Chapter 1012 Mantis, Cicada, And The Oriole.
Chapter 1012 Mantis, Cicada, And The Oriole.
The girl came back and brought an old yellow sheepskin parchment with her.
She took a deep breath in front of Lith and said, "Dear customer, you must not share it with anyone."
Lith tilted his head.
"Is this the recipe? Did you not bring a dragon clavicle?"
"Huh?" The girl let out a dumbfounded expression. "How could I bring a dragon clavicle? They are not legal or available for purchase."
"Oh." Lith was surprised. 'It seems I was expecting too much. But…'
Lith squinted his eyes and looked at the girl, as if staring right into her soul and made her shudder, not taking the scroll from her yet.
"Why were you hesitant to give it to me before if you didn't have the dragon clavicle?"
"Eh?" The girl froze on her spot and a drop of sweat trickled down her forehead.
Lith raised his eyebrow and waited for her to answer him.
A second later.
"W, well… this recipe… this recipe…" the girl fidgeted and twirled her finger in her golden locks.
Lith didn't cut her off and waited for her to answer.
After a few more seconds of nervous fiddling, the girl heaved out a sigh and said, "Actually, my hesitation came from handing this recipe out to you. My grandfather would be really angry if he saw this was sold out. Our shop is already on the verge of closing down and if someone were to know we sold this recipe, it would be disastrous."
"If you know all of this, why are you still taking a risk and selling it?"
"Sigh… there's no choice." The girl bit her lips. Her expression seemed like she had eaten something bitter.
She turned to look in a certain direction, which was a 'small' window at the side walls and said softly, "My aunt's sick and to cure her, we're trying our best to amass money. Even after selling most of the things, we are a bit short on it."
A tear threatened to leak out of her eyes, but she wiped it and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to trouble you. If you'd like this recipe, please take it."
The location of this place was given to Lith by his aunt.
There was a to-do list made and one of the things was visiting this place. That's it. There was nothing else mentioned.
Maybe Lith had to see through what this girl was going through and help her? Was this what his aunt had in mind for him?
Lith looked to the side and saw his sleeping aunt's face. There was a concealment on her so that others didn't pay attention to him or her. The Giant girl had thus not noticed her yet.
A second had passed since Lith had these thoughts. He turned to her and asked with a neutral gaze, "If I may… can you tell me what happened to your aunt?"
The girl's lips quivered and she wondered whether she should be saying this or not.
Perhaps she hadn't talked to anybody in a long while and wanted to vent or perhaps she was just trying to look for answers, the girl decided to tell him what the problem was.
"It's so bizarre… I don't know how something like this can happen…"
This time around, the girl couldn't keep her tears contained and they gushed out of her eyes like an open dam.
"…My aunt… she… she has to watch her child die every single year and…"
The girl tried to control her sobs and speak clearly, but the information was jumbled. However, it didn't take Lith time to piece everything together and figure out what the situation was.
As he came to understand it, his expression turned grave.
'How— you know what… that's not even the main thing I want to know. I just want to know… why… why would someone do something so cruel?'
The Giant girl's mother had died when giving birth to her. Ever since then, she had been taken care of by her aunt, whom the girl looked up to as a mother figure.
A decade ago, tragedy had struck her family when they were out mining for some ores and gathering magic cores of monster beasts in the dungeons nearby Semohr.
Some trouble occurred in the dungeon that led to the beasts going berserk.
The girl was asked to run by her aunt and her aunt's husband, however something hit her head and she passed out.
Before passing out, she saw a glimpse of her aunt's husband getting his chest pierced by something sharp and a pair of sharp red eyes.
When the girl woke up, she found herself lying down underneath a tree near the dungeon's entrance. Her father and grandfather were by her side.
Flashbacks of her uncle dying surfaced the girl and she worriedly asked her father and grandfather what had happened.
The two's eyes were hollow, their gaze lifeless, and it seemed like they hadn't slept for many days in a row.
The two were unable to answer the girl and noticing this, she panicked and let out a flurry of questions, asking whether her aunt and uncle were okay or not.
Giant authorities eventually walked out of the dungeon's entrance and asked the girl's family to have a look inside.
