Chapter 43: Dummkopf
’Hm?’
While steadily making her way back to Nadia’s side, Hilda noticed that the woman had fallen into a rather strange and upset mood.
She tilted her head.
’Had something happened?’
"Meine Dame, what’s the matter?"
"... Nothing. Nothing at all." Nadia huffed coldly.
Despite being curious, Hilda decided not to ask any further, sensing that if she did, she would most likely worsen Nadia’s mood even more.
"Alright, fine. But do come to me if anyone’s bothering you, okay~?"
"I... hmm..." Nadia didn’t say anything to that, but it was clear that she understood.
As Hilda was about to suggest that the two of them go somewhere to rest, they noticed the people around them partway to allow a huge squad through.
It was Elias’ group, prepared to go out on another hunt.
Besides the Street Rat himself, those in his party were displaying signs of nervousness and hesitation about going out. It was a common fight for everyone else in the warehouse, and they understood why.
After all, no sane person would willingly face Predicaments.
But something about them this time was different. In each one of them, there was a confident and even excited look in their eyes.
This confidence of theirs most likely stemmed from the thing following closely behind them — a Scoundrel completely decked out with crude metal armour and rusty spikes.
After losing his Scoundrel to Hilda, Elias was in need of another one to properly go out to hunt with his squad. Fortunately, by the time he was scheduled to go out, Ross had already completed the resurrection of this Predicament.
Nadia, who watched them walk by, couldn’t help but eye the passing Scoundrel like a stunned child. She hadn’t ever thought she would see a geared-up Predicament, especially in a place like this.
’It definitely looks formidable...’ She thought in amazement.
She then turned to Hilda to get her opinion about it.
And as expected...
"What an abomination..."
Hilda didn’t take quite kindly to the sight of it.
Nadia then watched as Hilda began to swiftly approach Elias, and immediately freaked out.
"H-hey, don’t do anything rash—!"
Elias reached the exit to the warehouse, then noticed someone approach him from behind.
He looked back and immediately flinched when he found Hilda standing behind him with a creepy smile.
"WHA—! Ha.. ha.." Elias clutched his chest, breathing rapidly as he felt like he had experienced a mini heart attack, "M-miss Hilda, w-what can I do for you?" He asked, fearfully.
"Oh, nothing much~" Hilda cooed, "You all are going out for Predicaments, right? How about I join you guys und ensure everything goes smoothly~?"
"O-oh?"
Elias took an involuntary step back, surprised by Hilda’s offer.
After remembering what Ross had explicitly told him to do, he shook his head wildly.
"No, no, you mustn’t trouble yourselves with that. We’ll be gone for quite a while, and we wouldn’t want someone as esteemed as you to pull a muscle." He stated nervously, "Just rest easy in Rusty Den, while we do all the work—"
"I’m not exactly asking," Hilda stepped forward, spooking the poor Street Rat. "It was a consideration. But now I think I should come along~..."
Watching as Hilda placed a hand on his shoulder, Elias shook in fear under the woman’s intense and menacing gaze. It didn’t take someone like him to know that Hilda wasn’t going to take no for an answer, and even if she did, who’s to say she wasn’t going to go out on her own later?
’It’ll be bad if we bring her with us, but it’ll be even worse if she goes out on her own, as we would have no way of tracking her!’
He then began to try to persuade her again, coming up with any excuse, no matter how outlandish, to get her to back off. But no matter what, Hilda continued to keep a stubborn grasp on his shoulder, her gaze intensifying, like she was running low on patience.
Elias’ face contorted in discomfort.
Stuck in between the lines of following Ross’ orders and Hilda’s intimidation, Elias...
’Ugh...’
Eventually crumbled in favour of Hilda.
Unlike Ross, Elias had seen first-hand what Hilda was capable of, and he would rather not be near the receiving end of that ever again.
"Haha, bravo, bravo!" Hilda clapped her hands gleefully, "You’ve made a very wise decision, Dummkopf! Smart choice, indeed!" She stated, lightheartedly patting Elias’ shoulder.
"Haha... yes... wise decision..." Elias chuckled nervously before stiffening, "Dummkopf? What does that mean? Is that french?"
Hilda shook her head hastily, seemingly offended by the misconception.
"Nein, nein! It is German!" She shouted, then waved her hand playfully, "And Dummkopf means very smart person, mein Freund."
And after a short pause, she added, "People who get told this would usually be after they made a very intelligent decision, or are just a Dummkopf in general. You get what I mean?"
"Yes...?" Elias quirked an eyebrow, his brain slowly processing the information, "Ah, yes! Okay, I understand now!"
Elias’ eyes sparkled.
"Yeah... YEAH! I am smart, aren’t I?! Finally, someone who understands me!" Elias pumped his fist in the air, joyful over Hilda’s validation. He then shouted proudly, "I’m a Dummkopf!"
Witnessing Elias’ juvenile gesture and proud declaration, Hilda also pumped her fist into the air with a similar childlike expression.
"YEAH!"
As the two celebrated Elias’ declaration of the title of Dummkopf, Nadia watched them from behind with a sceptical look on her face.
For the past few hours, she hadn’t kept {Truth Finder} activated, as it required a constant line of Vitality to stay on, which in her current condition wasn’t the best choice she could make if she wanted to get better sooner.
Because of that, she had to make do with her instincts in trying to decipher Hilda’s words from earlier conversations, similar to this one.
’Does that word really mean smart...?’ Nadia thought suspiciously; to her, Elias looked anything but smart. ’Dummkopf kind of has the word dumb in it, right...? Does it mean stupid?’
"Haa..." She sighed.
’What’s the point of thinking about this?’
Bringing her attention back to reality, she noticed both Hilda and Elias were leaning in close to each other, with the Street Rat making gestures towards her. She quirked an eyebrow and tried to listen in, which wasn’t difficult, as they were whispering rather loudly.
"Hey, what about her? Is she a dummkopf?" Elias asked, shooting Nadia subtle glances.
Hilda stealthily did the same, catching glimpses of Nadia behind her. She then shook her head, pointing back with her thumb as she wore a shit-eating grin.
"Her? She’s no dummkopf. But she still has a long way to go..."
Watching as the two talked and snickered right in front of her, Nadia’s left eye couldn’t help but twitch in irritation — a vein on her forehead rapidly bulging when she caught sight of Hilda’s grin.
’Is she calling me an idiot?’ Nadia thought indignantly, unintentionally overlooking all the suspicions she had regarding the German word.
As she was about to retort to this presumed insult, two voices spoke up from behind her.