Chapter 27
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After knowing Alex and the others had rescued Nyantaa and Olivia, the young graceful lady called Mary expressed her gratitude and offered the girls to rest at her home instead, this was not a bad deal as Alex only had to pay for two rooms now; one for him and Elliot, the other for the soldiers, the largest rooms of this Cottage only contained beds for three, it's inevitable for them to rest separately.

"The room with two beds is 30 silvers while the room with three beds is 45 silvers, total is 75 silvers..."

Mary smiled as Alex went to pay for the rooms.

"Do we get a discount?"

Shameless as Alex might be, but he just saved her friends, he didn't need a medal, but a discount would be nice.

"Yes you are, now each room is 29 and 44 silvers respectively, the total is 73 silvers..."

You just cut one silver out?! Well, technically two silvers... but still...

Alex gave a wry smile, he put his hand in his pocket, pretending to take the money out of it.

Well, a small discount is a discount nonetheless, take it or leave it.

"Thank you, additional charge 10 silvers per day if you planned to stay longer, you can pay it before tomorrow's midday."

Mary accepted the money and prepared to deliver the men into their room herself, the cottage was exclusively for resting place, but they had a kitchen, Alex curious what tools these people used to cook.

"Alex, where do we meet tomorrow?" Momo said.

The older man collected his forehead, he thought perhaps it's best to gather somewhere public but not borderline noisy.

"How about Vurn? It's the best hanging out tavern in the town."

Mary overheard their words, well, they were not exactly being secretive.

"A tavern, huh? Doesn't seems bad... alright, let's meet up tomorrow at there."

Momo and Shizuka nodded, meanwhile, Alexis clenched Elliot's sleeve between the tip of her fingers, the latter sighed in helplessness.

They lifted the corner of their lips upon seeing this, If they hadn't known them, perhaps would think Alexis was the terrified and hapless sister while Elliot was the fierce and brave brother.

"Don't worry, sister, I am not alone... and don't you trust Alex?"

Alexis pouted, then glanced at Alex, he gave her a thumbs-up, his nonchalant attitude was so not inspiring and trustable, but Alexis instead bore a feeling of confidence bloomed toward the man, the she-knight released her brother's sleeve from her grip, smiling gently.

Bidding goodbye, Mary led the men into the inside of the Cottage, they stepped on a soft rug that spread toward the end of the hall, the wall made of wood but the ground constructed in stone, the surface on the sides patterned with artistic carves, several paintings, and small tables holding vase of flowers were stuck on it.

Marry stopped behind the door on room number 12, she fit the key into the hole on the handle and twisted it lightly, then pushed open the door.

Joyful scent sneaked inside the line of their nose; as if beckoning to lay down their head, treated the weariness after the days they had outside on the road.

White beds with pillow akin to clouds, and comfortable coat that rested at the base.

A window that neatly closed, a strange plant on the top of a small table, and a mechanism on the top of shelves between the bed, Marry walked toward the mechanism and twisted its gear, immediately a vague illumination graced the room with brightness.

"What do you think of the room?"

She retreated and stood in front of them, Alex swept his eyes around, feeling neither hot or cold inside, and everything's neatly tidied.

"It's very good, the one silver discount made it so much worth."

Mary put one hand in front of her lips and chuckled.

"Thank you for the compliment, oh, do you want to rest or want us to make dinner first? Of course, there will be an extra charge except for the breakfast."

Since they had not eaten then might as well took the offer, Alex paid 1 silver, and it's enough to order dishes for the five of them.

Mary left to deliver the soldiers into their room, Alex closed the door and saw Elliot leaped into one of the beds, crashed onto it with a boisterous laugh.

"Oh, it's been so long since I slept in luxury bed like this, hum hum... makes me miss home so much..."

Then he started thrashing around, wiggled left and right resembled a worm got scorched under the sunlight.

Alex couldn't help but laugh; if he was at Elliot's age, he might behave the same.

