"You know that's insane, right ? Killing a general alone as a child ?" It really didn't seem like it, Venus felt she had to make sure. "If it was me, I never would have shut up about it ! How come you didn't mention it once ?"
Once again, Baoba was stumped. That seemed to happen a lot today.
"I mean... I know it's impressive, but I didn't wanna brag about it. The opportunity of bringing it up casually never really came, that's all."
Venus did not even know what to say. Such a situation was like if a human found a gold mine and just let it be. It just didn't happen.
Cursed generals were on a whole other level from the regular cursed. These creatures did not have a close animal relative, they were more or less all unique. Their form was fully focused on combat, and they generally did not need to eat or drink, nor did they have the organs for it. Their only purpose was to dominate the area and slaughter any and every elf that came nearby. They were regarded as calamities, actual threats to any task force.
And they were also pretty rare. Easy to locate, because of their impact on the environment, but still quite rare.
But not only had Baoba found one, not only had he survived, but he had actually killed it !
Safe to say, this was a bigger shock than Pando having emotions.
"You.. What do you mean it didn't come up ? Did you think we would ask ? Or were you expecting a friendly discussion about mortal threats we would probably encounter in the near future ?"
It was strange. Baoba didn't think it was weird to keep this story for himself before, but now he felt the need to explain himself, as if what he did was silly.
"Even if it never came up, I wasn't dying to share it anyway. What would it have done for me ? Give me a guaranteed spot in a deadly expedition ? Cool, what else ? Distractions ? Less time to sleep ? A fan club ?"
After finishing this sentence, he stopped and frowned.
'Wait, that last one would have been kinda nice, though. Should I have ?'
Capcsium, who was still stunned and a little mad because of this outrageous secret, answered his question.
"Yes, all that, plus you would have gotten out of training. Plus easy employment. Plus respect from the nobility. And did I mention you would have gotten out of training ?"
Starting to see his mistake, Baoba refused to admit all his effort could have been avoided and brushed away these thoughts.
"Whatever. It gave me something to do and thanks to this, I actually had a secret weapon that saved our asses just befo-
"I guess it didn't, but maybe we would have died quicker if the Lord knew I could do that. Maybe he actually would have sent a bird. And then, you would not have gotten to hear me reveal it, so who is really losing out, huh ?"
The faulty rethoric managed to render his squad speechless. And thus, he finally had time to think.
He actually learned a lot about himself tonight. One, that he was not actually managing his paranoia, it was leading him to completely insane conclusions. Two, that he was not as slick as he thought. Pando had immediately found him out in the cave, and now that he was thinking about it, Venus and Urtica probably didn't fall for his speech in the strange house either, they knew since the beginning something was wrong. They too were elites, after all.
Three, and the most important part, he learned that he didn't know everything about himself. What was the real reason he became ambidextrous, why did he not once talk about his prowess from the wilderness?
He truly didn't know.
That was a new concept. Not knowing something was fine, Baoba often got excited when he found something he didn't know yet, because that meant he could still learn.
But how could he learn about himself ? Where would the information be ? Who could teach him ?
These were the kind of questions that assaulted his mind at the moment. Questions were usually good. As long as he had questions, he could search, answer them, and improve.
But now, the questions were destined to be left unanswered. He did not have time.
The cursed tide behind the already shrinking wall of flames was like a promise of death.
The frustration... was surprisingly tame. He had regrets, yes. If he got the chance to go back, he would definitely change his strategy.
But right now, worrying about a future that didn't exist felt pointless. He had better things to do.
For example, this particularly interesting talk witch had provided him with many answers and even more questions. Pando had recovered from his absurd statement first.
"In the scenario where you talked about it before, we wouldn't have gotten to hear it ? This is not even close to making sense. Are you perhaps trying to confuse us ?"
Sometimes, rarely, Baoba wished his scout wasn't so smart. That was exactly what he was trying to do.
Venus took the opportunity to add : "And don't think we forgot about the part where you lived on the streets or in the forest for so long. We've been together for a good while, and you never even hinted at something like that ! It's almost like you actively tried to hide your past, why ?"
Baoba looked around this final shelter. All eyes were on him, waiting for an answer. This wasn't a situation that could be de-escalated, and it also wasn't a big loss to just be honest. Frankly, the fact he resisted for so long was also an action without any known reason.
