Chapter 44: Join In
"Nadia!"
"Miss Crane!"
Coming up to her from behind were Seraphine and Callum.
Nadia quirked an eyebrow at their energetic greetings, yet couldn’t help but smile at the warmth of it. She waved and greeted them back.
"Hello, you too." She said curtly.
Slowing down her pace, Seraphine approached the Heroine. And while shooting brief glances at Nadia’s arm, she asked:
"How is it? Does it feel any better?"
Nadia furrowed her brows as she directed her attention to her injured arm.
"It’s gotten better... you could say," she answered, flexing the muscles in her arm to measure the pain response, which, fortunately, didn’t jolt her brain as sharply as before.
She was now able to control her arm enough to handle simple tasks. But every time she did, her elbow would always click without fail. Presumably, as long as she continued to use her Vitality sparingly, it wouldn’t be long until she would fully recover.
’Three to four hours should be enough time.’ Nadia internally estimated.
She then returned her attention to the duo in front of her. When she was following around Hilda earlier, she had seen the two make rounds to get to know everyone in the warehouse, like them. And from the looks of it, it went rather swimmingly.
Glancing past Callum’s shoulder, Nadia noticed a large percentage of ladies laser-focused on him. They whispered amongst each other and shot Callum fervent glances of longing — obviously charmed by the extraordinarily handsome man.
Nadia then glanced at the percentage of men and found them staring daggers at Callum, as if they found the man’s beauty to be a threat to a major cause of theirs, considering him public enemy number one.
And with all these intense gazes burrowing into his back, Callum was none the wiser.
In response to this, Nadia made a mundane and deadpan expression on her face.
’At the cost of being loved by women, he’s now targetted by people of the same gender.’
To be honest, even Nadia found the situation rather hilarious.
Ignorant of the sort of situation he was in, Callum noticed Hilda talking with Elias, who seemed to have lost his nervousness around Hilda.
’That’s good to see,’ Callum smiled slightly. In his mind, the thought of being nervous around people like Hilda was alien to him. After all, what was the point of being afraid of someone who was there to support you?
While glancing at the armoured Scoundrel that loomed over Elias’ group, he turned to Nadia and asked:
"Are you planning to go out to fight?" He asked, visibly concerned, "I think you should stay back, instead, Miss Crane."
Nadia nodded curtly.
"That’s what I was planning to do. But I can’t help but worry a little..." She muttered, sparing Hilda a suspicious glance.
Callum, noticing who Nadia was glancing at, stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"Oh? Are you perhaps worried for Miss Hertel?" He asked naively, "I’m sure she’s more than capable of protecting—"
"T-that’s not what I meant..." Nadia quickly interrupted, somehow tripping on the spot at Callum’s inquiry.
"Is that so? Oh, then for everyone?" Callum chuckled, "I’m sure every one of Elias’ squad members will come back in one piece, including Hilda. And definitely, I’m sure they’ll bring something noteworthy back to show."
"Ugh..." Nadia’s face wrinkled when she heard this.
While it was true she was worried for Elias’ group in a way, despite their treacherous behaviour, she was more worried about the scenario of Hilda being the only one to come back alive.
Even though she was certain the woman wouldn’t do something so attention-drawing, if she wanted to continue preserving her positive reputation amongst the people here.
Callum, seeing how troubled Nadia looked, pondered on a reason as to why she would be like this. And as he did so, he managed to catch glimpses of Nadia sending cautious glances at Hilda.
’Ah, I get it now...!’
Earlier, when he had asked whether she was worried about Hilda, he must have been told a lie! In reality, could it be that Nadia was actually concerned that something might happen to Hilda, but was too shy to say it out loud?
’The two are rather close to one another... so it wouldn’t be too farfetch of a theory!’
He had read stories where people bonded quickly in stressful situations, causing them to stick to each other to feel safe.
Could it be that the relationship between Nadia and Hilda was one of such bonds?
Callum smirked to himself, ’I’ve figured it out.’
"How about I join the outing as well?" Callum stated in an attempt to calm Nadia’s worries, "If needed, I could always use my Gift to safely get everyone out of the situation."
Unfortunately, his attempt evoked the opposite of what he intended.
Nadia’s face darkened.
"Do you really want to do that? It’s best if you stay here with everyone."
"No, no, it’s fine." Callum shook his head, "Even though, I’m still kind of afraid of Predicaments, I know it’ll be fine with Miss Hilda around."
He then turned to Seraphine.
"Do you want to come along, Seraphine?" He asked earnestly.
The girl stared at him with a wry smile, visibly hesitant to go along with what he wanted. Why the hell would she want to come along to go outside where man-eating monsters roamed the city?!
Especially when she was currently standing inside one of the safest areas in the city?
"... s-sure..."
Unfortunately, against all logical reasons and her cowardice instincts, she chose to agree with Callum’s proposal — unable to say no to the man’s earnest face.
Nadia, who watched the two decide to tag along with Elias’ group, wanted to convince them to reconsider. But before she could, Hilda had already caught on to what they were talking about.
"Meine Freunde!" She called out jubilantly, walking over and hooking her arms around their necks, like they were close friends, "You guys want to come along for the hunt? I knew I wasn’t wrong about you two! Finally, some with a little backbone und adventure!"
She then looked towards Nadia.
"How about you, meine Dame? Are you coming along as well?"
Nadia glanced between the duo hesitantly before staring at Hilda. She then let out a deep sigh and massaged her forehead with the heel of her palm, visibly annoyed.
Eventually, she gave an answer.
A begrudging answer.
"Fine... but I’m not fighting."
"Haha, brilliant!" Hilda shouted, unhooking her arms from the duo before strolling over to Nadia and gently hooking her arm around her neck, too. "Und don’t worry about fighting. Leave everything regarding your protection up to me, alright~? You won’t even need to lift a finger."
Watching as Hilda practically ignored her personal space, Nadia scowled slightly, then sighed and nodded.
"Thanks..."
After Nadia shrugged off Hilda’s arm, they set off.
And it wasn’t long until they encountered a Predicament.
Sneakily peering from behind the corner of a building, Elias eyed the face of a Scoundrel that was savagely feasting on the deceased body of another Predicament.
It was a gory sight to behold, as whenever the fiend managed to tear off a mouthful of flesh, blood would spray out — splattering the ground.
And the pungent stench of the corpse wasn’t making the scene any less bearable to stand near, despite them being a good enough distance away, far enough to where the smallest of movement wouldn’t attract attention.
Hilda, who was standing curiously behind Elias, looked back at their group.
With the additions of her, Nadia, Callum, and Seraphine, it should bring the group’s total members up to sixteen.
But currently...
"LOOK OVER HERE YOU BAT-EYED FREAK!"
Hilda only saw 8 individuals standing around her, along with the tamed Predicament.