Gilgamesh saw her eyes glaze over in deep distrust, dotted with traces of wary hostility. Suspicion and anxiety rose with every moment he silently stood in wait of a response that never came.

  “If she won’t reply, then I’ll have to speak again.” Gilgamesh gave away nothing of his thoughts. “I have a way to make a lot of shards, but I cannot do it alone.”

  “Liar.” She curtly accused.

  Gilgamesh stared back. It was not as though he could refute that his offer was suspicious. “Why are you in the slums?”

  She nearly averted her eyes for a moment. “...I’m resting.”

  “Liar.” Gilgamesh returned. She grimaced, having been caught out on an obvious lie, but made no effort to justify herself.

  “Deeply distrustful, unsociable, likely of limited intelligence.” Gilgamesh summarized his first impression.

  “So what is your plan?” He suddenly asked.

  “What…?”

  “You’re just resting in the slums, aren’t you? Surely you must have a plan to excel in this trial.” He threw out bait.

  “O-obviously…” She murmured out.

  “What is it?” Gilgamesh pressed further.

  He saw her panic a little under the pressure of having to prove herself, desperately wracking her brain for a suitable answer.

  “You’re too stupid to understand… Only a genius like me can.”

  “Oh?” Gilgamesh said. It would almost sound sardonic were it not for his lack of emotions. “Then a genius such as yourself should be able to see the worth of my plan.”

  The woman stared back.

  “You see, I intend to establish a gambling game involving dice. Wastrels from all over will willingly throw their shards away while blinded by the prospect of good fortune. All we need to do is keep the customers in line by force and kill anyone who threatens us. The odds are heavily in our favor, so profits will be high.” At the tail end of his spiel, Gilgamesh’s tone grew a shade more assertive. “Our income will be hundreds of shards per day.”

  A smote of light glinted in her eyes. “Hundreds…”

  Gilgamesh finally saw the opening. “Half of that can be yours, if you assist me and follow what I say.”

  “I…” She seemed conflicted. “I don’t need y-”

  “You are here, alone, surrounded by hopelessness, with no means to achieve what you desire, waiting for an opportunity. I am that light.” Gilgamesh decreed.

  Hunger and longing stained her crazed eyes, but there was not enough confidence to call it ambition. Gilgamesh knew he had her.

  “If you want to excel in this trial, then follow me. If not, I’ll find someone else.” With a sudden ultimatum, Gilgamesh calmly walked off.

  She hesitated for a few moments, torn between the choice. But ultimately, she followed. Gilgamesh glanced back. She had taken naturally to walk behind his right side, the most optimal side to defend with her shield should they start fighting. Her gait was short and measured, such that there was no timing to catch her off balance, and her insecure focus never broke from him.

  “She is used to true violence.” Gilgamesh’s own eyes glinted with subtle assessment. “Is she from one of the clans? Perhaps a bastard? But which one would give her the opportunity to fight to the death so often? By her appearance, she should be from either the Atreus or the Rhun, but neither of those clans hold such practices…”

  As he walked down the path back towards the Bazaar, she stopped in her tracks and her demeanor grew antsy.

  “What is it?” He asked, though she was hesitant to reply. So Gilgamesh thought for a moment. “Ah, did you commit a crime?”

  Her subsequent flinch all but confirmed his guess. He walked back without a word and continued through the slums, and she returned to her position on the right.

  “We’ll need to be on guard for the truly strong if we’re going to live here.” He said.

  “M-maybe you do… I am the strongest in the Trials.” She pushed back.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “Is she delusional, or simply bad at putting on a front?” Gilgamesh wondered. In many ways, she was quite easy to read. But in others, her paradoxical arrogance made it difficult.

  “I can easily defeat you if, if I wanted to…” She added.

  “I doubt that.” Gilgamesh looked right into her eyes as he spoke with an air of subtle intimidation. His partial bluff seemed to work, as her weariness of him increased, along with her general anxiousness.

  “That’s right…” Gilgamesh thought out loud as he stopped and turned towards her. “Who are you?”

  She was more startled by his simple question than he expected, almost as if he had pried into a deep secret.

  “I am…” She hesitated in thought for a moment, then something deepened in her eyes. “...Supreme.”

  “I see. And your name?”

  “...Heroine.”

  “...strange name… Hellenic?” Gilgamesh noted. “Is she an Atreus bastard, then? Why is she wearing armor? And this excessively cautious behavior… A deception? Or does she not have the bloodline…?”

