After a while my body was fully healed and the three of us were sitting in a circle, close to the sandworm. My left arm, now fully back, was around Livia's hips, as she leaned against me, her arms wrapped tightly in return.
We kept silent for a few minutes before Milaine spoke first.
"Good job... with the sandworm, you two." Although she was fully healed, she looked tired, her tone of voice betrayed her.
I wanted to say lots of things, but I was also tired. Exhausted. I needed to contact Violet and ask her a lot of things; about that citadel in the book, the purple textbox, the moderator, the green book, the sigil and UNDETERMINED.
I didn't want to break my temporal peace yet, so I just nodded. Livia mimicked me.This time the pink-red haired girl was being especially clingy to me, maybe a bit too much for a person she had barely met in the past couple of days.
But for some reason, I didn't care. In fact I really liked that about her. Maybe in this place where death was at every corner, it felt right to have someone to watch your back. I even started to appreciate Milaine's presence.
I couldn't imagine how someone could be able to survive here alone.
"We need to finish eating the sandworm," Milaine said as her golden hair, before covered in blood, was now back to its mix of platinum strands. "We have a week to eat it fully, before some other predators start to appear."
'Makes sense, I guess,' I thought as I looked at the corpse in silence. It was also a matter of time before that thing started to decompose too. This time Livia spoke.
"But... that means that we will suffer every time we eat, right?" Her statement was horrible but true. The fact that every time we eat we will experience pain was despairing. I could probably escape the pain with the Sigil but Livia and Milaine might not.
Milaine nodded this time, taking a bit more time to speak again. "It will be easier every time, we may even develop resistance to the acid and poison as Innate Abilities too if we keep eating it," she said.
"Is that how it really works?" I asked, finally breaking my silence.
"Yes. Innate Abilities are made through life experience unlike the Gifts," she said with a calm monotonous voice. I noticed that Livia stiffened a bit when she heard the last word; 'Gift'.
Milaine looked at Livia then at me. "What do you think about the fight with the sandworm, Eleonora?" she asked me, no hint of emotion in her words.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Do you think it was difficult?" she said.
"Difficult? Fuck, yes. We almost died there," I answered honestly.
"Then do you think we could survive if two or more sandworms attacked us at the same time?" she said, looking at me.
I remained silent. The answer was obvious, of course not. We might die instantly if two sandworms appeared at the same time. I could even bet that if another one appeared now, we would die. 'We don't even have the hammer anymore and the hatchet is barely usable now.'
"If you know the answer, why do you ask?" I said with a hint of annoyance.
"Nothing in particular. I just think you two depend on me more than I depend on you," she said with a poker face. "Though I don't think I'm better than you guys. I just have a good Gift," she emphasized the last word, letting the implication clear.
'Of course she refers to that,' I sighed as I realized the meaning of her words; 'Get a gift or I'm going on my own.'
Livia who was lying on me also seemed to notice the implied message. She straightened her back, taking a bit of distance from me, but not breaking free from my embrace.
"W-we know, Milaine... We are working on that..." Livia said before looking at me.
I clicked my tongue, there was no counterplay here. She was right, we barely survived thanks to her. I could just fake my spells as gifts, but Livia needed something or she might be in trouble. Especially if something attacks her when I'm not close.
Milaine noticed our exchange and smiled a bit. It was the first time she smiled since we met.
"I'll give you some space to discuss it, call me when you make your choice," she said as she stood up and walked through the wall of the cave, where the tablecloth and my recovered books were.
When she left, she took the light of her hair with her. Livia and I were left there not in pure darkness but in a dim one. With our bodies so close and the absence of light it felt kinda intimate.
"She's really cornering us now," I whispered as I casted Legemens on Livia, this time I was hoping the spell to last longer since the amount of Essentia I had.
[Your current Essentia is 2493]
[You have activated the Spell Legemens]
"Yes..." Livia remained silent, but her thoughts did not.
I need to tell Leo about the promise I made with Milaine... I hope she doesn't get mad at me...
'Promise? Don't tell me she...'
"Livia... Is there something you would like to tell me?" I asked as I moved my hand and raised a strand of hair from her face that was hiding her eyes. A noticeable blush on her face surged.
"Ah. Em... yes... I made, em, a promise with Milaine. She asked me to get a gift in exchange for... healing you."
I clicked my tongue. 'Ha, so now she extorts her, fantastic, just when I thought she was not a full-time bitch,' I thought as I looked with daggers at the distant source of light. Then returning to Livia.
"So you accepted," I said with a hint of worry in my voice. She nodded slowly as she kept her gaze on me, her blue eyes were shaken a bit.
"Y-yes... B-but I haven't accepted a gift yet!" She said, raising her voice a bit. "I-I told her that I wanted to talk with you first."
Even when that goddess keeps spamming me. I wanted to wait. I waited for you, Leo.
My heart throbbed a bit faster when I heard her words. "O-okay, I'm glad you waited for my opinion, Livia." I took a deep breath trying to calm my heartbeat.
