Unknown house

We walk toward the mountain and leave the village. The day is still morning since we only talked for a moment with the security.

Kiwi: "Why Mrs. Dai is not with us?"

She walks like a soldier.

Grel: "She will be here and helping Mr. Stefan's house to clean up the house Kiwi."

Fasmel: "The house is a little bit dusty at the top. Especially at the edge. Probably it was hard for a dwarf person to reach it."

Kiwi: "Oooo... Is it food?"

Fasmel: "Aaa... No Kiwi... I don't know how to explain it."

Kiwi was confused, thinking the dust is still food in her mind.

Fasmel: "Maybe I can show you what dust is if I see one okay?"

Kiwi: "Umm." She nodded to her.

Kiwi: "Can I eat it?"

Fasmel: "No Kiwi... You can't."

But then Kiwi's eyes get distracted by some bugs flying in front of her. It was a ladybug flying. She immediately tried to jump and catch her but failed multiple times. She is leaving us. Her tail is wiggling too. She jumped and ran like a cat.

Fasmel: "Kiwi! Be careful there's a river!"

She catches up with Kiwi and watches for her, while Rose and I still walk behind.

Rose: "Do you think we can get one of the crystals here?"

Rose talking beside me all of a sudden. Seems she hides this question from anyone.

Grel: "I'm not sure about it. They said this mountain has yellow crystal."

Rose: "And you believe it?"

I paused for a moment.

Grel: "There's no other evidence. But at least we know the red crystal was found not in normal ways to find. And probably this might be the same thing as the other crystal."

While we were talking. Kiwi was in front of us still locking her eyes to the ladybug. It is still flying and Kiwi following it with her tail wiggling. And Fasmel walked behind her and watched her. Then Kiwi stopped at the edge of the river. The ladybug is flying over the river and it stopped at the top of some plant. Kiwi's eyes still lock on the ladybug, she sits down on the edge of the river. Her tail is still wiggling. Fasmel saw it run a little bit and she also sat down behind her.

Rose: "Then how about the last Luna's family you mention when we met before? Is that real?"

She still remembers it. I said it during the meeting, there was blind Luna's family outside as I said.

I'm just smiling.

Grel: "I don't even know if this is real or not. But how can we know if it's true or not until we see it?"

Rose was just looking at me.

Rose: "I see..."

Kiwi was still locking her eyes on the ladybug on some plant. Then she jumped, trying to catch the ladybug over the river. But quickly Fasmel catches Kiwi with her hand and lifts it. Fasmel now standing up while lifting Kiwi. Kiwi just kept looking at the ladybug flies after reacting to the wind blowing from her jumps. The ladybugs fly and are getting further and Fasmel is still holding Kiwi in her hand. Kiwi is just hanging and did not do anything since her foot was too far from the ground.

Grel: "And probably I forgot to talk about this one..."

Rose: "About what?"

I paused for a moment.

Grel: "Did I already ask you to be my weapon?"

Rose: "You did... How did you forget about it?"

Grel: "Heh... Really?"

I tried to remember it.

Rose: "Haah... You said it when we were on the street in the Kingdom..."

I tried to remember it.

Grel: "Aahh... Yeah, I remember it now."

Rose: "How can someone who is first asking forget about it."

Grel: "Ehehehe... Sorry... I was thinking too much about where we should go next."

Time skipped ahead and we were going up to the mountain.

The first mile was not a big deal. We still can see the village from above here and the other view from the other side too. The mountain was big enough. The road keeps going up and we keep walking. We keep walking and find out there are two dwarfs guarding here too. They all carry a bow with them. One of them looking at the open field and one of the other looking at the village. They are both at the edge of the cliff. They seem to not even flinch after we walk passing them, probably they already notice us below before we know them.

I wanted to greet them both but I saw they did not flinch, so we kept walking. And Kiwi started to get tired so Fasmel carried her. The road is getting harder the more we go up here.

Fasmel: "Wait... What is that in front of us?"

Fasmel looking in some direction on the left. We look at it and there's a house up there. Not sure why they have a house here alone. It was near the road so it did go to the edge of the cliff, probably designed for mountain-building purposes. In front of us, the road was connected to some bridge. The bridge was made of wood and it curved to the top. It was a short bridge made because, under the bridge, there's a hole. It was like cutting 1/3 of the mountain to the bottom. No wonder they made it.

Grel: "I'm not sure. We can see it first."

The house was long. The main door was in the middle. Its shape is like a rectangle with an old Japanese house design. The door was opened. And we can see someone inside here. It was the dwarf.

Arhi: "Hm? Why is the door open?"

I tried to go inside.

Grel: "Excuse me, sir."

He was standing at some rack. And he wears light armor. Then the dwarf noticed us after I called him.

Dwarf: "Hm? Yes?"

Grel: "Is this your house sir?"

The girl looking around. It was just full of racks for some reason.

Dwarf: "House? This is not house sir. This is an onsen."

