༺ Midnight Negotiations (2) ༻
As usual, the two moons were shining brightly in the sky at the time we got out of the guards’ office. They were covering each other’s brilliance, resulting in the creation of beautiful nail-shaped shadows.
“Is that a New moon or a Crescent moon?” muttered Luna to no one in particular, making me recall my grades in Earth Science.
“I’m sorry, Hassan. You’re in trouble because of me…”
Luna talked in her characteristic shrill voice after her anger had subsided.
With money being one of the proofs of her achievements, losing it probably ended up in a loss of confidence in her own abilities. One can’t help but start doubting themselves once one’s wallet starts getting thinner.
“I already said that I’d help you, didn’t I? So let’s do it together. I don’t have anything to do anyway.”
“But I can’t just keep receiving your help forever. I’m the one responsible for the cabin. I have to do it myself.”
Luna’s objective of doing everything herself without asking for others’ help, was in itself very commendable. But I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of sadness settle within my heart at her declaration. It really felt like she was drawing boundaries between us. A thin line differentiating my matters from hers.
Even if Luna, obviously, didn’t mean it like that, it still felt that way to me. It was also surprising to me how her words were enough to make me feel so lonely and lost.
I had thought till now that it was only Luna who was relying on me all this time. But now… It seems that I was unconsciously also relying on her mentally.
In this filthy world where even fucking wild animals like deers could empty your pockets and rob you of all your worth, Luna’s gentle and pure persona made my whole body feel lighter. Her very existence was like a beacon in the dark to me as I kept struggling alone in this barbaric world without a single person to rely on.
It was a lonely and grim life that I was leading.
My life could never be compared to those who had a reliable partner with them, a partner with whom you could share all your hardships and grievances.
“From now, don’t blindly follow other men as you did. What would you have done if something dangerous had happened to you, huh?”
“…”
Perhaps because she realized her mistake, Luna looked mortified and said nothing in response. Adding salt to her wounds like this would accomplish nothing and Luna also seemed to have realized her mistakes. So, in the end, I just decided to stay silent for the rest of the walk.
After walking in silence for a while, we finally reached Luna’s cabin located on the west side of Sodomora.
“Are you really sleeping here?”
“I don’t have enough money to pay for an inn.”
“I can lend you some money if you want.”
“No, I don’t want to get into the habit of borrowing money from others. One day, it will suddenly grow beyond what I can manage. I am already 2 golds in debt, I can’t go much higher than that.”
Luna’s decision seemed final. She was probably thinking something along the lines of “I can’t live alone while being in someone else’s debt” and I totally understood her mentality.
I, however, couldn’t shake my unease about leaving her alone in this place.
Although I didn’t feel like picking at the poor, I couldn’t in good faith say that Sodomora’s slums were the safest place for taking residence.
You could hear the sounds of people falling down from who knows where and even shrieking like “Ugh, ugh…” without even concentrating on the noises.
This place was situated in the western back alleys of Sodomora. Robbers, vagrants, and sick individuals with bandages wrapped all over their bodies resided in this god-forsaken place. Their pale yellow eyes, peeking out of their indolent faces, seemed to be flashing in the dark as they watched over these black alleys.
Even I, with my sturdy body and fully armed with three swords, felt nervous every time I passed through this place.
I couldn’t even imagine just what might happen should Luna sleep in a shady neighborhood like this all alone. Who knows, maybe a homeless guy would just enter this cabin to seek shelter from the winds,
So I asked her once more.
“Are you really going to sleep here?”
Luna replied in a matter-of-fact tone.
“What’s wrong with this place? It’s pretty nice since I cleaned it.”
Swish—
Just as she uttered those words a gust of wind blew from somewhere, shaking the planks full of holes hard, making it seem as if the whole cabin was on the brink of collapsing
Luna shuddered with the intrusion of the cold wind.
“Well, it’s a bit cold. But I’ve slept in places worse than this. Anyway, thanks for your help today, Hassan. Goodbye, and see you at the south gate of Sodomora tomorrow!”
Luna seemingly made up her mind to sleep here no matter how much I objected to her decision…
Her stubbornness was similar to a prisoner on death row or perhaps it would be better to compare it to a monk on a quest for asceticism.
Was it like a punishment she inflicted on herself for losing all her money? I had no way to know about that right now.
“Then I’ll sleep here too.”
I ended up spouting out the words that had been lingering on the edge of my tongue for a while already. I wasted too much time thinking of how I should word them and as a result, I just ended up crudely declaring my words.
Luna frowned slightly as if she was puzzled as to what the hell I was saying,
“Hassan, sleeping here? But why?”
