Once we were done with dinner, everyone including me, went off to their rooms to sleep, except for Julius who was keeping watch by the front door.

After getting into my room, which was reasonably spacious with an open window that let in both the cold air and the pale moonlight, the first thing I did was turn a feather into a raven.

It was a pied raven with white patches on its neck.

'Hmm… this one looks unique.'

I tilted my head as I studied the bird in my palm and as if mirroring me, it also tilted its head, watching me curiously with its obsidian black eyes.

"I'll name you, Arlo."

The little bird mimicked. "Arlo, Arlo."

"Your job is to keep watch over the shelter, lil one. Understand?"

The raven tilted its head and let out a sharp croak. "Understand, understand."

It then flapped its wings and soared out the window of my room.

I looked away from the open window, reached out into my inventory and pulled out a sleeping bag then quickly got into it. I was really tired after all the work today and hoped to just fall asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

But then over twenty minutes of tossing and turning passed and I still couldn't sleep.

There was just a lot of stuff on my mind that was bothering me. One of them was the journey to the Home of the Sculpted Ones. Another was a detail I noticed when I glanced at my stats.

After a few more minutes, I sighed and sat upright, then I went over to the window and sat beside it, staring at the tree at the center of the grove which was visible from here.

I was lost in my thoughts for some time, until Aika's voice drew my attention:

"Are you staring at the breasts?"

I nearly choked on my own breath, turning my head so fast I felt a pop in my neck. "The—what? No! Why is that the first place your mind goes?"

Aika chuckled and sat beside me.

"Can't sleep?"

I exhaled, staring out at the dark trees, and nodded.

She stared at me for a long moment with the same expressionless face that it began to feel a bit awkward.

Finally, she asked, "Are you afraid?"

I pursed my lips and shrugged. "Well, there's lots of reasons to be."

"Don't be." She immediately replied. "It's dangerous to be afraid."

She reached to the side and took out two bottles of beer from the inventory, then handed one to me. "Here. Drink with me."

I reached out, took it and uncorked it. Then I smiled and clinked it against her bottle before we both took a long sip.

It was quiet for a long moment after between us, until Aika finally broke the silence. "You've seen your stats, so you must have noticed it right?"

I sighed and nodded.

She then said it, "That bastard, Yami. He's still alive. I didn't hear any EXP notification after I killed him, so he must have had an escape plan. There's probably a feature to his abilities that we didn't know about."

She took a sip, and when she brought down her bottle, she wiped her mouth and continued. "I've thought about it and my guess is that his soul must have escaped to a puppet he hid somewhere, or something like that."

I scratched the side of my hair frantically. "Aissh. This is frustrating. With his body gone now, we no longer know what the bastard looks like. He could be anyone in the grove."

I wrapped my fingers tightly around the bottle of beer and my strained expression grew even more tense.

Seeing that, Aika raised one knee to her chest and leaned her head on it, facing me. Then she said calmly, "Look at me."

I slowly turned my head to meet her gaze.

We stared into each other's eyes for a moment. To be honest, there was something strangely comforting about those beautiful blue eyes.

A few long seconds passed between us, then Aika offered a warm, comforting smile, and said in a soft voice, "You don't need to worry about him, Ced. You don't need to fear him, or anyone in particular. We are powerful, you know."

She paused, studying my tense expression before continuing, "It doesn't matter what body he's wearing. If that bastard dares cross our path again, we'll just destroy it. Again, and again, and again, until there's no body left for his soul to run to.

"As for the home of the sculpted ones…."

Her smile wavered slightly and her voice grew a bit uncertain, though she tried to hide it. "Well… I don't really know what awaits us. But then again, it's us. We've been injured countless times and you have even died brutally several times. Yet here we are. No matter what awaits us in that bloody territory, trust in us. Trust that we'll find a way through."

After she spoke, the weight that had been pressing down on my chest finally began to lift.

Aika raised her bottle of beer, signaling a silent toast.

After a few seconds, I returned a smile, raised my own bottle of beer, and clinked it against hers once more.

Then we both took a long, slow drink, finally letting the silence between us feel comfortable again.

"Thank you, Aika…" I muttered under my breath after a while.

She didn't say anything at first. Eventually, she shifted her gaze back toward the window and replied. "I'm your bond."

***

The next day…

Knock! Knock!

A knock outside the entrance of the room suddenly woke me up. I blinked my eyes open, squinting against the morning light that spilled in through the window.

The first thing I noticed after that was a slight headache that throbbed against the back of my head.

'…Just how much did we drink?'

I groaned and shifted my position, and then, all of a sudden, I felt a weight on my chest. I immediately looked down to see Aika soundly sleeping on my chest.

'Huh?'

Apparently, we had ended up drinking too much until we both passed out on each other. All around us were bottles of alcohol and discarded snacks.

Before I could even properly process the situation, the knock came again, louder this time.

The sound woke Aika up.

She slowly stood up from my chest and took a confused look around the room, while also grabbing the side of her head. Her hair was a mess, and under the sun streaming through the window, she looked just as dazed as I felt.

At that moment, Ino's voice came from the other side of the curtain. "…Cedric? You in there?"

I slowly sat upright. It took a moment to gather my thoughts, then I finally responded in a hoarse voice. "Yeah... yeah, I'm here. Just… give me a second."

Just then, Ino added with a hint of hesitation, "Sorry to bother you. It's just. There's someone outside the shelter who wants to speak to you."

As I pushed myself off the floor with effort, I frowned. "Someone?"

Ino replied. "Yes. It's Leon."

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