They immediately rushed inside and to their horror, found a Giant lady with a gentle demeanor chained in an open hall. There was a barrier around her which did not allow anyone near her.
The girl, her father, her grandfather… everyone tried to break it and rescue her aunt, but it was to no avail.
A day passed with them trying their best, but there was no improvement.
However, looking back at her aunt, the girl's eyes widened when she noticed vines coming out of her aunt's body.
They wrapped around her at a visible pace and in four days, only her face was visible.
Out of her head, a sapling sprouted. Out of her legs, roots emerged, and in a week, a tree grew in her place. Had there not been her face which was visible, nobody would've found this tree as abnormal.
The girl cried out in grief. Her father, grandfather were not doing any better.
They did whatever they could to shatter the barrier once again to rescue the lady, but failed.
A year later, the vitality of the tree spread around the hall. They could feel it even from outside the barrier.
This vitality…
Its aura was similar to the blessing of Mother Helvia, who was a goddess that brought out harvest and fertility.
A month later, the Giant authorities met them again.
They told them that the beasts in the dungeon were going quite berserk, so they would be restricting the place. If they wanted a permit inside, they would need to sign documents and pay a big sum and whatnot.
While they were at it, they also mentioned in passing about the pitiful lady contained in the barrier.
She was said to have been cursed by Mother Helvia for her improper conduct.
"Her… my aunt… improper conduct?" The freckled girl's eyes hollowed out at this point of narration.
"Don't fuck with me—!"
A wave of madness surfaced her eyes as she punched the shelf behind her.
"How can she have an improper conduct!? How her of all people!?"
BAM! BAM! BAM!
A hole formed in the wall behind her and the shop shook from her powerful punches.
Lith looked at her with a hint of sadness. He couldn't relate to her, but he could at least sympathize.
He let her vent and didn't disturb her.
After calming down somewhat, she continued with gritted teeth, "…We were mad! Really, really, mad! How can Mother Helvia curse someone so pure and gentle? My aunt was an angel. She wouldn't even hurt an ant, yet how could she be someone who would be cursed for improper conduct? It was beyond me and my family…"
Connecting the dots, Lith could somehow make out a few things.
Either these guys were being framed unjustly because someone wanted to see their downfall, or they were just swept up in a political or religious conflict between the goddess Helvia and Seia.
If the girl could answer a few questions of his, Lith would get a better idea, but for now, he let her vent.
"…And ever since then… we've been trying to amass money to hire someone powerful who could break the curse. Till now, we've sold all our assets and gotten the rights to enter the dungeon, but the future… the future…"
The girl bit her lips till blood oozed out of it.
"…It looks very bleak."
'Yeah, it indeed is.'
Lith couldn't deny this possibility. They were doomed from the get-go when someone powerful placed their eyes on them.
'However…'
'…Now it's me and my aunt who has their eyes on this girl and her family.'
The saying: 'The Mantis stalks the cicada unaware of the oriole behind.' was what was happening right now.
Lith didn't know how his aunt found out about the tragedy of this girl, but she might've probably felt pity for her and wanted to help her.
Or maybe there were some other hidden motives, but in any case, Lith had to solve her problems.
He didn't know whether it would help him stop the infighting of Giants or help them be under his aunt, but he had to do this.
'It's good that I provided Gunther instructions.'
He looked at the girl and waited until she had calmed down.
Once he found out she did, he folded his arms and asked her calmly, "Do you want help?"
It didn't register the girl's mind and she stared at him blankly.
Shaking his head, Lith flicked his finger and sent a streak of Lightning at the girl's forehead, stunning her body and making her jump in fright.
"Aaah!"
She took a step back and looked at Lith with knitted brows.
Shaking his head again, Lith said, "It's not going to be easy to convince you…"
He then cracked his knuckles. "…But it's not like I'm inexperienced and handling some damsels in distress for the first time."
"W-w-what are you—"
Before the girl could say anything, Lith appeared before her and sent a palm chop at her neck, knocking her unconscious.
Her body didn't fall on the ground with a thud, instead it hovered in mid air.
"Let's get going."
SNAP—!