Venus Familia Ch 2: The Monsterphilia

The streets were busy, music, chatter and laughter could be heard from all around the region, all for a single reason, today was one of the most anticipated events in Orario, the Monsterphilia started. Children of all ages could be seen, young adventurers and veteran alike wandered these roads looking for food or entertainment, the ambient was light, joyful, as if there were no worries that the people could think right now, because of the the trust in both the Ganesha familia and the Guild, many adults brought their children sure that could nothing bad would happen.

Among all these people, you could see a couple, a girl that looked like 15 and a man in his 20, both side by side walking around stall and stall buying all the unique food they could find, if asked about their relationship, they would simply answer 'siblings.'

The man had pale like snow skin, waist level disordered blue and deep black eyes, he seemed to be around 1 meder and 70 centimeders, he used a thin shirt grey that covered his arms and torso, a belt with some potions, thin black pants with some pockets, and sandals.

The girl on the other hand was fairly short, around 1 meder and 49 centimeders, she had a more yellowish skin with some freckles adorning her face, her black hair was short around shoulder length and her eyes were green in color. She used a blue shirt that covered her arms and torso, long black pants from a different material than her brother, brown boots, and a heavy loaded pouch.

The girl was ecstatic, leading the way running through all the vendor in their path experimenting and seeing all the different foods she could eat, her brother on the other hand, took his time walking all the way, sometimes speeding up just a little to not lose her on his sight.

He didn't look happy about being in the event, he had a frown and tired look in his face, he was in a way, put in the job of a babysitter for his sister in this.

Smell of the food, sweets and drinks were almost overwhelming, a full-blown attack at the nose, those that aren't prepared could easily feel dizzy in addition to the loud sounds coming from all direction, the event wasn't so far of being some form of disorientation curse.

"Nysnö look! This is soooo cute!" She called her brother a little further ahead, she was running back showing in her hand a sliced apple covered in honey and chocolate, with the skin sliced so it would resemble bunny ears.

She seemed enamored, bunnies were her favorite animal after all, she was commenting on how cute It was and how much she loved it, before devouring it in an instant, the sweetness of the apple mixed with strong flavors of the honey were a good combination, both complement each other and made it so more sweet, and as she thought the experience in her mouth was over, the soothing taste of chocolate, not so sweet and not so bitter, entered the scene wrapping everything up in a delicacy that made crave for more.

"So, was it any good?" Her brother asked.

Naryl turned around to look at her brother, her eyes wide open and almost as if sparkling, a happy face and a craving for more look was all that Nysnö needed as an answer.

"I see, how much was that?"

Upon hearing the question, she started to wonder and after some though she seemed to come to a realization and started to become worried, Nysnö was puzzled by her reaction until he started to hear a man screaming up ahead coming to their direction, he put two and two together looked in disbelief to his sister.

"You forgot to pay?"

The man now was close to them, demanding the payment of the sweet.

"What do you think you're doing taking without paying! I have an establishment to run you now!"

Naryl was startled by the sudden, and justified, outburst of the man in front of them, she started to apologize to the man, bowing repeatedly, saying that she was taken by the smell and the figure of the bunny. She took the amount that the said, and a little for the trouble and gave it to him.

The brother just stared at her, scolding her with his gaze, Naryl felt a shiver through her spine and looked at her brother apologetic, she then tried to change the focus of her brother, taking his arm to continue the path in the event.

"You should try one too Nysnö! Like this crepe or this cake, it all looks delicious! Oh, is that and watermelon sculpture of an elephant" She looked like a child dragging her brother around like he was a toy. He swears he never saw her this excited since she got her falna and wanted to get all of them to the dungeon for her first expedition.

Their older brother, Salus, was against that, and put Miryth in position to teach her everything about the dungeon first before allowing her to place a step there, and even so, he limited her to the upper floors and nothing more, she protested saying she wanted to go to the lower floors with us, but him, Venus and Miryth were against that, she was sad, but she came to understand why later.

"You know I'm not really good with sweets, also, isn't the prices here a little too high?"