He walked toward the strange mechanism on the small shelves, tinkering with the gear on it, the light went dim and bright in back and forth.

"System, what is this, how it can shine brightly like a lamp but without electricity?"

"It's because of the lumo rune, Alex, this mechanism solely designed to utilize the power of lumo rune, resulting as the source of light."

"What's a lumo rune?"

"A rune contains an element of light, you remember about spatial dimension items created for a specific purpose? Well, a rune is one of them, they had been created to absorb a lot of elements and use for many reasons, from a daily necessity to combat."

"At the moment, there are 5 runes that are available for public; the Lumo rune which is light, Fijra rune which is fire, Glass rune which is ice, Phanta rune which is wind, Tear rune which is earth."

"Each of these runes could not be used without a piece of equipment that compliments them, for example, a Lumo rune could not be used as the source of light without the mechanism, or the Fijra rune could not be used as the source of fire to cook or warm something only with the rune alone."

"But, these runes are not finite, the weakest one could hold about a week, depend on how often they had been utilized, and the strongest could last for a month, regardless of the quantity its usability."

"Did the use of the rune is popular on Moonlight Continent?"

"Yes, although not among the people in lower society, the runes themselves are not expensive, but the mechanism that is pricy..."

Alex thought this resembled a dispenser with a gallon of water, the gallon was not expensive and eventually had to be replenished or replaced when the water ran out.

"So, how's the process of this item absorbs these elements?"

"First, you need a mage to do it or some people with innate to control the element of mana..."

"People with innate to control the element of mana? What's their difference with Mage?"

"They could only control the flow but not able to use it like any Mage, for example, a Mage not only can manipulate the fire from the surrounding area but also conjure them whenever they see fit, but these people can only manipulate the fire..."

Oh? Like a bender from Avatar? Although fire benders could shoot out fire from their hands.

"Which people or race with such innate?"

"The knightwalker."

"!"

The long time enemy of the Lionheart?

"In fact, the knightwalker had been producing their own rune, it's rumored that they tried to create the most difficult rune, the thunder element, Tinder Rune."

"Why thunder is the most difficult one?"

"Because there is no place that is the source of the element of thunder, unlike Earth, Fantasia has not discovered electricity, although there are a number of spells which conjured a power of thunder, those are high-tier, just like Space attribute spells."

"I see, what's the next step?"

"Second, they need to find the source of the element, for example, a fire will be at the base of a volcanic mountain, ice at the frozen area."

"Third, they will perform a certain arrangement or you can called it a ritual to gather the element, inserting them into the stone carefully, this is a one-time process only, so the number of elements that must be put inside the stone had to be precise, otherwise, it ends up a defective product."

"Alright, How about the mechanism? How many that had been created to use the runes?"

"There is not a lot yet, for everyday use, there's been only fire, ice, and light, while wind and earth mostly utilized in combat..."

"Wind is to increase the sharpness of a blade while the earth is to increase the hardness of an armor..."

That... simply waste of product? Don't they think about how to create airplanes with wind rune, or used earth rune to... whatever their properties were...

"Ok, thank you for explaining this to me, system..."

"Anytime, Alex."

At this time, Elliot had been staring at the older man, his face expressed a deep thought since he tinkered with the light stand, Elliot wondered what currently inside Alex's mind.

This man had shown a lot of weird things, well, his companion also, first, those weird weapons that could shoot many projectiles in an instant, when Elliot asked Jason about it, the latter dubbed it as 'Rifle' but clueless of the manufacturing process or where it had been built.

Second, the strange thing called 'Phone', it's a small device but could draw something in an instant, his fellow students of art class would have gone insane to get their hands on it because not all of us could pass the test after all.

Alex released the gear and turned his face to look at Elliot, found the young man was staring at him.

"What?"

He chuckled, of course, anyone from this world would have found his behavior particularly odd.

