129 Talk with Eina and Rose

Nox tight lipped approach to the events that led to his injuries which both Guild employees knew were far more serious than most though them to be, led a bad taste in both of their mouths.

Regardless of their personal approaches to relationships and the nature of their association with Nox, Eina and Rose were not blind to the fact that they seriously cared about the man they knew ever since he was a boy just starting to dive in the Dungeon.

As such, the lack of information was eating them alive on the inside and their patience had worn off.

At first they patiently waited for Nox to come to them with an explanation, despite feeling that he didn't really owe them one as despite their association, he had always made it very clear that his secrets are his to keep.

Still, they couldn't bear that he did not seem to be intent on giving them a personal accounting of the events that led to his temporary internment.

And so, finally catching Nox at an event they knew he would attend, they took the opportunity to bring him aside to a closed room so as to wring out all the info on his situation.

"Spill it." Eina said in her authoritative tone while Rose just silently glared at him.

Nox new they could do nothing to him but had to admit their intimidation tactics were on point.

'Very threatening.' He thought while pondering on what exactly to keep secret and what to reveal.

"Deciding on the "edits" you make to the true story before sharing?" Eina questioned.

This time, Nox was honestly surprised and it showed which only fueled the two women's ire even further as their glares became even more chilling.

"Look. A few people know what actually happened but other than Loki, everyone who does is bound by a cursed contract that not only prevents them from spilling but also stops others from prying so . . . I can only give you a summary of the events while omitting the more important stuff."

Was all Nox said in his defence.

"You don't trust us?" Rose asked.

"Rose . . . You'd be shocked at how many ways I can pry information out of someone regardless of their willingness, willpower or loyalty." Nox started.

"The contract protects me but also them. Other than the very appetizing conditions I give out, it prevents the unwilling or unwitting leaking of information that could not only make a lot of trouble for me, but also for them by association." He concluded his reasoning behind the contracts.

"So if we took those contracts . . . We'd get the truth?" Eina inquired.

"The full truth." Rose specified.

"Well . . . Yeah." Nox replied but just as the more impulsive Eina was about to open her mouth, probably to request a contract, Nox held his hand up to stop her so he could further explain.

"Before you rush into anything. This contract . . . It's like swearing your everything to me. Sure, I won't force you into anything but the point is, there are a lot of restrictions. I make the contract for those who want to bind themselves to me for life." He revealed.

"So think carefully because there is no going back. I'll give you the abridged version of what happened during the Loki Familia expedition and then you can both take your time to figure out if you truly want to pay the price required to know the full story." Nox suggested.

The two women saw the logic of his words and Rose who had her worries about getting into such a serious relationship with Nox due to reasons previous mentioned immediately accepted the deal since she felt that such a big decision merited a much deeper reflection.

Eina was a bit more impulsive and more forward and accepting of her growing romantic feelings for Nox despite his habits of giving her half truths and ignoring her advice despite actually carefully listening to it.

Even then, despite these growing feelings that Eina though made her a fool since Nox, despite his caring attitude, was really not the best for her in her own logic mind, even if her heart disagreed, Eina decided that she too could use some more time to think about it and so, the pair both decided to just heart the "edited" version of events for the time being.

"Right. We're in agreement then?" Nox asked.

"For now but you're not off the hook yet." Eina responded with a supporting look from Rose.

'Those two sure have gotten close.' Nox observed but swiftly moved on from that thought and gave them the basic rundown of the events that took place during the expedition.

"So long story short. We made an expedition to the deep floors as you no doubt are aware of. We went all the way down to the 59th floor which, according to info from the Zeus Familia was the star of a so called "Glacier Territory"." He started.

"Thing is, it was like a rainforest instead when we got there and the suspected reason was a particular "monster" whose details I can't share. It was very power and as we fought it progressively got stronger and stronger." Nox continued.

"And then?" Eina asked, both she and Rose invested despite Nox's mediocre storytelling skills.

"Then I asked the captain to order a retreat and took up the rearguard." He revealed.

"Why would you take up that role?" Rose this time, questioned.

"Because, regardless of official information, I'm Loki Familia's strongest combatant." Nox casually said.

"So you got banged up holding that monster back until your Familia comrades escaped?" Eina asked.

"No. For reasons I can't reveal or explain, I knew the monster had to be put down or it would hound us all the way up the Dungeon with devastating consequences if we actually managed to keep running without dying." Nox explained.

"So, I used a very dangerous power that I didn't fully have an handle on and killed the monster, utterly destroyed it. What put me out of action, was the backlash of using that power."

Nox concluded his story and after reminding that even this edited version was not for them to share, he left the room to meet back up with Shakti and Ilma who they had put aside to have their talk.

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