One's Eden: Hanayuki Travel

Chapter 18: Path to Spirit Den

In the middle part of Freiven city, there was one big restaurant. Hanayuki entered together with Ninym. Surprised, Hanayuki was greeted by someone.

“Hanayuki! Here I have already got our table reserved for us.”

Waving her hand, it was the little girl called Shaymi. After hearing her call, Hanayuki, together with Ninym, walked toward the table and sat down beside each other.

Ninym looked at Shaymi. Shaymi immediately got an impression of Shaymi being Hanayuki’s little sister. But on second thought, she was calling Hanayuki by her name and not calling her big sister.

“Who is this girl?”

Asked Shaymi.

“She’s a new friend, I discovered earlier.”

“I was discovered?! I felt like I was compared to some kind of monster or animal…” Ninym turned and glanced at Shaymi. “My name is Ninym, nice to meet you… Are you Hanayuki’s little sister?”

“Nope, I’m not… Hanayuki is like my traveling partner. There is no place for me to go anymore. That’s why I’m traveling with Hanayuki.”

Having no place to live or place to call home. Those words intrigue Ninym. Thoughts like “Why?” were whirling on her head, but she couldn’t manage to a spurt question about her past, because it would appear to be too insensitive. She decided not to pry.

Hanayuki took the menu and happily ordered it to the waitress who walked to get their order. Hanayuki had a very unusual meal. It is green salad and vegetables. Normally, she would order fried chicken when she saw it on the menu. She is concerned about her health and her growing belly.

I hope my waist fat will be gone.

Ninym had a light meal and a kids' meal was ordered for Shaymi.

“Why do I have to be treated like a child again? I’m already 7 years old. I’m already old enough to consume heavy meals.”

Shaymi retorted, pouting her cheeks.

“Last time you didn’t eat all of the food and there were a lot of leftovers. We should not waste food. Many people are starving. We should only consume what we can consume.”

“Hanayuki is like Shaymi’s mom.”

“I’m just acting as a proper guardian of her. Children are the future. Teaching them the right things at an early age will make them better adults in the future… How about Nim? You don't seem to be in a guild or a member of a party. Are you solo?

“No… I’m traveling with Snow… My life in my home town is boring. I would like to see the vast world. Many exciting things indeed happened and many bad things. I am starting to learn that the world is cruel and wonderful all of the same time.”

The meal arrived and the same waitress put their ordered meal on the table. Hanayuki thanked the waitress and started their dinner.

“Are you traveling for a very long time?”

“Nope… I have been just two and half months since I started.”

“I see, there are lots of people roaming in this world. Most of them aren’t nice at all. There are plenty of people who will. There are far too many who delight in the misfortune of others, those who steal…even those who kill others.”

Hanayuki stared right into Ninym’s eyes. Within the rage, she could see the color of intense sadness.

“I think those who commit evil here are the ones who are truly sick in real life,” she spat. But then she noticed the intimidating look on Ninym’s face and apologized with a smile.

“Then again, I don’t have much room to talk. I’m not out there saving people left and right. I’ve even abandoned my partners to die before…”

“Hanayuki…”

Ninym realized dimly that the light-brown-haired girl before her had to be harboring some incredible anguish. She wanted to share her sympathy but cursed her shallow vocabulary for not having the words she sought.

Instead, she found herself grabbing his fist on top of the table with both hands.

“You are a good person, Hanayuki. You saved me.”

She tried to pull his hands back briefly, surprised, but stopped just as quickly. A gentle grin tugged at the corner of her mouth.

“And now I’m the one being cheered up. Thanks, Nim.”

At that instant, Ninym felt a painful throb deep in her chest. Her heart began beating faster for no apparent reason. Her face was hot. She hastily let go of Hanayuki’s hand, then clutched hers to her breast. But that deep ache would not disperse.

“Is something wrong?”

Hanayuki asked, leaning over the table. She shook her head vigorously, trying to summon a smile.

“I-It’s nothing! I’m just hungry.”

Once they’d finished dining, the three girls went into the inn. It was the same Inn Hanayuki and Shaymi were renting for tonight. More surprise, their rooms are just next to each other. Shaymi and Hanayuki stay in one room. Hanayuki has a small body and Shaymi is also small. The two of them can fit a standard-sized bed.

