"You can start by washing the dishes."
Eline carefully handed him her dirty plate, with the fork resting inside of it.
Alwyn was caught off guard.
He wanted to avoid doing the tedious task, so he started making shit up.
"S-Shouldn't we start saving water now? It'll just be a waste to wash the dishes, and they are not even that dirty… at the end of that day, that's just food…"
"Not a chance. Hygiene comes first."
"W-What if the lizards die and we get stuck here? In the middle of fucking nowhere! What are we going to drink, our own piss?! That's not very hygienic if you ask me!"
"Calm down, thirst is not going to be our problem. I saw a small stream of water close by, it must lead to a lake. We'll be looking for it while we investigate."
"But… we don't have the guarantee that the lake actually exist, what if-"
"If you don't want to wash the dishes just say so."
Alwyn hesitantly opened his mouth.
"…No, I'll do it."
He replied with a defeated expression.
"Good. I'll prepare your equipment in the meanwhile. You'll have to work hard to earn your next meal, we can't stay inside all day."
While doing their corresponding chores, the two continued the conversation.
"How close are we talking about?"
"Huh?"
"I'm referring to the hypothetical lake."
"It's not hypothetical."
"Whatever. How close is it from here?"
"...About twelve kilometers."
"..."
"Don't worry about the distance, I'll bring you on my back. I know very well that your feet need to heal properly. You didn't really think that I would let you waste more of the artifact's charge, right?"
"Uhm, no… Wait, so you'll be giving me a piggyback ride?!"
"If you want to call it that way, yes."
"Fuck yeah!"
"..."
"...What?"
"In my entire life, I've never seen someone as indolent as yourself."
"Indolent? Is that a compliment?"
"No."
The two continued the casual banter—that almost looked like a competition of idiocy, a back and forth of awkward jokes and veiled insults—until they eventually completed their respective tasks.
Alwyn had placed the cutlery back where it had been taken from, stored the pan inside a chest, and piled up Eline's plate on top of the many others.
Eline, on the other hand, had already arranged his future gear on the bed, and was waiting for him to pay attention to what she was about to say.
"Listen well. As of now, you have no chances of taking down a Revenant, so I'll be giving you this dagger. It's an artifact, not an omnipotent one. It only paralyzes the enemy for a couple of seconds. You are not supposed to use it to kill, it's just meant for self defence. Whatever happens, always do your best to avoid meaningless confrontations. Understood?"
"Everything clear. No clashes if possible."
"Good."
Eline put the weapon in his hands.
The sheath was enveloped in soft crimson fabric and adorned by elegant silver lines that depicted a twisted heart. The hilt was pitch black, small, simple.
Alwyn unsheathed the dagger to reveal its thin, pointed blade.
It was of the same colour of the hilt, and was made of the same material. One was basically a continuation of the other.
On the smooth surface of the blade, shallow, almost unobservable engravings were carved, following the line of its sharp edge.
"What's its name?"
Alwyn was intrigued by the odd weapon.
"Heartless Dream."
"As unique of a name as the dagger itself… You said it can paralyze the target for only a couple seconds?"
"Yes, but the effect cannot be stacked. It has a cooldown of approximately a minute."
"That's… not really helpful… But it's still something. Thank you."
Eline looked straight at him, puzzled. She did not expect his gratitude.
Cough, cough.
"Next, I prepared something to protect yourself with."
With her two hands, she lifted a large piece dark red fabric, opened it, and proudly displayed it in front of him, waiting for another praise. A far better one.
"Thus… isn't it just a ragged mantle?"
Such a comment left the girl bewildered.
"T-This one's an artifact as well... A-And it's ten times better than that stupid dagger!"
Alwyn kept staring at her with a doubtful expression, but let Eline continue the presentation.
"Do you even know why Revenants are attracted by living beings?"
With his chin between thumb and index, Alwyn tried to make some hypothesis in his mind, but could not come up with a definite answer. Were Revenants similar to the monsters he had fought on Earth?
"Hmm, maybe it's an instinct of theirs?"
"Kind of. They can sense pure souls, and they crave them. They need them to evolve. But I'll not digress any further, we will talk about this later. What I wanted to say is that as long as you are alive, they will always come after you, meaning heavy armor only makes you slower and will eventually break under their relentless attacks. Remember, they are immortal, while you are not."
"Right. No clashes if possible."
"I see you got my message. And that's why you don't need a sturdy armor, but something that conceals your soul, that doesn't make you a target of theirs. This… ragged mantle is called Bloody Bond of Concealment. In short, it makes you invisible to the eyes of Revenants, as long as you are bleeding out, but it obviously depends on the rank of the creature you are facing. It's currently the most valuable artifact in my possession. You owe me an apology, don't you think so?"
'So… it's just a nerfed version of the Cloak of Invisibility from the Haru Porter series… That's why she doesn't want me to waste the charge of the Proof of Faith. I have to wound myself every time I use it…'
Alwyn closed his eyes and put the bandaged right fist over his heart.
"I, Lynn, firstborn of the Goldheart family, formally declare a sincere apology to the valiant and generous Reaper Elin- Ouch!"
Eline had flicked him on the forehead.
"Proof of Faith, Heartless Dream, Bloody Bond of Concealment… You are now the person with the most artifacts out of this entire expedition. Take good care of them, the Church might want them back if I return empty handed."
All three of the items were almost useless for a Reaper, but gave a human some enormous advantages. Alwyn was really grateful to Eline, now more than ever.
"Trust me, I will. Is this all?"
He said while curiosly side-eying the other objects neatly arranged on the bed.
"No, of course not."