Chapter 2
Kazuya and Ruri studied the unconscious Heretic God intently. Though in this case, 'studied' might not be the correct word because all Kazuya did was batting his eyes back and forth between the goddess and Ruri, while mumbled: "A once in a life time chance to study a Heretic God body structure in detail. What a pity..."
Even an idiot would have known what his intention was. Ruri didn't even bother to retort him this time, but that icy glare was enough to convey that she was unhappy.
"I said it as an scientist seeing a new subject. There wasn't any ulterior motive at all." Kazuya laughed dryly, having no choice but to suppressed his desire temporarily. "Let's wake her up."
"Wait. We're just gonna wake her up like that? It seems inappropriate..." Ruri seemed reluctant. "Even though she looks harmless, she's a Heretic God."
"We can't just leave her here in the open. Especially if she's a god." Kazuya tried to apply the goddess appearance to some figure he knew in the mythology, but he was drawing a blank. "Maybe she is someone nice and lovely, like Hestia for example."
"Even if she is Hestia, she could still be affected by the descent into a Heretic God and have her personality distorted as a result." After a short paused, Ruri added. "Beside, there is no way a goddess like Hestia could has that kind of shameless character design."
"... Let's forget that backhanded comment for a second. You are missing the most important thing." Kazuya narrowed his eyes. Ruri was taken back because he was actually sound serious for a change. "A beautiful girl fell out of the sky. That is the perfect setting for love comedy. All that's left is to wake her up, established the master servant contract. From now on, I'll have my own Heretic God at my command."
"You still haven't got your mind out of the gutter?!"
Ruri threw a scroll to the ground, into the crater. Even though Kazuya's logic was twisted, he was right. For whatever reason, they just couldn't leave a Heretic God in the open. Receiving her command, the scroll started to light up, absorbing surrounding earth elements. Soon, an earth golem was formed. It was more than three meters tall, enough to carried the goddess with one hand and climbed out of the hole with another.
She ordered the golem to touch the unconscious goddess. A groan escaped the later's lips, but she shown no sign of waking up. With that, Ruri finally felt safe to let the golem picked the Heretic God up. She had heard a great deal about Heretic Gods and Campiones constitution and their natural magical resistance, so she was relief to see the golem was able to touch the goddess without complications.
Beside Ruri, Kazuya was not standing around either. He was taking out small totems one after another from his bag, stacking them into a totem pole. This wasn't the first time Ruri saw this, but she still couldn't find out the pattern behind the combination of those totems. And to be honest, Kazuya's obsession in making them similar to noh masks with various expressions freaked her out a little.
Shortly after Kazuya finished setting up the totem pole onto the ground, the golem put the goddess down before them. He knelt down before the goddess, his eyes closed, one hand reached out to touch the totem pole.
"May the wind whispers to your spirit. May the earth gives blessing to your body. Let the fairies of the sacred meadow grants you a moment of peace."
Answering his prayers, the totem pole released a gentle green light. Just by standing near the light, Ruri felt her body reinvigorated, and her mind was crystal clear. Unfortunately, it didn't work that well for the goddess.
"No dice, huh..." Kazuya opened his eyes. Even with the boost came from chanting, the healing ward still couldn't get through the Heretic God magical resistance. "Ruri, do you have any ideas?"
"Well, I heard that king Kusanagi received instruction magic when it was applied orally, so magic inserted internally might work." Ruri took out a small vial with golden liquid. "My potions can heal the body, but from the look of it, physical wounds aren't the reason she's in deep coma."
"Lucky bastard..." Kazuya muttered, no doubt starting to develop a strange sense of rivalry against the Japanese Campione. "There's no harm in trying."
Ruri nodded. Kazuya helped raise the goddess' upper body while Ruri tried to pour the liquid into her mouth. From the movement of her throat and her chest, it seem that the goddess swallowed the liquid with no problem. Kazuya had the brilliant idea of keeping her mouth open to 'take in the healing light'. Ruri didn't even want to know what kind of thought process led him to that conclusion.
They waited for a few minutes, until the goddess porcelain skin gave off a faint holy light. The Heretic God slowly opened her eyes. The potion worked, but it seemed she hadn't regain her mind fully. Her green eyes just stared at Kazuya with a perplexed expression. To be fair, Ruri would too if the first thing she saw after waking up was a strange man holding her body.
