Joarris leaned forward a little, his attention piqued. Eri considered his words carefully.

  “You are correct that my power operates in an abstract sense — for this part of my power, at least,” Eri began. “This is going to sound dumb, but it… It literally runs on the power of friendship.”

  Silence. Eri’s face turned slightly red, embarrassed at his own words. He braced himself for laughter, or even insults from Joarris.

  The man, however, simply remained contemplative. “Do you mean this as a purely psychological phenomenon, or are the benefits conveyed by your power physiological?”

  Once again, Eri was surprised at the practical approach to Joarris’s questions. “Both? The power it conveys directly yields both mental and physical benefits. But it’s not imaginary or a purely psychoactive effect, if that’s what you are asking.”

  “How are you able to quantify ‘friendship’? Is it based on instincts, magic, personal judgment, or—”

  “I have a numerical way of tracking it. I suppose you could consider it a fragment of Old Magic… Let’s just call it companion bond points and bond levels for now. The more of it I have, the more… benefits I can grant. The easiest way I can explain it is that it is arcana so ill-understood, it borders on supernatural.”

  Joarris hummed. He considered Eri’s words with no mocking or disbelief on his face. “Your abilities scale with… what you’re calling Companion Bond Points.”

  “Correct,” Eri nodded, coughing sheepishly. The words felt nonsensical to say, but he pushed them out nonetheless. “The stronger the… friendship I have with my ‘companions’, the more Bond Points I have, and the stronger the bonuses.”

  Joarris tapped his fingers against the table thoughtfully. “But what constitutes Bond Points? Is it an emotional resonance? A collection of shared experiences? Chemical trust responses? What makes a Bond Level, precisely?”

  Yet again, there was a surprising amount of thought placed into Joarris’s questions. Eri shrugged. “If I fight alongside someone, help them, or, I don’t know, spend time talking to them, the points increase. It’s… measurable, but at the same time, it’s not exactly explained well to me how the points are earned.”

  “It’s your power,” Joarris pointed out. “How can you not understand its workings?”

  “Well, yes, but… To take an example, you apply your Artes and mana to great effect, but you don’t have a precise understanding of magic theory or how your Core functions. To use your words: The practical is instinctive here; the theoretical is not necessary to execute the action.”

  “So you’re saying the training benefits you granted Dulcina were dependent on your social relationship with her, rather than a logical set of cause-and-effect,” Joarris concluded. “More specifically, your positive relationship with her.”

  “Yes.”

  “And the reason why you can’t do the same for me is because we lack the rapport you share with her?”

  “That sums it up, I think. Although…” Eri frowned as a sudden realisation hit him. “Actually, I think it’s less of a measure of my positive perspective on you. Rather, it might be your opinion of me that primarily decides how strong our ‘friendship’ is in the eyes of this… power.”

  It made sense as Eri said it aloud. Eri thought the world of Elen; the matron was undoubtedly his closest confidant. Yet their bond level never advanced past Bond Level 0.

  Meanwhile, Dulcina’s bond level rose rapidly even when I distrusted her, during the turbulent early days of our first meeting. Eri realised. So the System takes Bond Levels as not a measure of trust on my end… but on my companion’s. It measures how much they trust me.

  “A measure of my opinion of you…” Joarris mused. “Interesting. But if that’s the case, it should be exploitable…”

  “You are taking this really well, considering I have zero evidence to back up my ridiculous claims,” Eri admitted.

  Joarris smiled wryly. “Would you believe me if I told you this is not the most ridiculous claim I’ve heard in my life?”

  “Really? What’s the other?”

  “It’s… It’s just something my older brother mentioned, a long time ago.” Joarris was silent for a moment. The man looked up at Eri. “I want to try something. Give me a few seconds, and let me know if it works.”

  Joarris then closed his eyes. He sat perfectly still, his expression frowning in concentration.

  Eri was confused, but he didn’t interrupt.

  Ten seconds passed. Twenty seconds.

  A full minute went by with absolutely nothing happening.

  When two awkward minutes passed, and just as Eri was about to say something, a sudden ‘ding’ in his head caused him to jump.

  [Joarris Drevaine Bond Level raised!]

  [You are now Bond Level 2!]

