Chương 36: Next Step?

Of all the things that could have woken me up.

Boom! Splash! Rushing water hit Hajime and Selena.

Selena was rudely awoken and ended up jumping off Hajime's back and hitting the wall.

Hajime turned back and gave Selena a deadpan look as the water that hit them both sucked up Hajime and Yue followed soon after. Not before Yue trying to use magic, although Miledi used her own magic, quickly ejecting her out before any spell could be casted.

"AAHH! I don't like this at all!" Soon after, Shea was sucked into the water.

Selena and Miledi look at each other and out instinct from past life. "I'm sorry."

"Hmph, I don't need it or want it. You're just lucky you have such caring friends!" Her tone had a bit of a bite, but again wasn't directed at her.

"Who?"

"Robert…" was the only word that came from her before Selena was dragged away by the water, last a thought on her way out half the shutter closed and Selena hit face.

'That petty hoe. I will remember this…' were Selena thoughts.

As Selena follows the current she seems to be way behind since she didn't see anyone from the party.

'Guess I should take my time and let Hajime save Shea.' Selena had no difficulty staying in water much longer since her body had evolved. She waited for what she thought was a good amount of time and she started to swim up. Just before she made it to the surface did a worthless rabbit come crashing over her head, slamming into her and sinking Selena a few feet back down. As she looked at Shea, her face was very red with a smile that, if Hajime saw, he just might have fallen for her. As Shea got her bearings, she saw Selena and her face turn bashful as turn back to swim back to shore with Selena follow suit.

"Haha… worthless rabbit," Hajime was panting. Yue seemed to be huffing right behind him, but she did nothing else.

Selena smiled at Yue since she knew that during this time she had gotten attached to Shea, given she shared her love for them equally. It was just her Shea was much more bashful around her since the steamy night they had.

"WELL if it isn't Hajime, Yue, Shea, and Selena-dono." A masculine voice trying to be feminine said. The party turns to see the store clerk clothing store from the city of Brooke. There was a girl the party remembered from the inn they stayed at. She was blushing while looking at Hajime and Shea.

"Omg they do it out in the open" Sona was muttering to herself. Everyone chose to ignore her.

Crystabel asked "if you wanted to come with us back to town. We did not go too far we got room in our carriage."

Hajime looks at his group and no one seems to be against the idea so nods. "That would be great. Thank you."

"Hoo hoo someone knows their manners." Crystabel starts to walk back the way they came. Sona followed soon after. Although she kept looking back.

"Look at what you did, Shea." Hajime said annoyed.

"Me? What did I do?!!" Shea didn't seem to understand.

"Oh? So that wasn't you sucking face with Hajime." Yue said.

"Hajime started it!! And you know I would say yes if asked for it."

"Ugh it was not like that. I was giving you CPR."

"Sure you were, now we kiss all that is left for you too…" She didn't get to finish that sentence as a rubber bullet hit her on forehead.

"Owwie this won't stop me Hajime-San!!!"

Selena was smirking at Hajime since he seems to get in a lot of these moments ever since Shea joined the party.

"You!!" Hajime turned his gaze towards Selena.

"Me" Selena said like a question back.

Hajime knew it was a waste of time so turned and started walking in the same direction as Crystabel.

Selena leaned over to Shea, "So was it everything you imagined?"

"Yes it was. His lips were to die for hehe."

Hajime took a bigger step since he knew he was going to lose this battle since the fight against Selena was never going to end since neither would go for the kill.

As the group was riding back to the city of Brooke, Crystabel said. "So how did the hunt go? I heard you took the extermination mission on Catherine's recommendation. She recommended you and the attack seem to have slow down considerably since a few weeks ago, but we had not heard from you. What happened?"

"Ah," Hajime told her the story about how found the nest and how lit it on fire from inside and killed the queen. He skipped over where we fought the queen and nation of demon general since they would bring even more questions he did not want to deal with.

They rode on talking about this and that. Hajime and the party decided to stay at the same inn for a few days since they want to unwind and practice the new magic.

Once again, they got two rooms and Selena was asleep when there was a knock at the door. Opening the door, she found Shea in front of her. Shea's ears were drooping, shoulders slumped down, overall Shea looked miserable and pathetic.

