Chapter 176 Fire And Ice

". . ." Amara was shocked at first before she sniffed and wiped her tears with a smile on her face. "When did you become such a man?"

"You have protected me long enough," I told her. "It's time that I did the same to you. Besides . . ." I tilted my head and grinned at her. "What kind of a man am I if I can't protect the woman I love, right?"

<Ohhhh~ Host is so smooth>

I was talking in behalf of my other self.

<You sure?>

Don't ruin the moment.

Amara sniffled and wiped her tears again before she said with a serious face, "I will fight beside you if that's what it takes to be by your side."

"Good. I hope that you'll be prepared."

<Keekeekee. Florin and Megu will be thrilled! They have another sister to join their covenant!>

Shut it.

"Look . . ." Jin interrupted. "It's nice and all that you get your women, but I don't want to die. It's best if you give her to Volmont and offer a peace offering, and maybe we can still rectify this mess. It's not like Edward would kill her. Worst case scenario, she would be living her days as a Princess caged inside a castle with servants attending to her every need."

Amara glared at Jin.

While my pointed look pinned him to a stop. "I don't think you have any say in this matter. And no one is going to die here."

Jin took a deep breath and sighed. "What made you say that?"

"Simple. It's because I won't let that happen."

Jin harshly brushed his hands over his fuming face. "Don't you get it? You're up against a powerful house with thousands of armies! High-ranking mercenaries, assassins, and hunters at their beck and call, backed by the Church and the kingdom. Are you telling me that you, a noob without even been here for a year, who probably has a hut in some backwater field â€" could defeat this behemoth of military might?"

"How annoying." I sneered in disdain. "It's not a hut. It's a village," I corrected.

Jin almost passed out from frustration. His veins were bulging hard against his red face.

I ignored him and looked at Lina instead. "What about you?"

The lethargic woman with long black hair looked at me with a question mark on her head.

"This guy saved you," I told her while Jin's eyes widened, signaling for me to zip my mouth about her being his sister.

"So you owe him your life from now on," I told Lina. "In which, in return, he owed me his life."

"No!" Jin immediately interrupted and realized what he had done when Lina's black eyes stared at him.

Jin cleared his throat and looked to the side. "I mean . . . I didn't save you . . . I just happened to pass by," he said, trying to act cool.

I rolled my eyes. Talk about being a tsundere.

Rather, why was he so adamant about keeping the secret that he was her brother?

Lina thought for a moment before she said in a lazy tone, "There's no more contract . . . and no academy would accept me because I already finished a week here. So . . .  that means that my only option is the guild."

"You'll do better in the guild," Jin immediately told her. He was probably trying to dissuade her from joining my group since I had made enemies with Edward.

Though I didn't know if he thought things through because he would not be seeing her again if she did join a guild, or maybe he made a decision that she would rather be out in harm's way than be with him even it meant not seeing her anymore.

Lina shook her head. "It didn't change the fact that you have saved me . . . so until I paid my debt, I will not leave your side."

"What?!" Jin was on edge now, but there was a shadow of a smile on his lips. "I told you that I just passed by. I didn't save you!"

Good to know that the little sister was stubborn like her brother. However, I couldn't bring her along without something to tie her lips. I couldn't have her stab me in the back in the future.

I felt soft hands circling with mine, and soft ample bosoms pressing against my skin. I looked over at Amara's beautiful face.

Her as well.

I knew when to separate the heart and the brain. And I wasn't so blinded by this overflowing emotion to not know that Amara could still betray me.

"If you want to come with me, then you have to wear this," I told Amara and Lina as I showed them the black like stone in my hand. "This is my assurance that you two wouldn't do anything to me. A warning, if you equip this, it is forever. And if you talk, think, or do me harm, your head will explode."

"Cross!" Jin gnashed his teeth, but he couldn't do anything when Lina grabbed the black object before Jin could stop her.

She then equipped it without another word, and a dark headband appeared on her head. It wasn't that apparent because it was the same color as her hair. But if you looked closely it looked good on her. It added a feminine charm to her, even a little.

"Y-you . . ." Jin didn't know what to say, and he tried to remove the headband from Lina's head to no avail while the woman only looked over at him like she could care less.

"Do you know what you've done? You have tied yourself to that guy!"

I rolled my eyes. "Don't be so dramatic. Every one of you is free to leave whenever you want. Rather, that accessory is your free pass to come and go in my fief as you like."

I addressed Amara next when she just stared at the black object in her hand.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

Amara's gaze was elusive. "You don't trust me?"

Oh. So that's how it was. I think she felt insulted by the accessory.

"It's just an assurance."

A frown wrinkled her face. "And what if I don't wear it?"

". . ."

Our eyes locked, and neither one wanted to submit to the other.

"Think of it like this . . . If you really wanted to come with me, then prove it by wearing this accessory," I told her.

". . ." Amara closed her eyes before she looked at me with determination. "Fine then. I'll show you the depth of my feelings if you're still not convinced of my love for you after all these years."

Amara equipped the stone in her hand, and a dark bracelet appeared on her left wrist.

I would be lying if I said that I wasn't happy with what she said and did.

"Happy?" she asked with a pout.

Instead of answering, I took her hand and softly kissed the back of her palm while I didn't remove my eyes from his. "Very."

Amara blushed, and she retrieved her gaze and looked away.

<Smooth. Very Smooth, Host>

Jin grumbled at the side and broke the moment. "Stop being lovey-dovey and think of a way on how we could return to your territory alive. Edward's armies are all around us. The moment we went out of town, they would surely ambush us."

"Ah. That's for sure," I replied without care.

Jin gritted his teeth and looked like he wanted to hurt me.

Lina yawned in boredom.

Amara was getting worried again.

While Thomas was looking at the rotting corpses at the side while gulping his unending saliva.

"Let's go back home," I said and led the way out of town.

"Hoi. Didn't you hear me? Edward's soldiers might ambush us!"

"Relax." I thought Jin was the silent, cool type of guy. But who knew that he was the worrying annoying big brother type?

"I have something planned," I told him.

Passing by the town on the way out, Edward was speaking with the highest authority left in the city. He was pinned here together with his advisors, for they still had to wait for Asuka's representatives to come and collect information of what happened here.

Maybe he would order his men disguised as bandits to ambush us on the way back. Or maybe I was wrong, and he himself would ambush us.

It didn't matter if he came or not. It would be better if he did, so I could kill him right away.

"What are we going to do, Cross?" Amara whispered in my ears while her hand clutched my arm tight.

"Ignore him and continue moving," I said.

"You sure?" Jin asked. "He looked like he was already plotting our murder."

"Don't worry about him," I said. "The apocalyptic event is upon as soon. That at least would give us time to prepare our next move."

"Apocalyptic Event?" Jin raised a brow. "How do you even know that it would come?"

The corner of my lips rose in a smirk. "My eyes could see everything, remember?"

". . ."

I felt Amara trembled beside me. "The Apocalyptic Event . . . I wonder what it is this time."

Her voice was laced with worry, thick with dread for the future and everyone's faces turned grim except for Thomas who only thought about eating flesh.

Couldn't blame them.

"The Apocalyptic Event this time . . . is fire and ice."

----

A/N

Hello everyone, please excuse me if I would only publish once a day this month and the next for I would write my WSA entry.

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