Losing the staring contest, Kazuya shrugged, tried to help the goddess back up to her feet: "I ask of you, are you my servant... Forget it, that was a bad joke."
"Who gave you permission to touch me, lowly human!" The goddess raised her eyebrows, slapped away Kazuya's hand instantly. Her eyes now filled with hostility.
"Lowly human? Great, you're one of those people." Kazuya took a step back, conveniently stood in front of Ruri, shielding her from whatever the goddess might try. Even though the effectiveness of that action is questionable, Ruri appreciated the gesture regardless. "Why is it so hard to get a simple 'thank you' these days?"
"My mere presence should be the biggest blessing in your life." The goddess scowled. Her eyes moved from Kazuya to the sword still in the crater. Her lips curved to form a smile, the goddess stretched her hand. "Come! My sword!"
Nothing happened.
"I wonder what is more pitiful?" Kazuya didn't even bother to hide his laughter. "The sword that stuck into the ground or the woman who thought it has voice command function."
Wanting to mock the prideful goddess further, Kazuya copied her gesture, said towards the sword with outstretched hand: "Come! My sword!"
In front of their eyes, the sword actually removed itself from the ground, drew a beautiful arc in the air, landed perfectly on his hand...
Kazuya's silent protests against the heaven were promptly ignored. After contemplating, he finally understood that free speech was no doubt the downfall of the human race. With the last bit of hope, he asked the sword with an empty voice: "Hey mate, did the explosion damaged your voice recognition program?"
Seeing her sword responded to Kazuya in such docile manner, the goddess was enraged. She charged at him without a second thought: "How dare you defile my Grimoire? Give it back!"
"I don't even want to touch it..." Kazuya was about to explain himself, but he noticed the goddess wasn't even thinking straight.
He quickly reasserted the situation. The goddess was wearing a single piece of white dress that was no doubt offered no defense and little modesty. Looking at her, Kazuya feared the dress would burst from her movement, especially the chest area. Even though the goddess' personality left much to desired, and her intelligence stat seemed to be below average, as long as she closed her mouth, the goddess would be no doubt a first class beauty by every standard. Long hair with color akin to the sunlight, green eyes like precious jewels, and most importantly, the breasts that was jiggling non stop due to her movement. This should be a crime!
Kazuya jumped back a few steps, his hand holding the sword raised high: "It's mine now. If you want it, come and get it."
The goddess smiled coldly: "I've had enough of you! My voice had reached Heaven and Earth. Let the crop be destroyed, people be ravaged. Trample over the lords, and regain my honor. Come! The Great Bull of Heaven!"
Answered the goddess' plea, it came down from the sky. Far bigger than any creature Kazuya had ever seen. Body full of muscles, wings that could blocked out the sunlight. The body of a bull and the head of an old man with horns. The avatar of Taurus the constellation. The divine beast almost destroyed ancient Uruk, later killed by the hero Gilgamesh. It was standing in front of Kazuya in all its glory.
"My Gugalanna. That human had stole my Grimoire and defile my honor. Trample him!"
The bull didn't comply. It didn't pay any attention to several golems Ruri just summoned. It just looked back and forth between the triumphant goddess and Kazuya with a confused expression. After a while, the bull slammed his front foot into the ground several times in frustration, causing a tremor. It flapped it wings and disappeared into the sky, the way it came down from.
"... That's what happened when you failed to build the relationship with your pet properly." As always, Kazuya took it upon himself to broke the awkward silence.
The goddess' face flushed red. Shamed and angry, she pounced on Kazuya like an enraged lion: "Give my sword back!"
"A little faster and you could've gotten it. That's right, more big movements. I commend your raging breasts... I mean spirit." Kazuya raised the sword up high again, dodging around the goddess. Based on what happened, he was certain that rational thinking was not her strong suit. He might as well enjoyed the sight of a super beauty charging at him.
"Give it back! Give it back!" While her intelligence level could be up for debate, the goddess did in fact possessed extraordinary sixth sense. She was able to figured out Kazuya dodging pattern in no time, and was able to cut off his escaped.
Without noticing Kazuya's eyes that screamed 'just according to plan', the goddess who wanted to get her sword back, pounced squarely into Kazuya's open arms. As a result, her prideful breast was fully pressed against his chest. Even though separated by layers of clothes, Kazuya still got a full experience of how soft and elastic they were. Kazuya almost lost his mind for a second. Choosing the big breasted camp was the right decision after all.