"They kicked me out…" Shea said in a weak tone, and then the sound of thumping could be heard from across from them. At hearing the sounds, Shea jumped into Selena's bosom, crying.

"It's ok Shea," Selena says while giving Shea a kiss on her forehead, "you'll get there someday." Slowly pulling her into her room, closing the door behind them.

"But I want to be there now." Shea whines as she is guided to sit on Selena's bed.

"Well, at least you gotta have that make-out session with him." Selena states as she lays on the bed.

Shea just had an annoyed expression on her face before grumbling, "I would pleasure them both…"

Selena giggled at hearing that, knowing that most normal people wouldn't just outright say that.

"What's so funny," Shea asks with a pout.

Selena, doesn't immediately respond, just grabs Shea and pulls her to lay down next to her. "I'm not laughing at you. I am laughing with you. They just don't know what they are missing out on." Hearing this, Shea turns red as she looks away from you in embarrassment.

After a few seconds of silence, Shea just barely squeaks out a request. "C-can we do THAT again…"

'This will probably frustrate me even more' Selena thought before giving into Shea's request. Part ways into their session, Selena did notice a presence outside their door, but decided to ignore it this one time.

The following day, when Selena woke up, Shea was no longer there beside her. She could only let out an exhausted sigh, unfortunately she knew that this was happening. It seemed that it was about an hour before dawn, and there didn't seem to be anyone awake at this time. So Selena decided that she would go for a run around town to clear her head.

After returning from her run, Selena barged into the other room, seeing as Shea didn't lock the door behind her. Inside the room, Selena saw Yue with a glow while Hajime was awake and looking haggard with Shea gripping onto his prosthetic arm. The sudden entrance to the room did startle Shea awake with her looking frazzled. Yue, on the other hand, just slowly got up and yawned, having had the best time just last night. Selena grinned, giving a thumbs up of approval. Hajime scoffed, getting up and heading to the restroom for a quick wash.

"Alright, What's next?!" Shea asked as she trailed shortly behind Hajime, who closed the door on her face. Yue chuckled, while Selena was dumbfounded at the cruel treatment of Shea. She huffed and walked towards the door, banging loudly. The door opened wide as Hajime half-naked, wiping away droplets from his face.

"We have to head back to the guild to report back on the ant problem."

Selena was still surprised at his callousness, seeing Shea slink away into the restroom with a sour expression. After a minute, the party gathered at the hotel's dining room, meeting the receptionist who wore a blushing expression. Selena recalled her name Sona when they last met her. Scanning the area, she saw the many faces of the clientele. Several of the faces were adorned with curiosity. Others, particularly several of the males, wore envy. No surprise there, a man in Hajimes place would feel they're in Heaven with the beautiful women around him, one on each side and the other behind him.

Following a hearty breakfast they headed towards the guild. There they saw Catherine manning the front desk. With a jovial voice she called out to the group.

"You're still alive! We all thought something terrible must have befallen upon you! We haven't gotten a word on your whereabouts for weeks!"

"Morning Catherine!" Shea joyfully exclaimed, hugging Hajimes prosthetic arm ever tighter.

"It took us longer than expected." Hajime added, not bothering to flesh out the important details.

"Oh! Did you complete your quest?" Catherine asked.

Hajime reached out to activate his spatial ring with Selena stopping him right there.

"Can we actually get a private room for this occasion?" Selena asked, giving Hajime a side eyed look, himself not understanding what was the big deal. Catherine was visibly confused but agreed, following the party to their room. Other adventurers saw this unfolding, several clearly jealous of the apparent favoritism. Entering the room, Catherine takes the lone seat while the party takes the large couch opposite from it, which was a tight squeeze. Yue made more room by sitting on Hajime's lap, enticing hints of jealousy from Shea. Hajime activated his spatial ring, plopping a large ant head on the table between the couch and chair.

"Oh my." Catherine gasped. "And I was wondering why the ant attacks were becoming more infrequent recently. They've stopped entirely."

