A talk with an overprotective girlfriend

[A/N: After long consideration, I decided to remove HP and MP values from both skills and Hunters. This was done because I thought I could do numbers, but I really can't, and I don't want to give this story a false feeling of an RPG story. To compensate, all cooldowns of skills have been increased.]

„…so I guess I’m in trouble?” Half-asked, half-stated Youngwoo, seeing Hilda’s stare. She looked at him neutrally (as she usually did), but he knew that behind her blue eyes there was a mixture of concern and anger.

“Yes, you are.” She replied, somewhat coldly. “Why didn’t you let me know, Youngwoo?”

“I… didn’t think about that.”

“And what if something would happen? Who would come for you?”

“…Ieva is fine.” He replied, sheepishly.

“And so was she when you two met in the park, and how did that end?” She raised an eyebrow, emphasizing her point.

“…”

“I’m not saying I need to know everything that’s happening, but at least a goddamn text, so that when she doesn’t come home at 18 I won’t have to rip hair off my head worrying about where she is.” She was speaking in a calm and collected tone, but Youngwoo easily saw how her eyes were gaining a bit of tears in corners. “Is this too much to ask for?”

He let his head down, staring at the ground. In all honesty, knowing Hilda’s past and current situation with Ieva, he felt horrible. ‘Is this what she felt like in previous regression?’ He could only imagine how Hilda was worried out of her mind about them both while they were having a casual talk about Shadow Cult and whatnot.

Now, he simply couldn’t lift his head, nor speak a word. He simply stood there in one spot, unsure of how he was to apologize. He wanted to tell her he was sorry, but would that be enough? He wished he could tell her everything. In that moment, he wanted to explain the situation. But… he couldn’t. He just couldn’t. He knew that this was a subject of change. Even if he told her… what guarantee would he have that he won’t die the next day?

He lunged at her and hugged her tightly. Pressing his hands on either side of her chest, he could feel her heartbeat through his fingers. It was quick, and he knew it wasn’t just from her running around trying to find them both. He closed his eyes and whispered into her ear:

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Hilda. I promise, I won’t let you down ever again. I promise. I’m sorry.” He felt his voice shake ever so much. He wasn’t sure whether it was because he felt so much remorse for his actions, or because he could sympathize with their situation a little bit. Maybe a mix of both?

“Youngwoo…”

“I know I shouldn’t be saying this, but I know what you feel like.” He said slowly, making sure to weigh each word. “Before I met you and Ieva, I never had a family. And I know what I’m ready to do for you. So please, don’t be mad.”

“…” She hugged him back, feeling some tears in her eyes. “Thank you, Youngwoo.”

“…” He smiled, releasing the hug.

“Also.”

“?” He tilted his head a bit.

“You’re still corny.” She half-chuckled for a moment and formed a smile. Her glassy eyes stared at him.

“But you like it.”

She shook her head with another chuckle. Yup, she did like it. Still, she quickly calmed herself.

“I do.” She nodded.

Youngwoo leaned in, intend on kissing her lightly, but she suddenly pulled away.

“Na uh uh.” Hilda shook her head, her red hair obstructing her face for a second. “You, mister, must be punished. No kisses today.”

“Aww.” He groaned ever so much, but didn’t stop smiling. In all honesty, he knew that Hilda was straining herself with this. She wasn’t the type to go and punish others easily. She might’ve become somewhat strict momentarily, but that was because she was worried about Ieva.

“And…”

“…and?” ‘More punishment? I didn’t think she’d be capable of that.’

“There’s something I need to talk with you about.”

“…what is it?” ‘Is this bad?’

“Today I had a talk with my vice master. She wishes to meet you.”

“’She?’” ‘I thought vice master of Magician Guild in 2040 was Doyle Mitchell?’

“Why do you look so surprised?” Hilda tilted her head a little. “Didn’t you hear about miss Weiss?”

“…no?” ‘Weiss? Why does that sound familiar?’ He wasn’t sure.

“…” For a brief moment, Hilda had a stupefied expression on her face, but quickly recollected herself. “She invented a way to create restoration potions out of common materials. She’s known as High Alchemist in the Tower. Do you really not know about her?”

“High Alchemist…? Oh! Wunderweiss! [A/N: Wunder weiß (read ‘Wunder weiss’)= ger. For ‘Wonderful White’]

“…Wunderweiss?”

“Don’t worry about it.” He shook his head. “It’s just how I call her.”

“…I see. Anyhow. I had to give a report about 11th and 12th floors, and I did include in it that you were a great help. Now miss Weiss wishes to meet you. I believe she wants to give you a proposition to enter Magician Guild.”

“…alright.”

