'Where even is this place?' Reinhard thought, in all the books he had read about the dream realm, there was no mention of a place like this.
He was now sitting near the edge. The armor he was wearing had a black chest plate with golden designs at its edges. Its shoulder guards, vambraces, cuisse, and greaves were of similar design as well.
The armor was [Pain Eater], an awakened memory he had received in his first nightmare.
Since sitting around was going to achieve nothing, he stood up with a sigh and turned his back towards the shore, ready to explore the coral landmass he was on.
It wasn't very large, less than 20 meters in diameter if he had to guess, but the giant coral spikes were covering the whole island. Actually it wasn't like an island at all; heck, there wasn't even any smooth surface.
He started traversing through the jagged parts and spikes to explore the whole island; he still had the [Sensory Amplification] attribute on to make sure he could catch any sound of anyone nearby.
However, the direction of his thoughts was quite unrelated to his direct circumstances.
His mind had wandered out to think about Cassia.
'I had [Hero's burden] the moment I stepped into the pod, and I only changed it at the moment I needed aquatic mastery to swim... Then shouldn't Cassia be around here somewhere?'
With a pause, he continued.
'Also, how does this even work? My flaw forces me to help her, but currently i am looking for her just because i feel like it, even if it's slightly because I know my flaw will force me anyways.'
For a moment Reinhard had a scary thought.
'It isn't putting psychological cues into my mind to do what my flaw requires, right? 'Fuck, that would be scary.'
'Huh? But changing my whole way of thinking so I do it wouldn't even make it a flaw; it would just be my nature at that point....' At that moment, Reinhard realized he was going into a rabbit hole of thought that had no purpose, so he stepped out of it before he could slip and fall in completely.
After another minute of walking, he had a thought.
'This islet isn't even that big; i probably would have found her if she was here—'
And at the same moment, he heard a sound coming from his right.
'-What? What is that?'
He slowed down and walked silently towards the area.
As he got a few meters closer to the point of origination of that sound, he finally figured out what it was.
That was the sound of someone crying, more specifically a girl.
'Yeah, that's her,' Reinhard thought with a deadpan.
Taking the situation as amusing was apathetic of him, but he could act like he was sympathetic. He felt it too, but he wasn't the type to ruin his own mood over it.
[New attribute acquired.]
[Attribute Name: Low-Light Perception.]
Attributes: [Radiant Presence] [Calm mind] [Battle Master] [Favored of Spell] [Low-Light Perception]
Instantly his vision cleared even more, as he was easily able to see everything in the dark.
While he had used his aspect too much to be impressed, now he did have a small complaint about it.
'This spells naming sense has gotten worse.' He thought with a small smile on his face.
[New attribute acquired.]
[Attribute Name: Darkvision.]
Attributes: [Radiant Presence] [Calm mind] [Battle Master] [Favored of Spell] [Darkvision]
Nothing really changed except the name of the attribute.
'Hold up, I can change attribute names? 'Then with a pause. 'This one still sucks though.'
It was simple and got the point across, but—
[New attribute acquired.]
[Attribute Name: Nocturne Vision.]
Attributes: [Radiant Presence] [Calm mind] [Battle Master] [Favored of Spell] [Nocturne Vision]
'Much better, i guess.'
At that point Reinhard realized he was essentially ignoring a crying, helpless, blind girl in a dangerous world, and more importantly, she was literally waiting for him.
'That's a new level of low even for me,' he thought, slightly amused.
Upon walking a step or two ahead, a hole in the ground revealed itself, its opening partially obscured by a jagged coral spike.
There was enough space for three or four Reinhards to fit in, though.
In the middle of that space, a pale, blonde-haired girl was sitting on the ground. Her knees were tucked to her chest, her shoulders trembling, face hidden as if she was trying to take up as little space as possible.
Even though Reinhard didn't have enhanced senses now due to switching it for night vision, he could still hear her whispering something. But he couldn't make out the words.
A strange thought entered Reinhard's mind at that point.
'Thats a pathetic sight.'
He was going to help her. Probably. Even without his flaw pushing him. Pity was there—but pity didn't exclude judgment.
Yet it wasn't the usual kind of weakness that bothered him. Depending on others in her position was reasonable. If their roles were reversed, he'd have begged harder.
No, the problem was aesthetics.
Being weak and helpless was understandable, but crying and showing that she was like that wasn't.
Reinhard had grown up without the luxury of visible despair. From his perspective, that was the worst possible response to danger.
Still, he knew that perspective wasn't universal.
It was his.
'Also, she is completely naked,' he added and turned off his night vision.
After pausing for a second on how he should do this, he stepped back a few steps silently.
Then he walked ahead once again; this time the sound of his footsteps was quite loud.
Cassia flinched, snapping her head toward the sound.
Before she could fearfully inquire who was there, attributes of the person ahead appeared in front of her.
It was Reinhard.
And then a familiar voice entered her ears.
"It's me, Reinhard," he said.
Reinhard stood a meter away, looking down at her.
But then he realized that his position was quite inconsiderate, and as such, he got closer and crouched in front of her.
Cassia was in a state of shock and disbelief. It was one of those situations where she wondered if it was too good to be true.
"Th- Thank Y—" her voice cracked, and tears started flowing down with even more speed, but she still sat confused on how to react.
Her brain, after going from a very stressed mode, was hit by a dose of relief. That was why she couldn't process what had happened properly.
Reinhard just sat there in silence.
His flaw wasn't forcing him to intervene by telling her she was okay or any other bullshit.
'What do i do now?' He thought.
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Thanks for reading the chapter.
Had to take a 15 min human psychology session to make sure I got stuff right, lol.
Anyways, hope you liked the chapter.
Though I just realized another issue, I might get some comments about this too, maybe.
As you know, Reinhard's identity is completely different in this fic. The name is the same; so is the appearance and the way his power works in a way. But when it comes to personality, that's completely different. Maybe some readers wouldn't like it because what's the point of it being a fic on Reinhard if there is no Reinhard-kinda guy at all? But his flaw works because it forces him to do things completely opposite to his nature. Even though there aren't serious issues right now, they will come soon lol.
Just wanted to comment on that because I was thinking about it.
See you next time.