༺ Deep Night, Little Moon, and the Stranger (1) ༻
The baron is waiting.
The baron. It was the baron.
I already heard that some of the nobles were interested in the rapid growth of the nymph called Echo. And it seemed the baron was one of them.
The social hierarchy of this world was totally in contrast to the capitalism and liberal democracy I had experienced in 21st-century South Korea.
The social hierarchy of the people of this world was established from the moment they were born. And they lived their lives according to that hierarchy.
The slaves were at the bottom of the hierarchy.
There were very few noble bloodlines in the society, including the nobility and royalty, and most of the population were commoners or rather free men— people that weren’t slaves.
Nobility.
Nobility was a foreign concept to me, as I’d only ever heard of them as a popular party class for partying in the games.
Despite the existence of the social hierarchy laws in this world, I had never once met a noble.
“-san.”
Did I really never meet them? Well, I might have just passed by them once or twice. However, up until now, I didn’t have any experience or connections with nobles, so I knew little about them.
It was like how I, Hassan, the goby fish who lived and rolled around in the muddy bottom ground, would never be able to encounter the Elizabeths, golden mandarin fishes living in first-grade clear water.
Based on what I’ve heard, I think nobles had similar authority and influence to the members of parliament or city councils back on Earth. It was also very difficult to meet with them.
Even in Korea, as an ordinary citizen, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that I would have never seen the faces of the members of parliament in my entire life except on the news.
“Hassan, what are you thinking about so deeply?”
Luna’s voice brought me back to reality as I was lost in deep thoughts. The post-adventure revelry became more relaxed as time passed and the alcohol took effect.
Luna’s face was a little flushed after consuming several glasses of beer by herself. While Paranoy, who was next to her, was—
“Goddess of hearth… response… my prayer…”
Drunk, with her face buried in the dining table. She mumbled incoherently as if she was muttering in her sleep. It was also time for us to get up. We had almost finished eating the grilled bird meat snacks that came with our drinks.
Without much concern in my tone, I replied while gulping down the remaining alcohol in my glass.
“Nothing.”
“Liar…! I already know that whenever Hassan is in deep thought, wrinkles would form on your forehead!”
“R-Really?”
I never thought that I had such a habit. It was the first time in my quarter-century of life that I knew I had that kind of side. When did I develop such a habit?
Wondering if it was really true, I lightly brushed my forehead with my palm and asked back.
“How did you know?”
“If someone observes Hassan’s face every day, they’ll know it too. Should I try to guess what you’re thinking right now?”
Gently—
With her cheeks flushed, Luna looked straight into my eyes. Unlike a drunk person, I felt incredibly shy by her earnest gaze, so I wanted to avoid eye contact.
It seemed that the people of this world looked into each other’s eyes without a single shred of hesitation…
Gently—
I was slightly scared as I felt that everything about me would be exposed if I were to continue gazing into Luna’s clear and bright eyes.
“Hassan, you shouldn’t avoid eye contact with me. The mind-reading spell requires looking into each other’s eyes for a few seconds or more.”
“What spell? I’ve never heard of such a spell before.”
“Of course! Because I just created it!”
“Luna, are you drunk?”
“No! I’m perfectly fine!”
Luna yelled in a high pitched voice, and at that moment, the noises coming from the drunk people inside the bar fell into momentary silence.
Seconds later, like the split sea meeting in the middle and crashing against each other in all their momentum, the bustling of the drunk crowd resonated back in my ears.
“We should get up now. We need to go back before everyone gets too drunk to walk.”
“So what? This is an inn, after all. If it’s really difficult to walk, we can just sleep here. That aside, I’ve found out what Hassan is thinking about!”
Luna’s confident shout piqued my curiosity and made me listen to what else this pink-haired girl had to say about me.
“What am I thinking?”
“If I guess correctly… Hassan is thinking he should order another delicious bird skewer and some braised peas for Luna, right!?”
“Not at all.”
“No way! I know that’s exactly what you’re thinking!? Are you trying to say that my spell did not work? I am Luna, the shaman of Ideope. The chance of my spell being incorrect—”
“Luna, are you hungry right now?”
“Uh, uh-huh… Hassan, did you also read my mind?”
Were two servings of grilled bird meat snacks not enough for the three of us?
Luna’s appetite had been good lately, to the point that it was not surprising for this to be her growth period or something similar. It seemed that just eating some snacks was not enough to satisfy her hunger.
So I ordered the skewered bird meat and something with peas that Luna wanted. Since she said it, she must’ve wanted to eat them right now. I at least had enough sense in me to figure that out.
“See, you ordered the food exactly like what I said. I guessed Hassan’s thoughts correctly…!”