“I told her that you don’t want to join a guild yet, but she seems a bit…”

“Adamant? I get it.” ‘Yup, sounds like Ylialkemisti to me. Adamant and unrelenting.’ [A/N: Ylialkemisti – literally ‘Over-alchemist’ in Finnish, also used as ‘High Alchemist’. Reference]

“…” She nodded lightly. “She said that she would like to meet you as soon as she can, possibly even today still. But she also said that if not, you can tell me when you’ll have some time.”

“…” Youngwoo looked at Hilda, then at Iris, who was ‘laying’ on her back, facing the sky with her eyes closed. ‘Why does Ylialkemisti want to meet me so badly?’ He wondered for a short moment. ‘Could it be…?’ A momentary thought appeared in his head. ‘The mole Ieva spoke about?’ “I can go and meet her right now, if she has time.” ‘If I do it correctly, I may be able to dig out some info.'

Hilda sighed a little with a smile.

“Alright then. I’ll lead you to her.”

“Don’t you want to hang around a bit first?”

“…I’m not going back on my word.”

“I know, I know. I’m just saying that we can hang around a bit, we don’t need to take this further, now do we?”

“…I’m glad you understand. But even then, I don’t want to. Not now.” She seemed to shiver ever so little at her own words. Was she more worried than she let out? It was probable.

“I understand. Then, let’s go immediately, right?”

Hilda nodded lightly, and started walking away, Youngwoo closely behind her.

After transferring back to Safe Zone, Dragon Witch instantly took her steps south. While walking, she took out her phone, and dialed a number.

“Miss Weiss? It’s Dragon Witch. Yes, Youngwoo Lee is with me. He says that he agrees to meet with you. We can be there in 15 minutes. Yes. Alright. Yes. Understood.” And then, she hung up. “Miss Weiss says that we can come around. I’ll guide you there.”

They went forth, passing by multiple Hunters, some of which just finished their hunts for the day while others were just going to the Gate to begin theirs. All the different nationalities, skin colors, weapons of choice. Indeed, people of this place seemed as diverse as they could be. Still, Youngwoo heard Iris’ snort. Turning his head towards her, he noticed a pouty expression on her face as she scanned over the multiple people.

Suddenly, she turned to him, and, seemingly taken aback by him paying attention to her, immediately made a sharp turn back, her hair swaying like a whip, flowing just before his very nose. A little surprised, he almost backpedaled, but managed to control his instincts. He could see that she still wasn’t in the best mood.

‘I wonder why she’s so mad.’ He thought as he kept on following Hilda close by, deciding to leave Iris to her own devices. ‘Should I talk with her about it?’ For a brief moment, a thought appeared in his mind. ‘Or should I talk with Hilda about it first? Or… maybe Ieva?’ Youngwoo pondered for a long while. On one hand, he didn’t want to push the issue with Iris. He understood why she was angry, he really did. She hated Giordi, and was **** to work for him. She was bound to Youngwoo, and seemed to not like him much, either. But, again, he couldn’t just leave the issue hanging, not anymore. He didn’t want to see her suffer because of things she couldn’t control.

The two of them quickly passed by multiple buildings, entering the city’s central place. It was a large, concrete square with some trees here and there, and a large tombstone in the middle. The place was actually dubbed ‘The Memorial’, and the large construct had thousands of names written on it. All of them, every single one, were names of Hunters that lost their lives since it was placed down. ‘I never even cared to look at it… would I have found Ieva’s name, even?’

Faintly, in the back of his head, he remembered a part of video showing compilation of Hilda eating. For some reason, he could remember the part where she was eating, slowly getting up from her knees. The structure that he saw in the background was… this exact tombstone. ‘Hilda came here regularly.’ He closed his eyes momentarily as he felt his heart weigh down. This was a grim place, and perhaps this was the reason Magician guild had settled down their headquarters in here. They wanted to remember why they were a guild.

But Youngwoo soon shook his head, cleansing his mind of the unnecessary thoughts. They were now entering a large building, at least 25 stories tall. The doors were automatic, and the insides were lit up perfectly by lamps set every few metres. The brown floor was laid out with a reddish carpet, making Youngwoo feel like it was made to lift up spirits of whomever entered. One thing was for sure: it didn’t work for him.

The corridor both of them entered nearly immediately branched off into 3. However, before they went too far, Hilda stopped by a counter built into a wall to their right.

“Hey Anna.” Hilda leaned in a little. “I have a guest to miss Weiss. Can you check him in?”

“Oh, hey Hilda.” A woman answered in a nice tone, and suddenly poked her head out.

She seemed to be about 30, maybe 32, if Youngwoo had to guess. She had simple, dark brown hair of roughly shoulder length, tied in a ponytail. A small nose seemed even smaller when paired with her large lips and glistening, greenish eyes. Small bags under them suggested that she was already somewhat tired, but she still mustered a nice smile as she said:

“Hello. May I ask your name, handsome?” She asked, her tone changing from a nice to almost flirty one, if only for a brief moment. Or maybe Youngwoo was hearing things?

“…Hello, I’m Lee Youngwoo.” He answered.

