"Fate? How peculiar'
I roll my tongue inside my cheek as I held the pendant in one of my hands.
My eyes gazed at her for a moment or two before i nodded.
"Sure. Do I need to do anything else after that?"
The shopkeeper sigh in relief after I asked her and shook her head.
"No need, by then the blessings should be active."
She gave me a mischievous smile and shoos me away with a gesture of her hand.
"Now go on and take your women with you, at this rate they'll cause me to get no customers."
I scoff a laugh unintentionally at her words.
"They're not my women"
I shook my head and turned around with a sigh.
"But you're right, I'll take them away. Thank you for the pendant and blessings."
I approach the girls as I hear them starting to raise their voices against each other"
"You're getting on my nerves-" "You're such a selfish-"
My hands pat both of them on their head.
"Calm down you two, you're disturbing her work and scaring away customers"
"But this sow-" "But she's the one-sow!?You dung heap of a-"
A sigh escapes my lips when Dahlia tried to hit Sedea after hearing her words.
I pull them away from each other, then I put each of my arms on their neck to calm them down. Pressing them both on my sides.
"Enough"
They both turned silent but still glared between themselves in indignation. Then they both huffed before looking away from each other.
Another sigh escaped my lips at their attitudes.
'Well at least they stopped fighting'
I looked at Vulpi and signal her with my eyes to lead them away.
She nods at me before she starts to push of them on their backs with her hand, leading them away.
"Okay you two, let's go. Listen to your man."
A teasing smile was on her face as she tried to loosen them up while leading them away.
I can hear both of them sputtering after hearing what my sister said.
'Vulpi you sly fox'
Another sigh escapes my lips listening to her words. I'm thankful for her help but she's starting another problem.
I look at the shopkeeper and gave her a nod.
"Sorry for disturbing you. We'll be leaving now."
My legs start to move away from the shop to chase after the girls. But I stopped after walking a few steps away.
Once again I turned towards her.
"Sorry, I forgot to ask. What is your name?"
She blinked at my question before laughing softly. Her palm went to her lips, perhaps to stop herself from laughing too loudly.
"My apologies. It's just funny that you finally remember to ask my name after so long."
I scratch my head in embarrassment after she pointed out my mistake.
A soft smile adorned her face once again.
"My name is Hana. Hana Hotaryu"
...
...
...
I smile while watching the handsome redhead boy move away from my shop to chase after the three ladies.
My smile gradually fade as I watch the four figures disappear around the corner.
I leaned back against my chair as I sighed in relief.
"Finally"
Soft mutters escaped my lips as I rested one of my hand on top of my eyes tiredly.
"I've finally found a candidate"
My other hand rummaged my pocket and pulled out a red coin.
A symbol of an eye was engraved on the surface of the coin. In the middle of the coin was a red ruby, it has tiny black specks moving around inside it.
Even after seeing it multiple times I still can't get enough of it.
'The eye of Nenshoshi'
I gently press the coin to my forehead with respect.
"Thank you for your guidance Great Lady"
Another soft mutter escaped my lips in gratitude upon Her blessings.
"I can finally start my mission"
My eyes slowly open as I feel the heat coming from the gem, as if it was giving answers upon my prayers.
...
...
...
'What a sight'
That's what came to my thought when I finally managed to catch up with my sister and her friends.
Vulpi was getting choked by Sedea, she had an arm around my sister.
Meanwhile Dahlia was pinching Vulpi on the cheeks with a pout on her still red face.
Well, both Dahlia and Sedea's face was red. Probably Vulpi teased them again before I arrived.
"You little fox, you're really pushing your luck huh?"
"Vulpi, you're making a fool out of us. How could you say something like that!"
I can see Vulpi choking a bit while getting choked, pinched and nagged off.
Her eyes looks back at me as she calls out to me in desperation.
"Cough, Uegh"
'She tried'
A sigh espaced my lips seeing their antics. I start to approach them and lands a decent chop on Sedea's head.
"Oi, let her go. You'll choke her to death."
Sedea let's Vulpi go as she groans, her hands held the top of her head. Right where I chopped her.
"Gfhh, that hurt!"
She looks at me in indignation, but I can tell she's not really that hurt. Probably stung a little bit, but not that much.
"If it didn't hurt, you wouldn't have let her go."
My head turns towards Dahlia. She already free Vulpi's cheek from her pinch, her foot was fidgeting on the ground as she looks away from me.
'As quick as ever.'
Reaching over, I pinch her cheeks as well, softly. She yelps a bit from the contact as she looks at me with wide eyes.
'Cute'
I couldn't help but smile at her reaction.
"That's for pinching my dear sister."
The smile was still on my face as I let go of her cheeks.
"That's not fair. Why did she get off easy while you chopped my head hard?"
Sedea complained at my actions that's unequal in her eyes. As if I was biased.
My gave her a side glance.
"Cause she didn't really hurt Vulpi much."
I turn towards Vulpi who had her hands on her hips, she was turned away from us as she took deep breaths.