Furthermore, the goddess didn't fuss about touching a 'lowly human' this time, but instead focusing entirely in to jumping up and down to reach her sword. The friction came from her action was heavenly.
Dear mother in heaven! Kazuya screamed in his mind. Today was the day I started to worship the Heretic Gods. Heretic Gods are the best! Campiones must definitely be a force created by some evil loli flat chested woman to destroy these treasure of the world!
"Enough is enough!" A thunderous roar came from behind them. Ruri took Kazuya by the neck, dragged him away from the goddess.
"..." Kazuya already missed the feeling and warmth in his chest. For a second, he regretted having Ruri along, but that line of thought left as quick as it came.
The goddess also calmed down a little. She reasoned with Kazuya while regaining her breath: "Give me my sword. That is a Grimoire came from me, a human has no way to use it."
"Why should I believe you? Do you have any proof it's yours?"
"Proof?" The goddess was mad, but thankfully, she managed to restrained herself this time. "I am a god. All life revels in my presence. My words can't be nothing but the truth. I have no need for proof."
"Sorry. I'm a shaman. We shamans valued real evidences." Kazuya raised an eyebrow. "For example..."
He threw the sword away, and while it was in the air, opened his palm: "My sword."
The sword paused on its track, traced its trajectory, once again returned to Kazuya's hand.
"... Damn, why does it still work?" Kazuya murmured under his breath. Even though teasing the goddess was fun, he had no desire to possessed such dangerous thing that might or might not be related to her when a Campione came charging in the near future. Still, he didn't let go of the facade. "You see, it responded to me not once, but twice. What about you?"
The goddess raised her voice: "Come! My sword!"
Nothing happened again.
To proved that he was playing fair, Kazuya let go of the sword completely, leaving it stabbed to the ground in front of him.
"Come!" The goddess cried out.
"Come!" The sword didn't move.
"Why won't you come..." Her voice was mixed with sobbing this time.
Gave up calling the sword, the goddess was getting physical. No matter what she tried, the sword refused to budge. From the way Kazuya was waving the sword and jumping around, one would expected it to be light. But in her hand, it was the most heavy thing she had ever touched.
"Told you, only the true king of Britain could draw the sword..."
The goddess ignored Kazuya. Right now, all she wanted was to regain the Grimoire that used to be a part of her, but was rejecting her for some reason. Maybe it was tired of the goddess, a black light burst from the blade, threw the goddess away.
"It hurts... Why..." The goddess looked at her hand questioningly. Her white skin now dyed red with blood. "How could I be bleeding?"
"... Isn't it a monthly thing?" Ruri cold eyes stopped Kazuya from rubbing salt onto the wound again. "Fine. I'll just shut up."
The goddess' pride was shattered to piece. First some humans disrespect her, her sword didn't answer her, the Bull she called abandoned her, and now she was bleeding from a wound. Seeing it made Kazuya's heart soften and he immediately forgave her for what she said when she just woke up.
Ruri took a step closer, trying to calm the goddess down: "Please don't cry. Even though the Grimoire might be resisting you now, it is a part of you after all. If we can find the reason, you may be able to become one again."
The goddess looked up, didn't answer right away. Her face were wet with tears. Ruri took out some bandages from her pocket. Even though she still had some healing potions, using it on such trivial thing sound wasteful. She took the goddess hand: "May I?"
The goddess nodded. Ruri tried to keep the conversation going while bandaging her hand: "My name is Shiba Ruri and that guy is Otonashi Kazuya. Even though he has a foul mouth, he doesn't have any bad intention."
"I am..." The goddess paused, but she quickly recovered. "My name is Ishtar."
Ishtar, the Mesopotamian goddess of lust and war, the divine personification of Venus. She was famous for having many lovers, and how cruelly she treated them, if the Epic of Gilgamesh was anything to go by. Either way, there were no better way to vouched for her identity than the Bull of Heaven.
"Ishtar-sama, can you tell us why did you and your sword fall down from the sky?"
"I've been looking for that Grimoire for a very long time, hoping to be whole again. Not here, but in my realm. For some reason, its exact location eluded me, until today. Overjoyed, I descended. The transformation into a Heretic God left me unconscious."
"Maybe the transformation was the reason." Finished bandaging up Ishtar, Ruri stood up, turned to Kazuya. "What do you think?"
Kazuya didn't answer the question. Instead, he returned another question: "Can you try to call the sword, Ruri?"
