Chapter 56: Stone Skipping
Clap. Clap. Clap.
After Hilda dusted off her hands, she stood up, staring down at the still man that laid before her — his nose streaming with blood, without an ounce of consciousness in his eyes.
He was completely out cold.
’Unfortunately, you just had to accept my duel...’ Hilda thought with a sigh, though there didn’t seem to be much regret or even guilt in her eyes.
But rather pity, for she had planned for this to happen.
She then turned to the mob, who stared at her in horror, dumbfounded at how ruthlessly she tossed around Ross: the person who was undeniably the strongest person here.
"N-no way..."
"How strong is she!?"
"Could she be a red Stripe...?"
Listening to the murmurs behind her, she scoffed.
The reason why she had bothered to give out her nickname and attract this much attention was all for two things. Asserting dominance and forcing Ross into a position where he would accept her condition.
Naturally, though, plans don’t fully go the way you would think them to.
As endearing as she thought Nadia was, she didn’t believe that the woman would step in if her life was "in-danger", considering the animosity she showed towards her.
And because of this assumption, she had missed out on the opportunity of teaching the mob a lesson herself.
Though she still managed to achieve that task by using Ross as an example.
’Taking down the biggest guy in the room really does make everyone fall in line,’ Hilda recollected, remembering a phrase someone told her just in case she were to ever go to prison.
As Hilda seemingly fell into nostalgia, a group separated themselves from the mob and ran towards the unconscious Ross.
"Boss!"
"Come on, let’s get him back to his room!"
Seeing Elias lead a group to carry Ross’ body away, Hilda smiled before folding her arms behind her back. She then began to walk away from that spot and strolled all the way over to the mob.
And when she reached them, she stopped in front of a man.
She eyed him calmly before snatching a lamp from his hands.
After she made sure it had enough fuel to burn for a while, she looked around at the people staring at her — scanning their faces and narrowing her eyes when she noticed a few subconsciously backing away from her.
Undoubtedly, the kind and friendly image they had of her had changed to something much more negative... and fearsome.
And at this, she smiled innocently.
"You all should thank Mister Kestrel for risking his life for the sake of all of you," She commented before adding, "So try not to be so lazy und laid-back as you all were today. I expect to see most of you put in work tomorrow."
Afterwards, she walked towards the exit, which, for some reason, was already slightly open...
...
Skip. Skip. Skip...
Splash...
"Haa... only three skips."
Nadia sat at the edge of the quayside, staring out into the sea with her arms held out into the air. She sat beside a rusty lamp, which flickered occasionally, and a small pile of pebbles, which she had picked up along the way.
With a languid expression, she picked up another pebble and adjusted her grip. Then, with a strong flick of her wrist, she cast it out towards the surface of the water — watching as it skipped across it.
Skip. Skip. Skip...
She watched as it skipped a couple of times before eventually losing it to the darkness. The light of her lamp was just not strong enough to allow her to see through to the end.
Skip... Skip...
Though that didn’t really matter, for a moment after the darkness swallowed it...
Splash...
She heard a faint sound in the distance that signified the end of the pebble’s journey. And when she heard that, she sighed.
"Five skips... It’s better than last time."
’... But it’s still far worse than my actual best...’
Nadia sighed again before slowly lying down, her legs still over the edge of the quayside.
She rested the back of her head on her hands and looked up towards the sky, hoping to see the clouds above her glide by. But unfortunately, she was left disappointed — it was just too dark to see anything.
She groaned in frustration and sat up, her body tense as she gripped the concrete edge of the quayside.
"So annoying..."
Nadia flicked another stone, visibly aggravated, for some reason.
She watched as the stone bounced once...
Skip.
Then twice...
Skip...
Before watching it sink, trying to make the third jump.
Splash...
Nadia widened her eyes, dumbfounded.
’It didn’t even skip past two...’
To most people, being able to make a stone skip two times was a huge achievement. But to someone like Nadia, who had been doing this since she was young, it was humiliating!
"So annoying...!"
Nadia tossed out another stone and watched it sink after the first jump.
"What’s wrong with me today!?"
She slammed the side of her fist against the ground, deeply perturbed.
’I’ve done this hundreds of times, damnit...!’
She should be more than capable of making a stone skip more than two times. Much less more than once! So why was she doing so badly today!?
Nadia laid down again, upset and frustrated with her performance. She then rested her arm over her eyes, trying to calm herself and regain her earlier composure.
’What’s wrong with me recently...?’
While it looked as though her frustration stemmed from her poor performance, it was actually due to a deep conflict inside her Heart, one that she had been battling with.
A conflict that took on the form of a woman with red eyes and long brown hair...
Hilda...
"So annoying!" Nadia shouted again before sitting back up. She was like a child who was unable to sit still after being told something they didn’t like.
Although she used to live in street-rat conditions, she ultimately didn’t pick up the skill of learning a person based on their mood and body movements. That was because, by then, she had already awakened her Gift.
No matter who they were, as long as she had her Gift activated, she would be able to piece together what the person was like in a single conversation.
This should’ve been the same for Hilda!
’She’s a selfish, manipulative, deceptive, and arrogant prick!’ Nadia gritted her teeth. ’I bet she thinks she’s above everyone else, the type of person to throw people away when she’s bored, and treat the people around her like toys or pawns...’
This was how she had pieced together Hilda in her mind.
Nadia then bit her bottom lip.
’And yet... why does it feel wrong?’
Why did the Hilda in her mind feel so inconsistent with the real Hilda?
Was it because of their age? Was it because this was the first time in a while that she had properly spoken to someone the same age as her? And if so... why was it so much harder to read a teenager, rather than an adult?
Nadia’s mind then slowly drifted away, gliding across her sea of memories and eventually landing on a recent memory.
Just earlier, when it was revealed that Hilda was actually awake the entire time, she had been keeping her Gift activated throughout the entire conversation between Hilda and Ross.
And throughout the entire conversation, where Hilda read out her terms for sparing the people involved in trying to take her life, Nadia had detected a lie...
She furrowed her brows and shook her head to clear her mind of it, which, in doing so, caused her mind to drift towards an "older" memory...
One... she didn’t particularly want to remember, specifically for what happened at that time.
She gently caressed the bottom of her chin as a line from that memory resounded throughout her mind.
"If you’re the one asking for it, it’s rather difficult for me to say no~..."
When she remembered that, she immediately straightened her back and ceased her caressing. An intense blush of confusion and embarrassment spread across her cheeks.
’Couldn’t she have done it any other way? Why’d she have to say it in such a flirtatious and strange manner!?’
Nadia gritted her teeth and began to hammer the ground to vent her emotions, unable to contain the embarrassment she felt.
"ARGH! She’s too confusing!" Nadia shouted in frustration before cursing the woman, "I hate her, I hate her, I hate her! She smells, and she stinks, and she’s nothing but an annoying piece of—"
"Oi. Who smells? I happen to smell very nice; I’ll have you know."
Nadia immediately froze, her body stiffening as a familiar voice echoed behind her.
Was it who she thought it was?
She hastily turned her head around to look behind her, but was immediately blinded by the light that came from inside a rusty lamp.
After she shielded her eyes with her hands, she noticed the lamp shift away from her face.
With the risk of being blinded now gone, she lowered her hand and stared up at the person who stood over her.
And when she did, she found the face of the person she had been agonising about — smiling down at her.
It was Hilda.
"Meine Dame... I’ve come to give you some company," She whispered.