Ikrel City Tour (3) (Revised) – Rising Up Arc (4)

There are still 7 hours until sunset. We need to either rest more or just go with the flow. I don't know what to do now.

We are on the streets of Ikrel with Fumiko. She wants to show us around the city or buy us something in the shops. It's funny how scared she was of us at first, but now she treats us like lifelong friends. It's peculiar, shouldn't the goddess's brainwashing curse have taken over her already?

"Hana, I wonder, what happened to Fumiko that made her treat us like lifelong friends? Shouldn't goddess Ifrit try to brainwash her as well?"- Hana is looking towards the city center.

"Well, I am taking all the praise on this one, but it's because of me. I have been taking care of her for some days. I have been playing with her and listening to her every whim, so that's why she does this. She also sees you as a friend who is also in good relations with her father. But now that you mentioned the brainwashing of Goddess Ifrit, we should ask Sia about this one."

"That's a rather long explanation. But I get it".- It's hard in this new world; why am I thinking that right now? I don't want to forget my old world and what I had to endure there.

!The brainwashing spell has a chance to fail on individuals with Fumiko's condition; it didn't function in its entirety, and it was now dispelled just when we were about to leave for Ikrel

"Hikaru, what are you doing there? Let's go!"- Fumiko grabbed my hand and Hana's, dragging us to the town square. The hustle and bustle of the town square is defeating.

"Fresh carrots!"- Many other shouts can be heard from farmers trying to sell their crops.

The sound of carriages carrying nobles across the city made it even more alluring. It added to its identity. This medieval town might be beautiful, but I know that behind every beautiful veneer hides an ugly truth. This whole city was built on slave labour from monsters, being treated as 2nd class citizens in the city that they built.

"Hikaru, look at those fruits. They look like apples, but they are shaped like hearts," - Hana spoke out loud this time, pointing at some heart-shaped fruits.

"What are those, Fumiko?"- Looking at the fruits more closely, I can just use Sia to tell me, but I think asking Fumiko will improve my connection to her. In my past life, I tried my best to recover and do something about it, but it didn't work as I expected, and I ended up killing myself in the process. Thinking back on it, I am glad that I did it. We would have been summoned to this world anyway and probably brainwashed by goddess Ifrit. Still, the downside is that we are constantly hiding from Goddess Ifrit, and now, King Wieka is the same person who told us that they want to destroy Goddess Ifrit and achieve coexistence between all races.

"Those are heart fruits. You can make food that heals you out of them. You can put them on your wounds, and they heal faster."- Fumiko picked some of the fruits up

"Sia, what is the process of becoming a demon lord"

!I am preparing the information and will tell you when it is ready!

"What is the correct time?"- It's no use asking her. Maybe she has her reasons.

Hana and Fumiko had bought some fruits from the stalls. We have heart-shaped, cube-shaped, and other fruits that look like pink bananas. I wonder how they taste?

"Come on, Hikaru, stop thinking about things so much."- Fumiko and Hana grabbed my hands and dragged me along the stalls. Well, there was no time to think.

"Fine, let's go."- I am not a willing participant, but I am starting to enjoy myself here a little.

We walked through the stalls and bought more food for our home and some improvements for the beds and windows. We removed some planks and put on curtains, but we got something better that I didn't think existed: one-way glass. With this, nobody can see into our house, and in this world, it's durable enough to resist most magic and can take quite a beating.

"I didn't think glass like that existed, Hikaru. It's black and looks depressing, to be honest with you." - Fumiko looked at the glass, somewhat confused.

"Well, don't bother with it right now. I will tell you later what we can use this glass for."- Storing the glass in spatial storage, I then looked at the stall to see what more we could buy from them; there were a few flimsy weapons on display, but they won't help us since we can forge our weapons, this way we surpass most of the weapon that is created here.

"Hikaru, look at this. Isn't that gemstone cute?"- Fumiko bought a gemstone. I can see Hana looking at another gemstone, her eyes on the stone, wanting to look at it, but Fumiko dragged her before she could.

"I will catch up with you soon; just don't wander off too far!"- I turned my back and looked at the gemstone. At a closer look, it seemed like this gemstone was part of a pendant.