  “What’s yours?” Heroine asked back in retaliation.

  “My name is Gilgamesh.” He spoke with resolute pride.

  “...that’s a strange name...” She muttered.

  At that moment, several thugs crept out from around the corners and within the buildings and surrounded them. Seediness coated their expressions and weapons filled their hands.

  “Drop all your things here. Don’t make this harder on yourselves.”

  Gilgamesh glanced at each of them, unimpressed. “Kill them.” He told Heroine.

  “W-what?”

  “What’s the matter?” He provoked her. “Is the Supreme One scared of a few bandits?”

  “No…”

  Heroine tensed for a moment, then gripped her mace tighter and nervously stepped to the front. Her eyes flittered to each of them erratically.

  “Hey, are you serious? You’re gonna make your woman fight for you?” The thugs laughed at the unimposing fighter marching towards them.

  “Nah, he must be offering her to us.” One of them foolishly turned his head to another, and Heroine shattered it.

  Before the rest could react, she bashed the closest one into another with her shield and rushed towards the sole archer that lurked further away.

  “Prioritizing the more troublesome threat.” Gilgamesh noted.

  The archer managed to get a shot off in time, but Heroine easily blocked it with her shield and killed the archer with a single blow before he could nock another arrow.

  She turned to face the other two, who had now realized the danger they faced and took her as a serious threat. But Heroine did not rush into combat. She merely inched towards them in a defensive stance with her mace down low and her nervous eyes unblinking.

  One of the thugs gave the other a signal and they rushed to attack from both sides at the same time. Heroine used her shield to conceal the start of her attack, and threw her mace to break the leg of the fat axeman in half.

  The thin man continued his attack as wisps of mana enveloped his shortsword. Heroine took keen note and caught the blade on the edge of her shield. As the blade carved through the wooden shield like butter, she gave it a sharp twist to ruin the path of the sword and thus bring it to a halt entirely. At the same time, she pulled a dagger from her belt and plunged it into the side of his head.

  Heroine turned to the axeman, who now limped away with his broken leg, and threw the dagger into the back of his neck. She waited and watched his last squirms from a safe distance until the movement finally stopped and the Schema revealed his stats.

  Gilgamesh stood at the side, having calmly observed everything. “A simple, rugged fighting style full of dirty tactics and pragmatism. More like that of a mercenary than an honorable warrior. Ruthless, efficient, and exceedingly cautious.”

  Despite outmatching them all in skill, she still fought with the utmost caution. She didn’t make the first move until one had lowered his guard completely, prioritized taking out the largest threat as soon as possible, and didn’t let an enemy escape despite him no longer being a threat.

  Gilgamesh found her intensely uncertain and insecure in a way that compelled her to be ruthlessly competent and efficient. Clearly, she was not talented, but she bled every last drop out of what she had. Gilgamesh found himself relating strongly to such a nature.

  “You fight well.” He praised honestly.

  Heroine seemed caught off guard by the sudden compliment. “Really…?”

  Though in the next moment, she realized the underlying admission of her words. Her eyes weren’t able to meet his for more than an instant at a time. “O-of course. I told you I’m the strongest. I-if you’re not smart then you should at least learn how to listen…”

  Despite her abrasive words and uneasy demeanor, a small part of her seemed genuinely pleased.

  “No one can move like me.” As she started to walk, her arm spasmed and her mace smashed through a chunk of the corner of a building wall. She paused for a moment with a blank expression at the product of her mistake.

  “That was in the way.”

  “I see.” Gilgamesh allowed her to save face. “She isn’t used to pleasant interactions. That might be something I can use.”

  “...we’re wasting time.” She said shyly within the awkward pause. “You should lead the way… Gilgamesh...”

  Gilgamesh paused. It had been a long time since someone had called him by his name. He needed no one’s acknowledgement other than his own. But still, it gave him pause.

  Slight confusion showed in Heroine’s expression by his lack of a reaction, but he didn’t address it and walked on. It took only a few minutes before they reached the gambling den he first encountered. Among the small crowd, the leader with the psychotic smile was the first to notice him.

  “Hey, finally found your stones, huh?”

  Gilgamesh’s only response was to bring the Stone Ape into form, and wield it to brutally rip the man in half. He looked back at the stares of shock and fear as his golem tossed the corpse away.

  “This is my den now.”