Project: iaseki

Chapter 22: Preparation

After being instructed to wait for the document to come to Elle, Lu continued his daily life striving to get as much resources and credits he could before embarking on the journey.

He inherited a ring from Gaze that stored items and spit them out at his will, a mechanism from Rema that he does not understand. He wondered if there were more like those in Rema. Regardless, it proved itself very useful.

Lu and Autumn were again paired for their bounties and had done odd jobs.

At night, Autumn worked more bounties as she always had, and Lu reads more books about the current world.

He noticed that it was very similar to the world of Monitum, but he learned that it was also comparable to the one he used to know as if it was an imperfect copy of it.

There are three continents, name Faruno (the biggest one) , Dosara (the smallest), and Mitresa (the middle sized). They are all elongated islands that almost form a circle.

Mitresa is uninhabited by people. Likely bwcayse it is too far away from the other continents.

Meanwhile, Faruno and Dosara are separated by water and it is only 2000km apart. This in-between of the two long continents is also where the water kingdom resides.

Occasionally, Lu took Autumn trips in Monitum and told her about the world of where he was from. Autumn did the same for Lu in their current world. They compared the realities they knew and often had arguements which one would be better as if they could change facts for themselves, and as the days go on the winner becomes more and more unclear.

One time, Chrio asked Lu to deliver a pair of gloves to Autumn, telling him that she forgot to bring it.

Lu had almost reached the establishment where Autumn was when he saw her in the middle of the road. A group of two old men and women were shouting slurs at her and pointing at her as if she did something wrong.

"If kingdomfolk did not exist and their hatred for each other, people could stay in one big empire instead and would live better lives" one of the old men shouted.

Some of the other citizens joined in the the commotion and started vocalizing their hatred for the kingdomfolk, and immediately, Lu knows what was happening.

Autumn only looked sad. She didn not portray any hint of hostility as Lu thought she would. In fact, when someone threw a feather at her, she did not budge at all. She took the hit as if it was her way of saying sorry for merely existing. Lu's worry that she might kill him on the spot had faded.

"Kill her!" One of the angry women shouted, and one by one they all started throwing feathers.

While almost none of them were accurate, those that hit made her bleed more. Lu did not know what she was planning, but he did not intend to stand idly.

He clouded the field with gold dust from his animus and ran to Autumn to take her away. He then shot a gold feather where she previously stood.

When the smoke disappeared, the citizens screamed and scattered as they saw the golden feather in the middle.

Lu carried her to an alley hidden from plain sight, pulling out the three wild quills that randomly hit him after he put her down.

"Why did you just stand there? Are you out of your mind!?" Lu scolded her.

Autumn smiled despite the pain she must be feeling from the wounds.

"I'm sorry" she said. "This must have been what you felt, huh?" she asked.

"Can you walk?" Lu asked, looking at her painfully wounded legs.

"The aged people were kind so I thought I could share my secret with them...I'm sorry" she said, turning away.

Lu thought that she was likely apologizing for how she treated him when she first knew that he was an aurum, and sighed.

"We're over that now, aren't we? Now come on. I can't carry you so you'll have to settle for a piggyback ride" he said and sat low in front of her.

"One, two, hyup!" Lu chanted as if he casted a magic spell that her lighter.

He started walking and felt fluids stain on his shirt. It was not just the drops of blood that he felt, but also tears. And then, a few moments of silence passed.

"Are you angry at me?" she asked.

"What are you, a little kid?" Lu asked sarcastically, but when she did not answer, he realized that she was sincerely asking him.

"Why would I be?" he asked again, but this time rhetorically.

"Really?" she affirmed.

It took Lu a moment to respond, forming words that would let him answer honestly but also not make him hostile by dampening the truth.

"Well...I guess I was at first, but someone who reminded me of my sister told me that we should be better than those who harm us. 'To defeat an opponent you only need to take away their will to fight' as the quote says. In the same way, we just need to be better at not getting harmed, not resorting to hurting others if possible" Lu explained.

"I see" she said plainly.

"By the way, why do you need so much money?" Lu asked, changing the topic.

"I don't want to worry you with that" Autumn said and Lu felt her smile on his back, and he understood that it was not his place to know and brushed it off.

"Still, thank you very much. I will repay you someday" she continued.

"Actually if it counts, I was hoping that I was the one who just repaid you today" Lu said.

"Oh, is that so?" Autumn raised an eyebrow and they both laughed.

Lu was still curious as to why Autumn needs money, but he did not push her. In the thought of friends keeping secrets, he was reminded of Esther who could apparently shoot black laser beams. Lu was certain that he counted correctly. Esther should have been awaken since an hour ago, but it seems she has no intention of showing herself to him just yet.

Lu prepared himself mentally for when she does come around, which he believes is soon.

***Bonus***

Meanwhile, back at the guild hall dormitories, Chrio was in awe as Lu innocently smiled at her, bleeding, while also carrying Autumn, who was also bleeding.

"According to the contract, we get healing for free provided by the guild, right?" Lu kept smiling.

"How come both of you so often have a close brush with death? Are you, per chance, married with peril?" Chrio assessed, then shook her head. "Come inside" she sighed, and Lu followed her.