Chương 401: (394) 6.8. The Dynamic Duo

As good as Vin was at this point when it came to magic, he didn't manage to crack Dream Walk that night while they waited for Landon to run himself dry. Similar to spatial or soul magic, dream magic was far more complex and tricky than any of the more standard magical affinities like fire or water. For starters, the magic was designed to be cast while one was unconscious, which almost made the runic formations feel more fluid and less tangible than any other spell he'd ever worked with.

Vin ended up giving himself two different runic backlashes while he worked, each one giving him a genuine, out of body experience for a moment. Seeing himself sitting there working on his magic was quite jarring, and he'd been thankful when he snapped back into his body a split second later. It seemed one of the downsides of putting Landon in a pleasant dream was that, now that he wasn't actually moving the undead monster, it took far longer for his mana to wear out.

It wasn't until nearly noon the next day that the muscular flesh of the monster shook, and Landon's hands were released, signaling that he was officially drained dry. At the very least they didn't have to worry about him freaking out about the sun or being outside, because with not so much as a speck of magic in his core, he wasn't waking up anytime soon. Unless a mage had a significant number of points placed into endurance, running themselves dry of mana just about always resulted in them falling unconscious.

"Finally," Vin muttered, having been gently brought out of his work on Dream Walk by Lumel.

"That tier-2 spell is kicking my butt. Dream magic is hard. Hard in a totally different way than the other difficult affinities."

"I'm sure you'll get it soon enough," Lumel smiled.

"Ready to head back to town?"

"Yeah," Vin said, bending down and hoisting Landon's limp body over his shoulder.

"Let's go drop this troublemaker off with Spur and let him be someone else's problem." After shoving the petrified elderwood door back into another dimension, Vin took the lead and led them back to Terra. Fighting their way through the dungeon with Landon's body slung over his shoulder was a rather interesting task, but he and Lumel were more than strong enough to make their way through a handful of basic monsters. It was unfortunate that Lumel couldn't teleport Landon while he slept, but that was life.

While they had to move Landon the old fashioned way as he hadn't known they were coming, Vin thought it was a bit interesting that people could preemptively consent to being teleported before losing consciousness, like how the warriors fighting to protect Terra did who knew Lumel was warping around rescuing people in need of help. That meant mana itself somehow had a manner of detecting such a thing in an unconscious mind, which was an odd thought.

Vin nodded to the town guards standing tall at the entrance to Terra, snorting as they did nothing more than salute him as he walked past them with an unconscious man hoisted over his shoulder. Even if he didn't recognize every individual guard, his golem arm made it quite clear who he was, and it seemed The Roamer was still able to get away with just about anything. That said, there were plenty of entirely fresh faces who seemed shocked and confused as he walked past.

"Looks like the fresh members from wave six are getting quite the first look at you," Lumel teased as they walked through town. By default, Vin disregarded all the whispers without even trying now, his high focus making picking out all the different conversations going on about him far too easy.

"Speak for yourself," he teased right back, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Or did you forget you're the elusive 'Roamer's Girlfriend'? People are just as curious about you as they are me. I think keeping your head covered and wandering around in dark robes all the time without saying much has done a number for your own image."

"Vin!" a familiar voice called out, and Vin turned to spot a duo he hadn't seen in some time. Weston and Becca, a Farmer and Tailor from the second wave who were nigh inseparable spotted him from down the road and jogged over. Weston's face paled a tad at the sight of Landon's body slung over Vin's shoulder, but Becca didn't even notice. Her eyes were glued directly onto Lumel.

"It's her!" Becca gasped, grinning eagerly as she ran up and tried to all but throw herself at Lumel in greeting. It was only Weston physically grabbing her collar and yanking her back at the last second that caused her to fall short.

"Becca, we talked about this!" Weston snapped, admonishing his tagalong as she tried her best to ignore him and catch a peek under Lumel's hood. While Lumel was far more confident in her appearance after obtaining her Adaptable Camouflage passive, she still had her hood covering her face out of sheer habit.

"You can't just hug people without asking them first!"

"But I've been trying to meet her for months!" Becca whined.

"And they're clearly in the middle of something!" Weston argued.

"Or perhaps did you completely miss the unconscious man draped over Vin's shoulder?!" Blinking, Becca turned to take in Landon's motionless form, looking like she had in fact missed that entirely. Vin merely raised an eyebrow at her, and Becca shrugged in response.

"Neat," she said, turning right back toward Lumel.

"Anyway, hi, I'm Becca! Wanna be friends?"

"I'm sorry, Vin, I wouldn't have called out if I'd realized you guys were in the middle of… whatever you're doing," Weston said, pinching the bridge of his nose as he sighed. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"It's fine," Vin chuckled, just happy to see the duo reunited once more. They'd made it clear there was nothing romantic going on between them, but the two had become best friends since their first day on Edregon. When Weston had gone off to Sakis for a while to study under their Farmers and learn how to maintain an underground farm, Becca had been more than a little despondent.

"How goes the farm?"

"It's going well! We started growing some of that strange, almost pre-buttered corn you brought back from the rankers fragment, and word on the street is we're going to be expanding Terra before the next wave. Rather than push out the wall, we'll be building an entirely new one and adding a second ring to the town. Most of it is going to be farmland to keep up with feeding everyone, and housing to support the next couple of waves. So there's always more to do!"

