The inside of Agnes's home was smaller than Jace expected. Her kitchen, living room, and dining table were all combined within one space as if the home's contractor was utterly drunk while in design.
Although it was dark, the faint light from the sun had peered slightly through the slips of the heavy curtains, exposing the real reason why the strange woman had lived alone.
There was a horrid mess of trashed envelopes, old clothes, and random dishes that cluttered the floor. It had vividly reminded him of his encounter against the Guardian Lycan, but instead of the plastered mud, his foot slipped over a mysterious liquid.
He chose to carefully tread over the hazardous mess, while trying his hardest not to point out the smell that came with it.
Agnes lived like a complete slob and neglected the unwritten laws of personal hygiene. It should have been obvious since her decision to live away from the society of the Port Town.
That old man had held her name to such a standard, it was difficult to believe if this was really the same Agnes he had mentioned. How could someone with the intelligence to illegally forge a Climber's license live in an environment like this?
Without any more internal questions about the strange woman, Jace asked her directly:
"Can you give me a license or not?"
Agnes looked to be brewing a cup of tea, despite her absent manner of etiquette. He didn't want to figure out where she had rummaged the ingredients from but she replied back:
"Depends on who's asking."
"I'm not here to play games."
She stopped, turning her gray eyes to the auburn boy, then continued to brew tea with another short laugh.
"I don't work for free, you know."
Jace grimaced.
"I have money."
But she gestured her hands around, presenting the mess that surrounded them.
"Does it look like I want money right now?"
"Well, yes…"
"If I wanted money, you wouldn't find me here, Jason."
"It's Jace."
"Alright, Chase."
Jace inwardly groaned.
"Whatever."
Agnes turned around, resting her hip on the counter behind and took small sips from her steaming tea.
"Also, I don't exactly appreciate unannounced visits. You can start telling me where you came from, or where you heard my name."
Jace answered truthfully.
"On the second Floor, Pensula, there was an old man who said you could illegally forge me a Climber's license."
"Oh, you mean him. How is he?"
"Alive and breathing."
She smirked as strands of her dark violet hair spilled over her glasses, then said back in a similar tone.
"And he told you I could work for you, absolutely free and willing?"
Jace quietly cursed under his breath, hoping for any other alternative than the Bypass that he used for himself.
"Is there anything else you would want? Seriously, I have the money—"
She interrupted his plea, setting her cup of tea on the counter.
"I don't want your money."
"Then…what do you want?"
Her eyes looked at him in a suggestive manner. But she said back through the tension:
"You said you were a Climber, yes?"
Jace nodded, still unsure where the direction of the conversation was going.
Agnes sat over the counter, facing the auburn boy as she laced her bare legs together. She tapped her thick glasses.
"As you can see, I'm blind, and as you know, the Soul has cured every human from their chronic illnesses. You're probably wondering why that effect didn't apply to me."
She leaned forward, giving a view of her murky gray eyes.
"I have a Curse, it's called (Curse of Insight), and my eyesight has been traded for the ability to gauge any Climber's Soul. While I do not share the same vision like you and other humans, my eyes see in another plane of existence, where only the Soul makes up the body."
Jace felt even more lost, suspecting that he must have entered the wrong house for the woman named Agnes.
"Why are you telling me this?"
She smirked again, reaching lazily for her cup of tea across the counter.
"Because I am curious. Ever since I obtained the Curse, naturally, I had to resign from my duties as a Climber. It's impractical for me to fight if I cannot see, right?"
Jace pinched his brow and groaned in frustration.
"Seriously, I don't want your tragic exposition of why you stopped being a Climber—"
His sentence was cut off by a ragged shirt as more clothes were thrown at him, which were all stained with mysterious liquids. He tossed them off his body, gritting his teeth in even more anger. Her laugh couldn't have been more annoying to hear.
'This damned—no, I'm wasting my time here! Who the hell does this woman think she is?!'
Jace stormed back to the door as the young woman apologized from behind, which sounded overly sarcastic for him to take her seriously anymore. Having a forged Climber's license sounded too good to be true. He should have known that from the very beginning.
Because if something truly came that easy, it always followed with a cost.
Then he opened the door, squinting his eyes from the irritating sun. After a few seconds of adjusting to the light, he failed to notice another person standing in front of him.
The girl had short blond hair, standing almost at the same height as him, and was holding a basket of candied delights.
He blinked, studying her wear of green and brown leather armor.
'Another Climber? She looks like an archer—oh, no. You can't be serious.'
The blonde girl was the first to blurt out.
"Jace?"
Jace slowly closed the door, refusing to believe his fate could be this pitiful.
But she slammed her hand across, pouring more of the sunlight through the messy house.
"Jace, what are you doing here? Wait, don't leave—where are you going now?"
Jace tried to squeeze through her. Even if his muscles were slowly recovering from being tenderized by the Curse's drawback, she shouldn't even be able to compete with his STR, and yet, Erin was blocking him like she was fighting a toddler.
'Dammit! How strong did she get?! Get me out of here! This town is full of crazy girls!'
