- Storage Bracelet -

"It's a shame that the rule of the tower couldn't change easily. If we intend to change what has been set for more than five thousand years, then there will be lots of wars and fights, more people will suffer than what we want. The law of the jungle has been the part of us. Even a baby who has just born should know about that and should be ready for whatever waiting for them."

"......it must be hard for them" she replied over his words after some thoughts.

"Well, this is something that they must endure. When they face dangers, they should learn to not be afraid of death. Only when they aren't afraid of death that they won't fear and cower before the enemies" said Nathan again.

"My friend once said that as well" Charlotte added, remembering her friends in the former world.

Her friend, a woman with long dark blue hair with a pair of gentle and affectionate violet eyes and also small lips that curled up into a lovely smile, her name was Evera. Evera was older than her a few years, her age around Altaira's. She was the one who said those words to her.

"There is something that I actually want to know" Nathan spoke up. "Since you don't enjoy being a slayer candidate, why do you still want to be a slayer candidate? For what I know, FUG only need one slayer candidate."

"Because wherever brother be, I'll always follow him" Charlotte replied. "He knows the direction."

Nathan raised one of his eyebrows when he heard her response before he chuckled.

"What an obedient sister you are."

"Of course!" Charlotte responded with a proud look and tone. "My brother and I have always been loyal to those who treat us nicely!"

"You mean, Altaira?" Nathan asked about him in all sudden and Charlotte felt that there was something wrong and off.

Ah, of course, he still had some troubles and misunderstandings with Altaira.

"He's a nice guy" Charlotte said to him without hesitation. "He wouldn't hurt those who he cares for. I could promise you that."

"It's not that I doubt your brother.......but.....when it comes to my disciple, I....."

"I know. You are worried of them. My master is also like that. Even though he keeps being annoyed by me, at the end, he still cares for me and my brother." She tapped his shoulder with a friendly smile. "My Brother Altaira is a nice guy. You heard him, right? He won't betray Celeste regardless of anything. For Celeste, he even built up a team to help her climbing the tower.

Brother Altaira has no thought of betraying Celeste. He would rather fight with a ranker to death instead of betraying Celeste....or even being accused of approaching her with an ulterior motives. He sincerely wants to be with Celeste."

Nathan looked at her with a stressed and sad expression.

"Are you sure with your words?"

"If my brother does have the thought of abandoning Celeste...." She lifted her right hand and closed her palm with a confident grin. "I'll hit him until he can't remember who he is."

Nathan made a small smile.

"You are someone who find your brothers more important than your life" Nathan said. "I doubt you could hit your brother and hurt him."

Charlotte lowered her head and looked away for that was the truth.

"Forget it." He leaned against the wall and lifted his head to look at the ceiling. "It's not like I'm going to force you to fight your own brother if that happens.....and it's not like I could separate the two of them as well."

Charlotte turned her head and looked at the ranker.

"Are you saying that--!"

"Actually, both of you aren't wrong. It is indeed my fault for getting to overreact and judge him before I fully know him" Nathan cut her words and looked back at her. "I don't trust those from Ten Great Families. Each of their descendants are getting worse and arrogant as the time passes. Well, but that doesn't mean I couldn't give someone a chance......"

She smiled again when she heard that.

"But of course, if that brat betrays my expectation in the future.....no matter how he begs me I'll make sure that he won't meet Celeste for the rest of his life. As for now....I'll just trust him."

"Thank you Mr. Nathan!"

"Why are you thanking me? Giving him a chance is something that I must do otherwise Celeste wouldn't let me off. Celeste....this girl, even though she looks calm and composed outside, if you annoy her, she wouldn't let you off no matter how you apologized."

Charlotte didn't really trust that. She hasn't saw Celeste being annoyed or irritated. In fact, Celeste had always treated her gently. Never once has the brown haired woman suffered from the blue haired woman's wrath.

"Floor of Death is a dangerous place" Nathan spoke up again and gained her attention. He lifted his right hand where Charlotte could notice that there was a grey colored bracelet around his wrist. "You might need something to help you."

She realized that it was the same bracelet with what Noah and Celeste had.

