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"I'm telling you," Yumi started as they were sitting in the hot spring just outside of a large inn hidden in the mist of Niflhiem. "Shadow-step doesn't literally mean stepping in the shadow; it's a form of porting from one location to a desired location." Yumi explained and Sachiko was ready to argue when the girl held her hand up. "No, I can't use it whenever I want to, there's a charge to it and the needs to meet certain conditions before the charge would activate. Believe me, the ruler of hell doesn't really let her kid wreck havoc, we're completely capped with relic that bind our power." She said pointing at the single earcuff on her left ear before she grabbed a bottle of old Royal Rhine wine and took a swig.
The Royal Rhine (Double R or 2R) is famous in Niflhiem (Nif for short) and amongst the gods in Asgard, it was made with the scale of the ferocious Agroze, golden wheat from the Shadow field of Niflhiem, the blood of Ludrit, and the juice of the rainbow Royal Drome bug. The 2R is Niflhiem most famous trademark, as the place was always half hidden in the mist and half in the darkness yet a field of golden wheat flourished in the border between darkness and the mist. Without the Agroze's scale, the drink itself is called Rhine wine without the electric flavor of the Agroze's scale.
"Damn, nothing beats a good hot spring and a well-kept bottle of 2R," Yumi exclaimed after both she and Sachiko left the hot spring and ready to dine. "It sure loosens the muscles," Sachiko added sitting down across the other girl. Over the past few days, they had slowly becoming closer through the chaos of being hit on by one monster after another, but still not any closer to being good friends since both still trying to upstage the other when it come to facing down monsters.
"Shouldn't you worry that it might be poison?" Yumi asked down another cup of 2R just as the waitress served out a tray full of freshly cooked foods. "If that's the case, you'll be dead too," Sachiko commented. "I have to disagree, the blood of the Ludrit mixed with the Royal Drome's juice become potent enough to kill a 2 tons cow. But the golden wheat cancel it out," Yumi laughed heartily. "Don't worry, they make sure that there's no poison in the foods or it wouldn't be good for business," Yumi said picking up a large rice bowl and started to eat. "I was about to ask what's in the wine, but now I wish you hadn't told me about it." Sachiko complained as she pour the wine into the two cups before picking up her bowl of rice and eat slowly.
MgM
"We're finally at Nif, the land of the mist…" Noriko said feeling relaxed knowing that they won't be running into any monsters here. It was kind of funny, Noriko had always thought that it was her cousin that attracted the monsters to them, but now that she's not with her cousin and still bumping into monsters. Guess there's no helping it, not to mention my dad is a dog.
"How could you see anything in this fog?" Shimako asked as soon as they stepped into Niflhiem. "All the easier for me to take advantage of you," Noriko laughed reaching out and took Shimako's hand in hers. "Really?" Shimako asked in a rather soft and sultry tone. "Would you like me to demonstrate it my miko?" Noriko asked pulling Shimako up against her with her left hand wrapped around Shimako's waist and her eyes glowed yellow like the color of the wolf.
"Ahem…" someone's voice interrupted them from getting lost in each other's eyes. Shimako quickly pushed away from Noriko but still held onto Noriko's hand, blushing slightly because someone caught them nearly getting intimate (kisu!). "I don't mind if you guys decided to get all frisky out here, but try not to block the road," an indifferent tone said from somewhere in the mist. The mist was truly too thick for anyone to see, unless one lived there for a long time to adjust to the density of the mist (would sound weird to call land of fog). "Fuck you Dante," Noriko cursed at the voice, mad for having the nice moment ruined by someone she doesn't care to run into. "You'll have to ask my wife for permission," the same indifferent voice replied. "You reeks of monsters and blood, come." It wasn't an invitation, it's more like an order and Noriko pulled Shimako along, they walked in the thick fog for a while until they made it to a clearing where a beautifully built home stood untouched by the fog.
"Welcome to my home, the young demi from the southeast." Shimako was surprised when a person emerged from the fog and bowed at her slightly dressing in fine clothing, though not made of silk it was still from well-made fabrics. A set of incredible horns upon that head with messy short raven hair, the woman before her bear a resemblance of a demon but Shimako sensed now evil aura from her. "Please feel free to use the bath and clean up, my wife would fuss if she sees you two looking like you've just rolled in mud and monster's guts. Noriko, you go with her too, I have no business with you right now." Dante said heading inside while Noriko said nothing in return as she dragged Shimako with her to the right side of the house toward the bath house.
"Who is she?" Shimako asked washing herself. "Ito Dante, she keeps watch over Nif and before you ask me what she is, I don't know. My aunt said she'd been here since the last Ragnarok," Noriko replied through gritted teeth as the warm water passed by the wound on her back. "Oh, have you ever seen her wife?" Shimako asked, curious about their hosts. "Yeah, a harmless person, very human, I'm not sure how much longer they'll be together until Dante got bore of her." Noriko said.
Noriko had only seen Dante's wife once or twice a few years ago, but years prior when she's here with her cousin to learn to control their demi power, they saw only Dante. Noriko, curious as she might, never ask just what the hell Dante is, but Noriko knew that she's neither human nor god and definitely not a demi either. Her horns made her looked a lot more like a demon, but there's no proof of that and saying her a monster wouldn't be right either since she hunted monsters for a living. Unlike Yumi and Noriko, she only hunt Agroze and even gods have problem taking down an Agroze, but Dante managed to carve the scales right off of a live Agroze without being shock to death. Even with Noriko's demi strength and power, just a glimpse of Agroze sent chills down her spine. Thus, it is one of the many reasons Hel entrusted both Yumi and Noriko to Dante to train them in the art of controlling their demi power.
A/N: As I said before, there will be 2 people that will make appearances throughout the stories (this and others) because they're part of a bigger plan. World domination! Muwahahaha...! (cough,cough) Okay, evil laughter is bad idea, anyway I'm planning on giving this couple a story of their own someday, but for now they will have to settle for appearing randomly in these random stories (laughs). Hope y'all enjoy this chappy, ja ne~