Previously:
Zoro and Perona went to the Igloo provided by the Snowman to rest. In order to exchange for Information regarding the wine, Zoro agreed, or rather Perona agreed on letting Zoro help with some labor work for the upcoming White Christmas Celebration.
Chapter 14 – Their First Mission Part 2
'I wonder what type of work there are to prepare for Christmas...' Perona mumbled as she munched on the bread that they had packed.
'Whatever it is, you're not the one working...' Zoro grumbled with his eyes closed, he was leaning against the Igloo wall, sleeping as usual.
'Well of course, a Princess does not do work. And you're the slave here!' She pointed out in a matter of fact tone. Zoro frowned slightly but remained quiet, he had already gotten used to her Princess attitude. It had been a few hours since the Mayor left them in the Igloo, they would probably come by soon to get him to work. They had better know where the location of the damn wine is, or he will not let them off so easily.
Knock-Knock-!
'Psshh! Excuse me! Time for work!' The elder snowman crooned softly, afraid of waking up anyone who might be sleeping. Thin and fragile branches pushed the wooden door opened. The Snowman's hand, or branch pushed against the thick wooden door weakly, wobbling from the weight of the wooden door, it almost seems like it would break any moment.
Zoro stood up to hold the door for him while he glanced outside the Igloo. Behind the Snowman were a box filled with Dial-looking item and an empty box. A string was tied to both the box, which explains how the weak looking elder Snowman was able to drag it to them.
'Aha! Hi Mr Human, did you have a good rest?' The Snowman smiled cheerfully at Zoro, following his gaze, which landed at the box of Dials. 'Ah, we're having a Christmas Party tonight, so we need to have some spoilt light dials replaced. As you can see, they were hung up very high up on trees, so it is quite difficult for us to change it ourselves. Normally we just ignore them until some human came by. Anyway, this will be your first job!' The Snowman exclaimed, handling Zoro a piece of paper.
'This is the map of our Town, just head to the Square and check the trees surrounding it, there will be light dials hung onto the trees already. Just switch on each dial individually to check if they are working, just replace those that are spoilt, and keep the spoilt one in the other empty box. Have to be green, yeah? Good luck on your job!' The Snowman smiled again, as he slowly bounced away towards the town.
Zoro walked out of the Igloo to inspect the box of light dials as Perona followed him out.
'What's that?' Perona's hand hovered over the light bulbs and took one of them to examine.
'Light Dial, I suppose,' Zoro answered, they do resemble the dials in the Sky Island. The light dial was in a shell shape with the base in a more translucent color. Zoro picked up one of them and pressed the apex of the Shell and blue light shone out of the base of the shell immediately.
Perona imitated his action, took a few Dials, and pressed the top of it, and apparently, different dials give out different colors. Perona cried in amazement as it was her first time looking at such stuffs.
"This is so cute! It's my first time playing with such things!" Perona exclaimed, still playing with the different dials on her hand, pressing the apex continuously like a kid with a new toy. Meanwhile, Zoro stacked the two boxes together and lifted them up, walking to wherever he needed to go.
"Wait! Pass me the map!" Perona forced her attention away from the new toys as she quickened her steps to catch up Zoro. She took the map that Zoro placed in between the boxes and examined the map as she looked around. "We're currently in the residential area. So… we need to walk to the front to leave this area. Then turn left and up here then straight to the square where the Party will be held… I guess we could start fixing the lights around this area first, starting from the left, so just walk straight first and…" Perona continued to analyze the map while Zoro followed behind her.
After a moment of walking and preventing Zoro from heading the wrong way, they finally reached their destination, the Square. It was a troublesome job as Zoro has to climb to the top of the tree and check the light dials individually to see if they are working.
Under Perona guidance, Zoro started from the tree that is nearest to the entrance by the left. Zoro climbed up the tree and press the apex of each dial, checking if they are lighting up. When identified a spoilt one, he would untie the wire that was connected to the Dial and throw it down to the empty box. Perona will then assist him by throwing a new working Dial back to him for him to tie it to the tree again.
After that one month of serious training, Perona was able to float even with her body now. However, because of her stamina, she was unable to maintain herself in the air for too long. She could only keep herself in the air for ten minutes or so, and flying will only make her last a shorter period of time.
While Zoro was busy checking the other Dials, Perona will float up the tree to make sure that every tree has different colors of Light Dial. It probably was a waste of time for Zoro, but she was excited to be able to decorate the trees for Christmas. She was able to do it continuously since she gets to recover her stamina when she needs to assist Zoro in throwing him the new Light Dials.
After an hour or two of working on the Light Dials, they have finally completed the entire area surrounding the Square.
"Finally! This job is so tiring!" Perona stretched herself lazily as she continued to admire her work. She had made sure that each tree has different colors of the Light Dial, and she even makes sure that the colors complement each other, she even hung some higher than the others in a pattern to make everything look nicer.