“Yeah, you did well.”
Then, Luna and I shared the additional meals we’d ordered and promptly left the inn. At the after-party, we had lively chats and engaged in joyful conversations.
I didn’t remember much of what we talked about, maybe because I was quite drunk.
However, the combination of the exhaustion from exploring the labyrinth, alcohol, drinking snacks, and the girl’s lively antics made me feel incredibly good, like water being seeped into dry lands.
Uhuh, shit, my exhaustion had been relieved.
Of course, our work wasn’t quite finished yet.
“I… I can’t walk anymore….”
Paranoy, completely drunk after two glasses of beer, staggered out of the inn and eventually collapsed on the ground.
I had to help the drunkard. Was there anything more annoying than this?
“Luna, can’t we just book a room at the inn and put her to sleep there?”
“No, we can’t. There are a lot of people who like to hunt nymphs, and you never know what might happen if we just leave her alone. Since she’s heavily drunk, it’s better for her to sleep at our place today.”
“I see. But how can we take someone who can’t even control their own body to our house?”
“I… I can walk…”
Paranoy seemed to be responding reflexively, but contrary to what she said, she remained glued to the ground and didn’t move and inch.
I had no choice but to carry her.
“Should I carry her?”
“…No! I’ll carry her!”
In response to my question, Luna lifted Paranoy onto her back. She looked a little nervous carrying a girl similar to her size.
Luna’s recent rapid growth wasn’t for nothing and it clearly showed now. Despite looking nervous, she walked without stumbling or getting stuck.
“Shit, I picked up a drunk nymph. Hehe, Nymph magical power elixir. Nymph skincare gel. Nymph…”
I didn’t know if I was suddenly able to use this mind reading spell or whatever, but it felt like I could easily guess what Luna was thinking right now.
But I decided to pretend I didn’t know.
* * *
I once used to think that it was merely a cramped and shabby cabin. But after going through so many hardships, coming back here truly felt immensely comfortable— like a real home.
Of course, it wasn’t my home, but Luna’s home.
“Ugh… I’m sorry… “
“Huh, finally there. It was tough.”
Luna laid Paranoy in the corner of the first floor, then covered her with a thin blanket and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
Until a while ago, Luna had a flushed face and seemed to be rambling some nonsense.
But now, Luna seemed relatively sober after carrying Paranoy to the cabin.
Well, from the very first time we drank together, I noticed that Luna had a high tolerance to alcohol. I thought I was able to hold my liquor quite well, better than most people even, but Luna was on a completely different level.
That was why I ended up getting trapped into swearing to the River Styx. And as a result of that incident, we were living together under the roof of this small cabin. It somehow made me feel strange.
I wonder what would happen if I hadn’t gotten drunk back then?
Maybe I would live alone in the inn and Luna would grow tired of living alone in the city, then leave for her hometown.
Now that I think about it, fate always works in mysterious ways.
I wonder how my life would have turned out if I hadn’t joined the Mars Guild back then, if Daphne hadn’t slapped me, and if I hadn’t been asked to clean the temple.
Whatever.
“We have to take a shower, Hassan. Let’s go to the bathhouse together when we wake up tomorrow morning!”
“Yeah, well, sure.”
“It would be nice if we had running water in the house…”
Luna’s somewhat regretful words reminded me of the day I had spent at Hippolyte’s house.
It was a smaller house than I had imagined, but in Hippolyte’s house, she had a shower facility similar to a small telephone booth.
“Is it expensive to install a shower stall?”
“Since we need to connect it to the water supply, there are certain requirements. It’s okay to use a simple water jar. But it feels a bit uncomfortable.”
“Hmm, that’s right.”
As someone who enjoyed going around the swamps, Luna was still someone who preferred cleanliness, unexpected as that may be. Clearly, she could wash herself using collected rainwater or something similar, but she didn’t want to.
I didn’t mind using any kind of water as long as I could wash myself and clean up my body. But there might be subtle differences between my thoughts as a guy and Luna’s as a girl.
“But more importantly, did Kong Kong come back? We left the house empty for a few days.”
Luna, who had given up on showering and sleeping for today, walked around the first floor and opened the jars. She must have thought that the wolf spider, Kong Kong, who had left the house, would be inside.
But I didn’t think that the creature that left the house would come back so easily. Even the cats that were raised in the house rarely returned once they left.
“Wow, Hassan, look at this!”
Right at that moment, Luna called me in an urgent tone. Wondering about what was going on, I looked into the jar.
Grrrrr— Grrrrr—
I saw a bizarre and horrifying rainbow-colored spider crouched inside the small jar, making strange noises.
“Wow, it really came back.”
