You never really knew a person until they were painted into a corner. There were married couples who had experienced decades with one another that didn't truly know their "other half," and this wasn't even that.
While she understood that this was Cassarae's city, they couldn't have gotten to this point without the efforts of both of them. In addition, if anything were to happen to the city, it wouldn't just be Cassarae who was put in danger, or just the villagers she still didn't know were real or not, but Olivia as well who would potentially be thrown into the mess.
It was hard to feel like Cassarae wasn't gambling with all of their lives based on the memory of a person she once knew, and a person she clearly had a blind spot for as well.
Sylas had just unveiled something that could barely be considered a smile, and all of Cassarae's promised sternness had gone out the window.
Olivia exhaled a breath.
"Okay, I'm sorry. I wasn't very professional in this matter and I cut corners where I shouldn't have. But! This little village is basically our make-or-break. We have to be more cautious with it."
Cassarae blinked, seemingly coming to understand Olivia's perspective. Earlier today, Sylas had made a unilateral decision for them, and now it seemed that she was raining rewards on him for that.
At the same time, her image as a City Lord was also highly important to her popularity amongst her citizens. Sylas was a variable that could easily throw that in the wrong direction if things were handled inappropriately.
Cassarae shook her head. "Olivia, what happened today?"
"I already told you—"
Olivia frowned, but wanting to know what Cassarae meant, she did so anyway.
"There," Cassarae stopped her barely a few seconds in. "An arrow came out of nowhere and your mind suddenly became fuzzy. Then Sylas ran. Some of you assumed that he had escaped alone, but then he came back. You're failing to bridge two important things."
Olivia parted her lips to respond, but stopped, waiting for Cassarae to continue.
"The assumption that he ran away isn't a bad one, because it's what any smart person would have done in that situation. All of you were tied down, and he was seemingly the only one who could move, so why didn't he?"
"The arrows were targeting him, though," Olivia countered.
"They were. But if he ran away from the archer instead of toward them, what would have happened?"
Olivia's eyes widened. "I…"
Cassarae shook her head. "No, it's not your fault. You're smart, smarter than me, that's for sure. I just shouldn't have told you that story. It colored your perception of him and clouded your judgment. I know I told you not to let it go beyond these four walls, but we're all human, aren't we?"
A bitter smile spread across her lips. She did regret telling that story. She had held it in for ten years, so what was another ten? Unfortunately, she couldn't bottle up spilt milk, and it would be hard to mend the relationship between the two.
"The short of it is that I want to nip this in the bud right now, Liv. Don't trust Sylas because I happened to know him ten years ago, trust him based on what he's already done. That is enough."
Olivia exhaled a breath. "Alright."
Sylas couldn't hear what the women were talking about, and they probably knew that, which was why they didn't bother to hide their voices at all. His mind was sent into a realm of sorts.
It was yet another world of white fog, one that reminded him a lot of the first place he had entered when the Trial began.
He moved his intention, and suddenly the world began to zoom around him. Soon, he found himself in a city with buildings that were somehow both simple and yet far more substantial than the ones he was used to on Earth.
There weren't any skyscrapers, nor outlandish architecture, but it felt like the city planning was designed by a person with decades more experience than modern Earth, not to mention the funds to do so.
He didn't know why he got that feeling. He had only seen what was objectively a small part of this city, a city he was now seeing was mostly deserted, but it was the feeling he got, nonetheless.
'This must be the gathering place Cassarae mentioned, but as expected, there aren't any people here. Or maybe there are people, but they're so spread out within the city that I can't immediately spot any one of them…'
Sylas was about to pull back when his eyes landed on something. High up in the skies, there was a board visible from seemingly all angles, and upon it there were three columns, one of which was completely empty.
[Leveling Leaderboard]
[1. Kael Darkmane - Level 9]
[2. Astrid Grimblade - Level 9]
[3. Thorne Ravenclaw - Level 9]
[4. Malachi Grimblade - Level 9]
[5. Lucius Grimblade - Level 9]
[6. Draven Ravenclaw - Level 9]
[7. Asher Darkmane - Level 8]
[8. Ragnar Ravenclaw - Level 8]
[9. Brakk Smith - Level 6]
[10. Hilda Silverden - Level 6]
Sylas' eyes narrowed. Those names… their last names had changed, but all of them had been on the list of flights he checked that day. The top eight was completely controlled by the Browns, the Abadi, and the Rouse. Or, rather… the Grimblades, the Darkmanes, and the Ravenclaws. The gap between them and ninth and tenth place also seemed to be quite substantial.
A part of Sylas thought that they would have hung around at Level 0 like he did… or was it that their starting Genes Limits were so much better that it was unnecessary?
Sylas thought about what it would take for him to finally leave Level 0. Part of him wanted to hold out until he could form a Legendary Gene and really go all out… but was that realistic?