Right now, he had no choice but to sigh and admit it.
"Alright, the truth is, I don't know why I didn't mention it before. But it's also true that it's not that big of a deal. Pando's family situation is way crazier, we all have secrets. Mine just happen to be more useful if they got out. Nothing too weird."
Venus scoffed. "No, it's definitely weird. But we've known you were weird since the beginning, so nothing new there."
She turned to Urtica with a faint, warm smile.
"What do you think, Urtica ?"
He looked up, baffled.
Ever since his turn had passed, Urtica had been looking straight down with rare moments of bravery. He was so silent it almost looked like he was absent, never talking or even breathing too loud. He originally sat close to Pando on the right wall, but somewhere along the way, he had moved away from her imperceptibly.
He clearly did not want to be here.
Of course, no one did. But he looked like he would prefer being out there in the flames to being next to his friends.
In fact, the only reason he had not acted on that was because it would draw too much attention to him.
He did not feel he belonged in this team.
So, when faced with an unexpected question, Urtica had to take a few moments to process it.
He couldn't help but to look to his right at Pando. She held his gaze, patiently waiting for him to speak. He hurriedly locked his eyes back on the rock he had been focusing on and kept quiet for a while.
Eventually, though, his pale face broke into a small, sincere smile.
"I think our captain can be really dumb sometimes."
Hearing this, Baoba immediately laughed.
"Ha ! We can agree on that !" He laughed as if this was the funniest thing he had ever heard.
After wiping a tear in his eye, he added : "But what about you guys ? Imagine actually losing to me in a game of wits ! That's gotta be embarrassing !"
Venus instantly turned to him, as if wanting to retort, but quickly realised it was true. The irony of it all hit her, and she started to laugh as well.
Pando chuckled, too. "I suppose we wouldn't be here if we knew what we were doing."
Capcsium scoffed. "Damn right we wouldn't. Personally, I'd be having a bath right now. You really don't know how vital these things are until you get stuck behind a wall of flames. Oh, those hot springs in Vulcus were actually divine..."
"I'd have enjoyed them a bit more if they warned about the depth beforehand." Baoba Found enough air to reminisce about their trip. "I'm just lucky the cleaning crew knew how to swim. I almost drowned the first day."
Capcsium's eyes widened as she seemed to put some pieces together. "Wait, was that why you never went with us ? I thought you were training !"
"Well, I was." Embarrassed, he clarified. "To swim. That's where I learned. I remember I actually begged my saviour to keep it for himself, I didn't think I could get outed for this and keep my place in the grounds. I actually thought they'd fire me. After that first day, I made it my mission to be able to swim before the end of our trip. Every day, I went to a secluded spot of the shallow river next to the town and tried my best."
The four of them did all they could to hold it in, but the image of their dignified captain struggling to stay afloat in shallow water was too powerful, they all burst out laughing.
Baoba felt a little offended.
"Screw you guys, I worked very hard ! The current kept pushing me, I had to get out every thirty seconds and walk back upstream to continue !"
Unfortunately for him, this image did not help his case. In fact, it did quite the opposite, as his team was now doubled over with hilarity.
"Alright, laugh all you want, you're no better. Remember Venus's first science class ? Or Urtica's physical evaluation ? Not so glorious either, huh ?"
Urtica and Venus stopped abruptly, instantly cooled off by those haunting memories, as Capcsium held her stomach. Pando even laughed a bit louder than her usual volume.
"Not cool, man. How was I even supposed to follow, it was my very first class ever !" As Venus tried to defend herself, Urtica shrank back, his face an unusual shade of red.
"Sure, but did you have to snore that loud ? The poor teacher thought a bear had infiltrated the facility !"
***
The squad didn't have much else to do. The circumstances were such that in this moment, they only had each other. And so, they kept talking all night, as if nothing was wrong, as if everything was going to be okay.
However, the universe did not care. Time mercilessly, cruelly marched forward. Already, the flames did not go higher than the roof of the cave. Now they were half the height. Now the wall was barely as tall as an elf.
Facing such an inexorable proof of their limited time, Baoba once again could only pray for his life.
But he didn't.
She never responded anyway.