Tsuno was then carried away by a green-haired teenager. The latter seemed to be under the orders of the girl previously in tears.
" - Yes, yes, it's okay Mia, I know I have to take him back to the cabin...", he retorted to the commands of the latter.
" - Hurry up then, Mio, and stop grumbling, it is relou...!", she answered him.
The young man complied and carried Tsuno like a bag of potatoes, above his left shoulder. He followed Mia, heading towards the hut he had just mentioned. They walked along different paths in the middle of this pine forest, accompanied by the soft songs of high-pitched birds. Advancing in the darkness of the forest due to the tops of its tall trees, it took them about fifty minutes before they reached their destination.
The small building was made up mainly of logs, and had windows without shutters, but with white curtains slightly transparent from the inside. It was necessary to climb three wooden steps as well in order to arrive at the landing of the door, the latter ajar, revealing a slender figure.
" - Is it good? You've found him and brought him back as planned I see. "
"- Yes, Ria! ", exclaimed Mia, smiling.
" - Hmm, it's about time...! ", sighed Mio as she laid Tsuno's inert body on the bench of a sofa present against the wall to the right of the front door.
Mia was older than the two younger ones, by three or four years. She looked to be about Tsuno's age. She too had pink hair, straight on top of her head, but slightly wavy at the tips. She had a figure that seemed to perfectly match the beauty criteria of the most beautiful people in the country. Her face was angelic, her figure was slender, while having shapes at the level of her hips and her chest. It could have been a goddess of the living beauty.
Tsuno's face looked peaceful, with no apparent expression. His breath was light but regular, indicating that he was in the middle of a sleep.
"- Well, let's tie him up first, so we don't have any bad surprises! "Ria ordered.
The time that Mio tied the wrists and ankles of Tsuno, one to the other reciprocally, she continued:
"- Do you have his fire stone and artifact? I don't see it on her arms... ", she asked the two younger ones.
"So, it's weird, he doesn't have an artifact... He just put the stone on his chest, chelou...", answered Mia.
"Speak better, stop with your weirdness... "Mio added.
"What do you mean? I don't know of any artifact that can be worn on the chest, except for a long necklace... That must be it, let's see. ", replied Ria.
The latter slightly pulled the collar of Tsuno's shirt, letting appear little by little the fire stone of Tsuno. Nevertheless, the young woman was quickly surprised by the lack of object containing this stone, this last being directly inserted in the bust of the young man.
" - What is this delirium... ", she murmured.
She put the tip of her thin fingers on the stone.
" - Uh, hi... "
Ria jumped up instantly and backed away from the couch. Tsuno had just woken up.
" - How is that possible? Usually, no one wakes up before eight o'clock at least when I put them to sleep! I promise you that I did everything right, Ria! ", exclaimed the young Mia.
"- Anyway it feels good, it's very restorative, AHAH!", Tsuno exclaimed. He continued:
"- On the other hand, can I know why I'm tied up? "He said in a much more serious and cold tone.
" - Give me back my stone, Mia!", cried Ria.
Tsuno straightened up and stood up instantly, his hands and feet still tied.
" - Well, no more laughing. ", he announced.
Mia threw the pink stone to Mia, this last caught it in full flight, then approached her wrist where she wore a golden artifact on her forearm. At the same time, Tsuno burned the links which held it without making any gesture, before seizing the hand of Ria which held the stone, to a few centimeters of the hollow within the artifact present on its other right forearm.
" - We stop everything, or it may go wrong. ", threatened Tsuno, with a black look.
Ria was then paralyzed, just by the sound of Tsuno's threat. She felt that this man of her age contained a great power. So she did not try to insert the stone into her artifact.
"- Alright, sorry, but we had no choice... We need your fire stone. ", she answered, embarrassed.
Tsuno could feel that the woman in front of him was telling the truth. He felt her embarrassment and understood that she was really honest. He released her left wrist, freeing her.
Once free, Ria sat down on a chair around a round wooden table, arranged in the middle of the room, not far from the sofa where Tsuno was still standing.
"- You always have a choice in life. Sometimes it is the right one, it seems that here it is the wrong one that was taken. ", answered Tsuno. He completed:
"- You are lucky that you have fallen on someone conciliatory, even if at first glance, I should not have woken up so early, it happened. There's no indication that this couldn't have happened with someone else, someone much more malicious, or with a bad temper. You all could have died here. "
"- Pfft, alive or dead, what difference does it make to our future here... ", sighed Ria.
At the hearing of these words, Tsuno took a chair around the table then sat down facing Ria. He asked her for an explanation of the words she had just spoken. She then explained to him:
"The shadow of famine is lurking over us. We don't have a penny left, and almost no food reserves. The only way I could get money would be to defile my body and mind with vile characters. I would rather die..."
After a blank of a few seconds, the two younger ones met Tsuno's eyes, the latter seemed empty of any emotion, then Ria continued:
"- The only way we can find enough money to live properly the rest of our lives is to kill this damn golem... But impossible without at least one fire stone. "
Tsuno cut in:
" - So that's where my capture comes in... "
" - Yes, I spotted you yesterday about ten kilometers away, thanks to your campfire. You need a fire stone to make one in the forest which is so wet in the evening in this early spring. So, I knew you had a fire stone, we had to act. That's why Mia and Mio set this trap for you. They wanted to take your fire stone away from you temporarily. "Ria explained.
