༺ Hassan – Sodomora’s Rising Star (5) ༻
The scroll that Luna handed me was quite antique looking. It was made of a very thin sheepskin that was flattened with a hammer.
The way it was wrapped with a seal made me think that it just might be an exquisite document of sorts.
This kind of scroll document usually came from the government offices of this world. For example, these documents often circulated within the city hall or those shitty slave management centers.
And the scroll issued from such a place was always deemed to be a very important document.
“What’s this?”
“Open it up, and see for yourself.”
Luna spoke with an unusually calm tone, accompanying her voice. Perhaps because she usually speaks with so much enthusiasm in all of her words, her calmness was somehow scary.
What kind of scroll did Luna shove at me now? Was it something like a marriage registration document?
With such outlandish thoughts in mind, I unwrapped the scroll’s seal with my trembling hands. Unrolling the scroll, I quickly skimmed through the content inside.
『The rights to the land and the buildings in the 5th street area of Sodomora West Gate were transferred to the Bronze Tier adventurer of the Mars Guild – Luna Knox Dotty. Sodomora Market (인)1Signature.』
“Oh, what is this?”
“This is a certificate of ownership for the land! What do you think? Isn’t this great?! Now I have my own hideout!”
Luna jumped in utter delight. I also felt surprised and happy at the same time. I’m not sure what this meant, but no matter how you looked at this situation, didn’t it mean that Luna was now the owner of a building now?
Of course, she was already a lady who owned a lot of land back in her hometown. However, those lands were, unfortunately, non-transferable, in other words, unsellable. Anyway, the fact that she could buy a building and land in the city’s center was already remarkable enough.
“Wow, that’s great. Look at you! How did this happen?”
“Let’s go! I’ll tell you once we’re there.”
Then, we walked out of the guild and went down the street toward Luna’s new home.
Luna walked so fast that it seemed like she was almost running. I even had difficulty following her pace. Well, Luna’s agility level was much higher than mine, after all.
Soon, after departing from the city’s central area, we arrived at the west gate of Sodomora. It was a kind of slum area with many hooligans hanging around its vicinities.
Since it had already been a while since I have become active around the west gate area, somehow, I was able to become familiar with this place already.
Swish— Swish—
As Luna and I walked and reached the corners of an alley, a group of bastards was eyeing us with interest. I wasn’t sure if they were muggers, thieves, or simple pickpockets but I knew that they didn’t have any good intentions. Somehow, the place we finally arrived at was…rather familiar…
“Isn’t this that place? The cabin.”
This place was the same cabin where me and Luna diligently indulged in carving those Moai totems.
You could also call it a dilapidated wooden warehouse as well. However, no matter how you named the cabin, the last thing you could call it was luxurious.
“That’s right! This is the only place I can buy with all my money. But I had to buy it at a high price. I spent all my money on it.”
“How much did you have to spend to buy this place?”
“Three golds! Actually, two golds were loaned… Anyways, I bought it as soon as possible because they said if I don’t buy it now, it will be sold out soon.”
Luna spoke some more, but honestly, I wasn’t able to register any of her words anymore.
Oh, fucking damn it, three golds? I can’t even begin to imagine just how much that amount of money was. Three golds were the equivalent of three hundred silvers. I can’t even calculate just how many 3 coppers soup bowls you could get with that amount.
Anyway, Luna seemed to have more money than I thought.
But, why did she buy this place for so much money? Was there any oil under here? I couldn’t help but ask Luna because I was very curious about her intentions behind this purchase.
“What are you going to do here?”
“I plan to establish a workshop. Here, I’m going to make a brewery, an elixir store, and many many more things that I have thought up to establish!”
“Ah…”
Indeed, it occurred to me that we already had this conversation before. Luna planned to set up a workshop after promoting to the bronze tier and subsequently becoming eligible to get a loan. I just wanted to think of it as a little far into the future. But it seemed that Luna’s ability to act on a plan was better than I thought.
Come to think of it, Luna was surprisingly really competent in the strangest of matters. Was this what a spiteful city like Sodomora did to a soft girl like her? Making her do such things, go to such extreme lengths in order to survive living in this wretched place?
“But there’s still a lot to prepare. I have to fix the exterior. And several things need to be prepared for the interior too…”
“Did you only buy the land?”
