Part Twenty-Nine

Despite, or maybe because of, the anxiety and stress I was feeling, I got a full eight hours of sleep last night, barring the three I had to stand watch. Because of that, I was awake before my alarm, and thereby the first one downstairs. Well, second actually. I found Regis curled in a chair, snoozing peacefully. I tried to slip past him, but failed miserably.

“Kyuu? Yaaaah, kyu. Kuu?”

The second he heard me, his ears began twitching, and after a confused bark and a long yawn, he realized that it was me who’d woken him up. I’d actually expected him to be irate with me, but the way his tail was nervously twitching seemed to say that he was afraid I was mad at him. Granted, I had thrown him out of my room last night, so I would’ve understood if he’d been upset with me. But perhaps the little fox understood even more than I thought. Maybe he even understood that I’d needed some alone time last night.

“Ku ku kuu ku?”

“Yeah, I’m feeling, well not better, but maybe more grounded right now. Sorry for booting you out last night.”

“Ku ku. Kuuuuu~!”

“…One of these days, I’m going to make you take an IQ test. You’re surprisingly smart for being a fox.”

“Kuuuu~! Kyu.”

“Uh-huh. Come on, time for breakfast.”

“Kuuuuuuuuu~!”

Haaaah, of course that’s what makes him happiest. Also, when did I start to consider keeping him? He’s a wild animal or a monster, I’m still not quite sure which, but I doubt I’d be able to bring him on any planes I’d take. And any customs agent is likely to stop me from bringing him into their country. I’m pretty sure transporting wildlife is illegal, and I doubt I could convince people he’s my security fox. Hm, wait, could that work? Eh, I’ll think about it later.

I set about getting my and Regis’s breakfasts around. A few large pieces of jerky for him, and two peanut butter sandwiches on wheat bread for me. I would’ve preferred some milk to go with them, but keeping it from spoiling would be near impossible. And I refused to use dried or condensed milk. No, just no. That stuff's not for drinking.

Oh wait. With that Dimension Bag we got, that might actually be possible. I’d have to check to see how long it actually preserves stuff for, but being able to bring stuff I’d long given up on is extraordinary. I just hope it doesn’t come with strings attached.

No one had said anything about it last night, but that man worried me. He had to be strong considering the way he’d immobilized us without being noticed. I hadn’t even sensed the mana from whatever he’d done. I was sure we’d see him again, but I couldn’t even begin to guess when, though we’d come to a silent agreement to pretend it hadn’t happened, at least for now. After all, he could be involved in all the weirdness happening in England. Or not. We didn’t know

I sat for a time after that, watching Regis eat his jerky. He used his paws to tear the jerky to shreds, then used his teeth to tear them into even smaller pieces to eat. It was basically a full-body workout for him, and really adorable. Not that I was all that obsessed with cute things. I was a big old stoic after all.

It wasn’t much longer before I heard people moving about upstairs. I only had a few more minutes to myself, so I used them to get my thoughts straight. I was going to tell everyone what I’d learned last night, and the potential consequences of it.

***

[Alicia’s POV]

Crap, I’m still tireeeeeeeed. So sleepy, I can just barely keep my eyes open. I guess it’s time to open one of those canned coffees I bought. They’re a little sweet for my tastes, but I’m not going to bother with a gas burner this early in the morning.

Years of living with her grandfather had instilled a few of his habits into her, and one of them was to start the day with a cup of coffee. Granted, that wasn’t exactly uncommon, as many Americans drank coffee in the morning. She wasn’t dependent on the stuff, as some people were, but the injection of caffeine sure helped her brain wake up on days like today.

To that end, she headed down to the kitchen, only to discover that Michael and Regis were already there. Michael had already finished eating, and Regis was still tearing into his early morning jerky. Based on the way he was sitting while looking at his lap, he was probably still mulling over whatever was bothering him.

Alicia felt an intense desire to grill him about his odd behavior yesterday, but ultimately held herself back. Whatever it was couldn’t be that bad, otherwise he would’ve already said something. And it wasn’t like he’d keep it to himself forever, right? The fact that Michael had yet to greet her slightly worried her.

If it’s about himself, he totally will keep it to himself, but if it affects us, I expect him to talk about it soon. Maybe even as early as after breakfast.

After doing the bare minimum to prepare her own breakfast, she sat down at the table across from Michael. Even then, he didn’t move or react to her presence in any way. Even Regis was paying more attention to her, though that may be because he was afraid she’d try to pet him or something.

