Chapter 92: Able-bodied Husband

[A STANDARD Investment has been detected]

[Effect on Thall: Nil]

[Effect on Sesan: HIGH]

[Effect on Estea: EXCEPTIONAL]

’Oh wow...’

Theo was shocked. She was the one who had shown the least interest.

’This woman...’

Theo smiled to himself and unveiled the rewards.

[You have received a Rare-grade Self-Sharpening Knife]

[You have received an Uncommon-grade sword, Raindrop]

’Another sword! Thank goodness!’

He felt fulfilled, hands full of a blade and a knife he hadn’t asked for. He hadn’t expected that simply getting things for his wives would fetch him a reward of its own.

Theo stretched and glanced around with a small smile on his face. Then he looked toward Estea’s room and went in.

He shut the door behind him. Estea sat by the window, her hands moving gently over her new blanket, not looking at him.

Theo studied her.

"You like it?"

She glanced back at him only briefly.

"Don’t ask me silly questions. Get on with it, why are you here?"

Theo let that slide off him and sat down in the chair by the table at the center of the room.

"How’s Odette faring? How have you been the past two days?"

"It’s just two days. I’m not going to fall over and die because you were absent for two days."

Theo frowned at her.

"That is a rather strong word and I do not appreciate it."

She turned to retort, mouth opening, but nothing came. She closed it again and looked away.

The silence between them held too tightly for a moment, and Theo sighed.

"I’m sorry if that came out a bit too harsh. Of course you’ll be fine without me, there’s Odette and there’s Mr Uthed too, and I’m sure to some extent you can take care of yourself. But you’re disabled. You cannot do everything, and that’s a fact. It’s why this able-bodied husband is here to support you, any time and every time."

She rolled her eyes and did not answer.

After a while, Theo spoke again. This time his voice carried enough weight that Estea’s interest sharpened before he’d finished the sentence.

"So I have some questions about the nature of the Tower. Something’s confusing me, and I don’t think it’s something to ask the Association. Either they don’t know about it, or the information’s been kept from me."

Theo paused. Estea’s attention had settled on him fully now, though she kept that cold look fixed in her amber eyes.

"Do you know what Classes are all about?"

Her eyes moved. Her brows rose, just slightly.

Theo caught the change before it could smooth away. This time she wasn’t in a hurry to erase it.

Her face stayed cold, but underneath it, amusement.

"You gained a Class on your first Trial? What Class?"

"I haven’t received it yet. I wanted to make sure, so I talked to you first before picking."

Estea scoffed.

"Makes no difference, but it’s a good thing you were cautious enough to do that. If you’d entered a Class Trial right after concluding a Tower Trial, you might not have come back to us. What a letdown that would’ve been."

Theo’s face contorted with hurt.

"I’m a real human with real feelings here."

"If you want to challenge a Class Trial, prepare yourself. They’re a different nature from Tower Trials, though Tower Trials are still far more difficult. Class Trials aren’t to be trifled with either. Most of the time you have to reach Floor 10, 14, or 15 to even qualify for a Class, because the Trials there demand a certain amount of excellence. You either get it, or you die. There are nut jobs who scrape through anyway and never get a Class, of course."

Theo listened with a thumping heart, watching Estea’s face as she talked.

’Goodness, she’s so pretty when she’s not frowning.’

She caught his eyes and glared. Theo snapped back to reality.

"Then what’s the difference between someone with a Class and someone without one? Because it seems like if you get a Circulation Art and a good Constitution, you’re basically good to go."

Estea nodded, subtle.

"Naturally, even without a good body, you can gain skills tied to your attributes and your circulation as you progress. Circulation’s impossible not to have, because any movement of mana in your body counts as one. Class, though. Class is different. It introduces the concept of Authority and Domain, and it’s how entities like me, Sesan, and Thall end up existing at all."

Theo nodded slowly, grasping it in threads.

"So Class is like a surefire way to hold a territory on a Floor?"

Estea rubbed her blanket.

"It prepares you for a fate waiting ahead. Whether you claim that fate or walk another still comes down to your own choice and your own skill."

Theo nodded again and clapped.

"Yes! I think I get it now!"

He leaned back, sitting straight.

"Also, what do you know about the Eternal Garden?"

She gave him an indifferent look.

"Never heard of it. If you’re still on Floor One, I wouldn’t know much about places like that. I never grew up in pitiful little places like yours."

Theo gave her a begrudging look.

’All that talk for someone with no legs, she sure likes to talk smack...’

Of course, saying such a thing out loud would earn him a death sentence. Forget the couch, he’d be sleeping in the woods for a week.

"Isn’t it unfair, though? If you grew up on a higher Floor, doesn’t that mean you get a pass on the Trials of the lower ones?"

"You have no idea what you’re talking about."

She shot him a disdainful look and scoffed.

"When you get to Floor 47 yourself, you’ll understand."

Theo grinned, mischievous.

"So you were born on Floor 47?"

Estea turned away.

"If you’re done asking questions, get out of my room."

"Don’t you want to share memories? I could tell you about my childhood."

Estea paused and looked at him, really looked, silent for a moment. Then she said,

"Look at my face. Do I look like I care?"

"Tch. I miss Thall."

Theo muttered it and excused himself from her room.

After he was gone, Estea glanced at the door where he’d just left.

"Getting a Class from Floor 1? That’s nonsense. Who’s he trying to impress."

She paused.

"Wait. There’s no way he’d know about Classes otherwise."

Her already pale face went paler.

"Is he serious? How?"

She’d been hiding it while Theo was in the room, but the truth was, she was floored that he’d been handed a Class Selection after a single Trial.

"Just how excellent did he do?"