"Yua!" Hirasawa Kichi screamed as if her lungs would burst out of her ribcage. There was no mistaking it, as soon as she saw the girl being princess-carried by the young man who approached him this morning, she instantly knew it was her daughter.
Tears streamed down her cheekbones and down her neck, soaking the collar of the blouse she was wearing. She ran full throttle, tackling Yuuta as she hugged both him and her daughter. "I'm so glad." She whispered close to Yuuta's ears, making him blush.
"Mom." Yua just had to say one simple word, triggering her tear ducts. During their travel back to Revalia City, she never spoke a word, nor did she say anything to Yuuta and the others. But now, her expression was on her sleeves, she was whimpering as she softly cried while leaning on her mother's chest. It had only been three days but to her, it felt like she had been gone for three years.
As for Yuuta, he awkwardly stood there as he felt the warmth of the two. He thought that maybe it wasn't the most favorable of choices to princess-carry Yua on their way back. But there was nothing he could do but suppress his bashfulness for the remainder of the embrace.
After what seemed like two minutes, Hirasawa Kichi finally let go of the two. A sigh of relief was about to come out of Yuuta's mouth when he felt warmth once again. This time, Hirasawa Kichi grabbed her by the hands.
"Thank you so much. Thank you so much for saving my daughter." She sincerely thanked me as more tears continuously flowed from her eyes. "I don't know how to thank you. Please take this." She continued, giving Yuuta a small pouch.
With Yuuta's Inspect Skill and All-Seeing Eye Skill, he immediately knew the contents of the bag. If he wasn't mistaken, it contained at least 100 Garnets. "N-n-no, I can't possibly accept that much money. In fact, you don't have to give me anything."
"Instead, I want to talk to the two of you, alone," Yuuta responded.
Kichi and her daughter, Yua, didn't know why Yuuta's expression changed into a serious one. But seeing that he was their savior, they decided to comply. A moment later, Yuuta found himself being served tea and biscuits in a house in the suburbs of the Revalia City.
"Please help yourself, I've baked a lot of biscuits and dinner's coming out soon. If you want more, I can bake still bake a few." Kichi gently said before returning to the kitchen.
Yua, who was sitting on the opposite side of the table, couldn't help but glance at Yuuta from time to time as she helped herself with some of the biscuits. She was incredibly hungry but she kept on reminding herself that she shouldn't wolf down her food. Otherwise, her stomach would react violently after being deprived of food for too long.
"Yua, you did say you're not Aarkra's target, right? And that you felt something bad will befall your mom, right?"
Perplexed as to why Yuuta would ask such an obvious question after he just told him about it, Yua nodded as she ate another biscuit and finished another cup of tea. Upon seeing Yuuta still staring at her, she couldn't help but get flustered, causing her to avert her gaze from him.
"Tell me the truth... " Yuuta went on. "The two of you are faeries, right?"
Yua and her mother stopped short as their eyes widened in shock. They wondered how Yuuta managed to see through their farce of pretending to be humans. It's been a few months since they've moved into the city and no one knew of their existence... then why does this seemingly normal teenager know their real identity? Was it because he's a Dreamer?
"Faeries, a race that is considered to be blessed by nature. They are more naturally talented when it comes to manipulating mana and are considered to be one of the most powerful races. Faeries tend to isolate themselves from humans due to their tainted history... and yet you're here, living amongst humans." Yuuta related. A lot of VRMMORPG's have different types of races, ranging from goblins to faeries. That's why it was easy for him to describe faeries although he hasn't seen a real one in Lucid Dream Server.
"It was a long story... " Kichi muttered as a sigh left her mouth. Nowadays, her sighs have become more frequent, for some reason or another.
"We have the whole dinner time to discuss these things out." Yuuta smiled. "I know I shouldn't impose but... you invited me over to your house even though I'm a Dreamer. Wouldn't it be common for me to ask questions about your daily life?"
"Yuuta, how did you know?" Yua asked as nervousness seeped into her bones. "And you're a Dreamer? T-then, why did you save me? Aren't all Dreamers evil?"
"After saving you from Aarkra, what merits did I gain? Nothing. I saved you because your mom needed help. That's all there is to it. Do you still think I'm evil?"
"I'm sorry... it was a baseless rumor but everyone believes it so we thought it was true." Yua apologetically said. In the end, Yuuta patted her again on the head as a sign of his understanding.
"That's rude, Yua. This young man saved your life. You should at least be grateful for him." Kichi joined in. "And also, his actions changed my mind on the Dreamers. Just like how humans are not entirely evil, I think the same rule applies to all Dreamers as well. Some of them are good, some of them evil. We just have to use our senses to determine which is which. As for this young man, Yuuta was it, he's a good kid. I think we should trust him."
Kichi walked in and placed a huge pot in the middle of the dinner table. At first, Yua was genuinely surprised that her mom would use the huge pot even though they didn't have any important people in the room. And then it came to her mind once again that without Yuuta he wouldn't even be here, sitting at the dinner table with her mom.
When she signed that contract with Aarkra, she knew there was no going back.
As the three of them enjoyed a delicious hot pot of fresh vegetables and meat, tears streamed down Yua's cheeks as she savored the here and now.
"This pot is an heirloom from our tribe. That's why we only use it on special occasions. Yua and I came from the Issaz Tribe. Previously, there were twelve tribes of faeries located all across Lucid but now, there are only nine tribes left. And maybe, the numbers are lower than that. We are the last of our tribe."
"What happened, if you don't mind me asking," Yuuta asked. Although he knew he was just in a lucid dream, the hot pot was just so delicious that he couldn't help take one bite after another.
"We weren't able to fight back. A group of Evil Spirits appeared one day and rounded up all of our people for a mass-killing. As I said before, we're from the Issaz Tribe and we mainly control the Ice Element. But we were powerless against the Evil Spirits and in the end, they wiped out tribe off the face of Lucid. My husband sacrificed his life just so Yua and I could get away."
"And until now, those Evil Spirits are still targeting the other tribes?"
Kichi shook her head in denial. "No, this time, it was the three generals of the Demon Lord. I heard that one of them was defeated and they are scouring the world to recruit a new one. They probably heard the news about one of the strongest faery tribes collapsing and they use it to their advantage. Right now, they've annihilated two tribes. Our people are a prideful people so no matter how cornered they are, they won't ask humans for help. If only they'd believe what we tell them... "
'So there's a rift between the humans and the faeries just like in the myths, huh. And also, these Evil Spirits are becoming a real problem. For now, I have to go to the Beginner Village and get to the bottom of this.' Yuuta said to himself.
"In any case, do you have the locations of the other faery tribes? I'd like to talk to them. And also, I'll try to do what I can against the Evil Spirits and the Three Generals of the Demon Lord. If you haven't already known, I'm from the Beginner Village and I'm the one who subdued the Demon Lord and the Fourth General there." Yuuta confidently informed them, totally forgetting that he was just a teenager and that what he just said is basically next to impossible.
"You? A Teenager?" Kichi exclaimed as a chuckle escaped her lips.
Whether her chuckle meant that what he said was absurd, or that he was full of surprises, Yuuta could only wonder.