Chapter 56: Sistine, Sistine

Tobias stared down at the unconscious girl who was lying on one of the two beds in their room.

A decent room, which was clean enough and spacious enough for the three of them, really. Also decently furbished with a small desk and chair, and while there wasn’t any cabinet or clothes box, there were a couple of hooks to hang his coats and belt on.

Aside from the fact that it was slightly smaller and had less beds, the room really did remind him of their former shared room while they were still adventurers, if nothing else.

Earlier, Clara had taken the girl named Sistine and decided to clean her hair. She asked him for help, and all he did was to make sure the girl could be kept properly held still, and not suddenly fall off and probably hit her head against the floor.

He remembered how long they had spent in that enclosed bath space. Clara was incredibly careful and meticulous, washing away the blood and dirt on her hair, as well as removing the tangles by hand. When he suggested that they cut those tangled hair parts away, she immediately declined his suggestion and said that it would be a waste of perfectly good, gorgeous hair to do so.

Clara definitely had her priorities straight, if nothing else. And when she was done with Sistine’s hair, she sent him away, most definitely to clean the rest of her body.

And on a similar thought, he had to spend at least three silver coins as ‘donations’ to that Church in order to get the Priest to agree to heal her. That’s why he didn’t like churches that much...

Well, it didn’t matter. Even if that Priest said it was for donations, Tobias would just understand it as ‘service’ then. Because in the end, without his help, this girl Sistine would probably have a terrible headache/fever when she woke up.

... And somehow, in less than three hours at least, this girl had somehow already been bothersome enough to Tobias.

He didn’t understand why Clara had found her so endearing, and ever since their first meeting, had already decided to cling and do all of these things for her.

He felt that she was somewhat dangerous – with her first appearance, and her terribly bloodstained, chipped sword that looked like she was able to wield, she definitely looked dangerous.

But to be completely fair, he was confident in his ability to subdue her if she tried to do anything drastic, really. So in the mean time, he would let them do their own things, really. And as usual, he would only take the role of observer, and protector if need be.

And finally, after the longest time of thinking to himself, he found that Sistine had finally moved, as she slowly blinked and looked around herself.

Then, their eyes met. Now that he was looking at her directly, he could see that her eyes really were black... And then he idly thought that if he had a copper coin for every black-eyed person he had come across, he would have four.

“This one... Please don’t look at me like that.” She finally spoke, and her face was set into one of nervousness.

He must have been studying her with a particular curious, yet indifferent intent, wasn’t he? That tendency of his was noted by his family or friends to be either strange at best, or unsettling at worst.

“Sorry.” He apologized, and gave her a light bow. When he looked up, her face relaxed slightly, before scanning him from head to toe.

“Are you... some sort of Knight?” She asked, after a moment of brief hesitation.

“... That is the first time someone had ever asked that.” Tobias admitted, before he shook his head firmly. “I do not know why you would call me a Knight, but I am only an Adventurer.” He explained, before he shook his head lightly. “Was, I should say.”

“You look like you’ve been through a lot.” She said, before letting out a small, hesitant smile. “I don’t know why you did it, but thank you for helping me.”

“If you have anyone to thank for, it would be Clara.” He muttered lowly, before sitting on the bed across hers to talk to her on eye level. Looking down on her didn’t bode well with him. “She was the one who took care of you, and demanded me to keep watch of you while you were still asleep.”

“You just admitted that you watched over me.” She pointed out. “I should be thanking you for that as well, shouldn’t I?”

He was about to speak to argue with her, before frowning and stopping. Then he finally nodded, and let out a sigh. “I guess you are not wrong.”

“For an Adventurer, you’re really polite.” She commented, and he only gave a nod at her words. “And excellently well-mannered, too. Are you some sort of charming, run-away Noble from somewhere?”

“I really do not know what goes on in that head of yours,” He replied, his tone kept level and indifferent as always, “But whatever image you have of me, I am probably not any of those. It would be better for us to remain as strangers at best, and acquaintances due to mutual friends at worst.”

Because really; he didn’t want to get too close to someone who he might never see again in the longest while. Such thing would only make him feel sad.

Now that he thought about it, he never did say goodbye to Stella and her party members which were his acquaintances at the very least, didn’t he?

But that’s alright. This is why they’re returning back to the City, so that they could take a break before resuming. And he would probably inform everyone involved and tie up loose ends, after all.

“Oh...” She hummed. “But you didn’t exactly tell me to just leave you alone, didn’t you? Does that actually mean you want to be acquaintances, at the very least?”

... He blinked, and stared at her with an expression which he knew was conflicted.

Tobias really was weak when it came to people who wished to befriend him, after all. A life of isolation was something that he wasn’t really looking forward to, and what better to stave that off than to find some trusty friends whom he could visit after his quest was done?

