Lesson 2: Trust Me

‘Why?’  That was the first thing Leo thought after what just happened. Zentella just killed the party captain. No… she killed the bandits as well. He knew there was something different about Zentella. He knew she was way too strong for her age. He knew she could and would kill given the chance. Yet… he just wanted to know why. Cause Zentella, the young girl he traveled with, the young girl who saved him, wouldn’t do this without a reason.

That was all he needed to know for his body began to weakly move towards her.

“You… you… YOU MONSTER!” The archer girl cried getting up.

She was enraged. She was going to attack. Leo was going to play it no mind. He already expected that Zentella would be able to avoid the attack somehow, or use her stealth.

“Zentella?”

In that moment, for the first time since he met the girl, her expression changed. Eyes widen, mouth slightly agape and stunned.

‘No… No… NO!’ Leo forced his steps into a jog desperate for a run. His body was protesting him from the exhaustion of the fight before. Just more speed, just a little more speed! Heart in his ears now and his own lungs gasping for more oxygen, Leo still somehow made out the pull of the bowstring. ‘NO!’

[Synchronizing]

WHOOSH

*PIERCE*

When had she closed here eyes? She shouldn’t have closed her eyes on against a hostile enemy. Still all that matters was that she was safe. “You okay Zentella?”

“Uncle?” Zentella slowly opened her eyes and was shocked to see Leo in front of her with an arrow piercing through his stomach.

“Still… not that old.” Leo gasped, he couldn’t explain what happened. He didn’t think he could even reach her in time. Yet the arrow sticking out of his body was all the proof that he needed that he had reached her. The system screen had popped up hadn’t it? ‘Ah… too tired to care now.’

[CRITICAL WARNING!!! MP IS AT 5%]

‘Shut up.’ Leo swiped the screen away.

“What the hell are you doing!?” The archer called, angry her shot did not reach her intended target. “Are you working with that monster!?”

“Wait!” Before she could ready another arrow the mage had gotten up and stood in front of the archer.

“What are you doing!?”

“We don’t know what’s going on! We can’t jump to conclusions!”

“She just killed our leader!”

As the two continued to argue more and more of the passengers and drivers came out noticing the fight was (mostly) over. Murmurs began to spread as they took in the scene before them and slowly began to put the pieces together.

But that didn’t matter to Leo now. “Hey… Zentella.” He knelt down, mainly because he could barely stand anymore. She snapped his direction at her name, “Can you tell me what you just did?”

“Ah!” She winced as soon as Leo’s hand was above her.

Stopping short Leo lowered his arm. She was scared. Well… she is a child after all… and all children hate getting in trouble. “Look… I’m not going to be mad ok?”

“Liar…” She looked away, “Just heal yourself and go away.” To Zentella he was going to get mad like all the rest. She would get in in trouble just like back then.

“I can’t… I’m at my limit today.”

Zentella snapped back full of worry, “But you’re hurt, you need-”

“You to tell me what happen.” Ironically enough, Leo was tankful for the pain the arrow was causing. It was the only thing keeping him awake from his low MP. He thought about grabbing a spare potion to heal himself, but that would require removing the arrow. Something he wasn’t confidant enough to do on his own.

“But…”

“Zentella… listen to me.” Leo slowly raised his hand and extended his pinky finger. “We made a promise. You promised that I could trust you. So I’m going to believe what you tell me Zentella.”

“But… you’ll get mad.”

Leo sighed. He truly couldn’t understand this kid. From the moment he met her she was a whirlwind of dichotomy. A cold emotionless killer and still a curious little child. Someone who didn’t hesitate to slice a man’s neck, but still refuses to admit that she may have stolen from the cookie jar.

It was because of that child side that Leo couldn’t back away on this. Labels hurt, especially to a child. Leo knew this first hand. At first he thought that he was being overprotected on what Zentella was exposed to, bringing his views from back on Earth and forcing them here. However, thanks to the her reactions just now, he knew she needed someone, anyone, to be on her side.

“Zentella, it's just you and me now. We got to have each others back from this point on. I won’t promise that I won’t get mad. But, how will we possibly know if I’ll get mad if you don’t tell me?” Like it or not they were stuck together. Leo knew this. He wanted to just fulfill his promise to Natasha and keep Zentella safe. That’s why he wanted to leave her at the orphanage. So, if she was going to be a brat and continue to follow him, then he is making it clear here and now that they were a team… He will not let her be alone.

Zentella shuffled her feet, lost in thought. Unable to come up with a rebuttal she nodded to him. “Ok.”

“Now…” He raised his pinky once again, “I hereby promise that I will always be on Zentella’s side.”

She raised her pinky and hooked it as well, “I also promise to always be on Uncle Leo’s side.”

They shook and released their pinkies. “Alright, what’s the situation?”

Zentella sniffled and nodded. “The Adventures left the bandits alive… There were too many… So I took it upon myself to finish the job.”

‘Seriously? Taking matters into your own hands.’ Leo groaned inwardly.

“While I was finishing up I found this…” Zentella pulled out what appeared to be a pocket watch, “A communication artifact was on the bandit. I then felt that there was a mana trail leading to the partner artifact it was paired to.” She then pointed to the party warrior.

“Oh no…”

“Yes… the warrior had the second artifact… He was a liability, so I sought to eliminate him before he became a threat to us and the caravan.”