Hajime explained the situation without divulging all the details, such as the whereabouts of this large nest. Catherine wanted to press more, but realized that Hajime intended to keep certain details away purposely.

"That's good, I'll let the guild know of your success."

"Actually, keep our names off from the report." Hajime interrupted.

"But don't you want credit for the quest? Your new prestige will give you access to higher paid jobs."

"I already attract too much attention as it is." Hajime gestured at the girls surrounding him. Catherine giggled, nodding in agreement.

"If anything, can I use your private training room to work on my artifacts?"

"Sure," Catherine answered him. "I don't see why not."

Hajime handed his ring to Yue, asking her to resupply for their next mission. Shea followed Yue after the former girl left towards the exit. Selena was following suit until a hand placed on her shoulder, stopping her.

"Wait a minute, I'm going to need my assistant for this next part." Hajime flashed a devious smile at Selena.

"Do you really need my help?" Selena asked nervously. "Seems you got that transmutation ability down."

"I need to take notes while using my spells." He responded.

Shae laughed, relieved that she was not on the receiving end for once. Yue quickly crushed her happiness.

"Don't worry, after our shopping trip we're getting training." Shea's spirits were crushed even harder.

"And you," Yue squinted at Selena. "Don't think you're getting off the hook. There will be more training."

The rest of the day was filled with loud explosions and harsh screams as their training echoed across the land.

The following day went by in a blur, although there were a few highlights.

Selena was face down Yue they were both at the river they had been spit out of a few days back training since Hajime did not need his lovely guinea pig to test out his spell circle on.

"Haa, haa" Selena was patting glare at Yue who stood like nothing was happening. Shea was nearby lifting a boulder that Selena had made with a transmute circle Hajime had placed on her gauntlets. It took a bit more time for her to change the shape. It was not combat ready like Hajime. But you never know when you would need to transmute something out of nowhere.

Selena made hand signs creating an ice wall. Soon after finishing, she moved on to making the ice golem. She pulled in the water from the river to help speed up the process of creating the golem. It was obvious to her that it would have been slower if she didn't already have an available source of either water or ice when making the golem, and she wanted to perfect it more than the scraggy thing that she made prior.

The ice wall was destroyed in just a few fireballs and the ice golem's barely formed legs followed suit not long after, canceling the spell.

"I do feel your wall is getting better. It took one extra fireball this time, but we been at this for a few days now." Yue sighs in exhaustion.

"I'm sorry I'm not an expert at this already." Selena couldn't help but say it. especially since Yue's magic came as easy as breathing to her. She already created her iconic thunder dragon in less than a minute.

"Aww, come on Yue. Selena is getting faster too. This time I saw the upper half of the legs." Shea had stopped her training to watch the tail end of the fight.

"Get back to work," Yue says to Shea, lifting an open palm towards her with ice forming in front of it. After Shea starts to train again, Yue turns her head towards Selena, narrowing her eyes almost as if she is saying, "Go again".

Selena's reserves were nearly on empty, having been at this training since early this morning. Selena would defend herself and Yue would use any number of ways to break through. To save on chakra Selena did not use her eyes, knowing that her growing dependent on them was not ideal.

It was not long till both Selena and Shea were on the ground screaming bloody murder.

Lucky when it came to hand-to-hand combat Selena had the edge. Although Shea showed how monstrous she could be. Shea took to the training like a fish in water. Yue was a sore loser and would only do a few sparring rounds, before going to do her own thing after losing a few matches.

Soon it was just past noon and the sun was starting to descend so the girl decided to head back to the city. As they headed into the town, they decided to make a side stop at the shopping area. They stopped at one of the stalls and bought a few skewers on their way back to the inn.

"I'm telling you, Selena, I think Hajime is going to fall for me any one of these days. After that kiss he has been a lot nicer to me, right Yue!! Munch, munch" Shea took a bite from the screw waiting for Yue's answer.

"Calm down, don't get ahead of yourself just yet. You got a long way to go before he beds you." Yue retorted while kicking Shea's shin.

'It's funny Yue took real shine to Shea since Miledi's funhouse of shit.' Selena thought to herself.

"Aww come on Yue. I got a really good feeling about this! I'll get there soon, just you wait."

