Chapter 64: Annoyance
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[Easy Difficulty – Second Zone; Year 2, Day 112…]

POV – Rin

Watching Tobias explain the situation to Sidney, Rin had flashback to a similar situation she’d experienced before.

Except her Tobias dealt with the situation far more casually and immediately released Sidney after learning she wasn’t in any danger. Only briefly telling Sidney to avoid utilizing her ability in such a manner and keep it as a trump card in unless a life or death battle.

Compared to her Tobias, he seems less trusting.

Although that should probably be expected. It took Tobias time to build up that level of trust, and he still sometimes hesitated before sharing some information.

Ironically, it wasn’t until Tobias became certain he was going to die that he stopped hesitating and completely opened up.

Watching Tobias only caused memories to resurface. Memories that, she didn’t want to remember.

It wasn’t that they were sad memories that bothered her. Rather, it was merely that they were memories that he hadn’t experienced.

Rin logically understood that it wasn’t fair on him. Tobias hadn’t done anything wrong per se.

He was just… different.

If anything, it’s strange that he manages to treat her the same despite causal time travel.

However, he was always restrained around her. She hadn’t been aware of it before, due to him always acting in a similar manner around her. However, traveling this far back in time has made Tobias’ restraint become incredibly obvious.

Tobias was always careful of the words he spoke in her vicinity. Constantly ensuring his words have a level of politeness to them and filtering himself to prevent any misunderstandings.

While politeness itself isn’t necessarily bad, the problem is that he feels the need to do it at all. It’s a symptom of Tobias lacking trust in her.

Tobias didn’t act like that when they first met, he talked and acted freely around her.

Maybe that’s what instinctively makes him seem like a different person. That lack of trust.

His outburst from earlier was familiar though. Her Tobias had gotten upset over something similar in the past. It caused both hope and pain.

Hope because it felt like her Tobias still existed and pain from realizing the truth.

He didn’t trust her anymore.

What was it her Tobias said after she’d lied to him?

“I hold you to a higher standard than other’s because I trust you, and lying is a betrayal of that trust.”

Tobias didn’t apologize or exaggerate. He only explained exactly why lying bothered him, although that was only at the end of a very long conversation.

This time, he gave an overly polite apology directly afterward, which showcases the problem. Instead of directly explaining why it bothered him, he gave an unnecessarily polite apology because he didn’t trust me enough to explain it properly.

Trust is slow to create and easily lost.

Logically, Rin understood this. Building trust is a slow process and is something that takes time and especially in Tobias’ case.

Emotionally, though… It hurt. Realizing he doesn’t trust her and she didn’t quite understand why.

However, since Rin understood the problem, she could begin working toward fixing it and that begins with an apology of her own.

“Tobias?” Calling out, before indicating for him to come back over toward me.

“One minute.” Tobias replied, surprised at my sudden request. Tobias had been explaining the technical details of the corrupted cloud situation to Sidney before I interrupted him.

Before he came over, I began planning what to say.

The first step to building trust is honesty. That means I have to explain that I’ve having a problem with the current situation.

“Rin? Did something happen?” Tobias asked, approaching me before stopping a few feet away.

Despite having a plan before he walked over when I opened my mouth to speak, the words left my mind and only panic remained.

Tears began to build up in the corner of my eye.

I had no idea what to say or how to say it.

“Easy there…Everything fine, right?” Tobias pulled me into a hug, whispering soothing words.

Barely managing to stop the words from breaking, I argued. “No! Everything is not fine.”

This isn’t the way I wanted him to see me acting. I want him to know me as playful, smart, and trustworthy. Not someone who cried over every little thing. I wanted a heartfelt conversation, not on a one-sided sobbing mess.

“What the matter?” Tobias stroked her back, attempting to calm me down.

Despite failing to have the conversation in the matter she would have liked, Rin stopped herself from reloading. She already promised herself she wouldn’t use it anymore unless there was no other option.

Snuggling my head into his chest, I reported to him frustrated in myself. “…You don’t trust me.”

Tobias stayed quiet for several seconds before apologizing again. “I’m sorry that I accused you of lying.”

Shaking my head in his chest, I whispered out, “Not that.“

“What did I do, then?” Tobias inquired.

Managed to prevent myself from crying further, I lightly slammed my fist into his chest. “Absolutely nothing and I hate it.”

After several seconds of silence, Tobias perplexedly spoke up, “I’m confused.”

Sighing to myself, I softly muttered. “I know.”

“Sorry… this wasn’t how I wanted this conversation to go.” After snuggling into this chest for several minutes, Tobias released her from the hug and I rubbed my watery eyes. “Can we restart this conversation?”

“Okay…” Tobias easily agreed and we began the conversation again with a fresh start, “So… Rin, is something the matter?”

“I… I wanted to apologize first. I didn’t intent to lie to you.” I apologized, managing to keep my emotions in check this time.

“You don’t have to apologize for that I was out of line. I shouldn’t have yelled at you...” Tobias immediately interjected, shifting the blame toward himself.

“No!” I shouted attempting to prevent Tobias from apologizing further. “You don’t have to act so polite around me! You don’t have to filter everything you say and do. If something bothers you, tell me.”

Surprised at my outburst, Tobias watched me carefully before nodding and agreeing. “Okay. I’ll try and keep that in mind. Is that everything you wanted to say?”

