"Observed what? You bastard, have you been spying on me?" Aska asked, indignant.
"Haha! Like I could do something like that. No, no, it wasn't you. I've been observing the other Sparklings that came and left Central."
Aska nodded. It was true—what a stupid question. He had defeated thousands of Demonics already. Anyone that looked at him, he would notice. Of course, Orion wasn't spying on him, but other, less experienced Sparklings? That was a possibility if he did it perfectly.
"So you've been spying on Sparklings, huh? What about that? Lots of people see Sparklings come and leave Central—that's a daily occurrence." Aska waved his hands with an ironic tone, trying to discredit Orion's reply.
"Yes… Every day, 4 to 10 crews used to leave daily to explore the ruins around Central… but—" Orion's eyes shone with a strange glint. "Not every day they come back."
Aska raised his eyebrow in surprise—impressed, even. So he'd noticed even that.
"Of course. You think crews are unbeatable? Demonic Presences are vicious, you bastard. We have some fatalities."
"Yeah, yeah, but I noticed a pattern. It's normal for a few crews to not return every once in a while, but… almost every 5 days, many more crews leave Central, and at 20:00—the time they usually come back… there's almost none back." Orion pointed out.
"So I thought to myself: The ruins don't really have a 'danger cycle,' do they? They're just always equally deadly! So the only reason for these crews to not come back on these days… is if they're not going to the ruins. But where else would Sparklings go, if not the ruins around Central?"
A smile started spreading on Aska's face. "The Sanctuary."
Orion snapped his fingers. "Bingo!"
Aska laughed like he'd heard a hilarious joke. "You're a smart boy! I'll give you that. And those credits—how did you get them?"
"By working, of course!"
"Working where? I don't know any company around here that pays credits, let alone to mundanes."
"Who said I was working for a company? After coming back from the ruins, the crews are all exhausted, but they still need to butcher the carcasses of the Demonic Presences they brought back. So I offer to butcher them!" To prove his point, Orion reached under the table, pulled a knife from his pocket, and threw it onto the table.
Aska looked down at the table with amusement. The blade of the small weapon was ragged, a bit bent, and its edge was missing pieces.
He grabbed the knife while giggling a bit.
"Simple, but effective!" Aska toyed with the knife between his fingers.
Then he threw the knife up. As it spun in the air and slowly descended, he moved lightning-fast and flicked the knife with his finger. The blade shattered easily, and pieces of it flew off the table.
"WAIT, MY KNIFE!" Orion protested. "I just had that one! What are you thinking?!"
"Shut up for a second, will ya?" Aska said, reaching into the small bag strapped to his leg.
"Have this." He threw something over the table to Orion.
What landed in front of the boy was an obsidian-dark knife with red markings around it and a handle made of what seemed to be a finger.
Orion's eyes went wide. "T-This is a Favor!!" Indeed, the small obsidian knife before him was a gift from a long-gone era—a Favor.
"I-It's Kindled! Y-You gave me a Kindled Favor?!" Orion noticed the aura forming around the knife. It seemed like the small weapon had a kind of life of its own—dangerous, almost like it could jump up and stab Orion at any second. But of course, it didn't.
He slowly lifted the knife—no, dagger—off the table like it was the most precious gift in the world. And it might just have been. Sparked Favors were rare already, priced way over 500 credits. A Kindled Favor could be three times the price easily! In fact, the dagger in his hands right now would easily go for over 2000 credits in any store around town—not that he knew, though.
"What? Don't want it? I can take it back." Aska moved to take the dagger back.
"W-What?! Are you trying to rob me?! You bastard!" Orion immediately jumped off his chair and hid the dagger between his robes.
"I just gave it to you, though?" Aska said before giving a light smile. "Don't worry, I won't take it from you. That was a little something I received in a past expedition. It doesn't match me, so I'm giving it to you. You'll need it more than me."
Orion looked at Aska with suspicion. Was he, by any chance, stupid…? Favors were extremely rare in Central. If any store popped up showing a Sparked Favor in stock, Sparklings and soldiers all over the city would try to get their hands on it. If a Kindled Favor happened to show up, even Sparklings from other settlements would move here to check it out.
Wait—then wasn't giving Orion such a precious weapon dangerous? Since he couldn't protect it from anyone who tried to take it from him?
Not that Orion thought of that anyway. To be honest, he wouldn't even dare mention it to Aska. There were very few people dumber than him in this settlement, so he should take advantage of all he could.
By that time, one of Aska's men came over to him.
"Sir, the guys are ready. There's only Malko, Jina, and Kiib—they're lacking some equipment and are requesting 344 credits to buy it before we depart. Though, they wanted to warn that these equipments aren't obligatory, and they can do just fine without them. It's just a reassurance." The man spoke swiftly, a complete contrast to the drunken mess the group had been just a while ago.
"What? Are we poor now? And what's that? Jina is only lacking one equipment? Like I don't know that girl. Grab 500 credits and tell her to take some extra arrows." Aska said impatiently.
"Sorry, sir. Right away, sir." The man walked away and called over a girl. He gave her some money and ordered her away. The girl obliged.
"Orion." Aska called, his tone more serious now.
"Though you're a bit dense, you're smart. And I know you're not the kind of kid who dreams of being a superhero—it doesn't fit your style. So I wanted to know: Why, even after learning how deadly The First Sacntuary is going to be, did you decide to come along?"
Orion paused, unsure how to reply. But after a second, he leaned on the table with a hand for support and answered:
"I mean… doesn't it just sound so exciting!"