Food.
It is something in which those who flourish take for granted, while the ones who endure covet more than anything.
As someone that has known both sides of that egregious coin, Vigil could now say with all certainty that food is the one thing in this world that all beings should cherish and enjoy with their entire being.
And that was exactly what the young boy was doing at this very moment.
After Vigil had walked away in frustration from Witch, he had gone to the food tent, gotten himself a plate of steaming hot food, and sat down on a bench that was set up nearby the tents.
Said plate of food consisted of an odd, but good, tasting piece of meat that Vigil could keenly distinguish as monster meat, as well as an assortment of vegetables.
Each bite he'd taken was followed by an immense sense of joy, for this was the first time in years in which Vigil was able to eat seasoned food and not just some preservatives he'd gotten off of a corpse or a lump of tough monster meat.
It had taken Vigil a good twenty minutes to finish eating the entirety of the plate given to him.
After he'd finished his dinner and returned the plate back to the food tent, he was soon approached by the same man that had told him to help pitch one of the tents.
"Hey kid, have you already eaten?"
Hearing this, Vigil nodded his head in affirmation.
Acknowledging his response, the man then pointed at the top of one of the vehicles that had been acting as a barricade for the convoy.
"Then get on top of that vehicle and keep watch. In four hours, come down and grab someone that hasn't been on watch yet to take your place. Oh, and take this. A sound will go off when your shift's done."
Leaving him with those orders as well as a small watch looking object that Vigil had put in his pocket, the man then turned around and left.
Vigil then sat there and stared at the vehicle that he'd been appointed to stand guard on for a few moments before getting up and walking towards it.
However, as Vigil was walking towards his destination, he'd remembered that his weapons were currently being held in the Cardinals personal transport vehicle.
So, instead of going towards his assigned post, he moved for the vehicle that was stationed at the center of their makeshift camp.
When Vigil arrived he decided not to waste any more time than he should and knocked on the door.
"Excuse me sir, it's Dread. I seem to have left my weapons with you and am here to take them back so that I may be able to properly stand watch."
He said in a polite manner.
Not even three seconds had passed by the time that the Cardinals voice rang out from the other side of the door.
"You may enter. Oh and while you're at it, please take your helmet with you as well. I'm sure that you'd feel much safer with it on while you are on watch."
It was only now that Vigil had realized that he'd gone this whole time without his helmet on.
This confused him in multiple ways.
First of all, he would normally not have taken off his helmet for more than a few minutes at a time in fear of getting ambushed. Second of all, he had literally just eaten food.
How could he have forgotten about his helmet when he would normally take it off to eat and put it right back on as soon as he'd finished.
'How could I forget something so important? Did I get too comfortable around these people? But that was so quick!'
Vigil decided that it would be best not to think about it too hard and that his time would be better spent doing what he had come here to do in the first place.
Opening the door, Vigil gave his greetings in the same manner he normally would when he would greet the royals he had once been a butler in training for.
He then grabbed his belongings, said his farewells, and headed for his post after closing the door of the Cardinals vehicle.
When Vigil had reached the grounds that would act as his post for the next few hours, he took a second to look around then drew his attention towards the top of the vehicle.
He then proceeded to climb on top.
However, it was only by the time that Vigil had finished climbing aboard did he notice the presence of someone else.
With her vivid red cloak, black hair, and slightly pointed ears, Vigil was easily able to discern the person's identity.
It was Witch.
Vigil paid her no mind and walked towards the outward facing edge of the roof, sitting down once he got there.
No words were exchanged between the two.
No hellos, no conversation, nothing. Just the silence of the enchanting night sky.
The silence persisted for a while until it was finally broken by the soft sound of Witch's voice.
"Dread... I- No... Initially I was going to apologize for anything that I've done that might've upset you but... I know that you wouldn't care about any of that."
She said without letting her eyes leave the land sprawled out in front of her.
"Listen, I've never been good with any of this heartfelt mushy stuff so I don't really know what I should say in this situation. So instead, I'll just say what I think you want to hear."
She paused for a few seconds in order to gather her thoughts.
However, those few seconds of thinking were unable to give her the words in which she wanted to say.
In the end, the best thing that she could come up with was to go by her heart and just wing it.
"You don't trust anyone- I can understand that, but in this world, that mentality won't get you far. Now I know that you have probably seen some pretty messed up things out in War Field, things that would make even my horrific memories look like nothing but bedtime stories in comparison... Things that made you this way, untrusting..."
At this point, Witch didn't even know if Dread was still listening. But even if there was a slight chance that he was, then she would keep on going.
So that's what she did, she kept talking.
"But with that said, I want you to try putting your trust in me. I know that it may be a tall order for you but still... I don't want to see a kid like you dying all because of the fear of something that might or might not happen."