"Yea, yea." Yue muttered, not wanting to break Shea's good mood.

"Hey Selena, I know Hajime wants to go home, but what about you?" Shea tilted her head at Selena.

That was a question that Selena didn't expect to come from Shea of all people. "Umm…"

But before Selena had a chance to answer it…

"It's Shea-san, will you please be my slave!!!" Random adventure asked Shea.

"Yue-san, will you please marry me?" A different adventure spoke up. Pull out flowers from his back.

"Hey Selena-chaan do you want me to tie you up!!!" Last man showed off the rope he brought with him.

Selena looks at Yue and Shea will murder in her eyes. "It was only once and now people want to tie me up Yue…"

Yue look away. "It was Shea that carried you."

"Hey now weren't you the one that said it for fainting punishment"

The three girls began to walk away from the three men that had proposed to the girl.

"Hey wait Yue-saan was that a-…"

"No." Yue did not let the man finish his thoughts.

"Shea-san-..."

"Ew no i have Hajime-san."

The last man threw the rope to try to catch Selena… "don't worry, I treat you better than that Hajime person!!" He had word glint in his eye.

"Why am I getting the strange people!!!" Selena used gale claw on her hand and cut the rope. The people around them step back since they saw the magic and knew it was about to start flying.

"Ice coffin" the man saw that his colleague had already gone to the deep end. So he leaps towards Yue and tries to hug her, most likely to ruin away. "Aaahh" the man said as he was captured.

The man that was hit on Shea pulled out a different slave collar and was getting ready to enslave Shea for real since the current collar she had was just for looks. Shea grabs the man's hand with the slave collar.

"Ummm look Shea im doing this for you." All the while the man was pulling hard trying to break free from the grip.

"Haaa yaa" Shea kicked the man and people around us looked away.

"Myyy ball!!!!!" The man's voice went incredibly high as he grabbed in between his legs and passed out. "Oo opps…" Shea seem to have noticed she may have gone a bit too far.

"No Shea you got the right idea" Yue said as eye the man she had frozen in place. He was no longer looking at her with love, but fear.

"Please let me go, I promise I will leave you alone from now on you won't ever see me again…" the ice was starting to melt and the man could feel his leg. "aah thank you Yue-san…" and at some point he left that defrosting stop and only his mid drift was free. aa..

the next moment all the surrounding people close their eyes.

"aaahh" the man fainted after feeling his man hood die.

Selena could not believe what she saw she read about it but watching it happen was scary as hell those poor men were stupid but… just as she was feeling sorry the man she tied up was squirming away. At that moment she remembered what he told her and she decided she would destroy their man hood but nor would she stop Yue.

the next second earth pill came up under the man and once again "aaaaaa" and he passed out.

"Your cruel Selena."

"What? I did nothing."

"No, but you had me do your dirty work."

"You could have stopped."

"Yea but why would I? They're creepy."

"Yea they've been hitting on us for days," Shea added.

"Did you enjoy doing that?" Selena was wondering if this is the moment that the kind Shea died and war path Shea was born.

The girls made their way back to the inn and people were given them a wide berth.

in the room Hajime was tinkering with what looked to be batarang.

"We're back" Shea opened the door, greeting Hajime first.

"How did the training go?" his mana was bright read as all his focus was on the transmute he was working on. "Also there was huge comotion. you wouldn't know what that is about?"

"Nope." Yue grabs a chair and starts watching Hajime work on his latest artifact.

crush men ball was nothing Selena's eyes were twitching since she was going to be the one tell Hajime that Yue glowed with sick satisfaction at crushing men's manhoods.

"I think I'm just about done in the next two days. We should head out soon."

"If you're almost done, we should go on a date." Yue said in a sultry tone.

Hajime stopped what he was doing. He turned to Yue and they got lost in each other's eyes.

"Aww no you're not going anywhere without me." Shea was pulled on Hajime's shoulder to try to break the moment.

That night Selena heard laughter outside her window and Hajime was carrying a little girl like a bag down.

She started to laugh and Hajime noticed her and grumbled. Soon he disappeared into his room after jumping through his window.

