Looking at the wailing girl who was bawling her eyes out, Cyrus was momentarily at a loss.
It's not like he didn't understand. Sylvie most likely felt guilty. Guilty for leaving him to fend for himself when that giant bird showed up. Guilty for not being able to help. That's what she was apologizing for.
But… why?
As much as he tried to empathize with the crying girl, he just couldn't… Because he would have done the same in her stead. He and Sylvie were partners, yes, but that was only as long as that partnership benefited them both. When that avian monstrosity showed up, things changed. Cyrus knew that he had to move or he would die.
Whether that bird chased after him or Sylvie first, wouldn't make a difference. If it went after her, the red-haired girl would have probably died in a matter of seconds, considering how she had been rooted there for a while.
It had been a miracle how she'd even managed to duck and avoid the bird's initial attack in the first place.
But Cyrus hadn't lured it away to save her. He had done so to save himself. Whether the girl died or not was irrelevant… Or at least that's what he initially thought.
But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't make sense of his current situation. He'd fallen unconscious as the last bit of his strength was spent. …
And yet Sylvie had carried him out of the forest?
Putting aside how the girl weighed barely 35 kilograms and was almost a full head shorter than him, merely 155cm(5'1 ft) in height, Cyrus knew that she was probably just as tired as he was.
She may not have fought in the Bloodpit the previous night, yes, but she had stayed up all day the day before to make sure they weren't robbed by any of the other prisoners. After that, she had to walk through the tunnels along with everyone else, for what Cyrus guessed must have been at least a couple of hours, before making a run for the forest. She then spent the entire night traversing its outer ring without any sleep alongside him, and by the time morning arrived, Cyrus wouldn't be surprised if the red-haired girl collapsed.
He wasn't faring any better than her, either. And yet, Sylvie had somehow carried him on her back and brought him all the way to Novera?
"Why?" He wanted to ask this question again, but he knew it was pointless. Sylvie didn't look like she would stop crying anytime soon.
Noticing that more and more of the passersby were now throwing glances at the sobbing girl, and some even began to whisper among themselves, Cyrus finally relented.
He propped himself up despite his body's desperate protests for a much-needed break, and pressed his hand against the girl's mouth, muffling her wails, before he said seriously
"Stop crying!"
Sylvie's eyes widened as she looked back at him, clearly surprised by his sudden movement. Unknowingly, even her sobs had stopped.
But Cyrus didn't take his hand off and continued
"Everyone's looking at us. If you keep crying, it's only a matter of time before someone comes here to check what's wrong."
Sylvie nodded and forced down another sob that tried to leave her mouth. Her bright emerald eyes were now red around the rims, but the red-haired girl wiped her tears and took Cyrus's hand off her lips, indicating that she understood.
She then looked around her, and after a brief moment of hesitation, she asked in a voice akin to a whisper
"...I'm tired. Can we get some sleep?"
Cyrus fell silent when he heard this.
Of course, she was tired. He was tired too. But as much as he wanted to rest, he knew they couldn't afford to sleep on the streets.
Back when he'd been captured in Morwyn and sold as a slave, he'd been curled in an alley when it happened. The slums were lawless— but that was precisely why no one went looking for those who vanished there.
But where could the two of them find solace? Cyrus knew that neither he nor Sylvie had any money to stay in an inn.
The churches were out of the question, too. Putting aside how you'd be kicked out if you tried to sleep in the sacred home of the gods… the guards of the Red Arena believed in the Goddess as well, didn't they? Who could assure Cyrus that there weren't any more crazy zealots in those churches who would try to kidnap him again?
"I guess there's only one place left…" Cyrus thought to himself before he turned to Sylvie and continued
"We'll have to register with the guild first. We can find a place to sleep once we are done."
"The guild?" Sylvie asked, clearly caught off guard by this new revelation. There were a few guilds that could be found in Novera, yes, just like in every other city in Astrea, but she'd never heard Cyrus mention any of them before.
However, Cyrus didn't explain things further. He just pulled Sylvie's arm as he made his way back into the busy streets of Novera. If the guilds in this place were any similar to Morwyn's, the Adventurers' guild was worth paying a visit to.