"M-Master… Did Master send you?"
"?"
The Black Lake Healer tilted her head, confused.
Feigning confusion? Yes, that has to be it.
"You're not fooling anyone here. Tsk, tell me this: since when had Dren known of my location?"
I hurriedly asked the girl, eyes darting all around in search of Dren's presence.
I have to run, right now..! Shit, but what about the tournament? No, no - that doesn't matter at all! My life is the number one priority, everything else can wait.
Though my mind was in turmoil, my body had already begun preparing to flee; the instinctual fear of Master's wrath was instilled into my very core, reacting before I knew it.
My feet dug into the ground, essence rapidly surging downwards. Following my will, stray tree roots stated twirling around my ankles and feet, ready to propel me forward any seconds.
My heart wildly pounded, each beat sending reverberations through my ears.
Suddenly, the Black Lake Healer girl's voice broke the silence, making me flinch:
"Umm, why are you bringing Boss up all of a sudden? Are you two acquaintances or something? ...And who is this 'Master' person, anyways?"
"Huh?"
"What?"
…???
Aight, now I'm truly lost.
A an idea crossed my mind - wasn't really sure of its validity, but my options weren't all too plentiful.
Worth checking, I think. Just to be sure.
"Sorry, but uhh… What's your Syndicate number?"
Everyone in the Black Lake Healer Syndicate - except for the Boss himself - had a code number assigned to them. It was an important step, meant to wholly discard their past identities.
Or so I was told by Master, their one and only boss.
Now, whether that was true or not was a mystery too deep even for my expertise, but I had reasons to believe him on this matter.
"Ah, my apologies, sir. I've only recently joined the ranks - introductions must've slipped my mind! Please, refer to me as Eighty Fourth."
She bowed with hands clasped behind her back, as was customary for Black Lake Healers to do - thought even that gesture turned out somewhat clumsy.
Unbelievable. She really is a newbie.
Well, it made sense in hindsight; Master is the kind to come and beat the everloving shit outta me in person. Sending a henchman just ain't his style.
Still, why did she call me 'Sir'? Seeing as she isn't informed of my affiliation to Dren, I should just seem like a random kid to her.
Actually, that wasn't entirely accurate. If anything, this girl probably thinks I'm Dren's friend or something along those lines.
Whatever. At least now I know that Master's not on my tail yet.
…Probably.
A couple seconds later, I'd decided to first defuse the atmosphere:
"Haha, you can rest easy. I don't plan on reporting you to Mast-, uhh, to Dren."
"..!! Thank you for understanding, Sir!"
Her eyes glimmered in relief, utterly childlike in attitude.
It was baffling, to see such a clumsy and emotive girl rocking the Black Lake Healer mantle.
Do they just accept anybody into the supposedly exclusive Syndicate..?
Still, I couldn't dismiss her as a non threat outright - not just any old slouch could learn to wield their dark healing arts, and she was given a Syndicate number on top of that.
…Which only meant one thing:
Her talents were good enough to secure her a spot despite the terrible presentation.
Well, that's that, but I still have no clue why she'd called me Sir earlier. Guess I'll ask?
"Eighty Fourth, right? I've got a question for you, if you don't mind. Ah, and you'd better not mind, as I can let the Boss know of your earlier misdeed anytime."
I allowed myself a light smile, at the same time 'accidentally' leaking a bit of essence into the air. The surroundings were left unaffected, only pressuring the clumsy girl before me thanks to my fine essence control.
…Which didn't please me in the slightest.
Damn, why am I so good at this?!
The fact that my skills have improved this drastically over a short period of time meant that Dren's tyrannical teachings were effective, to put it mildly; exceptional, if I were being honest with myself.
"Yes? I-I mean!! At your service, Sir."
The girl's smile, in return to my threat, faltered.
"See, that's exactly what I can't wrap my head around; why refer to me as Sir? I'm nothing more than a passing kid who just happens to be acquaintances with Dren."
"What else could I possibly call my savior? Oh, is that informal, perhaps? My apologies, Young Lord."
That title - Young Lord - instinctually provoked a rather aggressive reaction from me; the memories associated with the last guy who called himself Young Lord, being a pile of kindling with a taste for inhumane torture, made my adrenaline spike.
"Urgh, absolutely not! Just stick to Ori, if you will. And for the love of god, drop the formal speech."
"Okay, Ori!"
