NOVEL NEXT Chapter 111: The Gains and the Losses
"..." I feel utterly exhausted as I look around, finding myself in a soft, enveloping bed while Eve is sitting on a chair in the corner of the room.
"Eve..." I speak with a hoarse voice, my entire body aching. It's not a sharp pain, just an uncomfortable soreness, as if I'd walked for miles without rest and all the exhaustion came crashing back after sleeping.
"Evelyn-sama!! You're finally awake!" She runs to me, kneeling by the bedside, looking at me with shock and joy.
"Wh-what happened..." I ask her, noticing how tired my voice sounds, though it's a bit better than when I first called her name.
"Evelyn-sama, Syl'Vyr and I were waiting for you on the 1st floor. After a few days, we felt our connection with you grow close, so we ran and found you... naked and collapsed on the ground."
"You were physically fine, but exhausted and completely unconscious... we couldn't access the items in your storage ring, so Syl'Vyr and I used some of our own clothes to dress you and returned to the city quickly," she says, her voice trembling.
'Naked... that damn bitch left me naked in the middle of nowhere... I guess I should have expected that from a nymph who decided to use me as transportation! She's like a true piece of shit.'
"..." I raise my hand to say it's okay, but then I notice a ring on the pinky finger of my right hand, right next to my storage ring since I wear the storage ring on the finger next to my pinky.
It's a beautiful navy blue ring. The band is a dark blue, with a lovely, finely set dark blue stone in the center. Though simple in detail, it's an elegant and pretty piece of jewelry. This ring is Arial, transformed into an item.
I'm sure of it because in the spiritual plane, she said she would become a relic that would be bound to my body.
"Sorry, Eve... I should have been more careful..." I say to her in a somewhat sad tone.
"It's alright, Evelyn-sama... Do you... want to talk about it?" she asks. I think for a moment before answering.
"No, I just want to forget all about it... I'd rather try to be positive. Let's focus on the good things."
"Understood."
"Eve, what happened to Yter? I have to tell him that Ylya drowned... I didn't even see how it happened, but I still think it's important to tell him." I have to tell him that Ylya... died. I don't think he'll take it well.
I'd even understand if he blamed me for it, although there wasn't really anyone to blame. There was no way we could have known there was a Nymph as a floor boss there.
Remembering everything that happened, I look at Eve and blush. Now that I know I like girls—a fact unfortunately proven even against my will—I feel embarrassed about the obvious closeness I maintain with Eve.
"...Evelyn-sama, he was killed by a monster. It happened like this, we—"
"You don't need to explain." I stop her, not wanting to hear about more deaths. If Yter died, I can only lament it, but I don't want her to talk about how it happened, or I'll just get sad thinking about how both he and Ylya are gone.
"...If you don't want to know, I understand... Evelyn-sama, when we found you, you were hugging these." Eve catches my attention as she pulls two large blue spheres from under the bed.
"KYAAA!! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!" I jump out of the bed with renewed energy, forgetting everything just to grab one of the cores.
"TWO RANK S CORES!!" I shout excitedly. I never, ever imagined I'd get two Rank S cores this early, and they're even of the water element. I slip off the bed, falling face-first onto the floor because of the sudden leap, but I hug one of the cores tightly.
"Eve, do you know how much this thing costs?! It's a fortune!! And it's a Rank S Water core!! With this alone, we can create a puppet to be the healer for our group!!" I say in an alert tone while quickly stuffing the core into my storage ring.
I take the other core from her hand and store it in my storage ring as well. We can't lose something so valuable or let others know about it.
'Did Arial give these to me as a present?' I look at the ring on my finger, this relic that is Arial's body. It makes sense that she, who abandoned her physical body to go to the spiritual plane inside me, would drop her cores.
But I never imagined she would bring my unconscious body to the 1st wall with her cores.
'...Arial, you're a bitch and you killed Ylya... but I really thank you for the present...' I think with anger, a bit of shame for thanking her, and mostly a strange feeling of satisfied greed because it means going to that dungeon wasn't useless.