  “What?” Eri blinked. “What in the world— Did you do that?”

  Joarris didn’t reply. He frowned harder instead, eyes still closed in deep concentration.

  [Joarris Drevaine Bond Level raised!]

  [You are now Bond Level 3!]

  [You have unlocked the Companion Bond Level Shop!]

  “What?! Wait, wait, wait! Stop! You are freaking me out!” Eri yelled, jumping to his feet.

  Joarris was jolted back to the present. The man blinked a few times. “Did it work?”

  Eri stared at Joarris, awed and horrified. “Did it work?! That’s… Yes, but…! What did you do?!”

  “I sought to improve our friendship, as you put it.” Joarris rubbed his forehead, a little sheepish. “Or rather, exploit its measure through means of cognitive self-suggestion.”

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  “But… You can’t just… magically exploit the power of friendship by thinking really hard!” Eri exclaimed.

  “Of all the strange things that happened, is this really that peculiar?” Joarris asked, confused.

  “Yes! That was scary!”

  “Well, judging from your reaction, I assumed it was a success. You mentioned that the quality of our ‘friendship’ is determined by how positive my opinion is of you. In that case, the solution seemed rather straightforward: I must simply force myself into believing a more… rose-tinted truth about you.”

  “Was your opinion on me really that bad before that you can just so easily improve it?” Eri asked, both baffled and strangely hurt.

  “It’s not like that,” Joarris shook his head. “I greatly respect your abilities and your character. However, I was confounded by the mystery behind your power. It is at times, as Bori would put it, ‘utter bullshit’. This naturally gave rise to several negative feelings, jealousy chief among them. However, because I am able to identify the source of my misgivings with you, it is thus possible to correct them.”

  “But that’s not how it works!” Eri hotly countered. “People are stubborn! They don’t change their minds that easily!”

  “They don’t,” Joarris agreed, to Eri’s surprise. “It is very difficult for someone to alter their opinions on any subject, especially when aspects of pride are involved. However, House Dervaine has a history of employing meditative practices, courtesy of our Saint — a hero famous for his utterly practical and forthright character. My family has thus adopted a long-standing habit of maintaining our rationality by employing… well, I hesitate to call it self-hypnosis, but it comes close.”

  “Are you telling me you have just literally brainwashed yourself into thinking I am a better person?!”

  “It’s not brainwashing. It’s… a lesser and completely harmless adjacent cousin to it,” Joarris explained, looking embarrassed. “I simply used logic and reasoning to challenge the illogical misgiving I have regarding your person. All flaws I perceived in you are born from irrational and baseless sentiments on my end. As I’ve said, my rational mind can find no flaw in your character, values, or personality. Therefore, any negative feelings I have for you are strictly unsightly failings on my emotional end, and thus should be removed.”

  “And so you just… removed it,” Eri concluded. He was near speechless.

  “I removed it,” Joarris nodded. “And it worked.”

  “But that’s… That’s stupid! It shouldn’t be able to work like that… Right?”

  Except it clearly did. Joarris’s Bond UI was now expanded, displaying various boons and bonuses as a result of their improved ‘Bond Level’. Eri grimaced and gave his UI screen a side glance.

  [Displaying Companion Joarris Drevaine’s Bond Level Boons…]

  /-/

  Joarris Drevaine

  Bond Level 0: The Chariot

  Gain access to Companion’s Stat UI page.

  Bond Level 1: Imposter Syndrome

  When in the player’s party, gain a +25% Reputation Bonus whenever Reputation Points are earned. Additionally, Joarris can perform Charisma-related Skill checks in place of the player character.

  Bond Level 2: Drevaine Leadership

  When in the player’s party and in combat, the player gains Charisma +4 per Bond Level. After reaching Bond Level 5, the Bonus is increased to +8.

  Bond Level 3: Power Of Friendship

  Gain access to the Bond Point Shop for Companion.

  /-/

  The bonuses were surprisingly good. Charisma had always been Eri’s weakest stat, so having the means to compensate for it was a boon. Additionally, the numerical stat bonus to Charisma was far more significant than Dulcina’s dexterity bonus, as his base Charisma scores were far lower.

