299. Nebula

Higure and Nyx were walking together through the streets after leaving the Basilica. Both were marching in a silence that the night goddess eventually broke.

“So… love, is it?” She asked in a rather light-hearted tone.

The lioness smirked at her. “What? Was it not clear enough already?”

“Pardon the terminology, but everyone had the impression that you were thirsty for his body and gung-ho for his genes more than anything else.”

“Woah, now those are words I wouldn’t have expected to hear out of your mouth,” Higure said with a laugh. “And what’s so surprising about it? A dashing young man saves your soul, gives you a new life, cares about you, and silently screams out for care. How can I not answer?”

Nyx glanced at the grin of the dark-skinned woman and mused. “I suppose… that makes sense. So that means you also noticed, right?”

“Of course,” Higure nodded. “I lived rent-free inside his soul for a short while. I would see ‘them’ from time to time, roaming the landscape. In the distance, hidden in the dark; their glowing eyes peering into me. No wonder my every carnal instinct has been ringing bells ever since he ate my heart. The longer I am around him, the harder it gets. He just forces you to… indulge.”

Nyx didn’t say anything but her silence was more than enough.

“Well, it’s what it is, isn’t it?” The lioness crossed her arms behind her head. “That boy has such a warm heart, but it’s besmeared by a wound and drowned in fear.”

“…do you pity him?”

“I do,” she instantly acquiesced. “But don’t get me wrong. I know that he doesn’t need pity. That’s why I want to give him even more,” she declared with a grin. “I’m sure you understand yourself to some degree.”

“Maybe,” the goddess replied evenly.

“Haha, you know, you’re the only who has no bias toward him. Even Natsu would begrudgingly admit having a small attachment to him, despite having basically been forced into servitude.”

“…”

“You, however, treat Rakna as an equal from every possible perspective. You appreciate him in the way a best friend would. In a sense, you might be the most compatible with him.”

Nyx raised an eyebrow at that, not feeling particularly troubled by the evaluation, and Higure let out a chuckle before waving the topic off.

“Anyway, look over there,” the lioness pointed at an approaching group of men. They were clearly looking at them. “Another one. Who do you think they’re going to hit on first this time, eh? I bet on myself.”

“…I will bet on myself as well.”

“Hahaha! You’re on!”

* * *

Rakna casually jumped down to a lower floor of Athens, momentarily summoning a Valkal to use as a foothold and gently glide until he landed. When he touched ground, he glanced at the invisible tail of his Path Skill and nodded internally.

‘Quite nice. I can use it as surprise footholds in a fight if necessary. Though it seems the Reverse Side does not have the concept of momentum. The Valkal will not gain ‘speed’ in the truest sense. I guess there goes my idea of using it as an invisible bullet.’

“{Why would you need to be even more terrifying?}” Fray deadpanned inside his mind. “{And can you please act more worried about your imminent prospective death?}”

‘It’s fine. We both saw the ending of the book. What will happen, will happen.’

“{I know but…}” The fable writer sighed exasperatedly. “{In the first place, my magic shouldn’t be capable of looking into the future… I admit there are some special circumstances but how can you trust that prophecy so much?}”

‘It’s my old man’s book, duh.’

This reply floored any and every argument Fray had. “{Why does that make so much sense? That is not fair,}” he complained. “{All right then. How about trying to filter possible threats? Is there a chance of Xaris Nefertrion plotting revenge against you?}”

‘Ah, yes. There is. A very likely one, to be fair,’ Rakna admitted. ‘But anyone would think twice if they know I can have Adjudicators do my bidding. Though anyone with a brain should be able to realize my control over them is limited. Regardless, I’m not afraid of the Nefertrion’s retaliation. In fact, you could say I await it.’

“{Why is that?}”

‘Think about it,’ the therian shook his head. ‘If they get caught red-handed trying to harm a Council Member, won’t they be in loads of trouble? If that happens, I can just reap the rewards by taking over their family’s possessions.’

“{Wait… that is diabolic…}”

‘Thank you. I need to start thinking like a businessman now that Harvest is soon going to open,’ Rakna said as he opened a system window. He scrolled down his friend list and selected a certain person to initiate a voice call with.

“{I was not praising you…}” Fray’s retort went unheard as someone picked up the call.

“| Rara? This is the first time you call me. Is something wrong? |” Kara’s confused but greatly excited voice sounded in Rakna’s head. “| Ah! You wanted to hear my voice?! Is that it?! |”

“Shush. I need you to do something. There’s a family in New Athens called Nefertrion. Do you know them?” He went straight to the matter and he almost could hear her pout on the other side.

