The moment I got back to the room, the first thing I did was heal Opix and Cerus of their Stunlock debuffs before giving them my account of the events with Ysnik and her team. I’d planned on hamming up the details of the fight with Zel and Isets, but honestly, I didn’t need to. I’d made short work of them, and I was proud of that. Opix was too, or at least he pretended to be. Cerus wasn’t impressed in the slightest, instead saying that she’d have been disappointed if her thrall couldn’t handle “two lowly children”. 

 

“You have been fighting alongside us for a while now, Grim Hearts. Do not forget that you are the thrall of Cerus Rose as well. It is to be expected that those of your Star level cannot compare to you,” Cerus said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

 

“I don’t feel like I’ve done anything, though. I killed a few Spotted Deer, killed a couple of startled birds, and… n-nearly killed a 4-Star Presence… but that was different! I was Taunted and buffed!”

 

“Most of that was your own power! Are you questioning my judgment, thrall?”

 

Opix leaned forward in his bed, moving his hands animatedly as he spoke. “ I have to agree with Cerus. It’s like she said earlier: Cumulative strength isn’t the sole deciding factor in a fight. In fact, I’d say it rarely is. It’s why I could take care of Ciz with little effort but struggled against a weaker Henrietta. Henrietta was smart enough to both neutralize me and ensure that you couldn’t get too involved – ensuring her fight with Cerus remained a 1v1. I doubt those goblin kids have enough battle experience to come close to you.”

 

I tried and failed to suppress a smile, instead opting to stare up at the ceiling. It felt good being able to be useful. I had value to them. I was worth something to them, and as long as I continued to get stronger that’d continue to be true. There was still a long way to go, and I needed to continue to get stronger if I wanted to go that distance with them. Stronger and smarter, because cumulative strength wasn’t everything. I was about to say as much out loud, but Opix gave me an almost conspiratorial look that I couldn’t exactly parse. It wasn’t hard to figure out why as soon as he’d started talking, though.

 

“Now that that’s settled, I wanted to ask you for clarification on something, Grim. You said that the Gnomes paid how much for Cerus’ death?”

 

I glanced over at Cerus before I answered, who’d begun looking around the room as if in search of something. “A hundred thousand gold. They paid Ysnik to kill her and make it slow.”

 

Opix gave Cerus an unamused glare. “A hundred thousand gold, huh?”

 

We both turned to her, and she held our eyes for mere moments before turning in the opposite direction. She pointed at herself in utter confusion. 

 

“Cerus, you can’t just not tell us what happened between you and the Gnomes. They’re making the items for the marketplace. The odds of us running into them are pretty high, and if we know what you did we’ll have an easier time taking care of it when the time comes.”

 

”This certainly would be a good time for me to fess up to any wrongdoing,” Cerus began, “If I had any wrongdoing to admit to! It is good then that I am innocent.”

 

Opix let out a sigh. “Cerus, the Gnomes were either 8-Stars or 9-Stars. I know you didn’t fight them, and yet they made a fucking Battle Point Stealing device just for you!”

 

“For us.”

 

“...Cerus. You have made yourself, and by extension, us, enemies of Sera Town – the people who make the fucking weapons and armor we earn in our Achievements!”

 

Cerus turned to me, thumbing at Opix. “Get a load of this guy. Am I saying that properly?”

 

“Cerus, if you want to kill the Felzian Queen, we need all the help we can get. Making enemies of the people who arm us in that fight is pretty dumb.”

 

She shrank back. “Why are you two ganging up on me? I feel overwhelmed.”

 

It went on like this for another hour before it became clear that Cerus wasn’t going to budge. In truth, I wasn’t as caught up on this as Opix was. The worst item I’d gotten from the Achievements was that foam sword that could’ve instakilled me, but I’d watched that black market salesman tear it to shreds just a few hours ago. It was scarier knowing that they could make weapons like that, but if these guys were as strong as Opix suggested then they wouldn’t need to sabotage our Achievements to do what they could do themselves with no effort. Besides, weren’t the Systems managed in Mephistos? I’d only spoken with Dogtooth for a few minutes, but he didn’t seem like the type to let that kind of thing slide. Either way, Opix and Cerus were gonna talk in circles all night if this didn’t end soon. I clapped my hands together, drawing their attention to me. 

 

“You guys, look. We have goals too big for them to be stopped by a couple of Gnomes.

“Grim, you don’t under–”

 

“I do understand, Opix. They can make items that can kill us, but we’re a group of two 1-Stars and a 0-Star. They don’t need to make weapons to kill us. They can treat us like Spotted Deer if they really want to. Sure, having them as enemies makes our lives harder, but our lives are going to be hard so long as our goals are what they are. There’s no way for us to get to where we need to be without making a few enemies.”

 

The room was quiet for a bit too long. Opix looked away from me and made a face I couldn’t quite discern while Cerus gave me a look of unmistakable relief. I hoped to heaven above that I didn’t make things awkward, but I felt like it needed to be said. It was how I felt about the Rangers, and I imagined it was how the others felt about their own goals, though I just happened to be the one to put it into words. As if she could read my mind, Cerus spoke up.  

 

“I feel the exact same way as you. You have such a way with words” Cerus confirmed. She gave me that sorta creepy, sorta wholesome smile for a bit before turning to Opix. “Does Grim Hearts not have a way with words?”

 

That undiscernible expression on Opix’s face became evident as he turned to face us. It was embarrassment. Opix was embarrassed. I felt embarrassed just by looking at him, so I stared up at the ceiling. I noticed Cerus giving us both wry smiles in my peripheral. 

 

“Yeah, he does. Sorry about being pushy. I’m just… It’s important I take care of Final Testament, and I don’t want to lose that opportunity over something stupid.”

 

“It will be done, Angel Boy. Trust.”

 

Opix yawned. “Fine, I trust you. Just don’t give us any unnecessary enemies. Henrietta was a given. She’ll come around eventually. The Gnomes, though? That’s different. They used to come by Azeltos a lot so I know what they’re like. They hold grudges, and–”

 

“It will be done, Angel Boy!” Cerus interrupted. “Trust.”

 

He didn’t say anything in response, merely turning in his bed and presumably going back to sleep. 

 

I continued to stare up at the ceiling, unsure what I should say to either of them. I could feel Cerus staring at me in my peripheral vision, but I didn’t feel like talking to her right now. I’d made it awkward just like I’d feared…

 

…Not that Cerus cared about that kind of thing.

 

Cerus: oh my gosh you did all that to get attention off of me

 

Cerus: i knew you loved me thrall

 

Cerus: you are in love with me and want to have sex with me

 

Grim: None of that is true. I just didn’t want that argument to go on forever. We need to sleep because we have a big day tomorrow, and it’s harder to do that if we’re up talking about Gnomes.

 

Cerus: yeah i agree

 

Grim: But we do need to get to the bottom of that, Cerus. Opix is right, the Gnomes make our Achievement stuff. Even if they don’t give us harmful items, they can decide to give us the worst versions of every item we would’ve gotten. Like that Dogtooth sword. 

 

Cerus: it is not my fault if the gnomes cannot handle a joke

 

Cerus: it was just a little jokey joke

 

Grim: What are you talking about? What did you say?

 

Cerus: you had video games on earth, correct? 

 

Grim: Yes?

 

Cerus: have you ever played a game and gotten really mad?