Chapter 41: Don’t Upset Them
Hilda eerily craned her head to the side.
"Hoh? Lazy, huh?" She repeated ominously.
At this moment, regardless of naivety or intelligence, everyone could sense a subtle change in Hilda’s mood. And with one look at her eyes was enough evidence to confirm their suspicions.
Hilda wasn’t pleased with what she heard.
Out of everyone who noticed this change, three of them reacted.
Nadia discreetly held her hand out to her side, prepared to summon her sword. Her eyes narrowed cautiously as a sense of fear welled up inside her Heart — a fear of a possible mass-culling.
In contrast to this, Seraphine was prepared to book it and run away, fearing that Hilda might get the horrifying idea of luring a horde of Predicaments here to set an example.
As for the last person to react...
THWACK!
"ARGH! WHAT THE HELL...!?"
Elias jolted back, the top of his head throbbing with pain akin to being hit with a sledgehammer. He clutched his head and resisted the urge to drop to the ground and writhe in agony.
He then shot Ross a resentful glare, getting fed up with the physical abuse.
"WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA, YOU DAMN—"
Ross raised his fist again in a threatening manner, which caused Elias to flinch back and shield his face with his arms.
Seeing Elias go completely silent from fear, he looked towards Hilda and bowed.
"Please ignore my subordinate. What he was meant to say was that they’re strategically disengaged."
"Strategically... disengaged?" Hilda mused, amusement sparking inside her eyes.
Ross nodded curtly.
"Yes. To prevent unnecessary casualties by having them all go out, and to also lessen the burden on me, I’ve designated them here as helpers so that they can help reinforce the warehouse."
Hilda stroked her chin thoughtfully.
Then she glanced at the so-called helpers and found them to be nothing more than curious onlookers, sitting around and speaking amongst themselves in hushed tones. Though the rare few she did see working on the warehouse were doing a half-assed job.
From her perspective, it seemed that only Elias was telling her the truth.
"Interesting... alright, let me ask you this. Earlier, I remembered that you told us that whenever Mister Thorne went out, his squad would sometimes face casualties during their hunt. So what I want to ask is, hypothetically, if someone from his squad were to unfortunately perish in battle, would someone here be forced to replace them?"
Ross stiffened at her unusual question, becoming timorous for a split second.
’Why would she want to know that?’
He gulped and nodded warily.
"It has happened, yes..."
"I see. That’s good to know~"
After having her question answered, Hilda spun on her heel and began walking away from the group.
"I’m off to go speak with my fellow Vitalists now! No need to follow me."
Watching as Hilda walked away, everyone glanced at each other uneasily. Afterwards, they began to disperse.
"We’ll do the same as Miss Hilda." Callum stated, looking towards Seraphine and bringing her along, much to the introverted girl’s horror.
Nadia watched them move away, her gaze soft before hardening when she turned back to Hilda.
’I should stick near her just in case...’ By sticking close to Hilda, it would allow her to more easily observe any changes that might occur in the woman’s mood.
It would also allow her to be the first responder.
Turning back to Ross and Elias, she nodded at them in a reserved manner before departing for Hilda.
"Haa..." Ross let out a stressful sigh, closing his eyes and rubbing the gap between his brows, "This is perfect... on what should’ve been a regular supply run, we lost one of our Predicaments and had lured a tiger into our den of chickens as a result of it..."
"Den of chickens?" Elias repeated, raising an eyebrow as he still nursed his throbbing head, "You mean a hen house? Chickens don’t really have dens..."
"No."
’Unlike hen houses, we aren’t under the protection of someone to keep away the predators. We can only hide ourselves away inside this den until it’s time for us to come out when it’s safe.’
Ross opened his eyes and surveyed the inside of the warehouse.
The warehouse that they had made their camp wasn’t theirs to begin with. They weren’t the ones who fortified this place first, or constructed the barricades of sharpened steel rods outside.
They were the work of the past examinees who came to this ruined port city.
The first and second generations of examinees for Orrey Cross.
Before coming into this exam, Ross had got in contact with the past examinees using his connection — interviewing them one by one about the exam. And while the information he gathered was useful to an extent, most of them were mainly small inconveniences, and them going over their time here.
Fortunately, there were some that gave useful information. And from it was how he knew about the existence of this fortified warehouse, which he had come to know to be named Rusty Den by past examinees.
There was also one thing he was told by every single examinee who camped inside Rusty Den, a single rule.
Never let the LRM know about Rusty Den, for this exam wasn’t just about testing for potential Vitalists, but also to cull the weak from the strong to reduce the cost of wasted resources.
’And I have broken that one rule...’
Ross scratched the side of his head, frustratedly. Not from knowing about the real reason for this exam, but from knowing he had broken a rule — it was one of his greatest discomforts.
In truth, Ross had no issues with the exam. In fact, he found it more than reasonable.
After all, when you have too many chickens, it would be better to kill some of them off for profit.
’And the only reason why I’m keeping so many of these guys around are just so I can use them a bait, in case something happens.’
But for that to happen, he couldn’t let them die needless deaths.
Ross placed a hand on Elias’ shoulder.
"What I’m about to say is something you mustn’t share." He said sternly, "You must absolutely not let Hilda go out to hunt with you under any circumstances. Make up any excuse to say no."
"Uhh, but wouldn’t having her help out be a good—"
"Just listen to what I have to say!"
"Okay! OKAY!"
Seeing as Elias eventually gave in, Ross pulled away before glancing over at Hilda, watching as the woman fervently got around to knowing the people in the warehouse.
’We must do our best to get on her good side, otherwise this warehouse could very well become a slaughterhouse instead.’
As he continued to watch Hilda make rounds, he couldn’t help but drift her gaze over to Nadia, who was silently following the woman from behind.
For some reason, he found her rather familiar.
He stroked his chin, then came to a realisation a few seconds later.
’Wasn’t she the girl that Hilda proposed to 4 days ago?’
To him, he felt like Hilda wasn’t the type of person to do things without reason. So her proposal on that day must’ve been for some kind of purpose, even if it was for amusement.
’I wonder what their relationship is...’
He then turned to Elias and asked him about this.
"Their relationship? Who is she?" Elias cocked an eyebrow, "I think her name’s Nadia. As for their relationship, how am I supposed to know—oh... wait, I think I know..."
Elias recalled the event on the street, where he first encountered Hilda’s group, and how passive the woman was while being scolded by Nadia, who was on her back at the time.
He then recounted this to Ross, who immediately fell into thought after he heard it.
’No one from the LRM would allow themselves to be scolded, unless it’s from a rank higher than them. The fact that Hilda allowed herself to be berated like this, without exacting anything in return, must mean one thing.’
The two were either obscenely close or Hilda heavily favoured the woman. Either way, it could be both.
"I’m going to add another thing to your mind, and make sure to pass this one around. Don’t do anything that could upset Nadia or Hilda Hertel."