The die went up again. It trailed a pink whisp of mana along its path, then settled above like a tyrannical king ruling with no more guide than the whims of the wind.
Zen frowned, darting backward, creating space between him and Fjord. The problem with the specific skill was the randomness of it. and with the die so high, he didn’t have the required perception stat to see what runes appeared. If he could, then he would at least be able to learn and anticipate what to do.
Fjord closed the distance easily with a dash of his own, no skill supporting it. Zen’s eyes tracked the steel of Fjord’s sword. As they did, he reminded himself that he was not supposed to be afraid of the live blade. Even if it was their first time using real weapons, Rometo would not allow any of them to die, although the man had not said any such thing.
Then know that Fjord isn’t trying to kill you, he told himself.
Bringing his sword up, he moved it to the side, intercepting Fjord’s strike. He blocked the blow, the sound of metals clashing ringing in his ear. Fjord had put enough force into it to force him to the side. Zen staggered. Once upon a time, Aiden had told him not to parry but to block instead. Then Valdan had told him, when he was sure that he could block properly to learn how to parry. This had been the perfect moment to parry and his mind had gone for a block instead.
The die in the air pulsed once and released its glow. There was no wide range of effect. The only effect of its glow was the slight pulse of pink that appeared and disappeared on Fjord’s body. If Zen had not been watching, he would’ve missed it.
He ducked Fjord’s next attack, then backed away from the one that followed. Fjord chuckled as he came to a stop.
“Scared?” he teased.
Zen knew a clear taunting tactic when he saw one, he used it on Feira all the time. It was clearly not supposed to work on him.
“Yes,” he answered easily. Then he shrugged. “I’ve never been cut with a blade before.”
“Less yapping and more fighting,” Rometo called out in that same bored tone he always used, as if he was supposed to be elsewhere doing things far greater than teaching them.
Fjord obeyed, closing in with all the confidence of a man who was currently up twenty-three wins to one loss. And the only reason he had the one loss was because his own skill had failed him.
He darted in then cut to the side. Zen followed his movement, waiting for the timing while trying to remember what exactly he had learnt from the last side effect of [Borrowed Guest] he had experienced a few days ago.
Which one’s for today? He asked himself as Fjord struck again.
This time he went for the parry, using Fjord’s speed against him, Zen angled his sword so that Fjord’s blade slid almost seamlessly along the length of his own. Zen tilted his body, redirected Fjord’s attack and allowed it to pass over his head. Fjord turned. Zen had his friend’s back exposed and ready for an attack.
His mind flashed to the die above, the feint pulse of pink that Fjord had experienced just a moment ago. He hesitated, remembering Valdan’s advice on how hesitation cost a lot of people their lives in combat.
Fuck it.
He went in for the blow, hoping to finish it. At the last moment, just before the blow connected, Fjord disappeared in a blur of motion. Zen felt it before he even heard it. Fjord was behind him, weapon raised high. He felt the first touches of panic, they licked his leg and grabbed him by the balls. His knees threatened to buckle at the thought of being struck at point blank range by an actual sword.
But panic did not have his mind.
[You have used Class skill Borrowed Guest]
The mana copy of him stepped out from the side, slipping through as if from a crack in time, and tackled Fjord to the ground. Zen took the brief break and turned to face Fjord once more. The sudden burst of speed Fjord had executed had not surprised him. He’d sparred enough times with him to recognize the effects of the skill [Gambler]’s heart.
[You have been affected by skill Loading Die]
[Skill Loading Die has applied status debuff on you]
[You have been afflicted with status debuff Gamble]
Zen frowned at the notification. The suddenness of it sent him leaping back as if he was about to attack. The moment his feet landed on the ground, he realized his mistake. It was a habit Valdan and now Rometo had been trying to work out of him. No matter what happened, once an attack came at him out of nowhere, he was always in a hurry to run from it, to leap back, even if he had the upper hand. Valdan said it was a good survival instinct but had no place in a person that was trying to be strong.