Meanwhile, inside Ninym’s Room. She was troubled and her hands were both on her chest. Her heart was still racing and she couldn't understand why. Hanayuki is just a girl she met hours ago, but why is she feeling like that for her?

She is a girl and not a boy. If Hanayuki is a boy, she will immediately come to the conclusion that the feeling she’s harboring is love.

“Am I into girls?”

She whispered to herself.

Uncomfortable with her current feelings, she stood up and took the dagger given by Hanayuki. She swings her dagger and does some combos while at it. Even though she is troubled by her actions. The throbbing of the heart continues.

Moments later, her body felt fatigued and she got exhausted. Her body was covered with sweat. Jumping into bed with her sweaty body is out of the question.

Sleeping sweaty will have a feeling of sleeping in a sea of slime. And that sort of feeling is hated by Ninym.

Perfect to her current problem. The Inn they rent has a public bath in the back. Wanting to be refreshed, she walked to the public bath and took a dip in the warm water.

The warm water made her fatigue swim away from her body. Her expression was like someone melting with pleasure. The public bath was releasing steam and it was hard for her to see anything besides herself. Moving, she saw a shadow.

“?!”

She flinched thinking that it might be a ghost because of its moving dark shadow.

The fog moved and revealed that the one behind the fog was Hanayuki.

“Fancy seeing you here.”

“Hanayuki… I see, its just Hanayuki.”

“Well, I was just hoping to talk to you. After taking a bath, I would like to chat about our journey tomorrow.”

“I see… It's already past 1:00 AM. Why is Hanayuki still out?”

Ninym asked in curiosity. But she didn’t even think that the same question could be applied to her.

“I am going on a monster-hunting quest.”

“In the middle of the night?”

“I can only face dangerous monsters at night or when Shaymi is in a safe place. I don’t want to bring her into dangerous situations.”

Just like Ninym thought, she was extremely kind. She always considered the safety of people around her first.

Hanayuki jumps into the things she wants to talk about. Hanayuki tells Ninym about the type of monster living near Mona. Most of them are insect monsters. Fire magic would be very effective to use. In the cave, expectedly rock breed with sea crustaceans will be found.

But there is one monster they need to be careful of and it's a monster they need to face if they want to get the spirit gem.

The monster called Luster dragon was living as the dungeon boss. A very beautiful dragon covered with sapphire. It has an incredibly high-powered attack. It was the guardian of the spirit. After defeating it, it will disappear and it will return to life after a few hours.

“That means it can’t be killed.”

“That’s right, but that is not in our concern. After clearing the path and defeating the dragon, we can get the spirit gem and get out of the den.”

Ninym had already seen Hanayuki battle. There is no denying that Hanayuki is a powerful adventurer. With just one magic attack. She was able to kill a drunken panda earlier. Hanayuki’s tone of talking is confident, giving Nim a sense of peace. The source of this confidence was because Hanayuki had already got inside the spirit den before and defeated the luster dragon. It was a tough fight, but in the end, Hanayuki won.

She goes inside the Spirit den to get the spirit gem to sell it for a high price. The gem cost millions of gold. It's a luxury item that many wealthy aristocrats were hoping to get.

During that time, Hanayuki didn’t know that the only one who could make the gem appear was a spirit user and the second qualification was to be someone with a strong bond with a spirit.

Hanayuki's current action has no dark intentions. Right now she just wants to help. Having lots of money wasn’t her goal. She just wanted to have a fair amount of money. Stealing the gem was not crossing her mind at all.

“You’re awesome for defeating a boss monster.”

Embarrassed with praise, Hanayuki turned flustered and her eyes away. She is a humble person, not wanting to be at the center of the attraction.

While they are both in conversation, Hanayuki notices a shadow. She senses the magical presence in the area to detect its location. It was hiding behind the wall. Hanayuki, without hesitation, leaped out of the water to chase the hiding person.

Her body wasn’t fast enough. She can’t use her lightning magic because of the water surrounding her. She will accidentally hurt her Ninym if she does.

The person eavesdropping flees using a teleport card. It was obvious because the ray of blue light going up into the sky was seen. It's the visuals seen when someone is using a teleportation card.

“SI that a p*****t?”

Ninym said, hugging her body with both of her arms.

“I wish it was just a p*****t…”

Hanayuki got a bad feeling that the one listening to their conversation wasn’t just an ordinary person. Just in case, Hanayuki would make sure that Ninym and Shaymi would be safe.