“Yeah, well, just that, but isn’t it cool though? This is my land! All mine! Let’s go in! Come on!”
After unlocking the rusty chains and locks, Luna went inside to find a rather dusty warehouse.
“This is a nice place. That’s how it feels like. I’ve been paying attention to it for a long time already.”
This place is… nice?
I didn’t realize it when I came here to make the Moai statues because I didn’t pay much attention to my surroundings. Now that I got the chance to take a closer look, however, I could see some details that I previously failed to notice.
The overall size of the cabin was about the right size for a studio. If you put in a bed, a closet, and a desk, there would be little to no space left to fit anything else.
I wasn’t sure if this place was enough for a girl to run a workshop alone. However, what I immediately understood with just a glance was that… this place was really too old.
Drooping spider webs, dirty straws, along with animal hair were scattered all over the dilapidated warehouse. I think it would still take a few days of cleaning even if we did our very best to barely clean this place up.
“Wow, i-it’s a wolf spider! Holy shh!! “
Suddenly, Luna, who was looking keenly at a corner of the warehouse jumped in excitement and quickly ran toward that direction, flipping something over with both hands when she reached that place.
A giant creature escaped in surprise and shock because of her sudden intrusion. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I almost jumped about a meter high when I saw that creature sprinting toward me.
“W-What the fuck?!”
It was a spider. A palm-sized spider, damn it. Was it a tarantula?
Man, I didn’t even want to touch such a dangerous, furry, and colorful-looking spider. As I stated previously, I was okay with bees but spiders were another matter altogether. In fact, I was fucking terrified of spiders, dammit.
“Hassan! C-Catch it! Don’t let it run away!”
“Hiaaaak!”
Luna seemed to be running around trying to catch this furry creature, but I just wanted that spider to disappear from my sight as soon as possible. In the end, Luna used her full speed to catch the spider, capturing it in the confines of her palms.
Holding it by its legs, Luna smiled as she stuck it out toward me as if trying to show off her spoil.
“Wow, it’s really big. I’ve never seen a wolf-spider this big before. So lucky!”
Kong— Kong Kong—!
“What’s wrong with this spider’s cry?”
“It’s a wolf spider. Is this the first time you see a wolf spider, Hassan? Anyway, they’re pretty precious as far as medical ingredients go. They can also be sold as a pet for about 20 coppers. Isn’t this cute? It is not poisonous and has a gentle personality to boot. Actually, it is very cowardly.”
Grrrrr— Kong— Kong— Urrrrr— Kong— Kong— Kong—!
Damn it, no matter how I took a look at it, I couldn’t imagine it having a gentle personality. All I could see was a beast that was eager to bite my nape and tear it apart. It was like an assassin sent by nature.
It felt like a lie that such a rainbow color creature was deemed not poisonous. However, Luna turned around the palm-sized spider she caught, rubbed its stomach with her finger, and then spoke again…
“Wow, it’s a female! I have to raise it well. Now, go in….”
Then, she opened the old jar in the corner, drove the spider into it, and closed the lid. It was only after the spider disappeared from my sight that I could breathe a sigh of utter relief.
“Damn it, this is so scary.”
“I don’t think you ever mentioned being scared of spiders, Hassan, or did you?”
“I’m as scared as one can be.”
“Spiders are cute. Anyways, if we put a chair and a desk here, then put a furnace in this corner and buy a large pot and several different things, it’ll look good, right?”
Luna explained her plan by pointing her finger at every dark corner of the cabin. It just looked like an old cabin to me, but for Luna, it seemed like a kind of stepping stone to use and leap forward to achieve her grand dreams.
But I couldn’t really understand what the picture of the future she held in her head was, so I just nodded along.
“So, you’re not going to be an adventurer anymore?”
“No, I will still remain an adventurer. This business won’t be profitable for a while. Also, I think it’s time for me to go around looking for ingredients. Speaking of that, Hassan…”
Luna hesitated a lot, as though what she was about to say was very important to her.
“What is it?” ”
“Well, for… for the time being, can you pair up with me….”
“No.”
