The two groups walked at a moderate pace; only three hours had passed since the fight with the harpy.
'Their patience should run out any moment now.'
I thought as I looked at the three before us who seemed to be whispering about something. I didn't wait long before they suddenly stopped and turned toward us.
Elena and I stopped, curious, keeping our distance.
"What's the matter? Why did you stop?" I asked coldly, which made them more tense.
Ronan stepped forward, cleared his throat, and said, "Uh—Nox, actually we're feeling hungry. We thought about is time to eating."
He looked at me with anxiety and pleading in his eyes.
"Is that true? Fine eat your food. Elena and I will eat ours." I said with a slight sarcasm as I sat with Elena, who began taking out slices of meat.
Ronan froze in shock, then quickly shook his head and tried to speak again. "Nox, we don't have food only three flasks of water."
"Hm? What does that have to do with me? That's your problem. It's not like you'll die without food. Awakened can survive longer without food. Let me remind you: the only reason you have water is because you helped us making the flasks. So leave and stop bothering us." I said, waving my hand to signal him to go away.
Their patience snapped. From behind, Luke stepped forward to speak most likely to hurl insults but Klaus grabbed him from behind and shut his mouth. Klaus looked at me with a strained smile and said
"Nox, don't be so cruel. Leaving them without food—what will you do if we return to our world and others find out you refused to give food to your companions? You'll have a problem. At least think of Elena—she's a noblewoman; her reputation would suffer."
I smiled with sarcasm in response.
"Is that so? But it seems you're forgetting something: who will tell people we didn't give you food? The two of us will survive like this, so no one will know the truth except us and certainly we won't say we withheld food from our companions."
Klaus's eyes widened in astonishment. He was surprised by Nox's wicked thinking, which made him hurry to speak. Luke freed himself from Klaus's hold and shouted again,
"You bastard—do you think you'll survive? Even if you were the strongest, two people alone can't survive. Even if you collected all the keys by some miracle, you'd die in front of the Flower helplessly. So stop this and give us some food."
I turned my face away and took a slice of meat from Elena's hand and chewed it.
"Mmm~ it's delicious," I said aloud,
deliberately annoying them. Elena turned her face and laughed quietly at my childish actions.
"You asshole, I'll—" Luke started.
"Let's trade!" Ronan interrupted loudly before he could finish.
I turned my gaze to him and smiled. "Finally, it seems you'll use your brain. I agree—let's trade. What do you have in exchange for the food?"
Ronan stared at me for a moment before speaking.
"No we don't want food because it will run out quickly. Instead, we want the right to have Elena purify the monsters we kill. That means we'll negotiate with Elena, not you so don't interfere."
Ronan looked at Elena hoping she would pity their miserable state since she had a merciful heart, at least.
Elena turned her gaze to me questioningly. I shrugged and ignored everyone and kept eating. Elena understood my meaning and then faced Ronan.
"Alright, I agree—but it depends on what you'll give me in return." Elena said.
Ronan sighed in relief and then looked to the others, asking them to come closer.
"We don't have much, so instead of that, what if you tell us what you want in return for your services?" Ronan spoke on behalf of the others—he was the closest to Elena and had shared life-and-death situations with her.
"Oh? Wise thinking. Fine, I agree. As for the price, I want—" Elena put her hand on her chin, thinking of a fair price for her offer.
"I want several things. First, you will refrain from any hostile action toward me or Nox. Second, in important situations you will follow Nox's orders or my orders if they are more logical, of course you can refuse if it concerns your life. Third, I will purify no more than one monster per week. Fourth, at night we will sleep with a distance of at least one hundred meters. If you want to discuss something, raise your right hand; if we signal you, you may approach. If you fail to follow this, it will be considered an act of hostility and we will fight each other. That's all I want agree to all the conditions and then I'll cooperate with you."
Elena finished outlining her conditions and looked at them for their response.
Ronan smiled in resignation as he spoke. "Ah—seems you're not less clever than Nox. Fine, I accept. Your terms aren't impossible and they maintain peace between the parties." The other two nodded in agreement as well.
"This is good. I'll give you one of the food portions now since we didn't encounter monsters, but you must manage yourselves in the future." She said, handing the three their rations.
"By the way, what about your healing services?" Luke asked curiously, looking at Elena in hope.
"Sorry, but I won't heal any of you except by Nox's order, so you must negotiate with him." Elena flatly refused, then ignored the others as she ate.
"Go away—your voices are very annoying once you finish your conversation," Nox said from the side, waving his hands as if shooing a swarm of annoying flies.
The three stood and walked away, deciding to avoid trouble. Once they were gone, Elena turned to Nox. "How did I do? I followed all your orders."
I smiled at her words and raised my finger in approval.
"Great job, as expected of you."
Elena smiled happily at my praise; she was about to ask me to pat her head but refrained because others were present.
'If you're wondering what happened, it's simple: I expected they would demand Elena purify the food, so I gave her a set of conditions to accept. I decided not to act devilishly toward them while Elena showed mercy; that way I could really manipulate them. A brilliant plan' Nox boasted in his head, explaining it to no one—his odd habit.
"By the way, Nox, what will you do if they want healing? Will you control them to die?" Elena wiped crumbs from her lip and looked at me curiously.
"I haven't planned that yet. Actually, maybe I'll let Luke die , I'm wary of him. Who knows? He might use his ability and steal the key from me when I'm not paying attention."
I said, lying on the ground and looking at the clouds filling the sky.
"Hmm, I can't deny what you say, but isn't his ability useful? Who knows when we'll need it—we might make him sneak into a dangerous place to carry out our plans," Elena said as she lay beside me.
"You're right—it's a double-edged sword and annoying, especially with his weak mentality. They're all fools. If I were them I wouldn't act hostile; then when I lower my guard, I'd steal the key. That's the best thing." I said.
"You like to brag about your intelligence—did you know that? My grandfather told me not to be too arrogant or I'd regret it because I'll ignore threats due to my pride. It's like a fly that killed a lion because it entered its brain through its ear." Elena turned to me and smiled.
"I know that already. Also, the ear has defensive abilities to prevent insects from entering. I have ways to kill everyone," I replied.
"Do you have ways to kill me too?" she asked.
I stopped smiling at her words. She looked into my eyes trying to see whether I would lie.
"Yes, I have ways to kill you. Maybe we're very close, but I won't feel safe with someone I can't kill when needed. In my view, friends are those who I can kill; if I can't, they're a threat and should be avoided. So don't be upset by that." I said.
Elena looked at me silently, then spoke in a calm voice that carried some sadness. "Will you keep planning to kill me even if we become lovers?"
My eyes widened at her words. I couldn't answer her immediately. After thinking about my reply, I finally spoke firmly and seriously:
"No. I won't admit my love for someone I fear could kill me. Love, to me, is admitting to the other that they complete you. Such a person shouldn't betray you or think about killing you. That's my answer."
Elena smiled with relief; she seemed to sense my honesty.
"That's good—then I'll wait for your confession."
I stood and stretched my muscles.
"They finished eating—let's continue our march."
I extended my hand and helped her up. We brushed the dust off our armor and started walking. I glanced at her from the side; she was still smiling and humming a cheerful tune.
'Why has Elena been worried these days? Even when we faced the harpy she was sad because she thought I didn't care about her life. Is there a reason for that? I keep thinking about it a lot.'
...