Chapter 28:
After that restless night Rosette and Chrno were pretty tired. On the other hand the Elder didn't seem to be too. Rosette was kinda pissed today and nearly all 5 minutes she had to bong on the Elder's head or slap him because he tried some nasty things.
"And what's now this 'riddle'" The blonde asked annoyed. She wanted to come away from this place as soon as possible. She crossed her arms and tipped with her foot a few times on the floor.
"Okay, okay. It is not difficult, it really isn't. The letter says: You have to leave the well-known grounds and you have to cross the thing which is necessary for life, but it's deadly in a bigger amount. You will find the Prince and the little girl at a place which is neither human, nor demonic, nor sacred. The apostles will awake that what's dead for a long time now. The master will test you as he is awake. Alone you will reach nothing. Only pure and brave hearts can resist him." The Elder coughed and turned around to a book shelf. He didn't say anything more. (AN: I am so bad in making riddles… you can't believe it…)
Chrno hesitated. "Uhm, was that all?" He asked confused.
"Yes. And I won't tell you more." The older one shortly answered. "Find it out by yourself. Oh, and here you have something that you will need." He looked for something in his pocket. That what he pulled out was a key. It looked pretty old and was big. Rosette took it and put it in her own pocket.
Great. That didn't really help, now did it? Sulking Rosette sat down in an arm chair which was next to another book shelf. Chrno leaned next to her on the shelf. At the moment they had no idea where the said place was.
"Water…" Rosette said suddenly. Surprised Chrno looked over to the girl. She leaned with her head on one hand. She had narrowed her eyes and looked into empty space. "The first thing is water. It's necessary for life, but if there's too much water you're drowning." She spoke slowly. "So we have to cross the water. But what water? There are a million rivers and brooks around. But then there's still the thing with the well-known ground…" She added thoughtfully.
"Perhaps this 'water' doesn't mean a river, but something much bigger." Chrno suggested. He also proposed to look on a map. There had to be something like that in the library, didn't it? After only a few moments of searching he came back with the sheet of paper he was looking for. He unfolded it and held it in front of him. Rosette came closer as well to have a look on it. It was a relatively new map. There was the demonic kingdom in the very north with the Pandemonium in the middle. At its south-east border there were the big mountains and next was the human kingdom with the capital Soronada in the south. Together the human and the demonic kingdom were one big continent with a big ocean around it. In the south east of this continent was another mainland. But this mainland and the other continent were still separated by the ocean. Plus the map only showed a little piece of the land. Rosette had heard that there was another continent over the ocean, but she didn't know much about it. Now she knew at least that its name was Krefya. The blonde pointed on it. "Do you think we should look there? It's unknown ground and it's across the sea."
Chrno nodded and told her that they would leave the library in the noon. Krefya was the only clue they had at the moment. Perhaps they would find out more there. He also informed the Elder about their plans. The old man grinned and wished them luck for their journey. Of course they wanted to keep the map. Rosette thanked him for that and said goodbye. The Elder wanted to say goodbye to her on his own pervy way. Luckily for Rosette he bumped directly into Chrno's fist.
"Thanks." The blonde muttered to the purple head.
"No, problem…"
They excited the library and were now standing on the roof. With one fast movement Chrno lifted Rosette up in his arms and was airborne. This time Rosette didn't complain about the height or the speed. She had the first clue and she wanted to find her brother as soon as possible. After two hours they took a little break. The demon looked at the map again. Somehow they had to come to the south-east coast. There the way between the coast and Krefya wasn't so far.
Fortunately the city with the biggest harbour was less than a day far away if they flew without a second break. And so they did. In the late afternoon they arrived. Before they came too close to the city, Chrno landed in the forest. That was better. He didn't want the citizens to attack because of his demonic origin. Therefore he also switched in his human form. They called their equui umbractici and entered the town on this way.
The town was quite crowed. There were a lot of rich people and merchants or businessmen. On the other hand a lot of little thieves weren't missing as well. Next to the harbour there were some little fisher huts as well. In the water there were all kinds of ships and boats, beginning with littler fisher boats, ending with some huge sailing vessels. Amazed the two teenagers watched the huge ships.
"I think it shouldn't be difficult to find a ship which takes us to the other side." Chrno guessed. The girl asked why they didn't just fly. That would be much faster. He shook his head and explained to her that the way was too long. They couldn't take a break. In addition to that the winds and air streams over the ocean were different and Chrno didn't know much about them. Plus his wings were aching because he wasn't used to fly such a long time while carrying a second person. Willy-nilly they had to go by the ship.
Rosette stopped some passer-bys to ask them which ship would go to Krefya. They all spoke the eastern language which was different from the usual human language. But as they heard the word Krefya they all pointed to one special ship.
The boat seemed to be the only one going there. It was huge and had five masts with big sails. Eagerly the sailors prepared the ship or carried boxes in or out of it. One man with a thick read beard observed their work and yelled some commands from time to time. Chrno tipped at Rosette's shoulder and pointed on him. She nodded and they went over to the place he was standing. Chrno greeted him and fortunately he spoke English.
"You want to come with us to Krefya? Well, I always need some young men working on the ship." He muttered under his beard and chuckled. Immediately his face was serious again as he saw Rosette behind Chrno. He looked to the purple head again. "Keine Frauen." He granted in his mother tongue. "No women." He repeated so they would understand him.
