Now it was Evel’s turn to be confused.

  Creep? Him?

  “You’re confused.”

  As Evel was about to start explaining that he was just there to learn more about the camp, the archer interrupted him.

  “Is that your thing? You like watching girls sleep?”

  She gave him a disgusted look, and turned her head to avoid eye contact, only leaving him in her peripheral area for safety.

  Offended, Evel immediately shot back.

  “What? Don’t make things up!”

  “You were ogling me right as I woke up…”

  “Ogling!? The pods are fully covered! I didn’t even know you were in that one!”

  In disbelief, Evel shook his head.

  What an unreasonable person.

  “Sure, I’ll just take your word that you didn’t follow me in there to watch me at my most vulnerable.”

  Evel opened his mouth to argue, but closed it just as quickly.

  This must be a tactic I’m not familiar with, she’s trying to get in my head.

  He sighed and reached for his cards, playing around with them to satiate his boredom.

  Like this, another hour passed in silence.

  Evel looked at the fruits on the trees, his mouth watering and throat parched, just out of reach. He hadn’t gotten a chance to truly satiate his thirst earlier, and those fruits had been so good.

  But it wasn’t so easy. If he walked up to grab them he’d get turned into a reward, and was hesitant to use his ability as it may reveal too much.

  “Looks like your friends don’t care about you that much, creep.”

  The archer finally broke the silence, mocking Evel.

  “I don’t see yours either”

  He shot right back.

  “Tch”

  Ignoring her for now, Evel decided the fruit was worth it, so summoned Eth, not considering the consequences.

  His hostage across from him tensed up, and jumped on her feet fully on guard expecting an attack.

  Realizing his mistake, he immediately dismissed Eth.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  I almost forgot the danger I’m currently in.

  “Sorry, shoulda warned you,” Evel apologized. “Just wanted to get some fruit.”

  He pointed at the nearby fruit tree.

  She nodded, still fully on guard. Her eyes shifted quickly between Evel and the fruits, looking for any information to save her from this situation.

  Evel summoned Eth once again and had it pick up some of his wire. It carried the wire to a piece of fruit, bundled it up, and pulled it back towards Evel.

  He wanted to give as few hints as possible as to what his ability was.

  Eth quickly delivered the fruit and Evel’s eyes shone, these fruits were just so good! Much better than any he had ever eaten before!

  The black haired archer stared at him practically drooling, unable to hide her own thirst and desire for the fruit.

  I’ll just eat some once I’m free of this prison.

  But another hour passed by, with no sign of anybody approaching.

  Heaving a bored sigh, she finally gave up.

  May as well make the best of my situation.

  “Give me an inane too.”

  So that’s what they're called.

  Evel raised his eyebrow,

  “From the creep and or pervert you tried to assassinate?"

  “Tch.”

  She looked to the side in annoyance, she knew Evel would never allow her to get up and grab herself some fruit, after all he would be scared she’d make a run for it, which to be fair she probably would.

  Arghhh this is so frustrating, I could be getting rich right now!

  “Fine, I won’t call you a creep anymore, and I’ll recognize you are just a slave to your desires at no fault of your own.”

  Evel gave her a funny look. That was the best apology she could come up with?

  I guess it’s the best I’ll get.

  Evel grabbed an inane for her, still using the wire as a medium for Eth, and placed it on her lap.

  “Evel.”

  The joy in her face wasn’t well hidden as she took a big chomp into the fruit, savoring its juices.

  “...Diana.” She replied, still chewing. “Grab me another.”

  Evel grabbed a bunch of fruit and placed it between the two of them.

  In his boredom, Evel finally asked the question that had been stuck in his mind.

  “So, what’s with all the violence?”

  Evel was confused by the spear-man and her actions. Wouldn’t it be much safer to just group up as one massive cohort and take out the beasts one by one?

  But he had already been attacked twice!

  And considering Bremin was nowhere to be seen, he had probably taken more than his fair share of lives.

  Was it that people just didn’t care about taking a stranger’s life that much? At first he thought it was simply a matter of how one grew up, but then he remembered the joy he experienced after he had taken his first life.

  He was so satisfied all his hard work had paid off.

  It wasn’t the killing that brought him joy, but despite it. Perhaps for them, a life was a small cost for the potential rewards.

  In his case it was self defence, but in the future would that change? Would he be corrupted by the addiction of growing stronger, the Path?

  In his eyes, human life was valuable. That’s what had been taught to him, and what he had always believed. A deep feeling of doubt swirled inside him.

  Diana looked at Evel like he was stupid.

  “Don’t you know? We get rewards for killing people.”

  “But also for killing the beasts.”

  Evel pointed out, nudging his head to the beast behind them.

  “Humans are easier, and come on, do you really think they brought us here to save everyone?”

  Evel hesitated, he knew she was right, the military clearly intended to cull their numbers down, for what reason specifically, he had no clue.

  “You’re fine with taking lives?”

  Diana snorted, surprised by his naivety.

  “Anyone with an affinity below 80 will probably die anyway, so I’m just expediting the process and getting some rewards for it. How often will we get a chance like this? I don’t want to throw away my possible ticket.”

  Something cold settled in Evel’s chest.

  “Oh, and what’s your affinity?”

  “93.”

  She boasted, clearly proud of her extreme talent.

  Evel nodded once, “Mine’s 60.”

  “...What?”

  Evel nodded his head again, but didn’t show any disappointment.

  Diana looked at Evel with a blank face, only her eyebrows twitching.

  Why's she looking at me like that?

  Soon, the corners of her lips started twitching too.

  Unable to hold it back any longer, Diana’s laughter spilled out, loud and unrestrained.

  “60!? Bwahahaha!”

  She slapped her knees as she continued laughing, occasionally wiping off the tears that formed at the corner of her eyes.

  Evel’s annoyance returned.

  “Let’s not forget your life is in my hands.”

  Diana’s laughter stopped as she reconsidered her situation. She was being held hostage by some fodder, a situation she never could have expected and frankly was quite embarrassed by. She looked at annoyed Evel, looking away, avoiding eye contact.

  This wasn’t the face of someone threatening her, but someone who was trying to change the subject.

  “PFFT–”

  She immediately burst out into laughter again.

  Evel looked up at the sky.

  I hate it here.

  Save me Bremin.

  If you are interested in the story, please search up Sleight of Hand again in a week or two, or follow me and (I think) you'll get a notif when I create a new series.

  Also shoutout to saucington for your comments, appreciate you.