Return of the Fallen Volume 4 Chapter 33
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Author: Blue_Rat
ch33
Kazuki escorted Nunully and the others out of the bar and down the street. As the four made their way through the crooked streets of Gentis, Nunully walked closely next to Kazuki.
“Why did we leave so soon? I thought you took us there so you could gather information? You went to the bathroom and then once you came out we just left.”
“The info I needed, heh, It came to me already. Rest assured I know where to go now.”
Kazuki walked ahead and led the three to another alley. At first, Nunully and Tsura thought Kazuki had taken them in the wrong direction but Kazuki didn’t look confused in the least. He walked up to the brick wall at the end of the alley and examined it for a few seconds.
(This is the place.)
The brick wall seemed all but normal to a normal eye but if one were to look closely, you could see three symbols that blended seemingly well with the wall. This wall was similar to the wall Nunully’s mother Lamia had told him about back in Tresta. After talking with the bar owner, the owner told him where the biggest gambling den was and told him of one of the nearby entrances that led there.
To open it, just like in Tresta you had to hit it in certain spots.
Kazuki gently found the spots and knocked on them in the exact same way he had done in Tresta.
*Tap, tap, tap tap tap…Tap tap*
Just like back in Tresta, as soon as Kazuki hit the spots precisely and with the right timing, the brick wall then began to creak and rumble. Kazuki could hear several mechanical gears turning and metallic wires twining and flexing with small twanging noises. The noise was barely audible but with his sense, it was quite easy to detect.
Not only him though, but Mei and Tsura were also both curious about this noise. They had never heard gears turning before and found this to be a novel type of thing.
Nunully wondered why everyone had grown quiet and took interest in the wall. With her normal senses, she couldn’t hear the intricacies and gears activating behind the wall. Within a few seconds though she realized why everyone had gone silent as the brick wall opened inwardly like a door. Inside, a pathway leading downward into darkness could be seen.
Kazuki waved everyone over.
“Let’s go.”
Mei and Tsura entered without a second thought but Nunully hesitated for a moment. It’s not that she didn’t trust Kazuki but that the dark path reminded her of a bad memory. She recalled the sky prison and its dark corridors. Being beat and dragged down such a path left a mental scar and trauma. Kazuki turned and noticed her not moving. Holding out a hand he said.
“Aren’t you coming?”
Nunully saw that hand and most of her fears were eased. Still, she squeezed Kazuki’s hand more than one needed to. Kazuki raised an eyebrow. He wasn’t holding out his hand for her to grab but had it out as more of a gesture to come along. He was going to let go but he felt it might embarrass Nunully and just went along with it.
Everyone entered and the brick wall shut behind them, coating the already dark path in a pitch black. With Kazuki’s enhanced senses he could see in such darkness. Mei and Tsura as well lived with darkness and could make out everything just fine. Only Nunully received the short end of the stick but holding Kazuki’s hand gave her a calm feeling. She felt as long as she held this hand, everything, even the darkness could not scare her.
It was only a few seconds after the brick wall shut behind them when something on the ceiling lit up. Above them, slathered on the rock was a bluish-green bioluminescent. It was a form of algae.
Mei grew excited seeing this beautiful bluish-green and jumped up to try and grab the light. Unfortunately, she just ended up getting the slimy stuff on her hand but instead of being disgusted by it, she became even more interested and wiped it on her shirt.
“Mama mama, look I’m all blue-eee. Big bro, what kind of magic is this?”
Kazuki chuckled under his breath.
“That’s not magic. Its actually a type of plant called algae. This type of algae can glow like this. Though now that I think about it I don’t know where they get this algae. From what I know, glowing algae comes from the ocean. Yet…hmm”
Kazuki became lost in his thoughts while Tsura became a bit distressed. She pulled on Mei’s little ear, irritated.
“Mei! Look what you’ve done. I don’t have any more spare clothes. How can you walk around glowing all over the place? You’d better hope this stuff washes off.”
Mei rubbed her ear in pain and felt wronged.
Nunully on the other hand just stared up at the ceiling in wonder.
Kazuki tried to let go of Nunully’s hand and felt a squeeze. He looked at Nunully and the two’s eyes met. Nunully was starting to turn red. Even in this odd lighting, Kazuki could tell.
“Nunully, you can see now right, therefore, my hand.”
