Arising

Alec woke up to the sight of Dominique fighting against red vines.

The System stared with incomprehension for a brief moment, wondering if he was still asleep and dreaming.

Yet the fierce fight between his familiar and his subordinate forced him to repress the urge to just lie down and go back to sleep then and there.

Actually, it was pretty funny the longer he looked at the two fighting. Or should he say, playing? Even if Dominique was evidently quite serious, he wasn't able to do much damage to Vi at all.

This was the rank difference between someone comparable to the fourth rank and a creature in the fifth ranked.

While elemental, foundation and intermediate ranks were able to be overcome using tactics, from the advanced magic rank and above, there was a wall that was tremendously difficult to overcome in a short period of time.

Evidently, Dominique had not yet reached that stage where a Main Character would be able to fight on equal grounds with someone who should be in a higher rank than them.

Vi was quite evidently going easy on Dominique, which just seemed to make the Sin angrier and fiercer in his attacks, but to no avail.

The red vines dodged a couple of times, just barely avoiding Dominique's attacks.

This was the first time that Alec thought that this subordinate of his was actually quite cute. He was finally acting more like a young man his age instead of keeping that dead face all the time.

Somehow, he really could feel that whatever misplaced loyalty Dominique felt for him was sincere, despite his rather warped way of thinking.

The poor Spectre didn't know that his actions cemented his future. Alec would unexpectedly bully him in all sorts of ways unconsciously because he thought that Dominique's reactions were funny.

Dominique spent a long time fighting the King Vampiric Willow's vines when he felt that the damn tree had something to do with his boss' condition. He should really have followed his boss out instead of letting him go alone earlier!

Dominique firmly resolved himself to follow his boss more firmly in the future.

Alec almost couldn't bear to look at his pathetic looking subordinate play in the hands of Vi. The feeling that came across their bond was that Vi found Dominique funny, both with his reactions and his care for Alec.

Vi, noticing that its master was awake, passed a few thoughts through their bond. Apparently the two of them had been going at it for a better part of an hour, with Dominique growing more and more frustrated as the time passed.

Every time Dominique had worriedly looked over at Alec's body, Vi amped up its attacks a little to distract the Sin.

Alec patted Vi.

Vi had decided to play around with the Spectre since its master was sleeping, and the man that was so concerned about his master seemed like he needed to vent, so why not?

Alec's lips quirked up.

How cute… or should he say stupidly cute?

It was only then that Alec properly accepted that he wouldn't be getting rid of Dominique any time soon. Before this, he still felt like he would eventually leave sooner or later due to the Main Character's [Plot Route], so he hadn't connected his more fragile emotions with the other.

Right now, he didn't feel like he would be able to do that anymore.

Dominique finally realized that his boss was awake when the intensity of Vi's attacked abated a little.

"Boss!" Dominique said, his frustration fading away like it hadn't existed in the first place. How strange.

The fanaticism that had been absent in his eyes when he had been fighting with Vi's vines appeared in his eyes again, yet Alec did not feel like it was a burden unlike previous times. He even felt like the other was funny.

Just why was a Main Character acting this way towards him? It was so unconceivable.

Alec's lips twitched again. Just what had been in the water that made him suddenly feel like this man was hilarious?

"Mini," Alec said. This would cause his poor subordinate to feel like they were closer, right?

The words that had been about to come out of Dominique's throat were choked back. What did his boss just say?

He looked around, but he was definitely the only one here. 'Mini' referred to him??

What??

"Boss," Dominique said slowly at last. "Are you calling me?" there was a faint tremor in his voice that he himself didn't even notice.

Alec, however, noticed it.

His smile gentled as he nodded. His subordinate was touched, right? Alec definitely repaid in kind.

Since Dominique already decided to follow him, it was only right that Alec treated him properly.

The poor Spectre didn't know what to do, but he (tearfully) accepted his fate.

Since his boss said it was so, then that was it.

Alec stepped off Vi, dropping down to the ground, followed by Dominique.

The drop was roughly about the same as that place from the Neil Clan's forest from Vi's trunk to the ground.

What had almost killed him previously didn't pose a problem to him now, as he used his magic more efficiently. If he'd known how to do this back then, he wouldn't have had to use his body as a shield to stop his and Bunbun's fall.

Fenrir and Bunbun were already waiting at the bottom for him.

When he looked at them, he could vaguely feel the changes that Vi's revelation had given him, as well as the various bonds between him and the rest. The quality had gone up.

Both creatures now looked livelier and smarter than before. They seemed to have increased a bit in their strength, but Alec couldn't tell just how much stronger they'd become just yet.

Picking up the small bunny and wolf, Alec casually held them in his arms.

The Spectres were roughly gathered in the same place, relaxing as they sipped at the Obsidian Aqua from various cups they'd borrowed from the mercenaries.

"Boss!" they greeted.

Their eyes peered at the two creatures, finding nothing wrong with them. In fact, when they blinked their eyes, they appeared more lovable and cuter than ever.

By now, the meteor shower should have already started, yet the Sins weren't worried at all.

From this, one could see that their faith in this boss had already reached absurd levels so quickly, all because Alec had allowed them to fight to their heart's content without stopping them nor ostracizing them for being too 'cruel'.

Why was there even cruelty in fighting? It wasn't about being 'cruel' or 'kind' but instead, it was a sign that they were taking them seriously.

To the Sins, fighting was the highest form of respect that said you were worthy of a fight.

Contrary to what everyone thought, they were picky with their fights – that was, of course, unless you pissed them off. Then, they just wanted to end your miserable life to stop you from polluting the oxygen of the planet.

They didn't like killing people that couldn't fight back, and they didn't like killing innocents.

Direct your killing intent on them, and they would fight you to the death, but if you didn't do anything, they wouldn't touch you.

They were Sins, but they weren't mass murderers.

The Sins were contradictory in the weirdest ways, but they had a subtle line in their behaviour.

Since Alec himself was a Sin, understanding them was more like learning about Sins and himself.

"We should explore this place properly, so split into teams of four again and spread out to look for food and water. Even if we can drink Obsidian Aqua, there's been no known precedence of using it to replace as drinking water."

The Spectres' eyes sharpened as they took in their boss' orders.

"Mini and his group will be coming with me."

"???" Mini?