Wanting a Reason - Part Two

As Cobalt would quickly learn, the word tomb couldn’t properly describe even the internals of this extremely bizarre place.

How long had he been walking? He wasn’t exactly sure—but when a Tomb came into mind, he expected something maybe a percentage of a percentage the size of which he’s already seen. Now, the setting has found itself changed once again to welcome in a sunken forest of some kind. Essentially, every aspect of flora and fauna Cobalt could imagine living in a forest… However, likely dozens of meters beneath the surface.

Most of the color down in the depths of this sunken forest had disappeared. Compared to the radiance of the forest above-ground, it, well, it simply couldn’t compare. Light seemed to glisten down one way or another, likely from the aquamarine crystals residing several meters up on the cave’s ceiling, but other than that, he didn’t know how else the life down here could possibly get its energy.

The trunks and limbs were a dark grey, whereas the leaves were a highly desaturated green. Were the leaves forced to absorb even the green light? Was that even possible at that scale?

Yet again—Cobalt was plagued by the questions he didn’t have answers to.

But regardless of how the chlorophyll worked down in the depths, the only true colors remaining were certainly that of Cobalt and Arabelle.

The grey that formed and enveloped their surroundings was an unwelcoming sight to behold. So contrasted against that, Arabelle’s colors vibrantly stood out to him. Almost as if, outside the hues of the two of them, nothing else seemed to exist at all.

But before Cobalt could formally recognize the peculiarity of what he’d just thought, a rather high pitched and sing-songingly mocking voice shook him out of it.

“You’re being awfully quiet. I wonder, is that because you’re thinking about something really stupid?”

“That’s a harsh evaluation from someone being intentionally left out of my internal monologue.”

It almost appeared that the young girl noticed his peculiarity before even he did. Was he that far ‘out of it’?

“Does that mean I’m right? I’m going to assume it does.”

“Having been unfairly called out, you leave me able to only testify that ‘stupidity is subjective’.”

“You’ve been found guilty anyways.”

“As expected.”

Whenever there was a barrier between the two of them, or the atmosphere felt icy in any way, it was always surprisingly easy to melt that ice away with just a few jabs from either side.

This was naturally a new concept to Cobalt entirely. As with Bismuth, there was surely never a single moment with distance between them; as for everyone else, that ice simply never melted.

So on that strange note, did that somehow make Arabelle the ideal type of person to befriend? Cobalt couldn’t even come remotely close to answering that question before his head hurt.

Yet again—Cobalt was plagued by the questions he’d much prefer not answering.

“Whether you got one or not, I’m gonna need you to use your brain for once so we can try to figure a way through this section of the Tomb. At least 400% of it, if I’m being honest.”

“I can’t tell if you’re really good at insulting me or just really bad at math.”

He phrased that as a joke, obviously, but seeing her turn her face away from him, he received a different impression entirely.

Did Arabelle just… Puff out her cheeks?

No, surely that was way too cute of a gesture for her completely opposing personality.

“Ah, no, anyway. I really do need some brain power here.”

“Lay it on me, I guess.”

The speed at which they switched gears in conversations could be admirable even from the perspective of a master salesman.

That’s the taste Cobalt was left with after all their interactions, anyway.

“Everything in this little mini-forest has all been explored—”

“Wait, seriously everything…?”

This place is absolutely massive.

“Everything noteworthy, but don’t interrupt. On the other side of a certain point, the grass and stuff stops growing. But what’s most aggravating is that lights don’t work past that point at all. If this place’s taught me anything it’s that without a light source you’re basically dead. But from torches to spells to anything I could think of, nothing works.”

Hearing that, Cobalt fidgeted quietly with the small blue crystal he had taken from the Demon’s Lair, as he liked to call it. He’d imagined Arabelle tried something similar with the ceiling crystals, so to avoid beratement, he intentionally didn’t mention it.

“Wait, actually, if that’s the case then why’d you make me carry a lantern exactly?”

Hearing his complaint, she confidently snatched the lantern from his grasp with a grin, waving it above her head.

“Simple, my mutt-in-training. What’s going in here,” she began, beginning to poke the glass with her free hand, “Isn’t exactly your typical light source by any means.”

Cobalt simply replied by giving her a look that showed he had no idea what she was alluding to.

“Down here you can find a lot of stuff you’d never find on the surface. One thing in particular is a really bright type of firefly. I think they might be able to bypass the rules or whatever for the next section.”

“Seriously? They’re that promising? What are they, magic or something?”

“They are, actually.”

“Eh-?”

An unexpected reply.

“I’ve seen these types of fireflies before, but that was a reeeally long time ago. From what I remember, they get super bright and can light an entire building all at once. I remember hearing they were a type of Saga, so if that’s true, I’ll thank that memory in particular for saving my skin down here.” In repeating that untapped knowledge within her heart, a faint smile grew across her lips, like she was remembering something nostalgic.

But whereas Arabelle was reminiscing, Cobalt got tripped up on the word Saga. Unable to keep his mind off it, the word inadvertently slipped from his tongue.

“Saga?”

“Hm? Yeah they’re basically what summoning mages use. Folklore, myths, stuff like that. All I know is that with enough of those powerful mages, you can basically bring anything into this world. I know there were some nutcases in the War who summoned entire dragons,” she added with a snort.

Most people would have been stopped at the word dragon, but not Cobalt. It’s true he didn’t know too much about them, or how the mages even brought them about in the first place. Even Istheria didn’t really know, which he always found odd. However, Cobalt’s head was in a different place entirely.

