Chapter XLVII: What the... I Thought It Already Begun?A Chapter by OranThe rain still pours hard in this region. I guess monsoons are a thing here in The Lower Kingdom, and once again, the city of Bania is knee-deep in storm water.
“And as winter chills and fire burns
“And the tide of battle ebbs and flows
“We kill each other, taking turns
“And what’s left is for the Crows”
A man with a gun sits inside a pub,
brandishing his revolver as he recites the poem, “Crows” by Ryan Perez. The
freezing monsoon gave him an excuse to warm himself with a shot of... I’m not
very good with alcohol names so let’s just say he’s drinking something to keep
himself warm. The place was empty, not that he gave a damn, but the immediate population of this town mostly consists of people above the age of 60.
As he gulped down another shot, the smell of alcohol gives off a musk from the glass. The taste was bitter, and yet the feeling of a lit match sliding down his throat into the rest of his gullet felt just as pleasant. The last drop went in, and he only just noticed a familiar presence sitting next to him, specifically a certain baker who just got fired.
“Guten tag”, he greets without taking his eyes off the shot glass.
“Bonjour”,
Sheldon greets back. What the hell are you doing here, man? And why are you wearing a sweater-vest?
“Did Winston tell you to come after me?”
“Nope. I went here of my own accord.”
“I see. And, since you got here so quickly, that means he lent you his toys, didn’t he?”
Sheldon holds up the purple key in response.
“Very good. Shall we go about our business then?”
“Lead the way, Kevlar.”
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As the rain drenches the soil, back at the second crash site in the woods near The Lower Kingdom, Therese was fixing up her lab coat on Sierra, who previously had her top melted off. Now she’s stuck with Mea’s green shirt and her sister’s lab coat until they can find her a new bra.
“Alright, this should hold you for a while”, Therese says.
“Okay... But I don’t have a bra.”
“Don’t worry. No one’s gonna be
wanting to have a gander at your small breasts”, she reassures her sister. "Unless they're looking for a chopping board."
“That doesn’t assure me at all.”
As they got out of the storage room, Sierra went around the passenger’s area to find Solis, but the first thing she found was Anna who was sound asleep next to Credo. This is the first time they’ve met since the incident at Origami Canyon, so she thought she could take the time to introduce herself.
“Hello there”, she greets Credo.
“Therese? Wait... Where’s your glasses?”
“It’s Sierra. You must be Credo, right?”
“Oh, sorry about that. No wonder your otome aura was different.”
“Otome... aura?”
“Forget I said that”, Credo says, looking away. “Did you need something from me?”
“Not exactly. I just thought I might introduce myself.”
“Hmm... In that case, my name is Credo. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Sierra.”
He reaches out his hand, and as he does this, Sierra couldn’t help but notice that dangerous smile in his face... That’s the unwavering smile of the Harem King, for even if the competition for his heart ceases to be, his Harem powers still remain intact. As a result, Sierra was stuck blushing for a while.
“Are you okay... Sierra?”
“Oh, yes! Sorry about that.” She then thinks to herself: “This guy is dangerous!”
She takes his hand and shakes it. His touch mesmerized her for a bit, as expected of the Harem King, and she would’ve held on a little longer if someone hadn’t woken up and intervened.
“Hi there! You must be Sierra!” Anna greets with an exaggeratedly merry expression as she took her hand and shook it rather... maliciously. “I’m Anna, Credo’s girlfriend...”
“It’s... It’s nice to meet you, Anna”, she shakes nervously.
“I hope we can be good friends in this journey!”
“Um... Yes, I hope so too. So... can I have my hand back... please?”
“Oh, sorry! I was just so delighted to finally introduce myself to you formally!”
As she lets go of Sierra’s hand, she bowed and slowly backed away. “It was nice meeting you two.” She thinks to herself again: “I thought I was gonna die!”
While Sierra was walking away, Credo just realized something.
“Hey... That girl wasn’t wearing a-“
Before he could finish, Anna lit up a flare in her hand and gestured it as a fireball toward his face.
“Sorry! I didn’t see anything! Just please go back to sleep.”
