Chương 408: (401) 6.15. Consider the Following

With the depressing sea of slime at their backs, Vin, Shia, and Reginald headed southeast, bouncing their way over to the fragment adjacent to not only the sea of slime, but the Bands' former fragment and the schlimes' constant, lightning-storm-filled fragment as well. Thankfully, this one seemed far more normal, and Vin let out a sigh of relief when they got close enough that the fragment barrier came into view and he spotted grass once more.

The bouncy, strange feeling of the sea of slime was unique and fun for a while, but Vin decided he preferred having the support of actual ground under him while running around Edregon. Third ring fragment discovered! 1, 500 exp gained. The temperature of the new fragment was a tad cold, and the pale, white trees scattered here and there made him suspect that this fragment came from a more frigid region.

Still, it was a huge step up from the sea of slime, and the cold wasn't nearly as bad as it was in the capillans' fragment. That said, there was no need for them to be uncomfortable." Warmth," Vin muttered, tapping a finger on Reginald's head before doing the same for Shia and himself. As the gentle, rolling heat swept through his body, he smiled. He needed to remember to thank Ronald once again for showing him the spell the next time he ran into the Magical Baker.

Even if the man had decided throwing himself headfirst into the world of magic as Vin did wasn't quite for him, it was still nice having fellow magic-capable acquaintances.

"Are you sure you don't want to turn around and come back tomorrow?" Shia asked again gently, walking up and laying a concerned hand on his shoulder.

"Don't forget, this fragment is adjacent to the Bands' former fragment, which means they shared a border with the Red Dawn. There's a good chance whoever lives here was slaughtered by them months ago."

"I'm fine," Vin laughed, giving her what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

"Where is this even coming from all of a sudden? We've been running around Edregon for months, I'm not some frail new explorer who's going to freak out at the sign of a little death." Shia hesitated a moment, looking like she wasn't sure if she wanted to go into it. While she was thinking, Reginald popped his head out of Vin's pocket, nodding and giving her an encouraging squeak, causing her to sigh.

"I don't need to speak rat to get the gist of that," she muttered, clearing her throat and giving Vin a cautious grin.

"So… Fred might have told Fria about some of what he experienced when he went on that dream journey with you. And Fria might have then told a few parts of what she'd been told to Scule during one of their dream dates. And then Scule absolutely told the rest of us."

"Damn it, Scule," Vin muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose as he sighed. He couldn't really fault Fred for confiding in what he'd gone through to Fria, seeing as they were twins and obviously quite close. And Fria was clearly very into Scule, so it wasn't surprising she'd blabbed to him about part of Vin's dream journey. But that didn't mean Scule had to go and tell everyone else.

"He was just a bit worried about you, like the rest of us are," Shia said.

"I mean, dreaming about the fall of Terra during the battle for wave six? Trying to save the blue fur clan as they were overrun with monsters? Going up against the divine warrior all over again? From what Fria said, it sounded like your dream journey wasn't exactly all seeds and saplings."

"Did she mention how I had plenty of totally normal dreams as well?" Vin asked, hesitating as he recalled Reginald walking around with his crown and cape, speaking fluently to them in a deep, regal voice before he and Fred jumped into a cheese-making barrel to continue on to the next dream.

"Okay, normal- ish?"

"We just want to make sure you're alright is all," Shia said, giving him a small smile.

"It's easy for us to forget sometimes with how you took to Edregon like a fish to water, but we know you lived a completely different kind of life than we did before you came over here. Obviously, we all lived quite different lives back before our world fragments were snatched up by the Gods, but based on what we've heard from the other Earthers, fighting for your life and stumbling upon corpses didn't sound like it was really something any of you experienced on your world compared to ours."

"I'll give you that. I certainly didn't use to come across dead bodies on Earth as frequently as I do on Edregon," Vin admitted, shivering despite the Warmth spell as he recalled the one and only time he'd ever seen a dead person back on Earth. It had been a rather cold winter one year, and while backpacking across the country, he'd ended up sleeping in the same area with a few other like-minded vagabonds.

Safety in numbers was one of the first rules anyone who lived the lifestyle understood, but the presence of other people nearby didn't make one invincible. Vin had woken up to a handful of people standing around the body of a woman who had died during the night from exposure, not having bundled up enough. The sight of that one woman's unmoving body from a good few dozen feet away was absolutely nothing compared to all the things he'd witnessed on Edregon thus far, but it would always stick with him.

Rubbing his furry head against Vin's face, Reginald squeaked at Shia some more, motioning with his paws for her to keep going. This time, however, she frowned.

"Hey, we were still in the middle of picking out who was actually going to make the pitch. I still think it should be Scule, seeing as he's the one who heard all this from Fria." Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

"Just tell me," Vin drawled, deciding to just get it over with.

"What, do you guys think I should go talk to the town's therapist?"

"You know about the therapist?" Shia blinked, and Reginald gave him a surprised look as well.