“You can summon, like, anything out of folklore?”

Surely a piece of the puzzle to this world that would have been better off remaining unknown to Cobalt.

“Maybe? Or it could be that folklore was just built around them themselves, and they just get summoned here. I have no clue.”

“Like anything though? Like elves? Or mermaids? Beastwomen? Like girls with dog ears and stuff?”

But rather unluckily, the first real insight into this world’s magic system, was…

“You’ve… Never seen any of those before? I didn’t think they were all that uncommon… I mean definitely one in a thousand, but still. I’ve seen a lot.”

Hearing that, a realm of possibility opened in his mind. Elves, catgirls, spirits, nymphs, fairies, and anything and everything in between—all of which could very well be real. Videogames had let him down time and time again. But for once, Cobalt was glad he was a loser. A million games couldn’t have possibly prepared him for this fantasy.

With that, he started to really think about what she had just alluded to.

If there’s a creature in this world that isn’t human or animal… Like fantasy races, monsters… It means that they had to have been brought in from another world. Sort of like how I was, right? Well, that’s implying that another world like that actually exists…

He thought about that, as well. It didn’t seem likely there was actually a world out there brimming with every single aspect imaginable out of a fairy tale.

But trying to call him back to the real world, Arabelle softly called “Cobalt…” “Cobalt…”, although to no avail.

I dunno, that’s pretty far-fetched. Maybe it’s more likely they just appear outta mana or something like that? And if everyone that isn’t a human came into life that way… Wouldn’t that include-

“Wait!!!” He cut off his line of thought, replacing the image of a girl he was thinking of with another in the form of a shout.

“—Eek!”

Arabelle shrieked, her hair standing on end as she almost dropped the lantern.

Obviously, the sudden outburst from the formerly soft-spoken Cobalt startled her. However, Cobalt didn’t even take notice. He collected his thoughts together, attempting to regain whatever composure he had before his outburst.

“If Sagas are these fantasy creatures from another world, does that mean these special fireflies are like pixies or something?”

“Ehhhhh-” Arabelle’s voice shaked as she waved her lantern at her side repentantly, hiding it from view.

Contrasting against Arabelle’s guiltily joking attitude, Cobalt’s next question was phrased in a surprisingly serious tone.

“Arabelle we aren’t enslaving pixies, are we?”

She eyed the ground sheepishly, clicking her heels together quietly. “I’m like… 80% sure they’re not sentient.”

“Arabelle, do you even know what a percentage is to begin with…?”

If she had gotten self-conscious after saying Cobalt needed to use 400% of his brain, then her own interpretation of “80%” could mean literally any conceivable number.

“And, hold on, I mean, uhm, ethically speaking, we should at least try to consider this first, right? What other options do we have, like, erm…” Remembering that a scolding was only a few words away at any given moment, his voice slowly trailed off…

His shoulders fell at his side, as if suddenly remembering something that withdrew him from the topic at hand.

Cobalt continued to hold the expression that he wanted to interject and say something more, and yet something held him back from that.

“I wasn’t expecting you to trail off like that. Jeez.”

She ran her fingers through her hair as she said that, although Cobalt didn’t hear it. The conversation at hand suddenly distanced itself from the two of them at once.

After all, Cobalt had remembered something. Something he had likely been trying to avoid thinking of.

This Tomb, these fireflies, and everything around here—Cobalt knew none of it. So why? Why was Cobalt trying to flaunt his own opinion on every little thing?

He wanted to prove himself useful, but…

A simple man, lost—no money, or combat prowess, or even any particular talents…

『Shouldn’t he just shut up?』

“...”

Having been unable to even express his own opinion correctly, his words fell onto the dirt they were walking across. The air around him suddenly felt hot—as a feeling of familiar uncertainty washed over him. A pair of footsteps slowly stopped, as he found his eyes spacing out into the visage of a hollowed-out tree. And just like that, Cobalt was—

“I don’t know why you shut up so quickly—I didn’t even say anything, idiot.”

A second pair of footsteps stopped as well.

Pulling lightly at her blouse’s collar, she continued, “Look… I didn’t think of that myself, which was kinda stupid. That wasn’t the worst complaint you coulda had, so… I’ll be the carefullest careful I can, so if you find them first, do the same.”

That heat Cobalt was feeling suddenly. That embarrassment. That powerlessness, even—Arabelle was very well feeling it, too.

And that caught him especially off-guard.

“—? Find them first?”

“Yeah, erm… I’m not lost or anything—!!! I just got distracted sooo…” Fidgeting with her own words, she continued, “There’s a couple directions the fireflies could be from here. I don’t really know why, but… I suddenly kinda got the vibe that you’d wanna try proving yourself, or at least kinda get the feel for how stuff works down here. Er, no, I didn’t mean I read your mind—!!” Her face reddened at the words she had spoken.

And realizing that, her brain rushed to fill in the gaps caused by her weakness.

“I just thought of that myself—it’s my own idea for us to split up, so you can get some experience on your own—! Yea…”

She weaved circles and circles around herself, spinning her own bizarre logic into something that didn’t reveal her weak points as brazenly as Cobalt had. But despite her efforts, those familiar qualities certainly didn’t go unnoticed.

Hah…

Feeling the warmth return to his lips in the form of a smile, at least half of his self-doubt was obliterated. After all, it had become painfully obvious:

Arabelle was just as helpless as Cobalt was.