The flames died down when he said
this and she lay her head back on his shoulder again.
Poor Sierra got all flustered after that. No living being can control the scorn of a maiden whose love is at stake! Not even the maiden herself!
“Sierra, looks like that t-shirt fits you well”, Mea greets her when they bumped into each other.
“Thanks, Eve, although it would have been much better if I had a bra.”
“Don’t worry, Sierra. No one’s gonna be looking at your small breasts.”
“Of course... Thanks, Eve”, she sarcastically shows gratitude.
“You’re welcome.”
“By the way, have you by chance seen Solis?”
“Solis? I think he’s outside playing in the rain.”
“Playing in the rain?”
“Yeah...”
““He’s so childish...””
They both blush on thinking about him.
“Well, I’m going to the storage room. Come on, Lux. I have something I wanna try today.”
Something you want to try? You mean those f*cking electric toothbrushes! Just because he looks like Aoi Sora doesn’t mean you can use him as material!
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Solis was bored out of his mind on the Sylphid so he decided to go to that platform above the plane and feel the breeze because he thought he’d look cool, just sitting there, staring at the sunrise while the rain soaked him wet. He left his clothes inside, and all that’s left was an extra pair of blue shorts he always brought with him.
At this point, he had trouble thinking about what lies ahead of him.
There are so many reasons as why God let him live the way he did, so much that it’s been really confusing. Life was so much simpler when he was a kid, when he used to just get breakfast, practice with swords all morning, get lunch, practice with swords all afternoon, get dinner, take a bath, then go back to sleep. He used to think it was so boring, and it would continue on like that, until one day Luno came home with a pamphlet from Colegio de [1] Rizal, a university in The Lower Kingdom offering free education for those who enroll in sciences.
Of course Luno wasn’t just gonna let him study since he had to keep him away from the outside world as much as possible. Besides, he’s too young to go to college anyway. It made him angry when Luno kept on refusing, saying that ‘college is for f*****s’ and whatnot, so he ran away with Tenenbaum.
That day, he got lost in the forest, and as he wandered around, he found a small village by the riverside where some kids were playing. It was then that he found this girl separated from the group trying to climb up a tree, only to see her fail horribly as she fell off the branch.
“Tch... Lux-chan no baka...”, the girl mutters to herself.
“Um... Are you okay?”, Solis approaches her.
“Ah... Can... help?”
“What?”
“Help”, she says, pointing at the cat. “Get cat! Get cat!”
“Okay...”
Tenenbaum then climbed up his shoulder and used him as leverage to get up the tree. Seeing how his cat easily got up, he took a firm grip on the trunk while his other hand grabbed the adjacent branch. He was careful to place his weight against the trunk while he pulls himself upward with each branch until he made it to the top.
“Kakkoii!”
“What did you say-“
He lost balance and fell off.
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Solis opened his eyes. He just realized that he fell asleep, and by the time he came to, he noticed that it was still raining, and yet he felt no rain drops falling on him. Looking up, he found Sierra holding an umbrella over his head.
“What are you doing out here dressed like that, Solis? You’re gonna catch a cold.”
“I’m immune to colds. In fact, I’m also... Achieew!”
“You sneeze like a kitten.”
“S-Shut up!”
“Come on. Let’s head back inside.”
“No way! Why are you even here?”
“Eve said you were out here playing in the rain.”
“Hey! I’m not that childish!”
“Whatever”, she scoffs. “I’m going in without you.”
Just as she turned around and left him, the rain came into an abrupt stop. He sighs and stands up to go after her since there’s no point in being stubborn anymore.
“Therese, wait up.”
“Therese?”
“Yeah, I figured it out.”
So it was Therese. But wait, where’s Sierra? Oh, there she is, watching from underneath the hatch, wearing her sister’s grey blouse.
Therese then takes up her glasses and puts them on.
“Sierra was too embarrassed to talk to you while you were in that outfit-“
“No I wasn’t! I just didn’t want to get wet”, she screams at the top of her lungs from the hatch.
“So, how’d you figure out it was me?”