The day before they left Selena found herself alone for once. She was tired of the training and watching Hajime, Yue, and Shea flirting was grating on her good nerves. Since she knew she had to set up things here before leaving this place she headed to the adventure guild.

As she walked into the building all the men knew she was off limits given that all men that had hit on her or anyone in Hajime group end up with no ball or pass out in her case since she was going to add to the new problem Hajime group make for the world of tortues.

"Hello there Selena, how is it going I think this is the first time I have seen you alone." Catherine says in the same jovial tone she had for their group.

"Yea Hajime was training with the girl and …"

"Say no more it can get it" she smiles that all know to smile at her.

"Can we talk somewhere more private?" Selena was hoping to get this talk over with since she got leer at by all men in the guild hall.

"Sure darling, we head to a private room we used the other time." Catherine turns to look at the other people in the room and glare at them and they all turn their head down.

"Wow you got them well trained…" Selena couldn't believe how much control she held over them.

"It is not hard when you have been at this as long as I have been dear." Both women walk to the back of the private room. Just like before, Catherine was in the same spot as last time. Selena sat alone on the big couch. it funny she could end people like they were grass but in front of her Selena felt as though she was looking at her mom.

"So what was it that you wanted to talk about? Hopefully you answer more questions both Yue and Shea got tight lipped about before they could start."

"Well umm that because people that were around us could overhear us."

"Yes, your party seems to be a bundle of mystery," she smirked.

"Well, it's just like you heard, we went to the Reisen Gorge that doesn't change."

"Uh-huh" Catherine seems to be following so far.

"But it seemed as though they were being led by demons."

"Oh my , that could be a problem." Catherine grew visibly worried for the first time since Selena knew the lady.

"Don't worry about it, we killed them all and the plan was stopped by us…"

"Why didn't you report it on the first day?"

"Well they really don't, Hajime really doesn't want the notoriety news like that would cause."

"Why is that?" she asks.

"Can I ask you something first before I talk about that?" Selena always wondered why some like Catherine ended up here in boonies.

"Sure darling what is it?"

"Why are you here? I mean clearly you hold a lot of power and influence to this day here."

"Now how would you know that?"

"It is apparent given how everyone in the guild hall seems to follow your lead." Selena did not want to tell her she read about her in a light novel.

"That is not so easy to talk about.." Catherine seems not to want to talk about it.

"Is it because of the darkness the church has?" Selena knew she had shown a bit of her hand. Someone as smart as Catherine should have known something fishy was going on with the holy church. if not why run as far away as possible at the height of her career.

"Now that something even less known to the masses. Yes, the holy church." Catherine sighed in resignation. "Now young lady you talk about things you should not to mess with."

"Is that why you're out here? Are you scared?"

Catherine's POV

This was not what I was expecting when this newly minted adventure asked for a talk. Recall days before I left the capital were some of the scariest.

"Learning what I know was already dangerous enough. To keep myself safe I had to leave. It wasn't in my best interest to stay near the holy church. Yes, we have one out here, but the old priest that runs it is a great man. He was sent out here due want be equal with the beast-men."

Selena seemed to have gained a contemplative look on her face. "What did you learn about, if you don't mind starting somewhere?"

"I don't know."

"Look, you've seen our power given the trophy head we brought back with us." Selena was biting her lips as if she was mulling over what she would say

It seemed as though she was still holding back but she was earnest in trying to get my cooperation.

Your power is all well and good, but four people alone against power that controls the whole of this kingdom. You can see why I'm so hesitant to do any outward movements.

After a little pause Selena tells me about her story on how she got here and the events that led them to their city. As soon as I heard about the Gods and their machinations, fear gripped my heart, and I grew pale. After the truth settled in my mind, "What should I do?"

"Please, any information that you could give us about the holy church would help to keep my friends and myself informed of our enemies."

I just looked at Selena as she gave that request. I know that I don't know that much, but decided to tell her what I did know from that terrible night.

"Back when I was the guild master in the main branch I had a lot of dealing with the holy church. They always wanted to know about any up and coming adventurer. My guess back then was they wanted to invite new blood into the holy order. But then one day…"

-Flashback-

Catherine was in her office working on paperwork on the promotion of some of her guild members located at some of the branch locations.

