The raid [6]

Rita slowly opened her eyes. She had a terrifying nightmare about being kidnapped.

"Hmm… Where am I?" For some reason, her memories were still a little bit foggy, as she didn't even recognize the room that she woke up in. How did she end up in this room?

And when she looked across her bed, someone was sitting there reading a book.

"L-Lucian?" Rita became a little bit embarrassed. How long was he there? Did you stay with her all night?

And now that she lifted from the bed, she realized that she was only wearing light clothing that exposed a lot of skin.

But looking at Lucian, she noticed that he wasn't even looking at her. It was clear that the thought of laying a hand on her didn't even cross his mind. And for some reason, this realization caused her to feel a little bit conflicted, she didn't know if she should be happy about it.

"How are you feeling?" Lucian asked.

"I-I am fine," Rita answered, a little bit confused by the situation.

"I see. I will wait outside," Lucian said, closing the book and standing up. "Get ready. We need to visit the League of Adventurers Guild before we depart to the Abyss."

Lucian was the same as usual, Rita thought while listening to him. However, there was something that she didn't understand.

"W-weren't we supposed to depart in two days? Did something happen?" Rita asked. She had just begun collecting information, and now she needed to find a way to use this information to change herself.

"No, everything is going according to the plan."

"But… I haven't yet accomplished anything," Rita felt a little uneasy when she heard what Lucian said. Was he saying that he never expected something from her?

"Don't misunderstand my intentions. You are a good person and you have a lot of good qualities as a human. But that's not enough. There are a lot of good-natured people, but they would never be capable of bringing someone back to life. The potential that you possess is beyond that."

"I…" When he said it like that, she couldn't help but feel that he was expecting too much from her. What was this impression of contradiction in his words and actions?

"If you don't understand, continue to think. Use your imagination. What could be this hidden potential that you aren't aware of?" Lucian continued, his words still ambiguous, as he opened the door and left the room.

*****

Lucian was observing Rita for a few hours after he met up with her again. He already knew that she would get kidnapped, but he let it happen.

At the gate, Lucian noticed that the chubby merchant recognized the stones that he showed to the guard and decided to send someone to spy on him and Rita. He immediately realized that this may be the perfect opportunity to test Rita and also put pressure on the merchant.

The merchant pretended to not know him inside the elevator and even when he visited his store, but that gave Lucian the upper hand in the psychological battle. Getting the merchant to do what he wanted was easy after the incident with Rita.

But for some reason, Rita didn't remember what she did. Her situation was more delicate than Lucian thought, but it was within his expectations. And for some reason, Rita's affection for him was also deeper than he thought.

Lucian didn't dislike the thought that Rita was now more attached to him, but he also didn't want it to affect his plan.

The reason why he decided to bring her along wasn't that she wanted to sacrifice herself to save him at that time. It was something that happened after that, just when the dragon was about to attack her.

However, Rita herself wasn't aware of any of this. There was something about her that she decided to reject. She was doing it subconsciously without any awareness.

Lucian was curious as to how she survived alone this far, but he finally connected the dots. He finally understood what kind of human she was.

"Unfortunately, you failed so I am not obliged to tell you anything," Lucian said suddenly, as he stood in the hallway outside the room where Rita was, his back against the wall.

"Choupyu~" Valentina was there, hiding in the shadow, this whole time. "You knew from the beginning, didn't you? About her."

She had also spied on Rita and thought about helping her when she was about to get kidnapped, but Lucian appeared out of nowhere and stopped her. He didn't give her any explanation and just let Rita get kidnapped.

But to her surprise, when the morning came, Rita came back as if nothing happened, but she was not also the Rita that talked with her the day before.

"Not that I care though~ She appears to be a fun woman..."

"Well, you two have a very particular similarity," Lucian said, indifferent about Valentina. "Both of you weren't afraid of me. You see, fear appears in a lot of forms. For example, it can be instinctual and shows in the way someone speaks when they face me, their choice of words, and their facial expressions. But most of them don't even realize that they do all of that out of fear."

Lucian was good at observing everything that happens around him.

"The fact that you noticed Rita's potential proves my theory. It's not only me. Every human always had the potential to open that door, but they misunderstand the true nature of relics and the reason for their existence. The Natural Order of Things is absolute but it can't go against its own absolute rules."

"What? As I expected, you do know something~" Valentina had a hard time keeping up with Lucian. But she was sure that he knew something about her curse.

"You know the deal. You need to do something for me if you want answers," Lucian said, noticing Valentina's reaction. "But the thing that you are preoccupied about isn't a curse, it's a key. Rita and you have this key. This is the potential I am looking for."

"You… What are you planning?" Valentina's eyes widened, and this was the first time she showed an adequate expression on her face.

"M-miss Valentina?" Rita had finally come out of the room and she was surprised to see Valentina and Lucian together.

"Let's go," Lucian walked away, ignoring both Valentina and Rita's reactions.

Looking at Lucian, Valentina understood once again that she fell into his trap. He revealed a piece of information that stir up her curiosity. From the look of it, he was just testing her when he asked her to help Rita.

However, at that point, she could only wait and see, although she felt like that was also taken into account by Lucian.

The three of them walked out of the inn, the one that Christophe, although Rita didn't remember how and when she rented a room there. She didn't even know when she met up with Lucian.

But she didn't say anything, because, from the look of it, she was the only one who didn't remember it.

'What's happening? I feel like…' It felt like she was left out.

As she was thinking about these things, Lucian suddenly stopped walking.

"…?" Rita walked with her down all of this time so she didn't the little girl standing in front of them.

The little girl had silver hair, her body was covered by a gray hooded robe, and she was not wearing shoes. She had also two horns and a scaly tail that wagged behind her.

"Ah…Ah…" The little girl looked at Lucian affectionately and prostrated to the ground. It looked like she couldn't yet speak correctly.

"W-who is she?" Rita asked.

"How did it come here?" This was the first thing that Lucian said after seeing the little girl. The appearance of this creature here could only mean one thing.

"A-are you okay?" Rita squatted and looked at the little girl gently, stretched her hand, and caressed the girl's head.

"Ah… Ah…" The little girl began to lick Rita's hand, like an animal showing affection. Her teeth were sharp but she didn't hurt Rita.

"L-Lucian, do you know something about her?"

"Choupyu?" Valentina tilted her head curiously.

"It looked like her evolution gave her the ability to take this form," Lucian said, "but she shouldn't be here."

"…Are you saying that she is that dragon?" Rita asked after observing the little girl and thinking for a few seconds.

"Yes. It looks like things will get a little bit troublesome," Lucian said, looking in the direction of the guild. "So they made their move."

However, Lucian had also finished his preparation. All of the pieces that were needed were now within his disposition.

As he expected, the armor maker that the merchant forced to work for him was quite skilled.

All that was left to do was the passionate motivational speech, something that he looked forward to, as he had his version of what a motivational speech was.