Headed by a Snake

Chapter 712 Top Three

?Haelvia groaned aloud...

...Hagrid.

That was an unpleasant sounding, somewhat masculine name. The picture that came with it was... definitely not favorable to her.

She shook her head... it was probably a mean-spirited inside joke the others in the guild had collaborated on. Sometimes she felt she wasn't a professional adventurer and more like a girl that forced herself into an immature, all-boys club.

Loki leaned out of Lancelot and cupped his hands, "Her name is Haelvia, you louse-ridden criminal!!"

"I know what I said, scumbucket!" Decanus Ollus shouted back. "Orders from the Centurion! You and Loki scout the canyon up ahead! We'll set up camp once you give us the all clear!"

"I hear you!" Haelvia yelled.

An easy mission with the promise of rest, afterward? She couldn't be happier.

Loki grimaced and clicked his tongue, "Tch. You really shouldn't let 'em treat you like that, *Hagrid*."

"Is thaaAat so?" Haelvia chuckled to herself.

He'd pay for that.

Over the past several weeks, her affinity with her Divine Armor had increased tenfold. On the other hand, Loki never *ever* took the time to train on his own.

Haelvia let her mana flow into her Divine Armor, closing his chest plates and locking her safe inside. She shut her human eyes and reopened them... seeing as Gaheris saw, feeling what Gaheris felt.

She shifted her weight from side to side, stretching out her long legs-- Gaheris doing the same, "[How about you worry about yourself, Loki?]"

"Huh?" Loki tilted his head, "What do I have to worry about?"

"[Losing your dinner? It's mine if Gaheris and I beat you to that canyon!]"

With a burst of mana, she and Gaheris began sprinting across the dunes, literally leaving Loki, Lancelot, and that rude Decanus in a cloud of fine dust.

"W-wait! WAIT!" Loki shouted, "That's not FAAAAIRRR!!!!"

...

? Guild Metal Wolf Camp, a bell afterward. ?

Haelvia looked up at Lancelot and Gaheris parked next to each other, the harsh light of the still-high sun reflecting against their metallic shells.

They looked something like... cousins. They might have had different makers, but their looks were similar enough to hint at their ancestry.

Having traveled for so long in the Eastern States, they'd taken part in several combat engagements... deathworms and trolls and whatnot.

That was enough to make them brothers.

There was trust between them. She could sense it.

"Thank you two... for protecting us," She bowed her head.

Both Gaheris and Lancelot were created to defend their pilots and their allies.

She didn't need to thank them... but all the same, she knew they could both feel her sincerity.

? My training is enough, now, that I could pilot 'Lancelot' better than Loki. ?

Haelvia sighed and chuckled to herself.

...That was something she would never say. The poor boy's feelings would be so hurt.

? Gaheris senses a single human approaching... He is not hostile, but he is injured. ?

Haelvia brushed her blonde locks out of her eyes, and folded her hands over her crossed legs. She was trying to look relaxed-- or at least, hide the fact that she was having a pretend-conversation in her head with two inanimate objects.

...Loki was favoring his left leg, limping while wearing a half-hearted smile.

She found it hilarious.

"Flame eternal," Haelvia laughed as she leaned back on Gaheris' leg. "What happened to you, Loki?"

Loki had just walked back from the camp fire pit... and the side of his face was starting to swell. It didn't seem to bother him, though, as he absentmindedly munched on an apple.

"Had to fight off some wolves," He shrugged, "with my bare hands, no less."

"You criminal," Haelvia rolled her eyes, "I was joking about you having to give me your dinner."

"Nah, it was fair," Loki scoffed as he took a seat on a flat rock besides Lancelot. "You beat me. I won't snake my way out of the consequences-- simple as that."

He banged on his Divine Armor's ankle for emphasis, "Don't get me wrong, though. I'd still wreck you in a straight fight."

"Thank you for your *selfless* sacrifice, Munifex Loukius," Haelvia waved a piece of bread-- one that rightfully belonged to her fellow pilot.

"AaaaAAanyroad," Loki chewed up the rest of his apple, core and all-- then he showed off a wiry, flexed arm, "Gotta get training in whenever I can, right?"

"Ah... haha ha!" Haelvia laughed so hard she snorted-- and she covered her mouth.

Loki was a simple idiot... but he was consistent. That and his incredulous optimism, she could appreciate about him.

Thankfully, the fool did not comment at her embarrassment as he rummaged through his bag for more of his ill-gotten rations.

"Hmm..." Haelvia hummed in thought... "You remind me of... a boy I grew up with."

"Oh, yeah?" Loki's green eyebrows shot up, his interest piqued, "He stronger than me, or what?"

"It's not a competition, mushroom-brain," Haelvia groaned. "I don't know where he is... but yeah-- he's probably stronger than you."

Her childhood friend, Justus, was known as the Hero of Leopardon for good reason. Just like Loki, he courageously fought off wolves-- though they were real wolves and he did have a sword.

A traveling party from the Church had commented that, like Loki, Justus had a ludicrously large mana pool... and when he and Rena left to join the Rhodok Adventuring Company, he was stronger than even Haelvia's father.

"Bet he ain't more handsome than me, though," Loki sneered.

...That boy really thought too well of himself.

Haelvia smirked, "You're not even in my top three."

"Pshh," Loki nearly fell off his rock as he rolled his eyes, "Oh, yeah? Who else you got!?"

"There's my childhood friend, Justus-- he's second to Gaheris, though."

"That guy's not here-- so he doesn't count!" Loki argued, "And Gaheris definitely doesn't count, either! Who's the third, then?!"

Haelvia raised an eyebrow, "Sir Lancelot."

"Bah! Whatever, you..." Loki turned his entire body away in his seat, as he returned to his meal.