First of all, a massive thank you to A.J. Aviary for reviewing every chapter! It made me incredibly happy.
Secondly, I hope everyone is safely at home!
Lastly, this is chapter is a bit short but mysteriously, it's all I managed to write in nearly six months! I just felt this fic deserves a proper ending rather than being rushed because I didn't feel like writing. So I decided to take a break.
"Man, I'm absolutely starving…", Kanata complained as the sun was setting, or rather the light emitted by the plants darkened. "The food looked delicious… ."
Around them, the market stalls were closing. The streets were almost empty and the smell of cooked food coming from the residential area filled the roads instead. "Well, it can't be helped if we don't have money", Aries replied. "Let's look for jobs tomorrow." Yet her cheerful smile could not mask the rumbling of her stomach.
"I'm sorry, Aries…" He had invited her, so Kanata felt responsible for their inability to explore the foreign cuisine.
"Ah, don't worry", the girl blushed. They had observed the locals, watched them eating all kinds of foods, and talked about their lives on planet Astra. "I had a wonderful day with you, even if we couldn't eat any of the food."
An awkward silence followed as the two waited for the others to arrive at the market square.
"Are you an idiot?" Quitterie surprised them from behind. "Don't tell me you haven't eaten all day? You could've sold some junk, you know." It was unbelievable how their captain had ruined Aries' first date. The discontent obvious on her face, she pointed to Yun-Hua next to her. The black-haired girl was holding two brown paper bags. "Look what my hairpin got us."
Yun Hua took out a delicious-looking pastry from the back. "You can have some if you like."
"That's why I don't like stupid guys." Quitterie sighed seeing her captain and Aries devouring the food. "I hope Ulgar treated you better, Luca... Come to think of it, where is he?"
The purple-haired teen had just joined the group. It was only the five of them, plus Funicia, on the market square. It was not yet dark so it would be impossible to miss the black-haired teen.
Luca nodded. "I had fun today." He had not managed to make his friend smile but Ulgar had bought him everything he wanted. His generosity was surprising. Plus, he had kissed him! Not that Luca could tell the others though. "Ulgar should be here any minute, he's just a bit slow."
As if he had heard his name, the black-haired teen entered their field of vision, the reason for his delay obvious. A number of shopping bags in his hands, he was visibly struggling under their weight.
"That must have cost a fortune", Aries exclaimed still eating her pastry.
"Seriously, what did you sell to get that much money?", Quitterie added. The inconspicuous paper bags seemed to hide a whole shop's inventory. It reminded her of a shopping trip in the good old days back on planet Astra.
Luca shrugged. "He said he sold 'some junk'. You'd think he would tell me, right? But that's Mr. Tongue-Tied for you." Looking back to Ulgar, he wondered how where his money had come from.
Meanwhile, Funicia was looking through the bags the black-haired teen had carried, perhaps hoping to find a treat. With a child-like fascination, Luca noted how Ulgar's facial expression softened, his eyes focussed on the girl. Angry-face Ulgar was handsome but his smile was absolutely irresistible. One day perhaps he would smile at him.
"Let's see what Zack and Charce got!"
Aries' voice brought Luca back to reality. He blushed and hoped nobody had noticed him staring.
Zack and Charce had just joined the group. In contrast to Ulgar, they were almost empty handed, holding only a small bag each. Upon everyone's questioning glances, the pilot revealed the content of his bag. Filled to the brim with small golden coins, everyone was speechless.
"1, 223,905 Nemesian dollars", Zack explained with a casual tone. "Or in other words—"
"We're millionaires.", Charce continued, sparkling as usual.
Quitterie squeaked for joy. "We can buy food and leave this stupid planet!"
"With so much money should we give the rest to Elsyon?", Aries asked having forgotten about her pastry.
Ulgar just watched everyone's ecstasy in silence. There was something everyone seemed to have forgotten about. Money did not tend to fall from the sky. "So what did you sell?"
"Oh, just some junk from the Astra", Zack hurried to say without giving away any detail.
"More importantly, there is something else you should see", Charce changed the topic, his voice now more serious. He showed the others a newspaper he had picked up during the day. Made of paper, it was nothing like the digital versions the group was used to see. Written in English, the blonde pointed out an article on the title page.
The title photo spoke for itself. "It's the guy from the cave!" Luca immediately recognised the figure as the person responsible for his abduction. The grey hair and cold gaze undeniably belonged to the man who had led them to the banquet.
"Alfred is being sacrificed instead of us?", Aries asked in disbelief after reading the headline.
"That's how things work on Nemesis", Ulgar answered unsurprised. Had they others really thought they had changed the relationship of Nemesis' inhabitants just by rescuing two sacrifices? "Serves him right after what he did. At least we don't—" He stopped mid-sentence, feeling Luca's gaze on him. Of course, that guy would care…
"Oh, so his name is Alfred", Kanata looked at the article but seemingly failed to understand the message. "It doesn't state his name in the article though."
"I became friends with him at the party", Aries explained, recalling the banquet. Although her impeccable memory of the night was somewhat hazy, she still remembered everyone she had met. "We have to save him, Kanata."
It was probably a one-sided friendship given that Alfred had planned to feed them to the Disturians. But Ulgar was wise enough to not voice that thought. He would not be able to stop them anyway.
The Astra's captain nodded. "Of course we'll save him."
The next chapter will be longer, I promise!
Please review and let me know how you are
