NOVGO.NET Chapter 2003 A Slight Past Note
Chapter 2003: Chapter 2003 A Slight Past Note
— Kat —
Kat managed to wake Hedera up… with Lily still clinging to her. At the very least, Lily had moved so that she was now hanging off Kat’s back instead of clinging to her side which made it easier to walk around. Hedera was still groggy when she woke and didn’t even comment and the pair. When they heard Hedera’s shower start up, Kat and Lily moved downstairs to one of the couches and relaxed there for a time. Kat had originally intended to start work on some food… but she wasn’t feeling it really. There was stuff they could just throw together later.
Lily was sprawled out over Kat’s front, still in human form, and using Kat’s boobs as pillows. The atmosphere was somewhat odd, both mentally and in the real world. They were happy to have each other’s’ presence, they had cheered up quite a bit… but for Lily the events of the night hadn’t completely left her mind, and Kat couldn’t dispel those worries completely. They were also both emotional exhausted. Kat’s lack of sleep didn’t leave her lacking in energy, but lacking in motivation and Lily wasn’t much better.
Hedera came down the stairs and spotted the pair, unsure of what to say. She hovered around the door, clearly in sight but not really saying anything until Kat gave her a raised eyebrow. “Sorry, I mean… I was just going to meet you both for breakfast but I saw you near the stairs and got a bit confused mostly because Lily wasn’t hiding anymore. Then I noticed the expressions on your faces and I’ve seen stuff like that a time or two so I wasn’t sure how intentionally it was, and I mean, I felt like I should say something but I’ve already proven that I sort of ramble-
“-so I was just going to keep quiet because it seemed wrong to interrupt the moment but that questioning eyebrow felt like it was a request for me to say something to break the odd feeling in the air, but maybe I’m already going to far? I’m a bit wired up because I just woke up and there was that big fight yesterday and even if it wasn’t all that dangerous to me I was cut off from you both for a bit and I guess the danger of this tournament sort of sunk in because I wasn’t really expecting any large scale battles like that and then I was wondering how many of them were real.”
Hedera paused, but only to take in a much needed gulp of air before continuing. “Except the more I thought about it the more I realised that I recognised a few of them so I think what’s happened is that Thyme had a few different army regiments from the different nations volunteer as like, battle practice? I also think that some adventurers might have been added to mix things up but I’m not really sure about that. Which lead me to believe that most of them were real but definitely knew what they were signing up for…
“But it’s still, like, a LOT you know? A lot for me anyway, to realise that once the centre opens it could be more chaotic then just a free-for-al amongst the contestants and instead there are a bunch of other people showing up to make it even more of a mess. Of course, that’s just a guess but I didn’t truly appreciate the SCALE of Thyme’s recruitment efforts before this. In the first town it was tiny and you didn’t see many people around, and this one is large but I didn’t really go that many places so I didn’t get the sense it was actually filled with real people, or mostly real anyway. So… yeah it’s been a bit.”
Hedera finished her… speech when she noticed it had gotten to the point where Kat and Lily had both sat up. Though Kat’s change in position was more due to Lily’s original shift then anything else. “Um… woops, that was probably a lot… my bad.”
Lily shrugged but mentally poked Kat to actually respond to the implied question. “It’s fine. Neither of us were too bothered, just that… it was a lot. You bought up a few points there that I sort of want to dig into. Like… why do you think there will be a bunch of extra people in the centre?”
“Um… well… I didn’t originally but after Thyme showed just how many people they were willing to bring into the tournament ostensibly as obstacles? It made me think. What really makes those pieces unique or interesting? I’d bet that, while completing it will indeed win the tournament for us, for the other people Thyme recruited? I’d be there’s a ’in-universe’ explanation for it. Like perhaps granting them a bunch of power or a super weapon to defend their section of the island…
“With a bonus on top of that. I mean, can you imagine if Thyme hired even just say, twenty adventurer teams and told them they get an equivalent reward to second place if they got the pieces together I could see them fighting us really hard. Heck, what if he offered it to everyone that didn’t make it to the final round? Even if they don’t all accept the offer it could be a HUGE mess,” explained Hedera.
Kat nodded along, “I’m not entirely sure they’d bring in the people that have ’missed out’ already. I feel like that might be a bit much… but at the same time it is a very Thyme thing to do so I get why you’d be worried. I suppose I also hadn’t really considered just how many people that would be.”
“Yeah… though um… is everything alright with the pair of you?” asked Hedera.
“Lily just had… what was basically her first kill even if it wasn’t really? And it was super easy. She was expecting the guy to have armour or some actual resistance so she’s feeling it a bit. Plus some mixed up worry because killing people isn’t normal where we’re from so she’s a bit worried about how stable our relationship despite the fact I’ve killed a couple of real people.”
“Ah, I’m surprised,” said Hedera before immediately raising her hands. “Wait I mostly meant that it hadn’t come up before. But um…” Hedera lightly slapped herself on the cheeks a few times. “What I mean is that I understand. The first person I ever killed was a bandit but… not one with powers. Just a normal, completely unpowered bandit. My arrow went right through his chest and the damage was pretty extreme.
“It haunted me for a bit. Even after we found out what they’d done to some of their captives,” Hedera shivered slightly at the mention. “It didn’t change the fact that… it was just so easy. So… yes I know what you’re going through, at least to some extent. I was helped by the fact that some of my team members killed in the same fight, though for everyone else they had killed in the past.
“Plus, bandits are usually slated for execution anyway. Even had we brought them back alive, most if not all of them would’ve been executed. So it wasn’t really a ’problem’ but… yeah it stuck with me for a long time afterwards,”
“How did you get over it?” asked Lily.
“Time basically. I was… I was expecting some sort of punishment? Karmic or otherwise. Like, ’I just kill a man. A civilian too’ which, no obviously he was a bandit and I had full authority to kill him in a fight, but I FELT like I was about to be locked up by the guild, other adventurers, the local lord. Somebody.
“After a week of nothing happening a calmed down a bit, then two weeks past and I was almost back to normal… and after three I sort of forgot what I was worried about. Not that I don’t have flashbacks to the moment occasionally, but it was easier then you think to just… forget about it,” explained Hedera.
“That’s… interesting,” admitted Lily slowly. “I don’t think I was ever really looking at it from the punishment angle. I wasn’t worried about the guards or Thyme. I might have been worried about what my friends and family would think? Maybe? But I’m probably not bringing it up with them either.”
“Not sure that’s the best idea… but considering they’re in another dimension it’s probably something you can keep a secret so,” Hedera shrugged. “Whatever works. I didn’t go out of my way to explain it to my parents but I didn’t leave it out of my letters when it happened either.”
Lily nodded, “Yeah I guess. I’ll think about it. It’s just… not really something I considered and now it’s another thing to worry about. Though I’m also not close to a breakdown again. It’s weird. It’s another thing to worry about, but it doesn’t seem like the same sort of fear? Certainly not all that strong,”
Hedera nodded, “Probably because you know they won’t really understand what you’re saying. It’s one thing to be willing to report on it, another to actually see them understand but because your dimension is peaceful they just… might not.”