"I have seen bigger, miss Trisha."

Van rubbed his nose as he still felt a tinge of a sting in it from hitting Nisha's decently sized bosoms. It would have probably been a more pleasant experience, if not for the fact that they were shielded by what seemed like leather armor.

​​

"...It's Nisha." Nisha let out a deep sigh as she looked at the boy in front of her. "But seeing as you still know how my name sounds like, you still remember who I am, Van."

"Van, who's that? My name is Nath--"

"Stop it with the lies! I have heard your name being called numerous times already!"

"...Fine." Van could only shake his head in defeat.

"There's too much noise here, can we talk somewhere quieter?" Nisha slightly leaned closer to Van as her words were being drowned by the howlings of the prisoners.

"What for? Are you going to rap--"

"Whatever it is that you're thinking, it's not it! I just wanted to talk to you properly!"

Van quickly looked towards Gil to check if he would be alright left alone, but seeing as he is currently dancing in his underwear with some of the Prisoners… he should be fine. And so, with a nod, he followed Nisha until they reached a small house nearer to the trees.

"Come on in, my housemate should still be enjoying the festivities outside."

"...You have a house here?"

"Of course, I earned it. Come on in before someone sees you, I don't want any rumors spreading around."

Van was quite suspicious at first and hesitated in coming in, but since he had prior history with Nisha, it should be alright. But the next time someone asks him to follow them, he would most probably reject them.

He has been too trusting ever since he had met his friends, almost forgetting the life he led back then. And now that he was back to the way it was… his old self was slowly but surely resurfacing… except now he had power. Whatever that meant for him and for the people of this world, nobody knows yet.

"Here, have some water. I am sure you haven't drank any water yet ever since you arrived here."

Van's thoughts were disrupted as Nisha handed him a glass of water. And she was right. Everything has been going too fast and he was only thinking of how to adapt to this place, that he couldn't… didn't even feel his thirst anymore.

...So that's why Gil has been chugging beers left and right.

And so, Van sniffed the glass of water.

"It's not poisoned!"

"It--"

"It's also not drugged!"

Van could not help but squint his eyes as he handed the glass of water back to Nisha, gesturing him to take a sip on it first. Of course, Nisha went wild, but after a few seconds, she gave up and drank a little bit of it.

Van only drank the glass of water a few seconds after Nisha, to make sure it really was not poisoned whatsoever.

"Thank you." He then said as he asked for more. Placing the water inside a water pouch he got from somewhere. Nisha swore the pouch looked familiar, though.

"So… what did you want to talk about, miss Nisha?"

Finally, after almost half an hour of just focusing on drinkable water, Van placed his attention back on Nisha.

"I was sent here for killing one of my party members."

And without even a slight hesitation in her words, she looked Van straight in the eyes and uttered the reason for her being in the Pit, "He was also part of our guild, but I found out that he has been harassing some normal girls in exchange for Crystals. We got into an altercation, and I killed him."

"...I see." Van let out a slight hum as he heard Nisha's story. He then took another sip of water from his glass before… taking another sip.

"..."

"..."

"Aren't you going to tell the reason why you're here!?" And after a few seconds of silence, Nisha snatched the glass from Van's hand.

"What? What for?"

"I told you my story!"

"...I didn't ask--"

"Just tell me why you're here!"

"I…" Van was tempted to lie again. But seeing the sincere expression on Nisha's face, he decided not to. Telling the truth sometimes had its merits, after all.

"...I killed 2 people. 3, if I really did kill my father as well."

"W… what?"

Nisha's breath stuttered as soon as she heard Van's words. She was honestly expecting him to lie again, and maybe it was better if he just did… or maybe he is lying?

"Are you--"

"The two were System Holders who ransacked my home, harming a precious friend of mine. One of them bled to death. The other one… took his time."

"..."

"As for my father, I do not know yet if I really killed him. But if I did… I wish I could remember it."

"That…"

Seeing Van's small stature, sometimes she forgets the first time they met him. He was on top of an arachne laughing by himself… this boy… has a few loose screws in his head.

"My father beat me, you see. Almost everyday…

...He even took advantage of me."

"!!!"

A loud crunching noise resounded in the house as Nisha tightened her grip on the glass she was holding, completely shattering it into pieces.

"Scum… scum of the earth! Why would they even throw you into the Pit for that!? At most you should have just been put on watch, not thrown here!"

"...I am a kid from the slums, miss Nisha. They probably thought I belonged here in the first place."

"That isn't--"

"And they are probably right. I already killed two people, and I haven't even been here for a whole day."

"..."

Nisha had no response to Van's words. They were the truth, after all.

"..."

"Thank you for the water, miss Nisha." After another few seconds of silence, Van stood up from the chair and started walking to the door. But before he could open the door, Nisha grabbed his shoulder.

"Wait, you can sleep here for now if you want."

"...Together?"

"What!? No!"

Van let out a tiny chuckle as he saw Nisha's flustered face. "I'm afraid I left someone outside. If he isn't dead yet, I'll come back here…

...Thank you again, miss Nisha." He said as he left the tiny house.

Nisha could only blink a couple of times as she watched Van's back as he quickly left. But then… her eyes wandered to the side as she saw what seemed like a handful of shadows moving sneakily from house to house.

Are they… following Van? She thought before leaving the house and chasing after Van as well.

***

"It would seem that one of the Prisoners is taking care of him. Could she be his mother?"

"Doesn't she seem a little too young?"

"...You can't judge the people from the Portal the same way as us. They are monsters."

A few minutes before, as Van and Nisha were talking inside the house, the Locals were already waiting for Van to be left all alone so they could get the chance to… rescue him from the Encampment.

With the darkness and their pitch-blacked garbs, they were completely invisible in the night.

"Should we get him now? There's only one Prisoner, we could just kill her and take the child."

"Are you stupid? If she really is his mother, then the boy would definitely not come with us if we kill her."

"You--"

"Sshh… keep quiet."

Before the men could continue their argument, their leader, Eugene, hit both of their heads. "He is coming out."

The group quickly shut their mouths and focused their attention on Van, who just exited from the house.

"Let's go, grab him!"

"Wait, let him go a bit further from the house."

"..."

The group waited for a few more seconds before rushing out. However, as soon as they did so, Van suddenly disappeared from their sights.

"What!? Where is he!?"

"Search the area, he is small so he will be hard to see!"

And so, the group split up as they searched for the missing boy, not knowing that they were being tailed by Nisha from afar.

'...They… want to grab Van?'

Nisha could not help but furrow her eyebrows as she listened in on the not-so-quiet group. Judging from the way they were sneaking inside the Encampment…

'They are probably Locals… but what did they want with Van?'

***

"Wop!"

Van stopped running a few houses away from the feast that seemed to have no plans on stopping. As a matter of fact, it seemed even livelier now with even more people dancing around the huge bonfire.

He squinted his eyes as he tried to look for Gil, but seeing as most of the people were already half-naked and dancing… it might take him a while.

"..."

Although he was probably wrong, Van thought that Harvey might fit in here as he continued to watch the people dancing and wrestling on the mud without any clothes on.

Once again, Van could not help but let out a sigh as he remembered the friends he left behind. Knowing Harvey, he was probably already thinking of a way to get him out of here. As for Beatrice… well, Van wanted to think the best of her.

Victoria… he just hoped she was okay.

Weird, he had only known them for a few months, and yet it felt like he knew everything about them. Even though it did not last long… is that what it meant like to have a friend?

Speaking of friends, after a few minutes of lurking around, he finally saw Gil lying on the ground...

...drowned in red.