Fjord destroyed the time visitor, as he liked to call it, with a blow to the back of the head with the pommel of his sword. Once the visitor was gone, dissipating into the ambience of mana particles, he got up with a grin.
“So what’s it going to be?” he asked with a knowing smile. “You have no idea what the stakes are. Are you sure your choice of gamble is to stay away?”
This was why Zen didn’t like sparring Fjord. You could never be certain of anything.
“What does this one do?” he asked.
Fjord gave him a look. “And why am I going to tell you?”
“Because we’re friends?” Zen suggested with a friendly smile. “Aren’t we?”
Fjord laughed. “Best friends, Zen. And with every passing moment, the gamble stacks.”
That wasn’t possible, was it? Zen didn’t think there was any skill in his arsenal with a debuff that stacked. His eyes moved over to Rometo. What was happening? Why wasn’t the man asking them to stop yapping and fight? He had done it every time they’d stopped to talk for even a second.
He acknowledges this as a good fighting strategy, he realized. Had Rometo figured out what the die did somehow?
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll come to you, and trust that as my friend you’ll tell me if I’m wrong.”
There was no harm in emotional blackmail during combat after all. It was all fighting strategies.
Fjord laughed as Zen crossed the distance, then he met him in the middle. Their swords clashed. Zen caught Valdan shake his head in the sidelines and couldn’t tell if it was something Aiden had said or if it was the decision he had—
The world turned upside down, the breeze went through the air, and the ground came up to meet Zen. His back hit the ground with a heavy thud, knocking the wind out of him.
“Match,” Rometo declared in the same bored tone of voice, ending the fight.
Zen blinked up at the sky. A moment later, he was blinking up at a grinning Fjord. His friend was proud of himself.
“Wha… what happened?” Zen asked.
Fjord, squatted, shrugged still smiling. “I beat you.”
“I know that,” Zen groaned, then tried to get up. He paused when he saw Fjord’s helping hand held out. “I’m asking how.”
Grabbing the hand, he allowed Fjord to pull him to his feet. Standing, he dusted himself off.
“When am I going to get the hang of this?” he muttered to himself.
Fjord tilted his head to look at him. “Who said you haven’t?”
“I used all my skills and still lost,” Zen pointed out. “How many times did I get you? Once? How did you even do that?”
“Do what?” Fjord asked.
“The way you won. I don’t know what happened.”
“Oh, that.” Fjord shrugged. “I used [Unsure Odds]. I bet you would runaway when the die took effect. That gave me a one time use title called [Wind Surfer].”
“Who the fuck gets a one time use title?” Zen groaned, not angry.
Fjord thumbed at himself with a grin. “This guy. And it’s a cool title too. I get to manipulate the air around me once. Used it to sweep you off your feet…”
Fjord trailed off for a moment, and Zen followed the direction of his gaze. He had been expecting to see Rometo coming to them, but it was Aiden standing where he was.
“Yeah,” he muttered, “I noticed it too.”
Fjord gave him a curious look. “Know what it’s about?”
“No idea,” he said, shaking his head. “Feira saw it first and thinks it has something to do with why he came to find me.”
“I thought it was your skill.”
Zen pressed his lips into a thin line. “I thought so too.”
Every now and again, Aiden looked at Zen in a way that Zen couldn’t place. Feira had described it as someone looking at an old friend who couldn’t recognize them anymore. As if they wanted so desperately to be recognized but knew that they never would. Sometimes he would have a soft look in his eyes that didn’t translate to his face—emotions rarely translated to Aiden’s face. The look always made it seem as if he was just happy that his friend was happy, and that was enough for him.
“Are you two done kissing?” Rometo asked, bored.
Zen turned to look at him. “Did ‘sir’ just make a joke?” he teased.
Fjord threw his arm over Zen’s shoulders and placed a hand on his chest. “We just need another three minutes,” he told Rometo. “My lips aren’t puckered enough, yet.”
Rometo paused. Zen and Fjord fell silent for a moment. Then the both of them burst out laughing. They couldn’t help it, Rometo looked as if he had just been given information that he didn’t know he was supposed to have.