“Well, I told you it would come back.”
God damn! The spider that left the house came back into the jar. It was such a fascinating phenomenon. It really wasn’t unconceivable to raise such a spider as a pet. Of course, it was too scary-looking for me to raise though.
“But it doesn’t seem like there’s just one. What’s hanging on its back? Is it a baby?”
I furrowed my brows as I looked at the small bumps hanging on the colorful spider’s back. If Kong Kong was about the size of a palm, then the tiny spider clinging to its back was about the size of a pinky finger.
Moreover, the appearance of the small spider was slightly different from the typical wolf spider. It had no fur and its body was translucent as if it were made out of blue jelly.
I’d heard that the offspring of crustaceans, like scorpions, always looked soft like that. I wondered if the wolf spider Kong Kong’s offspring would also have such an appearance when it was young.
It was disgusting though as it had a lot of legs, but it was still a little less terrifying because it was smooth without any form of hair.
“Did it give birth to a baby outside?”
“Hassan, that little one is not a baby. It’s a male.”
“A male?”
“Yes! That’s how wolf spiders are— the males usually ride on the backs of females. When the females build their nests, the males go in them and live there. They also eat the prey that the females bring.”
“Are you saying that they just hang around in the females’ nest and eat what the females bring? That’s totally like a gigolo…”
As I continued speaking, I belatedly realized that I wasn’t much different from this male spider. I was living in Luna’s house too. Damn it! I just spit on my own face, didn’t I?
However, Luna, who was gently stroking the spider inside the pot, seemed unaffected by what I said. She didn’t seem to be paying any attention to my words.
“It seems like you went out and brought a boyfriend home. Soon, you’ll give birth to some offspring. If I train the wolf spiders well from a young age, they can be helpful in battles.”
Kong— Kong—
It seemed like there would be many spider offspring soon.
It must be nice not to worry about mosquito bites in the summer… but honestly, it wasn’t a sight I wanted to imagine.
However, whether it was due to the sense of solidarity as a man living in a woman’s house or maybe it was because of the jelly-like texture and appearance, the male wolf spider had a certain charm that made it look really appealing to me.
Now that I look at it again, despite having many legs, it was quite cute in its own way.
Anyway, we confirmed that Kong Kong had indeed returned home, and since it was getting late, Luna and I decided to go to sleep quickly.
I only laid down on the deerskin carpet because I knew that I would instantly fall asleep if I rested my head on the ground.
On the other hand, Luna seemed to not be feeling as tired as me. She was busy examining the monster bull’s skull as if she didn’t have any intention of falling asleep anytime soon.
“It can be used as a charm against evil influence. Huh… you won’t find something like this even in Ideope. Black stone on a headless monster’s skull… Holy shh! If things continue on like this, I may become a high-leveled great shaman too….”
Luna was delighted and couldn’t decide what to do with the monster bull’s skull that she had obtained as loot from the labyrinth.
“Is it really that good?”
“Yes, yes!! If I make an amulet mask with this, the power of my spells will become even stronger! Amulet masks can increase accuracy and power!”
“The effect is better than I expected.”
When we first met, I thought Luna’s spells were only superstitious beliefs, as she determined directions by knocking down tree branches.
Now that I looked at it again, it had subtle effects that had been useful on many occasions. If what Luna said was true, that the power and accuracy would increase further with the inclusion of the amulet mask, then it would definitely be something to be happy about.
“How does it look? Does it suit me?”
Luna looked at me with the strange bone helmet on her head.
Looking at her appearance, I realized that she was giving off a creepy vibe like the cultist shaman Somnia, but somehow it also felt funny because it reminded me of a certain Pokemon with a bone on its head.
“Deep in the night, the joy of shaman!”
Luna started dancing, swaying her shoulders and hips from side to side. The sight was similar to what the ancient shamans performing human sacrifice looked like. It gave off a mysterious and eerie feeling.
However…
When were we going to sleep?
I was feeling sleepy.
“It suits you well.”
“…”
Did my brief answer not please her? Luna had asked me something, but she didn’t show any particular reaction to my response. I was contemplating whether I should add a more exaggerated response or not…
“Hoo…”
A small sigh escaped from Luna’s mouth, which was hidden behind the skull helmet, and at the same time, a chilly breeze blew in from outside. Did Luna forget to close the window on the first floor?
In that moment, Luna abruptly stopped dancing.
“Hassan.”
She called my name. In the strangely calm atmosphere, it felt like all of my drowsiness was fading away somewhere.
“Why are you calling me?”
“How do you think of me, of Luna?”
“…What do you mean, how do I think of you?”
I was quite bewildered when I got asked such a question out of the blue.
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