She stopped talking, waiting to see if there was even the tiniest of reaction from Dread.
But to no avail...
"...So knowing that, let's do this. You will ask me something, anything, and I will give you the truth in which you want. In case you don't believe me, when we make it to Mercy, you can do all the digging around you want in order to make sure that I've told the truth. Maybe that way, you'll learn to trust me and later on even more people."
She then paused, waiting for Dread's questions to come...
A few minutes had passed in that ever familiar silence.
It was at this point that Witch was starting to think that Dread had never even cared to listen to begin with.
But soon after, Witch had heard a deep sigh exit the helmet of the small child sitting but an arms length away from her.
"So the whole reason why you're doing this is because... you don't want to see me die alone?"
Hearing the voice of the young boy made Witch jolt her head to the side in order to look at him, thinking that maybe she'd gone crazy.
After staring at the boy for a moment, she then looked back towards the darkness that expanded out in front of her and said:
"That's one pessimistic way of putting it but... Yeah, something like that."
Soon after that, Witch could see Dread patting the roof of the vehicle that they were both sitting on.
"So... These things, what are they? I've just been calling them metal carriages this whole time but I'm sure that that's not right."
After hearing his question, Witch was more than a little tempted to burst out laughing.
She was right, the boy was just a country bumpkin.
However, she held it back... barely.
"This is called a Humvee, it's a type of vehicle. Before you ask, a vehicle is a machine that is used to get people or cargo from place to place, but they also have uses for warfare and whatnot."
Vigil immediately turned his head towards her after hearing this explanation. Now he was really curious.
"So are the giant metal people vehicles too?"
Those words of his made Witch raise an eyebrow in both confusion and thought.
'Giant metal people...? Oh!'
It was only after a few seconds had passed that she understood what he meant.
"Yeah, they are in a way, a type of vehicle. We call them, forged titans."
It had not even been a few seconds since his first round of questions was over before Vigil began the second round.
"Although I've only heard about them in passing while running through battlefields, I'm still curious. What are ranks?"
There were multiple answers to this question, but instead of asking for which he wanted, she decided that it'd be best to just answer with them all.
"There are two different types of rankings that are used by all nations, whether they be big or small, technologically advanced or underdeveloped, it doesn't matter."
Moments passed as she waited for the boy to be done absorbing the given information, then continued on with what she was saying.
"To start off, first are the monster ranks. There are a total of eight ranks. At the bottom of the scale are 8th Rate monsters while at the top are the 1st Rate ones. Each of the monster ratings have three sublevels, Prey, Predator, and Apex."
She paused for a few moments before continuing.
Although Vigil couldn't see it, he could tell based off of her voice that Witch was currently being slightly overtaken by fear.
"Now, although 1st Rate Apex are extremely dangerous, to the point where a single one could wipe out an entire country, there is still one monster rank that is higher than that. The Calamities, beings that could wipe out one of the five great superpowers all by their lonesome."
She stopped for a minute to catch her breath.
It was now that Vigil had realized that what instilled Witch with such fear, were the calamities.
Before he could think any longer on the subject, Witch's voice coursed through the air once again.
"Next are the rankings that people use for each other, inmate ranks. Before I go further in depth, please do not ask me about the name, how it came to be or what it means, because I can't tell you and almost no one else can. But anyway, there are eight inmate ranks. Now each rank is not determined by just a singular thing, it is instead brought upon by the culmination of one's skill, technique, abilities, and whatnot."
She then held up eight fingers and showed them in Vigil's direction, lowering one each time she went up in rank.
"Starting from the lowest rank and moving to the top, we have Initiate also known as Rookie, Intermediate, Elevated, Advanced, Veteran, Warlord, Monarch, and finally Empyrean. In case you were curious, based off of our one fight as well as everything that I've heard about you, I'd mark you down as an Elevated. As for me, I've been designated as a Veteran."
That brought a slight shock to Vigil.
'Someone as powerful as Witch is only a Veteran? That's barely above the halfway point within the ranks... Well, I guess there will always be a bigger fish.'
Time went on like that, with Vigil asking questions and Witch answering all that she could.
However, all times must come to an end, as soon, Vigil's timer went off signaling that his shift was over.
From the looks of it, since Witch's timer had yet to go off, she was most likely given a longer watch then he was. So, with that, the conversation had ended there, with Vigil getting up and starting to leave in order to find a replacement and get some shut eye.
But just as he was about to jump off of the Humvee's roof, Witch called out to him one last time.
"Hey Dread... Why didn't you ask me about my name? I'm sure that you know that Crimson Witch isn't my real one."
Without even turning around Vigil responded to her question.
"For the same reason that I didn't give mine."
With that, Vigil had left her to go to a tent and get some sleep.