“That’s easy”, Solis smiles at her innocently. “Your breasts are definitely bigger than-“
A gust of wind made from Sierra’s mana threw Solis off his feet and out of the platform.
“I KNOW THEY’RE SMALL! DON’T RUB IT IN!” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now that the rain has stopped, it’s time to say goodbye to that f*cked-up macromage with weird fetishes and his little sister who seems to have a knack for-
“Hey, has anyone seen my sword?”, Credo announces, checking under every seat.
“It’s not in the storage room”, Rylai tells him as she emerged from the storage room door. “All I found was some suspicious whitish liquid that’s sputtered over the boxes.”
I’m guessing that whitish liquid is Mea’s
“Keep looking. It’s gotta be around here somewhere.”
“It’s not in the maintenance area either, Credo”, Lanette reports.
“Where the hell did that thing disappear to?”
“Over here, Credo”, Therese calls him over.
“Oh, I forgot. It was with you last night”, he says while she hands it over to him. “Why were you holding onto it?”
“Nothing really. I just took the liberty of fixing it for you.”
“What do you mean?”
Credo accidentally pulls the trigger and he paid no mind until one of the cushions was blown to bits like it got hit by [2] Articuno’s Ice Beam.
“You fixed the cartridge?”
“Yup. It was pretty hard to- Ow!“
Elias just flicked her on the left temple.
“She didn't help at all. It was pretty hard to open it up. That weapon’s a prototype made by Melynx”, Elias speaks up. “Its blade is pretty strong but the gun is fragile. You’re better off looking for a replacement because that cartridge is gonna break once it gets overused. All I did was piece it together, but when it totally breaks apart, no one’s gonna be able to fix it.”
“What are you talking about?”, Therese complains while rubbing her temple. “I did a lot of helping.”
“If by ‘helping’ you mean repeatedly asking me about Violet, then you weren’t very much help at all.”
“Um... Thanks, Elias. I’m gonna pack up my stuff now”, Credo thanks him with a wry smile as he exits the conversation.
“So...” Therese subtly changes the topic.
“What?”
“Where do you think Violet-“
“Enough about Violet!”
WHO THE F*CK IS THIS VIOLET, WRITER?
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Now that the rain has stopped, it’s time to say goodbye to that f*cked-up macromage with weird fetishes and his little sister who seems to have a knack for straight-up incest. Everyone was ready to go except for Therese, Lanette, and Credo who took a little longer than expected.
“Sorry about that. Had to go get my sword.”
“Where’d you find it?”, Anna asks. She seems to be wearing a pair of slippers with rubber soles.
“Elias fixed it up. Now the gun’s working again.”
“That’s good news then”, she smiles. “What about the miserable wretch?”
Miserable wretch? You mean Therese?
“Hey, her sister’s right here!”
“It’s okay”, Sierra speaks up. “Although, calling her a miserable wretch is a bit too nice. I’d go along the lines of ‘loud-mouthed rip-off artist’.”
“No way! I’m more of a ‘two-faced pleasure-seeking masochist’!”
She... She just called herself a masochist. Good job, Therese.
“What took you so long, Therese?”, Cisqua asks her.
“Well, I had to get a map so I can find a new Glommer’s Rock.”
“Don’t forget: It only comes out when the moon is full”, Elias reminds her while coming out the ship to say goodbye to them with his sister. Maise was also carrying a small box of [3] Finn cakes with her for a parting gift.
“Yeah, sure. I’ll get you another one. Don’t worry.”
“Well, then”, Maise hands a Finn cake to each of them.
“What’s this?”, Mea asks.
“A parting gift. My brother gets fat when he eats those so you guys can have them.”
“Really? Thanks”, Solis says while taking a bite. “Ang sarap~”
“We’re leaving now”, Elias says while boarding the ship. “You watch each other’s backs. The Lower Kingdom isn’t as welcoming as The Upper Kingdom. I think it’s best if you guys kept a low profile.”
“Bye, everyone!”, Maise follows her brother.