"You okay Vulp-"
She turns around and I notice one of her cheeks was redder than the other.
'I see, Dahlia pinched her cheek a bit too hard.'
One of my hands stretches towards Dahlia once again while I was thinking to myself.
I pinched her cheeks harder this time and I heard her painful yelp before I let go.
My head turned to look towards Sedea and Dahlia once more.
Dahlia was rubbing her own cheek while Sedea looks at her. She rolls her tongue in her cheek before looking away.
'Guess she got the idea, good. I'm not an unfair man.'
Another sigh escapee my lips again, I think I've did that a lot today. Probably from handling the girls and their antics.
I scratch my head, thankfully it lessened the headache I have after everything that has happened.
"You girls need to calm down yeah?"
Both Sedea and Dahlia looked away from me, there was a bit of frustration on their faces. But in the end they both nodded at my words, the dissatisfaction however was clear in their tone of voice.
"Fine, fine. Whatever."
"Sure."
After getting their response my head turned towards Vulpi who had a grin on her face.
The moment we locked eyes she started to open her mouth with that grin of hers.
I just stared at her with a calm face and she paused.
She lifted her arms in resignation as she sighs.
"Alright, alright I'll stay quiet."
Again, another sigh escaped my lips. This time however it was out of relief.
'Finally, some peace and quiet once again.'
My head turned upwards to look at the sun.
Based on its position, it's already past noon.
'Theres nothing else to do. Better go check on Rain like father told me to do.'
I stopped looking at the sun and turn back to look at Vulpi.
"Let's go look for our dear little Rain, he's probably at Psemuel's hut."
Vulpi perks up at my words, Sedea also looked over after hearing my words and Dahlia also quietly stole a glance at me.
"Oh yeah, gosh darn it. I already forgot father told us to look after him."
She reaches over and held one of my hands.
"Let's go then brother"
…
…
…
"To convey feelings, thoughts or emotions. That is the meaning of expressions."
I look at the man standing in front of the crowd.
Teacher Psemuel.
His hair was light blue and short, it barely reached his ears.
Teacher was wearing a white robe that almost reached his ankles, a brown sandal covers his feet.
The sleeves of the robe is quite interesting, it had patterns around it which they said was gold.
Amazing patterns, it was almost like a snake, I asked him about it before. He said it represented his Patron, that's the god he serves and one of the deities from his home far up in the north.
I forgot the name however, I think it was Ghul-something.
"Excuse me, great master?"
My thoughts were cut off hearing those words from one of the people around me.
'Ah, teacher hates it when he's called that.'
I look at teacher Psemuel just as that thought came into my head.
Sure enough, I can see the corner of lips twitch a bit before he fixes the smile on his face.
"Please, call me Teacher Psemuel."
My head turns slightly towards the person who had his hand raised, he gave a nod at teacher after hearing his words.
"Then, Teacher Psemuel. How does one uses these expressions?"
Once again I turn back my head to look at teacher so I can focus on his teachings.
He nodded his head, the smile still on his face.
"An excellent question."
A sound suddenly ring in our ear as teacher Psemuel clap his hands with a wide smile.
"This is an expression, to show how happy I am at your questions."
His eyes looks back towards the man who asked him the question before.
"Do you understand?"
The man nodded vigorously.
"Yes, great teacher."
Teacher Psemuel was still smiling widely.
"Very good, then we can continue with another lesson-"
Suddenly he stopped as he looked slightly towards somewhere behind me, or rather behind the crowd.
"Huh?"
I didn't even noticed the slight gasp coming out of my mouth.
Because that's the first time I've seen him make that face.
His smile was still there. But his eyes, they look like just like the eyes I saw last winter when father killed those wolves.
I asked Finix about it before, about what kind of eyes I saw that time father defended the caravan.
Bloodlust.
Teacher's eyes look just like the wolves that father killed.
Not even a second passed when his eyes lose the bloodlust, it was like it was never there.
But I know what I saw, it was only for a moment but that sight was seared in my head.
I suddenly felt cold down my back and looked towards where he was looking.
Curiousity, I think that's what Psemuel called it.
My mind was curious, I wonder what did he saw to make him look like that?
There I saw four people approaching the crowd, talking with each other. 3 girls and 1 boy.
It was Vulpi, Sedea, Dahlia and my brother.
Finix.
My body felt cold suddenly as I took a quick glance at Psemuel and then back to my brother.
'Psemuel. H-He was looking at my brother just then. Wh-Why? Why did he showed bloodlust towards Finix?'
'I-is he going to kill my brother? No! I have to-'
*rustle*
I breathe out with a soft chuckle before shaking my head slightly.
'Hah, must be a mistake. Teacher Psemuel isn't that kind of person.'
My head tilts slightly as I rub my chin.
'What was I thinking again?'
...
...
...
A thumb softly rubbed a ring on a middle finger, unseen by everyone.
The golden serpent shaped ring was wrapped around the middle finger. The red eyes on it seems to shine faintly for moment before fading.