Star Sun Cave

Ch. 23 | The Kakinoki Battle Site, Part 2

"Don't think so, Frosti." Pollimer turned to him, with a rather hopeful smile. "As much as I wish, there's nothing to salvage, and who knows? History tends to repeat itself."

Atomu breathed in.

"...a-and we're going through Kakinoki?" Elton asked.

"Haha, precisely!" Pollimer turned. "It might though, be a little good. It'll remind and show ya what Mirillians could do!"

Those words, although not directed at Chyuuichi, struck him as unpleasant and uncomfortable. For a moment, he was there, and that Mirillian inside him recalled the story Pollimer told, but then again, it was like looking through a thick fog.

Atomu kept eyeing Chyuuichi, now sure that something had gone amiss the other day.

"Heh." Bancho chuckled. "I guess they were right when they said Mirillians don't have the best memories. It was a goblin's attack, wasn't it?" he turned to Pollimer, who clenched his fist and nodded.

"Yeah, right."

Jyuzou made an unsure expression.

"...but I guess you could lump a few demons in an army." the old Morian continued. "No one would notice, then."

***

"Hmm." was the only sound that echoed through a small chamber, covered in a velvet, almost flesh-like light. Shi Hon sat on the ground, his legs spread apart, putting his fingers in different coats of paint. He dipped a few fingers in, and carefully traced the carved outline with his sharp nail, further enriching the composition before his eyes.

He stood up, looking out of the hole he created a year ago, and the night sky greeted him, with muffled, repeating sounds, resemblant of Lignorian wood crickets. A small fly flew above the Plateaus, flashing before his eyes.

He sat down at the side of his throne, breathing in.

Afterwards, the animal he had been peering at found itself inside a spider's web, unmoving.

Shi Hon squinted his eyes, before turning away.

Meanwhile, Soban was rather vivid. Most people eagerly walked around and chatted with one another, excitedly recalling the small time frame where someone other than Mirillians went inside and outside Soban.

"Exactly sixteen hours!" A bearded Mirillian said to one another.

"You counted?" A woman asked.

"You can count hours?!" Someone else added.

"It was a miracle, a blessing upon us Mirillians!" Someone yelled out.

Amongst all that commotion stood Nion, the person who Chyuuichi called out to in the hopes of proving something to the troupe, yet, he found himself weirded out by Chyuuichi's claims. All in all, he wandered with strange stress, as if he met a ghost. His face reminded him of someone, but much like noise or ripples in the waterfall it was muffled, or silent.

He couldn't shake off that feeling, and his mind started racing towards the possibility of a demon who only pretended to be someone they were not. He recalled Pollimer's words during a king's speech, about such vile creatures taking the life of a few Mirillians last year. Amongst those names sounded one he recognized and struggled to forget even through the happiest moments.

...and behind Nion, stood a bar, with a hanging sign that read Mother Pen, with a nice little shovel below the tinted words. The doors were closed, and the yellow light from the inside shone through the cracks, but no sound escaped through.

"Aishao's done a good enough job," Lisbeth announced, walking around on foot. Isak leaned against a wall, tapping his fingers against the fake wooden tables, Leopold's eyes carefully observed the red-haired demon. She leaned to the ground, still holding the heavy metallic chain tied around the woman lying on the floor behind the counter. "A demon of few words speaking much like those humans here."