What did she mean by “Why?” exactly? I had no clue whether she was truly wondering just why I wanted to stay here with her or if it was just some form of fancy rejection of my declaration.
Well, I don’t think Luna was smart enough to reject someone like that. So, it was probably just her curiosity about my intentions for being here with her.
“I can’t?”
“It’s going to be very windy here though…”
“Guess we should just stay close to each other then.”
Although I didn’t have much time to think about what to say, it seems my wit and smarts shone perfectly in this situation. Two people raising each others’ temperature by sharing their warmth during a cold and breezy night wasn’t unheard of.
I was desperately racking my brain for more words to add to my reasoning, fearing that she would refuse my suggestion.
“It will be a little warmer for both of us if we stick close together under a warm blanket. Won’t it be better than trembling in the cold alone?”
“Hmm, is that so? I agree, then!”
Oh yeah, it worked! Well, to be frank, as someone who had enough of being homeless, I thought sleeping in a cramped cabin would feel very uncomfortable.
But compared to my previous hellish experience, this could be considered as playing a game on easy difficulty.
Moreover, the presence of Luna’s warm and soft body couldn’t help but make me feel a little bit emotional.
Rustle— Rustle— Flap—
After laying the old blanket on the floor, I and Luna put our shoulders together and sat with our backs leaning against the wall and covered ourselves with my long raincoat.
Not as bad as I thought it would be.
“Not bad.”
“Isn’t it? It’s a nice place. I can feel a kind of subtle magical energy nearby.”
Luna began bragging about her cabin, saying how much she liked this place or how this place gave her some weird voodoo vibes that she liked as a shaman.
As a servant of Knox, the god of superstitions, she seemed to have a deep belief in the vibes of certain locations and the corresponding energy they emanated.
Anyways, my attention was currently focused on Luna who was excitedly chatting with a sparkling luster in her eyes rather than the cabin she was so enthusiastically describing.
Looking at her side profile, her twinkling eyes were the first thing I noticed, then came her surprisingly long eyelashes, and her sharp nose that had the perfect amount of curvature and no flatness or thickness to it. It was perfect, in a word.
Her jawline was thin and slender. It went perfectly with her milky white and soft skin creating a pretty feminine outline.
I could feel the warmth and softness of her skin from the contact between our shoulders especially vividly.
Did I really sleep with this girl before? Now that I think about it, what happened before felt like a dream on a midsummer night.
Because I was rather hectic and clumsy with my first time, some memories of that day were distorted or magnified in my senses. Regrets about the things I hadn’t done with her or parts that I hadn’t touched or licked were welling up inside me.
Sniff— Sniff—
Luna’s characteristic cool and minty smell entered my nose as I sneakily sniffed her scent. The smell felt strangely sweet and refreshing today. Perhaps it was because she had not yet bathed.
Throb—
Damn, despite knowing nothing would happen today, my schlong was quickly rising in my pants. This bastard is really the king of positivity.
“Anyway, that’s what ended up happening! So how is it? You understand why I choose this place now, right? 3 gold really isn’t a lot for a place like this. It’s actually a great deal, in fact! I could probably sell it for twice the price in the near future.”
Luna concluded after muttering by herself for a long time.
Since I was entranced by Luna’s side profile, I only roughly listened to what she was saying to me. In Summary, she was basically partaking in this world’s version of real state speculation.
That wasn’t what mattered to me right now though.
“L-Luna.”
“Hmm? Yeah?”
Luna turned her head toward me with a curious expression plastered on her innocent face. I couldn’t help it anymore and slowly moved my head closer to hers, inching my lips toward her own.
I did it because there was nothing I wished for more right now than feeling the softness of her shiny lips again. However, Luna’s slender fingers gently touched my chest and pushed me away…
“Oh, don’t, Hassan…”
“Why? It’s just the two of us, after all. No one will know it if we just do it quietly and secretly.”
At that moment, I remembered the effects of the new blessing I had gotten, the “Night’s Cloak”…
“Night’s Cloak” could reduce the probability of being discovered while doing secretive actions in the dark. Could it be that doing ‘that’ was also included in its repertoire? To be frank, I couldn’t think of anything more secretive than ‘that’ act…
Luna quietly spoke while I was lost in my muddled thoughts.
“It’s not just the two of us. The wolf spider is here too.”
Luna pointed toward a pot in the corner of the room. Holy shit! I couldn’t help but tremble violently at the realization that a spider the size of my palm was nearby.
“And there’s also Lady Knox.”
Point—
I moved my gaze toward the spot Luna was pointing at with her index finger. At the end of my sight, I could see some kind of strangely-shaped wooden statue there.
It was about the size of my palm, I thought it was just a random interior prop at first.
“Is that really Lady Knox?”