The Elementals decided to watch as the plane took off before they go forward on their journey so they just stood a couple of meters away from the departure point until the engine started blaring. The wings started to spread as it gained altitude and... Oh... Oh, my God! It's raining! It's raining again! The raindrops are falling too damn fast! Sh*t! The other wing isn’t spreading! Abort! Abort! Bring that plane down! Ah, crap, it’s too damn high to assure a safe landing! It’s falling to its side and it’s headed straight for them!
NOOOOOOO!
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“Eli, calm down!”
Maise has been trying to keep Elias from hitting a tree with a metal pole that broke off his ship when it crash landed. He’s been cursing, cussing, and swearing like a potty-mouthed trucker.
“F*ck! Sh*t! Son of a d*ck-sucking b*tch! Eat a million mother*cking c*cks per second, gravity! I hate you, you c*nt-licking low-resistance g-drag!”
“Oh, please”, Therese steps in. “I mean you’ve seen the interior of that ship, haven’t you? It’s like you made it while you were emulating the physics in [4] Surgeon Simulator-“
“You’re not helping”, Credo cuts her off.
“Come on, Eli”, his sister pulls away the pole. “You can fix it again, can’t you?”
“I can’t”, answers coldly.
“But didn’t you say you could fix it-“
“I’ve spent all day fixing it yesterday... I’m... so tired...”
“Okay, well, how about we rest in the nearby town for a while? We could... Wait, are you crying?”
“No... *sniff* No I’m not!”
Yes... Yes you are.
Maise sighs and changes her tone. “Look, you can keep hitting that tree all you want but it’s not gonna fix you ship.”
“God-damn it... Fine, let’s look for a place to rest first. I’m exhausted. Just let me get the Cryxylum from the core.”
“Alright.”
After Elias had finished taking the precious mineral, they move out to Bania. It’s about a stone’s throw away from the crash site so they’ll probably make it there in less than half an hour.
As they were walking, a thought just occurred to Maise.
“Good thing I didn’t have to awaken his fetishes to get him back up.”
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Meanwhile, in the underground passage from Berial Magus to The Lower Kingdom, the other party had just come upon the Apothecary’s ‘lair’, but it looks more like a meth lab to me. Crisostomo was still unconscious as he was being carried on the Apothecary’s back while Yvaine was getting restless from all the walking she’d done.
Well, if you had slept earlier, you wouldn’t be so tired, Yvaine.
“Here we are”, the Apothecary announces. “Pardon the mess. I’ve only set up shop here the other day.”
In front of them was an old cistern which used to be functional when the facility was still being used. A couple of reagents were scattered all over the floor near the table along with a couple of alchemy materials. The floor adjacent to the table had a carpet over it where colorful sparkly potion bottles were lined up neatly.
“So where’s that medicine you were yapping about?”, Yvaine rudely asks while she’s being supported by Sticky.
“That’s quite a way with words you have there”, the Apothecary comments.
“Hey, you’re the one who brought us here. Do you know how hard it is to haul-a*s half a mile through this long tunnel?”
“Young one, this company you keep... agitates me.”
“She’s my friend, Apothecary. As your lab is a mess, please pardon her dismissive traits. Buried under her attitude is a nice person who cares about others far more than it seems.”
“If you say so.” The Apothecary set Crisostomo down near the carpet using his tail as he grabs a maroon colored potion bottle from one of the rows of potions. “This one was made from [5] Blue Mountain Flowers, Blue Dartwings, and Monarch Butterfly Wings. The secret is to-“
“Apothecary... was it? I don’t even understand half the stuff you’re saying so you’re just wasting your breath with all this explanation. A Demon just ran a couple of knives through my thigh and it’s hurting pretty bad, so I’d be really grateful if you’d just give me something to make the pain go away.”
“...Here you go”, the Apothecary hands it over to her.
“So how do I use-“
“Figure it out yourself.”
Hahaha! He’s so pissed!
“Do you have any idea how to use this, Naiya?”, she turns to Naiya.
“Figure it out, Yvaine”, she says with a mocking smile.
“Hey, wait-“
“So, Apothecary... How did you end up in here?”
“Ah... I came here after I had come to my senses and left Fortuna’s Citadel”, the Apothecary says while lying down his scaly body on the floor.