"No, nothing, I just wonder why do you want to help us?"

"What do you mean?"

Elliot laughed and fixed his position, from lying on his stomach to now rested his back on the bed, legs such dangled in the air.

"Alex, you don't have to keep the act, I and sister already know you wish to help us get into the Wyvern, the question is why? What do you seek? Is it because we are royalty? You want to find a friend in a higher place?"

"..."

Elliot took a deep breath, and he sat on the bed, his playful face became somber serious.

"If that what you seek, then it's better for you to forget about it... whatever you want from us... you are impossible to get it, no... we are impossible to give it to you... not because we don't want to, but because we can't..."

"I and Alexis... we are the prince and the princess of Lionheart Kingdom... but that means nothing... truly means nothing..."

"Alexis is fine, she's a talented and fierce knight, but I... I am utterly a waste, I want to puke at the sight of the corpse, holding sword my body cold, the thought of blood turned my mind into a mud... I... drag her down... far more than she deserved, and now I don't want to drag you down too..."

"I don't know what's your journey is... what's your task... but I get the feeling it must be important, yet you bother with such trivial matter... Alex, you should have just-"

*Kapow!*

"Yeow!"

Elliot back of the head received a hit from something thick yet actually soft, he stumbled forward and almost fell from the bed if not quickly steadied himself, Elliot turned around and found Alex looked at him with deadpanned expression.

"First, if you want to help someone, don't expect something in return, otherwise, it was a job, not a help..."

"Second, don't you dare call your task as a trivial matter, this is your mother, even helping her cook in the kitchen is a crucial mission."

"Third, and the most important, you are my hostage, who gives you the right to decide my action."

Elliot went silent, staring at Alex for quite some time, his mouth seemed to try to speak something, but no words could be uttered.

A knock came from the door of their room, the voice of a man came from the other side, seemingly the staff of the Cottage, delivering their dinner.

Alex stood up from the bed to get the door, at this moment, Elliot finally braved himself to speak, but the words almost caused Alex to fall flat onto the ground.

"Alex, if you wish to marry my mother, you have to wait for my father to die first."

Great lord, what the fuck!

(***)

Momo came out from the bath while wearing a pajama she borrowed from Mary, the steam still puffed around her red complexion, she didn't take any bath in three days, let alone any warm bath.

She was rather lonely though since no one came in together with her, Shizuka had been wary against her in case she launched another assault and Cipiri had fast asleep.

'Nana, what are you doing now? Three days felt like a thousand years...'

She might not always harmony with Nana, but she's nevertheless her twin sister, their bond simply more than just a sister.

Walking in the hallway with a bit despondent eyes, Momo passed on the room in which Nyantaa and Olivia stay, Mary decided to sleep together with them because... reason.

"What? Caeth said what?!"

Momo stopped upon hearing Mary's shriek, it was full of disbelieve and shocked tone.

'What's going there?'

She knew this Caeth from Mary's words were Nyantaa and Olivia's party member, also another person named Jewel, but she apparently ran away from home.

"Caeth said... Nyan is an outsider... Nyan is not family... even Jewel, Jewel's Papa, and Jewel's Mama think the same..."

Nyantaa's voice was trembling, she could hear a slight choke in it, had the catgirl been crying?

"Nyan... even if Nyan died... they wouldn't mourn Nyan... Jewel is... Jewel will not..."

"Bastard!"

The catgirl's voice was muffled, Momo didn't know what exactly happen, but perhaps Mary had hugged her now.

What did she mean by she's an outsider? Who's this Jewel's family to her?

"Don't believe him, alright? Jewel is considering you as her own sister, you think those smile and care she had for you is not real?"

Mary's voice as soft as she could, but Momo sensed vibration of anger within it.

"But... but... if Jewel is caring to Nyan, why she's not telling anything about her family situation nyaa?"

"Because she didn't want you to worry about her, doesn't want you to feel sad..."