Ruri understood what Kazuya meant. She tried to called the sword, but it didn't respond. Seeing this, Kazuya turned to Ishtar: "Ishtar, do you know what aspect of you this Grimoire represent?"
"I forgot..."
"I see..." Kazuya muttered. He was deep in thought.
There was two thing that was bothering Kazuya. First, it responded only to him. He deduced the reason for this was he possessed some quality the goddess too did in the past, but lost it due to her transformation. Worst case scenario, she didn't lost it because of the transformation, but because she was separated with the Grimoire in the first place. She did say she was looking for it long before she became a Heretic God.
Second was the sword itself. It was filled with the presence of death. Kazuya was not well versed in the legend of Ishtar, but he knew the general details. Even though the Ishtar depicted in the legend was a cruel and ill tempered woman, she was far from being a god of death. The closet he could link the name Ishtar with something like this was during her trip to the underworld, but it was also wide known that it stripped off her powers, not giving her new one. As for the chance of the goddess was lying to them, Kazuya didn't even consider it. Ishtar couldn't lie to his face with her limited intelligence anyway.
More importantly, her personality was not much different from a naive and pampered was no doubt because of missing the Grimoire also. If that was the case, Kazuya feared what she might became when she regain that lost aspect of herself.
Cleared his mind from that ominous thought, Kazuya carefully showed the blade to Ishtar: "Do you understand these runes?"
Ishtar nodded: "Bless your brave and pure soul."
Kazuya turned the blade. This time it took Ishtar a little longer: "Abandon all hope - You Who Enter Here."
Kazuya was even more lost than before. Why would that sentence from the Divine Comedy be inscribed on the sword belonged to a Mesopotamian goddess. Now that he thought about it, the first part didn't make sense either. Wouldn't the phrase 'brave and pure soul' used to describe the hero in the story, not the goddess?
"Could it be..." Even though he felt he was grasping at straws, Kazuya couldn't stop himself from asking. "You're no longer pure?"
"Nonsense!" His teasing once again earned the anger of the goddess. "My soul is as pure as the light itself."
What your stories said about you begged to differ though. Kazuya thought. And you just pressed your breasts all over my body not too long ago. Of course, he was rational enough not to said that out loud.
"Wait, wait... Are we really going with this brave and pure thing? It obviously isn't the reason." Ruri spoke up, the corner of her eyes was twitching when she looked at Kazuya. "I can see brave, but what exactly does pure has anything to do with you?"
"It was not the actions. It was the quality of the soul. The soul."
"Or maybe pure mean you are a virgin." Ruri made a face of sudden realization, dealt the final blow.
Still holding the sword, Kazuya's face froze. Next thing he knew, he had already threw the sword away as if it was a burning rod. Facing the strange eyes of the two woman, he shouted loudly: "Nonsense. Nonsense. My first time was me played with a beautiful girl for the whole night until she begged me to stop."
"... Sure. Whatever you say." Ruri muttered.
Even Ishtar couldn't hold her laughter at his reaction. She covered her face and turned away, but the way her body quivered betrayed her intention.
Retrieved the sword, Kazuya tried to change the topic: "Anyway, we are at a dead end. We don't know the reason, but the Grimoire chose me, not you."
"So you have two options." Ruri followed up. "We go our separate ways. Of course, the Grimoire stays with us, unless you have any mean to carry it around."
"I choose the second option!" Ishtar looked at the sword, decided immediately.
"The second option is travelling with us. The sword picked Kazuya for a reason, if we can find out that reason, you can be whole again."
They actually can considered the third option of killing Ishtar. While they didn't have any reliable mean of harming her aside from the sword, the goddess was very vulnerable and the sword had proven to be very effective against her. But neither Kazuya nor Ruri seriously thought about it. Kazuya didn't know about Ruri reason, but as for him, he had no interested in becoming a Campione. Especially if he had to kill Ishtar for it. Sure, the goddess talked down on them, intimidated them with a Divine Beast, but no harm was actually done.
Thus, the two lost their car, but gained another companion. That remind him, they still had a flood to protect the innocents from.
Eisen Nekun was a normal man. He had a beautiful family with a wife and a daughter. He worked as a teacher in the city. The job was hard, but it earned him respect, and most importantly more than enough money to provide for his family.
Today he was on the way home. He wanted nothing more than for his family to moved to the big city with him, but his wife refused to move away from their ancestor's grave. This not only made him visiting home complicated, but also endangered them with the threat of the flood that came once every year.
