Chapter 314

“So,” Natalie said. “What’d you three get?”

Elida answered first. “Bordello. I won’t be attending. Thankfully, after we sleep, there shouldn’t be much time left before the next assignment. I want to explore the shops and the rest of the city, anyway. What’d you two get?”

“Arena,” Natalie offered.

Elida’s eyes turned to Vanetta. The stony mask was back in place. She really kept her walls up around the Parda-Halt, it seemed.

“Bordello, like you.”

“Ah? Will you be—engaging?”

“Mm. I’ll sleep on it.”

Elida seemed interested that there was even a possibility of a yes, though she didn’t voice it aloud.

Natalie looked at Faye next. The team’s mage was as aloof as always, and not in the same manner as Ana, rather, with an unfriendliness about her. Besides Elida, Faye was the person she liked least on the team. Clementine had also been there when Elida’s team had beaten and stolen from her own, but at least she seemed remorseful about it. Pulled in by Elida’s authority and forced to act. Not an excuse, but it was something. A small something.

“Palace Basements,” Faye said. “I’ve heard it’s the most extreme assignment, so I, also, will not be attending. I’ll likely join Elida in her explorations.”

“Fair enough,” Natalie said. Her teammates were more willing to turn down assignments than she’d expected, which pleased her.

“Arena,” Clementine offered last, when their gazes turned to her. “It’s the most tame, and also private, so I guess I’d be crazy not to at least take a look.” Her cheeks colored, and she glanced away. “I’m still adjusting to the whole idea, though.”

“If you pick the easiest stake, it really doesn’t ask for much,” Natalie said. “You get options, too. And you can bail if you’re uncomfortable, soon as the fights get hard. It’s no big deal.”

Elida pursed her lips like she disagreed with the sentiment—but she wasn’t a purely practical actor either, since she intended to skip her Bordello assignment. So she didn’t say anything.

The conversation continued briefly, but only for a minute or two before they broke off. Natalie wasn’t the only one exhausted from the day, and it was well past time to sleep. Plus they would be cutting it close on the assignment reset, assuming they got a full night’s rest, so there was no time for idle chat.

On the trip through the Palace halls, Natalie briefly considered following Vanetta back to her room. She missed having her as a duo partner already, half because Elida being gone had been a blessing, but also because Vanetta seemed to shut down in public settings. Or maybe just around Elida. Which would be fair; if there was anyone to be guarded around, it would be a Parda-Halt.

She chose not to, only because she thought things had moved fast between them, and Vanetta probably wanted time to herself. She did call out a ‘good night!’ to the girl, though, and Natalie was inordinately pleased when the stony girl hesitantly returned it before disappearing into her room.

Natalie took a quick shower—it was truly heavenly that despite being in the dungeon they had hot running water—and afterward collapsed into the plush spread of her bedsheets.

Though her thoughts ran on all sorts of topics—her upcoming solo assignment, Vanetta, her team which was tackling the second floor without her right this moment, Elida, the City, and so on—sleep consumed her after only a handful of minutes. That was the upside of pushing herself so hard: easy to knock out for the night.

Her eyes pried open some seven or eight hours later. Groaning, she stretched her limbs, gave a huge yawn, stared at the ceiling for a bit, then rolled from bed and hobbled to the bathroom.

Clean and geared back up, she departed for the Arena. The bell tower was loud enough it could be heard even half an hour’s travel away, so she would’ve heard it if assignments had changed over while she’d been sleeping; thus, despite not knowing the exact time, they were on the same cycle. But she wasn’t sure exactly how long she had, so she ought to hurry.

She never slept more than nine hours, so in the worst case, she had two-ish to go about her Arena runs and, afterward, head to the Bordello to find Vanetta, if she had indeed decided to hang out and wait for her. How exactly the Bordello functioned eluded her, but assuming it worked like the rest of the City, Vanetta ought to have a choice in her clients or sub-assignments—and might be waiting for Natalie, unwilling to engage with anyone or anything else.