“I guess I would not mind.” He finally admitted, and he shrugged. “But if you do so, then you should be prepared for me to simply disappear when I want to, without any sudden warning.”

Now that he heard his words come out of his own mouth, he realized that he was acting incredibly... off. Like even if his words were formal and fully formed without any shortcuts, the way he spoke to her was like how he bantered with any of his friends.

But something about this girl in front of him – Sistine – was simply too familiar.

It was like he was looking at some sort of friend from some distant childhood memory that he forgot about. She was very familiar, but at the same time, unidentifiable...

... Sistine was an enigma of her own.

“You sound like a terrible friend if that’s the case.” She commented, before she shook her head. “Well, that’s alright. I feel like you’re the kind of person who always returns from where they came from, after all.”

“... Right.”

She wasn’t entirely wrong... But how did she know that? Was she the kind of person who was experienced when it came to meeting with new people, and could immediately figure out a person’s core personality just by exchanging a few questions and statements?

... Somehow, that sounded amazing in its own way.

“Hey, hey, say something.” She said, and he blinked at her words. “I didn’t scare you off now, did I?”

He shook his head. “Of course not. I was just thinking to myself.”

“I guess you’re the kind of person who also thinks a lot, but nobody really knows what’s going on in that head of yours.” She commented. “You would look happy and contented one day, before suddenly announcing that you would leave the next day – ah.”

Tobias’ eyes narrowed, and he glared at the girl in front of him.

“... And how exactly do you know that?”

“... It’s pure coincidence.”

“You can be honest with me. I wouldn’t get mad, I promise. I would get mad if you wouldn’t tell me, though.”

At some point, he picked up from Bastille that offers of mercy were much more likely to get people to comply to one’s demands, contrary to the way of demanding anything with straight up violence.

It was beautiful summarized as a concept; the carrot and the stick.

“R-really...? If you really wouldn’t get mad, then I suppose it’s alright to tell you.” She spoke nervously, and he found himself leaning forwards slightly to her direction to listen better. “Truth is... I really don’t know.”

Tobias blinked. Sistine offered a nervous smile.

But before he could say anything, the door suddenly opened with a loud enough creak. It was Clara who opened it, and she carried her leather backpack by her hands.

“Clara! You’re back!” Sistine exclaimed, before she immediately stood up from the bed, and moved to swift hug the brown-haired girl. And when Sistine did, she made sure to hide herself behind Clara.

“Oh! You’re finally awake! How are you?” Clara moved to hug her back, and affectionately rubbed the white-haired girl’s head.

... For the first time, Tobias found himself slightly annoyed at Clara for her unfortunate timing. And then they began talking, and just like that, he found himself lying down on bed as he tried to take a nap, while covertly listening on their conversation.

And if he was already on the level of chatting almost casually with Sistine... Then Clara was already treating her like her younger sister. And while it was strange that her charisma seemed to be particularly potent, he only had a single thought in mind as he watched them talk with each other on an incredibly familiar basis, while Clara occasionally told her something about Tobias every now and then.

... It was that some things never seemed to change. Thankfully.

***

Clara was conflicted.

On one hand, they found Sistine, and she was honestly the cutest, most adorable, sweetest girl they have ever found... Not counting Erise, of course. She was also cute, adorable, and sweet, but for now, she was removed out of the picture.

On the other hand, Tobias was acting really weird. He was a lot tenser, and seemed to look at their newfound companion with such blatant curiosity that she didn’t see him use anywhere else. Not to anyone, and especially not to her.

... And that made her feel jealous, really.

But it wasn’t right to blame the poor girl. So instead, the logical course of action would be to talk to Tobias, and figure out why he was acting that way.

... Some part of herself told her in that Sorcerer’s voice that she was finally acting mature for once. And maybe that was the case.

But she shouldn’t let that get to her head and distract her from her goal. She wanted to confront Tobias about it, but there was a slight problem...

When she woke up, the sun already bright in the sky, he was already nowhere to be found.

She forgot that he had an independent streak. He definitely took advantage of the fact that she was socializing and befriending Sistine throughout the night, which caused her to oversleep to slip away unnoticed, and now, he probably wouldn’t be back until late at night.

How Tobias of him to do so...

And to be completely fair, this wasn’t the first time he did so. There was this other time where she accidentally slept in too late, and he already left the town to go off and kill monsters.

... And since then, she finally decided to agree to his inane demands on resting outdoors – literally in the (relatively close) wilderness. While there wasn’t a lot of magical monsters to deal with, it was still a dangerous place to rest on, and as such, she wasn’t able to rest properly...

...

Tobias really does whatever he wants, and he was strong enough to do whatever he wanted. Maybe she was just getting in the way, really...

No, no. Of course not. If she wasn’t there, then everyone knew that he would throw himself in an actual fight against a dragon of all monsters. Even while he would probably try to prepare for it in his own way, there was no guarantee that he would win.