Agnes came to the door, humming in excitement as she yanked the basket of delights from Erin's hand.
"Delivery! Thanks, sunshine!"
Erin managed a quick smile in response, turning her full attention to restraining the persistent auburn boy.
But Jace broke through from her blocking arm, tumbling back into the empty path for all of the quietly kept residents to see. He pushed on his sheathed silver sword and stood back on his feet.
'What the hell is going on?! Does the Tower always know where I'm at, and decides to send her to me?! Is this just another kind of sick joke?!'
Erin saw the limping balance in his legs, but before she could ask about his condition, Jace pulled the (Ring of Haste) from his finger and threw it at her, immediately feeling the deduction of his Soul Points.
He said loudly, finally free from the shackles of his own remorse.
"There, we're done!"
Erin caught the Relic in her hands and stared at it for a few seconds, then said back in confusion.
"What are you talking about?"
Agnes stepped out her cluttered home, also wincing her eyes from the irritating glare of the sun. She was already munching on the candied delights as she joined the dramatic reunion.
"You know Chase?"
Erin turned to the young woman.
"Chase? It's Jace."
"That's exactly what I said."
Erin turned her attention back to the limping auburn boy, watching him struggle to decline from the steep path.
"Could you give me a minute, Agnes?"
Agnes nodded, shoving a fistful of sugary treats into her mouth.
Erin caught up to Jace, which had only taken seconds because of his pathetic pace. It was already blatant what was going through her head, wondering what had happened to have him reduced to this crippled condition.
Jace kept inching down the incline, carefully placing each boot in front of the other while pivoting his weight on the silver sword. He tried to ignore the blonde girl beside him, but it had reached a point where she was no longer a stranger in his life.
Their reunion had felt like an encounter itself. Though, he had much rather preferred to fight against a horde of monsters than to confront the blonde girl again.
'Why is she everywhere?! I can't escape her, no matter how far I'm in the Tower!'
Erin matched his slow pace, walking beside him like a caregiver.
"Jace, what happened to you?"
He suppressed another grimace and said lowly:
"Nothing happened."
"You've been gone for two weeks and you forget how to walk, really, nothing happened?"
He repeated again, taking a stern tone against hers.
"Nothing happened."
She sighed.
"What are you doing in Sun Valley anyways? Why were you in Agnes's house? What have the two of you been doing together?"
Jace felt like his mind was going to explode by the bombardment of questions. It was almost comparable to the pain of (Curse of Unbridled). But he responded back to her, choosing to not reveal much of his goals.
"I'm a Climber. I ascend in the Tower, and I can stay in Safeworld whenever I like. Why is it a concern to you?"
"Because you look terrible."
Jace stopped, turning his face to her.
"What's wrong with you, Erin?"
Erin looked confused like earlier.
"Excuse me?"
"I'm not in your squad anymore, why do you care so much about me?"
She snorted into a half-smile.
"Is that what this is about? You don't like my undivided attention?"
"That's exactly it."
"And you gave me back my Relic? For what?"
Jace stared at the (Ring of Haste) in her hands.
"I'm giving it back to you. You wanted it back from me, right?"
Then she giggled, taking him by surprise.
"I gave this to you, Jace, you can have it. Were you trying to find me this entire time just for that?"
He managed to hide his fluster, a new emotion inside his face that he never knew existed.
"No, I'm not—I wasn't here for that. Who would of known you lived in this Port Town and also dealt with that damned slob. What were the chances of the Tower scheduling our reunion like this?"
A small grin tugged across her lips, the same face that he admittedly found endearing.
"Then, celebrating our reunion, we should catch up on some of the lost time, how about that?"
Jace glanced back at Agnes's house.
"You—do you have a Climber's license?"
"Of course? What type of question is that?"
"So, could we go out? With just the two of us, not with your squad included?"
A bright smile washed over her grin, an expression that he thought looked unexpectedly adorable for the blonde girl.
"Yeah, that sounds great."
Jace suppressed his feelings of excitement. His plan had taken a turn, rather into something greater as he hoped. Instead of bickering with the young woman of a slob, Erin had real authority to use Ports the entire time. He could have ascended the Tower with her, gaining experience for his Soul, without dealing with the complications of his old squad.
'I should have asked her from the start! Why didn't she tell me?!'
He said back to her, keeping his voice calm from eagerness.
"Could we meet next to the Portkeeper, then?"
Erin snorted.
"The Portkeeper? Why would you want to meet there?"
"It's where we're supposed to go, right?"
She shrugged to the strange idea, too fixed on the time they were waiting to spend together.
"Alright, then we'll go tomorrow. Deal?"
Jace nodded in agreement.
"Deal."
She pulled his other hand, gently enough to not hilariously tip over the auburn boy's balance, and slipped the Relic back onto his finger again.
The Soul echoed into his ears.
[Relic Obtained: Ring of Haste]
She lifted her eyes, wrapping her hands around his.
"Tomorrow."
Jace nodded again, watching her walk back to that slob's house. He didn't know what business the two had with each other, but he no longer cared.
He had just found another way to strengthen his Soul.