"What?!" Rosette burst out. "Why not?!"
The old sailor glared at her. "No women. You, boy, can come with us. But your little girlfriend there stays here." With that he turned around and entered the ship.
"This is a brazenness!" Rosette scolded and crossed her arms.
"ROSETTE!" A loud female voice was calling her.
Stunned Rosette turned around to look for the person calling her name. At first she didn't recognize anyone in the crowd, but then she saw the knee long red hair. The woman was coming towards them fast.
"Sathella!" The blonde shouted out in surprise and rushed over to her. It was nice to see her again.
"Hey, Rozetto, wait for me!" Chrno called and hurried after her.
Sathella already chatted happily with the other girl. As she saw the purple head coming she stopped shortly and Rosette introduced both.
"Awww, he's such a cutie!" Sathella squeaked and hugged Chrno tightly. His face was already getting blue. "Where did you get him from?"
"As if I would tell you that." Rosette pulled on the redhead's arm and the other woman let go of Chrno who gasped for breath.
"Nya, don't be so mean!" Sathella teased her. "So, I'm pretty surprised to see you here. Is there are special reason for your visit?"
"We're looking for her brother. He disappeared." Chrno explained her and paid attention that he didn't come too close to the redhead anymore.
"Oh, really? That's terrible!" Sathella called out. "Come on. Looks like you have already a long day behind you. I invite you to stay at my house. There you can explain everything to me."
Rosette smiled and agreed to that. Sathella's house was actually owned by her whole family. It was huge and two staircases led to the front door from the left and right side. A butler greeted them. Sathella introduced their guests to him. "Und bereite die Gästezimmer vor." (German for: "And prepare the guest rooms.") She told the butler whose name was Steiner. He bowed and disappeared. Afterwards Sathella led Chrno and Rosette to the living room. There they talked about the last events. To Chrno and Rosette's surprise the big ship which should go to Krefya was owned by Sathella's father.
The father was a rich merchant who traded with jewels and jewellery. He was the only one who had a legal permit to trade with Krefya. That was also the place where he got the extraordinary jewels from. Sathella told them also that they wouldn't find a ship which would take Rosette over the sea. The sailors said that a woman on board brought bad luck and misfortune. That angered the ocean and the sea would make the ship sink. Therefore no female person was allowed to enter the ships.
"And you're sure that you can't convince your father to take us over the sea?" Rosette asked again.
Sathella slowly shook her head and caused that a part of her long her flew over her shoulder. "I'm sorry, but he's really stubborn. I myself tried it a hundred times, always without success." The woman sighed and took a sip out of her cup of tea. "The only way he would take you over, Rosette, is if you were suddenly a boy." Sathella chuckled ironically and emptied her cup.
"So, is that so…" Rosette pressed her lips together and glanced over to the holster of Chrno's dagger and of his sword. He had taken off the belt, so he could sit down in the armchair. With a quick movement she pulled the dagger out of the holster. Faster than anyone could react the long blonde braid landed on the ground. Now her hair didn't reach to her waist anymore. It was barely longer than Chrno's. It only reached to her shoulder blades now. (AN: Now it's the same length she wears her hair in the Manga)
The two others in the room stared at her. The redhead gasped. "B-but your beautiful hair!"
"You said I needed to become a boy to go on the ship. So here I am." Rosette smirked. "Chrno, I need some of your clothes."
The young man frowned shortly and looked over her. "Good. I'll give you some, but I tell you: They're too big for you."
Rosette answered him that that didn't matter for now. Chrno gave her some clothes and she disappeared in her room. After she fought a little while with the laces of her dress, she finally took it off and the other clothes on. For her it was uncomfortable to wear a pair of trousers. Until now she had only worn dresses and so on. The cloth of the trousers itched. Moreover they were too wide and too long. With a belt she fixed it. Then the shirt. That was too big as well. But she was only happy that it wasn't see-through. Apropos… That was a problem as well. Perhaps she could hide her female curves with bandaging her chest. The blonde sighed and took the shoes. Guess what, yeah, too big as well. Furthermore she tied her hair to a knot at the back of her head. When she was done she took a look into the big mirror to her left. She pulled a face and stick out her tongue to the picture in the mirror. She really needed some other clothes…
Meanwhile Chrno moved from one side of the couch to the other while Sathella moved closer and closer. She just spread out her arms and Chrno was sure that she didn't only want to hug him. So Chrno got up rapidly. "If you excuse me. I'll be off to the bathroom." He said and went out of the room. Sathella couldn't hold her balance and plopped on the ground. "Oww, little meanie… he just doesn't understand a little bit of fun…"
On the way to the second floor Chrno met Rosette. He saw her and stunned for a moment.
"What?" She barked.
"Would it be okay for me to laugh, Rozetta?" He pressed his lips together in order to suppress the laughter.
"We need to go shopping. Now." The blonde only said annoyed and dragged the purple head with her.
AN:So, they arrived at the east cost… oh, and there's something I wanted to say to the languages they speak: In the demonic kingdom they speak Latin, in the human kingdom mostly English, except for the east and south-east coast. There they speak German. In Krefya they speak all kinds of old Germanic or Celtic languages.