"You asked for it," Zoro grumbled as he leaned against a tree to rest. He was forced by that irritating and selfish Princess to make sure the colors of the light Dials do not repeat in a single tree, and to hang them in a high-low-high-low way so that it will look much nicer. He had no choice but to abide her in order to escape from her high-pitched nagging, and there was no way she could do it herself since she ran out of stamina for the last few trees.
Despite that, she was right about it. White, blue, green, yellow and red lights shone together, showing off their colorful combination while complementing each other. The way it was hung made the trees looked as if the stars are sparkling on them. The entire Square was livened up with the resplendent color gave off by the light dials that are hung on the surrounding trees.
Tat- Tat- Tat!
"Well done!" Another elderly who was different from the previous one bounced slowly into the Square. His two branches clapping together making a slow and unenthusiastic clapping sound. "I can see that you guys really put in a lot of effort in doing this job! It must be an arduous experience for you. But don't worry; the next job is very simple!"
"What? There is another job?!" Perona asked in disbelief. She already felt terribly jaded after that entire Light Dial adjustment job. Right, maybe she really did ask for it herself.
"Well, well, there's still an hour before the real party starts so of course there's work! The rest of the Snowmen are also busy with their own stuffs! So come on now! Stand up and start working the next one!" The elder Snowman ushered them to stand up, meanwhile, many other snowmen started to move in, some setting up the stage using snow and so on. Even the Snow Cream pushcart was being dragged into the Square.
As soon as both the youngsters stood up, the elder snowman continued, "The second job requires you to deliver the party food to the square. However, before that, you will need to gather the food first! Look at the map again, go out of the town via the Northwest gate. There will be patches of snow there that taste very good! Just fill up this cart with the snow there using the shovel and bring it back. I will deal with these two boxes of light dials. Okay?"
"Huh?" Zoro tilted his head slightly, not taking in what the Snowman was saying.
"You mean… Snow?" Perona asked with askance, at the same time confirming the same question in Zoro's mind.
"Yes of course! Snow is the most delicious thing ever! Haven't you tried any?" The snowman exclaimed, bewildered at the fact that they have not tasted the Snow Island specialty yet. "Alright, anyway, you could snack on a little while gathering them, but not too much!" The snowman joked; cracked lines could be seen on his wrinkled face.
As the Snowman dragged the two boxes away, both the youngsters remained quiet. Mainly because they are unsure of what kind of reaction they should be giving.
"Are they seriously eating snow?!" Perona cried, making a fuss out of it, not that it is a small thing anyway.
"Who knows, let's go and take a look…" Zoro shrugged and started leading the way, pushing the cart. After a while, he then comes to a stop and looked back at Perona.
"Which way?"
"Are you actually admitting to me about your poor sense of direction?" Perona stared at Zoro with her big eyes, puzzled. She had never thought that Zoro would one day admit his weakness.
"No! I just forget which direction to head to!" Zoro blushed at the thought of it. He will never admit such things because he is confident of his sense of direction. It was just that he will need more time to reach a certain designated area than normal people will. Anyway, that was usually because he tried to find a shorter way, so it is not entirely his problem.
"North West." Perona chanted, wanting to see how the swordsman goes about finding his way. Zoro paused for a moment as if he was gaining his bearings, but let out a chuckle instead.
"Heh, you think I'm an idiot?" He smirked, he is not so easy to fool.
"Huh?" Perona was confused by his comment.
Zoro pointed a finger up the sky. "You have to fly to get to North, baka."
With Perona leading the way, the two youngsters successfully reached the North West gate without much trouble except for Perona faking her tears to pity the swordsman for his innate poor sense of direction.
As they walked out of the gate, they saw a wooden signboard that was placed nearby stating "Pure Snow". In front of them was a big land of snow, appearing whiter than usual snow. As far as they could see, the pure snow stretched across the horizon, it seems like there was an unlimited supply of pure snow.
Unlike the rough region that they passed by earlier in the morning, it was much calmer here and in the town. They could not hear the sound of the wind, and can only see soft snow swaying down from the sky, following a gentle rhythm.
"I think it's this patch of snow, from what the sign says," Perona floated towards the patch of snow. Comparing to normal snow, this snow looked much whiter, and appeared to have a finer texture.
Zoro nodded his head and pushed the cart nearer to the snow. He then used the shovel to transfer the pure snow into the cart. Meanwhile, Perona started to explore around.
"Oi, did you feel anything strange here?" Perona asked, hovering about the patch of pure snow, something is not right.
"Huh? What?" Zoro continued to dig heap and heap of snow into the cart. Thanks to his strength and the fact that the cart was not very big, he finished the job pretty fast.
"Like… I don't know… the atmosphere? Something is just not right, but… I don't know, just a feeling…" Perona murmured, trying to focus her attention on her surroundings.