“You had an epiphany?” Naiya sits in front of his face.
“It was somewhat of an epiphany. I felt as if I was reminded of the meaning of mercy.”
“And what reminded you of mercy?”
“A young man... The same age as you. And now that I think about it, the resemblance between you and him is... uncanny.”
“We resemble each other?”
“Yes, but there is a great difference between your traits. I found him passionate and resolute when we faced each other, almost as if he were trying to understand me rather than fight me.”
“I see... Did this young man have a cat with him similar to Maria?”
“Oh, yes he had one. I’ll never forgive that insolent feline for calling me... Young one, you’re grinning unreasonably. Did I say something funny?”
“No... That’s not it. I’m just happy to hear about him.”
“Are you acquainted with this young man?”
“Not yet, but I would love to meet him. He... He may be the twin brother I’ve been looking for.”
“I got it! Good job, Sticky!” Yvaine figured out how to use it by simply rubbing it on the wounded area. It worked like a miracle when the wounds started to close. “How’d you know how to use it, Sticky?”
“It’s in the instruction written on the back”, Kat answers, unamused.
“What, really?”
“Yeah, it’s right there”, Sticky holds it up for her. “Here take a look.”
“Oh.”
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“It’s been so long, my love”, Elias whispers passionately to his lover. “We’ve been apart for too long, but from now on, I will never let anyone pry us apart.”
By the way, his ‘lover’ is actually the bed he’s lying on right now.
“I don’t know if I should laugh or feel sorry for you, but that bed doesn’t love you one bit”, Therese comments, sitting on a chair a few feet away from him. It looks like she’s still wearing Mea’s green shirt. She must have given her lab coat to Sierra when they switched earlier.
“Shut up. You’ll never understand our love”, Elias says burying his face on the pillow.
“Don’t worry about him”, Maise tells Therese. “He gets like this when he hasn’t had any sleep.”
Reviewing on the situation, the group made their way to the settlement of Bania, and due to insufficient funds, they were only able to rent one room with one bed. Therese and Maise were left to watch over Elias while the rest of the group went out to get lunch. In the same room, the Anima were once again huddled together and asleep.
“I wonder what they got for us”, Therese says.
“Probably the most famous local cuisine”, Maise answers from where she was sitting on the bed.
“And what would that be?”
“[6] Carapaceon Brains.”
“What the hell is that?”
“I don’t know. I just heard they make noodles out of it.”
“I really hope they didn’t get anything as weird as that.”
Not to worry, Therese. There’s nothing weird about the shawarma they just bought from the store along the street. It was still raining like [7] habagat so they had to get something that was close by.
“I can’t wait to get a bite of this~”, Solis says holding onto a plastic bag containing nine wraps of their lunch.
“It better be as good as you think it is”, Sierra comments. “I lost half of the commission I got from my last hunt for that.”
As they entered the inn and went upstairs to find their room, the rain suddenly got a lot stronger.
“Even for The Lower Kingdom, that rain’s pretty damn strong”, Mea remarks as she opens the door to their room.
“Welcome back”, Therese greets them. “Please tell me it’s not Carapaceon Brains.”
“Did you say Carapaceon?”, Solis’ inner hunter awakens.
“Not now, Solis”, Sierra interjects. “You wanna get another suspension from an unsanctioned hunt?”
“I was only kidding”, Solis pouts.
They all went inside the cramped room, except for two people in particular.
Before she could join the meal, Credo stopped Lanette.
“Can I talk to you for a bit, Lanette?”
She was a bit shocked, but as soon as she understood, she immediately complied: “Okay.”
As Credo closed the door, Anna couldn’t help but see them slipping away at the corner of her eye.
“What are you up to, Credo?”
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After a good night’s sleep, it’s morning already back in the cistern through the underground passage at Berial Magus...
Crisostomo is slowly emerging from sleep and onto the horrible morning abyss, also known as a hangover.
“Sh*t... The inside of my skull itches...”
“Good morning, you pathetic excuse for a Guard Captain”, Yvaine greets him.