Talking with - or at - the eccentric girl was draining, but I pressed on:
"You just called me your Savior, right? What's that all about? I've got a good memory, ya know; no chance I'd forget such an irrita-*Ahem*-vibrant individual."
That last part, about having a good memory, was a blatant lie.
So was the part about her being vibrant.
Duh.
Her expression went through what seemed like a dozen different iterations as she digested my question, before finally landing on one of realization.
"Mm! That makes sense!"
Stop speaking in riddles, for fuck's sake - is what I wanted to blurt out so damn bad, but through sheer willpower did not.
"What makes sense, exactly?"
It took all I had in me to keep probing without letting any venom into my voice; the exhaustion and hunger, meanwhile, were like a compounding multiplier on top of it all.
"You saved my life yesterday, along with several other members of our reconnaissance unit. I might've been just barely conscious, but I did see your stunning performance. You fought so well! Like, pow, clang, slice! And your pet snake was scary, too."
Since when is Sepulcher a snake..? And what in the actual fuck are those sound effects..???
No, nevermind that; is she telling me I missed her amidst the crowd of bodies I carted?
"I saw the faces of every person I rescued - not a single one of them was draped in the Black Lake Healer's impenetrable darkness, like you are."
"Yep, that tracks. I had no essence left to maintain Veil of Darkness. Umm, I would've looked more like this."
Just as she finished her words, the mysterious atmosphere surrounding her - however muddied it was by her terrible presentation - started to dissipate.
*Fwoosh*
A hushed slither, like a slowed down stream of water, resounded from her body, and with it sprung to life a sticky black substance.
The endlessly deep shadow that served to obscure her facial feature, as it turned out, was a lot more physical in nature than some abstract chuuni nonsense like 'darkness'.
It pulsed a few times before coalescing in into a small sphere, and finally-
*Gasp!*
-the black sphere was absorbed into her body, finally revealing her appearance. I let out a surprised exclamation in response.
Indeed, I recognized her face.
She was that one girl amidst the sweaty entourage of men, dressed in black but otherwise mostly mundane.
It made sense, but how come I didn't know earlier?
My Master is the literal boss of their entire organization, yet I was somehow left in the dark for five whole years… Nobody told me that the Black Lake Healer's outfits were nothing more than edgy cloaks!
Then, the reason they all looked so dark and mysterious was simply the result of applying their dark arts onto the clothes they wore..?
That's… Really lame.
Suddenly, the scary figure of Master, all haughty and clad in impenetrably shadows, started to seem more performative than intimidating.
While I was no doubt thankful to Eighty Fourth for laying everything out for me to understand, I also felt a little worried.
Surely Master won't get mad at me for forcing one of his underlings into revealing their identity?
Pheh, who am I kidding? That's exactly what that old fart would do!
Realizing the urgency of the situation, I grabbed the bumbling idiot of a girl by the shoulders.
"Uwah?! Umm, umm, a-aren't you being a little too sudden with your advance, Ori? Not that I mind, hehehe."
The girl's face turned red due to, uhh…
…I dunno, you tell me.
And that last part, about not minding, she squeaked out in a small and timid voice.
"What advance..? Ah, forget it! I've got something of utmost importance to tell you!!"
My voice grew more urgent, the impatience clearly showing as I shook her back and forth.
"Sounds serious! Tell me; I'm all ears, Ori."
She took on a serious look, lips theatrically pursed.
Amazing as I was, I held back from commenting on the ridiculousness of her expression and laid out the issue at hand:
"Listen close, Eighty Fourth. You do realize that Black Lake Healers aren't allowed to show their appearances, no matter what? So, before you get into any more trouble, go cover yourself up with that Veil of Darkness. Now!"
At my words, her eyes sprung wide open.
I waited. Several seconds passed, yet the veil was nowhere to be seen.
With a raised eyebrow, I gave her a questioning glance:
"Something the matter?"
"Y-Yes, actually. Uhh, you see… The Boss… The boss already got a signal the moment my Veil of Darkness went away, so… He'll probably show up sooner than later, to check up on me."
"…"
"Is everything alright, Ori? Why do you look so gloomy all of a sudden?"
Noticing my silence, she asked in a cheery voice as if nothing was wrong.
"Hah! Yeah. I'm doing great."
I spat out my words through an angry scowl, thoughts riddled with sarcastic remarks.
Doing wonderful, even! Lovely!! Oh, I so wanted to see Master, and now he's coming in person! Lucky me!
…
Say, would now be a good time to end it all with a heroic seppuku?