Loran rubbed his temple and said,
“Explain.”
Kiro burst out laughing, bending forward and backward so hard she could barely straighten up.
“Ha... haha... You should’ve seen your face just now! You looked like you saw a ghost!”
As she laughed, she wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes.
“Your face went completely pale. Did you think I ditched you and went off by myself to kill some death dragon?”
Loran did not say anything.
He simply looked at her with an expression that said, you had better give me a reasonable explanation.
“All right, all right. I’ll stop messing with you.”
Kiro cleared her throat, but the smug expression on her face did not fade in the slightest.
She stretched out her arms and spun in a circle, showing off the gorgeous black robes she was wearing.
“Looks good, right?” she asked.
Loran’s gaze swept from the flowing hem of the dress to the delicate embroidery, then finally returned to that irritating face of hers.
He nodded.
“It looks good.”
“Hehe.”
Kiro smiled in satisfaction.
Then, she began telling him everything that had happened at Roundtable Hold.
Through her highly exaggerated description, Loran finally pieced together the truth.
When she had been tortured nearly to madness by the question of whether to hand over that dagger or not, an extremely simple thought, yet one that perfectly fit Kiro’s logic, had saved her.
If that outfit could eventually be obtained anyway, why did she have to wait until the end?
In her view, Fia lived in Roundtable Hold every day, doing nothing except hugging people and sleeping. For such pretty clothes, she definitely could not have only one set, right?
Maybe there were several spare ones hanging in her wardrobe.
And so, faced with that “epic-level” either-or problem, Kiro chose a third path.
She stuffed that damned dagger into the deepest part of her pouch, out of sight and out of mind.
Then, she pushed open Fia’s door again.
This time, she did not ask for a hug.
She walked in and, without saying another word, dropped to her knees with a thud.
“Miss Fiaaa—!”
According to Kiro’s own description, her emotional buildup at the time had been extremely well done.
First, she recalled the tragic sight of herself being stomped to death by the Tree Sentinel.
Then she thought about the humiliation of being thrown off Torrent by Loran.
Finally, she thought about the Caelid she would soon have to face, a land full of sewage pits and monster dogs.
Grief welled up inside her.
The tears came instantly, pouring down in streams.
“Miss Fia, I can’t go on anymore—!”
With tears and snot all over her face, she hugged Fia’s leg and began sobbing about how helpless and weak she was in this cruel Lands Between.
She said she had no friends, no family, and had to face all kinds of terrifying monsters every day. She barely had enough to eat, and she did not even have a decent set of clothes.
She pointed at the ragged starter cloth she was wearing and cried even louder.
“Look at what I’m wearing! I look like a beggar! I’m a girl! How can I go outside dressed like this? I don’t want to live anymore! I really don’t want to live anymore!”
Fia was completely caught off guard by this sudden move.
She tried to help Kiro up, but Kiro clung tightly to her leg and refused to let go.
“You... please get up first. If there is something you need, we can talk about it...”
“No!”
Kiro buried her face in the hem of Fia’s dress, her voice muffled.
“Unless... unless you give me one set of your clothes! I think your clothes are really pretty! You definitely have more than one set, right? Just give me one, please! Take pity on this poor homeless little girl! Please! Please, Miss Fia!”
As she spoke, she rubbed her tear-and-snot-covered face hard against Fia’s long dress.
Loran could imagine the scene.
Through Kiro’s vivid description, he could even picture Fia frozen in place, wanting to push her away but unable to bring herself to do it, with a complicated expression mixed with disgust, helplessness, and a trace of pity.
The final result was that Fia compromised.
Perhaps it was out of sympathy for a “poor little girl.”
Perhaps it was purely to stop her from dirtying the dress with snot any further.
Fia took out an identical robe and hood and handed them to her.
“...Please do not do this again.”
...
They arrived once again before the gate of Stormveil Castle.
A sleazy voice came from the gatehouse beside them.
“Excuse me, you two over there...”
“Could you... come over here for a moment?”
Loran turned his head.
[Name: Gostoc]
[Identity: Gatekeeper of Stormveil Castle]
[Affection: 0]
[Status: Watching / Scheming / Luring]
“Hey! Ugly guy over there, what do you want with us?”
Kiro asked impatiently.
“Ah, now, no need for names.”
Gostoc walked out of the shadows, a fawning smile plastered across his face.
“I only... saw that the two of you looked brave enough, and I couldn’t bear to watch you march straight to your deaths. So I thought I’d offer a little warning.”
[Gostoc’s Affection toward Kiro: -5]
[Status: Disgust / Scheming / False Flattery]
Kiro’s arrogant attitude was clearly not ideal “customer” material in the eyes of someone like Gostoc, who specialized in picking on easy targets.
“You’re Tarnished, aren’t you? If you mean to enter the castle, I wouldn’t recommend the main gate. There’s a whole troop of skilled soldiers waiting that way. But don’t worry yourselves. There’s a hole over there. The soldiers don’t know that path. You should be able to slip inside without being seen.”
[Gostoc’s Affection toward Loran: +5]
[Status: Expectant / Luring]
Gostoc’s gaze lingered more on Loran.
In his eyes, this ordinary-looking sorcerer seemed far easier to deal with than the black-robed lunatic beside him.
Almost instinctively, Loran was prepared to speak and follow Gostoc’s lead, guiding the topic toward taking the side path.
After that, they could begin Nepheli’s questline, and the final reward would be an Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone.
That was the optimal solution.
The best route calculated by his brain, which was filled with game guides.
He had even already prepared his explanation, ready to convince Kiro, who would surely start shouting that she wanted to charge through the main gate.
However, Kiro’s reaction once again threw his script into disorder.
She did not shout at Gostoc, “Who wants to crawl through some rat hole?” as expected, nor did she draw her weapon and rush toward the main gate.
She took two steps forward, circled around Gostoc, and looked him up and down.
Gostoc felt a chill from her stare, and even the fawning smile on his face stiffened.
“Uh... what are you...?”
“I know what you’re trying to do.”
Kiro suddenly spoke, wearing a wicked smile exactly like Patches’.
She leaned close to Gostoc’s ear and spoke in a volume only the two of them could hear.
“You want us to take the side path. Then, while we’re fighting those soldiers inside to the death, you can secretly follow behind us and pick up the runes we drop after we die, right?”
Gostoc’s body suddenly stiffened.
Loran stood to the side and took it all in.
[Gostoc’s Affection toward Kiro: -5 → -20]
[Status: Exposed / Panicked / On Guard]
“What... what nonsense are you spouting?”
Gostoc instantly jumped up, his voice turning sharp.
“I am only acting out of kindness! How could I possibly do such a thing?”
“Oh, really?”
Kiro straightened up and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Then do you dare... make a bet with me?”