Chương 40: Two Girls Chatting. Yeah, That's It. Or Is It?

Yeah, That's It. Or Is It?

Sitting across from Senna, Ophila looked up with a wry grin when Lio entered.

"Oh," she said pleasantly.

"There you are." Meanwhile, Senna jumped up from her chair, her face lighting up.

"Lio! I was wondering when you'd come by." She gestured between them.

"Do you know, Ophila came to me first? We've been talking for a while now."

"Really?" Lio said, keeping the smile on his face.

"Mhm." Ophila folded her hands on the desk and cocked her head at him.

"I thought I'd come check on Senna myself. Since you were taking so long, y'know?" She gave a thoughtful frown, tapping her chin.

"You were coming to check on her, right? But where were you?" The words were spoken in a perfectly pleasant tone. But the question beneath them was not. Lio's eyes narrowed. What is she trying to pull…?

"I had something to take care of first," Lio said, letting out an apologetic laugh.

"Of course," Ophila said warmly.

"Things come up." Senna looked between them with a small curious frown. Then she seemed to decide that it wasn't that important and smiled up at Lio instead.

"Well, you're here now," she said.

"Sit down, I'll make some tea." With that, Senna disappeared behind the small partition at the back of the outpost where a kettle sat on a small iron stand. And after a moment, the sounds of her fussing with cups and boiling water filled the room. Lio looked around the outpost. Greaves wasn't here yet, leaving Senna as the sole person on duty. From beside him, Ophila stirred.

"She's very neat," she pointed out. Lio nodded as he looked over at the stacked forms on Senna's desk, along with the small personal decorations, including a pressed flower, a chipped ceramic pot holding several charcoal sticks, and a folded piece of fancy gold paper tucked under the corner of her inkwell. Senna soon reappeared with three cups balanced carefully on a small wooden tray, setting them down carefully.

"I only have the dried stuff unfortunately," she said apologetically, sliding Lio's cup toward him first.

"The fresh leaves ran out last week and the next supply cart isn't due until—""It's fine," Lio said. Senna smiled in reply. Then she turned back to Ophila.

"So… Millhaven," Senna said, wrapping both hands around her cup and taking a small sip.

"I've never been that far north before, on the surface. What's it like?"

"Very cold," Ophila said.

"And small, too. Everyone knows everyone." She wiggled her eyebrows.

"So don't expect to keep a single secret in there." Senna chuckled.

"I know, Trestfall is like that too. I once burned a whole batch of official Union forms because I left them too close to the lamp, and three days later some random woman from the other side of town was asking me about it!"

"Well, what did you tell her?" Senna leaned in close.

"That it was Greaves who did it," she said conspiratically. Ophila beamed.

"You didn't!" Senna tittered.

"He never found out either." Both girls dissolved into a fit of laughter. Meanwhile, Lio quietly drank his tea and watched them over the rim of his cup. How had they become friends so quickly? Well, Ophila was warm with everyone, so that wasn't unusual. But… Senna, really? His eyes narrowed again. Now that was a bit suspicious. What had they been talking about before he got here?

"How long have you been stationed here?" Ophila asked after regaining her composure.

"A few years," Senna replied. She turned her cup in her hands.

"I came down originally with a descent party, but then I ended up here instead."

"Do you like it?" Senna considered the question with a thoughtful expression.

"I like having somewhere to be, and to do," she said finally.

"And I like the people who pass through." When she said that, she involuntarily glanced at Lio. Lio simply flashed an quick, clueless smile back. She immediately looked back down at her cup, her cheeks blazing. Ophila gave Lio a sly smile.

"Actually," Senna said, after a moment, "speaking of people passing through." She reached across her desk and began sorting through a small stack of forms, humming.

"Something a bit strange happened a couple of days ago." Ophila tilted her head.

"What do you mean?"

"A Delver came in," Senna said.