What's wrong? She looks... is she nervous? Wait, is that a blush? Is Leo blushing? YES! FUCK YES! Ah, my heart is starting to beat fast again. Okay calm, Livia, calm, you are doing good. Honesty works seems to work with Leo, so honesty is the way. Honesty is my new mantra. Honesty is the law.
I put my hand to my face trying to hide a smile and a snort. 'Okay, I admit it, this spell is so good.' Livia then tried to clear her throat before speaking.
"Em, Leo, I was thinking about what you told me earlier. About the price of the gifts. I have a theory," she said as her blue eyes narrowed a bit and focused on the air, erasing her usual cute innocent face into something more sharp.
Okay, Livia, let's recap. Based on what Milaine said, for every gift or ability we receive, we also get its counterpart: a flaw. So Leo is worried about the flaw, she might think that the flaw is worse than the gift. It could be a valid point, but I don't think that's necessarily true.
From what Milaine heard from the Moderator, this is supposed to be a game, and also the tutorial. But that doesn't really make sense. Why would a tutorial be so hard? Almost impossible to survive. A tutorial should be easy, more like a guide.
To me, it feels less like a tutorial and more like a filter... a way to pick the real players. And we're the players... mmm, no, that doesn't sound right. We are more like the weapons of the real players; the gods. Yes, that makes sense. The gods might see us as an investment. Nobody gives away power for free, not even for fun. There has to be some kind of return behind it.
I opened my eyes in noticeable surprise and looked at Livia. 'She's really smart when she wants to be, isn't she?'
Livia noticed my gaze and spoke, returning to her cute shy face.
"Em, I don't think that accepting gifts is intrinsically bad. I mean I know we might get a flaw too. But, I think the price is worth it in our current situation. Let's take for example Milaine; she can heal and, em, explode I guess? Anyways, that's certainly cheating, right? She's practically an all-rounder. My point here is that I think they are investing in us."
"Yeah, I get your point Livia. But I was not referring to the flaws when I asked about the price."
"No? Then what?" she asked.
I took time before answering, thinking about my words carefully.
"I think you're placing too much faith in them. To me it appears like once we accept the gift they get a 'path' to us. I mean they are gods, right? What if one of them just, I don't know, just takes control of your body because they want to?" I said, noticing how blunt I sounded.
[The Goddess who enjoys battles would like to send you a private message. Do you accept it? Y/N]
[The Goddess who does not believe in friendships would like to send you a private message. Do you accept it? Y/N]
[The Goddess who follows the rules is looking at you]
Livia's blue eyes opened a bit more at my words. Then refocused again looking at the ground, changing her expression to the sharp abnormal one. 'Scary'
I never thought about that... but yes, that's also a possibility. It's like selling our souls... no, wait. It makes sense. That could also explain the tutorial. If you put people in a situation like this, you also reduce their universe of possibilities. Accepting a gift becomes the "obvious" option to survival.
Suddenly Livia's face lit up as she returned to her normal gaze and looked at me.
"Wait, Leo. The system always asks us first, right? Even when they want to send a private message, they need our permission. It's like a contract, both parties need to consent for something to happen."
"I guess, you could say that, I'm not a lawyer," I said.
She pressed her body closer to me, her soft breasts pressing against mine. She didn't seem to notice the action because of the way she kept talking.
"If it's like a contract? Then we can negotiate with them. They are the ones seeking us."
[The Goddess who enjoys battles is looking at you]
[The Goddess who does not believe in friendships is looking at you]
[The Goddess who follows the rules is expressing openly disgust towards you]
I couldn't process all of the notifications, since another thing was holding my attention. Something about Livia's last sentence made me stop and rethink for a moment.
'Seeking? I think I heard that somewhere... but where?' Before I could keep reflecting on the word, Livia dragged me back to reality when she made a cute startled sound, finally realizing how close we were. My arm around her waist, her breasts pressed firmly against mine. Her face flushed red, lips trembling and eyes shaking. Her thoughts rushed into my mind like a cascade.
W-we are so close! B-bb-but she's holding me right? So this is fine right? RIGHT? I want to kiss her, but I don't know if Leo would like that... She likes women right? Ahhh... I want to ask, but I would be so obvious that I would die from shame. But I could die any moment right? Fuck it, I'll ask her.
"Em... Leo, do you..." She stopped mid-sentence avoiding my gaze.
I CAN'T ASK HER! WHAT IF SHE IS NOT INTO WOMEN AND THE BLUSH WAS DUE TO SOMETHING ELSE? I CANNOT DEAL WITH THE REJECTION! I CAN'T!!!
[The Goddess who does not believe in friendships is cheering you up]
'Cute,' I mumbled to myself as I lifted Livia's face to match my gaze. 'I'll think about the goddess later, I think we deserve this.'
"L-Leo?" She gasped, her face a tomato, a cute one. I just slid my hand behind her neck and pulled her closer, closing the distance between our heads, wrapping my lips against hers.
***