Trust

Fiore | フィオーレ

"Fiore..." Kouen muttered, completely ignoring Sinbad's attempt to figure out what they were talking about. "I see," he cupped his chin. He repeated it a few more times, testing the way the foreign word sounded.

Eventually, after muttering to himself for a bit, he finally brought his attention back to Lucy and Sinbad who were somehow amicably chatting together.

It hasn't even been that long since they met yet they're already chatting like old friends, he thought, bringing his focus back to their... questionable conversation.

"Oh how you wound me, Lucy~" Was the first thing Kouen heard Sinbad say. "My charms aren't fake!" He cried in faux pain.

Lucy shot him an unimpressed look. "I'm not saying they are. All I'm saying is your flirting sucks." Sinbad cried in protest again. "I wooed the chambermaid that was here earlier! In front of both of you! I have great flirting skills!"

Lucy didn't look convinced and kept her impassive, unimpressed look. "I know someone who says the same thing, yet neither of you have successfully wooed me before. Makes me wonder if both of you really are delusional about how well you're able to charm someone." Hearing this lighthearted comment, Sinbad paused and Lucy widened her eyes, realizing what she just said.

She knew she was growing more and more comfortable the longer she stayed here and wasn't as on guard about everything compared to before, but she didn't realize exactly how lenient she's gotten with herself, since she's apparently gotten relaxed enough to accidentally let something about herself slip, even after all the effort she put into keeping everything about herself a secret.

"So you remember your past now?" He asked, voice light.

(Faintly, Kouen could hear Lucy curse under her breath.)

"Some of it," she said, staying calm.

"Then I can assume 'Fiore' is where you're from, since I'm sure the hothead over here wouldn't care much about this place if it didn't have anything to do with you or your origins."

"Yes, Fiore is where I'm from." She kept her voice as light as his was. "But it's quite small. In fact, it's so small that it doesn't even show up on any maps. People rarely leave there too, so I can assure you, I'm the only person you're ever going to meet from there." No one else can even come to this world unless they do whatever Mavis Vermilion did—something Lucy's still curious about. But it's not like she wants to go back or anything, she's much better off here, in a place she still knows little about, than where she spent almost her entire life, and she doesn't mind it. It's nice here.

Preferring this world isn't enough to quell her curiosity though, and the only thing she thinks could be close to what the First Master did would be how Edolas-Jellal brought the guild with him to Edolas, but even she knows that's a bit of a stretch.

And since she has no idea how Mavis did it, even though her magic type is quite literally bringing different beings from another realm/world/thing to help her, she's really interested in how it happened.

"You seem quite sure of yourself," Sinbad mused. "But no matter how small the... place you come from is, if it exists, I'm certain I can find it. After all, finding one small village can't possibly be that hard."

Lucy smirked at him. He may have sailed across this world but to find Fiore, he's going to need to go a bit farther than that. "Go on and try if you want to. And while I don't doubt your navigation and information gathering skills, I highly doubt you will ever be able to find it."

Even though she has yet to know how Mavis brought her here, from what she's gathered from this world, she's the only one from Earthland here, and even if there—somehow—is someone else, she doubts they would be found.

"Well then, as much as I hate the idea of making such a pretty young lady disappointed, I look forward to proving you wrong." He said playfully, not minding how little Lucy believed in him. It's not the first time someone played his words off like a joke and like those times, he can't wait to see the look of disbelief on her face when he does find her home and rub it in her face.

After all, how hard could it be to find a remote village? He's found many of those before and he's sure this one will be no different.

- - - - -

"So did you barge into my chambers just to annoy me or do you have an actual reason for being here so late in the day?" Kouen asked, once again tired of the purple haired king's antics after hearing him speak for no more than a few minutes.

"As much as I do love our little get togethers, I did actually come here for a reason." Sinbad responded, shifting his weight from one leg to the other.

So he does have a reason for bothering me. Kouen crossed his arms. "Which is?"

"A dungeon appeared." He said, demeanor changing from playful to serious.

"Your point being..." Kouen trailed off, waiting for Sinbad to explain. Yes, a dungeon appearing doesn't happen is rare, but it's not uncommon enough for Sinbad to be acting the way he is.

"My point," he reiterated what Kouen said, "is none of the Magi summoned it. It just appeared out of nowhere."

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A/N: Not me opening my drafts to see a fully completed chapter last opened when I was studying for my exams that I don't even remember writing because the past few weeks have felt like a fever dream.