"Which isn't unusual obviously. But he wasn't here to log a descent or file anything. He just kept asking me questions."

"About the floors?" Lio asked.

"No," Senna said, still sorting through her forms.

"He was asking about someone's travel habits. Like whether we'd had any young women passing through recently who seemed to be traveling alone and in a hurry." The outpost went quiet. Ophila frowned.

"That's… strange," she managed.

"That's what I thought too," Senna agreed.

"He didn't even seem to be looking for a particular girl, the way he didn't give physical descriptions." She pursed her lips.

"You think that maybe he was a pervert looking for lone girls?" Ophila nodded.

"Maybe."

"What did you tell him?" Lio asked.

"Nothing useful," Senna said.

"Partly Union policy, since I can't share information about visitors, and partly my own suspicions." She looked between them with a small concerned frown.

"Though now I'm wondering if I should have maybe told the guard captain."

"It should be fine," Lio assured her.

"Those kinds of Delvers are a dime a dozen." Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. Ophila nodded along pleasantly.

"Yeah, don't worry about it." Senna looked between them both, then accepted this, followed by a small nod. A short silence followed, in which Senna went back to her forms, picking up her charcoal stick. Next to Lio, Ophila was simply looking down at the surface of her tea. Her lips were pressed into a thin line. ◈◈◈◈ William Bone was bored out of his mind. The crushing tediousness started the moment they'd gotten back to the lodge. The walk there had been fine, as he'd been quietly optimistic about the afternoon.

After all, they'd survived Floor 1, Floor 2, a Skinwalker, a corridor of death traps, and a murder scene before noon. Surely that earned them some quiet time. He'd even spotted a board game on the shelf near the front desk, a battered old thing with hand carved pieces and a checkered board. If he remembered correctly, it was called Klin Omen. He'd pointed it out to Ophila and she'd given a small interested nod, which he'd taken as encouragement.

But when they'd walked through the lodge door, she'd stopped at the entrance. Then she'd mumbled, "I have to do something," grabbed her coat off the hook, and walked back out the door. And just like that, William had been left standing dumbfounded in the lobby watching the door swing shut behind her. He leaned back on the couch, glanced at the clock, and gave a small groan. Why had neither of them come back yet? He stared at the ceiling for another minute, drumming his fingers on his knee. Then he sat up.

It wasn't like he was worried about the two. After all, Lio was both the most unsettling and capable person William had ever encountered. He was probably fine. No, he was probably more than fine. So yeah, it wasn't Lio that he was worrying about. But Ophila on the other hand… She'd left in a hurry without explaining herself, and she'd been gone almost as long as Lio had now. And there was a killer somewhere in Trestfall! He wasn't worried though. He was just being… responsible! That's right.

He had a responsibility to make sure his fellow party members were safe. And so, he had to make sure she was alright. He stood up, grabbed his coat, and headed for the door. The elderly man behind the desk looked up as he passed.

"Going out?" the man asked.

"Just for a bit," William said.

"There's a killer about," the man offered helpfully—or unhelpfully.

"I know," William said, and pushed open the door, stepping out onto the street. But then, getting hit with a flash of realization, he immediately ducked his head back in, asking the elderly man at the desk where the Union outpost was. The man gave him directions slowly, almost too slowly, which William endured politely. Then, he set off north, shoving his hands into his pockets as he followed the directions.

He was just emerging onto the street that he was fairly certain led to the outpost when he stopped dead in the middle of the street. He blinked, not sure of what he was seeing. It was them. He was sure of it. The tall woman with the close cropped dark hair and weird iron characteristic iron gauntlets, and the heavyset man with the shaved head. The two Delvers that Lio had chased them through Floor 2!

Both of them were moving through the thinned afternoon crowd, a few feet away from William, neither of them luckily looking his way. He quickly dodged toward the nearest building to hide himself. There, he waited until they'd put at least another twenty feet between them. Then he activated his rune. [White Noise] Concentrating hard, he separated the sound of their footsteps from the ambient noise of the crowds around them, focusing on the two distinct rhythms he had learned from the chase on Floor 2.

