Chapter 10: Who are You?

He who replies to words of doubt

Doth put the light of knowledge out


Van Eltia – En Route to Taliesin


That reminds me.

He still had a lot to think about, all things considered. Panic would have been something he should actually be on about being wrapped up in events beyond his control.

More importantly, all those years ago.

All those years ago? Before everyone's memories of Ragna the Bloodedge disappeared?

Everyone was on their way to receiving a happy future, right?

Yeah. That's right. The continued existence of Ragna the Bloodedge meant he was the 'dream that God observes.' But no one observes him now, least of all the existence of Ragna the Malakhim.

Do you think things won't end the same way?

The hell did that mean?

You are happy now. But for the world to survive, you need to give up your happiness.

But that didn't make sense. That applied to the old Ragna, not the one that's here and now. Himself.

But you still have the Azure Grimoire. A power that will eventually destroy this world.

I'm not gonna let that happen.

So you say. Have you told everyone else about that potential issue?

Why?

I dunno. But I don't think you deserve this happiness.

Yeah, well who really does deserve to be happy?

Why don't you ask her?

Who, Velvet?

Or the shitty vampire again.


He woke up with a gasp, having fallen off the bed in his cabin. That… wasn't a good sleep at all and he swore things just kept getting worse and worse before he finally fell off the bed. Was it the rocking of the waves or just his own clumsiness that caused it? Either way, he was a bit grateful to be woken up.

"Damn it. It's still night." Ragna muttered as he rose up, barely glancing up at the porthole out of his room. He didn't know how long it would take to get to Eastgand but since he was awake now, he may as well do something. "Wish I had an exact time though," he told himself as he grabbed his red jacket and headed up the deck.

The stars were still high in the sky and the moon hung low overhead. It brought in some familiar sensations and for a moment, he was caught just standing there. Soon enough, he noticed Velvet on the right, mostly keeping to herself as always and sleeping with her back against the side of the ship. He had never caught her sleeping in any kind of comfortable area though at this point, he had already been told of her peculiar sleeping habits. And he knew better not to wake her at this time.

He headed to the bow of the ship, mostly just to see the main direction they were headed towards at the moment. It was nice though, feeling the breeze of the ocean as the ship sped through. Whatever the Van Eltia was made of, as a ship, there was definitely something relaxing about it in comparison to monorails or airships. Maybe he hadn't actually experienced riding those himself, but he still had the memories of them at least.

"Oh, hey. Still awake at this time?" a cheerful voice said behind him.

He turned around with a shrug and crossed his arms. "Don't really have much to do when everyone's asleep. And being alone like this helps me think."

Benwick nodded his head and adjusted his hat. "Yeah, we get those days. Sleeping schedules get muddied around a lot when constantly travelling after all. But at least we generally don't need to worry about being attacked at sea. Maybe the occasional sea monster but that's life."

"Sea monsters eh?" Ragna said. Well, better the sea monsters here than those where he came from.

"Hey, hey. You can't sleep either?" called out another voice. Rokurou this time.

Ragna acknowledged him with a single wave of his right hand. He took a seat atop one of the barrels tied down on deck before he stretched his arms.

"Wanna spa-"

"No Rokurou, Eizen already said you can't do that on the ship. Sparring would probably wake everyone up to." Benwick said.

"No worries. I've got a backup plan."

"Any particular reason why you want to test yourself against me again?" Ragna asked. Not that he didn't enjoy these challenges. There wasn't really anything in line here other than pride.

"Hey, self-improvement is a virtue. Even to daemons like myself." Rokurou grinned. "I was thinking a simple dice game. A battle of our wits."

"That depends… I don't think I've ever been asked to play these games. Would be a little unfair if you beat me because you know the rules better." Ragna answered.

"Well, well, well, our Grim Reaper is concerned about diving headfirst into the unknown is he? I can help show the rules, if you wish?" Magilou's voice called to them, the witch emerging from the shadows with a smug grin on her face.

Ragna looked at her and shrugged. He didn't mind, really.

She strolled over as Rokurou grabbed a barrel and three chairs, setting the barrel up at the center before bringing out two cups and a container of wood-carved dice.

"Hey, where did you get those?" Benwick asked.

"I found them." Rokurou replied.

Benwick sighed but continued to watch as Rokurou and Magilou took a seat on opposing sides of the barrel.

