Chapter 52: How’d she get that Idea!?
Nadia immediately withdrew her gaze from Hilda and snapped her head to look at Seraphine; her eyes wide with shock and disbelief.
Was she hearing right?!
"W-what on Earth are you talking about?!" She asked incredulously.
"Huhuhu~"
Seraphine snickered.
"Well, can you blame me? You guys act so gay together that it’s almost hard to—"
"G-gay!?"
Nadia became flustered.
"W-we’re—I-I mean me! I’m not gay!" She stumbled over her words. Then asked, "Where the hell did you get the idea that I was gay?"
Seraphine hummed teasingly.
"Well~... an example is how intimately you held Hilda’s hand—"
"That only happened once, and because it was cold!"
"Okay, fair! What about the chin grabbing? You let her do that twice toda—"
"I don’t LET her do that," Nadia emphasised, "It’s because I’m always caught off guard!"
Her face then paled in horror.
"You saw that!?"
Seraphine turned her face away, smiling wryly.
"You guys do it out in the open. It’s kinda hard not to notice you guys flirting—"
"IT’S NOT—"
Before Nadia could retort, Seraphine cut in.
"—I mean, when Hilda held your chin not too long ago and said that line..." Seraphine held one side of her cheek, feigning embarrassment, "It was definitely one of the gayest things I’ve ever seen."
Nadia blushed from embarrassment, her face flushed red. She then gritted her teeth, unable to stand the accusations made at her. It was all utter nonsense!
She then shouted in an adamant and resolute voice:
"Argh, damn it! Stop calling me that, for Christ’s sake, I’m NOT ga—!"
"You’re not what?"
"Wahhh!!!"
Before Nadia could finish her declaration, Hilda suddenly made herself known, sitting right behind the two ladies inconspicuously. How long had she been there?
Nadia immediately flinched back, immediately distancing herself from the woman with a look of fright.
’She didn’t hear anything, did she?!’
"Nothing! We were talking about nothing!" Nadia shouted, shielding her red face with the back of her hand.
Afterwards, when she eventually regained her composure, she asked:
"What are you doing here, Hilda? Weren’t you still answering people’s questions a minute ago?" She then drifted her gaze to the top of Hilda’s head, "And where’s your hat?"
Hilda tilted her head innocently at Nadia’s peculiar behaviour before soon forgetting about it. She then shrugged her shoulders and answered:
"I think they ran out of questions for me to answer, which is quite the relief," she chuckled, "I think I like spending time around you guys better."
Nadia then watched as Hilda gestured towards the people she was with earlier, and found that they all were staring at Hilda’s back with serious looks in their eyes, which, for some reason, held traces of greed and even...
Bloodthirst.
She widened her eyes.
’What did she do in that short amount of time to get them all like that...?’
Nadia subconsciously lowered her hand from her face, now completely sober from her fluster.
"As for my hat, which, mind you, is a cap..." Hilda patted the top of her head, subconsciously, "I’ve placed it somewhere safe. I’ll get it back on later, don’t worry~"
She then turned to Seraphine with her hands placed on her hips.
"So what were you guys actually talking about? It wasn’t actually nothing, was it?"
She then turned to Seraphine.
The Transmigrator slowly averted her gaze from Hilda, apprehensive. Unsure about whether or not she should answer the woman’s question.
She tossed Nadia a subtle glance and found her shaking her head violently with a pleading look in her eyes.
It was obvious the Heroine didn’t want her spilling anything about this conversation to people, especially to Hilda.
"Ehm... we were... talking about how hungry we were and why we can’t just eat Predicaments."
"Oh~? That’s because the flesh of Predicaments is toxic to humans," Hilda pointed out, "While their flesh is edible, you would be left in critical conditions afterwards — as the toxins inside would target your Heart."
After her explanation, Hilda rubbed her chin, while taking small glances at the two ladies’ stomachs — noticing how flat they were.
"As for how hungry you guys are, it is a shame we weren’t supplied more food."
She sighed, shrugging.
"Even though each MRE contains roughly 2000 calories worth of food, that’s still half of what the average Vitalist requires on a daily basis. You guys must be starving, huh?"
Seraphine’s eyes shot wide open. Two thousand calories!?
She looked down at the grey packets in her lap, her face reflecting a mixture of shock and wonder.
’I forgot that these were around two thousand calories each... how do they managed to get so much in such little amount of food?’
While Seraphine began to wonder about the nutritional values of the military rations, the familiar handsome face of a black-haired gentleman emerged from thin air.
It was Callum.
With his invisibility tearing off his body, Callum walked over and sat with them, immediately attracting Hilda’s attention, who smiled at his presence.
"Ah, mein Freund! Did you achieve what I asked of you?"
"I did!" Callum nodded, "After looking around and following behind someone, I found that they keep their eyes all the way in the back of some room."
He then went into depth, explaining everything that he found. From how the room looked, to how many eyes there were, and how it was guarded by two Predicaments patrolling the area.