“Yvaine. Is that you? I can’t see anything...”
“That’s because your head is wrapped around my coat. Would you mind getting the f*ck off?”
“Okay... I can’t move.”
“GET UP YOU PIECE OF CRAP!”
Yvaine kicks him in the gut and he rolls away on the ground and hits the wall. He didn’t know if he was gonna clutch his stomach or regurgitate the five slices of apple he had last night, hence, he picked the safest choice and performed both actions.
“Captain Crisostomo”, Naiya runs to his side. “Are you okay?”
“The word ‘okay’.... has a relative meaning, Miss Naiya... I though you knew that...”
“Apothecary, do you have anything that could cure him?”
“I was working on a cure for veisalgia the other day.”
“Do you have one-“
“Unfortunately, when I tested it on a wolf the same day, it... well, it ended up causing abnormal growths, particularly from its internal organs, so I put it on hold until I could find the proper reagents.”
Wait, wait, wait... You mean to tell me that the wolf from chapter 43 died because you made it drink a phony potion?
“Just let him suffer, Naiya”, Maria says. “This drunk pervert is gonna get what he deserves.”
“Yeah, that’s what he gets for drinking an entire bottle in one night”, Yvaine encourages.
“Ah... My saliva tastes like sh*t”, Crisostomo expresses his suffering as he rolls away from the puddle of barf he just spewed.
“Can you at least stand?”, Naiya asks him while trying to get him up.
“Miss Naiya-“
“It’s alright. Come on, I’ll give you a hand. We have to get moving to Bania now.”
“...Thank you”, Crisostomo hesitantly accepts her help. “I’m ashamed of myself, but please let me burden you for a while.”
“That’s not gonna work”, Yvaine abruptly gets between them and takes up Crisostomo’s arm.
“Yvaine? What about your injuries-“
“I’m fine, Cris. Dragon-breath here took care of me”, she winks at the Apothecary.
“Hah... A dragon... What the hell was in that drink last night... I’m too damn high...”
“Captain Crisostomo, this is the Apothecary”, Naiya introduces him. “He’s the one who helped heal Yvaine’s injuries.”
“Hi there. My name’s Cris”, Crisostomo greets.
“Much obliged”, the Apothecary replies.
“A talking dragon... A f*cking talking dragon... Yvaine, do me a favor and tell me when I’m not high anymore.”
“No problem.”
“Thanks. Now then, since I’m still high... Onward to Bania!”
“We’ll be going now, Apothecary”, Naiya bids.
“Take care of yourself, young one. And if we ever meet again, I’d like you to refer to me as ‘Wolframium’.”
“Tungsten?”
“Yes.”
“Why not just ‘Plumbum’?”, Naiya suggests. “Lead sounds more appealing.”
“I’ve thought of that but that name sort of ‘blows’.”
“I see... Then, until we meet again”, she waves at him as they go through the rest of the tunnel.
“See you, Apothecary”, Maria says goodbye as she hops on Naiya’s shoulder.
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Bania wasn’t a very developed settlement. As seen from the overlooking window at the inn, most of the buildings are still under construction with wooden frames. The only building that seemed to be made of concrete would be the town hall, and it doesn’t even have enough drainage to keep water from flooding the inside.
Credo saw this as he led Lanette through the corridors until they were far away from the room everyone was staying in. He distracted himself from what he was about to do, until Lanette spoke up when they reached the end of the corridor.
“What’s this about, Credo?”
Realizing he strayed too far from his thoughts, he takes a deep breath and faces her. He’s done this with other girls many times before, but Lanette is not like those others.
“I’ll be blunt, Lanette... I can’t respond to your feelings positively.”
“You... What?”
“Remember, you confessed to me, right?”, he asked with a stone-cold expression he wears during situations like this.
“What are you getting at?”
“Look, I...”
“You said you’d be blunt”, she tactfully declares. “Please don’t beat around the bush.”
“I’m in love with someone else.”
He said it.
It didn’t seem to have an impact on her, though, as she reacted with a slightly mature tone.
“It’s okay. I get it. You had your eyes set on Miss Anna this whole time, right?”