A fun little dice game, Rokurou explained. Ragna watched as he explained and demonstrated the rules, Magilou apparently knowledgeable about the game itself already as they began. Five dice for each of them, rolled and then hidden by the two cups.

"Three 3's." Rokurou started.

"Four 3's."

"Five 4's."

"Six 5's."

"Ha! I'll call you a liar then! No way you can have that many with just ten dice." Rokurou declared, uncovering his dice to reveal a single two, three 3's, and a single 5.

"Oh poor me! How could I ever have miscalculated?" Magilou cried out.

Ragna narrowed his eyes. As always, Magilou was theatrically making a scene despite her actions showing otherwise. His suspicions being proven right as the witch uncovered her own dice. All her dice landed as fives.

"Really? You sure you didn't cast a spell to make them end up that way?" Rokurou grumbled.

Ah, now he got it. A relatively simple game with the objective of trying to guess the real number amongst all the dice. But the wager can only be increased either in the number or the quantity.

"Alright, sign me up. Should be a good way to kill some time." Ragna said and took a seat to the right of Rokurou. The daemon gave him his own set of dice and cup as Benwick took a seat at the opposite side. Four players, twenty dice in total and the game began despite the crashing of the waves around the ship.

Every loss meant permanently losing one die and it wasn't long before Rokurou lost all his dice.

"How am I already out?" the daemon frowned.

"Impatience really. You can't just accuse someone of being a liar just because it seems unlikely." Benwick replied.

He was next to lose all his dice.

"The same goes to just letting everything go until you're forced into an unwinnable position." Ragna said with a smirk.

Which unfortunately meant he was now up against Magilou. She hadn't lost any of her dice, while he only had two left.

Ragna sighed as the cups were brought down again. He took a peek, two 6's. He could only guess at what the witch had but it didn't seem like she was in danger of losing anything. Not yet at least.

"I'll wager three 5's." Ragna stated, the witch's eyes gleaming with a chuckle.

"Daring aren't you?" Magilou said, "You don't even have that many dice. But still…I'll go with…Four 6's."

"Five 6's." he replied.

"Hmmm, I'll call you out on that lie, Mr. Grim Reaper." Magilou said, and pointed at his cup.

To which, it was revealed to see both his 6's. The grin on the witch's face faded ever so slightly as she uncovered her own. A single 2, a 5, and three 6's.

Ragna breathed a sigh of relief before they rolled again. He took another peek at his cup. A single 2 and a 4. But this time Magilou was starting them off.

"Two 2's." she said.

"Four 2's." he replied calmly.

Hesitant now, Magilou carried on with unusual calm now too. "Four 3's."

"Four 4's." Ragna replied.

"Let's call that lie again, Ragna." Magilou said as she gestured for him to reveal his cup.

He shook his head to reveal his 2 and 4 while Magilou revealed two 4's and two 6's. Not enough to win this round, and now he also lost another die. Down to his last, there's not much he could do to win at this point other than get really lucky with his guesses. Still, he's not going to give her the satisfaction of seeing him give up.

"Two 6's." he said, not even looking at his cup.

"Wait, seriously?" Magilou looked with shock. "Risking a lot there, Mr. Reaper. But I'll play your game. Three 6's." she replied without looking at the contents of her own cup.

"Tch," Ragna muttered. A pure game of chance now, but he had little advantage. And yet, just as he was about to lift his cup up to check the contents, a powerful wave struck the front of the ship, tilting the whole thing backwards. Ragna and Magilou barely managed to keep their cups still on the barrel… only for Bienfu to come rolling from the front of the ship… right into the barrel causing it to fall out from underneath the cups.

"Damnation, Bienfu! You're ruining our game!" Magilou cried out as the dice fell all over the deck.

"Relax, it's just an accident. I'm surprised we haven't encountered any rogue waves on the way to our destination until now." Rokurou answered. "Still, it's pretty fun to see how everyone strategizes." He nodded, helping Ragna up on his feet.

"You think I had a strategy going on?" he asked.

"Well, instinctive strategy is a strategy isn't it?" Rokurou shrugged.

"And I for one, have a strategy all my own." Magilou got up, holding Bienfu up by the scruff of his neck.

"Bieeeeen!" the normin cried out.

"What were you even doing up on deck?" Ragna asked.

The Normin looked at him with a nervous expression. "Getting some… fresh air?"