Something red then came from the bracelet and moved to his right palm before it circled around and formed an object. When it has taken a shape, it had taken the shape of the same bracelet that the ranker was wearing.

Her jaw dropped.

"This......?"

She lifted her head and looked at the ranker. Her expression was asking him what this bracelet was. Nathan smiled even wider.

"Storage bracelet. You could keep your stuffs inside this bracelet, making it more convenient for you to travel around with your things" Nathan explained. "Even though you put all the stuffs you had in this bracelet, the weigh will not increase. It won't break easily either.....but that doesn't mean this bracelet doesn't have a weakness."

"Weakness......?"

"Yes. You couldn't put living things or a person inside this bracelet. They'll die because of lacking of shinsu if you do that" said Nathan. "And I'm sure that you don't want to put a corpse in the middle of your things."

Charlotte immediately shook her head as an answer.

"I usually never give this to anyone else except for those who I deeply care for. This kind of stuff is really rare and not everyone could get a chance to see it" Nathan added. "It's hard to make, you know."

"Then why do you give it to me? It's not like we're close right?" Charlotte straightforwardly asked.

"I just happened to like you. That's all" Nathan earnestly answered. "Moreover, with this bracelet, you could store as much weapons as you like. I don't want to see you dying in the Floor of Death. The third reason is also because you helped Noah and now, this bracelet could be considered as a gratitude from me."

"Noah has already helped me plenty of times. He doesn't owe me anything anymore. And besides, since this is precious, you shouldn't be giving me this" Charlotte politely refused. "I don't save him because of rewards anyway."

"I've said it right? I gave you this not just because you have saved Noah. But because I happen to like you." He handed the bracelet to her. "We could be considered as friends right now, right? You don't have to be so courteous towards me. Here, take it."

Charlotte did find the bracelet interesting and amazing. Inside her, she wanted to have that bracelet for her own. But there was something that she felt wrong.

If she received this bracelet from Nathan because she had helped Noah, it would just make her indebted more with Noah. Noah was her life- savior and had helped her plenty of times, even when he was sealed inside this train. What she had done for him was less compared to what he had done for her.

She reached out her right hand and then took the bracelet. Nathan smiled even wider when the young lass wore the bracelet.

The grey bracelet was a bit too big for her at first. But magically, it decreased its size and became fit with her wrist.

"This bracelet....is indeed amazing." Charlotte seriously felt that she had to admit it.

"Of course. And from now on, that one is yours."

Her golden eyes looked the bracelet intently. She could see her reflection, her golden eyes from the shiny bracelet.

"So you are here."

She was distracted when she heard Khun's voice.

"It's you" said Nathan. "Why are you here?"

"Altaira wonders why you haven't came back yet and wants me to look for you" Khun answered. His eyes didn't leave the brown haired girl.

"So you searched her until this place?" Nathan asked.

"After all, Altaira asked her to help him move his stuffs to his new room" Khun replied nonchalantly.

When Charlotte heard his words, she realized that she had forgotten the important reason why she was there and hit her forehead.

"Ah, It's my fault" she said after she slapped her forehead. "How could I forget about it?"

She immediately stood up from the bed, along with Nathan.

"This is good" said the ranker who was in a good mood right now. "You could try on your new storage bracelet?"

"Storage bracelet?" Khun echoed. He had no idea what the ranker meant.

Charlotte understood his words and nodded her head with a confident smile.

After she gathered all the items belong to Altaira, she stood up before the stuffs and the things that she had gathered.

"You have to concentrate. It won't be funny if you suck the wrong thing" Nathan said.

Concentrate. She raised her hand and extended it.

From the bracelet there was blue light, heading towards the things that she gathered and surrounding it, dancing around the stuffs in circle before they disappeared and the blue light returned to her bracelet.

When it returned to her bracelet, she looked at the bracelet in amazement.

Nathan smiled even wider while Khun was slightly taken back.

Without anyone telling him, he was able to tell that Nathan must have given Charlotte a treasure and right now, Charlotte was trying to use it. The item that Nathan gave to Charlotte must be the grey bracelet on her wrist and with the ability to store something inside it. It was an useful and convenient item.

