“Oh, I just remembered something, I think. There’s a weapon I had hidden in here for self-defense,” Roland said, scanning the room before diving at a pile of debris, shoving it aside. He then pulled at a loose stone, revealing a small compartment.

Roland reached in and withdrew a blade. Hartwin tensed in reaction. Roland offered the dagger to us pommel-first. I patted Hartwin’s shoulder, and he stepped aside.

“Never thought I’d be handed a weapon from a talking skeleton,” I muttered to no one in particular.

“Oh? Is that how youth these days say their thanks? I should just keep this, after all – hey! Give that back!” he shouted.

“Hartwin,” I said. He immediately understood my intentions, grabbing Roland’s outstretched hand by the wrist.

“Tch,” Roland huffed.

“Is that anyway to treat your savior?” I spoke in a dry tone, a wry smile on my face as I looked over the dagger now in my possession.

“Mrrr…”

I shot him a glare. He avoided meeting my eyes, the flaming orbs darting off to the side in their sockets.

“What’s so special about this thing?” I asked after a cursory investigation. By all appearances, it was just an ordinary, mass-produced steel dagger. Well, except for a small red gem embedded in the pommel. It had been too dark to spot from a distance.

“Let me take a look,” Roska asked. She gave it a cursory glance, then found the gem in the pommel. “It’s infused. Not sure what it’ll do, though,” she informed us as she handed it back to me.

I’m so glad we recruited her.

“Hey, Roland, what’s it do?” I asked, nodding to Hartwin to release him.

Roland involuntarily massaged his wrist where he’d been grabbed. “Hmph,” the fiery orbs elongated, is that him narrowing his eyes? “…I can’t remember,” he finally said, tone and body language downcast.

Yeah, that’s great and all, but I don’t really care. I’ve known the guy for all of five minutes, and all he’s done is rag on Cadius, make bad puns, and act smug. The only reason I had offered to help him out was that he might be of some use to Cadius, and even that was looking less likely by the second.

“…I’ve changed my mind. We’re bringing him with us,” I declared matter-of-factly.

Roska raised a brow, while Lloyd gave me an incredulous look. “Von?” he asked.

Roland, to his credit, knew when it would benefit him to keep his mouth shut. Though, his head shot up and there was a gleam in his eyes.

I sighed. “Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t me being nice. I just think you might be useful to us.”

Roland tilted his head.

I elaborated, “He doesn’t need to eat or sleep, doesn’t take up much space, and he’s light, so he won’t weigh us down. As long as he keeps his mouth shut, it’ll be like isn’t even there. Besides, I’m not about give him a free ride on top of reviving him or whatever it is that just happened.”

“Fair is fair, after all. Even I’m a bit shocked at his behavior. But what did you have in mind, Von?” Roska asked, inquisitive.

“I already have a few ideas, actually. There are so many things I can make happen with a walking, talking skeleton at my disposal.”

The look on my face must have been quite sinister because Roland started backing up, panicked.

“When did I ever say I was a kind person?” I added, my mouth flat and a brow raised.

“Eep!”

“Alright, now that that’s settled, let’s get going. We’ve wasted enough time as it is. Don’t forget we’ve got somewhere to be,” I said.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

“It’s all gone,” Roland commented, downcast. He had quickly resigned himself to his fate after we left the room. Each room we passed as we made our way out of the facility only seemed to worsen his mood.

No words of comfort or sympathy were offered in reply, not for a stranger who hadn’t shown a hint of appreciation or respect towards us. The only action that could have been deemed kind, offering us the infused dagger, could just as likely be a ploy to ingratiate himself with us.

“Hey,” Roland began speaking, “are you two Dusts?” he asked in a curious tone.

I glanced at Lloyd without turning my head. The look he gave told me that it was fine to tell Roland the truth.

“Yeah,” I answered. “You aren’t going to start trash talking us now, too?” I prodded.

“No, no, not at all,” he hastily replied. “I was just curious. Those souls of yours are far stronger than the average Dust soul. In fact, my uncertainty grows the more I observe. Do you perhaps have a blessing?”

“Yeah, how’d you guess?” I lied, faking a subtle tinge of surprise in my voice.

“Hmph,” he scoffed. “This much is nothing.”

While the skeleton was lost in self-indulgence, I used my Imperium to discretely project my voice in Roska’s ear. “Are you able to do that too?” I asked.

She shook her head.

Oh? That’s another way I can use that pile of bones.

During our hike back to the wagon, Roska taught Lloyd and I how to use infused items. Simply put, you just injected Anima into them. I tried it out immediately. Anima flowed from my hand to the grip of the dagger.

Eyes closed, I paid close attention to my body. Muscles, breathing, heartrate. Nothing felt particularly different, which only confused me.

I opened my mouth to ask Roska for advice and I felt an immediate sense of wrongness. There was a jarring disconnect between how I expected my body to react and how quickly it did so. I tried opening my eyes. They moved without difficulty, but it was noticeably slower. A bit panicked, I cut out off the supply of Anima to the weapon. My senses quickly returned to normal.

“What the fuck was that?” I muttered.

“Von, are you alright?” Lloyd asked me.

“I’m fine, just… that was weird. It felt like everything was slowed down.”

Roska held out a hand, “Here, let me try, I think I might know what’s going on.”

I nodded, handing over the dagger. She took it. After a few seconds, she reached down and picked up a rock, then dropped it. She smiled excitedly. “Shit, we really hit the jackpot with this one,” she said, handing it back to me. “While you’re pouring Anima into it, your perception speeds up. Everything will move in slow-motion, yourself included, but you’ll have time to react to things you normally couldn’t,” she explained. “I’m a bit jealous, to be honest,” she said jokingly.

I turned to Roland. “You made this? Or the research team did?” I asked.

He scratched his chin with a bony finger. “Yes, I believe so. We had been… working on that for a while, I think. And, um… Ah! Right! I had hidden that away when our facility was attacked,” he said excitedly upon recalling the details of some of his memories.

It was quickly decided that I would be the one to use the weapon. The only other dagger-user, Roska, declined, stating that she didn’t need it nearly as much as I did, what with her already sharp eyes and nimble movements.