Nunully felt her face flush another shade but she didn’t let go. Instead, she whispered an excuse.
“I…I’m unfamiliar with this place and this light isn’t very good. I think I should hang on in case I trip or something. What, don’t tell me this is too much of a burden for you.”
(This girl. Even though she knows I’ve been with her mother, she’s still insisting.)
Kazuki sighed inwardly but didn’t let go of her hand. He knew how Nunully felt but he himself felt weird about it. He had been with her mother already and thought things would be weird. This was especially true since Nunully was persistent. He didn’t want to crush her heart and at the same time, he wanted to focus on his own path. Once he delivered Nunully to the Rin mountain range and made sure she was safe, he didn’t plan on returning. He needed to get strong as fast as possible so he could remove this hatred from his heart. There was no room for others, at least not now.
At the same time, there was a bit of greed and lust within Kazuki. To have both a mother and her daughter, how many countless men have had that dream and had the opportunity to fulfill it. Kazuki wanted to do it but he didn’t want the feelings and attachment that would follow. He had no time for baggage and he didn’t want to label Nunully as that but right now, that’s exactly what she was.
Kazuki sighed inwardly again before walking ahead, Nunully attached to his hand the entire way down.
After about 15 minutes or so, the group entered a wide empty room. The only thing in this entire room was a plain stone table. Floating above it, hovering silently, was a clear crystal orb no bigger than a man’s fist. Kazuki and the others slowly approached the table and a voice was emitted from the crystal.
“Man, women, and child. Since you’ve come here then you know that this is a place of money and a place to make fortunes. However, it is also a place of rules.”
A long list of rules was read out loud for them all to hear. Afterward, the voice spoke again.
“As you know, this place’s business is not on the up and up. Therefore we cannot allow those that are against us to enter. Place a drop of your blood upon this crystal and swear upon the god of thieves that you do not work for the crown or any crown on the Feya continent and that you only come here to fulfill your own greed. If you tell the truth you may enter but if you lie, Hmph…”
“Big bro big bro, what’s the god of thieves?”
Kazuki thought for a moment.
“From what I understand it’s not an actual god but more of a symbol for not just thieves but for all criminals. It kinda represents all who do illegal things. I’ve heard that as long as you swear loyalty to the god of thieves then anyone else who has as well will be an ally and will help or even hide you from the watchful eyes of the law. For a price that is.”
As Kazuki was going in on lore, the voice from the crystal ball spoke out in annoyance.
“Oy, are you coming in or not? Whatever you do hurry up.”
Kazuki was a little taken aback by this. He originally thought this voice was like a recording or something but from the way it reacted just now, it seemed to be sentient.
After the initial surprise, Kazuki bit the tip of his finger and dripped a drop of blood onto the crystal. The crystal soaked up the drop of blood like a sponge. Then the voice came out once more.
“Ladies if you would, that includes the little one as well.”
(Hmm, maybe it’s sentient or maybe someone is simply watching from another location and transmitting their voice but then why does the voice sound so similar to the one in Tresta.)
Kazuki couldn’t confirm if the voice from this crystal ball was the same one from the one in Tresta or not. Seeing as it had been several months since he last heard the other voice, even with his great memory, he couldn’t quite recall. After all, he had only heard it once in his life.
Mei ran over excitedly and bit her fingertip. Flicking it over sloppily, the voice became annoyed.
“Oy, little girl, show an ounce of respect will ya. Who flicks there blood all over the place like that? What are you some kind of animal?”
Mei tilted her head before proudly proclaiming.
“Yep. Mei is a big big bird. How did mister crystal know?”
The crystal went quiet for a moment as though it didn’t know what to say to that and Tsura walked over and put her hand over Mei’s mouth before she whispered by the looks of it something frightful into Mei’s ears. In actuality what she said was.
“Mei if you don’t stop telling people you’re a bird, you won’t get any more sweet red clouds. I’ll make sure Kazuki doesn’t give you any treats at all.”
Mei became terrified and she quickly shut her mouth. After Tsura nodded in approval and took her hand away, Mei took the initiative to cover her own mouth with her tiny little hands.
Tsura smiled at her daughter’s dramatics before dropping some of her blood on the crystal as well followed lastly by Nunully.
After absorbing all of the blood, the crystal flashed.
Finally, you folks take so long.
With those words, the wide room began to rotate and the scenery before Kazuki and the others completely changed.
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