"Oh, come on, you ate nothing in the whole event, look at how much stuff is here!"

"I would rather not spend too much money here."

Naryl started to become infuriated with her brother's lack of spirit for the event, but decided to just keep dragging him to the stands. The sun started to set high and the place started to become more alive and crowded, which only made the situation for Nysnö worse, to the point where he had to talk with his sister.

"Look Naryl." He called her attention, successfully as she turned her head around to listen. "Could we go home please, I can't stand places like this."

His sister looked at him dumbfounded and started to argue against the idea.

"But we didn't even see half of the event, I got places in the monster taming event, the main event, the whole reason Monsterphilia happens in the first place, we can't just leave now." She exclaimed.

"Please understand that I'm still not 100% of the last expedition, my body is killing me, and also, look at how hot its here right now, I don't stand hot environments like this."

"But… But…"

"Besides, I think this kind of event is a waste of money, we don't have a fortune to spend in trivial like this." He gestured to the Stands of sweets and treats.

Of course, she knew he was tired, of course, she knew about their money problems, maybe she was being selfish to just keep her brother out here and spend that money without much thought, but she didn't want to give up so easily, she couldn't, this was an opportunity that she couldn't miss.

"This money was given by Salus to enjoy the event ok? He told me to make sure that both us would have fun here."

The eldest brother took notice of how lonely she was in the last few months, and while he wanted help her, his condition didn't allow him, so he and Venus tried to talk to the 3 adventurers, but to no avail as they had a lack of supplies and they needed the valis to pay taxes to the guild, so they justified being in the dungeon for longer periods.

So, when she brought up the event, he thought that maybe it was a good idea for them to spend time together, he gave her the pouch to spend to her hearts content, of course at first, she couldn't accept that, but he insisted, saying it was also a surprise for Nysnö too.

Nysnö was now holding his head with his hand, trying to understand why her sister was so insistent, he just wanted to rest, read a good book, why couldn't she just leave him alone for a while? They could go out like another time, when he was less tired.

"Naryl… Can we just go back please, I think we spent enough time here already."

Upon hearing her brother's moping atitude she got furious, she was trying her best, but she already reached her limits.

"Oh, I'm so sorry your highness!" She mocked. "Maybe the prince's feet are aching and he need his knight in shiny armor to carry him? I'm so sorry for trying to be a good sister and spend time with her family!"

He looked surprised at her, he never saw his younger sister snap like this before, confused but angry he wanted scoffed at her.

"Look, we can just go another time to another event ok?! Right now, I am just tired, and maybe, when we get another time like this soon…"

"There won't another time like this soon!" She almost screamed, startling her brother out of his train of thought.

"You never have a time like this, you three are always in the dungeon and I can't go with Venus because she has to take care of Salus, being alone in events like this is just not the same!" Exclaimed Naryl, sadness started to form in her eyes. "I wanted everyone here but Miryth just had to go to the dungeon again, as if the last expedition wasn't enough, Ogamo said he was going to buy supplies and some other stuff for himself, probably poison, and you are just tagging along because Salus told you to." She said lowering her head.

She decided to pour her heart out here, she couldn't hold it anymore. "It's been months since the last time we all had a day just for us, you are always preoccupied with something, and I can't feel like if I took your time, even just a little, I'd be wasting it, and… And…" Her voice became and weaker "I don't want to be burden for you…"

Her siblings spent days in the lower floors of the dungeon, floors which she couldn't go being only lv. 1, even before she became an adventurer, when Ogamo gained his falna, the only sibling aside from Venus and Salus that spent some time with her was gone, and with Salus sickness, Venus attention was always on him. She was always alone.

"I thought this was the perfect opportunity, going to an event like this was my chance of maybe spending time with all of you together, I made plans for everyone, paths and even reserved seats for the best view in the monster taming, we were going to catch up on small talks and you would tell me stories of your adventures, everything was going to be perfect, we could be family again."

So, when the idea was rejected by her siblings, it hurt like hell, when she tried to argue with her sibling, two of them were already out doing their things and Nysnö was going but was clearly irritated, this was not going like how she imagined, everything was ruined.