“| Yes. I do. Minor aristocrats. What? Want me to get rid of them? |”

“…why do you--? Actually, never mind. Yes, basically that. They’re probably going to move against me soon. Some guy named Xaris, to be exact. Keep an eye on them for me, and when they make a move, corner them and take over their family.”

“| Wow, |” she exclaimed in awe. “| How devious. |”

“I don’t want to hear that from someone who just proactively suggested getting rid of them.”

“| Semantics. By the way, did something happen with Kae? |”

“…maybe. Why?”

“| Because she came back home a giggling mess, and is now rolling around on her bed. |”

“That’s…” Rakna blinked. “Unbelievably adorable. Send it.”

“| On it. |”

* * *

About ten minutes later, Rakna reached the Capital Library of Athens. It was quite a lascivious building near the center of the towering city. It was spherical in shape and was built through three layers.

The entrances were all around it, placed over a massive curtain wall that followed the entirety of the library’s circumference; something that was repeated across the library’s outer shell and made it gleam under the sun.

When Rakna got inside, he instantly felt a coercing power that forced him to disengage his stealth skill. The therian looked at his hands and squinted his eyes. ‘Looks like an array is placed in here to limit the use of skills. A pretty powerful one too since it can stop my stealth which is passively boosted by my sin of Sloth.’

Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be many people paying attention to him. It’s not like there were no visitors, but most of them were busy with their reading or searching for books.

Rakna hummed quietly, noting the high quality of the furniture. He glanced to the side where he could see a reception, which also included a digital terminal. He then walked past the bookshelves tall enough to touch the roof and reached a railing.

He put his hand on it and curiously looked down at the same time. The sight made him smile a bit if nothing but for how impressive it was. This library had several floors, and they were all visible from one another through an opening in the center.

Following the outside shape, each floor was smaller than the previous, and the space in the middle abided by the same trend. Which gave birth to a fascinating optical illusion. The same obviously applied to the floors going up.

Furthermore, a glaring aspect of the interior was a giant floating armillary sphere taking up the free air space. Its every intricate piece was made of golden metal and exuded shapeless waves of energy.

“{How is it? Impressive, isn’t it?}” Fray spoke up. “{This library has been standing for almost 900 years. The artifact you see in front of you is a Gold Item capable of appropriating itself a territory and stopping the time of objects within its range. In other words, books here will not deteriorate. Also, people call it a library, but the bottom and top floors host museums and galleries as well.}”

‘I see. Does this building have a name?’

“{Oh yes. We call it Nebula. It was named after a unique kind of ‘planet’ that exists in a Reality fully submerged underwater. Nebulas are ‘reversed planets’; the inside is hollow and livable.}”

‘Sounds like an interesting world,’ Rakna commented and picked up on the presence of his friends while heading toward the stairs built alongside the walls. The library was quite large and taking his time, it took him about ten minutes to get to his destination.

He was then promptly welcomed by the sight of everyone sitting at a table together. Evelyn was quite literally drowning in piles of books for some reason, Allan had fallen asleep on his chair in a rather convoluted posture, Marie was listening to something with earphones whilst reading, Nyx and Higure were standing next to each other as they browsed a shelf and chatted, and Flavia was using a digital screen to look through titles with Tyran sitting on her head.

And then… 

“What are you doing?” Rakna muttered while staring at Astraea near him, who was playing puppet with the shadow wolf he had given her. The poor thing had been dressed up like a doll as well. “I didn’t leave this guy with you so you could torment him,” he said blankly, quietly noticing that she was wearing a necklace she didn’t have before.

“But look at him! He’s so cute!” The goddess replied with a smile, lifting the wolf’s front legs and making them wave. The shadow beast’s deadpan eyes suddenly lit up when they fell on Rakna and he quickly escaped Astraea’s grip. He dashed toward his summoner and jumped into his shadow without waiting, disappearing and leaving behind all the accessories.

“…”

Rakna and Astraea looked at each other in silence afterward; a summon with limited intelligence had just been traumatized to the point of dispelling itself.

“So? Do you have something to say?” The therian spoke up with squinted eyes.

The goddess averted his gaze with pursed lips. “…sorry.”

AhraManyu

I love Astraea, I don’t know why. She combines fun, silly, and cute perfectly. Maybe it’s just me. The way I usually design my characters is based on feeling alone. I rarely think about what they ‘should’ say or ‘how’, I just channel myself through them, I guess. That’s most likely why I like them so much. Sadly, that also creates flaws in characterization from time to time.

PS: Mobile data ftw! Woohoo!