“Not really… but it’s enough for now.” I replied, I’d already embarrassed myself enough already.

“Alright… Once Sidney’s barrier dissipates naturally, we should be ready to go.” Tobias said before falling silent.

On the topic of Sidney, I asked about the person who I’d been waiting for. “Have you met Ivan yet?”

Tobias seemed confused and asked, “Who?”

“Sidney’s boyfriend.” I clarified mainly because that’s what Tobias always calls him. To pass the time, I pulling out my bow and began taking practice shot while we waited for Sidney’s barrier to dissipate.

A light bulb went off in his head, as apparently Tobias had seen him. “Right… him. Yeah, I scared him off earlier today.”

“Of course…” I said before releasing an arrow and asking, “When?”

“Well… I trapped him in a barrier a couple hours ago.” Tobias answered sounding slightly embarrassed.

The bow twanged as I released another shot and I let the bow hang in my hand while I sighed. “Another plan ruin by ineptitude.”

Tobias turned defensive, “If you planned on his arrival, why didn't you tell me in advance?”

Glaring at him, I asked. “Why do you think?” The only reason I was asking about it now was because he should’ve been here by now.

“Because I told you not to?” Tobias responded correctly, he didn’t even have to spend time thinking about it.

At least Tobias understood himself relatively well. Although it would be far less annoying if certain events didn't change so abruptly.

As I prepared to release another shot, Tobias interrupted and asked, “Is it a major setback?”

Spending a moment to think about the problems Ivan caused before shaking my head. While having Ivan running about will cause some problems, it couldn't be described as a major problem.

“An annoyance.” I informed, releasing another arrow into a nearby tree.

“Then it’s fine.” Tobias said, lying down and relaxing on the floor beside me.

You didn’t think so in the future or I have bothered at all.

You’re the one who would have to live with the reputation of a kidnapper. Even if you don’t care, it’s complicates the plan. We don’t need skeletons in the closet while we’re attempting to recruit people into King’s Prophet.

People tend to get sensitive about accusations of kidnapping or any similar accusations when they're joining guilds. They want to enter a guild that will protect them, especially in a dangerous situation. Having a reputation for unsavory acts would only draw in recruits that we would be better off without.

Since we already decided against acquiring the void flower, it would’ve been better to convince Ivan that Sidney was here of her own free will. Knowing Tobias, that’s probably impossible at this point.

The next best option is to prevent news from leaking. Meaning either killing Ivan or kidnapping him along with Sidney. Knowing Tobias, he'd only accept one of those solutions.

“Where did you leave him?” I asked, debating going back for him.

“Over by where I caught Sidney.” Tobias revealed, sitting up to inquire my motives, “Why? You want to go back for him?”

Delegating the responsibility to Tobias, I announced, “You’re the one going back for him.”

“I don’t think that’s a particularly good idea. He probably hates my guts.” Tobias explained, “Plus, I effectively told him that I’d leave him be.”

Hearing that, Rin gave up on getting Tobias to go back for him. She understood that he wasn’t willing to break his word unless there was no other choice.

Putting down my bow, I moved to collect the arrows and decided, “Fine, I’ll do it.”

Tobias frowned at the idea of heading back for Ivan and questioned. “Is that really necessary?”

“Complications will occur otherwise.” I stated, attaching my bow to my back.

“Fair enough, but... he almost certainly hates my guts.” Tobias said in resignation, resting on the floor again .

I asked a rhetorical question, despite already knowing his answer, “Would you rather I kill him?”

“What? No.” Tobias immediately replied before probing my intentions, “I thought you needed him for your plan?”

“I need him out the way for the plan.” I retorted before sighing, Tobias’ arbitrary morality always removed the simplest solutions to problems.

Without another word, I followed Tobias’ scent and steps slowly increasing the pace until I was running with a speed that would have only possible with specialized superpowers or magic in her old world.

It didn’t take long to discover Ivan trapped with in a barrier.

Fortunately, he hadn’t managed to escape. Although escaping wouldn’t have matter that much as she could have easily tracked him down, it would've been annoying to find him.

Ivan questioned her when he noticed Rin standing outside his barrier. “Who are you?”

Unlike Tobias, who prefers to monologue in these situations, Rin couldn’t be bothered to explain the situation to him. Tobias can monologue to him when he wakes up.

Destroying the barrier with the slash of her sword. Rin proceeded to pull out a sedate-laced cloth. Ivan noticed and attempted to run away almost immediately, but was easily stopped and Rin easily applied the sedate-laced cloth to his face to knock him out.

Ivan didn’t manage to struggle for more than a few seconds before he completely passed out from the sedative in the cloth. Once Ivan had fallen asleep, Rin tossing him over her shoulder and began carrying him back.

The sedative should keep him asleep for several hours. Plenty of time to return. She might even be able to return before Sidney's barrier dissipates.

It wasn't a particularly fair fight, but she wasn’t here to fight him. She was here to kidnap him, and this was the easiest way to do it.

Rin never quite understood Tobias’ obsession with making everything a spectacle. It gets worse when he does morally questionable acts. As though he was tempting the universe to stop him.

It’s far more efficient to get it done quickly and be done with it.

Spoiler

I apologize for releasing the chapter late. I ended up getting sick yesterday and needed the extra time to write this chapter.

(although, I'm still quite sick I managed to complete the chapter anyway.)

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