"Nyan knows nyaa... this because of Nyan is not her family nyaa... an outsider doesn't need to know, right nyaa..."

"No, no, stop saying that... Nyantaa, you..."

"Mary should also just ignore Nyan... Nyan is always been like this... Nyan doesn't have a home..."

"Nyantaa stop, your home is here!"

"No nyaa... Nyan doesn't belong anywhere... Nyan doesn't have anyone..."

Hearing the situation a bit hectic, Momo stepped into the room, quickly startling both Mary and Nyantaa. She dashed toward Nyantaa while taking out Kanja Flower, giving the catgirl the full brunt of the calm stimulant, Nyantaa shocked for a while before she drifted to sleep.

Mary's chest heaved up and down, her brown hair was scattered, her eyes went red with tears.

"Ms. Mary, with her situation like this, it's better to give her some time to relax, what happened back at the Old Woodlands, whatever occurred before, it had damaged your friend, forcing her will not change anything..."

Mary held her lips, trembled, she caressed Nyantaa's hair.

"I am sorry..." Momo said, "back at the Old Woodlands, it's partially my fault, I indirectly cause this to your friend."

"What do you mean?"

Momo briefly told Mary of what happened in the jungle, of course, she's hiding some truth like regarding Nuon.

She just told her that she, Alex, and the gang accidentally dug out a strange item, and when they broke it, the Old Woodlands suddenly enveloped in darkness, they could get out with the help of treasured items Alex had.

Momo also told that the darkness had the power to affect someone's mind, therefore, whatever mental damage Nyantaa had, it was greatly enchanted by it.

Mary was even sadder, began to tenderly brush Nyantaa's head akin to a mother nursed a sleeping child.

"I still can't believe Caeth said that... Nyantaa might appear silly all the time, but she's truly sensitive and bearing a lot of pain..."

"Ms. Mary, what do you mean?"

Mary hesitated slightly, then said.

"Nyantaa... was discovered drifting in the sea five years ago... one of our people worked as a fisherman, he caught her lying on a piece of wood, unconsicous..."

Momo widened her eyes, never expect such history from the catgirl.

"Since then, Nyantaa had been living in the town, but she has no friend... even I... at that time most of us didn't hang around her..."

"Why? Is it because she's not human?"

Momo's tone slightly tensed, she's also not human but why it was such mattered?

"The non-human part is only a little piece, the biggest one came from Nyantaa's strange condition..."

At this moment, Mary went silent, her face was hesitated to continue further.

"It's fine Ms. Mary if you didn't want to say it..."

Although Momo was curious as hell, if it was inappropriate, she wouldn't force.

"No, Nyantaa is... her condition is that... whoever a person around her, they will receive a stroke of bad luck..."

"Bad luck? Like how?"

Mary sighed.

"There was this one time in the past, Nyantaa just walked in the street with a couple of friends, but then a loose monster escaped from Mr. Barrel's coliseum, it crossed path with them, and the monster completely ignored Nyantaa, didn't hesitate to chase the people who with her, even almost killed them."

"That sounds like a coincidence..."

"There was also a case where some people were fighting, Nyantaa came to watch it with someone, then one of the fighter made a blunder, he tried to stab his opponent but missed and somewhat stumbled, his sword was straight heading toward Nyantaa before suddenly a wind blew and changed the trajectory of the sword, stabbed the shoulder of a person with Nyantaa at that time."

"... What?"

"Also in the past, there was a cart which carried lots of wooden boxes, Nyantaa was alone at that time, and she accidentally met a friend which took his dog out for a walk, when the cart passed at their side, one of the wheels broke and the box fell from the cart, it supposedly hit Nyantaa's head, but the girl crouched at the very last moment to pet the dog, the box crashed against that friend's face instead."

"From up till this day, his face had never been the same..."

"..."

Whaaaaat???

Momo widened her eyes, stared in disbelieve toward Nyantaa.

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