"I've heard people mentioning her here and there," Vin admitted.

"Myers actually directly recommended I talk to her in the past, and I told her I'd think about it. For some reason, I think she was worried about me after we dug up Patty's months-old corpse in the middle of the night and interrogated a copy of her soul to figure out who was going around town killing people." Shia and Reginald stared silently at Vin, and he chuckled, scratching at the back of his neck as he cleared his throat.

"…Okay, maybe a quick conversation with the therapist wouldn't be the worst idea in the world. Though I remain firm in my assurance that I'm fine. Don't forget, a high focus helps one handle and process stuff like trauma, and I probably have the highest focus out of any Earther on all of Edregon."

"That might be why you haven't had a mental breakdown just yet even with everything you've seen and done, but your dream journey shows that you're still thinking about that stuff often enough for it to plague your subconscious," Shia pointed out. Lowering her voice, she raised an eyebrow and leaned in closer.

"Not to mention you might have a few other issues talking to a therapist could potentially help with."

"Did Fria seriously tell Scule about my dream with Lumel?" Vin snapped, finally growing annoyed with the pixie.

"I can get the more violent ones, but that one was personal!"

"She did, but not in the way you're thinking," Shia admitted, giving him a toothy grin.

"From what I heard, while Scule is super into Fria, Fria herself has fallen for Scule hard. I'm pretty certain she brought up the dream about Lumel proposing to you just to gauge how Scule would react to something like that."

"Oh," Vin said, taken aback enough that his flare of anger passed almost instantly. He knew Fred had warned him that Fria sort of loved love, and that was why the pixie was worried about his twin sister. But he certainly hadn't expected the pixie to bring up the idea of marriage of all things to Scule when the two of them had been dream dating for all of about three weeks.

"Yeah, I was surprised too," Shia laughed.

"She only mentioned your panicked reaction as more of a question to see if Scule would react the same way."

"And that didn't scare him off? Huh, I always assumed Scule had more commitment issues than I did."

"Are you forgetting Scule has worked hard ever since he was a kid to provide for his family, despite what his own parents put him through?" Shia reminded him.

"The guy is a real piece of work, but that's one area he doesn't have to work on. And I feel like I can say that rather conclusively as a Druid of Bonds." Reginald let out a few more squeaks, and Vin rolled his eyes when Shia looked at him.

"Reginald says we're getting off topic. And thank you, Reginald, for being so concerned for my well-being. Much appreciated." Reginald saluted him with his tail, letting out a sharp squeak.

"Maybe just go talk to the therapist. See what she thinks," Shia suggested.

"We have similar professions in the Sacred Forest, and there's no shame in talking to them. In fact, the ancient ones recommended it to any of our warriors after coming back from repelling another raid on the fringes of the forest. Our warriors likened it to honing a sword after battle. You have to keep the mind sharp as well."

"I'm not arguing against the benefits of therapy. Trust me, I know how useful it can be," Vin said, frowning at an old memory. Many years ago, his own parents had briefly started going to couples counseling, and for the first time in what felt like ages, things actually started getting better around the house. Then, for who knows what reason, they stopped just as quickly as they started, and things went right back to how they'd always been.

"I guess I just never thought I really needed it."

"Just because you might not need it, doesn't mean you can't benefit from it," Shia shrugged, clapping him on the shoulder.

"Just check it out and have a conversation with her. Lumel's going to be busy on her own dream journey for the next few weeks, which means you're going to have a lot more free time than you usually do. Rather than spend all of it working on magic, maybe spend a tiny bit working on yourself too."

"And you were going to try and make Scule have this conversation with me?" Vin asked, getting a snort out of Shia as she realized how ridiculous that sounded.

"How exactly do you think that would have gone?"

"Point taken. Not one of my better ideas, I'll admit that much. Granted, he probably would have done a better job than Alka." Shia paused, letting out a quiet groan as if she'd only just come to a realization.

"Wait a second, am I the most responsible member of our entire group? I didn't ask for this!"

"I mean, I think me and Lumel are pretty decent," Vin argued. At the very least, they were certainly more responsible about things than Scule or Alka.

"Are you kidding? You're trying to argue that the two of you magic-obsessed crazies are more responsible than I am?" Shia snorted.

"Hardly. Precisely how many times did you blow yourself up trying to learn a new spell?" Reginald let out a defensive squeak, and Shia turned on him, pointing an accusatory finger toward the rat.

"Don't you start! Do we have to talk about just how many great-grandchildren you have running around you've never even met?" Reginald slowly slunk back into Vin's pocket without a squeak, and Shia nodded.

"Alright. Now that that's out of the way, and you've agreed to at least introduce yourself to the therapist at some point in the future, I think we're good to stop talking about all this. Can we get back to risking our lives exploring Edregon?"

"I think that's a great idea," Vin chuckled.

"Fantastic!" Shia said, hopping back onto Blossom and directing her to start running.

"I hope we run into something I can tear apart before long!"