Finally! Now the story can start to get more entertaining!
Overcome with delight, the female silhouette clapped vigorously and bounced in place like an overexcited child.
Also, the other guy vanished after the fight was over, so I'm back to being alone again.
So, that's its name... Rowan thought with his eyes wide. Having finally learned her name, he couldn't help his subtle excitement.
"This is Seraphina, Thomas, and Noctura, my companions." He said gesturing at them respectively.
"Pleasure to meet all of you." Noel said, her tone betraying her words.
"Sure." Thomas responded with an intense look.
The others only nodded with a suspicious look.
Seeing her up close, this demon is easily one of the strongest I've come across. Her presence is similar to that of the chimera. "Priest Ignis has already briefed me on the situation however, there's still something I would like to know." Vlad spoke with a look of suspicion.
"What is it?" she asked with the same expressionless face.
Maybe this isn't the best place to discuss this... It's going to be a long conversation after all. "Firstly, let's find a proper place to sit down and talk." he redirected.
"Where can we find a place like that?" Rowan wondered.
"There's a hot springs resort not far from here, we can settle there for some time." Vlad suggested.
"Sounds good to me." Thomas agreed.
"I'd love a nice warm bath and a change of clothes." Noctura voiced with excitement.
"Then let's hurry." Sera added.
"Wait, didn't we came here for something?" Rowan asked Noel.
"Yeah, why did you come here in the first place?" Vlad asked as well.
"This is why." Noel said revealing a golden crystal orb. "This crystal has the ability to grant holy attribute to mana. I'll explain more about it later."
Wait, isn't that?! The female silhouette wondered, poking the golden orb with a finger. So, this is where it's been the whole time.
She continued on while holding the crystal ball. It was burning her palms the longer she held it, even almost completely melting her hands.
"Hold this." She said giving it to Rowan.
Her palms started to heal shortly afterwards.
"Sure." Rowan placed it on his back pack.
She didn't cast any spell or used any dark mana. It's like her skin naturally healed all on its own. Vlad noticed. Then again, I can also silent cast. So there's that.
"Don't you think that the Hero should hold it?" Thomas asked.
"I think so too." Sera chimed in.
"It draws less suspicion this way. No one would suspect a nobody to hold such a precious item." Noel clarified.
"Thanks...I guess." Rowan expressed.
"She makes a good point." Vlad added.
Does she though? I mean, who's going to steal from the Hero's party? Or maybe my mind's off base with the rest of them...
"Since the public doesn't know about this mission yet, its best we try and keep it that way for as long as we can." Vlad said. "After all, we don't want the demon spies to hear or know about it."
"Fine."
"If you say so."
Thomas and Sera reluctantly agreed.
They left shortly after that conversation ended and arrived at the entrance of the cave.
"We have a problem." Thomas voiced.
"What is it?" Vlad asked with a worried look.
"There's not enough room inside the pickup truck."
Vlad made an exasperated look. He thought that there was an actual problem.
"That won't be a problem." Noel interjected.
"How do you figure?" Thomas questioned.
"You can take the car, while me and Rowan take Sonic." Noel answered.
"What's a Sonic?"
"My summon."
"Summon?"
Noel used her magic to summon the giant pterodactyl in front of the others.
"It's even much faster than cars."
You telling me that this demon had this at its back pocket the whole time, yet chose not to use it against the giant squid! Does that mean that the squid wasn't worth making the demon use its summon? Or did it have another reason to not use the summon? Thomas thought, a trickle of sweat running down his cheeks.
The others also had similar thoughts, as well as wondering just how powerful this demon actually was.
"I think that a demon flying around in a summon won't look welcoming to the average human. How about I seat at the back with the luggage, and you take the remaining seat." Rowan suggested.
"If it's alright with them?" Noel looked at Vlad for confirmation.
"It's for the best." Rowan said looking at Vlad's companions.
"It's okay." Thomas said.
Sera and Noctura also gave their permissions, albeit reluctantly.
"Alright, let's do that." Vlad decided.
Noel unsummoned Sonic and they all got inside the pickup truck.
She sat in the passenger seat—so that Vlad could easily monitor her, and the remaining others sat on the back seats, with Noctura in the middle seat.
Sera seemed visibly annoyed with the seating arrangements, but didn't complain about it. Noctura, on the other hand, didn't mind her seating arrangement.
If anything, she was pleased with who she had ended up sitting beside. Unfortunately, that realization came with a problem.
She was nervous.
She glanced to her left, and the moment she did, her body reacted in a way she had never experienced before.
Her fingers fidgeted slightly in her lap, her heart began beating faster than it had any right to, and a strange warmth crept across her face. Most embarrassing of all, she suddenly found herself incapable of maintaining eye contact with the person sitting beside her.
She couldn't understand it.
She had faced danger without hesitation. She had fought against powerful demons that nearly took her life. And of course, she had actually killed people without flinching.
Yet somehow, sitting next to Thomas made her very nervous.
"You okay?" Thomas whispered in a low tone, noticing her restless movements.
"I'm... not sure." She whispered back, immediately lowering her gaze.
"Sounds serious." Thomas voiced, closing what little distance remained between them as he leaned closer to inspect her.
"Please don't worry!" Noctura quickly waved him off. "I'm probably just tired. That's all."
It wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either.
Thomas studied her for another moment before eventually accepting her explanation. Once he realized that whatever was troubling her didn't appear to be anything serious, some of the concern faded from his expression.
Then, his mind finally registered just how close he had gotten to her. His face was only a short distance from hers, to the point were their noses almost touched.
Thomas froze.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Noctura's eyes widened slightly as she became painfully aware of the same thing. The warmth in her face intensified, and she quickly looked away.
Thomas also decided to retreat.
"Alright. If you say so." was all he could manage before quickly turning away.
His ears had just barely gone slightly red.
Noctura noticed this, and for some reason, that made her heart beat even faster.
What is this?! Noctura thought, placing a hand over her chest as she felt her racing heartbeat. Could this be some kind of spell or poisoning? Am I really tired? Or maybe...
Her eyes slowly drifted toward Thomas.
...No.
She immediately looked away again.
That can't be it. Can it?
Beside her, Thomas was having a similar crisis.
What the hell is wrong with you?! he wondered, silently panicking. I need to be more careful about personal space. Especially when it comes to women.
He glanced toward Noctura from the corner of his eye.
Why am I acting like this? he pondered, his eyes still on her. Now that I think about it, I've never really put much thought on women before.
She was still looking away, her expression unusually flustered.
I was too busy dealing with monsters to have such thoughts. But now that there's a possibility of that ending, has my mind instinctively start thinking about my future?
A small, almost imperceptible smile appeared on Thomas's face.
Maybe I should start thinking of a life after the war is over. If so, then...
He wasn't sure what had gotten into her, or even himself. But somehow, seeing her like this made him feel strangely happy.
Noctura noticed the smile from the corner of her eye. She didn't know why, but her own lips also slightly curved upward in response.
Neither of them said anything.
They simply sat beside each other in comfortable silence, both pretending that nothing unusual had happened.
And yet, neither seemed particularly eager to move away.
meanwhile, Rowan was somehow comfortably seating at the cargo space. He was whistling carefree as the pickup truck was navigating the dense forestry.
"Never been to a hot springs before, I wonder what it's going to be like?" He muttered to himself and continued his whistling.
I'm glad I'm not alone back here. Rowan seems like a chill guy.
At the back of the car, beside Rowan, the female silhouette sat quietly—whistling the exact same tune in perfect sync.