"Alright, we’re out, you can come out now. Hey, you still alive in there?" I inquired, as I opened my Pocket Dimension.

Looks like she’s asleep. I reached into the space and grabbed her collar, before yanking her out of it and tossing her onto the ground.

"Huh!? What’s happening!?" She exclaimed in alarm, jolted awake as she hit the ground buttfirst.

"We’re out of the capital now," I informed her.

"Hm? Oh, hey...wait, that’s right, we were running away," She recalled, as she let out a yawn and got back onto her feet, rubbing her eyes groggily.

Guess it’s only natural that she was tired, after all the emotional turmoil she went through last night, plus being stuck in an endless dark space for a couple of hours.

"So, did you come up with a good reason why I should let you tag along with me? Because I’m just about ready to get rid of my excess luggage," I remarked bluntly.

"Yeah, I thought of a lot of reasons," She nodded confidently, before elaborating, "First, I’ll do anything you ask, no matter what it is. Second, companionship, you might get lonely sometimes, and it’d be good to have someone to talk to. Third, I can heal you if I learn how to. I know you can heal too, but maybe sometimes you’ll need to conserve Mana, right? Fourth-..."

"Okay, I can see that you’ve given this a lot of thought, but you’re not being very convincing here. That first reason was super vague, and FYI, you shouldn’t tell guys that you’ll ’do anything’. And I’m fine without any companionship, I’m not on a field trip here, you know. And healing doesn’t take much Mana, so yeah," I shrugged as I interrupted her, before clarifying, "Unless you’ve got something to offer that’d be significantly useful to me, the deal’s off."

"Ohh, wait, my Skills!" She suddenly exclaimed as she held up her hand, before continuing, "I might have a Skill that’d be useful to you!"

Hm...I suppose she’s got a point there. There were a ton of useful Skills I passed on during my reincarnation, and some of the were especially hard to pass up. If she’s got one or more of those Skills, that changes things.

"Guess you’ve earned yourself a lifeline, huh? Alright, then...let’s have a look at your Skills," I replied with a sense of intrigue.

"Right, okay...," She nodded, trailing off with a nervous gulp as she raised her hand.

There were hints of desperation and hope in her eyes, as well as reluctance in her expression. She knows that if all her Skills turn out to be useless, I won’t have any reason to take her with me.

Sorry, but I simply have no interest in letting someone who’ll do nothing but drag me down come with me.

"Go on, waiting longer won’t change the Skills you possess," I prompted her.

"Yeah, I know," She replied, before grimacing as she ran her Mana into her hand.

Her Status Bar then popped up, a bit blurry and unstable, but clear enough to read. Her Mana flow is probably fluctuating since she’s so nervous. Now, then, moment of truth time...

"Let’s see here...Slow Motion Vision, Creature Possession, Pheromone Mist, Physical Boost and...woah, Teleportation!?" I exclaimed in surprise.

These are all useful Skills, but Teleportation is by far the best one. When I was narrowing down my Skill shortlist, it came down to the three I ended up picking and Teleportation...I reluctantly removed Teleportation because I thought I’d hardly ever need to use it, since I planned on living a quiet, slow life.

I mean, Magic Eater is a cheat that lets me learn a new Spell instantly by swallowing it up, Pocket Dimension has been incredibly convenient and useful, and Universal Resistance was the reason why an Enslavement Collar was used on me instead of Dark Attribute brainwashing Spells.

"W-well? Um, are any of these good enough to convince you to take me with you?" Prysm asked me nervously, her eyes trembling.

"You can relax now. We have a deal...I’ll take you with me," I sighed in response.

I mean, she and her Skills come in a package deal, nothing I can do about that. Too bad there isn’t a way to steal her Skills and then abandon her...

"R-really? You’re not gonna say that you’re kidding or something, right?" She replied warily, a glimmer of hope and relief in her eyes clouded with a hint of skepticism.

"No, but you’re tempting me to say so," I remarked with a smirk.

"Then...I can come with you? Really?" She muttered as her face lit up, before she squealed in excitement, "Yes, yes, yes! Thank you so much, I was so scared that I’ll be captured and killed if you left me alone!"

"Uh, right. Hey, quiet down, I’m pretty sure I’ve shaken anyone who was pursuing me, but we can’t be too careless," I informed her, as she covered her mouth and nodded.

"Sorry, I’ll keep my voice down. So, hey, could you tell me how you escaped from the capital?" She inquired curiously.

Hm, not sure I want to, sounds like a pain. Ohh, but then again, I was pretty awesome back there, so a little bragging might be fun. Yeah, why not?