The man sighed and turned away from them. “I’m too old for this shit,” he muttered under his breath, heading over to Aiden. “You can have your boys. I’m done for the day.”
Aiden chuckled. “Cut the kids some slack. They can’t be serious all the time.”
Rometo paused to look at him. “You do know that you’re a kid, right?”
“With an old soul,” Aiden grinned. “With an old soul.”
Rometo looked back at Zen and Fjord, then at Aiden and sighed. “Just let me know when it’s time to go. I’ll be in my room.”
Aiden laughed while Valdan shook his head. “You shouldn’t trouble him so much,” he told Aiden. “He’s got enough on his plate as is.”
“I’m not troubling him, just… conversing.”
They were walking up to Zen and Fjord now. The look Fjord had noticed was already gone from Aiden’s face. He wore the same green coat that he always wore and walked with his hands in his pocket. Valdan was dressed in something more casual. A grey tee and brown pants. The sun was setting, yet the clouds filled the sky giving the world an overcast that gave everything quite the look.
Feira was upstairs with Melvet learning the ways of being a [Guide] since Melvet claimed to have taught at least a few guides in the church. Zen found himself hoping that it would do wonders for Feira. She returned to the room every night looking like someone with a headache, talking about how the job of a [Guide] was more mentally tasking than physically tasking.
“So, what happens now?” Fjord asked when Valdan and Aiden got to them.
“You two haven’t given your opinions on the path we’re taking to our next destination,” Aiden said.
“We actually don’t know our next destination either,” Zen joked. “What have the others said?”
When Aiden had brought the map to them and given them their options on paths to take and told him his own choice, Valdan and Melvet had said that they needed time to decide on what path they thought was the safest. Melvet had been with them long enough to know that she was going to agree with whatever path that they chose. Elami was going to agree with whatever path that Ted chose, and Telma’s opinion didn’t matter.
Feira had also needed time, but last night she’d told Zen that the path was acceptable enough, not good, just acceptable enough.
“Honestly,” Fjord said, somehow regressing to a timid boy in Aiden’s presence, “I’m good with any path you give us. You haven’t led us wrong so far.”
Valdan had an interested look on his face. “And what happens if he does?”
“Does it matter?” Fjord asked without missing a beat. “If he leads us wrong, then the only way any of us would’ve led us right in that situation would be by luck.”
His loyalty to Aiden was unquestioned. Always unquestioned.
“So you’re good with it?” Aiden asked Fjord.
Fjord nodded.
Aiden turned his attention to Zen. “And you?”
“I still don’t know why you’re asking,” Zen said honestly. “I don’t see why my opinion should count.”
Valdan and Aiden exchanged a look and Aiden sighed.
“Go on,” Valdan said, motivating him with a nod. “You’re the one that has to say it.”
Zen looked from one to the other. “Say what?”
“That I can be a bit of a dictator,” Aiden answered, “so I’m trying to be democratic about things. It’s something a lot of people practice where I’m from.”
“Democratic,” Zen said, careful with the word. It was the way with new words. “No idea what that means.”
“It’s when decisions are made based on majority votes,” Aiden explained. “If more people like a different route than the one I propose, then we’ll take the one they like.”
Zen’s brows furrowed in confusion. “Well, that’s stupid. I mean, what do I know about safe routes to a destination I don’t know. No offence, Aiden, but before you, I only knew one place. Dentis. I’m good with whatever choice you make.”
“He has a point,” Fjord said, supporting him. “I don’t see why you should bother asking. I’m good with your choice.”
Valdan folded his arms. “I guess that’s that.”
Aiden didn’t seem to agree.
“Look at it this way,” he said, his voice level, his words careful. “You all trust me, right?”
“Right,” Zen answered while Fjord nodded.
“Would you trust me if one day I woke up and became bad?”
“I don’t mean to offend,” Fjord said very carefully, “but you are kind of bad already.”
Aiden blinked and Zen laughed a little.
