Vivian stood off to the side, hoping to be forgotten, while the outlaw and slime glared at each other.

“You didn’t need to blow my cover like that.”

“Better…tell…her…now. No…chance…deceive.”

Theo frowned, but Mavis turned its mask to look away.

“Well, she already knows about you…” Theo sighed. “So, I guess this is trivial in comparison. Anyways, that’s not what I want to talk about.”

“…What?” Mavis looked back but its tone was still combative.

Theo hesitated for a moment, but then he sat down. The outlaw crossed his legs, put his hands on his knees and bowed deeply.

“I’m sorry.”

The slime’s ‘hair’ twitched, but it said nothing as Theo continued.

“From the moment we met, you’ve shown me nothing but kindness. I’m sorry for using your goodwill against you. Even though I was desperate, it wasn’t right.”

When Theo set out to save Mavis, he had been worried. Theo wasn’t sure if he’d know what to say after Nico had been dealt with. To his surprise, the words came readily. Everything flowed out as if he’d suddenly uncorked a bottle.

“I don’t know if you’ll be able to live on the surface, but I want to help you. If you’ll let me, I can at least guide you to the portal.”

Mavis stared down at Theo.

“How…know…won’t…deceive…when…get there?”

Theo met the slime’s gaze.

“I can’t prove that I won’t. If you still don’t trust me, then I’ll leave.”

Mavis sat down in front of him. The slime’s tone finally softened as it said…

“…Fool.”

Mavis used a word that it had just learned from Nico. It seemed to describe a person that spoke without fully understanding their situation. If that was true, then it certainly applied here. Despite its harsh attitude, Mavis already knew that Theo wasn’t lying. After spending several days with him and hearing Theo lie, obfuscate and speak honestly, Mavis could tell that he was being sincere. This would be an impressive feat for most, especially a being who’d spent its entire life in a cave. However, Mavis could use its magical sight to cheat a little bit. Checking a person’s pulse wasn’t anything difficult, and it could also see every slight twitch that might constitute a tell. Therefore, it was fairly confident in its ability to detect lies. At least, for people that it already knew.

Mavis had also spent a lot of time thinking about this betrayal. In fact, it might be more accurate to say that Mavis hadn’t stopped thinking about it since the blood moon. The slime analyzed the other betrayal that it had witnessed and watched how Marco treated Vivian afterwards. It realized that there was something fundamentally different about the two situations. Ultimately, Marco didn’t seem to care about Vivian. He truly thought of her as another treasure in his collection.

Mavis thought back to the way Theo had treated it, especially back in the first layer. How he’d told it to run instead of asking it to help fight. How he’d been relieved when they reunited. How he’d explained things whenever it asked, and sometimes when it hadn’t. These could all be dismissed as ‘caring for his merchandise’, but Mavis didn’t feel that way. Mavis had felt a certain sincerity during each of those moments. Just like it did now.

If Mavis had simply wanted Theo to escort it to the portal, then thinking about these things would have been a waste of effort.

“Why…humans…go to…dungeons?”

Theo blinked. “To find treasure.”

“Why…find…treasure?”

“To make money.”

“Hear…before…money…important…on…surface. Can’t…live…without.”

“That’s true.” Theo nodded.

“Not all…humans…are…raiders…I think. But…I…can’t…make money…on…surface.”

“You probably can’t. Especially with that mask.”

“Then…work…together…find…treasure.”

Theo’s eyes widened. The outlaw hurriedly shook his head.

“You could make money in the second layer just fine. I need to go down to the fourth layer. Maybe even lower.”

“Also…need…practice…disguise…and…speaking…can’t…do…alone.”

“Then just go with her.” Theo pointed at Vivian, who had been slowly backing up.

Vivian wasn’t planning on running away, but she felt a little awkward listening in on their conversation.

Mavis shook its head. The slime’s tentacles waved subtly, as if there was a slight breeze. Its body visibly shrank as it asked another question.

“What…angelic…mean?”

Its tentacles waved a bit faster, as if the breeze had picked up.

“Angelic?” Theo replied, tilting his head. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“What…mean?”

The breeze turned into a small storm.

“Angelic means angel-like. Angels are servants of the divines. Apparently, they’re extremely beautiful.”

The slime’s tentacles froze in place.

“Why is that slime’s voice so…angelic?”

This was the very first thing that Theo had said when they met. Theo couldn’t be blamed for forgetting, since he had fallen unconscious immediately afterwards. However, Mavis had not forgotten. The slime had never heard that word before, and it hesitated to ask Theo. Back when Mavis was trying to find humans to talk to, it would never fail to scare them away. Even when it had caught one in its own den, that human kicked its tentacle in an attempt to flee.

Mavis had felt incredibly discouraged.

The slime looked itself over and accepted that it simply wasn’t like humans. There was nothing about it that didn’t terrify them. That was when Theo spoke. Before slipping into unconsciousness, he said something that actually sounded positive.

Mavis had been shocked. The slime hovered around his body for hours, hoping to hear something else. Of course, Theo couldn’t say anything else. Mavis eventually gave up and searched for some food. It had seen humans eating many kinds of plants in the first layer, and so it gathered a bunch of them. When Mavis returned, it left the food near Theo and waited. When he still didn’t wake up, the slime remembered that humans needed light to see. It rushed out to prepare while its core bounced with excitement.

After Theo woke up, Mavis suddenly felt apprehensive. The slime tried to start a conversation, and—to its amazement—it actually succeeded. Theo didn’t run away. Once they had talked for a while, he didn’t even seem scared. Mavis had felt particularly elated when the raider started to laugh. The slime realized that it could communicate with humans after all.

“Want…go…with…you.” Back in the present, Mavis spoke up.

