Chapter 50: Gathering
"The predator..."
Racheal chewed on the words.
Maki looked at me with squinted eyes.
"Are you talking about that predator. The one you said was killing all the cadets, that we should stay away from at all costs? That predator?"
I scratched my chin awkwardly.
’I guess I did say all that, didn’t I?’
"Yep."
"Are you crazy?"
For the first time ever, Lily and Maki were on the same side. I shrugged in response.
"Those were necessary half-truths. While the predator is insanely dangerous, it isn’t completely invincible. Not if Song’s visions are to be believed."
The girl in question just kept looking on in incredulity as I used her name like an infinite get-out-of-jail card.
Not that I could be bothered. I pressed on.
"The results of her vision stand clearly before you, so there is little need to doubt their validity any further."
Maki narrowed her eyes further, but decided to stop pushing there.
Racheal, on the other hand, hardly seemed daunted by the prospect of hunting the predator. Instead, she asked.
" I reckon that monster we killed earlier is also a part of this plan of yours, no?"
I nodded.
"Correct, Lady Racheal. It is, but now doesn’t seem like the best time to get into this."
Pausing a bit, I nudged my head in the direction of the high window.
"Why don’t we settle in first? That blizzard isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon."
She shot another pointed question.
"And why should we trust you lot?"
"Because you have no reason not to. Who in their right minds would betray an heir of Solaris for a few measly trial points? Certainly not me."
"Then what makes you sure I won’t just kill you in your sleep?"
I put on my best flattering smile.
"The House of Solaris name, of course. Given what you already know you’ve killed, there’s little doubt you’ll become number one. But that position can be shaky, especially if Varic ramps up his game, or the predator kills you first. At least according to Song’s prophecies."
My face shifted back to a serious look.
"We’re merely offering you a way to consolidate that position."
That sent Racheal into a deep contemplation, finally shutting her down.
Lily then said something that had been on her mind for a while.
"Aren’t all teams groups of three? Where’s your third member?"
’I was wondering that too.’
Disappointingly but unsurprisingly, the answer from both was curt.
"He’s dead."
Neither of them seemed to want or care enough to talk about it, so Lily wisely decided to rein in her curiosity.
’Does it have something to do with what Racheal said earlier?’
Not that it mattered much anyway. Our plan only needed the both of them to work.
With that, a sense of restful silence finally descended around us, only broken by the occasional crackle from the fire.
But of course, as all good things, it came to an end with a sudden notification from my interface.
A message from Song.
[We need to talk.]
As much as I hated the thought of leaving the flame, I agreed with her on that.
Pulling my hands away from that lovely warmth felt like pulling magnets apart, but in the end I managed. Song nodded smugly at that, before she started again.
"I need to check something with Victor, do give us a moment."
Maki looked at her with suspicion.
"Why not just check it here?"
"Because I don’t wa-"
I quickly cut in.
"It’s nothing really important, and it’s personal, so she’s a bit shy saying it in public."
Maki paused in realization, as if a few dots had finally connected in her mind.
"Ohhh..."
I could already tell that she’d come to some sort of terribly wrong realization, but I didn’t have the strength to start trying to correct her.
It would only make things worse.
Sighing, I carefully pushed myself up from my comfy rest, still feeling the lingering effects from the blizzard and our journey to the top.
Song left the room first, and I quickly followed, but only after sending a message to Lily.
[If any of them moves, please inform me.]
Racheal I could somewhat trust not to eavesdrop. The girl wasn’t all that curious in matters not relating to her goals.
Maki, on the other hand. Although the girl looked like she’d accepted our explanation, that toxic paranoia of hers made her most likely to do so.
Lily had no reason to do so. The girl was already completely out of her depth here.
I stepped out of the room, following Song’s lead. She was heading for the stairs. And soon enough we were descending once again.
She moved us further down by five floors, just to be safe. In all honesty, with the blizzard outside, just one would’ve been enough.
I let my flashlight roam curiously around the ruined office space we now stood in.
"Were there any other monsters in the building?"
The girl dusted the leaning edge of a broken table before sitting down.
"No, only the target. Just like in the novel."
I let out an internal sigh of relief at that. Although most of the knowledge I had from the novel had come true, with all the changes and things I’d been doing recently, I had a growing fear that it wouldn’t be long until something deviated.
I found a place to sit down as well.
The target in question this time was also a predator. A Fledgling Beast rank predator, to be exact. The same as that centipede monstrosity we’d seen back on the road earlier.
And they’d killed it. Well, mainly Racheal. I couldn’t imagine Song doing much besides providing knowledge on the thing.
It just went to show how dangerous that girl was. I hadn’t even spotted any wounds on her.
Still, that was just a fledgling predator.
The one we were after, the one that had been hunting and killing cadets, was one at the stage of maturity. Past that, even. It was on the brink of advancing to the C rank.
It was an entirely different sort of beast.
Song’s annoyed voice brought me back.
"What was that stunt you pulled earlier?"
I gave her a genuinely confused look.
"I beg your pardon, Miss Seer?"
She was glaring daggers at me now. In the end I just shrugged before answering seriously.
"What did you want me to do? You left the job of clearing their suspicions up to me. I just did my best with what you gave me."
"I think there were better ways than calling me a seer."
"Too bad. Then you probably shouldn’t have forced me to do the explanation. It was the only thing that popped up in this crazy peasant’s brain."
Before she could retort, I added.
"Besides, it’s not like it’s all bad. Your powers are related to dreams, no? Aren’t dreams also related to visions? It should be easy to keep this under the wraps, at least until you get your first heartblood infusion."
Those would be what granted us physiques, and with those physiques came traits, which were somewhat like the passive skills of this world.
"You can just chalk it up to that then."
The girl just stared at me blankly, possibly in awe of my sheer intelligence and foresight.
"I know, I know, no need to thank me."
"How can yo- Why wou- Do you eve-"
In the end she just let out an aggrieved sigh, rubbing her head in frustration.
"You know what? Just forget I ever asked."
I lingered in the feeling of victory a little while longer, before moving on to more serious topics.
"How’s your burden?"
She didn’t seem as exhausted as how she’d been in her room the other day, but then again, that was a very low bar to cross.
Almost on cue, the girl yawned before wearily rubbing her eyes.
"Once I told the Academy the situation, I was able to get 5 shots of diluted vitae. Each is roughly enough for one day."
She paused, scratching her arm.
"I’ve only taken three so far. I skipped one on the blizzard day, so I’m somewhat still functional."
’That’s not too bad.’
If she skipped one during this blizzard as well, she’d have enough for the next two days.
And that was all the time we needed to kill the beast. Or, more accurately, all the time we had. No matter where we ran, we’d be dead by the seventh day if we couldn’t kill him in the next two.
There was a high chance of dying even earlier than that.
She shot the question back to me.
"What about yours?
"I got two doses of drugs from the Academy. I still have them. I was saving up for the hunt."
I paused, counting with my fingers.
"Besides, I’ve only puked twice and nearly gotten us killed once. So I’d say I’m pretty functional too."
The girl rolled her eyes, to which I could only smirk.
Then, my face turned serious once again.
"Okay, that’s enough of that. Let’s get down to business. You’ve got the kill shot, right?"