“He’s not wrong,” Zen explained. “You’re just not bad to us. I bet you a month’s salary that every other person that is not a member of this team sees you as bad. You can be very… intimidating when you want to be.”
Valdan paused, turned thoughtful for a moment. “The kid’s right, actually.”
“That’s not the point,” Aiden said, waving his hands as if scattering the conversation. “The point is that with this method, you can all tell when I’m slowly beginning to become bad to you. You’ll see me making major decisions without asking for your opinions or even completely disregarding your opinions. Then you’ll know something is wrong. This way, it keeps me grounded, tethered.”
Zen frowned. He didn’t like where this was going. His eyes went to the grey orb hovering over Aiden’s shoulder, then to his blackened hand. His brows furrowed.
“Aiden,” he said carefully.
Aiden looked at him. “What’s up?”
“Should we be worried about something?” he asked. “Is there something you think you should tell us?”
Aiden shook his head. “There is nothing I think I should tell you that I haven’t already told you.”
His face was blank, expressionless. Zen wondered if in order to mask his true emotion, rather than affecting a false emotion, Aiden had chosen to eliminate all emotions from his face. If that was the case, then there was something going on that worried Aiden, and not for himself but for them.
“You guys go get your jepats ready,” Aiden said, turning away with Valdan. “We’re leaving in a few hours. I’ll go and inform the others.”
Left alone with on Fjord, Zen sighed.
“Did you see what he did there?” Fjord asked.
“What?” Zen replied.
“He said there’s nothing he thinks he should let us know, which means that there is something, he just doesn’t think he should let us know.”
Zen pursed his lips in thought. “What do you think?” he asked. “You’ve known him longer than I have. Should we be worried?”
“Lord Lacheart is capable of great evils, my good friend,” he answered, “but he is no monster. You can always trust him to give you what you deserve. And when he’s not fighting or caught up in whatever is always on his mind, believe me, he looks out for everyone around him. I’m ready to bet a month’s salary that Rometo’s only teaching me because he also asked it of him. Melvet’s probably teaching your sister for the same reason.”
They were walking towards the stables now.
“Why are you certain about you but not my sister?” Zen asked.
Fjord shrugged. “Because your sister has good traits that Lord Lacheart doesn’t like. She asks too many questions and opposes his decisions. It forces him to stop thinking about what he thinks matters and start thinking about what he believes doesn’t matter. Personally, I’m surprised he even answers her. Normally he’ll just do what he’ll do and leave her to do what he can do about it.”
Zen paused. “Oh.”
Fjord kept walking, unbothered.
“May I ask a worrying question?” Zen asked, catching up.
Fjord shrugged. “I’m listening.”
“Why all the loyalty?” Zen opened the stable doors so that Fjord could walk in. “I mean, it’s almost as if you’d die in battle if he asked you to.”
Fjord paused to actually think about it. “I can’t say I will, but I can’t say I won’t.”
“That,” Zen pointed at him. “Normal people won’t, but you’re not sure. Why the loyalty?”
Fjord sighed, then looked up as if reminiscing. “When a man spares your life for a single action you took when you’ve had nothing but a past of horrible actions, it leaves a mark. When the world tells you to follow a different path because you don’t know how to follow the path you want and someone goes out of their way to look for a way to help you follow your path when they don’t have to, it leaves a mark.” He looked at Zen now, really looked at him. “When a person sees you for who you are when the rest of the world refused to, it leaves a mark, Zen. It leaves a deep mark.”
“Sounds like a lot of risky marks,” Zen muttered.
“Yeah,” Fjord took one of the reins of the jepats, Aiden’s own, Zen noticed, even though Aiden had not asked him to and would more than happily handle the preparation of his own jepat himself. “But someone leaves a mark on someone at some point in time.” He shrugged. “I’m a [Gambler], Zen. The gods know why I’m a [Gambler] even though I never gambled a day in my life at any tables. Lord Lacheart has left a mark.” His eyes softened, and he was absent for a moment. It was a while before he smiled a little. “He left a mark, and I’m going to gamble on it. Why? Because it’s what [Gambler]s do.”