Which is why she decided to follow him around so he wouldn’t challenge a dragon in a fight to begin with.

And besides. She wanted to see if he would honor his promise to her. And she wanted to see if he would start pining for another girl the moment he finds one.

... But then again, that vision seemed impossible... Tobias was Tobias for a reason...

No, no! He was curious about Sistine, wasn’t he? He was sneakily trying to listen to their conversation, and she noticed him listening because he twitched slightly every now and then whenever his name got brought up.

And that’s what she wanted to talk to him about to begin with!

“...”

Really, why exactly was he curious about Sistine, anyways? It really bothered her to no end...

“...”

But it wasn’t as if he looked interested in her in that way. He looked like he was more curious about who Sistine exactly was. Because if she were to believe her own instincts, she felt like there was an air of mystery about the white haired girl...

“Clara?”

“Y-yes?!” She immediately flinched at her name being called suddenly. She looked up, and found Tobias looking down at her with that confused expression of his.

It wasn’t night time yet – the sun was still up!

Since when did he get there, then?!

“... Why are you sitting outside of our room?” Tobias carefully asked, and he knelt down to face her at eye level.

“H-how long were you there?”

“A few minutes.” He replied, before giving a small shrug. “Anyways, what are you doing over here?”

“... You could have said something...” She murmured, before coughing to clear her throat. “I was waiting for you, and I was thinking to myself.”

“I see.” He nodded. And then, he stopped kneeling, and decided to sit on the floor to face her. “You wanted to talk to me, right?”

She blinked. And then she slowly nodded. Tobias really paid attention to her in his own, subtle way, didn’t he?

“Mhm. I wanted to ask you what your plan with Sistine is.”

“I don’t know anything about her.” He replied, before he paused. He slowly placed his hand to his chin, and that’s how she knew that he was thinking about it really hard. “... I think I just want to know her more, so that I can decide to send her to either our former party, or to my family.”

“... What? Why?”

That was not something she expected to hear from him. It seemed like even if she stuck with him for a while, she still couldn’t figure out what he wanted to do.

“We can’t really keep her around.” He continued, before he paused to think to himself again. “If she really is capable of fighting, then I think it’s good to send her back to our former party. I trust that she’ll get along with them well.”

“Wait, wait, wait... that’s your plan?” She slowly asked, before being met with a nod.

“Well, that, or you can stay with her while I go off and do my own thing.” Tobias replied, before she turned to glare at him. He sighed, as if expecting that from her. “... But I guess not.”

“Of course not!” She snapped, shaking her head vehemently. “Who knows what you’re going to do the moment you go off alone!”

“So I’m saying that we can’t possibly take care of her right now.” He said. “I think money is a concern, but then again I have quite a bit saved up and I can always learn how to harvest monster parts to sell them...” He hummed, before he shook his head. “But we still can’t bring her with us. Looking out for you is dangerous as it is. And besides, I think she would make a good adventurer or something.”

“I see...” Clara murmured.

She didn’t know that he also concerned about money, after all. He was so nonchalant with earning and spending significant amounts of money, but in the end, even he planned around it, after all. But didn’t that only make him incredibly practical, then?

“So now, I have a request for you.” Tobias said, and she blinked at his words. She tilted her head to the side in confusion. “You should get to know who Sistine is. That way, we’ll figure out what to do with her.”

“Hah...” Clara sighed loudly. Even with the way he phrased it – she understood how to read between the lines, and the context he was aiming for. “I know that you’re asking me this so that I wouldn’t have to accompany you in your hunts, am I right?”

“Yeah... I’m sorry.” He looked away, nervously rubbing the back of his head. At least, he looked sheepish about his motivations being found out.

“Fine, fine.” She huffed. “That just means you’re worried about me, is it?” Her question was met with a firm nod, and she sighed. “I’ll do what you ask of me, then.”

“Thank you.” He bowed down, and her instincts immediately demanded her to do something.

Namely, that was to raise her right hand, and give him a head pat. The moment she did, he flinched, but he stayed like that for the longest while, before she finally withdrew her hand. And after that, he slowly raised his head to face her again.

Clara giggled at his submissiveness. Really, the idea of a headstrong, decisive, ‘cannot be persuaded once he made his choice’ Tobias and the idea of him bowing down his head and allowing her to pat him... She found the contrast way too adorable.

It still made her heart flutter when he made exceptions for her. That’s why she liked him, after all.

“Anyways, I still need to do something.” Tobias pushed himself from the cross-legged seat on the floor. “See you later and good luck, Clara.”

“Ah, stay safe, Toby.” She said, before waving him off. And at her words, he nodded before walking away, his footsteps not even audible.

... It was rare for him to request anything from her. So it was only natural that it was something she should do properly and perfectly, especially now that she knew that Tobias really held no romantic interest in Sistine.