He was thinking about his daughter face when he saw the pillar of smoke in the distance. At first he wanted to head toward that direction but stopped. What if it was the work of the stray nomads? It would be pretty disastrous if he were to encountered them.
Then again, was it someone who really needed help. It would be pretty bad of him to just turned his back away. After some debating, he decided to take a look.
When he got to the starting point of the smoke, the scene before his eyes was surreal. An Asian girl, a Caucasian beauty and a suspicious man with a clown mask that was waving a sword around. If not for the shaman robe the man was wearing, Eisen would definitely mistook him for a vile bandits who was taking advantages of two travelers.
Shaman. In this land, the robe of a shaman was a symbol of status. They shared their miracles openly to the people, and was welcomed as a result. Of course the appearance of another organization that was capable of rallying the people didn't make the government happy, even though the shamans never showed interest in such matter. It was not until after general Khureen's rose to power that the government established a relationship with the shamans.
As for Eisen himself, he simply respected them. That's why he had no problem giving them a lift after a short introduction and learning of their problem. Especially if the shaman was heading toward his village to aid in the first place.
"Master Kazuya, is there anything you are unhappy with?" Noticing Kazuya was keeping quiet and staring at the window the whole time in the car, Eisen mustered his courage to ask.
"You don't have to mind it." Ruri said from the back seat. "He was just sulking because someone beat him at his own game."
"... The totem for fire was really complicated, you know? There are no way I could be faster than her." Still looking out the window, Kazuya retorted.
"I don't remember you said that when we were eating baked potatoes."
With their continuous bickering of Kazuya and Ruri, with Ishtar sometime chimed in, they reached the village in no time. When he began to see the houses, Kazuya remembered Ishtar could use some new clothes. Even though he was only going to ask for the direction, Eisen was generous enough to offered to take them to the clothing store. Kazuya accepted.
Leaving the two man with the car, Ishtar and Ruri went inside the store. The place Eisen took them to was a small place, but filled with all kind of clothes in various colors and small accessories. This maybe the only shop in town, as Ruri could see both men and women's clothing, but also underwear at a different section.
Unlike Kazuya, Ruri still couldn't act normally in the face of a Heretic God, despite knowing the goddess wasn't the type to start rampaging randomly. While she tried to put up a brave front and acted as usual, she was definitely more mindful of her actions. That's why when she saw the troubled expression on Ishtar's face, she knew it was her chance to bond with the goddess. Or maybe she was unable to leave it alone.
"Something on your mind?" Ruri asked.
Ishtar didn't answer right away. Ruri could tell that the goddess was hesitant. After a while, Ishtar tightened her fists, as if doing that gave her strength: "Ruri, do you share a lot of memories with Kazuya?"
Ruri understood Ishtar's intention immediately. The goddess had started to care about Kazuya's relationship in the past. From the way Ishtar was acting, Ruri was also able to deduced the reason for that sudden interest.
Heretic God and a human eh... Still, isn't this way too fast? They only just met and Ruri was sure about ninety percent of what Kazuya said to Ishtar could be considered abuse or harassment in some form. She thought to herself while trying to find the words. Finally, she nodded: "I've been friend with him for a few years. We majored in the same subject after all."
"..." Ishtar green eyes darkened. "You two get along well."
Ruri said slowly: "Certainly. But not to the extend you're thinking of. We still argue, still fight, sometime even criticize or ridicule each other. Neither of us are willing to be the first to back down, while still place our trust in the other unconditionally."
Ishtar lowered her head: "I don't understand, but it sound like you two get along really well..."
Unable to looked at the pained goddess, Ruri took Ishtar's hand: "Why are you asking this? Are you really..."
Ishtar didn't answer, but returned the question instead: "Ruri, do you like Kazuya?"
"I do. Even though he acts foolishly, sometime says thing that drive me mad, but he is a dependable guy. When you have trouble, he will be the first to stand beside you. When you forget your birthday, he will messes with you then gives you your present while acting as if he just happen to remember. That gentle Kazuya, I really like."
"Then, do Kazuya likes you?"
Even though Ruri was fine admitting her feelings, she still blushed crimson, turned away hurriedly: "How could I know what he thinks."
"I like Kazuya too." Ishtar nodded her head, confirming her own feelings. "But I don't know whether I like him because I really like him, or because a part of me that I can't recall like him... We only just met, after all."
