It's the first time I've seen Nathaniel so angry; actually, it might be the first time I've seen him showing any strong emotion at all. He usually walks around looking like someone printed his resting face onto paper and then stuck it to his head.
Damn, for a second, I thought he might kill Hadwin right here, right now.
I'm sure Tess would try to stop him, but I'm not sure if she would be able to if he really wanted to do it.
The scary part is that he didn't even use mana.
Like, what the hell, who does that?!
I didn't sense anything, but Kim told me that Hadwin did something to disrupt Nathaniel's mana. Then at some point during the fight, Nathaniel canceled the older man's skill, and even though he could use mana, he finished him off without even bothering to use it.
Again, who the hell does that?!
Right after the fight, he went into the forest. The way he just casually entered it while checking his surroundings sent shivers down my back. He's probably the only one who does that. The rest of us are still nervous every time we go hunting.
I get back to smoking boar meat and continue what I started before the fight happened.
“Do you think he's very angry?” Lily asks quietly.
“You saw his face; he's suuuuper pissed off.”
“Oh…” she quiets down.
At this point, I am sure everyone can see that she's got a small crush on Nathaniel.
Well, probably everyone other than him. He doesn't seem to be too good with people stuff. He thinks he's careful, but I always notice how quickly he disappears every time more than one or two people talk to him. Sometimes he endures a bit longer, but as time passes, he becomes quieter and quieter. Most of the time, it ends up with him just leaving or Tess saving him – or us?
It's kind of fun to mess with him a bit.
That isn't the main problem; the main problem is him being a selfish, mostly emotionless asshole.
But he's our selfish, mostly emotionless asshole.
I don't know if he's aware of it, but I'm sure that half of the people would be already dead if it weren't for him; hell, probably even more.
Sure, he doesn't have to be such a dick about it.
I remember the time from a few days ago when he power-leveled Kim in exchange for his sword. Damn, he actually did take it without even a hint of hesitation after getting the boy to level four, leaving him unarmed.
He's ruthless, selfish, and somewhere in the back of my mind, I'm sure he doesn't care that much about all of us.
He's always calm, and even when things go to deeper and deeper levels of shit, he doesn't become desperate; he just listens, nods, and says one or two sentences, giving us something to do.
It's weirdly calming, having someone to rely on just a little bit.
Even while knowing how he sees us.
First to welcome me is the goodest doggo of the first floor of hell difficulty.
Yup, the shameless little bugger of a corgi is still alive and well, and I swear at this point, he might be heavier than some of the girls.
As I sit with my back against one of our palisades, he comes to me while bringing something in his mouth.
What the actual heck?!
Also, good boy. We'll split 50/50.
I pet his head, which is still of a similar size to what it was at the start, and take the wallet from him while he swings his tail wildly. Once again, it looks like he's shaking his butt because of his short tail.
I open the wallet and there's some cash, bank cards, one ID and nothing more.
It's getting better and better!
I quickly look around, but there are no witnesses... uh, I mean, there's no one around.
I take all of the cash, probably around two hundred dollars, and close the wallet and give it back to the best boy.
"Can you put it back?"
He blinks slowly and then there he goes, running back to where he came from.
Is this the first cash theft on Hell difficulty's first floor? It must be, right?
I put the cash into my pocket and pull out the remaining pieces of the necklace that I got from the goblin shaman that I killed, which feels like weeks ago. It's still broken, and I only hold its pieces, but I keep coming back to it. I can feel some mana lingering on it, but I just can't find out what it's for and how it's etched into the pieces to be able to stay there.
One good thing is that I improved my usage of [Oscillation] thanks to studying the necklace, so that's something.
Biscuit comes back and lays on the ground next to me, putting his head on my thigh. He then breathes out and closes his eyes.
At this point, I'm almost sure that he's the smartest one out of all the people here. He just knows how to behave around me and never becomes too annoying, and then there are things like with Hadwin's wallet.
It's weird, but I think he saw us two fighting and wanted to help me get some petty revenge to get into my good graces.
I slowly pet his small head and enter a bit deeper into [Focus] and start training my [Mana Manipulation].
After a while, Tess comes to me.
"Hey…" she starts carefully.
"It's okay." I only say that much, but she will understand.
I know she partly agrees with Hadwin, but she wasn't able to tell that to me for some reason. Hell, I probably wouldn't even listen, so I can't actually be mad at her for not helping me or being ready to try to stop me if I tried to do something worse to Hadwin.
After a while, she gives one of her tiny smiles and sits next to me. She pokes Biscuit's bulging belly, and the dog opens one of its eyes and then closes it when he sees it's Tess. That makes her poke him a few more times, but the good boy ignores her, so she stops.
"Kim got his [Telekinesis] to level three, and Lily got [Rejuvenation] to level two," she informs me.
Damn, what is that scrawny boy eating and doing? Level three already?
"She can heal small and slightly bigger scratches now, but still only her own. She wasn't able to heal others."
Oh, that's a shame, but no worries, we will get there.
My personal healing station is coming along nicely.
Tess doesn't continue, so I guess others weren't able to level up any skills. The annoying thing is that I don't know if the speed at which we are leveling up our skills is good or bad. There is nothing to compare it to, just us.
Out of nowhere, I get an idea.
"Hm?" she leans a bit closer, and I put my hand into my pocket and pull out a one hundred dollar bill, a gift from one unnamed guy.
"Can you go and buy me some sweets?" I hand her the banknote.
She looks at me, then at the bill.
Back at me and then once again at the bill.
Her confused face is so funny.
"Did you steal it from Hadwin?" she instantly guesses outright.
Crap, am I that predictable?
Oh, wait a moment! I didn't do it; I almost forgot.
"The dog did it," I point at the sleeping corgi, and she rolls her eyes.
"Sure," she just stands up and leaves.
The banknote stays behind.
Two hours later, the Cinderbear appears again.