"Sir, I would like that pendant with the pink gemstone."- Pointing at it, the woman gave me the price tag; it was 100 silver. Well, we will spend 100 silver, but this will make Hana happy, so it's worth it; I care about her too much, fuck, what am I saying? I didn't think I did something to show I cared about her, but from now on, I will do my best. She is my younger sister. After all, I got to be a better brother than this.

"Here you go."- I gave her 100 silver.

"Hey guys!"- I caught up to them and hid the pendant from Hana.

"Sia, block all of the information about the pendant to reach Hana."

!I already did. The information on how to become a demon lord will be available soon!

Great, now that I have all of this setup, it's time.

"Hey, Hikaru, isn't that ice cream? Like the one we have in our world?"- Fumiko looked at us a little confused.

"Your world?"- Fumiko asked while tilting her head.

"It's a long story; if we didn't tell, we would tell you again if we did."- We went and bought some ice cream and then went to an inn to rest.

^I skipped over the whole ice cream thing since it was boring.

I know you don't like it when I do that, Daisuke, but I must do it to have a more coherent story.

'Not fair'- I hear Daisuke grumbling over the common memory-sharing device.

'Just shut up and listen'- Hana spoke from behind me while continuing to the next memory^

The 2 of us told Fumiko about the world we are from originally. She couldn't wrap her head around specific details about modern things, but we managed to explain to her the best we could.

"I am getting sleepy"- We are playing a board game similar to Monsters and Dungeons.

"Well, go to your room then, Fumiko. We will go to our room as well."

"You 2 in a single room; this should get interesting,"- Fumiko smiled mischievously. It's like she knows something that I don't. I already told her we are siblings. Wait, that doesn't change much.

"It's not like that, Fumiko." - I frowned while sipping some coffee. Ironically, I'm not too fond of coffee but keep drinking it, an old habit of mine. When taking my meds, those would usually put me to sleep faster than anything, so I needed solid and large amounts of black coffee to stay awake.

"Not, yet at least."- I almost spilled the coffee when I heard Hana saying this, nearly giving me a heart attack; she was teasing Hikaru; don't get your hopes up. She is your sister, yes, but she probably has someone else. No, idiot, how can you think that? The moments you 2 shared in the cabin? She half admitted that she loved back then, or I am delusional.

!Probably both!

"Sia!"

I can't say how much Hana laughed at Sia about this, but we went to our room after a few more gruelling minutes.

I don't know how to approach her, but here goes nothing!

"Hana, I have something got you."- She turned to me, still questioning her decision.

"What is it Hikaru?"- She looks a bit concerned.

"Well, I saw you looking at this pendant today, so. I decided to buy it for you. It's not much, but I want to make you happy."- I showed her the pendant in the jewelry box.

"Thank you. It is nice. But let me tell you one thing. I am happy as long as you are here with me; it's nice that you thought about that, but having you near me is the most important thing ever. You are a good big brother"- I don't deserve to be called that; a good big brother wouldn't harm his little sister like this, yet she still called me that.

"I know what you are thinking, but just forget about it. This is a new world, our new chance.

There is but one problem in this room: there is a double bed for Hana and me; we are not officially a couple; we are siblings, so this could work.

"Come on, Hikaru, don't be fearful."- Hana starts changing into pyjamas before me. She did that multiple times when we were kids, I don't see it as weird, but I still get embarrassed

"Sorry, didn't mean to look."- Turning my sight away, she smiles and puts her left hand on my shoulder.

"It's ok if you are too ashamed you can change in that corner, every room has a corner where you can change."- She pointed to the right corner of the room that has a place where you can change privately. I was always like this, even tho I don't see it as weird. I am embarrassed to change myself in front of Hana or look at her changing

"Thank you."- Hana and I have shared a bed several times. This shouldn't be that big of a deal, right?

"Just sleep Hikaru, just like when we were little."- Hana wrapped her right arm around me, trying to pull me closer to her, and I just complied. It feels peaceful to be held like this by someone you love and even more peaceful when something tells you that this feeling is mutual

!You are still delusional, but the feeling is mutual!

"Thanks for confirming it, Sia."

!Note: I will tell you tomorrow how to evolve into a demon lord Hikaru; every piece of information is vital!

"Goodnight, Sia."

!Goodnight, Hikaru!