"Well, whatever the case. That jogs us out our game faces. None of you are tired at all? It's still a fair ways off to Taliesin Port." Benwick said.

"We could continue our game. But it's kind of obvious where it's leading towards." Ragna answered. "Still, tell me about our destination. Anything to be concerned about on the way there?"

Benwick contemplated the question for a moment as they put everything else away. From the corner of Ragna's eye, he spied Magilou dangling the struggling Normin over the waves. All things considered, probably nothing too serious.

"It's a pretty busy port, all things considered." Said Benwick, "One of the first cities rescued by Artorius when he was first dealing with the daemon threat. It's the largest city in Eastgand actually, built along the side of a cliff and hasn't had any major daemon attacks for the past little while now."

"So it's safe?" Ragna asked. "Wait, won't that mean it'll be guarded by Exorcists?"

Benwick shook his head, "Actually, that's one of the main reasons why the Abbey rarely visits it. Because it's so safe. So I've heard at least. Our arrival there may just cause them to change things a bit."

"You can never be too cautious these days. The Abbey is aware of our presence, but how important we are compared to their true goal of resurrecting Innominat is unknown." Magilou said as she walked towards them.

"Uhhhh, guys?" Rokurou pointed ahead of them. A thick fog had begun rolling in, visible even through the darkness as the few light sources cut through it.

"Huh, that's strange." Said Benwick. "These waters don't usually see much fog. What's the world coming to? Well, no matter. I'll let the captain know to be more cautious when steering. I estimate we still have a day or two before we reach Taliesin anyways."

As Benwick walked away, Ragna walked over to the edge of the ship and leaned over to watch the waves below. Always a fascinating thing, seeing the waters of the ocean untainted by seithr. It was easy enough to relax despite the sounds of the crashing waves against the sides of the ship.

"You're brooding again, oh tall, dark and handsome. ~ " Magilou said as she approached. "How goes the magic training?"

He shrugged and turned his back towards the side of the ship. "Not exactly something that comes easy to me. I can feel it, I just can't make it appear."

"You did choose to handicap yourself by choosing specifically lightning as the element you wish to learn to cast. It's rare enough to find people with affinity to it."

"Could've told me that earlier. Still, I'll be persistent enough as long as I have plenty of time." Ragna answered.

"If you really want to, you may do well to channel someone else's magical spell through yourself like a lightning rod. Risky, but it can make it feel like you're casting the spell even if you yourself can't." Magilou said.

"Then what's the point of trying to learn it?" Ragna replied.

"Why indeed? You're not doing this to impress anyone. And this is too specific to be considered a hobby."

"I got my own reasons." Ragna answered with a shrug. They were thick in the fog now and he began to walk back to his room. His eyes wandered over to Velvet again, still asleep in that seemingly uncomfortable position. Tempted as he was to give her a spot in the room he was given, even he knew how improper that would look. And if Magilou was looking for other reasons to tease him, well he can't give her that opportunity. Besides, Velvet is likely to say 'no' anyways.

As Ragna disappeared below deck, Rokurou stood besides the witch. "I do wonder about that. He's a strong enough swordsman already, and I doubt being able to cast a specific type of magic gives him an advantage he doesn't already have."

"Best not to keep all your eggs in one basket. Surely you've noticed? He rarely if ever uses his... malevolent transformations. So far, he's only used it twice. Once in Titania against the Headless Knight, and once against the Praetor and his Exorcists." Magilou replied. "He keeps it all bottled up, never losing control."

"And if he does?" Rokurou frowned.

"Who knows? Is the Abbey prepared to deal with such a being? Velvet's malevolence is one thing, but I've seen him in action in that state. He even makes me shiver."

"Whoa there! Do I actually detect a hint of admiration from you?"

"To be fair, you're enthralled by him as well. An opponent you want to have a no-holds barred match against, yes? But that will have to wait until after the Shepherd is dealt with." Magilou raised her shoulders.

"I'm in no rush." Rokurou responded. "Seeing his play against you in a simple game of dice gave some insight to the inner workings of his mind. He keeps it hidden, but he's not a bad strategist when backed into a corner."

"I wouldn't call what he did a strategy. But eh, he lasted longer than you did so he's doing something right."

Rokurou shrugged and walked down, leaving Magilou up on deck.

"So it begins." The witch whispered, staring ahead at the fog-covered waters.