It was obviously somewhere Ross didn’t want anyone going near.
Hilda beamed at Callum’s report and happily patted him on the shoulder.
"Excellent work, Mister Ashby! I can definitely say you have a bright future ahead of you with this Gift of yours!"
"Haha, thank you, Miss Hertel. I really appreciate the compliment," Callum rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
Watching as the two conversed, Nadia couldn’t help but eye them suspiciously.
’So, this was what she requested him to do?’
Nadia then turned to Hilda.
"Why’d you need to do the roundabout way to find out where it is? Couldn’t you have asked them?" Nadia questioned, "Figuring how popular you were before, I don’t think it would’ve been much of an issue to get that information."
Hilda wagged her finger.
"Because I cannot do that! Or else my plan would go up in flames if someone manages to figure it out und catches me in the act."
"Plan...?"
Nadia quirked an eyebrow before widening her eyes.
"You aren’t planning to rob them are—"
"S-shhh!!"
Hilda placed a finger over Nadia’s lips and shushed her.
"Meine Dame, don’t say that out loud! Und of course I won’t rob them..."
She then leaned away.
"I just have to know where it is for my plan, that’s all."
After she dispelled Nadia’s suspicions, Hilda glanced down at the finger she used to shush the woman.
She then began to cast glances at the Heroine, who stared at her questioningly, because of this.
"What?"
"Nothing," Hilda curtly replied.
She then turned to Callum, who was also staring at her.
"Ja?"
"May I ask... where did your cap go, Miss Hertel?"
"Oh, that! I’ve put it somewhere safe, I’ll take it out later."
After a while, everyone went silent.
Nadia, who was still unsettled by the intense gazes of the people around them, leaned close to Hilda and whispered:
"What did you do to get their attention like this?"
"Hm? Oh. I just answered another one of their questions, that’s all," Hilda shrugged nonchalantly, visibly unbothered by their beady stares.
She then let out a yawn.
"I think... I’m going to call it a day. I’m tired."
Nadia stared at her in surprise.
"You’re tired?"
"Uh huh~..."
Hilda pushed herself to her feet and dusted herself off. "I did a lot today, so I think it’s reasonable if I get some shut-eye."
She then turned to the Heroine, who continued to stare at her intensely.
She smirked and blinked flirtatiously at the woman.
"Wanna join me~?"
"Wha—of course not!"
"Mehhh~... your loss."
Nadia then watched as Hilda walked away. She grumbled under her breath in displeasure before turning away to scan the people around them.
She couldn’t tell why, but she felt like something bad was going to happen...
She narrowed her eyes.
’Let’s see what happens...’
"Pfft...!"
Nadia then lifted her head to look at Seraphine, who just snickered in her direction.
"What?" She glared.
"Nothing, nothing!"
Seraphine wildly waved her hand, trying to hold in her laugh.
"Nothing at all~..."
...
With the fall of the sun over the horizon, the darkness of night hurriedly followed. It blanketed the world and flooded the streets and houses; the warehouse being no exception.
With the rusty lamps now turned off and everyone strewn across the floors of Rusty Den, with their eyes closed, this was the time when everyone should be sound asleep, saving their energy for the last day of this exam.
But that wasn’t the case.
Click. Click. Click...
One by one, the rusty lamps suddenly flickered to life, lighting up the inside of Rusty Den, like a field of fireflies.
The people who were laid strewn across the floor slowly got up with a groggy expression on their faces.
After they rid themselves of their sluggishness, they all reached for the closest weapon they could find, which so happens to be the combat knife they were given.
"Damn, all of you are waking up?" Someone whispered.
"Obviously, you would be an idiot to let this chance go by!"
"Stop talking, or else you’ll wake her up! Let’s just split it afterwards!"
Despite each one expressing displeasure, they banded together and marched towards Hilda, who was resting on top of a pile of wooden crates — lying on her side with her back turned to them, her arm positioned under the side of her head to act as a pillow.
"Let’s just get it over with fast."
"How should we do it, though? The neck or straight for the head?"
"Straight for the head, obviously! We can’t give her any chance to retaliate!"
Soon, a man climbed onto the crate Hilda was sleeping on. His eyes flashed with greed and bloodthirst, but also hesitation. His hands shook around the knife he held.
He then raised his knife above Hilda’s head, who continued to sleep soundly with her eyes closed.
After he steeled his resolve, he tightened his grip on the knife.
But when he was about to go through with doing the deed...
"So that’s what you guys were planning."
Everyone who was awake immediately went still at the unexpected voice.
In unison, they all raised their lanterns towards the direction of the voice and unveiled a beautiful young lady with long blonde hair and alluring blue eyes. Her attire consisted of: a black turtle-neck sweater, dark blue jeans, and boots.
The woman was leaning against one of the many metal pillars holding up the ceiling with her arms folded and was giving them a cold glare, having caught them in the act of something heinous.
It was Nadia.
"To attack someone in the dead of night, who isn’t even conscious to protect herself... how pathetic you all are," She sneered in disdain.