小嫂子的味道

His question left me wondering. Should I accept his offer? I mean, he had the power I needed to kill the five kings. Then why was I hesitating?

It was because I didn't know him. Why should I believe someone I'd barely met an hour ago? Why should I put my trust in him? What reasons were there? Should I do it because he was able to see my soul? Or was it because of something else? My mom would have told me to get away from this stranger as fast as I can.

"Okay. Give me the sword then," I said, raising my hand toward him.

There were no such reasons for what I said. There was no need for reasons in the first place. Just a look at my situation objectively told me that I had nowhere else to go and no other person who'd be willing to help me.

As for him being a stranger, well, it still doesn't change the fact that he was the one who saved me. If not for him, who knows, I would have been dead, probably. And he had the sword too, the power which I needed the most right now.

For the first time since my parents died, I was seeing a little glimpse of hope, and I did not want to let it go because of some stupid reasoning or questions forming inside my head.

That's why I decided to take on his offer. However, what he said next was a little surprising and left me on the last of my breath.

"I can't."

"Huh?" I said, confused down to the very bones. "Why? You first said that you want to give the sword to me. Then what is the problem now when I am willing to take it?"

"It's not that I can't give you the sword. But as things stand now, your body won't be able to handle its power… You'll probably die," he explained.

It took me a while to understand and bring out the meaning behind his words. Being a kid I was, there was no way I would have known that I can die in a way like that too.

"S-So…is the deal off then?" I asked, seeing the light of hope flicker before my eyes.

"No. There's no need to do that. If the weakness of your body's what's the problem, then we'll just have to fix it," he said. I fell deep into the sea of confusion. He must've sensed this.

"To put it simply, right now you are too weak to wield the Requiem sword. So for that, I will train you until you have the power necessary to do that. Does that sound convincing to you?"

It was embarrassing, having him explain everything like that. But there was nothing I could've done about it, so I nodded.

"Fine. If that's what it will take to kill the kings, count me in. I'll do whatever it takes," I said, to which, and for the first time, Reshi gave a small smile.

Since both of us were on the same terms now, we left the klauth room and came back into the main compartment. I asked him about how the training will be and when we will start. He said that I should rest for today and that we will start tomorrow.

Honestly, I wanted to start as soon as possible, but arguing with him over this didn't seem like the option I had. As for, his words were more like a command rather than a suggestion.

So I spent the remaining of my time exploring the cave. It was surprisingly big even though I didn't enter the four openings, the main compartment in itself was bigger than any house I'd seen.

After a bit of roaming here and there, I finally found the source of the sound of dripping water resounding in the area. At the back of the main compartment, there was a large pond of clear water.

I went close and deep with my feet in it. I'd expected it to be hot since volcanoes were also a part of the Devil's Mountains, thus I was ready to take my feet out. But to my surprise, the water was pretty cool. Not cold cool, just cool.

I asked Reshi if it was drinkable, and he said I'd better not. So I just washed my hands and face in it and left.

A while later, I was able to convince Reshi to show me the outside of the cave, as I was curious about how in the hell was there a cave on the most inhabited mountains in the world.

So I followed him, and he led me to the mouth of the cave, and what I saw there was enough to leave me frozen from amazement and fear and awe.

The first thing I saw were clouds, lots and lots of clouds. They were not just above my head, but below too. Dark gray, the clouds were grumbling loudly as sparks of electricity flashed between them.

I tried to look down to guess the height we were on, but it was utterly futile. The clouds and mist blocked everything, and there was no way to see down without falling yourself.

This, however, doesn't mean we were trapped inside the cave. From the sides were many paths you can use to walk on the mountains and go around. Additionally, the part this cave was located was not at a forty-five-degree angle, so the chances of slipping were slim.

The winds there were rough, as I've heard in stories. And I didn't doubt that at the peak of the mountains they would be strong enough to tear a man in half. I mean, I was still at the mouth of the cave and the wind currents were so strong that I felt I would be blown away.

Perhaps this could've been true or was there some other reason, but Reshi led me back inside after this. On our way, I asked how in the hell did he manage to get those mushrooms at a place like this.

"This is not the only cave here, if you were to count you would have a considerable amount of trouble. I've been living here for a while and am aware of some of those caves, the one where mushrooms grow is one of them," was his reply.

We returned to the main compartment of the cave, and the tension building inside my stomach grew to an extent that it was unbearable now. There was a question, something I'd been meaning to ask since I got to know that he was the one who saved me.

"There was another girl with me on the dragon, Roe. I've told you about her before, but…is there any chance that you were able to save her too?" I asked.

There was not much expectation here. I already knew the answer when he had not interrupted or corrected me back when I was telling him how I was unable to grab hold of Roe's hand and let her die. Still, asking was all I could do.

He stopped walking, and I did not conform to the answer I was going to receive.

"I'm sorry, but I wasn't able to reach her in time. I wouldn't have been able to even save you if you had fallen off at a lower height," he said.

"... I-I see. It's okay, I'm fine. You don't need to apologize," I replied and walked off with him

I spent the rest of my day exploring a bit more, even though I was meant to be resting. Reshi had told me to rest, but it was only many hours later did I realize why he said that.

I started feeling weak and an exhaustion spread all over my body. It was as if each cell in my body was being destroyed and then created again and again. I came back to the place where there was a piece of cloth on the ground and lay there to catch my breath.

I was so tired and exhausted that I didn't realize when I fell asleep. It was strange since I shouldn't have been this tired normally. It was strange indeed.

Reshi didn't disturb me and let me sleep, albeit the time he woke me up to feed me. I opened my eyes, ate, and then fell back into slumber again.