Dignitas lay on the sand. By now, he had already sweat buckets, and he found it difficult to even lift Dainsleif properly.
And as if waiting for Dignitas to tire himself out, the sound of steps approaching could be heard.
There was only one person around, so he knew exactly who they belonged to.
The steps stopped just a few meters away from his location.
And the sound of a bowstring being pulled back resounded in Dignitas' ears.
"Why did you do it?"
It was only one sentence, but Dignitas could feel the amount of emotion behind it. As if Lorelai was struggling to let the string go.
"Would you believe me if I said… I didn't know about his current condition?" Dignitas replied, still out of breath.
"Of course not." The girl replied coldly, and he could feel the bowstring being imbued with mana.
"Well… it's the truth. I didn't know, and I paid the price for my ignorance."
"Not… quite yet. I am seconds away from letting go of the string."
Slowly, Dignitas stood up. He turned around, then walked towards Lorelai… until he was directly in front of her.
"You wouldn't do that."
"...you're right. I wouldn't."
"Thank you." Turning away, Dignitas started walking back to the cave.
However, the sound of the bow being drawn once again filled the air.
"But you're wrong if you think I won't hold a grudge."
"I know you will." Dignitas smiled, before continuing on his way. "That's why. I'd like to get to know you better."
Before he disappeared into the darkness of the cave, he raised his hand and waved it in the air.
"I'm Dignitas Qwerdan. I hope we can work together."
***
"I'll do it."
Dignitas was awoken by the sound of Lorelai's voice reverberating off the cave's walls.
He turned his head towards the entrance, and there he saw the girl leaning against a large boulder.
"I'll work with you." She continued, "But in exchange… I want an apology."
"I'm… sorry?"
"Is that a question, or an apology?" In just a split second, Lorelai had drawn her bow and fired an arrow.
The arrow shot past Dignitas' face, just barely missing it. It pierced the cave's hard stone walls, and he could smell smoke.
Dignitas finally realized what it was. She was asking him to apologize for his blunder back in the entrance exam.
"I apologize for my mistake. I had no idea of what had become of your brother. Nevertheless, I am sorry."
Lorelai's lustrous green eyes stuttered slightly.
"Good enough. I look forward to working with you."
Then, she withdrew her bow and walked outside.
"What? Are you coming, or not?" She shouted at Dignitas, who was unmoving.
It snapped the absentminded Dignitas back to reality. He shook his head sideways.
Grabbing Dainsleif, he ran towards the entrance, happy that he had been able to somewhat repair his relationship with Lorelai.
He knew, however, that that wasn't all of it. No one could recover that easily. Lorelai most likely still harbored a great deal of hatred and was suppressing it.
"Whatever it is, it's my job to help."
***
For now, though, Dignitas and Lorelai had more pressing matters to attend to.
There was still the issue of obtaining enough hides to pass the assignment.
With the girl on his side, Dignitas figured their next battles would be easier.
This was evident the moment they got back on the road. Even as all manner of monsters and beasts ambushed the duo, they were not able to match Lorelai and Dignitas.
"Crap, another worthless one." Dignitas sighed, throwing away a tattered piece of beast skin.
While the two were naturally skilled in their respective fields, the same could not be said when it came to keeping the beasts' drops intact.
"But still, her archery is impressive." Dignitas turned his head, glancing at Lorelai, who was kicking the sand with the soles of her shoes. "At this point, anyway."
"Ah, we'll get there. Psst! Lorelai! Let's go. We're done here." Dignitas stood up and called out to the girl.
"Got it." Responding quickly, Lorelai ran towards the boy, who had already started walking in a different direction.
Talks between the two were uncommon. And when it did occur, it was mostly in battle.
The journey around the desert was suffocating, in more ways than one. The silence wasn't something Dignitas was used to, even back when he was an author.
That was why, after finishing up on their most recent battle, Dignitas called out to Lorelai.
"Hey."
By now, Lorelai had made it a habit to stay at least three meters away from Dignitas. The moment their battles ended, she would stray off for a short while, mumbling something to herself as she continued play-kicking the sand.
