The Elder noticed Kino's troubled look and said, "you need not be hasty. As I said, you will protect my kind after I die."
The Elder's tone is calm despite knowing its end is coming near for every second, Kino then wonders how the Elder could be this calm. Put the thought aside.
Kino soon answered with a nod, "un, but Elder. What I worried about the most is the training and how long I'll be able to finish my business."
Her business is of course her journey. What's more, she didn't know how long her journey would take, five years? Ten? She didn't know.
"Hmm?" She let out an interjection when noticed something on the Elder's head, but still, due to the Elder's huge and tall body, its head was a thousand meters away from the ground. So Kino can only see a glimpse of it for a few mere breaths.
"What's wrong?" The Elder asked after hearing her voice.
"Ah, nothing! It's just that your body has a beautiful scale that almost looks like a ferocious flame!"
The Elder's brows raise up slightly in confusion and his facial expression forms a bit of a sign of displeasure. We are talking about something serious here! Why would you observe my scale? Also, ferocious flame? Does my scale look like that?
Noticing the Elder's displeasure, Kino quickly apologized.
"Ah sorry! It was just a habit of mine to observe something and be easily amazed by something cool and unique." She said with a smile and quickly shook her head to left and right, thus putting the thought aside of what just happen. She then began to think.
The Elder didn't probe much further into the problem and let it gone.
If she analyzed it very carefully about the benefits of helping the Elder to protect its kind or continuing her journey, the most benefit would be protecting the Elder's kind.
What makes her troubled in the first place was that she wants to accept the Elder's request but at the same time, she wants to continue her journey.
At this point, she had to sacrifice one thing, but she doesn't want that though, so she came up with a solution.
The Elder's request is sudden and even if she said no, the Elder would let her go but think it again, the Elder is the one who really needs her help.
The solution is rather simple and chance of succes is about 80% It is a big chance but that 20%, she can't help but raise a bit of doubt in her mind, however, the solution is good enough despite 20% chance of failure.
However, before she does that, she wants to confirm something.
Afterwards, she flees from her thoughts and goes back to reality.
"Elder, I'm sorry. I'm afraid I have to reject your request to protect your race. It's a huge burden and my journey is the most important thing than anything else."
The Elder's expression changes, from a calm and kind grandpa to an expression of disappointment. It even lowers its head albeit slightly.
Kino didn't feel bad at all, instead, she nodded a bit upon the view. She didn't nod because of the Elder's reaction and was satisfied with it as if a bully! It was more like a nod of confirming something.
'There's something on the back of the Elder's head. I don't know what it is but it was either a curse or an illness.'
At the time when the Elder lowering its head, she can see a thick and dark mist resting on the back of its head. Kino had to use her aura technique to her eyes and improved her eyesight by many folds.
The fact that the Elder knew its end is coming near, shows that the Elder already knows something wrong with its body.
However, keep in mind that the Elder also didn't tell Kino when it made the request, it only said its death is approaching. By that phrase, she could assume that something is residing in its body and cannot be solved by a mere human.
Even if the Elder did tell Kino that there is something in its body, what can Kino do anyway? As a mere human that lives relatively very short compared to the Elder, she can only say no.
With an obvious answer, no point in telling Kino anything.
One more thing, even if Kino knows the way to treat an ancient creature, then an ancient creature should already find the way, like a thousand years ago! Probably that was what the Elder thought.
Ancient beings are a creature that lives longer than any humans and adding the fact that they also had extensive knowledge beyond human minds could comprehend, it shows that they know most knowledge that humans didn't know.
So if a human knows something, there's a big chance an ancient creature would know it already.
However, Kino is a special case. Her five years of journey bears a fruit called 'knowledge'. She knew many ancient chambers, domains, castles, cities, and even ruins!
"Elder, I did say I can't help you to protect your kind but I'll help you to erase whatever's inside your body that eats your life to death."
The Elder stunned for a moment but managed to keep its cool, it didn't last long for it to fade away, still, it can feel its heart-throbbing very fast.
"You? A mere human whose age is much shorter than me? Knows how to erase whatever is inside my body?" The Elder asked a bunch of questions, one after another.
It then paused for a brief moment before letting out a deafening laugh. The ground shakes and the air is echoed, birds who are resting on a tree branch from a thousand kilometers away is disturbed when hearing the unusual voice.
They hurriedly fly away to the sky, get away as fast as possible from the sound.
Kino's face is calm as if she was expecting this kind of reaction from the start. Well, in truth, this kind of reaction is very normal and Kino can only stand there silently until the Elder stopped from laughing.
Finally, after a few seconds of laughing. It stopped and looked at Kino curiously. The girl's expression is flat but her eyes are filled with confidence.
If translate it to words from Kino's eyes, it would be, 'laugh all you want but what I'm saying is the truth.'
The Elder's curiosity was reaching its peak to the point it can't help but said with a smile, "interesting." It paused and at the same time, it brought its head closer towards Kino with eyelids half-closed.
"You are the most interesting human I have seen in many millennium years."