At that moment, Luna’s expression turned sad after hearing my response. She must have been full of expectations and hope that I would agree. Tears were forming in the corners of her wide-open eyes and it looked like she could cry at any moment so I chose to speak again…
“I’m just kidding. You want to form a party with me for a while, right? Of course, I’d love to do that.”
Luna was a mysterious girl to me in many ways. In other words, the longer my relationship with this girl pertained, the more advantageous it would be for me.
Above all, Luna was growing rapidly. Maybe she could surpass me in ability and soon become the leader of our adventurer party.
Of course, it didn’t necessarily need to be like that for me to form a party with Luna. I just felt good just by being near her.
“Hassan, you are not lying, right? Really? You will pair up with me, right?”
“Yes, rather than that I’m more curious about another thing.”
“Huh? Is there anything you’re curious about me?”
“That’s… I was wondering just what are we? Just what is the relationship between us? I don’t think we’re merely party members at this point. Right?”
After hearing my question, Luna blushed heavily and shut her mouth as if she wasn’t willing to say anything about that matter. During this moment of silence, this cramped cabin suddenly felt bigger than it was in reality.
Luna finally spoke up first after a moment.
“Hassan, what do you want us to be…? What do you want to view me as…?”
“I don’t know, maybe like a g-girlfriend?”
It was the most courageous moment of my life.
Wouldn’t it be better to call this “the first confession in my life”? After all, prior to this, all I experienced was getting dumped before I even had a chance to confess.
I stared at Luna, waiting for her reply, while my heart was pounding a mile a minute.
Luna looked down at her feet as if she was too shy to answer. It was cute to see her toes fidgeting inside the confines of her sandals.
“Ha-Hassan, actually, I have a confession to make….”
“Confession?”
My heart sank at the word of confession.
Yes or no. It was either these two answers or something unusual that often was just another form of rejection.
“What are you trying to confess?”
However, I still asked carefully just in case. Luna hung her head low and hesitated for a long time without answering.
“Tell me. I won’t be angry with you.”
“…Last time, when I was on night duty. I prayed to Lady Knox, the mother of the night.”
“….”
This seemed to be an extension of the story that Luna had been trying to relay to me but could not continue due to the unexpected situation we got caught into. Nothing would disturb us now. There were only Luna and me in this small space.
Because of this, I had no choice but to look at Luna’s lips with a tense expression.
“Knox answered my prayers for the first time in my life. Of course, it was similar to a hallucination. It was like I was dreaming in my sleep….”
Luna stopped talking again after saying that.
“Why, what is it? Keep talking.”
“S-She said that unless my marriage partner was a God, he wouldn’t be able to handle being with me, At the very least he should be a hero with great achievement. Only then is it possible for him to marry me.”
I felt like I was hit straight in the back with a hammer.
Although Luna doesn’t seem to know that Knox, the goddess of the night, is her mother, I already knew who she was because I could say that I had met her once.
Plainly speaking. Knox was the mother of Luna, the girl who might become my girlfriend. And that mother didn’t like me.
The reason was that I was far from a great male God or the hero that she spoke of.
I was just Hassan, the unregulated worker, an illegal resident.
Is this what people termed as a parent’s opposition? It felt like it was something else. However, nothing other than one’s parents’ objections came to my mind as I heard her speak so it should be similar to that.
But Knox had already given me a blessing. Didn’t that mean that she liked me?
I spoke to Luna.
“But, uh, we were together yesterday. Regardless of your vow of chastity….”
Just like an ant drifting in the water, desperately struggling to catch something, I was also racking my brain hard to find a way out of this situation.
Luna answered.
“I… was only allowed that one day only…”
“What?”
I, now, understood how people could crumple to their knees when facing great despair.
At that moment, I felt like a doll hanging on a single thread. Soon, the thread loosened, and I, the doll, had fallen on the floor, shattering into a million pieces.
“So you’re going to marry someone else someday?”
Luna shakes her head at my question.
“I don’t want to do it unless it’s you. I didn’t even think about doing it with anyone else.”
At Luna’s words, I could feel my body gain its strength back. This is not the time to sit around like this.
“So what do I have to do to become that kind of hero?”
Where can I even get that license? Damn it, of course, no one would be able to provide it to me.
Some time passed.
On the next day.
What I heard from Hippolyte on the training ground shook me to my very core.
“There’s a way to get that license.”
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