"Oh, that sounds like a good idea," Vin said, laughing at the surprise on Weston's face.

"Yeah, I hadn't heard any of that yet. Well, Spur did mention expanding a while back, but I didn't know any details. I may be a council member, but I miss a lot with how much I travel."

"Why do you guys have to talk about boring stuff?" Becca pouted.

"Nobody cares about your farms, Weston! It's Vin's girlfriend, here in the flesh!"

"Not for long if you keep freaking out about her like that," Weston frowned. Clearing his throat, he gave Lumel an apologetic smile, bowing his head and shoving Becca's down as well even as she yelped.

"Sorry about that. Becca is… easily excited."

"You're fine," Lumel said, surprising all three of them by actually answering. Taking a deep breath, Lumel shocked him even further by reaching up and actually pulling back her hood in its entirety, fully revealing her lavender face and nervous expression.

"I suppose I need to start somewhere if I want people to stop thinking about me like some sort of mysterious figure."

"Oh. My. God, you're purple!" Becca squealed, her eyes practically beaming as Lumel began blushing.

"Or I suppose more of a soft lavender really… You have got to let me put together some outfits for you, I've never worked with that skin tone before! I have so many ideas, and you're not doing yourself any justice with those baggy black robes! What's your bust size?"

"Becca!" Weston all but screamed, his voice cracking and his face going even more red than Lumel's as he literally slapped a hand over Becca's mouth and put her in a headlock, dragging her back. It didn't surprise Vin that a Farmer had more strength than a Tailor, and he tried not to laugh as Weston easily fended off Becca's annoyed attempts to break free and continue grilling Lumel.

"I am so, so sorry. You know how she gets… And great, now she's licking my hand. That's not going to work, you idiot! I hope you like the taste of dirt!"

"I'm glad to see the two of you getting along the same as ever even after everything that's happened," Vin admitted. The sight of the two best friends acting just like they had the first time they'd all eaten lunch together sent a warm feeling through his stomach. This was why he worked so hard to protect Terra and everyone in it. The innocent people who went about their new, everyday lives within Terra's walls.

It was obvious Weston and Becca had never experienced any sort of monster attack and had never been in anything close to a life-or-death situation, and he intended to keep it that way.

"Weston, you can let her go," Lumel said softly, glancing around at the dozens and dozens of curious gazes locked on her as she gave everyone a small smile. She reached out and took Vin's hand in her own, and he gave it a gentle squeeze, letting her know he was there for her. Gasping for air, Becca shot Weston one last glare as she was released before turning back to Lumel and giving her a sheepish smile.

"Sorry about that, I got a bit ahead of myself. I sort of forget that a lot of women don't like to talk about that stuff in public for some reason."

"Because some of them have tact," Weston muttered, grunting as Becca kicked him in the shin.

"I actually wouldn't mind stopping by your shop and trying on some different outfits," Lumel admitted, her fingers tightening around Vin's.

"I've been wearing these robes for the last few months… Maybe a change in look now and again would be a good thing."

"Hah! See, I did a good thing!" Becca said, laughing in Weston's face.

"Sure, you can drop by anytime! If I'm not bothering Weston at the farm or trying to kill time, I'm pretty much always in my shop working on some outfit or another! I'm actually a Fashionable Tailor now, so you know I can hook you up."

"Fashionable?" Vin asked, surprised to hear that was a prestige class even offered by the System.

"That's not one I've heard before."

"Dunno what to tell you. I saw the class, I picked the class," Becca shrugged.

"Anyway, if you're going to swing by later, then no need for me to grill you here in the street. We should probably let you get back to disposing of that dead guy, or whatever it is you're doing."

"He's not dead!" Vin said quickly, purposefully raising his voice for the sake of everyone watching their conversation.

"Just bringing him to town hall! He's totally fine, just a bit mana drained!"

"That's why I never bothered putting any points into magic," he heard someone mutter off to the side, along with a number of similar remarks in the same vein as people nodded. Deciding they'd wasted enough time, Vin gave the entertaining duo one final nod.

"Alright, we're going to get back to it. Again, always nice seeing you guys." Waving goodbye to the two of them, Vin let out a relieved sigh as they continued toward town hall. Shooting a proud look at Lumel, he smiled.

"You doing alright?"

"Yeah. That was easier than I thought it would be," Lumel admitted, smiling back at him.

"I think Becca being… Becca, actually helped in a way. It felt like everyone was staring at her rather than me."

"She does have one of those domineering personalities," Vin agreed.

"You sure about running by her shop? I can go with you if you want."

"I appreciate it, but I want to start taking some baby steps toward letting people know who I am," Lumel decided, walking with a determined look on her face.

"I spent pretty much my entire life doing my best to hide in the shadows, even back on my own world when I looked like just everyone else. Being an unwanted bastard child wasn't easy. Now that that's all behind me… I need to keep moving forward."

"I'd hug you right now, but I'm sort of carrying an unconscious guy on my shoulder who smells like a bunch of corpses," Vin admitted, getting a giggle out of Lumel.

"Let's drop him off and get you cleaned up. Then I'll take that hug!"