*Knock knock.*

"Yes, come in."

Pope Ishtar came in and walked in like he owned the place.

"Hello Catherine, you know you could have much more if you join us in the holy church."

"No thank you, I'm very happy where I'm at." They both seem to have done this song and dance multiple times to the point that this was normal for them.

"I'm here looking for this person" he brought up a scratch drawing of someone. Catherine was confused since she was used to this request, but they never seem to be looking for someone so young.

"I'm sorry, I don't believe I know him." She was going through her memory to try to recall the boy since he didn't seem old. "What did he do by chance?"

"He stole something from the church and we would like to get back the item in question."

"That would be no problem, do you want me to put out a search warrant in the guild for this boy?"

Catherine seemed worried that such a young youth was being hunted by the Holy Church.

"I urge you to keep this information to yourself. The guild does not need to know this."

"Alright," Catherine looked at him suspiciously. "Can you come back tomorrow? I want to get more information on this new adventurer."

"That will be fine, Catherine." Pope Ishtar responded. "The Holy Churches invitation is always open."

After pope Ishtar left, Catherine went to talk to the guild receptionist about any information regarding the boy who recently joined the guild. By the time she found Jacobs' background, she learned that he came from a village of farmers. The most notable fact about him is an older brother who joined the church less than two years ago. She stressed to the receptionist to not speak to anyone regarding this.

Dusk settles on the day, as Caherine makes her way home. Thankfully, the streets were well lit, and yet she felt a tiny bit of fear. From the distance she could hear the sound of metal clanking and decided to investigate it. While making her way to the source, she spotted a group of holy knights that were also making their way in that direction. Catgherine decided to follow the knights, wondering if the boy had anything to do with the comotion. After a couple of blocks and a few alley ways later, she stopped at a corner leading to a small plaza. Poking her head around the corner, she saw knights surrounding Pope Ishtar as well as the boy. She could feel malice dripping from the area.

Suddenly, Ishtar pulls out a black blade and in the blink of an eye severs the boy's head from his shoulders, making a sickening thud as it lands on the hard floor. The knights then proceeded to blast the remains with several fireballs following Ishtar's orders. Without waiting a second longer, Catherine runs from the scene she witnessed, luckily undetected by any of the knights.

The next day, Catherine was doing her day to day tasks, when Ishtar walked into the room.

"Hello, Pope. Do you need the details regarding the boy you were searching for, Jacob I believe his name was?"

"No need," Ishtar responded. "We found the troublemaker and reprimanded him. Afterwards, we sent him on his way home." Catherine was taken aback at Ishtar's casual way of talking to her as if the scene from yesterday never happened.

"I'm glad to hear that, sire. Is there anything else you require."

Ishtar merely took the document and put it away within his robes.

"That would be all, Catherine. Hope your day goes well."

Soon after, she makes her cover story and leaves the capital towards Brooke later in the day.

-Flashback End-

Selena POV

After hearing the recount from Catherine's story Selena even was confused since she does not recall Pope Ishtar being swordmaster of any kind in the original work. In fact, she doesn't remember much of anything that he does outside of manipulating Kouki to be a hero.

"That is a lot to take in," Selena said solemnly, still trying to wrap her mind about this.

Catherine sighs, almost as if she aged just from telling this story. "So, now that you've heard this, what will you do?"

Selena just smirked at Catherine before she opened her mouth to reply.

XxXxXx

After their quick discussion, Selena made her way to the shopping center to find some food. After consuming several meat skewers, she found herself sitting on a bench. She went through the events of everything that has happened to her so far. She realized that the events of the light novel not only are different but several factors also happened earlier, such as the ant attack and the demons using ancient magics to create their monster armies much earlier than the canon events she read about in her past life. It's like all the current info she has won't be useful for much longer.

There's also the change in the two labyrinths they've been in. 'Oscar was truly missing an arm and they should have had god age magic just what the hell happened back then. Miledi was also broken. For lack of a better word, even when I was past out she tried to get Hajime to kill me. I'm just so glad he trusts me so much. Sometimes I wonder why doesn't ask me. I mean I did push him to get with Yue like in cannon.'