  If I manage to get Joarris to Bond Level 5, that will give me a +40 flat bonus points to my pitiful Charisma. That alone would make the Bond Level worthwhile.

  But what about the Bond Point Shop? Eri quickly browsed through its contents. The usual options of ‘Lesser Restoration’, ‘Fatigue Removal’, ‘Experience Boost’, and ‘Lesser Combat Boost’ were available for purchase. That meant Eri could now subject Joarris to the same training regimen that Dulcina was currently undergoing.

  However, that was not all. There was a unique companion perk available for purchase as well, similar to Dulcina, and its effects were noteworthy.

  /-/

  Companion Perk Unlock: Pretender of the North (300 Points)

  Permanently unlock the Perk for Joarris. Grant the following effects:

  Whenever the Player character gains Reputation, Joarris will receive half the boost to his personal reputation as well. For every 10000 Reputation that Joarris has accumulated with any faction, the Player character gains +3 Attribute Points. In addition, Level Ups now increase Joarris’s Charisma by +5, and whenever Joarris receives a Bond Shop bonus, it applies to everyone else within his party as well.

  /-/

  The boons from the Bond Shop apply to everyone in his party? Eri blinked. That’s insanely good.

  “I’m almost afraid to ask this, but can you raise your mental opinion of me even higher?” Eri hesitantly asked.

  Joarris grimaced. “I don’t think so. Perhaps I can attempt a few more mental exercises to trick myself, but any effort past this point will be an uphill battle. I have already ‘exploited’ most of the vulnerabilities in my thought process regarding my opinion of you, so to speak.”

  That gave Eri some relief. “I’ll be honest, as mind-blowingly impressive as that was, you have freaked me out a little.”

  “Perhaps now you understand how the rest of us feel when we are faced with one absurd revelation after another regarding your capabilities,” Joarris jested. When he saw Eri’s uncomfortable look, the man bowed. “I apologise. That was thoughtless of me.”

  “No, no. You’re not wrong. I don’t have the right to complain,” Eri sighed. “In any case, this is more than enough. I can give you and your team the same experience boost I have given Dulcina. The mines have been cleared, but minor demon nests are still abundant close to Castle Elathion’s grounds near the burnt-out port.”

  Unsettling experience aside, this was a positive development in Eri’s future plans. The boy discussed future training expeditions with an excited Joarris. All the while, however, his mind kept pondering about something else this ‘experiment’ had taught him.

  Even after all those years we spent together, Elen must have never trusted me fully. Otherwise, our Bond Level would have at least reached Level One.

  The realisation was a wretched one, and it gave rise to another question.

  Did she ever truly care for me at all, or was she just pretending the entire time?

  ~~~

  The passage of time continued its inexorable march.

  The days between news from the front were long. Restlessness ill-suited any of the denizens or frequent guests of House Elathion, and so none were idle for long. Each day saw the minute improvements in skills, gear, and power.

  The young scions of House Elathion grew into fine youths. At the same time, the noble Chosens of House Dervaine (plus one mouthy archer peasant) accumulated great and confounding strength through their inexplicably effective new training regime (or at least, inexplicable to everyone except Joarris, who acquiesced to Eri’s request that the finer details of his powers remain a secret even to the group.)

  The situation in the West grew ever grimmer. Even the censored news could not hide the deteriorating situation. News spread that, perhaps, the Kaldreach Coalition might even be returning North soon, with nothing but defeat to show for their grand expedition.

  Months passed. Then a year. Then two years.

  Until, finally, on the third year…

  “Lord Draevan has gone missing.”

  A seventeen-year-old Eridane Elathion gave a grim smile. Lauren’s face was ashen as he passed the news, but Eri patted the Captain on the shoulder reassuringly.

  “Assemble everyone. It’s time.”

  The day he hoped would never come had finally arrived.

  [Main Quest updated! ‘Manifest Greatness; Go West!’]

  [A Hero is never late or early. His heroic intervention is always right on time! The mighty Coalition has failed, but where disaster strikes, a saviour shall rise!]

  [New Objective updated, Part 1: Save the Coalition forces from imminent total annihilation and reunite their scattered factions back into a cohesive army — ideally under your glorious name!]

  It was time to head to the Slaver Isles.