NOVEL NEXT E Chapter 149: Strife Zone’s hub
From there, Mud and the old man started their journey and headed toward their first stop. Kingdom of Shirone.
Both of them thought they might find something in the nearby kingdom. If they didn't, they wouldn't leave to go somewhere else.
There is no way that they would find anything in the nearby Strife Zone.
Is what they thought, but the Minstrel they met on their way to Shirone changed their minds.
"Oh my, oh my, oh my… Why the hell am I seeing an old-fashioned anime-like character from Dororo in this fantasy world? Wait, it’s because it’s a fantasy that I can find something like this huh…”
The Minstrel said something incoherently as he looked back at Mud. Since the Minstrel were going back to where they came from, they should have thought of something strange about the chance meeting.
"So, little mud boy, you really wanted to know why your body looks like this?"
"Yes, Mr. Minstrel, do you know anything about this?"
"Hey, do you think I look that old?"
The question made the boy's eyes pop out, and he said.
"I can't see, but I can read your mind. And they're too old for someone your size, so I just assume you're older than father..."
“Huh?! He did? Boy, are you a demonkin?"
"Oh, come on, of course not. I'm just like any other person, at least in this body. If you want to know more than this, you'll have to pay, and I don't think you'll be able to."
The boy just nodded and asked the minstrel what he knew about his curse. The minstrel strung his instrument as he told the story of a boy raised alone by a puppeteer and his journey to kill the devil that took over parts of his body...
"...the old man dies of old age, and the boy starts to wander around the Land of the Rising Sun. As he gets closer to the devil, he can feel where it is. However, he doesn't have magical mana like this place, so he can't see where it is. All the time, he used a sword to kill those devils that ate human flesh and blood and caught travelers or even villagers without anyone knowing..."
The story went on from there.
The young teen’s meeting with a mischievous little kid and their journey together.
They cried and said goodbye, but in the end, they went their separate ways because the young teen didn't want the little girl to die a sad death. The young teen left the girl alone after he killed his birth father and went on his way to kill the other devil who was using his body to travel around that world.
Years later, never would the young teen realize that the girl he left is actually the last devil he needed to kill.
"So what happened next? Did the boy and the girl get together in the end?"
"Of course they had a happy ending!"
Clap, clap, clap!
The boy clapped when the story was over, but the old man couldn't help but look sad when the story was over.
“Oh! As expected of the former headmaster of Ranoa Magic Academy, two generations ago! You seem to get what I was getting at when I told you that!"
"I... sigh... what a shame..."
"Yes, that's the way life is. When you get something, you give up something else. When you realize that you have to take charge of your own life, things will get better."
"Thank you for your wise words, Minstrel Lynn..."
"I've said everything I wanted to say! Now it's up to you, former headmaster, to get the child's life back! See ya!"
Lynn waved goodbye with his hand, but not long after that. Mud grabbed the hem of his shirt as he asked the minstrel if he and the old man could go with him to where he was going.
"I know I'm going to Strife Zone, but that doesn't mean I'll go in the same direction as you."
"It's fine, having more people around is better than just wandering around aimlessly."
“Um, um, what’s father said!”
"All right, let's start our trip!"
“Let’s!”
The boy watched the minstrel pump his fist and did the same thing.
Then, the father and son leave Shirone Kingdom before they even got there. As the minstrel went from one village in the strife zone to the next, he sang his strange stories, such as one about a pirate trying to clean up the rotten navy or one about a ninja's war and tragedy.
Every story he told was new to the boy, but sometimes even the boy would wonder why the stories were so different even though they were about the same people.
"It's improvised, and I don't remember the whole story. I'm not all-knowing and all-seeing, and as a person, I'm sure I've forgotten something. So I just make them up as I go along, hahaha!"
Even though the boy was sad, the old man just laughed as he made dinner for them.
After traveling for a year, the three people found the best place to live in the Strife Zone.
"This is the most prosperous land in the world. A dozen years ago, every country wanted to rule over this hub. And the place where the old principal broke his leg..."
“indeed… I never expected this place would become this prosperous…”
As they wander the area, they found out that the place may had some information regarding weird curses inflicted the boy. Even though the Minstrel isn't sure what's wrong with the boy, it won't hurt to find out more about it.
