I sat up vigilantly,"Ar—" I felt a weight on my thigh. Looking down, a very exhausted Artemis having fallen asleep. The sense of emergency within me calmed down as I cradled her fragile body softly. Wounds all over her body made my heart ache in shared agony.
I looked up and realised the giant was dead. My wounds were also healed. Looking down once more, I felt a sense of warmth and admiration float up within me. I pressed my lips against her forehead as I embraced her tightly.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
A chorus of thuds sounded as I turned my head, only to see a group of under a hundred surviving kosmimarians kneeling.
Anger welled within me. It was them. They had hurt Artemis. They deserved to die—
"Please hear us out." Eoin, the eldest kowtowed, slamming his forehead on the floor until it was raw and bleeding.
"Speak." I gave a sharp glare. If they didn't give a satisfactory answer, they would suffer for it.
"We were controlled by our king. He...He killed our family members and used blood and spirit magic to build that...That monster. W-We were simply puppets he controlled to make more offspring for him to kill and to build that thing," Seeing the helplessness and sorrow flash through his eyes, I felt he wasn't lying,"But that doesn't excuse our actions. So, take my life. But please, don't kill the children. They haven't done any wrong."
Eoin was a close friend of mine when I was younger. To see him like this, even my rage softened up. In the end, I answered,"I will not decide how to deal with you. Artemis will when she wakes up. Until then, I will spare you. I want clothes for her and privacy." Hearing my demand, they immediately rushed off to prepare.
———
Hot. It was extremely hot to the point of being uncomfortable. I woke up covered in sweat, only to find myself practically covered by three layers of blankets. I found myself in unfamiliar and uncomfortable clothes, barely fitting me and made from some terrible material and itched.
I pushed off the blankets and turned my head to the bathroom. Walking in, I let out a depressed sigh. What these people considered a 'bathroom' was a hole in the floor and a cold shower.
Using a bit of mana, I conjured up some hot water and cleaned myself of the gruel and blood that caked my body. Using healing touch on myself, I managed to close most of the wounds and pressing injuries. Say for mild discomfort and that bit of tiredness, I was mostly good to go.
On my shoulder, a tattoo of the automaton had appeared while I was asleep. Not that I could care about it right now. Having awoken from my dazed state after a hot shower, I realised remembered imminent danger. Lucius not being here only added to this insidious growing worry.
Slipping on my remaining dress, I resolved myself to find something that would actually not tear every time I fought once I got the chance to,"Achoo!" I sneezed, my nose was a little runny,"You can get sick?" I grumbled discontentedly, realising my voice was a little hoarse. Probably flu or a sinus infection paired with a cough. I pressed my hand on my forehead. It was hot.
Christ, a fever too?
No wonder I felt like shit.
"Any chance you could prescribe me antibiotics or something?" I called out.
Silence.
"Always not there when I need help. What a black-hearted person."
I opened the door to and stuck my head out. I found myself alone. Walking out and down the stairs, the only exit, I saw the back of Lucius, hunched over a table, sleeping. An empty mug sat beside him.
A wave of unending relief rushed over me. My gut had proven wrong this time and I gladly welcomed this mistake with open arms. Choosing not to wake him up, I—
"Achoo!"
"Who's—" I just had to go and sneeze. Lucius jolted up, alert eyes zeroing in on me in an instant before he yelped in surprise,"You're awake! How are you? Are you in pain? Hurt? Has the fever gone down?" He bombarded me with a multitude of questions in a worried tone as he pressed his hand against my forehead.
"I'm doing fine. I've caught the flu somehow and my fever is still going strong," I sniffed softly, a little overwhelmed by the questions but still found it cute that he cared so much. It was this goodness that welled inside you when someone cared for you,"What about you? I don't think I had enough mana to h—"
"Worry about yourself first Artemis."
"You're one to talk Lucy."
"Lucy?"
"Lucius, Lucy? Short form. It sounds cute."
"But I'm not a girl."
"But you sound like a worried housewife right now."
"Because I care about you."
"Exactly what a housewife would say, Lucy," I remarked teasingly, poking a finger in his abs which made him wince,"I knew it. You've not fully recovered."