Ps: Onsen is a Japanese word. It is a hot spring and the bathing facilities and traditional inns. It is usually used to mention bathing in traditional hot water.

Fasmel: "Uaahh! Onsen?"

Dwarf: "Eee... Yes? I just got one for myself a moment ago. Now I will go back down there if you can excuse me."

The dwarf just left us here and he walked out and went down.

We just decided to take a bath here for a moment since the girl wants to try the onsen. The onsen gender is separated so I was here alone using my towel covering below me. The male onsen is at the left side and the girl onsen is at the right side.

Grel: "Haaahhh..." I'm taking a deep breath after entering the onsen. My power is depleted. The hot water feels really relaxing. It was my first time using an onsen. There's nothing like this in the Kingdom. The hot water was purely from the mountain, that's why they built a house here alone.

The roof was not covered up. It was open. The cold from the mountain and the onsen make me want to stay here for a little longer.

Grel: "Why did I just know this place... I should go here more often."

On the other side. Kiwi was still standing at the edge wearing a small tower covering her body. She seems scared of water.

Fasmel: "C'mon Kiwi. It's fine..." She wears a towel covering her body.

Kiwi just shook her head really hard. She seems to really hate water that much, like a cat. Then Fasmel tries to go inside the onsen.

Fasmel: "See? It's fine... Come here."

Kiwi sees it walking toward the onsen, slowly. Arhi with a towel covering her body sawing it immediately lift her and walk to the edge of the onsen. She slowly put down Kiwi to the onsen. Kiwi feet are slowly getting closer to the hot water. Her eyes looked down at the onsen. Then when it gets closer, her foot rises up, trying to avoid the water.

Arhi lifts it up again and her foot straightens again. Arhi lowered her again and Kiwi's foot raised up again.

Arhi: "She really is a cat."

Fasmel: "Why are you scared of Kiwi? Look... I'm fine here..."

Arhi put down Kiwi at the edge of the onsen, and she just got inside the onsen and left Kiwi standing up staring at the water.

Arhi: "Maybe they don't want to take a bath."

Fasmel seems not happy seeing Kiwi just standing and staring at the water. Then suddenly Fasmel grabbed Kiwi. Kiwi surprised.

Fasmel: "Here you go!"

Kiwi is scared thinking she will be dead. But Fasmel put Kiwi in the hot water quickly. Kiwi just standing there. There's a stair inside the onsen and Kiwi standing at the stair. So, the water is half of their body.

Kiwi seemed surprised and didn't know how to react, she might think the water would be cold like she remembered. Fasmel tries to move her hand in front of her eyes. She just spacing out.

Fasmel: "I think this is her first time touching the hot water."

She was still standing there spacing out. Fasmel pushes her shoulder to the bottom so she can just sit down when spacing out.

Meanwhile in my onsen alone.

Grel: "Hmmm... I just used power enhancement twice..."

Then after probably 30 minutes.

Grel: "Alright. I think I should meditate here for a moment before leaving. Since I can't carry the shield without it."

Then I stand up, walk to the back side, and get on top of the rock at the edge of the onsen. I started my meditate quickly.

Fasmel lifted her out and tried to wash her. Even after Fasmel washed her, she did not even move. Her eyes were still spacing out.

Fasmel: "You don't want to wash yourself? Arhi?"

Arhi is still inside the onsen relaxing.

Arhi: "Yea."

She still enjoying herself.

Fasmel: "Hey Arhi..."

She talks while cleaning Kiwi's body.

Fasmel: "Do you think Karl will find the crystal?"

Arhi listening to her did not answer for a moment.

Arhi: "I don't know."

Arhi: "But I already ask him, and he said... We don't know yet if we did not see it."

Fasmel: "I see..."

She paused for a moment. Kiwi still spacing out. Fasmel washes her carefully so the soap does not get into her eyes.

Fasmel: "I just want to rest and become a noble, and enjoy my life as a normal person."

The atmosphere suddenly changed after she said it.

Fasmel: "If God was blessing us the power, why they did not help us to end this war?"

Arhi did not answer it for a pretty long time. She also doesn't know the reason for it.

Arhi: "I don't know. If I knew I would say it from the beginning."

Fasmel: "*Sigh... War... It scares me a lot... Fearing someone I love will be gone just to protect their love."

Fasmel: "Isn't it cruel? that God did not do anything about it?"

In my onsen, when I'm meditating, suddenly I feel some dark energy behind me. I quickly open my eyes and look behind me.

Fasmel: "Maybe they have other plans we don't know, don't they?"

Arhi looked at Fasmel for a moment.

Arhi: "Let's just hope Karl will find any clues to end this war. And we could enjoy lives in the future."

Back to my onsen, while I look behind and try to sense the dark energy. The energy was gone when I quit meditating. It suddenly disappeared.

Grel: "Huh? Did it disappear? I'm surely sensing something..."

Fasmel cleared the soap from her with a hot shower. She begins trembling uncontrollably, she still did not move and spacing out.

Fasmel quickly wiped her with another tower while she trembled.