Rising Tensions

Six hundred experience points. That's only one hundred more than the amount I got from defeating the lycan matron. I had been hoping for more.

Perri, fallen on the snow, groans in pain, pulling me from my thoughts. As Leila rushes to heal her, I tell Wyll, "Use Warmth again." He does, and the freezing cold gives way to a toasty heat once more.

"Looks like it got you worse than we thought," Leila says from above Perri. Her hand is on Perri's chest, shining with a white light.

"Is she okay?" Wyll asks worriedly.

"She'll live," Leila says. Wyll and I join her to gather around Perri, and I see that Perri's chest and arms are turning an ugly shade of purple. Her own axe sliced a portion of her waist open as well, leaking blood onto the canvas-like white snow, but that wound is closing up quickly due to Leila's healing.

Perri gives a dull groan as the wound on her waist seals up completely and the bruising stops getting worse. But then Leila stops her Heal skill and says, wiping the sweat from her brow, "I think that's the most I can do out here."

"Can she walk?" I ask.

Perri slowly forces herself to her feet with a terrible grimace, "I can. I'm fine."

Leila scoffs, "Sure, trust the patient instead of the doctor, why not?"

"In that case, let's continue. Tell us the way, Wyll," I say.

Wyll looks at me, surprised, and Leila gives a sudden disbelieving laugh, "You want to still keep going?"

"You want to return after only facing a single significant enemy?" I ask back, "We've been to this level twice and we've barely made any progress."

"We've already come quite far for two days," Leila says. She laughs again, mockingly this time, "Is this about Rex again? It always is with you, isn't it? I heard he's making good progress and you can't stand to be left behind. That's so pathetic."

Her words touch a nerve. Though I know it's not in the way she means it, I am trying to continue on because of Rex. Rex is getting stronger more quickly than I imagined, and if I waste time by returning after only killing a single mid-boss, I'll never be able to catch up. I need to pick up the pace, I need to kill at least one more mid-boss today.

"We won't have Perri fight," I say reasonably, "She can walk and that's enough. I can act as both a tank and a damage dealer for the rest of the way."

Leila raises an eyebrow, silently appraising me. I'm not lying, with the Abyssflames activated, I can take and deal more damage, just like I did against the Lycan Matron.

"…You know, part of the reason Perri got hurt was because of you," Leila drawls.

I narrow my eyes at her, "What?"

"I mean, you were giving us all kinds of orders on what skills to use, but in the end, you just let her deal with the ice yeti herself," Leila says, "Of course she was a step too slow in activating her defense."

"You're saying it's my fault?" I ask incredulously.

Wyll steps in, trying to defuse the situation, "I'm sure that's not what she means, Thomas. I think she just—"

"Not completely," Leila interrupts with a shrug, "It's not like we shared our skills with each other, so expecting you to always tell us what skill to use would be unreasonable. However, the way you've been leading this party is by telling us exactly what to do and when to do it. Of course we'll end up waiting for your instructions like that. And since you didn't give any orders during that last bit, Perri took a hit."

"I'm fine with moving on!" Perri says angrily, "Thomas didn't do anything wrong!"

"Ooh, here comes Thomas' fangirl," Leila says. She mimics her in a sickly sweet voice, "'Oh, Thomas! Please spare me a second's glance—it's all I live for! I'll chop off my limbs if it'll make you even chuckle!"

Perri snarls, "You—!"

Leila turns back to me, "And you're completely fine with taking advantage of it, right? As long as you can have your tank!"

I try smothering my anger. All this girl does is constantly try to get under our skins, and when I'm trying to actually achieve something, she's standing in my way with stupidly childish provocations.

But then I wonder why I'm trying to stop my anger in the first place? What could the truth hurt? Leila has no intention of getting along with me even though she's joined our party, so why do I have to try to get along with her?

"You're right, I don't care," I say. Leila blinks and I continue, "You can keep trying to wind me up, but none of that matters to me as long as you keep healing us. I told you before that I gathered this party to continue making progress in the dungeon. As long as I can do that, I don't care about the rest."

Wyll, Perri, and Leila stare at me. Then, Leila says slowly, "You know, I'd heard so many things about you, but when you came to me you were so different from the rumours that I couldn't help but be surprised." She has an amused smirk on her face now, "But yeah, I see what they were talking about now."

A retort about her own rumours and behaviour easily jumps to my lips, but Perri speaks before me, "Thomas was just taking it easy on you both. This is how he really is! He knows what he wants, and he'll stop at nothing to get it! That's what makes him a true example of nobility! A failure of a noble like you would never understand, Freiss!"

Surprisingly, it's those words that land the deepest blow. Leila is always antagonistic; disregarding what she says is easy. But I just said that I don't care about Perri either, and it didn't even faze her a tiny bit. There are hints in the game that imply that Thomas treats his friends callously, and one of those friends just said that I'm exactly like him.

Am I… acting like the real Thomas Filmore right now?

Leila is good with words, and she's good at arguing, I can tell she's about to strike back with a rebuttal that will only anger Perri further, and I speak before that can happen.

"Okay," I say, tiredly palming my forehead, "Let's go back."