Chapter 57: To learn is to Try
Watching as Hilda placed down her rusty lamp before sitting beside her, Nadia sneered and grumbled, noticeably displeased about having her peace disturbed.
"Company? I don’t need company," She stated adamantly, though there was an unnoticeable softness in her voice — a softness neither she nor Hilda recognised.
The German chuckled as she swung her legs over the edge of the quayside.
"Haha, well it looked like you needed it."
Watching as Hilda kicked her legs into the air in a laid-back manner, Nadia sighed:
"Do whatever you want..."
"Thanks!"
Nadia huffed and scooted back from the edge, giving herself enough space to pull up her legs and bring her knees into her chest.
After doing this, she wrapped her arms around her legs and continued to stare out into the sea — trying to ignore Hilda, who was staring intently at her like a hawk.
At first, she did well at ignoring. But as time went on, she became more and more uncomfortable with Hilda’s beady stare.
Nadia turned to Hilda with a twitchy eye.
"What?" She asked bluntly.
Hilda tilted her head amusedly, then smiled.
"I was just admiring your beauty is all."
"Wha—... ugh..."
After widening her eyes, Nadia let out a groan filled with annoyance.
Having sensed Hilda respond with a lie, she stared at the woman with a frosty expression, obviously unamused by the compliment.
"Stop with your nonsense and tell me what you actually want, Hilda. Your staring is getting on my nerves."
"Haha, used your Gift again, I see? You really are dependent on it, huh?"
Nadia frowned.
"Being dependent on it is a given, considering it’s my ability," She retorted before adding, "And when it comes to you, it’s naturally a given that I should be dependent on it."
"Ehhh~? So mean!" Hilda squealed, "But I was telling the truth, though. You are rather pretty from the side."
While ignoring Nadia’s reaction to her sudden compliment, Hilda chuckled and moved on.
"Anyway, I just wanted to know. Why’d you leave earlier?" Hilda inquired curiously, leaning back on her hands.
She snickered
"Aren’t you still hell-bent on stabbing a sword through my Heart? If you had stayed, you would’ve learnt a thing or two that would’ve dearly helped you in that goal, you know?"
Nadia narrowed her eyes before averting her gaze.
Then, she huffed.
"On top of the fact that I don’t enjoy watching someone getting one-sidedly pummeled, what is there for me to learn by observing someone be only on the receiving end?" Nadia asked, giving Hilda a strange look.
She was still unaware of the fact that Ross had tried to put up a fight against Hilda.
Hilda smirked and wagged her finger.
"That’s a naive way of thinking, meine Dame. There’s always something to be learned. Everywhere you look, there’s always something interesting happening behind the scenes... It’s just up to you to truly focus und learn what’s going on around you by taking advantage of the opportunities given to you."
She turned to the small pile of pebbles situated between her and Nadia, and pinched one of them between her fingers.
She stared at the stone curiously.
"What are these for?"
Nadia, who was still processing Hilda’s unusually wise words, subconsciously responded:
"Stone skipping."
"Oh~?"
Hilda continued to childishly marvel at the pebble, like it was a key to some untold secret.
"Stone skipping... is that where you chuck a stone into the water and hope it’ll bounce?"
"At the water," Nadia emphasised before picking one of them up.
Then, with a rapid flick of her wrist, she tossed the stone towards the water.
Skip...
Splash...
Watching as the stone made a pathetic skip before losing its speed, Nadia widened her eyes — this attempt was even worse than last time!
’How am I getting worse!?’ Nadia agonised.
Ignorant of Nadia’s turmoil over her poor performance, Hilda opened her mouth into the shape of an ’o’ before clapping her hands rapidly in a wondrous manner.
"Wow! You actually got it to skip, good job!"
Nadia turned to scowl at Hilda, but when she realised, with the help of her Gift, that the woman was actually being genuine, instead of mocking her, she calmed down a little before reflecting.
"Haa... it’s far from my best..." She sighed in disappointment and also vexation.
She was peeved.
"When I was a kid, I used to be able to make one skip fifteen times."
"Hoh~ is that so?"
Hilda eyed the pebble in her hand for a moment before casting it out towards the water, in an attempt to copy Nadia.
Unfortunately.
Plonk...
She didn’t get it on the first try. And yet, not an ounce of disappointment could be found on Hilda’s face.
She was still smiling.
Hilda picked up another stone before trying again under Nadia’s expressionless gaze.
