Hana met Mira's eyes for a second before she became uncomfortable and looked away.
"How… How about you become my bodyguard, Big Sister? Just like you said, you're already involved in my situation, so you might as well go all out!" Hana gathered her courage and said.
Mira was bewildered by Hana's response and felt an urge to give her another spanking, but controlled herself and asked, "Why?"
"Eh? W-What do you-?" Hana stuttered but was interrupted by Mira.
"Why should I go out of my way to babysit you? Do you know how much trouble that'd bring me? Just so you know, those guys I killed were Nascent Soul Realm cultivators! You telling me to be your bodyguard is essentially telling me that those men aren't the only ones trying to catch you. So, if you want me to help keep you safe, you need to offer something in exchange." Mira explained and inspected Hana's expression.
Seeing how she wasn't too surprised by the strength of her pursuers answered a few of Mira's questions, but it also raised more.
"Eh? U-Umm… Isn't hanging out with such an adorable kid like me enough of a reward? I don't really have anything else to offer other than that…" Hana said in a mosquito-like voice.
Mira's lips almost twitched, and she nearly cursed out loud, but she wasn't going to lose her cool over the ramblings of a child.
"Really? I beg to differ. If you tell me how you escaped my senses, I'll help you." Mira threw out her condition.
Although she felt Hana was in a bad situation, she had no desire to help her for free.
She had no sympathy for Hana, nor would she feel bad about abandoning her on the mountain. With her hiding skills, getting caught is very unlikely as long as she's not an idiot…
'Nevermind. She'll definitely get caught if I leave her here.' Mira thought, but she still had no intention of helping for free.
Hana clearly looked troubled by Mira's response but didn't outright reject it.
She stood there in silence, seemingly weighing her options. Mira waited patiently for several minutes until Hana finally opened her mouth.
"O-Okay… I'll tell you how I hid from you, but I can't promise you'll be able to do the same thing. This is something unique to my family, after all. However, you have to promise you'll protect me indefinitely!" Hana agreed, surprising Mira, but that last sentence made her brows furrow.
"Protect you indefinitely? What do you mean? I'm not a fuc-ahem, a freaking babysitter! I don't have the time or patience to care for a kid. Can't I just protect you for a few months, then return you to your mother?" Mira asked, unwilling to have a mysterious little girl follow her around everywhere.
"No! We can't go back to where Mom is! That'd make her sacrifice useless!" Hana started to tear up after saying that, but Mira wasn't fazed.
Instead, she ruthlessly asked, "So your mom's dead?"
However, contrary to Mira's expectations, Hana shook her head.
"I don't know."
That's all Hana said, causing Mira's frown to deepen. Unconsciously, her guard was raised to the max against Hana.
On the outside, she looked like a cute little girl, but Mira felt like there was much more to her than meets the eye.
At first, Mira assumed Hana was just a princess or young miss of a Clan or Kingdom that had gotten involved in a power struggle, but now she wasn't quite sure what to think.
'Is she really just a little princess?' Mira thought as the mysteries surrounding Hana's existence increased.
Now, it was Mira's turn to think if all this was really worth it. Is Hana's stealth technique really worth all this trouble?
Also, Mira felt her trust in Hana decreasing by the second. Whenever she looked into Hana's eyes, although they looked like any other child's eyes, innocent, Mira felt something wasn't quite right.
Aside from that, Mira doesn't know anything else about the little girl in front of her. She only knows her name and that powerful people are after her.
She's never heard of the Silvermoon family either, so even her name might be fake.
Hell, the person in front of her might not be a little girl at all! It could be some old monster who just wanted to mess with people as a little girl!
Although the likelihood of that scenario is quite slim, it's not impossible. Mira's met all kinds of weirdos throughout her life, and since this is a world where almost anything is possible, Hana might actually be some decrepit old man playing around.
Just the thought of that sent shivers down Mira's spine, and her eyes turned cold.
If she were going to take this mission, she wouldn't take any chances.
"I can agree to your conditions, but you'll have to do something else for me. If you want my help, you'll have to swear to the Heavens that you won't backstab me, betray me, or share my secrets." Mira said in a cold voice, shocking Hana.
"B-Big sister, how could you be like that?! Don't you trust me? Why would I betray you?!" Hana began tearing up again, feeling hurt by Mira's words, but the latter didn't care.
"That's right. I don't trust you. There are too many mysteries around you, and I have no intention of leaking all my secrets to someone who won't share hers. So, you either swear to the Heavens or no deal." Mira said in an uncompromising tone.
Hana looked down, not allowing Mira to see her expression. After a few minutes, Hana lifted her face and smiled.
"Fine. If that's all I have to do to earn your trust, then I'll do it. By the way, what's your name, Big Sis?"
"Mira."
"Alright, Big Sis Mira, I'll swear to the Heavens now."
"I, Hana Silvermoon, swear that I'll never betray, backstab, or leak any of Mira's secrets or information! Should I fail to uphold my promise, may the Heavens strike me down!"
The sky rumbled slightly as if accepting Hana's declaration, then shortly after, returned to normal.
Mira nodded and said, "Alright. Now that we've come to an agreement, tell me how you hid from me, and we can finally be on our way."
Hana looked a bit hesitant after Mira said that, but she still decided to fulfill her promise.
"Okay, I'll tell you, Big Sis, but just like I said before, you probably won't be able to learn it. This is a technique that's unique to my family, after all. There also isn't a specific technique as it's just one of our abilities." Hana explained again, but Mira just waved her hand.
"You let me worry about that, okay? Just tell me how you did it. I'll be able to figure out the rest." Mira said confidently, but Hana was still skeptical.
She wanted to give Mira another warning, but she could clearly sense Mira's patience running thin.
"Fine! Don't say I didn't want you! If you can't learn it, don't come crying to me! You agreed to protect me for this information!"
Mira nodded indifferently, so Hana went straight into the explanation.
"All I did was merge my senses with the world."
Mira waited for more, but after 10 seconds of Hana not saying anything, she realized that was it.
"That's it? What kind of bullshit explanation is that?! How did you do that? What do you mean you merged your senses with the world? How does doing that make you able to escape my senses?" Mira asked with a deep frown on her face.
She felt like she had just been scammed! Her grip on her scythe tightened, and her patience with the mysterious child thinned even more.
Hana, realizing she was in deep trouble, quickly explained, "Ah! What I mean is everything in this world is alive—the trees, rocks, dirt, grass, air, etc. Everything thing has its own unique way of sensing and perceiving the world."
"For example, trees grow roots searching for nutrients and extend their branches to catch more sun. If I can change my senses and aura to be like a tree's, then I can essentially merge with the tree. Although I won't actually be part of said tree, the outside world won't be able to tell me apart from the tree."
"I was able to escape your senses because I matched my aura and senses with the bush I was in, making it seem like I wasn't even there in the first place."
Mira partially understood what Hana was saying, but at the same time, she didn't. She could understand what matching her aura meant, but she didn't understand how it was possible to 'merge' her senses with something like a bush.
Seeing how Mira was still a bit confused, Hana explained even further, "I see that you're still not quite understanding, so let's take the bush I was hiding in as an example. That bush, although it doesn't have eyes, ears, mouth, or a nose, the bush can still see, feel, taste, and hear the world. Not just that bush, but the trees and grass around us as well. You just don't notice this because they aren't particularly looking at you. So, I guess if you want to learn this technique, start by trying to feel the gazes of the trees around you."
"That's about as much as I know how to explain. What you understand is up to you."