"There's no need to beat yourself up over it. I like Kazuya, because I enjoy being friend with him, not because I love him romantically." Ruri patted Ishtar's head. The goddess didn't resist, nor did she appeared angry. Hard to believe she was the same person that considered them 'lowly' just before. "But one thing I know for sure. Human life is short. That's why the flare of their emotions burn and shine intensely, for love even more so. But for Heretic Gods, and Campiones to an extend, you have an eternal to understand love. At least, you don't hate spending time with him, right? That is enough for now."
Ishtar slowly shook her head: "I want to know. Do I like him, or do I love him? Do I feel this way because of my own feeling, or because of my Grimoire influences me. Or is it simply because he was the first male I met and could depend on? More importantly, to him, who am I?"
Being someone with zero experience in love herself, Ruri found no way to answered the goddess' dilemma. She tried to put herself in Ishtar's shoes, and came up with a method she thought was the most reasonable: "... Let's just ask the person himself."
Outside, Kazuya was chatting up with Eisen, mostly consisted of the latter showing him picture of his daughter. Only then Kazuya learned the village was named White River. It was only a little bit short of Tsagaan's full name. That made him a little more motivated to protect the village now.
The sound of footsteps signaling the end of the conversation. Kazuya and Eisen looked toward, and had their breath taken by the girls. Ruri and Ishtar was wearing matching clothes, white shirt and black skirt, along with white stocking and sandals. The only difference was that while the shirt was quite baggy for Ruri around the chest region, it clung into Ishtar's skin, showed off her collar bone. Kazuya could stared at the valley between her chest all day, but Ruri quickly put a stop to it.
"Why are you only staring at her?"
"Because you're flat chested." An immediate reply.
To be fair, while her breasts was indeed small, Ruri's body could be called nothing but a fair balance. Unfortunately, standing beside her was Ishtar.
"If you like big breast that much, go find a cow's udder and hug it till you die."
Seeing the conversation was once again derailing, Eisen coughed: "You both look amazing, lady Ruri, lady Ishtar."
"Really?" Ishtar asked Kazuya happily.
"Yeah." He nodded. "It fit you well."
Ishtar laughed, did a little spin this time. When she did, she noticed Eisen still opened wallet. It had the picture of his daughter inside. Her smile darkened.
She asked Eisen, pointing at the picture: "Is she your daughter?"
Eisen nodded. It seemed like he noticed Ishtar sudden change of mood too, as he didn't go off about his daughter this time. Ishtar continued: "Do you love her?"
Eisen's voice was gentle: "There aren't any parent in this world that doesn't love their child."
Ishtar's eyes narrowed. For some reason, she couldn't find herself agree with Eisen's statement.
"There will always be exceptions. Parents that throw their child away."
Hearing this, Eisen instinctively frowned. He was about to object Ishtar's point of view, but the sound of heavy tires hitting the ground made him forgot about the conversation. At the direction he was looking at was a worn out truck. The emblem on the truck made him frowned even further: "Again?" Eisen muttered.
The truck kept going straight. Along the way, people after people came out of their house to looked at the car. Their expressions mixed with fear. Fear that the truck would stop in front of their house.
"The people aren't seem to be a big fan of that truck." Kazuya said flatly. "Don't forget, if you want me to help, you only need to ask. As long as I'm still wearing this robe."
"You got it wrong... They are neither bandits nor evil doers. Still, we don't want them to come, and they don't want to come here either." Eisen smiled sadly. "Master Kazuya, let's go."
"Saying that only deepen my curiosity..." Ruri muttered. Kazuya fully agreed with her.
"Let's see what they're up to." He said to Eisen. Thinking it was not forbidden or anything, Eisen led them back to the car. They began following the truck.
Along the way, Kazuya observed the people. The people of White River village slowly formed a line, following the truck. Some by foot, others by bikes, or even horses. They patted their fellow villagers on the back, as if consoling each other.
Finally, the truck stop in front of a two stories house. Two worn out man get out. One was middle aged while the other was quite young.
Eisen also stopped the car, sighed darkly: "Boone... is it?"
The middle aged man patted the young man shoulder. They went into the back of the truck. When they got out, they was carrying a small wooden box, walked toward the house.
Noticing the commotions, a woman walked out of the house. In her hand was a ladder, it seemed like she was cooking. She was smiling faintly, at a glance, a woman full of hope and optimism.