“Knowledge is power, read more book to got more power! You hear me, Mud!”
As he walks toward the adult section, the minstrel says something and gives one to Mud.
"Of course, mister Lynn!"
"No, you're not old enough for that one yet!"
"Aww... but dad..."
“No! Lynn, you should know what's good for a kid and what's not!"
“Hahahaha!”
At a certain point of time within a year, Mud’s recovered 2 things of his.
The first is his sight, and the second is his hearing.
It happened so suddenly, that they don’t even know what actually happened, and what’s actually hidden.
In some books, to kill the devil, you had to have a lot of power or just ask the person who was cursed to kill it for you.
Most of the time, the part that is sacrificed is weaker than the original. With the way things are going in this world right now, it would be hard to find someone who has the power to kill demons on their own.
Unless…
"I just thought of it!"
When the Minstrel looked at the adult book, he slammed the pages shut and yelled.
His sudden outburst has confused both the father and the son.
"It's that group, the one led by the Cloud God right now. They must have known something about these devils, I think..."
"Cloud God?" The old man doesn't know anything about this new god.
“Of course, you never heard of him, he’s a child that’s not much older than Mud, a Miko that come out to light after the Metastasis calamity”
"A Miko? When did a Miko become someone who could hold the God title?"
"He is, in fact, the first, since we don't really know what a Miko is in the first place. They all being hid away by the people from the sick Mills church people… Anyway, besides the Dragon God, the only people strong enough to deal with devils are those who follow the Cloud God. We should go to where they are based in this city and ask about them."
"Well, asking won't hurt."
Thus, they head towards a place more boisterous than even the Adventurer’s guild.
"This is a big store," the old man said incoherently. Not even Ranoa had a store this big, let alone a safe place inside a country. How could a person stay safe out here in the middle of nowhere?
"Yes, Arbalest's people had a great store wherever they went..."
“It’s not named Arbalest thought?”
As he read the sign above the door, the boy asked.
"This is where the people of Arbalest gather to look for people who have been hurt by the Metastasis. People with a lot of strength gather here to help save people in trouble. One of the reasons they made this place so big is to give the people they saved more places to stay. But now it's a place to buy and sell monsters' bodies... They even make their own magic weapons here, which is pretty cool, right?"
"Indeed… gulp…"
Even though he was a Magic King, the old man could feel the pressure from the people who stood guard in every corner of the shop. Some even work as the staff, and there’s hidden people that he can just sense, but not see.
"This is a very dangerous place..." Mud couldn't help but say it because he felt like the people in the shop were blocking his mana radar.
Then, a staff come close to them.
"What do you need help with, Mr. Minstrel?"
“Oh! Amazing, you even know me!”
"Of course, Master Claude told us to watch out for you. as I don’t feel any animosity we shall leave it aside. But, little boy, please don't use the Radar in our shop."
As he hides behind the old man, the boy gulps.
"I'm sorry, but this boy just got his eyesight back. Before he’s usually using the mana Radar to sees his surrounding… please be understanding…”
Seeing the old man’s honesty, the staff that had a hard time believing that received a nod from the surrounding guards. Meant that what the old man said is true, nodded at him, and kept looking at the Minstrel.
"So, what would the great Minstrel want to know?"
"Hahaha, you won't believe what they said, of course. But I think Rudeus or Claude might know what I said if I quote "Dororo" about what's going on with the kid!"
The staff didn't really understand what he meant, but as he pointed the blade at the Minstrel's back, a person suddenly stepped out of the shadows.
The old man and Mud are shocked, but they are getting ready to cast the spell on the man who suddenly appeared.
"Minstrel, what do you want to know?"
“Oh! If it's not the lurker, man, didn't we have a great time in Begaritt? Why so scary?”
Said the Minstrel, pointing out that he knew the man tailed him when they met in Rapan.
Lucas put the sword back in its sheath and sat down at the counter. He then looked at the Minstrel.
"What would the Minstrel, who knows everything, want to know? Can you just get to the main point? I had something else to do..."
“Haizz, don’t be like that Undertaker. Let's just reminisce the past a little bit…"
Lucas replied while staring at Lynn. "Minstrel, you said your business"
“Geez, what a bad attitude. Alright…”
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