The only person who never bothered to say goodbye was Sagarda. Stella saw him standing a few meters away and staring at her with a longing, painful gaze, but he never said a word to her, and she could only watch as he turned and walked back to their campsite alone.
Stella closed her eyes and wished him the best. Sagarda was a wonderful person, and she was sure that he would eventually find someone to love him like he wanted. But she wasn’t the one he was looking for.
.....
"Madam, do you want something to drink? We can stop if you’re tired. It’s best to rest your legs when you’re pregnant. Don’t walk around too much, or it might affect the pregnancy. If you feel a headache, then let me know. I have a skill that allows me to give very good massages. Do you want one?"
"No, Stella, thank you. And please don’t call me madam. My name is Gina, just call me that."
"Oh no, you’re going to be the Prince’s wife. I can’t call you by your name. Ah, if you don’t want the massage, then maybe you would prefer something to eat? I can go hunting."
"I’m not hungry, Stella. Please wait till we find somewhere to rest."
"Ah, I heard that songs can help your baby relax. What if I sang?"
"I thought you were a soldier? When did you learn how to sing?"
"Of course, I know how to sing, madam. I have a skill that gives me perfect vocal cords, and I was so good that the generals would sometimes ask me to sing for the troops when I was still in the army."
"That’s actually very impressive, Stella, but I don’t need you to sing."
"Ah, then maybe you want..."
Gina had a look of mild exasperation on her face as she listened to Stella ask her nonstop questions. The small group of three were trekking through a dense forest on a Rank II world known as Drezire. Stella had been travelling with them for a whole day now, and Gina could already tell that she would be a handful to deal with. Stella wore a long black hooded coat over a set of functional trousers and a t-shirt. The coat hood was pulled up to cover her head, and on her back, she was carrying a large bag that contained all of Jason and Gina’s supplies. It was as if Stella was trying everything in her power to prove that she was useful! At the side, Jason let out a small chuckle when he saw the look on Gina’s face, and when Gina turned to him with a small glare, he eventually decided to speak up.
"Stella, it’s getting dark, and we need a place to sleep. Can you find something?"
"Yes, master!"
Stella turned, and her cape fluttered in the wind as she jumped high into the air and took off. Once she was gone, Jason heard Gina sigh.
"She’s like an excited puppy. She almost talked my ear off."
Jason chuckled, and Gina elbowed him playfully while telling him to do something about this. Jason pet Gina’s head and said:
"She’s just eager to please. I’m sure it’ll calm down after a few days. But it’s impressive that she can do so much. I didn’t think she would be so versatile."
"Yeah, it’s like she has a skill for everything. But your subordinates were better."
"I suppose, but they couldn’t talk, so it was difficult to have conversations with them."
"That’s why they were better. At least they didn’t talk our ears off -"
"Master! I found a good place~!"
Both Jason and Gina were shocked when they saw Stella coming back already! It had only been about two minutes since she left, so how in the world did she find something so quickly? Stella waved them over, and they took off into the sky and followed Stella towards a cave on the other side of the forest. The cave was carved out from the side of a mountain, and when they got close, Jason saw that there was already a fire as well as a bed made from straw and covered in large blankets for them. How in the world did Stella do all this in two minutes?
Jason asked this question, and Stella answered proudly.
"It’s a trade secret, master. Just be assured that anything you wish for will be accomplished in record time."
Jason scoffed as they landed inside the cave, and he heard Gina sigh as she appreciated the warm air. Jason knew that Stella had used some sort of skill to finish this so quickly, but he didn’t care enough about her skills to try to force it out of her. And since Stella was an Avaran that could gain skills from the monsters they consume, it could literally be anything.
"Stella, exactly how many skills do you have?"
Gina asked this while moving to sit on one of the beds. It wasn’t very comfortable since it was just straw, but at least it was better than sleeping on the ground. Stella seemed to think for a few seconds before she answered.
"I have well over two thousand skills by now. Most of them were obtained during the Period of Lawlessness when we fought against other worlds. But there are only about a hundred that I actively use in combat. The others are either too weak or too inefficient, but they are still useful."
"Wow, that’s a lot. I don’t think even Jason has that many. Babe, you only have about a hundred, right?"
Jason hummed in agreement as he sat beside Gina, and Stella blushed when she heard the awe in Gina’s tone. Stella felt proud of her power, but even though she had more skills, Stella knew what really mattered was the strength of the skills you had. Jason might not have as many skills, but he was undoubtedly more powerful. Stella had been surprised when Jason told her that it had only been a few months since he discovered his magic, and she knew that even for an Avaran, this sort of growth was not normal. There was a part of Stella that wanted to ask Jason if his rapid growth had something to do with his Necromancer abilities, but she thought that would be too invasive, and she decided not to ask.
Jason finally spoke up after he got comfortable.
"Alright, Stella, since you’re a part of our team now, I think it’s only right that I tell you what we’re up against."
Stella suddenly lost all the amusement on her face and turned serious when she heard the seriousness in Jason’s voice, and Jason was a little surprised by how intense she was at that moment. But Stella had once been a soldier who fought alongside his father, so Jason could understand where she got the intensity from. Jason spoke up again, and this time, he told her everything. Jason started with the attack from the Radagans on Earth, and then he told her about how he killed the Sovereign and how this led to the fine from the Overlord Rubik. Once Jason mentioned Rubik, Stella’s brow furrowed in anger, and she spat out her next words in irritation.
"Rubik? So that pile of scrap metal is still alive? I thought he would’ve given up the ghost by now."
Gina hummed.
"You know Rubik?"
"Yes, madam. Rubik had once had a disagreement with King Richard over some trade routes, and I accompanied King Richard to the Stone Catacombs for a trial to decide who would take charge of the routes. It was obvious that the King had every right to those routes, but Rubik employed underhanded tactics by trying to paint our King as a criminal using some forged documents from the worlds we fought against during the Period of Lawlessness. We managed to win that trial, but the relationship between the Avarans and Machina soured forever. Our people have a saying: the only trustworthy Machina is a dead one."
Jason couldn’t help but huff in amusement when he heard that saying. Even though Jason had never heard the saying before, he couldn’t help but agree a hundred percent!