"Draigo, what are you talking about?," Wyvara asked with a concerned look on her face. She placed the basket of guts down on a nearby rock and made her way over to Draigo, who was still staring down at the ground in shame.
Draigo and Wyvara have been on possibly the most absurd adventure they have ever had in their lives up till now, over the span of two days. All for the sake of becoming famous musicians.
But now, near the moment of truth and at the cusp of starting to pursue their dreams, Draigo had stopped in his tracks, full of doubts.
The boy took a deep breath to gather his thoughts.
"Wyvara, you heard what that old woman said, right? She'd say we'd fulfill our dream, sure but that we'd be separated and that our future would be a tale of sorrow and tragedy." Draigo looked up at Wyvara, staring her in the eyes. "I...I don't want to risk losing you."
Wyvara and Draigo had known each other for as long as either could remember. Neither had family, nor friends, nor a sect to call their own. They were both orphans, but at least they had...each other.
All they had for years was...each other, and for someone to suddenly just proclaim that there was a chance of them being separated if they chose to pursue a dream they both shared, they both wanted above all other desires...was too painful to think about.
Wyvara was all set to comfort Draigo with a few soft words and a simple bug, but paused when she saw the tears falling from his eyes.
Clearly, Draigo needed more than some soft platitudes.
Wyvara thought hard on what she could say to help comfort and assure the young Draigo about their future, but couldn't come up with anything.
That is until, her eyes landed on the materials that she and Draigo had painstakingly gathered.
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As the maid was crushed the lock and dispelled the illusion she had made earlier, Draigo had begun to circulate his aether into his legs and recalling an old art he used to know.
'I just need to go for it...now!'
Draigo sped out of his hiding spot, carried by the sound of metal clanging against stone and moving just as fast as the sound itself.
Clang...clang...clang...
'Just a few more seconds...'
[Echo Run] was a minor tier Ethereal grade movement art. It enabled the user to move at the speed of sound, but with one important caveat: one needed to sound to "ride" on.
It didn't matter how loud or quiet, illusionary or real, as long as the sound was "sustained", like an echo, the user could ride for as long as they needed or wanted.
Granted, this required the sound to "exist", and only one sound could be ridden at a time.
In a moment, the deadpan maid dispelled her illusion on the box, causing the lock and box to disappear and change. With the lock now gone, so was the sound. Draigo's art was forcibly ended as the sound disappeared, causing him to fall to the ground at least half way to the shamisen. Thankfully, he managed to land in such a way to prevent any other sounds from being made...or so he hoped.
Draigo threw a glance over at the Marquis and the maid, both of whom were now hovering over a pair of boxes with two very familiar young women inside them, unaware of the old man's existence.
'How the hell did she-bah, forget it! Wyvara comes first. Work with me here...'
Draigo once again began to circulate aether into his legs, but instead of preparing for another movement art, he was aiming for the much simpler application of covering his feet in aether to muffle the sound of his movements.
Granted, the encapsulating bubble aether around his feet appeared rather wobbly.
'Barely enough...it will have to do!'
Draigo took an experimental step forward and was pleasantly surprised to find that his little trick managed to work. It did feel like he was stepping on a bubble, but it worked.
Buoyed both literally and figuratively by his little success, Draigo ran as quickly and quietly as possible towards the shamisen.
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"Y-yes?," he managed to sniffle out between tears.
Wyvara didn't say anything more after she had caught Draigo's attention, instead she picked up the materials she had put down just moments ago and also the materials that Draigo was carrying, bundling it all in her arms. This confused Draigo greatly.
With one hand under the bundle of materials and another top, Wyvara elaborated on her statement.
"The two of us are about to use these materials to make instruments, right?"
"Materials that only we came across, together, and nobody else, right?"
"Right...," Draigo answered this time rubbing away the tears and looking a tad more confused.
"And a musician's instrument is their lifeblood, right?," Wyvara asked with a knowing look.
"Then I say, right here and now, we make a pledge on our future lifeblood," Wyvara said with confidence, "That no matter what happens, we'll carry these instruments with us forever more. And in turn, carry each other forever more."
Wyvara's declaration was moving, at least for their ages, but Draigo still had doubts.
"B-but the fortune-teller said-"
"Oh hang the fortune-teller's prediction!," Wyvara said with determination, "When it comes down to it, and fate tries to separate us, we'll defy fate itself and stick together!"
Wyvara tapped the materials once more.
"And the instruments made from these materials will be the physical proof of our promise. Now are you with me or not?"
Wyvara pushed the materials in Draigo's direction.
This promise was...silly, to say the least. The boastful assuredness of youth, one could say.
But the confidence behind this promise was enough to stir Draigo's heart.
He placed a hand on the bottom of the pile, next to Wyvara's hand, while placing his other hand on top of hers.
"Okay...of course I'm with you."
"Good," Wyvara nodded with a smile, "Then let the heavens, hells and kingdoms in-between hear this promise. For as long as we carry the instruments made from these materials, we'll always be together. Forever after?"
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'Now I just have to be as delicate as possible...'
After quickly and carefully rushing across the room, using aether that was so thick it was like trying to pump cold molasses through water pipes, Draigo had managed to get within arm's reach of the shamisen.
All he had to now, was reach out and-
'Huh? Why can't I move?'
Draigo was only a centimeter away from his prize, when he felt an indescribable force pressuring down on him. Granted, it only took a moment for the source of the force to make itself known.
"Pardon me. But what do you think you're doing with, my property?," a silky, deep, sinister voice echoed in Draigo's ears.