女神归来的夏天

~~~(Time: 8:08 AM)~~~

Sally and I watch as Cera and Jasmine talk. I\'m glad he\'s putting in extra effort to see that she\'s alright. Jasmine\'s had a shocking revelation to the identity that Cera keeps for the NPCs of Gaia. There are only a few NPCs that know his real name. Sally and Jasmine are two of the four. Helda and Melimora know his real name, but not Slayer Zern.

Jasmine has a smile on her face and is laughing again. People think that Cera is this figure that is above them all, but he doesn\'t like being looked at that way. It\'s not because he\'s humble, believe me. It\'s because he hates attention. "He sees it as a real inconvenience..." My soft whisper barely reaches Sally. I didn\'t intend for her to hear that.

She stays silent and looks me in the eyes. She notices it too. Cera is... Well... For lack of a better term... A control freak... People getting in his business and treating him like a God get\'s in the way of his own lifestyle. He prefers the silence and solitude he used to have before his identity as Slayer Zern was revealed. A lot of things have happened due to him being revealed.

The elven royal family wanting him to marry and have children with one of their princesses is a perfect example of getting in the way. It\'s like the saying. You can stick a hat and shirt on a monkey. In the end, it\'s still a monkey. You\'re not changing the monkey, and Cera is the monkey in this scenario. He won\'t change cause he can\'t go against his nature.

There is something hardwired into him... A mechanism that I can\'t fully describe... The best I can do is he has an instinct that he listens to when the situation calls for it. He doesn\'t want to be... Tamed. "He\'s pretty rigid when it comes to interacting with people... I\'ve seen him fake being this benevolent angel... Back in Zenith..." That sounds exactly like him.

He\'s great at manipulating situations to his benefit, and that was one of them. Sally has seen more of him than I thought she would. He\'s not malicious with his gifts of deceit and manipulation. He uses them to pass through situations that are unfavorable in the endgame of his plans. "He\'s always 12 moves ahead... It drives me crazy..." That\'s a bit of an exaggeration.

Before we can continue talking, a knock at the door is heard, and Cera gets up to answer it. The door gently opens and reveals Helda and Melimora. "I was wondering when you two were going to show up. You run into any problems preparing for the crossing?" While it\'s small talk on the surface, I can see what he\'s really up to with that question.

Helda and Melimora also see the true meaning behind it. "Let us handle the details and problems with the crossing. All you guys have to do is relax until we reach our destination along the border. We\'re heading West in a carriage, and it\'s about a 2-day trip." Cera folds his arms and squints his eyes slightly, but I know he\'s not going to argue about it.

There is nothing to argue, the plan sounds fine, and they know what they\'re doing. They\'re not going to risk losing out on the dagger, and Cera knows that. Helda and Melimora also know that... It\'s a complex game of strategic moves and careful wording. "Okay, where this carriage you speak of?" Helda moves out of the way and waves her hand.

A large carriage comes rolling down the road and stopping in front of the place we\'re staying at for the time being. "It\'s definitely big enough for all of us... I take it by the size your riding in the cabin with us... Wanting to keep an eye to make sure we don\'t pull a fast one?" Melimora flinches in the slightest way, but she regains herself quickly.

Helda nods her head a single time and starts walking towards the carriage. "Let\'s get a move on. The longer this takes, the more risk there is we get caught." We already have everything, and I follow behind Cera, who\'s following behind Helda. Sally is walking at his side, and Jasmine is at mine. Jasmine\'s smart enough to know that talking about Cera is bad.

Especially around Helda and Melimora. The less they know about all of us and our powerful abilities, the better. We all load into the carriage, and the carriage starts driving on its own. Magically enchanted for sure. No driver and some horses made out of wood. NPCs refer to such objects as puppets. Just forms that can be manipulated by magic.

There\'s a tense silence, and it\'s between Cera and Helda. They are glaring at one another, and Cera\'s calm grin does not affect the poker face of Helda. "I\'d ask you to tell me something about yourself, but I already know the answer to that... Mind if I ask you something specific instead?" Her gaze hardens, and her hands clench.

Cera is too good at getting into people\'s heads and reading everything too perfectly. "I\'d rather you didn\'t. This is a business transaction. Not a trip with friends and family." She\'s quick to draw a line in the sand, and Cera got exactly what he wanted. A limit to how far he knows he can push Helda. He knows her position on this deal now too.

She believes it to be a business transaction, and she\'s right. It is, but it\'s a very personal and important business transaction. "Fair enough, I won\'t ask anything about you... How about you, Melimora... Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Before Melimora can scowl and shut him down, Helda holds out her arm and stops Melomora before she does anything.

Cera is refusing to look Helda in the eyes and only looking into Melimora\'s. "You really let her speak for you? I can see why. You\'re both scared of what I\'ll find out. Rest assured, my secrets are much bigger than yours. I know when to stop." Cera leans back and lays his head on Sally\'s shoulder. Closing his eyes and checkmating the conversation.