Zoro stabbed the shovel on the snow and straightened his back. "Nope, I don't feel anything unusual. Come, let's go back."
Perona turned back and realized Zoro already finished his job. She shrugged, and decided to put that idea to the back of her mind, thinking it was just her imagination.
The youngsters then slowly walked back to the Square, but were approached by another Snowman as soon as they stepped into the Town.
"Hey! You!" A snowman bounced eagerly towards the two youngsters. The both of them looked at each other, startled at the sudden appearance of the snowman.
"I need you to set up the fireworks!" His branches reached out to Zoro and tugged at the hem of his winter coat weakly. "Only the humans are able to get near to heat, so I hope you could help and prepare the firework! We've already prepared everything necessary but we need you to light it." Seeing that tugging him did not help, the Snowman bounced behind Zoro and pushed him from the back. Zoro was slowly pushed forward and was forced to put down the cart.
"Look girl, you'll bring the things to the Square instead. Come boy, let's go!" The snowman ordered, and squeaked in excitement at the thought of having fireworks. Upon hearing that order, Perona face turned straight, she is not here to work.
"Wait, what?" Zoro was reluctant initially, but after looking at the changes in Perona face, he decided to play along with it.
"Thanks maid, I'll see you in a while," He showed off a triumphant smirk.
"Huh?! What. I'm not…" Perona glared at him with her big eyes, irritated by him leaving her alone to do all work. Especially when he called her, who supposed to be a Princess, a maid.
Unfortunately, Zoro and the snowman paid no attention to her as the snowman lead Zoro towards the North part of the town.
Perona stomped her feet angrily in the snow as she mumbled a few cursed words. Zoro caught her childish act at the corner of his eyes and cannot help but tease her a bit more.
"Oi!" Zoro stopped and turned around for a moment.
"What?! Stupid swordsman!"
"Remember not to topple the snow off!"
"You! Arghh!" Perona screamed in annoyance as the swordsman walked towards the snowman who had been waiting for him.
"Stupid, idiot, stupid, idiot, stupid, idiot, stupid, idiot, stupid, idiot…" Perona murmured under her breath as she floated around the town in search for a certain green hair swordsman.
How could he, the servant, leave me, the princess behind to do the work?! I need to teach him some lessons! Perona thought to herself as she lowered herself onto the snow, she could not fly as long with her body right now. She wandered around the crowds of snowmen as she tried to figure out where that stupid swordsman is. After Perona delivered the food to the Square, the sky has already darkened, however, the thick clouds in the Winter Island covered up the pretty stars that used to decorate the black piece of velvet.
The Square was filled with more Snowmen now, together with tables filled with food, or rather snow dug by Zoro. A few vendors were placed along the sides, selling Snow creams and other native foods that are made of Snow. Cliques were formed, some looking around the vendors, some with their family, some having some eating contest and others just chit chatting. Perona felt so awkward, walking alone in the crowd, especially when she is the only human there. She was about to leave the Square but her ears caught something along other Snowmen's conversations.
"Ne…ne! I heard there will be fireworks tonight!" One of the snow women squeaked.
Fireworks?
"Really?! Finally! It's been so long since the previous firework show! It's been a while to have kind humans coming up here…" Another older snowman commented, indulging himself in the past wonderful experience.
Hmm… If I recalled correctly, the snowman was blabbering about getting Zoro to light some fireworks.
"You've seen a firework before?! I've never seen one before…" Another younger one shouted in excitement.
Hmm… True, I did not see one before too.
"What?! You had never seen one before?! My! Let's go other places so that we can get a better view of the fireworks!" The older snowman suggested.
"Hey! I heard the fireworks will be shown on this side!" One of them shouted, pointing towards the dark sky. With that, the three snowmen urshered their way out of the crowd to look for other better places to get a nice view of the fire-works.
Perona's gaze followed the branches that are pointing towards the sky. From what the snowmen said, Zoro must be somewhere around there.
Perona started to float again and she flew towards the North side of the Town, leaving the Square. There are lesser and lesser people along the way and there seems to be no sign of Zoro. She started to feel stupid, why does she want to find him in the first place?
As she arrived at the North gate of the Town, she lowered herself down onto the snow and walked out of the Town. From the distance, she could see Zoro crouching down, fidgeting with something in his hands, a few boxes lying beside him.
"Oi! Stupid swordsman!" Perona trotted towards him while he raised his head upon her voice. Zoro raised his eyebrow but lowered his head again to work with what he was working on a moment ago.
"What are you doing?" Perona asked, crouching lower to observe him.
"Figuring out how to light this," He answered, his gaze focused on the fireworks.
"It will be nicer to see the fireworks from here since you're lighting it here, right?" Perona tilted her head, asking in a child-liked tone.
"It's better to enjoy fireworks from afar."