The moment she saw the two man who was walking towards her, her smile froze. The ladder in her hand fell to the ground, as was herself. Her lips trembled, as if the two man in front of her was demons from the depth of hell.
Her voice was not loud, but due to their surrounding being dead silent, Kazuya's group could hear it clearly: "You... are not getting the wrong person?"
The middle aged man bowed deeply: "Miss Boone, your husband, one of the Crimson Armed Forces bravest man, lieutenant Boone lost his live on duty. We know no words could ease your pain, still we wishes to express our deepest regret."
The young man helped the woman get up, handed her the small box in his hand: "Here are your husband's will and items, a letter written by the commander himself, as well as six millions Tughrik..."
The young man couldn't say anything anymore. The woman was looking at him with hollowed eyes. She was staring at him, but her spirit was not there. She couldn't hear anything...
"Mom, we have guest?" When the young man wanted to moved the woman inside, a cheerful voice resounded. It was a child's voice. "Hey, that's emblem is dad's army. Did dad's letter arrive?"
Footsteps sound rushed down the stair. If he was paying attention, Kazuya could hear three sets of footsteps.
"Madam, your children are about to arrive." The middle aged man reminded the woman. Seeing that didn't work, he moved closer, said in a low voice. "Maybe I'm not in the position to say this, but you still have your children. Can you hear me! Think about your children!"
"Children..." The depth of the woman eyes flashed. Some unnamed power reignited the fire of her soul. "That's right, my sons..."
The kids pushed the door wide open. The oldest seemed to be only around six or seven, while the youngest is around four. After seeing two strange man, they hurriedly hid behind their mother. The eldest tugged the corner of her sleeve: "Mom, did dad write home?"
Watching from afar, Ishtar held her breath. What happened next, Ishtar would never forget. No matter how many time passed, no matter what might happen, Ishtar knew she would never forget.
The goddess witnessed the most grand, most noble magic in the universe.
When the kids opened the door, the woman's face still dyed with grief. The moment she looked down at her children, that face already filled with a mother's love and gentleness.
She opened her arms, hugged all her children tightly: "He did. Daddy asked his friends to bring home something, because he still has his duty. He said he might not be able to come home in the near future, because he had been selected to go on a journey by the shaman king."
"The shaman king? I knew dad was the best!" The kids voice were filled with pride. One turned to the young man. "Uncle, did dad send us any gifts?"
"That is..." The young man hesitated. He was not the one directly collected Boone's items, so he didn't know.
"Of course." The woman smiled. "Your father know you best."
She took the box from the young man hand. When she opened it, the smile on her lips widen: "Look. The wooden sword Swann have always wanted, little Masi's toys, and picture books for Robert. Isn't it all here?"
The kids was overjoyed, screaming and playing around. The woman crouched down, watched over her sons with a warm smile. Even though it was already dusk, the last light of the sun were trying to break the cloud, illuminating her cheeks.
"Mom, mom. Is there a letter? Dad always wrote a letter." The eldest, Swann ran into his mother's bosom, smiled innocently.
"How could he forget?" The woman patted her eldest's head, looked over at the other two faces, full of expectation. She pulled a sealed letter from the box, began reading. "My little Swann, Masi and Robert. Did you manage to outgrowth your daddy? Since daddy won't be able to go home anytime soon, I might not realize you if you keep growing up so fast..."
The woman kept reading, despite the faces of two man from the Armed Forces. The young man turned around, crushed his lower lip with his teeth so that his sobbing didn't come out, while the middle aged man just pulled his hat over his eyes.
Boone didn't have a chance to write to his family one last time. That sealed letter was the commander's letter of regret...
Ishtar couldn't help but stared at all this. The humans that she thought was lower than her, was now displaying strength far beyond whatever her soul could dream of. Eisen wiped his tears, said to Ishtar: "Lady Ishtar, as a husband and a father, I'll say this no matter how many time you or anybody ask me. There aren't any parent in this world that doesn't love their child."
Ishtar nodded.
Behind her, Kazuya stood with his back against the car, while Ruri's face already wetted with tears.
The Heretic God, shaman and alchemist, all used their respective way to sent a silent prayer to all the people who were powerless against fate, but stood proudly to protect their loved ones, even in their sacrifices...
Author's Note: This is not a love comedy, I promise! Next time will be an extra long chapter to concluded Kazuya's first steps to kingship, please look forward to it.
Those who read this until the end, and everyone who commented, followed or favorited this story, thank you very much.