~~~(POV: Helda Vora)~~~

~~~(Location: Carriage, leaving Border City)~~~

~~~(Time: 8:23 AM)~~~

Damn it! If I weren\'t sure he was a powerful fighter, I\'d say he\'s some noble that\'s too good with words and reading people... His true intentions were to drive a wedge between Meli and me. We both already know he has secrets, and it\'s obvious on skeptical we are. Meaning the who point of that conversation was to divide.

Melimora and I are close, but we\'ve had our problems in the past before. He saw that from the first moment we interacted with him. I shut her down, and I dominate negotiations. She has little voice in anything we do, and he\'s using that. Out of all the people I\'ve smuggled across the border and all the friends I\'ve made doing so. He\'s the one I\'m going to hate after he\'s gone.

Never again am I breaking our rule. Only close friends are allowed to use my services. "Cera... Do you think we can stop for some food before we leave..." My attention is dragged out of my thoughts, and I look at the youngest in their group. They haven\'t eaten breakfast yet. This... Jasmine... It\'s going to make things inconvenient. I know she will.

Cera opens one eye and looks at me, and I can\'t tell what he\'s thinking. "I don\'t know, Jasmine. Helda and Melimora might\'ve already prepared rations for the trip." He\'s doing it again. Using the situation to find out more about us. What we\'ve brought, what we didn\'t bring. How prepared we are. He can find all this out from Jasmine\'s innocent questions.

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A/N: Below this line, I\'ll be keeping Cera\'s player information. That way, I won\'t have to place it into the story above anymore. It takes about 180 words up.

[Slayer (Zern) Lvl.193]

[Exp: 3/100%]

[Title: The Son of Arch-Angel Michael (Hidden)]

[Stats] [Strength - 7095][Endurance - 7045][Dexterity - 7215][Speed - 8240][Focus - 19,660]

[Mana aura control: 6/100%]

[Health: 76,560,000,000/76,560,000,000] [Mana: 216,600,000,000/216,600,000,000]

[Stat Points: 30] [Armor rating: 500]

[Inventory] [Dice of Wayland (Divine)] [Hardened Tree sap Armor (Very Rare)] [The Witness (Legendary Sword)] [Fenrir\'s Whistle (Divine)] [Sally\'s Dresses 5x] [Camping gear] [Food Rations 4x] [Dried meat 4x] [Fishing poles 2x] [Fish 8x] [Festival Garbs 2x]

[Passive Perks]

[Inheritor of the Sword] [Son of Heaven] [Slayer of Evil] [Holy Willow Trees Savior] [Finder of Legends] [The Divine who has Legend] [Destined for Greatness] [Dungeon Diver] [An Overachiever]

[Active Skills]

[Heavens light Lvl.59 325/5900] [Protected by Heaven Lvl.59 225/5900] [Slash Lvl..77 4600/130000] [Parry Lvl.53 80/5300] [Double Strike N/A] [Kingslayer N/A] [Raging Machine N/A] [Winged Glory] [Angelic Flight] [Divine Pressure Exertion] [Divinity Pulse] [Controled Fun]