There's also what she wants to do… I mean we get stronger and beat "god" but what's next? Honestly I have not given it much thought to this. the author did not do the amount of sex Hajime and Yue had in original canon justice. I'm so surprised Yue isn't pregnant cause at this point they went at it for hours before Shea came into the picture. I'm just glad her presence slowed the two horn dogs down a little.

Just before her thought spirals out of control since she was thinking a lot of 'what if' and 'maybe', an old man sat down next to her on the bench she was sitting on.

The old man smiles at Selena, "that's not a face one so young should have at such a young age."

"I just have a lot on my mind, old timer." She saw the robe of the holy church on this old man, but unlike what she was used to, up to this point, she was not leered at for her body. his tone also seems to be genuinely worried about her.

"You know what they say about old folk, we are great at listening and giving advice. Why just the other day I was helping a young lad court a beautiful lady he had been trying to woo." He started to talk about all the complicated plans he had the kid try to get the girl to look at him. At some point the serious look Selena had was replaced with giggling and disbelief that there was something so stupid.

"Wait wait, so did he get the girl?" Selena was giggling at the fact that he somehow ended up getting hogtied himself.

"There we go. A young girl like yourself always looks better with a smile."

Selena stopped and thought about how her mood from not too long ago was going down a rabbit hole and she was getting depressed thinking about it.

"Thank you old-timer." the words came out softer than intended.

"Hoho no need to thank me. I'm just a nosey stranger, but is there something on your mind?"

Selena looked at the kind old man with a bright smile. "If people were as nice as you, maybe there wouldn't be so many problems."

"Thank you, but you know keeping things bottled up isn't a good thing. I promise I won't tell a soul."

Selena lets out a sigh, "How would you feel if the path that you were going down was created by a different person. I mean, you would know that it was safe, but then you also have the ability to change it. However, the moment that you do, something scarier would happen and could make a certain outcome to not happen at all. I've been doing little things here and there, but with some of the things that I have been seeing, I feel as if the path that I wanted to go has already shifted and that I might not actually be helping after all."

Hearing what the girl was saying, he was kind of surprised that a girl this young was carrying a burden that would make most adults buckle. The surprising thing was that he seemed to believe what she was telling him.

"Hmmm," the old-timer took a moment to mull over the question that he was presented with. He seems to be picking his words very carefully. "All that matters is what you want to do, there is no right and wrong. What exactly are you after? You should just do what will help you here now, in the moment. What comes will come. I'm just here to give you the shovel and tell you to dig."

"Wait, why shovel?" It took Selena a moment to realize the joke.

"It was all I had on hand. I'm not rich, you know. if you want a golden spoon go somewhere else." the old-timer started to laugh at his joke with Selena joining in too.

It did not solve all of her problems, but it did lift some of the weight that Selena had placed on herself. "Thanks old-timer. By the way, what is your name?"

"Aah, well you see it's Si-…"

"There you are!!!" an older looking nun came running around the corner pointing her finger at the old-timer.

"And that, my dear, is my queue to leave. May the day bring you good fortune young lady," he bellowed out as he ran surprisingly fast for such an old man.

"OH no! You get back here and finish your work you left back at the church!" The nun yells, chasing after the man.

"I feel as though I should know him… Welp, I won't bother to worry about it." Selena heads back with a smile on her face, thinking about what she would like to do in her future.

As she was heading back she passed though the shopping plaza again and saw a stall that was selling seeds for many plants. One thing that stuck out to Selena that made her stop and she saw a very familiar looking seed.

"Excuse me, what kind of seed is that," she asks while pointing to what looks to be corn kernel. Seeing that made her mouth water just thinking of potentially having popcorn again. It made her realize that she misses junk food a lot more than she would have thought.

"Ah, yes these come from corn that has been dried." The stall owner said.

"I'll take the whole lot!!!" Selena was so happy to be able to get one of her favorite foods. She wanted to try to make popcorn right away, but resisted the urge and decided to wait till she got to the inn before making an attempt. Heck, if she couldn't make it herself, she could always pester Hajime to make something to pop the kernels.