To Hell And Back | Granevere | Edited

Chapter Fifty-Three

Eden at the top^^^

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Eight-year-old Gwyneth still couldn't believe what she had awoken from. It was but an ordinary dream, as though an alternate reality or what possibly could have been the past, set in a period where man wasn't a common species across the Land.

Who were those unfamiliar faces in the background and why was she seeing three scenarios all at once? Could it be that all of it was a vivid creation of her thrill-seeking mind?

"Are you still thinking about your exams?" Guinevere questioned, looking up from the leather bound she was reading from the rocking chair.

Gwyneth wanted to tell her mother about her complicated dream, but she couldn't find the right words to start it with. And so she nodded her head as though tongue-tied.

Gwyneth watched as her mother saunters over and sits cross-legged with her in the carpet. "Are you being bullied at school, love?"

Gwyneth looked appalled as if her big secret has been exposed. "No, of course not." She said, looking away with a childish scowl.

"Hmm." Guinevere hummed in understanding. "Then kindly explain why your amulet was removed before you fainted?"

Gwyneth looks down at her hanging amulet. "Well, I sort of removed it by myself."

"Really? May I know why, love?"

"She keeps telling me to."

Guinevere was beyond frustrated but she kept her cool. "Who is she?"

"Her name is Kouna and she claims to be a goddess," Gwyneth explained, her fingers idling on the hands of her favorite toy doll.

"Gwyneth, tell me more about this Kouna." Guinevere requested. This goddess could be the reason for her fainting, she thought of suspicion. She could be a great danger to Gwyneth. But how did she got in her head? Are the filths of the Abyss responsible for this?

---

Eden has grown concerned for her Mentor. He hasn't come down from his and her Sir Alucard's room yet. She suspects he might be illed, but what of?

He was very attentive and his reaction time was flawless from their last routine practices at the Courtyard. Unless he's getting very impatient. Their group were still not allowed to venture out in the Rantha Mountains yet.

It was odd, but the Director of the Headquarters had mentioned they still had to minimize the possible threats they could encounter, and this would mean another war was breaking out as they, Demon Hunters, eat and having their job being done by someone else.

Eden decided to tour herself around the HQ, save for the restricted areas.

At least she could go to another place in the Headquarters as good as her bed and it was the Balcony where a huge panoramic view of one gorgeous sunset Eden had the opportunity to foresee.

Though of course, Eden wasn't the only one who find the Director's orders to be disappointing, which is why she and Patch have concocted a plan to get out and see what was going on during the war against the demons.

Wars upheld by the Knights' Order and the demon migrants are unheard of in the Moniyan Empire. Nobody dare asks or speaks of it for it was deemed to be a hoax. Surely, the Knights wouldn't be guarding a border which was already uncrossable in the first place.

The border goes across the highest mountains of the Southern Region. People could barely survive climbing the mountains uphill, let alone going downhill thereafter.

So there must be something these Knights aren't telling them. Something... darker than the tip of the iceberg.

"Have you seen Alutard and Granger?" Patch appeared behind her all of a sudden.

Eden furrowed her brows in annoyance. "Can you stop being an arse to them for once? You should be glad one of the best demon hunters the Monastery are our Mentors, you ungrateful bowling ball!"

Having his shaved head insulted was one of his massive pet peeves and Eden was conscious of this. Still she didn't expect he would threaten to push her off to a steep mile drop.

Eden yelped. "Patch, stop this nonsense and let me go! We promised your father not to cause any trouble during our mentorships."

He laughs cynically, ignoring the mention of their father and removing his hands around her. "Oh, Okay!"

"Ah!" Eden was holding onto him for dear life, crying even. "Enough with the fucking shenanigans!"

"Hey, what's going on in here?" A Knight had came up to investigate what Eden's cries were all about.

Once it was clear he could be in big trouble, Patch pushes Eden away from the railings, shaking as he resists the urge to tease her with another push.

"We're just messing around. Right, sis?" His look faltered into an innocent one so quick that the Knight wasn't able to notice.

Eden was massaging on her upper arms where Patch had held so painfully hard. She could feel a bruise burning through the leather vest of her blouse.

"Right, we were just messing around," Eden said forcibly, hiding her tears behind her messed up hair.

"Well, it's almost night time. You better get back inside now."

"Will do, Sir!" Patch grinned, patting his adoptive sister on her shivering shoulder. "Will do."

---

"Alucard, did you use my toothbrush?"

"Well, yeah."

"You-"

"Hippity hoppity, your toothbrush is now my property!" Alucard sang with a corny wink.

"You're such a disappointment," Granger muttered, getting out of the bathroom with barely his sleeve white shirt buttoned up to the top, revealing the thick layers of bandage on his chest.

Alucard snorted. "Are you wearing a binder or something, pretty boy?"

After running a stressed hand through his dampened black hair, Granger throws him a deathly look. "Start packing. You're not going to be my roommate anymore once I return with Eden," He stated, making Alucard look very crestfallen.

"What- you can't just do that!" Alucard whined. "She is a girl and I am a man. You can't just replace me with her and me at her room, which is, let me tell you, assigned only to women! The Director is going to kick all of us out for breaking the rules, Granger."

Granger couldn't take it anymore. "Then sleep anywhere else, heck, in the janitor's closet but here, Alucard! Don't make me quit this mission..." He trails off, storming out of the room and slamming the metal door shut behind him.

The more he ages, the less his brain cells become, Granger thought. Perhaps it's time for one 'legendary' demon hunter to retire.