Free Lunch
Their first hunt was surprisingly uneventful.
Guided by an experienced pathfinder and augmented by Sunny's stealthy shadow, they managed to avoid any Fallen creatures and arrive at the destination in one piece. There, the group hid in the ruins and waited for their prey to show up.
The plan of battle was discussed beforehand. After Effie had described the type of monster they were here to kill, complete with a detailed list of its strengths and weaknesses, Nephis quickly assigned different roles to different people.
Sunny had expected that things would work just like back in the Labyrinth, but to his surprise, they did not. Just like before, Neph was going to take most of the risk and lure the enemy into revealing its vulnerability. However, Caster was going to be the one to make use of it and deal the fatal blow, not Sunny.
Which made sense, really. After all, his Ability was not a combat one, at least not officially. It was rational to entrust the role to someone with an incredibly powerful combat Ability, as the one Caster possessed.
Still, for some reason, Sunny felt angry about it. It felt as though he was being replaced.
Not wishing to appear childish, he swallowed his bitterness and remained silent.
When the monster did show up, everything went perfectly. Nephis and Caster were able to finish the creature off without sustaining any injuries. Their teamwork, while not effortless, was strangely harmonious, probably because both were Legacies and had received similar kind of training. Sunny, whose task was to join the fray if things went wrong, ended up not having to lift a finger.
Neither did Effie, who simply stayed with Cassie in case the blind girl needed protection. After everything was over, she laughed:
"Ha, this is the easiest meal I've ever earned!"
Effie's status in the party was a bit strange. Unlike the rest of them, she had not shown any desire to join the cohort officially. Instead, she was somewhat of a hired worker — her responsibilities included guiding the party through the ruins and providing them with information, and nothing else. She wasn't even required to fight side by side with them.
After the Nightmare Creature was dead, they quickly butchered it and left the scene of the battle loaded with a heavy weight of meat. Before the shadow of the Crimson Spire fell on the Dark City, the cohort was already approaching the marble arch at the base of the hill.
This was when something unexpected finally happened. And it happened because of Nephis.
After giving a fair share of the spoils to the vigorous huntress, she glanced at Sunny, Cassie, and Caster. Then, Changing Star said:
"I would like for you three to entrust me with your part of the meat."
'What? What is that about?'
Before Sunny had an opportunity to ask a question, Cassie already smiled and said:
"Of course, Neph!"
Caster did not linger, either. With a small bow, he nodded.
"As you wish, lady Nephis."
Sunny gritted his teeth. After that, he would have looked like a complete jerk if he were to start interrogating her. Especially because, technically, he had not done anything except for lending his shadow to Effie. Nephis and Caster were the ones who had actually risked their lives.
"...Fine."
Nephis gave them a nod and continued walking up the white road.
When they returned to the outer settlement, she separated the remaining share of monster meat into two parts. One, much smaller part, she handed to Cassie. The other, incomparably larger part, she simply placed on the white stones in front of their lodge.
Effie looked at the whole process with curiosity. So did the slum dwellers who had gathered to welcome them back.
Sunny frowned:
"What are you doing?"
Changing Star glanced at him and then gestured to the small bundle of meat in Cassie's hands.
"This is for us to sustain ourselves. We will eat that meat until our next hunt."
Somebody from the crowd shouted:
"What about the rest? Are you selling it? What is your price?"
It was customary for the outer settlement hunters to sell some of their spoils. That was how people here fed themselves. The meat could be exchanged for items, services, or, in very rare cases, actual shards.
Neph turned to the people who had gathered around and looked at them with a frown. When everyone grew quiet, she said in a cold tone:
"My hunting party will not be selling any meat. Ever."
Before anyone had time to react, dismayed by that answer, she took a step to the side, gestured to the large pile of meat, and said:
"...Instead, we will be giving it away for free."
***
A dead silence hung above the edge of the outer settlement. The slum dwellers who had come to catch a glimpse of Changing Star or in hope of procuring some food were all looking at Nephis with a dark mix of mistrust, disbelief, and suspicion.
After a while, someone shouted:
"What trick are you trying to play? People here are hungry, Changing Star! Shame on you!"
Nephis crossed her arm, furrowed her brow, and answered:
"There is no trick. Everyone is free to take a small share of the meat to fill their stomach."
The young man who had accused her before laughed.
"Why would you just hand it out for free? Do you think that we're fools?"
Sunny was being tormented by the same question. He often joked about Neph's foolish nobility, but he also knew that she wasn't really stupid. She always had a reason for everything she did, even if those reasons sometimes seemed insane to him.
Lately, he even started to suspect that Neph was much more cynical and pragmatic than he had ever given her credit for. It's just that her version of cynicism was very different from his own.
What was she doing?
Meanwhile, Nephis pierced the shouter with a cold look, scowled, and said, a hint of anger in her voice:
"...Why? Am I not a human? Are you not humans? Does a human need a reason to help others of her kind in this cursed place?!"
She took a step forward and looked at the gathered people, making them shiver under her heavy gaze.
"Shame on me? No. Shame on you all for forgetting who you are. We are people, not beasts. In the real world or in the Dream Realm, this is who we are."
Her words echoed above the white stones, mixing with the howling wind.
"Now come forward and take some food if you're hungry!"
The slum dwellers were still not convinced. However, their hunger was stronger than their wariness. Soon, the first of them stepped forward, tentatively took a small strip of meat, threw a furtive glance at Nephis, and then hurriedly walked away.
When the others saw that nothing happened to him, they became braver. Young men and women dressed in rags formed a messy line. One by one, they came forward, received their tiny piece of meat, and then disappeared with haste, afraid that it will be taken back.
Slowly, a new kind of light appeared on their faces. It was the same timid, weak emotion that Sunny had noticed in the eyes of the castle inhabitants after Neph had announced her name.
It was something that precipitated hope, or maybe faith.
With a dark expression on his face, Sunny looked up, at the tiny silhouettes of Guards observing them from the walls of the magnificent fortress.
Nephis was right when she said that they were all still people. However, she was wrong about everything else.
Because people were much worse than beasts.
...He did not like what was happening at all.
