From a Talentless nobody to An SSS Class Dragon

Chapter 255: Ardent Hollow [3]

The tension slowly fades from the open area after Akina lowers her pistols. She doesn’t have a reason to have them aimed anymore.

Alice doesn’t move her sword away immediately.

Instead she continues studying Akina since she’s never met her before this. It is a completely new person to her who could be a threat for all she knows

"So... You know her?" Alice finally speaks with confusion in her voice.

"I do," I answer without hesitation.

Akina smiles proudly.

"I would be offended if he didn’t," Akina chimes in.

Alice slowly lowers her blade before sliding it back into the sheath hanging at her waist.

"I suppose that explains why you stopped me," Alice says while still watching Akina closely.

"It would’ve been awkward otherwise," I reply.

Akina lets out a small laugh.

"I appreciate you not letting your friend attack me," Akina says generously.

"I wasn’t exactly planning on it," Alice mutters.

She studies Akina for another few moments.

"So are you a human?" Alice asks curiously.

Akina tilts her head.

"I wouldn’t say human necessarily but close to it," Akina answers while putting a finger up to her face.

Alice blinks.

"What do you mean by that?" Alice asks with even more confusion in her voice.

"I’m a goddess that used to reside in a tower," Akina answers as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Alice’s attention slowly shifts toward me.

"You’ve got some interesting friends," Alice says with a worrisome look in her eyes.

"I definitely do," I reply.

Akina suddenly walks closer before looking me up and down.

"You definitely look like you’re in pretty good shape," Akina says while observing me.

"I don’t really know about that," I reply with a quiet tone.

"You are though. It is surprising after what I witnessed last," Akina says.

She immediately reaches toward my hair before running her fingers through it.

"Longer hair than before. Definitely not offended by this," Akina continues on.

"I noticed," I respond.

"It actually suits you quite well," Akina says with a smile.

I scratch the back of my neck.

"I never really planned on growing it but I don’t really mind it either," I reply with a carefree tone.

Alice quietly watches the exchange without interrupting.

A faint smile slowly appears across her face.

"What’s the smile about?" I ask with a curious tone.

"Here I thought you’d be a lot colder," Akina responds with a bit of amusement in her voice.

She shrugs before she crosses her arms proudly.

"So you have a monarch that helps and some goddess... How interesting," Alice speaks up while staring at me with more of a serious expression.

"The monarch that is helping is a gamble most of the time. Akina is just interested in seeing where I go," I respond.

"I do remember that. It finally gave me a reason to leave that old tower behind," Akina says with relief in her voice.

"This will take some getting used to," Alice mutters.

Akina laughs.

"It’s going to be fun!" Akina shouts.

Alice lets out a quiet sigh.

"I suppose Lust really wasn’t exaggerating," Alice says while starting to walk again.

I glance toward her.

"What do you mean?" I ask curiously.

"When she sent you to me I assumed she simply found another capable fighter," Alice answers before suddenly pausing for a moment.

"Now... I’m beginning to understand," She finishes.

I raise an eyebrow.

"I don’t really follow," I say while walking behind her.

"You aren’t moving forward alone like I originally thought," Alice replies.

I don’t answer immediately.

Instead...

I think back.

Velia, Aria, Akina, Ghost, Eliza, Lilly, and even Rika...

Somehow I have had people involved every step of the journey. Not that I have any complaints about it, just I never thought about it like that.

"I suppose not," I say softly.

Akina notices my expression changing.

"What are you thinking about?" Akina asks with a curious tone.

"Just everyone," I answer without hesitation.

She nods.

"I figured. It also make sense since you haven’t seen anyone in awhile," Akina says with a casual tone.

The wind slowly blows through the ruined streets once again.

Unlike before...

The atmosphere doesn’t feel nearly as heavy.

Maybe having another familiar face nearby makes this place feel a little less unsettling.

Alice unfolds the map again.

"Since introductions are over..."

She places it across one of the broken stone blocks.

"We should continue discussing where we’re going," Alice suggests.

Akina walks over beside us.

"So that’s where Ardent Hollow is?" I ask while keeping my guard up.

Alice nods.

"Interesting. I’ve never really been through here or even heard of this place," Akina speaks up with a calm, yet carefree tone.

"Wait, you’ve been in the demon realm before though?" I immediately question.

"Of course. I have to go to a lot of different places sometimes... Or I used to," Akina answers without much hesitation.

Alice looks to be surprised by this information as well before continuing to focus on the map again.

"But I usually avoid the demon realm since my portals don’t work very well once I leave the human realm," Akina explains further.

That catches my attention.

"So that’s why you couldn’t just portal directly to me?" I question.

She nods.

"I tried but after your fight with King Albus... My connection completely disappeared," Akina responds as she gives a small shrug.

"So how’d you know to look for me at all then?" I ask while we walk.

"I know you are quite strong and wouldn’t just give up. So I came to Ashline to search for you and the others," Akina answers with a soft tone.

I quietly look toward the ground.

"I can’t believe you were searching in the first place," I say with a bit of a surprised tone.

"For three months I did," She replies without hesitation.

I didn’t expect Akina to search for me because the others are still here as far as I’m aware. I figured she’d just leave it to them to find me if I’m even alive.

Since they didn’t know if I was or not at the time.

Eventually I’d expect them to assume I’m dead.

Akina goes silent for a moment as we all continue forward.

"It really was a hassle to search through this whole realm," Akina says with a bit of an annoyed tone.

Alice’s eyes widen.

"You searched the whole realm?!" Alice questions in disbelief.

"I did," Akina answers in an instant.

After that it is back to silence for awhile as we follow the path on the map. The ruins haven’t given us much of a problem since earlier.

I think having Akina with us makes it a bit easier to travel.

But I really am caught off guard by the fact that she looked through the entire demon realm for me. Akina didn’t strike me as the type to go out of her way if she doesn’t have to.

Especially when no one even knew if I was alive or not.

Does that mean the others also went out of their way to look for me? I’ll definitely owe them big time when I do meet up with them all again.

"I appreciate it," I quietly say.

Akina smiles.

"I know," Akina replies.

Alice notices something.

"You trust each other without question," Alice says with a bit of shock in her voice.

Akina looks toward her.

"Why wouldn’t we?" Akina asks.

Alice doesn’t answer immediately.

"Most people don’t have trust that is that good," Alice answers.

Akina laughs.

"I’ve nearly watched him die more times than I can count," Akina explains.

I let out a quiet sigh.

"Can we stop talking about me almost dying?" I chime in.

"No," Both of them answer at the same time.

I pinch the bridge of my nose.

"...Wonderful," I say quietly.

Akina laughs again while Alice quietly shakes her head.

"I think..."

Alice says after a moment.

"...I’m starting to understand you a little better," She finishes.

I glance toward her.

"What changed?" I question with curiosity lingering.

"I thought you were chasing strength before but after seeing this... I think you’re chasing the people waiting for you," Alice answers with certainty.

Alice would be right if I was the same as I once was... But now I just want to find answers to everything. I want to kill greed and to get out of this damn realm already.

There’s still six more to go through before I can even make it to the sovereign that is controlled by the monarchs.

But now I think I know who is in charge of this whole situation. Greed is running the demon realms. There’s no doubt about it in my mind whatsoever.

King Albus made that clear to me when he died. Even if he didn’t say it.

"I think we’re finally reaching something... But it isn’t what I expected at all," Alice speaks up with a bit of concern in her voice.