries, she had her secrets and he had his. "Agreed." Aron agreed without adding up on her point.
'I'll suppress my curiosity. For now' Aron thought before showing a small smile as he followed her behind.
…
Meanwhile the sound of glass violently cracking could be heard coming from the top floor of Lady Belle's golden tower.
"What do you mean you failed! How does an inquisitor fail to stop a group of children?" Lady Belle who sat on a luxurious seat furiously questioned the man draped in black with a frown on her face.
"He was more prepared than I anticipated Milady. The rules prevent me from acting so since he didn't fall for my threats I couldn't do more..." The man explained in a somewhat submissive tone which was completely unlike the one he had when speaking to Aron earlier.
"Tsk, I hate excuses Passil. Then how about Rose? Did you find out what she's planning?" Belle sighed and raised another question but Passil remained silent for a while longer as if worried to answer.
"She's missing... No traces of her can be found anywhere. She was last seen returning to her library after visiting the arch mage..." he explained with some hesitation in his voice, he could see Lady Belle's expression grow even more sour.
"Useless, to be outsmarted on two fronts. I'm truly disappointed in you Passil. But it can't be helped, we need to quickly assemble our own personal teams to go after the ruin, that takes priority. Quickly make it public knowledge that Aron has set off to pursue the ruin while Lady Rose is missing, I have a feeling we'll get many more volunteers this way." Lady Belle's frown faded and a smile appeared as she saw an opportunity in all this.
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