William smiled to himself and began moving. Sure, it was probably a better bet for him to go get Lio or Ophila, but if he did, the two would most certainly disappear again. And for some reason, William didn't feel like letting that happen. Making sure that he didn't follow them directly, he moved parallel instead, cutting through alleys and tight corners. He kept a full street between them at all times, using the sound of their footsteps to navigate rather than his eyes. And in fact, it was working remarkably well!

He tracked them further away from the main of Trestfall, the settlement gradually thinning around them as the cultivated plots of Amberpulp subspecies and oversized surface plants appeared on either side. Why were they heading toward the outskirts? William slowed down, a deep frown curving his lips. There was nothing out here worth going to. Still, he kept following.

They soon left the last building behind, leaving just the open path running between two enormous plots of Deepgold Amberpulp vines, their fermented clusters hanging heavy on either side. William followed by hiding himself behind the thick fruits, making sure not to— Suddenly, the man and woman both stopped in their tracks. William immediately stopped too, pressing himself back against the nearest vine post. He held his breath. For a moment, there was just silence.

Then, a man's warm and gruff voice drifted through the air.

"You can come out now," he called out. William scowled. Crap. He should've known that this had all been going so smoothly! Oh well. Nothing he could do now. Sighing, he straightened up and stepped out onto the path. The man was watching him with an expression of mild amusement, while the woman simply coldly glared at him, her arms crossed over her chest. William stared at them for a long moment, his face flat. Then he said, "What do you want with our group?" The man tilted his head, a small smile appearing.

"Aren't you going to deny anything?" The man asked.

"The classic 'I was just taking a walk' or something?"

"Well, you knew I was following you," William said coldly.

"No point in denying it." He shrugged.

"So what do you want with our group?" The man's smile widened.

"I think I like you," he declared.

"What are your names?" William asked, undeterred. The man smiled.

"Lupin." The woman said nothing, until Lupin nudged her, and whispered something into her ear.

"Acacia," she finally spat out. Lupin clapped his hands.

"Now since we answered one of your questions, answer our own question." He tilted his head.

"The boy in your group. Who is he?"

"Why should I tell you?" Lupin shrugged.

"It's just a fair trade." William frowned. Then he spoke, "a Delver."

"Obviously," Lupin laughed.

"But who is he really?"

"A Delver," William repeated. He wasn't planning on giving up any information to these guys. Not that he had any to give anyway. He barely knew Lio. Lupin chuckled, as he studied him. Then he glanced sideways at Acacia.

"How are you feeling?" She uncrossed her arms, and stretched, arching her back gracefully like a cat.

"I'm too sleepy," she said simply.

"Let's do this somewhere else." And that was the only warning William got. His instincts to danger fired to life before his brain did, screaming at him, and he was already spinning around, preparing his muscles to start into a sprint when— He made it just four steps, when a tringggg~ sound filled the air. William's eyes snapped back just in time to see a golden number materialize above Lupin's head. [3%] Lupin reached out casually, pointing ahead.

Immediately, golden flames erupted across the path ahead, a wall of them, cutting off the route back to Trestfall completely. The heat slammed into William's face, and he skidded to a stop. Fuck! He whirled around, his eyes rapidly flitting around, trying to find a way to— But then, suddenly, Acacia was there, having covered the distance between them without making a sound.

She raised her hand, and her iron gauntlets fell away, revealing pale skin that quickly began to dilute, turning into all dark and misty, a sharp chemical stench flooding William's nostrils. Without hesitation, she slapped it across his face, and William's legs gave out immediately. As his sight grew blurry, the last coherent thought in his mind, for some strange reason, was how unbearably smug Lio was going to be when he found out about this. Why he thought of that, William didn't know. Then everything went dark.