"What." Thanks to her enhanced senses though, Lorelai had no problem with hearing Dignitas, even if she was farther away.
"You don't get sick of the silence? I mean, do you hate the idea of talking with me that much?"
"I don't. I simply believe we have nothing to talk about." She replied firmly.
"Hmm… that may be true, but getting to know you better would help me."
Lorelai squinted her eyes. "How so?"
"For instance, the way you fight is probably determined by your personality, or perhaps shaped by past situations. I'm not asking you to reveal anything personal, but it'd do me good to know your habits in battle."
Lorelai could see the logic in Dignitas' words.
"Then to answer your previous question… It is never painful to listen to silence."
"How so? All I hear is…" Dignitas paused for a bit, letting the surroundings flow, "the sound of the wind."
"And? That's plenty enough. The wind carries with it the scent of the area, the voices of its inhabitants, and the noise of mana."
"Yeah… I don't get that at all. Do you go hunting often, by any chance?"
"I enjoy the occasional wild hunt. It helps me to train my senses, and serves me well as a life skill."
"I figured. Hunters are different in their own right. But that's good too." Dignitas smiled.
"I feel like I know you somewhat better now."
"You should try it sometimes. Listening to the wind."
"I guess I will. Wouldn't hurt to have better senses."
***
"Still, listening to the wind… huh. I guess I'll try it once."
Dignitas sat down. He had just recently created a campfire with some nearby sticks he found, and was having difficulty keeping it lit.
Twice was the number of times Lorelai almost blew it out with her wind magic. Dignitas had to keep her away from the fire until he was confident it wouldn't go out.
It had been… about two hours since the start of the assignment. The time limit was about four hours, which meant that the period was halfway finished.
"I wonder how it works. Does it involve just sitting still and waiting for something to happen?"
"Are you doing what I told you to?"
Lorelai's voice came up from behind. Dignitas turned around, responding,
"Yeah, mind teaching me how to do it?"
"I don't see why not. Sit down properly. In a cross-legged position."
Lorelai sat down opposite Dignitas, and kept her eyes on him as she told him how to "listen to the wind."
"Firstly, you'll need to take deep breaths."
"Haaa…hooo…" Dignitas attempted to do so, somehow making it look more exaggerated than he had hoped it to.
"Not like that. Steady the flow of oxygen. Inhale deeply, but exhale only slightly."
"Haaa…hoo…"
"That's better. Then next comes the hardest part. Keep on performing those breathing exercises, make sure you don't lose your rhythm."
"Feel yourself calming down? Good. After that, you'll need to forcefully isolate the different sounds you hear."
"Thankfully, there isn't much around, so it should be easy. Try identifying the different numbers of sounds you can distinguish, while still keeping the breathing technique."
Dignitas chuckled to himself. It was certainly a difficult task to do on his first try, but he felt that he could accomplish it if Lorelai was there.
"Let's see… the blowing of the wind, that's one. I can also hear a wolf howling… and the sound of sand flowing across the desert sea… and nothing else."
"Three. Perfect. Then, try to use your mana to close off your ears to the sound of the wind and the sand. Focus only on the wolf."
"Alright… wolf, only."
Dignitas concentrated hard, and when it felt like the other two sounds were disappearing, his focus snapped.
Why? A catchy tune had started playing on the school smartwatch.
Professor Shib's voice resounded in the smartwatch.
"Right… Everyone is still alive, right? Apart from Adam Huber and Laura Liebel, no one else seems to have been injured. I just wanted to tell everyone that you have less than two hours left to complete your tasks."
"And remember the thing I told everyone about earlier? The network of tunnels in the southwest region? Yeah, someone seems to have killed it already."
"I didn't expect it to be done that quickly. Whoever you are, you're free to come back to me and present the part of the beast. Once I inspect it, I'll reward you with a grade worthy of your hard work."
"And that should be it… Remember, guys. Teamwork is the key to completing this assignment. As long as you can gather the ten hides, that'll be enough."
"And with that, I'll see you all later."
The voice immediately disappeared, leaving Dignitas and Lorelai in silence again.