And so she sat there, munching on a cereal bar and drinking slightly-too-sweet coffee, staring a hole into Michael’s head. This went on for several minutes, until Kalia and the twins came downstairs as well. Gwen saw what was happening and made some remark about a lover's quarrel, which didn’t get any reaction, though Gwyn and Kalia stopped to whisper to each other.

Did she tell him about Michael last night? Or did he already suspect something was up? I wouldn’t put it past him since he seems like the kinda person who’d pick up on small quirks and tells in a person. He might even be better at reading people than me.

Everyone soon sat down to eat, though she noticed Kalia kept glancing at both her and Michael. The other woman was probably wondering why she hadn’t asked Michael what was bothering him, but couldn’t bring herself to ask after she remembered last night’s conversation. And when one person in a group feels unease or discomfort, it has a way of bleeding into the others. Over the course of their meal, everyone slowly grew more and more uneasy, as if Kalia’s nervousness was infectious.

It wasn’t until everyone was done eating that the atmosphere cleared up. Though in a way, it may have been better if it hadn’t.

***

“”””…””””

I’d done it. I’d told them everything, or as much as I actually knew, which wasn’t all that much. I’d shown them the Data Slate and what it said, though we’d discovered that they couldn’t interact with it. It would shut off if anyone but me touched it. Also, I couldn’t lose it, as the Slate would return to me in the same manner as that cursed ring I couldn’t get rid of.

I’d also told them about the Trials one had to undergo to receive their Class. About how you had to attempt it alone, and that once you went in, there’d be no leaving until the Dungeon ended, as well as the fact that your growth would stop until you did so.

Their expressions are basically mirrors of mine from last night. They’re trying to process it, but are finding it rather hard to understand. I had the same problem last night. I’d expected Classes, if they existed, to be something you’d pick from a list based on your accomplishments, not something you have to clear a difficult Dungeon for! I can’t help but feel cheated like this!

The System was making this harder than it needed to, though I wasn’t sure how hard that would be. Logic, as well as Insight, told me it wouldn’t be that hard, but logic wasn’t always enough. I considered myself to be a fairly brave person, but I’d finally found something dangerous enough to unnerve me. Though, I could be confusing fear with excitement.

“What…what does this mean? Are you going to leave us to do this Trial thing?”

Alicia was the first to finish processing, and the first thing out of her mouth was to ask whether I would abandon them. I’d actually figured she would ask me something like that, but I thought it would be in private.

“…No. I won’t do something like that. I haven’t even decided what to do about this. It, it just feels too sudden. I’ll at least wait until next week to decide. Hopefully by then, I’ll have gotten my thoughts in order again.”

Alicia let out a sigh of relief at my answer. She’d already been abandoned once recently, she was probably afraid of it happening again.

I’m pretty sure she has abandonment issues, or is afraid of being alone. She’s reacted badly to thoughts like that in the past. And I know that she took Cameron leaving us harder than she let on.

“Pardon my asking, but is there a reason you’re telling us this? I’m unable to see your reasoning for doing so.”

“Simple. I imagine everyone will eventually go through this. And by telling you now, hopefully that’ll translate to you all being more educated when it’s your turn to choose. Getting a Class means gaining more power, but also comes with great danger. It’s not something anyone should decide without knowing ahead of time. But that’s just my opinion on the matter.”

“I see. Then I suppose I should thank you for the consideration. Kalia, Gwen, do either of you have any comments or concerns.”

“Nah, I’m good. This ain’t my place to meddle in.”

“Um…no, I’m okay. But…..thank you for telling us this.”

“Alright then. I’m sure you have a lot you want to think about, so why don’t we just take today slow and stick around here? There’s very few monsters near here, so it’s the perfect place to rest.”

“…………...No. If it’s alright with everyone else, I’d like to stick to our previous plans. I just want to stop thinking about it for a bit. Fighting will be just the distraction I need right now.”

“Very well. If no one else objects, we’ll leave here like we planned. There’s a moderate sized town an hour away that should have a decent, but not overwhelming, monster population for us to hunt. I’d like to propose that we stay there for a day. So long as nothing unusual is occurring there.”

Damnit, he jinxed us. Unusual shit always happens when someone says that. Then again, no one said it before, and the last two weeks have been nothing but unusual. That mysterious mage and my Class unlocking are only two of the recent things in a looong line of them. Haaaah, let’s hope this goes more smoothly than Bristol did. Then again, that could’ve gone even worse than it did, so let’s just hope it goes smoothly.

Haaaaah, I’m beginning to think we should’ve just gone somewhere else. England’s too dangerous. And I feel like I’ve gotten rusty over the last few weeks. To dependent on the others. Hmm….