To Live Again, For the First Time!

Emilin just watched as Dios casually picked up the call.

He couldn't do anything else, it's not as if he could pretend it wasn't ringing. Emilin was staring, clearly having realized that he was getting a call in this place that didn't have a signal.

"What do you want?" Dios said into the coms, full of smiles so as to not garner more suspicion, but that just made the scene scarier for those other four who knew him well.

Dios acted as if he didn't want to murder the person on the other side of the call with 49 stabs to the heart in order to convey his sentiments, instead opting for a gentler approach.

Dios spoke in Syrin to avoid anything suspicious from leaking, but how could he have known that this would only make his identity more questionable to Emilin, who had previously met another group of around this size with a leader who spoke Syrin.

The points were connecting at this moment in Emilin's mind.

'You can just imagine. How many people speak Syrin in this continent, in this country, in this city, and then in this mountain range, more specifically, is there really enough of them for me to have met two with questionable identities back to back.'

'Both of which were with groups of overly muscular men.'

'If this isn't suspicious, then what is?'

But Emilin didn't voice any of her thoughts.

"What is it that you want!" Dios said again before the other person could even start talking.

"Brother Dios! What's the matter? You seem to be in a good mood. Did something good happen?" Cenci asked when he heard how warmly Dios was talking, even if his words didn't really match the mood.

'Good mood my ass you lazy bastard who always seems to have nothing better to do.'

"Yes, very good mood indeed so don't ruin it because I'm very busy right now." He gritted his teeth in order to not let his true sentiments seep through. Emphasizing 'very busy' to send the message.

"Oh, I see how it is. I won't take too much of your time. I just wanted to catch up a little and ask about how you like the view in front of you. So tell me. How is she?" Cenci had an evil little smirk on his face.

After finding out that Dios's mission had already started from his previous speech pattern, he wanted to mess with him even more.

This was true brotherly love, making each other's life more interesting.

In other words, 10 times harder, 20 times more annoying along with the complimentary 30 times more frustrating for the total increase of 6000 times more likely to rage quit.

[It's the buy 1 get 2 free kind of deal. Not exactly profitable... but worth every penny lost.]

"Big beauty, black hair, hazelish eyes, and absolutely underaged. Now get your ass out of my ears and don't call until you're on death's door or I'll make sure you'll wish to have past death's door by the end of our next unnecessary conversation."

Emilin lowered her head so that no one could see how her eyes narrowed when she heard herself being described in the call.

'This is getting dangerous.'

'Suspicious people, this is bad. How could I have forgotten! Grandma Charlotte was telling me to get out of here as soon as possible, but I've already gone off track from my schedule ever since the rock slide. Now I've stayed here two extra days and I'm still not on my way back.'

Emilin thought about all this, while also remembering to listen in on the conversation Dios was having over the phone, of course, she couldn't hear Cenci all that well, but she still caught a word or two with her abnormally superb hearing.

"No way!" Cenci covered his mouth instinctively as he exclaimed from shock.

"Yes way, now get off. I'll be back at the base within the next day or so. I don't plan on staying any longer." Dios didn't know what Cenci was thinking and had naturally assumed that he was just in a wacky mood today. 

As for Emilin, she felt like she had heard something she shouldn't have heard... especially with the word choice. 'I really don't need to know more, especially about this base.'

God, these people were looking more and more like the bad guys from some mafia country.

Even if Syri wasn't like that, she almost wanted to believe it was...

"No, that's not what I mean. What are the chances?" Cenci started explaining himself while Dios waited patiently to listen.

It's not as if he could throw his coms down now and smash them into pieces with one hard stomp to release frustration since he couldn't act out of place now that he had already started acting in front of the stranger in the middle of the cave.

"I think I know the one you're talking about! I met someone of a similar description a couple of days ago just lurking around. You know, she was staring at me and my group as we ran by, totally suspicious. And she even said she knew Malalakan when I spoke to her, so be careful! She must be a super well-trained spy. Anyways, good luck! Bring her back ok? Bye~."

Cenci immediately dropped the call after he finished talking, breaking out into a peal of laughter after his Brother Dios couldn't hear him anymore.

Of course, what he said was essentially true, but also not entirely. 

Though there was some exaggeration, the founding information was still accurate. He just hoped that there would be enough to cause some trouble. His mischievous side was itching these days.

Since something was about to happen anyway, he might as well help in the process by taking the show to a bigger stage.

"I'm sure he'll do fine," Cenci reassured himself before forgetting about the matter.

The only thing he remembered to do by the end of the conversation, was to send the four lazy bums in front of him a message with his soothing voice.

It made up for the fact that his words weren't soothing at all.

"Pick up the speed!"

As for Dios, he had somewhat given up on the whole matter. If the girl in front of him knew some Malalakan, then it wouldn't be too hard to have understood some of the content of his conversation with Cenci.

This was because of the similarities between Syrin and Malalakan, they had the same root language from back when there weren't such firm borders in the M Continent and so there really wasn't much he could do.

If he let the girl go now, there may be even more issues cropping up in the future. Young girls at her age normally had an incredibly loose lip, and so even if she wasn't a suspicious person, he couldn't let her go run off her mouth.

This was something that would have to be dealt with sooner or later.

"Forget it, just bring her back." Dios sighed after sizing up the room, no, cave, once again.

"Let's let the Big Boss decide what to do with her later." He said as he waved his hand dismissively.

"We're going back to the base in 2 hours, so you better rest up while you have the time," Dios added.

"Yes, Captain! Can I ask a question?" Hunter asked after he was sure Captain Dios had finished giving his orders.

Dios threw him a glance and just nodded slightly.

"What should we do with her before that?"

Dios tilted his head as if he had not understood, asking for his subordinate to elaborate.

"Should we tie her up in case she tries running away? And how about her bags and tent?" Hunter asked.

"Pack them all up and keep a close eye on her," Dios ordered.

"If you can't even keep your eye on a little girl, then when we get back, we'll have some serious talking to do." Dios's eyes narrowed dangerously.

Talking? More like talking with their fists.

"Everyone will have a watch shift and you can rotate. If someone has something sturdy, then just tie up her wrists and legs."

"Yes, Captain! I'll do it immediately," Haneo interrupted Hunter, who was about to open his mouth, eagerly getting to work.

Emilin who watched the whole scene occur in front of her was dumbfounded.

'What should I do?'

'Let's first pretend I didn't understand anything. I clearly can't win in a group fight like this.'

Emilin turned her head to the entrance just to meet the gaze of yet another young man.

'They've also blocked the entrance too.'

'I guess the best I've got is to feint ignorance until the right time to get out of here pops up.'

In situations where she was at this point, she could only sigh at her bad luck.

They had grabbed her bag before she could grab the needle that would be needed to activate the 4th hole.

At this point, there was only one thing left to do to make the best out of the situation, and that was acting.

She had to act like her life depended on it.