"Oh."
"You can go to the mountain there to watch," He raised his chin slightly, pointing towards where the mountain is.
"Oh."
After a few moments, Zoro can still feel Perona's presence beside him. He then looked up at her, she was squatting down on the snow, her arms hugging her knees as she looked intensively at what Zoro is doing. "Tsk, what?"
"What what?" She asked back innocently with her big round eyes.
"I mean why are you still here?" Zoro grunted in annoyance.
"…" She kept quiet, her lips pressed together into a thin line.
"Tsk. Oi. What the hell you want?"
"It's no fun watching alone," this time pouting. "I'll just watch here," Perona announced, changing her position as she sat comfortably in the snow, raising her head up towards the sky. "Oi slave, hurry up."
"Tsk. Troublesome woman." Zoro grumbled under his breath as he started to light the fireworks.
One by one, the fireworks were shot into the sky. One after another, the fireworks continued to light up the dark sky, giving surprises as different colors popping out. The fireworks that shot onto the dark sky exploded, giving off a flower-liked shape, putting up a beautiful performance for the Snowmen.
Since Perona was so near the fireworks, she was shocked when it was first fired up into the sky due to the loud sound. However, shortly later, Perona got used to it and covered her ears with her hand tightly, her gaze glued onto the night sky. She knew fireworks are beautiful, but she did not expect it to be that beautiful. It was amazing for her as it was her first time looking at fireworks. Some of them lasted longer than the others, some louder, some with different colors, and some going in different directions. A few fireworks were shot together at once into the sky, exploding together, lighting the sky up even more brightly. Pink, Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, the colors covered the entire sky for a mere few seconds, but was enough to take one's breathe away.
She was so enraptured by the fireworks that she was shocked when a strong arm suddenly hurled her up, pulling her as it dragged her away.
"Wait! What the hell?!" She screamed at Zoro, "What are you doing?"
Zoro ignored her as he ran as fast as he could, his hands holding on tightly to Perona's, dragging her behind him. Perona tried her best to keep up with his speed, at the same time raising her head to look at the fireworks; she does not want to waste such a special show.
Suddenly, Zoro comes to a stop, she almost knocked into him but his firm hands placed on her shoulder to stop her momentum. He then turned her shoulder around, forcing her to face the front instead of him. It was then she realized what he was trying to do.
Just at that moment, the last firework erupted in the sky, decorating the sky with one last performance as it flew in different direction.
"I left the longest firework to the last one," He explained.
"Thank you," She blushed, turning around to look at him, calming her breath due to the running.
Their gaze met. Zoro surprised at what he actually did for her, and Perona surprised at the fact that she actually likes it a lot, even the running part. Both of them slowly looked down, and realized they are still holding hands. Almost at the same time, the both of them took their hands back.
Wait! Does she have to react that way? Zoro thought in his mind, not that he wanted to keep holding her hand.
What's wrong with him, reacting that way! Perona cried in her mind, well, not that she wanted to hold his hand anyway either.
The both of them kept silence while facing each other. There was an awkward silence but was thankfully, or not, interrupted.
"Well done!" Three elder Snowmen bounced towards them. "Thanks so much for helping us, it was one of the best White Christmas we ever have!" One of them exclaimed, the other two helped to clean up the area.
"Oi! So did you found any information from the Library?" Perona, the first to recover from the small incident, asked.
"Ah, of course! Of course!" The Snowman answered, "We found a piece of paper there that is related to the location of the wine, but it's pretty late now. So you should rest for the night first." A piece of paper appeared out of nowhere from the Snowman's branches, he waved it gently, passing it to the Ghost Princess.
"This is…" Perona studied the paper, asking the Snowman under her breath.
"Ah, this, you have to find out yourself. I'll give you more information tomorrow, just rest for now." The Snowman turned towards the other two Snowmen who have been cleaning up the area. "Let's go guys!"
The two youngsters nodded and greeted them good night; the both of them strolled back to the Igloo together.
"So what's on the piece of paper?" Zoro asked, breaking the silence between them.
Perona flipped open the piece of paper again, reading the content aloud.
"The Cloud of Mist that leads to Heaven, the Ring of Snow that leads to Hell.
Wine of blood that tastes of tears, Mist of feelings that smells of blood, reveal the veil that sense of danger.
Lies of the snow to be believed, truth of the wind to be accepted, the wind was howling yet again.
Here lies the guilt of a man, deep in the furrows of the sea."
"What…?" The words danced in Zoro's mind for a while, and disappeared into thin air. "I don't get it."
"Neither do I. Anyway, let's just rest for now, the Snowman said he will give us more information the next morning." Perona folded the paper in two and kept it safely in her pocket.
Under the Night sky, the two youngsters strolled back to the Igloo, both of them taking a corner each as they rest for the challenges that lie ahead.