Chapter 237 (1/2)

Around her, everyone at the table froze. Ikaas with shock more than anything else, seeming to have recognized Bertarn as well, but aghast that Helen would talk so directly to him. Turn was torn between laughing and growling in anger, and his face was twisted in a very amusing fashion.

But of them all, Bertarn was the most amusing. His face was completely blank, as he seemed to struggle that someone would have the gall to say this to him. More than that, a woman said it to him. Well perhaps he didn’t think that, Helen allowed, but he certainly looked like the type who had been hiding some sort of sexism. Maybe he wanted to slap a wench’s ass while she worked in the kitchen…?

Contrary to her expectations, Betarn didn’t seem to get mad at all, after he had a few seconds to process her reaction. Instead, he began to laugh, a deep, belly laugh that had him bending over and slapping his knee. Turn seemed even more taken aback than Helen at his reaction, and Ikaas just laughed awkwardly along with him, carried away by her nerves.

Helen’s mouth twitched. Truly, the girl spent more time with her mother than was good for her. Slowly frayed away your ability to think for yourself. Although he seemed incredibly boring, Turn would be a good balance for her.

Straightening, Bertarn said. “Well, yes, it does suck. And thank you, I’ll have an ale.”

As if this was the most natural thing in the world, he pulled up a chair and waved a hand. It seemed that this man was more famous than Helen had given him credit for, because a waiter instantly scrambled over, looking delighted at the chance to take Bertarn’s order.

Helen supposed she had really known his fame, but… it was so hard to keep track of all the different people that Randidly beat in the tournament…

Like a bucket of ice cold water, it hit her that her association with him had changed her in incredible ways. He had opened doors that she never would have been able to do otherwise. Her strength too… in her chest, the warm, slender flow of Aether twined around her heart.

Fucking asshole. It was annoying to stay mad at him when he was just so fucking useful.

“So who are you two lovely ladies?” Bertarn asked politely, smiling at Ikaas before turning his gaze curiously to Helen.

She shrugged. “I’m here chaperoning these two fucking love birds. And drinking while I’m at it.”

Bertarn’s eyes changed slightly, and Helen knew that he had noticed her omission of any real information about herself. But he nodded, as if this was fine. “Indeed? Well it is truly a tragedy that such a pretty lady needs to drink alone. After my loss, I have some free time. Perhaps we could make this a double date?”

*****

Randidly tsk’d to himself, tossing aside his most recent Engraving attempt. Although he had the idea down, his ability to Engrave was not yet at a high enough level to manage the Shadow IV rune. It was both a matter of control and sensitivity; the detail associated with the rune was bewilderingly complex, even in the curves.

After several attempts Randidly gleaned that the rune was actually made by drawing the lines effectively twice; once forwards, once backwards, layering the lines onto it in a complex way.

What it ended up being was an exceedingly painful headache. It was hard to tell with any surety how the two lines interacted and layered on each other. Randidly simply didn’t have enough experience discerning how they interacted. On that front, the 2nd volume of the encyclopedias he had been given seemed to be very helpful, but that was rough sledding. Studying those tomes took time, and perhaps it was due to the presence of the tournament, but Randidly didn’t have much patience to spare.

Randidly had spent most of the last day walking around the perimeter of Deardun’s walls, practicing his Engraving and Living Blood, trying to familiarize himself with his more recent skill acquisitions, so he would feel comfortable working them into fights.

Finding a nice patch overlooking a river, Randidly sat down and took stock of his gains over the past two days. He had been so focused on improving himself that he hadn’t really spent any of his PP, leaving him with a sizable amount.

Randidly had gained 7 Skill Lvls in Living Blood, 4 in Meditation and Bacterial Regeneration, 3 in Incinerating Bolt, 2 in Pierce the Skies, Shatter the Earth and Grace, 1 lvl in Flexibility of the White Hunters, Circle of Flame, and White Phantom’s Half Step, 3 in Haste and Empower, 2 in Heavy Blow and Flesh Eating Virus, 5 in Mana Engraving and Weeping Cloud, 4 in Burning Footsteps, 2 in Hammer of the Dawn and Superiority, and a surprising 11 in Weather Affinity.