The Heroine continued to watch the German attempt at stone skipping for a bit before losing interest. She then thought back to Hilda’s earlier words — specifically, a term she used.
’Hell-bent... huh?’ She repeated inside her head.
Remembering the incident that took place yesterday, she sighed; was it wrong for her to feel vengeful or hell-bent for that?
Nadia thought back to the conversation she had with Seraphine and fell deeper into thought. Since leaving the warehouse to come outside, she had a lot of time to reflect on that conversation.
Was there anything she could’ve done to prevent that situation from happening?
Was it necessary for Ben to die for them to move on? And... was what Hilda did the most ideal solution at that time?
She had no answer for the first two questions. But she did for the last one.
"Hilda... you were right."
"Hm?"
The German glanced over at the Heroine.
"Right about what?"
"About Ben... you did the right thing putting him out of his misery..." Nadia muttered, hugging her legs tighter. "I... apologis—"
"What do you have to apologise for?"
Before Nadia could finish her apology, Hilda rebuked her.
The Heroine looked up from her knees, shocked. She stared at Hilda with confusion clear in her eyes, but the woman didn’t spare her a glance, continuing to chuck pebbles at the surface of the water.
"You needn’t apologise for something like that."
"B-but, I was obviously in the wrong," Nadia stated in disbelief before adding, "He couldn’t be saved, just like you said! If you hadn’t put him out of his misery, he would’ve continued to suffer for god knows how long. And instead of understanding your decision, I chose to lash out at you! I’m wrong, okay?! You don’t have to try and comfort me..."
"... Haaa..."
Listening to Nadia’s confession, Hilda sighed and turned to face the Heroine.
"Meine Dame, there... are countless ways to tackle things in life. Everyone has their own way to solve the problems they face, but sometimes... not all solutions can properly solve a problem..." Hilda then fell silent for a split second before continuing, "Und if they all could, the result would undoubtedly be messy."
She then cast another pebble towards the sea and watched as it pathetically sank again.
Splash...
And yet, despite another failure, Hilda was unperturbed. Unbothered. And tried again.
"Everyone may have a solution to a problem, but only a few of them have the knowledge und experience to truly answer that problem."
"... Experience and... knowledge?" Nadia repeated slowly.
Hilda nodded.
"You’re unknowledgeable of the outside world. Und you’re inexperienced when it comes to dealing with Predicaments und unexpected situations. Because of this, there was no way you could’ve prepared a proper solution for such a situation you have never experienced."
She picked up another pebble and inspected it curiously.
"Und I doubted you could. For even someone like me, with years of experience, couldn’t figure out a solution to save Mister Affleck..."
Hilda then turned back to Nadia with a warm look in her eyes.
"You did the best you could. I cannot fault you for lashing out at what you thought was wrong... for that’s just another key trait of being human."
Nadia then watched as Hilda held the pebble she was holding towards her, urging her to take it.
"I will never fault or blame anyone for something they tried hard at or put effort into und nor will I judge them. Be it whether they’re weak, strong, talented, or untalented. All I care about is how hard they work."
After Nadia took the pebble from her, Hilda returned to leaning back on her hands.
"The only thing I would fault in a person would be their inability to try und grow from their mistakes, weakness. For in my mind, a person who refuses to try und better themselves are no different from waste."
Nadia widened her eyes at Hilda’s wisdom.
"... I see..."
She then scooted forward and pushed out her legs, letting them dangle over the edge of the quayside. She looked down at her lap, then at the pebble situated at the centre of her palm.
Her eyes became half-lidded as she mulled over Hilda’s words.
And before she was about to lose herself in her thoughts...
Skip. Splash...
She heard the faint sound of a pebble skipping on water.
"I did it!"
Nadia turned back to face Hilda, who was now beaming with joy over her newest accomplishment.
She then watched as the woman rolled her wrist at her.
"I tell you, it was difficult figuring out how to throw it. But I managed to come up with a solution in the end, hehe."
Upon hearing that, Nadia felt a subtle change inside her Heart.
She clenched the pebble that Hilda gave her and adjusted her grip on it. Then, without warning, she cast the pebble out towards the surface of the water, and...
Skip. Skip. Skip.
Watched as it began to skip.
Skip. Skip. Skip... Splash...
’Six skips?’ Nadia stared in surprise, baffled.
That was her best throw today!
’Why did I suddenly just get better all of a sudden?’
What changed?
Hilda observed Nadia’s expression with amusement flickering in her eyes.
Then she asked:
"Meine Dame... what do you know about Strength of Heart?"