Chapter 8: Withered flower
1160 Words
A week later, I arrived in this city. I was still in the flower shop. The workload is very light. All I have to do is water the plants and control the temperature in the botanical garden. Since I was a magic expert, maintaining the temperature was a piece of cake for me.
When there is lifting, I immediately take the thing and won’t let Fina lift anything too heavy for her.
Just like her parents, I don’t have the full scope of her mysterious illness.
While she was sleeping beside me the other night, I tried healing her with healing magic, but I failed since I didn’t know what the source was.
need hopeless… People need hope. Fina can’t stay like this forever. She needs to survive.
Comparing her to myself. She is a very good person. Despite her having an illness. I never heard her order me around. She just looked at me with her plain sweet smile.
After making a bouquet, she turns around and coughs. She was coughing hard and the sound she was producing was rough.
Hearing her cough. I hastily went toward her and brought her water. She took the glass of water in my hand and took a sip.
“Drink slowly.”
“Thank you Hanayuki.”
Times like this continue. The next day, her coughing worsened and there was blood in her cough. I immediately took over looking for the flower shop while she was in her bed. Since his mother and father were away working. I started taking care of her.
But Fina insisted.
“This is not your job here… It's fine. Don’t sweat about me. If I withered here. I already accepted it.”
Fina said with her hollowed eyes.
She’s hopeless.
Pessimistic about everything and not wanting anything in the future. Fina is starting to give up.
Day by day, her condition got worse and worse. She gets out of balance often and her medicine was not doing great for her. She can only get up for around 4 hours a day and she will go back to bed to sleep for an entire day.
Fina is getting exhausted easily.
A month had passed and I got the money I wanted. With the money I got. I’m able to move forward and continue my journey.
There is no way I can leave Fina like this. With those eyes and state. Fina will die miserably.
I thought. I decided to continue working.
The next day.
“You already got your salary. Why is Hanayuki still here? You’re in the middle of your journey, right?”
“Well, I’m planning on going somewhere far. Maybe I’ll go to another continent and visit some other countries. It's very far away, so I’ll have to earn more money.”
Fina, after hearing my reply, turned her face to the window and opened it. The nice breeze of winning blows. Shaking our hair in the wind.
The snow has completely melted away and it's already marching. The trees on the are completely green. The weather is also very nice.
“Spring season has begun.”
“Yup, it's already spring,”
I said.
The weather is not that cold anymore like in February. The weather and the humidity in the air are perfect for the flowers to grow. Even without the use of my magic. The flowers will bloom beautifully.
I then realized that Fina always looked through the window for a brief moment every day.
Another day had ended.
Laying on my bed I was thinking about Fina.
If I’m not able to cure her illness. What should I do to help her? Is she going to die like that?
Staying won’t do anything much. Her illness continues to eat her body and eventually she might wither like a flower like she always said.
Frustrated, I grabbed the pillow on my head and hugged it tightly. As strong as I could.
There is nothing I can do… Nothing at all. Maybe it is for the best to distance me from her. Going back to my normal life as a traveler. As a traveler, I don’t have any intention of making bonds.
But I can’t fake myself. I can’t act kind in front of her for the sake of me working here. She has already treated me kindly. Working here for a month makes me grow fond of her.
I don’t want her to die sad and lonely.
I closed my eyes and thought deeply about what I could do for Fina. I remember the first day I had a conversation with Fina. An image of her looking at the window. As if she is waiting for someone. Her eyes are melancholic as always, but they brighten when she talks about someone.
“I can do something for her.”
I muttered.
…
The flower shop closed before sunset. The moment the flower shop closes. I go to the main city and go directly to the guild. I was looking for a man named Denver.
“Oh, that man…”
The waitress said.
“Do you know him?”
“Yeah, he's a scholar, but I’m not seeing him anymore. The last time I saw him was when she asked about the eternal flower. I was skeptical of his words. I mean, there is no such thing.”
“Well, according to the people I knew. He goes on a journey to find the said flower.”
“That was plain stupidity. It is like searching for a paradise that doesn’t exist.”
“Do you have a clue about where he went? I need to see him as soon as possible.”
“before he left. I told him about a city that was surrounded by flowers. The city was called Floria city. It's located near Stella city. It's quite a far way from here.”
I heard about Floria city before. It was one of the cities I would like to visit. The wide flower patch was the main attraction of the city.
A city that has a huge history of flowers. It's logical for him to visit the city.
But it's already been a month… A month and a half, to be exact since he left the flower shop and this city. Am I able to find him there? But there is still a possibility of me finding him there.
“Thank you for that information.”
I said and bowed my head to the waitress.
That night I bid farewell to the flower shop. Fina wasn’t able to say goodbye to me because she was already asleep. Her mother said that she would take over my job because she couldn’t leave her daughter anymore. She quits her job and goes full-time to take care of Fina.
It's in the middle of the night, but I exit the city and go for a long journey.
Before the flower withered.
- Writer