“Yes, and I’m sorry for not making it clear all this time.”
“I understand”, she smiles at him. “This also means you’re against me being the reward for your mission, correct?”
“How did you...” He was surprised at how well she understood, so much that he almost lost the expression he was wearing earlier. “That’s right.”
“Very well.” Lanette humbly bows one last time to her former master. “Thank you for being honest with me. I hope we can continue being... friends”
That last word was hard for her to spit out, but she said it anyway. She had her head down longer than usual, and as Credo approached her... she hugged him.
“Hey!”
“Just a little...”
That’s what she said, but as she clutched him she didn’t feel his embrace, even though she was hoping he’d give one to her. She’ll never get to feel like this again, so she savored every second she could just to feel his warmth as the freezing monsoon grew stronger.
“Let’s stop this, Lanette.”
What the actual f*ck!
She just punched him in the gut!
Look at him down on the ground in pain!
“What the hell, Lanette!”
“I’m sorry!”
Aaaand.... She ran away.
I guess she wanted him to feel the pain she felt.
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“Do you guys hear that?”, Kat asks while her ears perk up.
“Is that rain?”, Sticky questions.
“I can hear it too”, Yvaine says.
“It looks like we’re here”, Naiya declares after coming upon a spiral staircase.
“Damn, that staircase is a lot higher than me”, Crisostomo remarks.
“Let’s go”, Naiya enthusiastically pronounces.
“Race you to the top!”, Maria challenges.
“You’re on!”, Kat replies as they both climb up.
“Wait up guys!” Sticky follows along.
“Think you can make it, Cris?”
“I’ll manage, Yvaine”, he says, letting go and carrying his own weight.
“You sure about what you’re doing?”
“I’m a little less high now.”
“Okay. See ya!”
Yvaine flashes away.
Crisostomo follows her example and flashes away too.
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After a series steps, the other party reaches a vacuum hatch that leads to the outskirts of Bania. They managed to make it to the closest building with a roof without getting wet since it was close-by.
“*heave* *heave*... We made it”, Naiya says while leaning on the wall.
“*heave* I got out first...”, Kat announces, pumping her fist with exhaustion.
“Ah... My head...”
Crisostomo collapses on the wooden floor. The resulting thud made the innkeeper check out what was going on.
“Hey! No lollygagging!”, the innkeeper shouts at them from the window.
“We’re terribly sorry, sir”, Naiya bows in apology. “Is there an inn anywhere in this settlement?”
“You got any money?”
Naiya grabs a pouch of coins from her pocket and shows it to him.
“Come inside”, he welcomes them.
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“Lanette, you’re back”, Mea says opening the door for her. “It’s not polite to keep food waiting.”
“Sorry, I just had some things to take care of”, she says stepping inside the room.
“Here”, Mea passes her the plastic bag.
“Thanks.”
Following after her, Credo opened
the door with one hand on his abdomen. He was ready to see how Anna would react, but as he observed her while she ate, she didn't seem to pay any mind.
“Whoa, what happened to you?”, Solis asks him.
“Don’t ask”, Credo says while taking a wrap of shawarma from the plastic bag.
“Right... Well, I’m gonna go get us some water. Excuse me”, Solis says, making his way to the door.
As he opened the door, however, he was surprised to see someone so familiar.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What?
Is that the end?
Who was at the other side of the door?
Oh, well.
It’s probably just Naiya, right, dear reader? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ References 1. In honor of Dr. Jose P. Rizal 2. Legendary Pokemon from Generation I 3. Cupcakes that look like Finn from Adventure Time 4. Surgical simulation game by Tom Jackson 5. Ingredients for health potion from Skyrim 6. Account item from Monster Hunter 7. Basically means southwest monsoon © 2016 OranReviews
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1 Review Added on June 17, 2016 Last Updated on July 11, 2016 Author
OranSomewhere in the Philippines, My house, PhilippinesAboutI write stuff. - -Stop scrolling! You'll get lewd if you keep scrolling! Are you sure you want to keep on reading this? Okay, if you insist on knowing, I am from the deep and disgusti.. more..Writing
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