The two of them stood in silence, the air seemed to thicken, the atmosphere around them became heavy, the laughter that could be heard in the background and its light mood could not penetrate the downcast ambient between the sibling, as if there was a barrier preventing any disturbance in their silence, it was deafening for both of them, both feeling a ping of guilty and shame for their actions.

Naryl was the first to break the silence

"If… If you really don't want to be here, let's just… Go home then." She lifted her head her voice came shaky and weak, surprising Nysnö. "I mean… I don't want to be a bother for you right now, if you don't feel like it, then maybe we should just go home and rest then, you would like it right? I won't mind, really." Her eyes were teary, she lied about her feelings.

She was looking forwards this day so much, that even having one person coming with her was making her overjoyed, so much, that she forgot to take in consideration her brother's feelings, she was devasted.

Nysnö recognized the look on his sister's eyes and sighed a little, he wasn't fond of events like this, he would rather spend his time in his room reading, besides, it was hot outside and he was already sweating. But it wasn't his intention to hurt Naryl's feelings, he didn't realize that they have been neglecting her in the past few months, with how fast they were growing the demand of suplies and the guild taxes started to grow, and they needed the valis to pay for it all, not to mention the medicine that they needed.

He started to have memories of his childhood, the feeling of being left out, of being abandoned…

He needed to comfort his sister, he needed to be there for her.

He got closer to Naryl and put his hand on her shoulder, pulling her closer to a hug.

"Don't ever think that you are a burden for me, or any of us as a matter of fact, we have been too busy, yes, but if you are need of shoulder or someone to talk to, don't ever be afraid to reach out for us, we are here for each other, we are a family, we will make time for you." He answered while stroking her hair to calm her down.

"I will also talk to the other two about how we spend our time, we were all doing this without really noticing, so they probably need a heads-up too. We never meant to hurt you; I hope you see it. And I'm sorry for having neglected you all this time." He said, softly.

She hugged her brother tighter and buried her head in his chest, she was seeking comfort and he decided to let her pour her tears in his clothing, they stayed like this for a good minute or two, before she lifted her head to look at him.

"Thank you, I needed that." She said drying some of the tear with her hand.

The sadness in her eyes left, now only a small hint of happiness and gratification were in its place, that put a smile in his face, one that didn't appear since they left home.

"Oh right…" Nysnö looked at her. "This is also supposed to be celebration for your level up. We didn't get to commemorate at home so Salus, Venus and I thought it would be a good idea to celebrate your level in a fun event like this!" She exclaimed.

'Oh yeah' He thought. 'I must be really tired then, to forget something like this.'

The day after they celebrated the expedition with the food from the Ganesha party, Nysnö and Ogamo where still too tired to do anything, they went deeper than ever and managed to kill a boss on one of the floors, which took a heavy toll on them, the only one not in their suffering was Myrith, but she was a whole other story. So, they decided to take some days to rest, Myrith was forced to stay in the house by Salus, and Venus decided to update their status, which prompted the discovery that he could level up to lv. 6, but he was too tired to grasp the information in his head.

"So, if you don't want to taste the sweets, we can go to the restaurants around here or we could go to the main event of monster taming, just, try having some fun ok? I want you to feel like you earned it today, because you did. Besides you are always locked in your room and I'm afraid you didn't receive enough sun light these past days." She said the last part jokingly, but he could hear the worry and sincerity on her voice with the rest.

Putting some of the weight in his shoulder off, he decided to follow his sister advice.

"Fine, but first, keep the same pace with me please, you know I'm not good in hot areas, and second, you will start to pay attention to what you are getting, I don't want to be called out as thief ok?" Her cheeks reddened when hearing the last part but nodded in agreement hearing the rest.

With a smile he started to walk with her following by his side, she had a bright smile plastered in her face, which made any worry or exhaustion leave his body, they passed through waves and waves of visitors, adventurers and guild members, among them, was a white haired boy and his goddess.

But the calm and easy air of the event would soon fade away, as an event would change drastically the route the story would take for the siblings.