11 Gambling

Nephis's face showed a hint of conflict when she heard as she listened.

 "I see, do you think it will effect the performance of the party?" Nephis gaze looked uncertain. 

Echo glanced down on his hands and looked up to meet Nephis eyes. 

"No, It won't, Effie knows how to distinguish between the battlefield and personal matters. Though I cant guarantee she would join, she might make it hard for you."

'I just hoped Effie wouldn't be that childish.' He though. Echo then added.

 "There is also a problem with Gunlaug, He made sure back when he recruited me that if he cant have Effie then no one can, that's why she doesn't have any permanent party here." 

"I already got one of his hunters, so what's there to be afraid about." Nephis said with a little smirk. 

In turn Echo just smiled. 

"I was worried you would say that. Do you have any other ones in mind?" He asked. 

"Yeah, Sunny and Cassie, my companions whom I spent the last 2 months with, in the labyrinth. He might look unassuming at first but Sunny is one of the people I would rather not fight." 

Nephis looked down, she don't usually open up to people that fast, but this time its different, Echo was the one willing to go through with his plan and trust her, in turn she was willing to trust him too. 

"I haven't seen you battle any creatures yet, but if what you said was true, that you did spend the last 2 months inside that hell, then he must be packing a punch too." Echo said as he cleaned up the table. 

"When are you planning to recruit Effie?" He asked as he put the utensils away. 

"In a week, when Sunny and Cassie returns outside." She stood up about to leave. 

"Oh, you don't have to leave you can have the bed, I'll go ahead and find some other place to sleep, there's one just near here." Echo said dismissively. 

"Are you sure?" Nephis stopped near the door and looked at Echo. 

"Yep, can't have my future party leader sleep anywhere else, you see this bed is one of the best among those in the outskirts, I personally carried it from the dark city." Echo said gloatingly and stepped out of the house not waiting for Nephis to reply.

 Outside it was already, dark with a few lanterns lighting up the road and some of the houses of still bright. Echo went on a house a couple of walks near where Nephis was staying, went inside and slept, his body is still tired after all even after it has no wounds.

—

Echo woke up a little bit before the sun can fully rise on the horizon, He stepped out to get some fresh air before he went back towards where Nephis was staying. The meat from the Blood Spear Fiend was there and he was hungry for some breakfast.

When he got in he expect Nephis to still be asleep but to his surprise, she was already cooking some breakfast.

"Woke up early Neph, I can call you that right?" Echo said and sat down at the table, waiting for Nephis.

"Yeah you can, I helped my self and cooked some breakfast from the creature you hunted yesterday." Nephis put the cooked meat at the table. She then asked Echo. 

"Can you tell me all about the creatures in the dark city, their weakness and ranks?" 

"Yeah sure." He answered, reluctantly he knows this would be a long talk just like last time. 

'I should get use to this, If I want all my plans to work well.'

—

After sometime Echo finally finished telling all he knows about the creatures of the dark city, though there might be creatures he didn't know but it was enough to fill in someone who just got here. 

"A spire messenger, people call it since it came from the spire. It's a massive winged creature that has a white body, black feathers and a beak that can break armor almost instantly, we don't really know what its exact rank is since no body killed one before, but we're sure its a Fallen. It's weakness? Nobody knows, anyone who encountered it never lived to tell the tale." 

Nephis has a look extreme focus all throughout. Echo just scratched the back of his head. 

The sun is already up high, by the time they ended. Nephis then said she would go out, to gather more information to who knows where, she said even though Echo said everything about the situation inside and outside the castle she, has to experience it herself. So Echo was left inside the house all by himself. 

'I don't really know what to do in the next days before Sunny returns, and we recruit Effie.' Echo grimaced at the idea of meeting Effie again, not that he hates her or anything its just it would be troublesome. 

'I'll stay inside the castle for a bit maybe buy some memories while I'm at it and gamble in Aiko's gambling den.' He said to himself, stood up and got out of the house.

—

Echo stepped inside the castle, and immediately walked towards where the gambling den is located. 

When he got there, he was met with a lot of stares, apparently the past Echo being a regular in the gambling den is very popular not because he won a lot but because he was a very bad gambler, so everyone is eager to play against him, in any game. 

'I can see your grins, damn fools.' Echo said with resentment in his head. 

While he is walking trying to find a table, suddenly Aiko popped out of nowhere. 

"The famous gambler is finally back, so how much do you plan on losing this time?" Aiko said and leaned closer to Echo. 

Echo pushed down her face away from him and said. 

"I plan not to lose a game this time." 

"Really? From what I gathered your win rate is less than 15% in the last 2 and a half years, the only time it got past 15 was when you didn't play for a week because you got injured on a hunt, that was 2 years ago." She said crossing her arms as she smirks. 

Echo scratched the back of his head, embarrassed as to how much of a loser in gambling the past Echo was. 

"I'll win."