"Evelyn-sama, you seem better..." Eve says, watching how I reacted.
"W-well, it's just too much money! A literal fortune! It's the drop from a Rank S boss, and on top of that, it's the core of a Nymph. The value of this is astronomical!" Cores are worth more depending on their condition, their power, and who they dropped from.
Nymphs are absolutely terrifying beings, meaning a Nymph's core has a huge value. And best of all, I got two of them without a fight, so both cores are in perfect condition! Meaning I can sell one to a specialist and use the other for a puppet.
I could also fortify Eve and Syl'Vyr, but since there are only two, I can't do all of that. So I think it's better to sell one to get a lot of money and keep the other to create the healer for our team.
"Evelyn-sama, you are strangely easy to please when it involves money," she says, making me freeze and think about it.
'True... since when... did I become so greedy?' I don't know. I just feel like I need money. I think the first time was when I earned my first gold coins.
'Well, it doesn't matter! Money is important! And I need it! It's obvious that wanting money is just because I want to get stronger...' I think this without wanting to dwell on it. I'm not that greedy.
"Eve, now I'm going to try to think about what to do, and we have to go to the guild as soon as possible to report about that dungeon," I tell her, knowing that place is dangerous and others need to be warned not to enter.
...
...
...
"Eve, now I'm going to try to think about what to do, and we have to go to the guild as soon as possible to report about that dungeon," Evelyn-sama tells me as she gets back into bed.
"Evelyn-sama, you don't need to worry about that. Syl'Vyr already went to the guild to warn everyone, as well as update our registration and notify them that Ylya and Yter are dead..." When I say this, she looks surprised.
"Oh... you were very proactive... How long have I been unconscious?" She finally asks the question she should have asked earlier.
"Two weeks." She is surprised by the length of time, not to mention the time she spent who-knows-where.
"The guild just said they want your presence later so you can explain where you appeared after the trap and to learn more about how Ylya died." She nods when she hears me.
"Okay... then I'll go in a few hours, and afterwards, I'll look for a place to create our new companion."
'Another one...' I feel bothered by this. It's not bad to have more people in our team to cover our weaknesses; the problem is that Evelyn-sama is doing this too quickly for my taste.
Besides, Evelyn-sama is acting strange again. Evelyn-sama is all gentle and fragile, which makes her sensitive to many things, but Ylya died and she doesn't even cry or talk about it, as if she's ignoring the fact.
'Could it be... because she didn't see it?' I have a strange epiphany. Evelyn-sama only reacts to things that affect her directly. When I forced her to dissect the wolf, her tearful reaction is her natural self.
But she recovered from that too quickly for someone who was traumatized. And now there's this thing with Ylya. Even though we didn't spend much time with that girl, the sensitive Evelyn-sama should still cry.
Yet, she reacts as if it doesn't matter, reinforcing the fact that if she doesn't see it, if it doesn't affect her directly, and if it isn't truly important to her, it simply becomes something she ignores.
'...' I am an attentive person. I observe and memorize everything Evelyn-sama does. I do this because Evelyn-sama is someone who has suffered, and I like to know exactly how she is changing.
Because, as her servant, my duty is to prevent her from doing something that will ruin her life forever. From the time I was born until now, Evelyn hasn't changed much, except for the fact that she has shown considerably high greed when it comes to money.
And she has shown enormous narcissism that, no matter how much she tries to hide it, always shows signs sooner or later. Right now, she is doing just that; she is staring into a mirror while adjusting her hair.
"Evelyn-sama, do you need me to fetch clothes for you?" I ask, knowing she will want to take a bath before going to the guild.
"No, I'll take a bath by myself and then choose something... I also need time to think about the next puppet! She's going to be a healer. I need to think carefully about what she will look like..." she says, somewhat distracted.
"Understood. I will leave the room and let Syl'Vyr know you are awake," I say, a little calmer. I'm glad she didn't want to know more about Yter; after all, she is smart and could have discovered my lies.
"Of course, you may go... I'm still a bit tired, so a hot bath will also help me wake up."