"But you—"
"Relax," I forced him into the chair with a bit of strength and activated healing touch,"A little mana use never hurt me and," Tracing my fingers over his injuries, they mended the wounds, an expression of relief and comfort appearing on his face,"I'm sorry." I casually spoke those words as I concentrated on patching up the last bits.
"For what? You've nothing to apologise for."
"I got you hurt. That's what I'm apologising for."
"It's a man's job to protect his woman."
"We're not living in the age of chivalry anymore Lucy darling."
"But you're important to me so I want to protect you," His hands caught mine and he held them tenderly,"It's not just us being soulmates, Artemis. It's so, so, so much more than just that. I like you."
"Liking someone isn't grounds for nearly getting yourself killed. And I'm not sure how I feel." I gave an ambiguous answer. These questions were best left to quiet nights to ponder over silently, reflect and gather one's scattered thoughts.
"Not being sure of how you feel about someone isn't grounds for taking down a rank 6 by sacrificing your health."
"Touché, Lucy."
"Touché? What's that mean?"
"It's Fr—Never mind. And, done.," I dusted my hands as I cancelled the spell,"You should be good as new. Just a bit of internal bleeding is all. Your bones seem to have stayed intact somehow. Other than being winded from that time, it's just minor injuries."
"That's because I'm a titan. We're known for our strength and defence!" He patted his chest, beaming with pride at my inadvertent compliment.
I rolled my eyes with a chuckle,"Yes, my dear Lucy is such a manly and powerful titan."
A small vein bulged at his temple as he spoke in a little forced manner,"Artemis..."
"What? You're not happy with your nickname?" I feigned hurt, laughing like a madwoman on the inside,"I really tried my best to come up with a nice nickname. I suppose I'll—"
He panicked, as expected,"N-No! Lucy is fine! You can call me Lucy all you want! I'm sorry if I—"
"Then it's a promise!" I grinned triumphantly, switching back to my happy demeanour from moments before.
He sunk back into his chair, defeated,"Haaa..."
Suddenly, an uninvited guest introduced itself in our moment of silence.
Grrrr...
Looking at each other, we realised both our stomachs had growled.
"Pfft..."
"Ahem..Hehe..." After a solid ten seconds of trying to hold back our laughter, we finally broke. This kind of emotional catharsis was much needed right now.
After we calmed down from that hysteria, I managed to take out two small metal containers,"How long was I out?"
"A day. What's that?"
"With the kosmimarians being underground, I doubt they eat normal food. You must be starving. Luckily, I prepared for this." In this world, noodles existed. So, I made my own version of instant noodles with the aid of magic. On the plus side, with the storage ring keeping food fresh—No preservatives. To replace the flavour packet, I got from buying some soup and getting of the moisture to make small cubes with a bit of salt like those flavour cubes people added into soup.
Condensing a bit of pure water from the atmosphere, I heated it up with a flame and set two portions into the bowls with the noodles. Once the noodles soaked up enough water, I added a bit more and added the cubes. Garnishing it with a few slices of beef and an egg, I pushed the bowl to the drooling Lucius alongside a fork since he didn't even know what chopsticks were,"Shall we dig in?"
He gulped down his saliva and nodded, eyes fixated on the bowl like a sailor out at sea for months that'd sight his home. Shoving a mouthful of noodles, egg and beef into his mouth, his eyes widened before he shovelled the entirety of his portion into his mouth in mere seconds before turning to me and asking,"More?"
I'd barely started chewing my first mouthful when he finished,"How much more can you finish?"
"I could eat an entire cow right now to be honest." Judging from the term 'titan' and the way he ate, I found myself believing he wasn't being hyperbolic about his ravenous appetite.
I took out the twenty slabs of pork and twelve slabs of beef I'd packed for my six month-long expedition into the Ypogeios tundra before heading to the city of Blackharp to restock but with the oaf's appetite, I feared that we wouldn't even last a day. Of course, I wasn't planning to eat ramen three meals a day for six months straight—No. I was a foodie that came prepared,"Barbecue it is."