Situated before Hilda was a low, weathered stone fortress located beside the harbour. It had thick walls covered in vines and vaulted casemates that were half-buried beneath the earth.
This weathered fortress was called Fort Risban, a once-coastal fortress that was later used as an air-raid shelter for civilians due to its thick masonry during World War 2. And because of that, it was clear that, even from the outside, the weathered stone fortress was in deep disrepair.
When Hilda was led through the obscure entrance in Fort Risban, she was met with the sight of bustling people. The scene closely resembled the first time she entered Rusty Den, but there was a clear difference between then and this one.
The difference was that everyone here was doing something; something that wasn’t just standing or sitting around. They were actually trying to repair Fort Risban!
Despite the fact that today was the last day of the exam, and that Fort Risban was in such utter disrepair, they were actively working to restore the weathered fortress.
Granted, they weren’t doing a good job of restoration. Crooked wooden plank walls, clumsy nailing, etc. It was clear that most of them didn’t have in-depth knowledge of repair or construction. Fortunately, there were some around with evident knowledge on the topic to correct these mistakes.
But regardless of that, the fact that these people were doing anything at all, despite their inexperience, was already enough to provide Hilda with a good first impression about the place.
Upon stepping through the obscure entrance into Fort Risban, they immediately drew the attention of everyone lingering near the entrance.
And when they did...
"They’re back!"
It didn’t take long for their presence to be made known.
"Welcome back!"
"Are you guys hurt?"
"Did you guys find any Predicaments?"
Beatrice tilted her nose up at the ceiling, revelling in the attention she was getting with a pompous attitude as she ordered the people to bring away the unconscious.
They had several questions they wanted to ask about this, with the most obvious being what could’ve happened to cause the members of her squad to be unconscious — but those thoughts were all soon dashed when they laid eyes on Hilda.
Despite having been present for her introduction during Registration, they couldn’t help but gawk at her for a few seconds to take in her prettiness. Both men and women. The intensity of their stares grew further when Hilda glanced over and winked in their direction.
At that moment, they all fell into a daze, having been charmed by Hilda, but were soon woken and ushered away when Beatrice called them out.
"Stop gawking at her, you bunch of weirdos, and get a move on! And while you’re at it, go tell Roxy that we’re back—"
"I’m already here, Beats."
Roxy walked out from behind the crowd, her tall stature automatically setting her apart from others. Though with Beatrice’s height, it was difficult to make that distinction when everyone around her was double her height.
Roxy still retained the harsh bruise Hilda had inflicted on her yesterday. Usually, with injuries like these, Vitalists would be able to heal from them in a matter of a day.
But thus far, even after a good night’s rest, the bruise on Roxy’s face had only softened ever so slightly around the edges. This was because, similar to how Vitality could impede a Predicament’s regeneration, Vitality could do the same to others — though on a lesser scale.
Fortunately, the injuries she had received from Elias’ Predicament had healed rather nicely.
"Ugh, don’t call me Beat! That’s so unelegant!" Beatrice dismissed with a point of her finger. But she was soon silenced and temporarily pacified when Roxy began to rub her head.
"Nahhh~ I like it. I’m gonna stick with it."
"Ugh...!"
After Roxy pulled herself away from Beatrice, she cast a glance over the girl’s squad and immediately caught sight of Hilda, who made no effort to hide herself.
Hilda waved at her in a friendly manner.
"Hallo~! It’s nice to see you again."
"M-miss LRM! I didn’t expect you to come here so soon!" In fact, Roxy didn’t expect Hilda at all. Although she did invite the woman to their camp, she never would’ve thought she would act on it.
Noticing confusion plague Roxy’s face, Beatrice quickly filled her in on what happened.
"What! They really did that?" Roxy asked, referring to Elias’ attempt on their group. She then made a hostile and ugly expression. "That rat, he always itching for eyes, I swear..."
It wasn’t enough that he had stolen their eyes, but also to go after her own group for theirs without earlier confrontation? He really was detestable!
’But to think that guy would willingly kick the LRM out of his warehouse... that doesn’t sound like him.’ Roxy referred to Ross, even trying to imagine the scenario play out, but still unable to find a logical reason as to why.
She barely knew the man, but she was confident that this was something he wouldn’t do. She struck him as the type of person who would do anything to get what he wanted. And in this case, to the very end of this exam.
It was one of the few reasons why she had fallen out with him on the first day, in fear that he would pull something that would endanger the people in her group.
’Is it because he still wants to hide how he knew about the warehouse? It did sound like something he really wanted to keep quiet, especially in front of someone like Hilda...’
But if that was the case, wouldn’t he just be even more careful about not spilling the secret instead of getting rid of Hilda entirely?
Roxy continued to come up with different scenarios, but struggled to imagine any that could fit Ross’ character or narrative. In the end, she gave up.
She sighed and shook her head.
’Whatever, I’ll figure it out later.’
She then walked over to Hilda and pushed out her hand.
"I have to thank you for saving my people."
Hilda waved at her dismissively before grabbing the woman’s hand and shaking it.
"Oh, don’t be like that~ anyone would in my position."
"Not anyone, but I’m glad you’d think so."
Roxy then stepped back and gestured towards the inside of Fort Risban.
"Anyway, since I’m not up to much right now, apart from adjusting inventory, why don’t I give you a tour?"
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