“Lee... Youngwoo… okay.” Anna turned away from the two and input something into a computer. “Oh, yeah, miss Weiss was expecting you. Hilda, can you lead him there?”

“Sure. Come on, Youngwoo.” Hilda beckoned, and her boyfriend quickly followed.

The two of them went into right branch of the corridor, and quickly found an elevator. After entering, Hilda pressed the number 22. As they started going up, she said:

“Please don’t be nervous. Miss Weiss is actually pretty nice.”

‘…I wouldn’t be sure of that.’ Youngwoo replied mentally, but didn’t think his words out. When he thought about Ylialkemisti a bit, he did remember a neat compilation of her, fittingly named ‘Wunderweiss ragequitting for 4 minutes straight’. Perhaps it was something that happened in the future, but ‘nice’ was not a word to describe that woman. She had a cutthroat attitude, oftentimes reacting very vividly, and even aggressively towards those who criticized her.

“I’m sure she will understand once she has a talk with you. She may be adamant and relentless, but she won’t chase after you if she’ll see you won’t join the guild.”

“Don’t worry.” He formed a small smirk towards Hilda. “I’m not nervous.” ‘Viva la Calm Mind, I guess.’

“I’m glad to hear that.” She said, stepping out of elevator and going into a corridor.

Youngwoo took a look around. It was pretty similar to one on floor 1, but here, everything was outfitted with nice, gray tiles, and the lamps were more scarce in here, about half as frequent. Still, the visibility was great, and he immediately took note of 4 doors in direction where Hilda went.

Without much thinking, Dragon Witch knocked on the first door she reached, and after seemingly hearing an answer, she opened the door. Coming by closer, Youngwoo immediately heard a woman’s voice from inside:

“Okay, let him in. You’re free to go.”

“Um…” Started Hilda. “Miss Weiss… am I not allowed to stay?”

“It’s probably better if this talk is between us only.”

“…I see.” Red-haired woman stepped outside of the room, and signaled for Youngwoo to go inside. “Don’t be nervous.” She repeated her words from before.

“Won’t be.” He replied. “You go and check on Ieva, okay? You deserve some rest.”

She smiled lightly.

“Text me when it’s over.”

“Will do.” He nodded. “I’ll see you later. Goodnight, Hilda.”

“Stay safe, Youngwoo.” She nodded as well, and then, Youngwoo stepped into the room.

He closed the door behind himself, and looked around. The place was somewhat comfy, if he was honest. About 4 by 6 metres, there was a small sofa, a desk, a few storage drawers filled with books and whatnot, and in the corner, there was a small suitcase. Behind the desk sat a woman.

She was maybe 23, 24 years old, judging by her nearly perfectly clean, white skin with springy look to it. Her eyes were of dirty green-blue color, fiercely locked on him and scanning his body all over. She had puffy upper lip with lesser lower one, and her nose seemed a little… curved to a side. Just a tiny bit, but it clearly showed that she had it broken at some point. Small ears were covered by black hair made in a boho style, their length between her shoulders and elbows. Overall, her face was somewhat long, but had a nice look.

Her body seemed to be a hourglass type. As she got up, Youngwoo noticed how she stood up to about Hilda’s height, possibly a little lower. However, Weiss’s chest was standing out much more proudly than his girfriend’s, either through low natural sag or a bra. It was difficult to say, but she seemed somewhat larger than Hilda. Was she on Aliki’s level? …not exactly, but she wasn’t far. Similarly, her bottom seemed to be at about Shadow's size. No, wait!

‘Why the heck am I comparing their sizes…’ He shook his head momentarily as he took a step forward. No, he needed to focus. He wasn’t here to ogle. There was supposed to be a talk taking place here.

Weiss was wearing a large teal shirt, and a baggy khaki jacket that sagged on her shoulders. Her legs were covered by a long, loose skirt of dark gray color, easily reaching past her knees. She fixed her hair, and said:

“Hello. I’m Sigi Weiss, vicemaster of Magician Guild and currently the best alchemist in the Tower.”

“It’s nice to meet you, miss Weiss. I’m Youngwoo Lee.”

“Before we begin, there’s one more person that needs to join.”

“…?” He tilted his head a little.

“Don’t worry, she’s already here. Get in!” She rose her voice a little.

“I’m sorry I’m late.” Youngwoo heard a woman’s voice as she entered the room. For some reason, it felt… familiar, in a way. It had a… weird, tired tone to it.

“Mister Lee, please meet our attendant of the talk.” Said Sigi as she nodded towards him, prompting him to turn around.

As he did, he immediately noticed how the woman was wearing dark clothes, easily fitting with her brown skin. She was a little taller than Ieva, and her golden eyes looked all over him for a moment before she nodded towards him.

‘Truthsayer!’ Youngwoo thought with a bit of fear.

“Hello. I’m Melinda Grendel.”