"You are awesome!" Yamato excitedly told him when they landed somewhere in the centre of the Island, quite close to one of the Seven Rivers of Star Island.
"I know." He grinned at her and then looked into her beautiful orange eyes. "Stop calling yourself Kozuki Oden. I want to see you make a name for yourself." He told her, and the smile on her face froze. "Oden made a name for himself, and Yamato should make a name for herself."
"I want to be Oden..."
"I get it that you want to be just like him, however, it does not mean that you must assume and steal his identity." He strictly said. "As your captain, I want to see you surpass him one day, and I want to see you grow strong enough to challenge me too. I will refuse your challenge in the future if you call yourself Oden and not Yamato."
Seeing her frowing at his words, Sin caressed her head softly, and the girl lowered her eyes.
"You know, you are extremely beautiful."
The sudden words made her curiously raise her head and look at him again, but then her eyes widened in shock as he captured her lips in a kiss.
Yamato was so shocked at what was happening that she just froze, and when he let go of her, leaving a lingering sensation on her lips, she watched him grin.
"And you taste just as delicious despite having drunk all that rum." He chuckled and then tapped her head. "This was your punishment."
She narrowed her eyes at him as he started walking towards the nearby waterfall.
"I am a man!" She yelled, and nearly panicked when he suddenly appeared in front of her and captured her lips again.
Sin heard her heart start accelerating, and finally, some colour appeared on her fair cheeks.
"You are a girl." He told her after he separated from her lips and then leaned near her ear. "And you belong to me." Sin escaped right after he squeezed her left boob, surviving the club that she subconsciously swung at him.
His laughter reverberated in the woods, and Yamato glared at his back as she watched him continue walking towards the waterfall.
"Let's go. Let's see the capital of Westoria."
She was about to attack him when she heard him speak again, and then her eyes widened in a realisation.
There was a city inside the mountain of the Temple! And she remembered him telling her that each river had a passage that led to it.
"You found it?!"
"Well, it was quite obvious where the passageway would be once I learned that each river had a hidden passage." He shrugged and smiled at her when he saw the excitement in her eyes.
The two of them only had to walk a short distance to get out of the woods, and the sight that greeted them pulled them into a reverie at the beauty of nature.
"It's beautiful!" Yamato merrily laughed when she looked at the massive waterfall, which did not look as outrageous from the sky.
Sin chuckled as he watched her jump on top of a boulder, right under the falling water, deciding to take a shower.
"Sin! Come! It's so fun!" She called out to him, enjoying the powerful waterfall that only tickled her a little.
"I am fine." He did not rush her and patiently waited for her to have her fun, enjoying the sight of her all soaked and looking even more alluring, but more than that, he loved her innocent joy.
When she finally realised that she had gotten her clothes wet and seemed a little uncomfortable, he burst out laughing at how dumb she could be at times.
"Bear with it now." He told her right before he rushed at the veil of water, passing right through it.
"Wait for me!" She called out before she followed after him.
When Yamato arrived inside the cave behind the waterfall, it took her a while to get used to how dark it was in there.
She silently followed him and curiously watched him looking around the walls, using his lightning powers to provide illumination, and when they finally reached the dead end, the smile on his face brightened.
There were certain inscriptions on the walls, and Yamato knew that her Captain could now read this language.
"Ready?" He grinned at her, and she grinned back at him.
"Yes."
Sin reached for something on the left side of the wall, which she later found out was a handle, and then he started sliding the hidden door to the right.
Yamato frowned as she watched the wall keep moving as he kept sliding it, and she wondered how wide this door really was.
She soon received her answer when an opening finally appeared, and she gasped at the perfectly cylindrical passageway, which was made of strange glowing stones.
The passageway was eight metres in height, and just as wide.
However, her nose scrunched up as she smelled the foul air that had been trapped inside the passage for who knows how long, she she struggled to breathe as well.
"Come," Sin called out to her, having already stepped inside, and when she entered, he closed the door behind them.
The two of them kept walking down the passageway for nearly a hundred metres before they saw skeletons scattered all over the place, with rusted armour and weapons.
They saw clear signs of an intense battle that had even damaged the passageway, and the Yamato was no longer smiling at this horror show.
She did not count the bodies, but by the time they had arrived inside a massive hall, she was sure that they had seen a thousand bodies, and inside the hall, there were even more of them.
"They killed each other?" She confusedly asked, and Sin smiled at her sharp observation.
All the weapons, and armours they had come across next to the skeletons were of the same designs, and on these armours, there was the sigil of the Westoria Kingdom, a tiger's face.
If they had a battle with an invading army or force, then there was no sign of that force. So, it was possible that they killed each other, or maybe those who attacked then were just too powerful for them to handle.
"It seems to be the case." He frowned and then started exploring the place.
Yamato followed his lead as they walked into the fifth passage, and all they came across were more bodies.
She did not know how long it took them, but when they finally reached the city under the mountain, they both dumbly stared at its beauty.
There were water channels, and even flora, with lots of vines and species of plants that had thrived under the light from the glowing stones of the walls. Over their heads, nearly a hundred metres above, was a dome-shaped ceiling with even brighter glowing stones, providing more than ample light to the City.
And because of the presence of flora, they could breathe better now as there was plenty of oxygen here.
Sin even sensed living signatures, which included small animals, and the place had an ecosystem of its own. Surprisingly, there were even some fruit bearing trees and shrubs with fruits that he had never seen before.
Yamato was in sheer disbelief at how a city like this could be created by people. This was a place straight out of your wildest imagination, and when they arrived inside one of the housing districts, she was surprised at how developed the civilization here had been.
They still kept finding skeletons from time to time, and Yamato felt sad whenever she came across the skeletons of children.
But as time passed, she grew quite numb.
"It will take us a few weeks to properly explore all of the city. Let's just explore the palace for now." Sin said to her, and Yamato nodded her head in response.
The Palace was situated right in the centre of the city, and it was a sight to behold. Though it was more of a fortress, it was very majestic and was made completely out of grey stones.
By now, neither of them were surprised at the skeletons that they kept finding, but they were a little surprised by the scale of the battle that took place inside the Palace.
The battle that took place here had been much more intense, having left behind signs of destruction in form of ruins, and several walls were caved in or simply missing.
Sin, who had inspected the walls knew very well how sturdy they were, and he realised that it would take tremendous strength to break them like that.
"Should we go separate ways and find anything useful?"
"Yes. If you find the library or the treasury, call me. Don't destroy anything." He told her before he started walking towards the right corridor, and Yamato decided to take the left.
Four hours later, the two met inside a room, which was an armoury, and the only one which was not empty and had some well-preserved melee weapons.
However, as they stared at those weapons, their minds were focused on their findings in the last few hours.
"They did not kill each other." Yamato said, and Sin nodded his head to her words.
"Someone or some force killed them, and they took everything valuable that Westoria had. There's not a single book in the entire Palace."