Vol. 7 Ch. 20
by ameron-werschrux“I think it’s a good place to go to,” Phize answered.
She asked, “Trif? Your thoughts?”
“I don’t care, as long as we can raise our rank.”
“Alright! To Hiometry we go!”
“Why don’t we take a carriage this time?” Lili proposed.
“Yeah, I’m tired of walking,” Hazel proclaimed.
They walked around Macol and saw a carriage passing by, it was painted white, and the 2 horses pulling it were bay horses.
Hazel rose her hand and the coachman stopped by for them.
He asked, “Destination?”
“Hiometry, please.”
“I see, will all four of you be riding?”
“Yes.”
“2000 Fers.”
“Yikes, that’s costly,” she exclaimed.
“We’ll be traversing two large cities before we even get to the place, hence, the price.”
“I guess, all the cities we’ve traveled to, we’re pretty small in comparison to the ones we’d be entering.”
“Fine.”
She gave a bag of coins and they entered the carriage.
“HIYAH!”
Whip.
The horses neighed and started to stroll along the long road ahead of them.
Lili smiled.
“Hm? Not so grumpy anymore are ya Lili?” Phize asked.
“How can I be grumpy? When I have lots of money!”
Hazel coughed to correct her, “Our.”
“Well, it may not exactly be the most righteous of reasons, but at least she seems to be more cooperative,” he surmised.
…
..
.
The scenery changed as they traveled, they saw plain glass fields, forests, buildings, and abandoned castles.
Finally, they arrived at the capital, and the large gates opened before them.
The place was much more modern, with villas, bungalows, and a parliament house seen from afar.
“Woah…” Phize said in awe.
“HIYAH!”
The coachman whipped the horses to stop them from moving.
“This is your destination. You can drop off now,” the coachman explained to them.
The four of them got down from the carriage.
“HIYAH!”
The carriage turned around and left through the gates.
There were many people walking around the place.
“This is gonna be fun,” Lili announced.
“Lili, I think we may have chosen the right place,” Hazel replied.
Phize stretched his arms out.
“Well then, we came here for a specific reason, didn’t we? Why don’t we all go find an Adventurers’ Guild?”
“Aw, what a killjoy,” Hazel complained.
Lili got drained out of energy.
He continued, “What I’m trying to say is… Ah, what the heck… LET’S EXPLORE THIS PLACE!”
The both of them celebrated, “WOOHOO!”
“That’s the spirit!” Hazel told him.
“Where do we meet up?” he queried.
“Hm, that’s the problem right there.”
Lili pointed to the Adventurers’ Guild to the northwest.
“There. Let’s meet up there,” she reported.
Hazel said to them, “Alright! Now that the rendezvous has been decided upon, let’s meet there after an hour, 3, 2, 1, GO!”
The party split and Trif was left standing.
He sighed and went inside the Adventurers’ Guild.
…
..
.
Phize went near the flowing water, he crossed a small arch bridge.
He peered over to the clear water that reflected the sun’s rays.
“Awesome.”
…
..
.
Hazel found a cafe.
“C-COFFEE!!!”
She went inside the cafe.
…
..
.
Lili explored her surroundings, there were many people around her minding their own business.
She stumbled upon a book store.
“Maybe I can ask them something about it.”
She entered the store.
…
..
.
Phize sat at a round white table near the cafe Hazel went inside of.
Hazel got out of the cafe with a plastic cup full of brown coffee.
Sip. Sip. Sip.
She drank its contents with a straw.
She sat down with him at the same round table.
Sip.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Hm? What’s with the sudden question?”
“Do you and Lili still have any injuries?” he worried.
Sip.
“No, don’t worry, it’s just as the village head said.”
“Really? Alright, I’m fine now,” he reassured himself.
“Yup.”
Sip. Sip.
“Have you noticed Lili?” he interrogated.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s like after that fight with that raid, she had a change of heart, or is it just me?”
“No, it’s not just you.”
“What happened? Do you happen to know anything?”
“Hm?”
“Oh, I’m asking you because you were with her when she was injured, so maybe, if by chance, you happen to know the reason, maybe you could tell me about it?”
“Ah, let me remember…”
…
..
.
Back at the village, inside the house, Hazel and Lili were being taken care of.
Their beds were beside each other and they were tucked in with their blankets.
“This is bummer,” Lili exclaimed.
“Why?”
“I got saved by that brat.”
“What’s wrong with being saved?”
“I don’t like it, it makes me feel like I’m being belittled. And that one guy, of all people, my rival, to be the one to see me in such a state. Just the thought of it makes me irritated,” Lili complained.
“Then do you prefer not to be saved?”
“If anything, yes, I wouldn’t wanna be saved.”
“You would’ve died if it wasn’t for him.”
“I don’t care. It just destroys my honor. The next time we fight, he’ll probably tease me about it.”
“I have one suggestion, how about you stop being so prideful? There’s nothing wrong with showing a few or even a lot of vulnerabilities to people, we weren’t made to be invincible, were we?”
“But he’ll tease m-”
Hazel interrupted, “No, he won’t. He’s not that kind of person.”
“How do you know?”
Hazel thought for a bit, “Should I tell her?”
She stared at her.
“I’m risking it, I want this party to be fixed,” she figured.
Hazel told Lili, “Did you know? He wasn’t all that tough before, he once cried right in front of my eyes. Yes, he squealed like a little baby, but why did he cry? In front of all those people, did he think of his pride first? No, because he needed help, he asked for help.”
“Your point being?”
“He won’t fool around your insecurities, because he himself has his own and knows what it feels like, he asks for help and helps others.”
“I just can’t get around this one fact. Why did he save me? What reasons are there? He could’ve ditched me then and there. Yet why?”
“There is a simple very answer for that. It’s because he cares for you, he cares for me, and though it may not seem like it, he cares for Trif, too. I care about you, I care about him, and I still care about Trif. It isn’t apparent on Trif’s face, but he cares about you, too.”
“You? Care about me? Why? I don’t cooperate with you people, because you all are my rivals? Why would you help your rivals?”
“Because you are a person. Because you are our party member. No reason too deep, we do it because we want to.”
Lili was contemplating her past actions toward them and was blushing out of bashfulness.
“I-Is w-what all you’re saying true?” she asked Hazel.
“You can count on it. We’re trying our best to get this odd group together, but even if you don’t cooperate, even if we go our separate ways, if any one of our people gets in danger, the others will come and save them. Because we aren’t devils, we are people with compassion in our hearts.”
Lili turned around to cover her face and stayed silent for a few moments, then she spoke, “M-Maybe. M-Maybe even if just a little… I can be a bit nicer to you guys. I-I’m getting tired of constantly being annoyed, I want to feel happy, I want to feel free when around you people. So maybe, I’ll strive to be a part of this odd group.”
Hazel was shocked, but she smiled afterward.
“She has a good heart inside of her, doesn’t she?” Hazel concluded.
“Thanks, Lili,” Hazel told her.
“I-IT’S O-ONLY H-HYPOTHETICAL!”
“Sure, sure, whatever you say.”
END OF EPISODE 68
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