"Why not just ask for help directly? ", questioned the young man with black hair.
"Ah ah, impossible. Already, without money in advance, no one would accept, so when you add that you have to kill an ice golem to get a reward... Nobody accepted for months. So when I heard that a servant of the Fire God was around, I wanted to take our one chance. "
" - I see. And why do you have to kill this golem? Is it threatening your forest, or the village a few miles away? ", Tsuno asked.
" - No, not directly at least. It is said that he has a dark stone in his possession, some think that it may be the legendary stone of time... But above all, this ice giant has captured several convoys containing food and many riches before the road near his position was condemned by our village and the neighboring village. If we manage to get rid of him, in addition to recovering his treasures, we could exploit his carcass of stone and ice, which some merchants sell for a high price. Our life afterwards would be so much simpler. " concluded the young woman.
"I'll do it. ", Tsuno concluded in turn, with a dazed smile and closed eyes.
Ria did not react at first. It took her a few seconds to realize that the person in front of her had just offered her help to solve her problem. Despite his explanations and the presence of an ice golem, which would scare away most stone carriers, even fire, countering the ice.
" - Are you kidding? If it's to vanity us to make us pay for what we did to you, that's really not cool. " - Mio added, annoyed by the naïve face of the man who was a stranger to his family.
"- No, I'll smash it, and you can live happily, without having to mistreat strangers. AH AH AH!", Tsuno retorted.
Her demeanor had changed completely again. After the coldness of his gaze and threats, the comforting warmth of his laughter seemed to calm the room. Mia's eyes became wet, letting a discreet tear escape that she hastened to wipe away.
"- Ah shit, I did not remove my stone, I'll be exhausted despite my little nap..! ", murmured Tsuno.
He then pulled his shirt collar revealing the top of his chest in which was inked his fire stone, giving him abilities related to this element. He removed it, grasping it with his thumb, index and middle fingers. At the same time, its bright red triangular spots became black again, as before he had used it. The stone was perfectly spherical, like all magic stones. It was bright red in color, with a flame symbol depicted in black, and two circles running horizontally around the sphere, one above the flame symbol, the other below it, both near what could be described as the upper and lower ends of the stone, based on the flame symbol.
Ria then saw the stone that Tsuno was holding in his fingertips, before he put it in the right resealable pocket of his black pants. Her eyes widened, before she exclaimed:
"- Wait... This stone... "
"Oops," Tsuno thought at the same time before she completed her sentence.
"- It's a primary stone?! With the fire symbol! This is the first time I've seen one in real life!!! "
"Phew... ", thought then once again the young man. He answered her at that moment:
"- Ah ah! Yes it is well that! I am unmasked! "
"- That means you are super powerful, right?! Normally, the primary stones are entrusted directly by the God equivalent to the stone to his trusted and powerful servant! ", Mio exclaimed, also excited at the sight of this stone.
Tsuno then scratched his head, a little embarrassed:
" - Yeah, let's say I'm one of his little protégés! "
He added:
" - Speaking of stone, yours is a secondary stone of what exactly? "
Mia thus approached Ria, contemplating the stone of a pale pink, without any distinctive sign on it. She answered Tsuno:
"- It is a beauty stone. The abilities it confers are not particularly powerful, but after learning how to use it, it can be useful in certain situations. "
" - I see, so you are protégés of Rena, you and your village. ", added Tsuno.
" - Do you know her? Have you ever met her?! ", marveled Mia.
" - Yeah, a few times. Anyway, let's get back to the point. I think I can solve your big problem, no pun intended. ", he answered by changing the subject of conversation.
"- Indeed, with your primary stone, you are probably the one we need, and the most capable of beating the ice golem. No one has ever seemed close to beating it. Many have perished while facing it, before the various servants stopped trying to beat it. "Ria agreed. She added:
"- Well, while we're at it, I'll ask you immediately, it'll be done. What's the deal with your bust? Why don't you need an artifact for your stone? And why do you have a perfectly sized hollow that can hold it? And your appearance changes too, what's the big deal? "Ria continued without giving Tsuno time to answer.
"I was born like that. ", he answered in a rather cold way, the empty glance. He continued:
" - On this, I must rest for tomorrow, I need energy. Don't worry about me, I have food. "
" - No way, you eat with us and our meal will be yours for tonight. You can sleep on the couch. It's the least I can do. "Ria ordered.
Tsuno nodded without even trying to dissuade them. The sun was already setting. The discussion had indeed lasted a while, added to his trip while being asleep, the afternoon was quickly over, leaving room for the evening. The quartet then shared a meal, discovering the guest of the evening who answered many questions about his past adventures, while dodging some other questions. The evening was beautiful for the whole group. They each fell asleep in their respective beds, Tsuno on the sofa as planned.
"Tomorrow, I will release them from their sorrows. "thought the young servant of the God of Fire before falling asleep, peacefully.
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