Chapter 13- When The Stars Align (Part 2)
After hugging for a while, Edward pulled out as he realized that the doctor was still in the room with them. However, the latter was simply holding a handkerchief as he wiped the tears accumulated in his eyes.
"I-I never knew you two struggled this much… Uh, This is so heartwarming!" He said as he blew his nose in the handkerchief.
"Ahahahaha…" Chuckling awkwardly, Edward shifted his gaze to Sali.
"Are you feeling better now?"
"Yeah…"
"Good. How much does the visit cost, doc?"
"Don't mind the money, idiot! Seeing you two siblings share such a strong bond is already more than enough for me!"
"..."
"Oh wait for a second there…" Suddenly, Rack's eyes lit up as he quickly turned around and stormed out of the room.
The two siblings looked at each other with confused expressions as they didn't know what the doctor was meaning.
A few moments later, he came back with a piece of paper, folded neatly, and handed it to Edward.
"Although this isn't guaranteed to work it is still worth the try if you two really want to have a good chance at restoring the boy's memory."
"There is a way?!" Sali quickly jumped on the doctor with an excited expression.
"Yes and no. There is a certain doctor, a friend of mine that lives in a settlement far north of here. He is a senile old man but his medical skills are the real deal. If you reach him and hand him this piece of paper, he will help you."
Smiling widely, Sali turned around to look at her brother.
"Did you hear him, Asher?! We still have a chance to get your memories back!"
"That's good…"
'Well, I don't want to break her hope. It's nice to see her excited and happy.' He thought in his head as he sighed.
"Well, since we already have our next destination in mind, we might as well leave soon."
After that, Sali dragged Edward out of the doctor's office after they bid Rack farewell.
'I wish you two the best of luck.' He thought as he looked at their silhouettes.
After that, Edward and Sali roamed around the city, bought their supply of food and other necessities, and then spent the rest of the day having fun and enjoying their time. The settlement, although mainly made up of exiled, poor people, was still quite impressive with its facilities. In fact, compared to his old world, Edward found this one to be more unique and amazing.
"Hey, Asher! Check these things out!" Sali said as she picked up what seemed to be candied apples.
'There are still some things that aren't actually that far off from what I see back on Earth.' Edward thought as he took one of the candied apples and took a bite.
'Bleh, the taste still has a way to go before it reaches the one back on Earth.' He thought as he frowned slightly.
Because all the fruits were grown in the settlement itself, the lack of equipment coupled with the generally toxic air around them drops their quality a lot.
"Mmm, this tastes good." Sali, on the other hand, had a completely different reaction.
"You like it?"
"Of course! I love sweet things. What about you?"
Looking at her still munching the apples, Edward smiled slightly.
"I like them too."
"Great!"
After that, the two continued their fun and games until they had to sit on a bench, exhausted yet still had satisfied smiles on their faces.
"Fuuh, I didn't have this much fun in a while."
"Me too…"
After that, the two stayed silent for a while, just enjoying the cool breeze of the evening. It was a great day through and through.
"You know, little brother… I was at first scared of not being able to make you move on and live your life after what happened. I didn't know what to do except feed you and protect you until you grow up and become capable enough of taking care of yourself. But, you made me realize that this isn't how I should be. Our mother wanted us to smile and live life to the fullest no matter what." Sali said with a serious expression and then turned around to look at Edward.
"As long as I'm alive, I will definitely make sure you get all the happy memories you want."
"Sali…" Edward found himself completely speechless at her words.
"Now, enough of the sad talk! We have a long trip tomorrow so we should find an inn to spend the night!"
As Sali stood up, ready to move, her face suddenly crunched up. Then, she started looking around with a strong frown on her face.
"Sali?"
"Shhh…" Silencing Edward, she kept looking around as if she couldn't determine what is making her react like that.
"We need to move." Then, she quickly grabbed Edward's arm and dashed away at top speed.
"Huh?! What?! Why are we running away?!" He asked.
"I will explain later. Now just run, Asher!" Sali said with a serious, horrified tone.
Although she tried to keep her expression fairly composed, her mind was in a completely different state.
'This aura… How did they find us this quickly?! Damn it, this bad… really bad!!'
Looking around her, trying to sense the presence that she caught a second ago, she immediately noticed that it was approaching them at an extremely fast speed.
'Tsk, we won't be able to run away from them!'
The two siblings were exactly near the main road of the settlement and it was still bustling with people. So, Sali decided to head in that direction.
When they reached the middle of the street, she looked around quickly.
"Sali, you are making me freak out! Where are we going?!" Edward asked as he couldn't hold himself anymore.
"Follow me!"
Locating something, Sali approached it quickly.
'Huh? Trucks?' Seeing where they were heading, Edward only got more confused.
Right in front of the main gate of the settlement, a few trucks were parked on the side while a few people were going in and out of a building, loading up the trucks with boxes. Some of the boxes were still left outside, stacked on top of each other messily.
Then, Sali approached one of the boxes and opened it.
"Listen to me, Asher. I want you to sit inside this box and don't move at all no matter what. Understand?"
"Huh?! Why should I do that?! What is going on?!"
"I can't explain now! Just listen to me, ok? Do you trust me?" Sali asked urgently.
"Yes…"
"Then listen to me. Please."
"... I understand."
"Good boy. Now hurry up!" She said.
Nodding his head, Edward jumped inside the box before Sali quickly closed off the lid and put multiple other boxes on top of it.
'What is going on?' Edward thought as he tried to look for any way to see the outside. However, he couldn't find anything so he simply clicked his tongue and stayed silent.
Outside, Sali had walked away from the boxes and stood facing the main road as if she was awaiting someone.
However, out of the hundreds of people that walked around the street, a silhouette stood out immediately the moment it appeared.
With its presence, teh whole place seemingly became silent as the mysterious person's steps on the ground somehow were louder and more pronounced than any noise around.
Sali put her hand on her great sword as she faced this hooded figure.
"Oh, if it isn't the princess of the Frostbloom clan herself. What a coincidence~"