There were many reasons why I fell in love with the Soulslike game called [Seraphim of Doom].
One of those reasons was the power of bonds.
In the world of [Seraphim of Doom], once most people reached the age of twelve, a mysterious tattoo known as a bond would appear on their right hand. That tattoo was what gave humans the ability to use magic, and it also shaped almost everything about a human's abilities.
However, for a person to awaken their abilities, and become a Dominant, they first needed to learn the name of their bond. Granted, the only way to do that was for the bond to willingly reveal its name to its bearer. Some bonds did this immediately after they appeared, while others tested their owners before doing so.
The reason most weren't so keen on revealing their names until after testing their owner was simple: When a bond revealed its name, it became the owner's property, and so the owner would always have them on their beck and call. As such, many preferred to remain dormant until after confirming their owner was worthy of them.
Besides the tattoo form a bond took when in its dormant state, it also had three other forms: a weapon form, a creature form, and lastly, a human form.
Since I had transmigrated into the game, it was only logical that, just like others, I too had a Bond.
And that was why, looking at Aika, who sat tiredly in front of me, a flood of memories and game knowledge finally connected the dots, making a lot of things suddenly make sense.
Which begs the question: Since she had revealed her name to me in the arena moments before my death, had she done it because she knew our bonded ability, whatever it was, could bring me back to life?
If that was the case, then her revealing her name at that time made perfect sense. After all, it was a known rule in the game that if a character dies, their bond dies too. So it could be that she revealed her name so that I would awaken as a Dominant and our bonded ability would bring me back to life, sparing us both.
Now I'm really curious… What exactly is my bonded ability, and just how broken is it to be able to bring me back to life after being butchered that way?
A sly grin slowly began to creep up my face as I scratched my chin, lost in that thought for a moment.
Until Aika's voice brought me back:
"Now that you are finally awake… and know a bit about our current situation, how about we get off this godforsaken alley and maybe find a proper inn? I'm so tired because I've been sitting here all day watching over your bloody corpse."
My ears twitched slightly. I lifted my gaze to see Aika yawning tiredly. 'Oh… she must be really tired.'
My eyes quickly darted around the dirty alley for bit. This was the first time since waking up that I was having a proper look of my surroundings.
The alley was littered with trash and rotten garbage. Large rats scurried on the floor and I could even see a cat dart in the distance.
Then I wrinkled my nose as I finally noticed the pungent smell of the atmosphere.
"Yeah. Agreed. We really need to get out of here and find a proper inn."
However, not long after saying that, I frowned as a realization hit me and that was the fact that: I was broke. I just got here. So how was I supposed to afford an inn?
Looking back at Aika, I chuckled nervously while also scratching the side of my head with a finger in embarrassment. "Uh…" I cleared my throat. "Uhm…"
She blinked slowly, then rasped in a tired voice. "What? Just spit it out. My back is starting to fuse to this garbage heap."
I winced, dropping my hand. "Right. So, the thing about the inn... and the current situation, as you put it. It seems my, uh, assets didn't successfully transmigrate with me. In fact, they seem to be entirely non-existent."
I spread my hands in a helpless gesture, a flush creeping up my neck. "Short version: I'm completely broke. I have no cash, no credit, no… shiny gold pieces. Unless you've been hoarding a secret stash of coins while guarding my corpse, we might have to get a little creative about that 'proper inn' idea."
Aika looked away and sighed. She then reached to the belt of her dress, withdrew a small pouch, and threw it to me.
I caught it instinctively and immediately opened it and took a peek and when I saw the contents, my jaw dropped in both awe and disbelief.
I raised my gaze to her then arched a brow. "Aika… where did you get all this gold?"
Aika shrugged a shoulder and said nonchalantly. "From the arena. I came across a few guards on their way to the gambling section of the arena. So… I knocked them all out and took their coin."
Hearing that, I swallowed and blinked a few times in disbelief. The way she said that, without a hint of remorse or hesitation was chilling. It was almost as if she saw nothing bad with what she did.
While I was happy seeing all that gold in my hands, I was now a bit wary of Aika. Still, I wasn't going to complain. We needed money right now, and we had it. That was all that mattered.
Pushing myself off the floor, I cleared my throat. "Let's go find an inn."
Aika glanced up at me for a beat, then turned to her side and picked up a long trench coat from the floor, then threw it to me. "Cover up, you look like you just crawled out of a slaughterhouse."
As I slowly pulled on the heavy, black coat over my bloodied tunic, a thought crossed my mind: 'I'm sure she stole this as well.'
Almost immediately after the thought, I winced.
…Ah shit. I totally forgot she could hear my thoughts.
Her expression, however, remained completely deadpan. Almost as if she didn't hear. Though, i knew that she heard but simply chose to ignore it.
Using the wall for support, she rose and without saying anything, she turned and started walking out of the alley.
I took a step to follow behind her but wobbled.
'Huh?' I took another step and swayed again. Ah… And then I could tell why.
I was having problems walking because I was not used to this body. Back in Seoul, I was very short, but this one seemed to have the perfect, unnatural height of about six feet.
Of course, it made sense that I was having difficulty adjusting.
It took a conscious, concentrated effort just to keep up with Aika's normal pace. I managed to force my too-long limbs to move forward, but my coordination remained clumsy, and every few steps felt like a perilous balancing act.
After a while, however, I managed to get used to the body.
Catching up to Aika, we walked along the crowded streets of the city. I suspected we were on the outskirts not just because of the filth, the sheer density of the crowd, and the number of beggars and homeless on the street. It was also because, as I remembered from the game, the Royal Arena was located right here, on the edge of the Imperial city.
It didn't take us long to find an inn. However, just like every other place in this part of the city, it was not that inviting, clearly meant only for lowlifes and desperate travelers.
I couldn't hide the frown on my face as we walked up to it.
Aika didn't seem to mind, though it was impossible to be sure. Her face was as expressionless as the first time I saw her, making it utterly impossible to tell what she was thinking.
She pushed open the wooden door and stepped into the building's blast of noise, with me following shortly after. The Common Room was a wide space, packed with people drinking, singing, and gambling at rough-hewn tables.
A few patrons paused to look us over when we walked in. More specifically, their gazes were fixed on Aika. I could even hear some of them hissing low whistles and muttering crude remarks in anticipation.
"Damn… look at that one."
"That skin… wheew. Someone needs to show her a good time before she ruins it in the gutter."
"Moron," a third voice grumbled. "That ain't no common wench. I bet you can't even afford her."
Then my face scrunched as I heard some remarks centered on me:
"You seen the little bastard she's walking with? What a waste."
"Where'd the little rat dig up a diamond like that?"
"He's probably her slave. There's no way he could afford to be with a woman like that."
That last comment made me flinch. I gritted my teeth. 'I wish you'd all go blind, you pathetic, slobbering horny bastards.'
But though I was irritated, I couldn't blame them. Aika really did look like a stray jewel dropped onto a pile of dirt, completely out of place in this low-life den.
Ignoring all of them, we quickly made our way through the dense crowd to the reception desk, where a beautiful middle-aged woman with blonde hair tied in a ponytail and striking green eyes greeted us.
I was just about to inquire about the rooms when I saw something that made me freeze…
"…!"
Hanging in the air, directly in front of my face, was a small, glowing window:
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