"Alright, then, if you insist, I suppose," I shrugged indifferently, before recounting the events that had occurred after I’d put her in my Pocket Dimension.

"That’s really amazing...I can’t believe you fought your way through so many Knights and came out without any injuries," She remarked in awe.

"Oh, uh...thanks, I guess. But I wasn’t exactly unscathed, I just healed all the injuries I got," I responded impassively.

"And you really fought Miss Aries?"

"Hm? I take it you know her, then?"

"Yeah, she’s really nice. My father didn’t like her though, and she was always complaining about stuff he did whenever I saw her."

"Huh, that so? Maybe her righteous act wasn’t a total sham after all. To be fair, I did rob a clothing store and then hijack a car, crashing my way through the streets, killing any and all Knights who were chasing me...probably killed some passersby in the process too," I recalled sheepishly.

"Hm, I know you were probably desperate, but stealing is really bad, you know. But I guess you didn’t have a choice, huh?" She responded with a conflicted look on her face.

If she’s gonna be tagging along with me, I’m gonna need her to at least be morally grey.

"Yeah, well, I had to blend in or I wouldn’t have been able to steal that car, which was crucial in my getaway. So I stole these clothes, plus a bunch of extra outfits too," I said wryly.

"Can I see? I think I’d like to get changed anyway," She mused, as she gave her sleeve a sniff.

She was wearing an elegant blue dress that went halfway down her calves, and had long sleeves that wrapped around her wrists and middle fingers. Also, she was conflicted about me stealing, but has no problem with wearing stolen clothes?

I mean, it isn’t exactly a typical situation she’s in right now, so I guess it’s fair, it’s not like she had the chance to pack any clothes or any other belongings, after all. Wait, if she wants to get changed, does that mean she’s assuming that I took outfits for her as well?

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Well..."

"You didn’t get any for me?" She realized as I trailed off.

"Well, yeah, I was fully convinced that I’d be rid of you by now, I didn’t think you’d have a reason that’d convince me to take you with me," I pointed out.

"I guess that makes sense. Then, could I wear some of the clothes you got for yourself? You’re bigger than me, but no so much bigger that your clothes would fall off if I wore them," She replied objectively.

"I guess that’s true with shirts, but...I doubt any of the trousers I took would fit you. Your waist is much smaller than mine, so it’d just fall down," I stated as I glanced at her.

"Hm, yeah, you’re right. Wait, you said you got bigger sizes too, right? So I could just wear one of those shirts like a dress," She suggested after mulling it over.

"I suppose that works, at least as a temporary measure," I responded with a nod, before taking out all the clothes I’d stolen from my Pocket Dimension, "Go ahead, take your pick."

"Hey, how come you didn’t steal a bunch of stuff from the mansion before we returned from the castle? There were clothes, money, anything you could need right there," She pointed out curiously, as she rifled through the pile of clothes.

"The only thing on my mind was killing your family at that moment. And afterwards, I needed to make a quick getaway since your siblings whom I spared ran away and alerted the Knights," I explained, leaving out the fact that looting the place had completely slipped my mind until much later, by when it was far too late to turn back.

"Oh, okay, I guess that makes sense."

After a few minutes, she picked out dark red t-shirt in the largest size I’d taken. She then went behind a row of bushes to get changed, before coming back out.

The t-shirt looked massive on her, going down past her knees and just barely staying on, the right side of the collar slanting down and exposing her shoulder.

"Maybe a slightly smaller size would fit better. And you should tie something around your midriff, otherwise it’ll probably flutter a lot when it’s windy," I advised her.

"Okay, I’ll take the sash from my dress for that," She decided with a nod.

"Well, you can do that in the morning. There’s no need for it right now," I remarked as I stifled a yawn.

All the fatigue is starting to catch up to me too, I could use some shut eye.

"Huh? Why not?" She tilted her head in confusion, before her eyes widened, "W-wait, you mean...? U-um, I know I did say that I’ll do anything you ask, but I don’t know if I’m ready to do that stuff..."

"What?" I responded in bemusement.

"W-well, you’re saying that I don’t need the sash right now, b-because you want me to take it all off?" She muttered timidly.

Jesus fucking Christ, no!

"What!? No! Hell, no! I was saying you don’t need it because it’s late, I’m going to sleep and was suggesting that you do the same. You clearly misunderstood something, so let me make this very clear...I am not interested in your little kiddie body, not in the least bit," I huffed indignantly.

"Huh? Ohh, that’s a relief-...wait, no, I don’t have a little kiddie body, whatever that means!" She shot back with a frown.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, I’m too tired to waste energy on such a pointless argument. I’m going to sleep now, and you should too."

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