“Yeah, yeah, it’s a simple statue. Pretty well-made right? I made it based on the voice I told you about last time.”
Hearing her words, I stood up and approached the so-called statue of Lady Knox. Now that I looked at it from up close, I became speechless. I didn’t know just how to describe this monstrosity.
Damn, this doesn’t look like a statue at all. If I had to describe it, it looked closer to a cursed object than a statue of a goddess. Something that you would insert in the puzzles inside of a maze as a key piece to open a secret door in your typical horror game.
Its appearance was a mix between an owl and a human. It honestly gave me the creeps just looking at this abomination. What was particularly creepy about it were its two wide-opened eyes which felt like they were strangely gazing at me.
“Why did you suddenly make this?”
“From now on, I have to pray to Lady Knox every day before going to sleep. She said she wanted to hear about my day and thoughts from now on.”
“I see.”
This felt like a girl reporting to her parents about their day. I pictured Luna sitting silently while chatting in her own mind. It was a surprisingly cute scenario in its own way.
“T-That aside, do you believe me, Hassan?”
“About what? The deer that ran away with the money? It does sound a little fake, to be frank…”
“No, about how Lady Knox talked to me in my dreams. Other people would tell me to stop lying to them… It actually felt like a dream to me too at first.”
Aha-! It seems that despite the fervent belief in God of this world’s people, Luna herself didn’t seem to think that she actually spoke to Knox.
Only a few people could receive the blessing of the gods or hear their voices in this world. Most people would just abide by the “Greater beings obviously existed” philosophy or something along those lines.
That said, the me, who actually met Knox and talked to her while she was hiding under the blanket by possessing Luna’s body already, had no doubts about Luna’s claims.
I returned to Luna’s side. I guess I should be content with only her warmth that I could feel through my shoulders for now. Still, I have to do something eventually.
“I believe that you really talked with Knox, Luna. I think it actually happened.”
“R-Really? It’s real?”
“I suppose so.”
“It feels very convincing when you say it, Hassan. Why did the Gold of Light directly help you last time though? I only heard something like this happening only in myths and legends. It’s the first time I actually saw someone receiving a God’s help with my own eyes.”
Luna spoke out in admiration when reminiscing about what happened back then. Suddenly, I was also reminded of what happened in Acheron’s swamp.
An arrow of flame pierced through the unending fog and blew away all the moisture in the swamp. That experience was very taxing. A similar thing happened during my duel with Hippolyte.
The man who appeared in the middle of the suspended world claimed he was one of this world’s gods.
Could he be Mars, the god of struggle? Him quite literally talking about how I chose him over Minerva was probably a reference to how I joined the Mars Guild instead of the Minerva Guild.
That only meant that man was actually Mars, the god of struggle.
Wait, wasn’t it said that Hippolyte was the daughter of Mars? Did a father just strip his daughter’s armor? What? I don’t know anymore.
“That’s amazing, Hassan. It’s actually fascinating now that I think about it. Are you really someone great? Are you perhaps Jupiter’s son?”
“Whose son?”
“Jupiter, the god of lightning and thunder!”
What? Damn, did she just curse my parents or something? I was taken aback for a moment by her words until I realized what Luna really meant.
Actually, ‘Son of Jupiter’ is a term that I’ve heard quite a lot. Luna said it as though it was a great compliment but it actually was a kind of contemptuous insult.
Because it basically meant being a child with unknown roots. A child without a father.
Jupiter, considered the greatest deity in this world, was quite the playboy in reality and fattened the bellies of quite a number of women wherever he went.
That’s why many women who gave birth to fatherless children would say ‘This is Jupiter’s child’.
“My parents are still alive and kicking back in my hometown.” I think.
“Really? Then how can you get the attention of so many gods without being the offspring of one? You even made them break their 30 years of silence…”
Luna fell into deep thoughts. It seemed to me that she wasn’t able to understand the reasonings behind the miracles surrounding me.
How would Luna react if I told her that I wasn’t Hassan from Samaria but actually Hassan from Korea?
Luna fell so deep into her own thoughts that she ended up drifting to sleep before I even realized it.
It was now time for me, who had been gazing at her sleeping figure for some time already, to close my eyes too and preserve my strength for tomorrow’s action.
Shiver—
A chilling cold began permeating the cramped cabin, making me shudder. At first, I just thought the chilly wind was getting through the multiple holes in the planks covering the cabin but…
Crack— Crackcrack—
Damn, I remembered that I already experienced this abnormal bone-freezing cold once before.
『I. Have. Arrived,』
Wanna unlock all premium chapters? Check the Membership Chapters will seamlessly unlock no need to bother buying coins anymore.
53