Theo stiffened. Even though he wasn’t a living lie detector, Theo felt a terrifying amount of sincerity in those words. Despite his efforts to conceal it, a wide smile spread across his face.

“…Ok. If that’s what you want.”

- - -

Vivian felt her scalp tingling as she trudged through the woods. Ahead of her, Theo and Mavis were chatting up a storm. The smile on Theo’s face coupled with Mavis’s elated tone made them seem like a pair of lovers who had just been reunited. Though, Vivian was sure that wasn’t the care. She was pretty sure, at least.

After overhearing their conversation, Vivian learned that these two were planning to tackle the fourth layer. As a novice, she didn’t know very much about Naraka’s lower layers. Even so, Vivian knew enough to shudder when they brought it up. The fourth layer was exponentially more dangerous than the third. Only teams of experienced veterans dared to raid it frequently. Sometimes headstrong raiders would attempt to challenge it alone, but most never came back. The ones that did returned with a slew of horror stories. It was something that second layer raiders would only see in their nightmares.

Then again, one could say similar things about fighting Nico.

Despite fighting three versus nine, they had managed to pull out a decisive win. Vivian was still in shock about that. The main reason why they’d won was because of Theo’s incredible presence as a vanguard, but Vivian was proud to have done her part. Their teamwork had been all over the place, but the results were far better than her previous party.

And with that thought, Vivian's mood worsened.

Vivian’s old party had consisted of two groups. The first was a team of three up-and-comers—Scott, Crowly and Zaria. These three followed their dreams to become raiders and then, after earning a decent reputation, received an invitation from Marco. Marco and Vivian were the second team. The portly man’s family had been raiders for generations. Vivian’s forceful addition to said family was partially because Marco liked her looks, but mainly because of her talent as a mage. Marco gained a wife and an extremely reliable raiding partner in a single purchase. The three childhood friends were low on capital, and so they had agreed to work with Marco and Vivian. Though, considering how much Marco argued with them, the group would have disbanded sooner or later.

Vivian had never wanted to be a raider and her experiences in Marco’s party only amplified that feeling.

Of course, Vivian knew that these feelings had no impact on her future. Once she got home, Marco would inevitably find another party in need of money. They would go back and repeat this fiasco again and again. Her fiancé was both stubborn and predictable, a winning combination.

“Vivi…you…ok?” Mavis asked, looking back at her straggling acquaintance.

“You do look a bit pale.” Theo observed.

“I’m fine.” Vivian insisted. She forced a weak smile.

In the end, their destination was still the one-way portal. Theo and Mavis planned to gear up and then head to the third layer, but Vivian obviously wasn’t coming. At Mavis’s insistence, Theo agreed to escort her to the portal.

“By the way, how did you know when Nico was going to attack?” Theo asked. “You even knew where I needed to dodge.”

“Ah, that’s because of my necklace.” Vivian replied, raising her cat’s eye pendant. “This gem locks onto a single target and gives me information about them. It can even predict their movements, although it isn’t incredibly precise.”

“What kind of information?”

“The more it sees, the more it shows. After watching a target, it can tell me about their strength, max speed, toughness…etcetera. It can even reveal a raider’s enchantments and casting affinities.

“Sound…useful.” Mavis said.

Vivian nodded, but her face wore a conflicted expression. It truly was an amazing piece of equipment, but she had trouble bringing out its full potential. Her previous group already had two leaders that were constantly butting heads, so Vivian’s advice didn’t hold much weight.

“That’s pretty impressive. What kind of monster dropped it?”

“I don’t know. This is a keepsake from my parents.”

“Oh, so they’re…” Theo trailed off as he noticed Mavis shaking its head.

The slime didn’t know exactly what parents were, but Theo had said that they were similar to teachers. Mavis had a strong feeling that parents were very important to humans. This intuition was something it had felt numerous times. Certain words seemed to make sense before it ever understood them. Without this feeling, learning to speak might have been impossible for Mavis.

It was also one of the many mysteries that Mavis had long since given up on understanding. Though, it did secretly hold some hope.

“Wait…” Theo suddenly stopped walking.

He turned to Vivian and pulled up one sleeve, revealing a golden mark. The faintly glowing sigil resembled a polished stone.

Vivian’s eyes widened, but she quickly recovered. The mage extended her arm and revealed her own sigil. They matched.

“So, you’re also from Brightstone.” Theo’s tone wasn’t particularly happy or sad. He sounded like someone who’d stepped in dog shit, and then ran into an equally unlucky individual.

“Yup.” Vivian’s neutral face mirrored the outlaw’s.

After a tense few seconds, Theo began to chuckle while Vivian snorted slightly. Brightstone was a very shady organization, but it wasn’t universally hated. In fact, most people held positive feelings towards the group of orphanages. They tackled the difficult task of managing kids who had lost their families. Plus, many of those kids grew up into powerful and successful members of society. Apprentices became veterans, assistants became bureaucrats and wives became heads of households. These people staunchly supported their foster home, helping Brightstone rise into a dominant power that could rival the oldest noble families.

Because of her own personal experiences with Brightstone, Vivian didn’t hold them in high regard. People like her could only hide their resentment, and so she was happy to find someone who shared her feelings.

“I imagine they don’t like you very much.” Vivian guessed.

Brightstone was lauded for its ability to change the destiny of orphans. Obviously, criminals like Theo were stains that Brightstone wished to remove.

The outlaw grinned weakly.

“If I ever came back home, I’m sure there would be a shallow grave out back with my name on it.”

A slight smile appeared on Vivian’s face as she chuckled.

It was a morbid joke. Frankly, it was hardly a joke at all. However, Theo’s self-deprecating humor caused Vivian to laugh genuinely for the first time since the blood moon.

Actually, she reflected, it was the first time in a very long time.