"It isn't that hard" said Charlotte as she looked at Nathan.

"If it is indeed that complicated, I wouldn't be giving it to you" he replied. "All right, Khun and the other are waiting for you. It's better for you to go now."

Charlotte nodded her head and thanked him one more time before she left together with Khun. She walked behind him and the two of them were heading to their destination which was Altaira's new room.

"How did you bribe him until he gives you an item?"

"I didn't bribe anyone" she answered and walked next to him. "I just said a few words."

"You coaxed him?"

"I did not!" she denied it again.

But Khun didn't seem to be hearing. He asked her a different question.

"The bracelet that he gave you....is it to store things inside right?"

Charlotte nodded her head and lifted her right wrist which was wearing the bracelet.

"Storage bracelet. With this, I could store my stuffs inside" said Charlotte. "But I can't keep living things inside this bracelet. They'll die without oxy-- I mean, Shinsu."

"Why would he give you something like that?" Khun asked the fourth question.

"He said that I could store all my weapons inside so that I won't die easily in the Floor of Death. He also said that he starts to like me" Charlotte honestly answered.

"He....starts to take liking on you?" Khun echoed, sounded surprised before he began to ponder about something.

"What's wrong with it?" Charlotte asked.

After he pondered about something, he answered, "....nothing."

'What an enigma' Charlotte thought while raising one of her eyebrows.

≪ ◦ ❖ ◦ ≫

A

fter Charlotte told the whole story to the rest, all of them looked surprised, especially Celeste and Noah. After listening to her story, Celeste fell from her chair and Noah spat out the water he was drinking in shock. They seem to find it hard to believe when Charlotte had said everything honestly and earnestly without a single lie. Well, though she purposely skipped the part where the two of them talked about the tower's law since that wasn't really necessary. Since it couldn't be changed, then just let it be. It would be better than to rebel and had more people dying for her wish.

Altaira helped Celeste to stand and Raisin whose face was stained with the water that Noah had just spat out since he sat next to him wiped his face with the handkerchief, trying so hard to not get mad since he knew that he wasn't a match or Noah.

"Why do you guys look surprised?" Charlotte asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"Charlotte......how do you coax master that he'll like you?" Celeste asked.

"Hm? I don't coax anyone though? Like what I said before, we're just having a short talk."

Altaira scoffed and rolled his eyes. For him who was waiting for Charlotte to return with his stuffs, it wasn't a short talk at all.

"Do you know what that storage bracelet means?" Celeste asked once more.

Charlotte looked at the bracelet before she lifted her head and looked at Celeste, shaking her head.

"I just know that it's extremely rare and that Mr. Nathan wouldn't give it to anyone randomly" said Charlotte.

"There is another reason for that. Master once said that he will only give that bracelet to those--"

Before Celeste could finish her words, Noah quickly closed her mouth with his palm. He looked rather worried and panicked as if Celeste was going to spill out something important. In order to close Celeste's mouth, he pushed Raisin out of his way and now, the red head was being held back by Altaira from beating Noah up.

"Those what?" Altaira asked. He started to smile playfully again over Noah's reaction.

"Not your business" Noah coldly replied.

"But it's also my business right?" Charlotte pointed to herself.

"Master will only give the bracelet to those who he finds worth of or the ones who he trusts the most" Noah quickly answered.

"Really?" She smiled when she heard that. She turned around to look at Khun who was standing. "Do you hear him? He trusts me and finds me worth of this bracelet."

"Yeah.....there must be a mistake with that" Khun said.

Charlotte frowned and pouted.

"Will it kill you to praise me once?"

"I can't say good words like Bam, that's if you want to know" said Khun nonchalantly.

She was even irritated to hear that.

Noah let out a sigh of relieve as if he had just succeed in keeping an important secret.

"Brother, why are you stopping me?" Celeste asked.

"Don't tell that to anyone else, do you understand that?" Noah asked Celeste back which made Celeste even confused. Just like Celeste, he asked her in a whispering tone. "What I mean is that old man must be up to nothing good. For now, we should keep that secret from anyone else, especially Charlotte."