[ Chapter 8 ] Next Actions

Nora sees the both of them entering the inn. Nora walks over to the both of them.

[ Nora ] “Glad to see you guys came. Let me go bring father.”

(Author’s Note: I forgot to say it but Nora/the captured woman has long white hair)

Nora leaves going into the employee's room. As Nora leaves, Anahea thinks to herself about Nora.

[ Anathea ] In her mind ¨White hair… why does she look so familiar?¨

Anathea looks at Hearts for an answer.

[ Anathea ] ¨Hey Hearts? Does Nora look familiar to you?

Hearts put her hand on her chin.

[ Hearts ] ¨No, I don´t think so. Not for me at least.¨

Anathea begins to think to herself again.

[ Anathea ] In her mind ¨I feel like I meet someone similar to her. I can´t put my hand on it!¨

Anathea puts a finger from both hands on her head like she's drilling them into her head.

[ Anathea ] In her mind ¨Come on! Think! Who else looks like her.¨

Anathea visibly gets annoyed as she thinks to herself.

[ Anathea ] In her mind ¨Who is it! Who is it? Who is it?¨

Then it clicks in her headlight bulb. She looks over to Hearts.

( Author´s note: If I had to visualize it, a light bulb lighted up appeared above her head.)

[ Anathea ] ¨I figured it out, but… no. It can´t be him, right? There is no way it is R-¨

A man burst through the employee door, he had white hair, tall, rugged, black eyes, and wait… That is just Ragna. Anathea looks at Ragna with a shocked expression.

[ Anathea ] ¨Bakana!¨

It was Ragna, but he seemed to be wearing casual working clothes. Anathea looks at Ragna, pointing at him with her mouth wide open.

[ Anathea ] ¨R- Ragna!¨

Ragna makes his way towards Anathea. He looks serious and looks like he is gonna murder someone. Anathea's eyes widen and she cowers a bit.

[ Anathea ] ¨R- ragna…?¨

Anathea looked at Hearts but it was a ice clone of herself standing there. Hearts left the scene.

[ Anathea ] ¨Hearts?!¨

Ragna's shadow darkens Anathea´s figure as it looks like he is towering over her. Anathea begins to shrink her body a bit, making herself look smaller

[ Anathea ] ¨geh… uh.. Umm… Ragna…?¨

Anathea looks at him scared and confused.

[ Anathea ] ¨So… uhhh… we… s-saved your… daughter… so… uhh… umm… I- I don´t know what… I or…. we… did wrong… but… don´t kill me.¨

Ragna seems to bring out his hand over Anathea. Then it was on her head like a head pat.

[ Ragna ] ¨Thank you.¨

Ragna's tone was thankful but also had a prominent sense of sadness. Anathea flinches at the touch.

[ Anathea ] ¨Ragn-¨

Anathea looks at Ragna seeing him bawling out tears and snot.

[ Anathea ] ¨Eh!¨

Ragna tightly hugs Anathea. A sound of bone crack was heard from Anathea´s back.

[ Anathea ] ¨Itai! Itai! Itai!¨

Anathea repeats it many times quickly from how hard Ragna was squeezing her while crying.

[ Ragna ] ¨Th- hank You! I was so worrwed for her! ¨

(Author’s note: Spelled it wrong intentionally)

Ragna looks at Anathea from his tears seeing Anathea passed out from the tight squeeze. A tiny ghost coming from her mouth as she blacked out.

[ Ragna ] ¨Wait! Wake up. I´m sorry for squeezing you.¨

Ragna lets go of Anathea, and Anathea falls onto her knees and hands. Her tone is hurt and gassed tone.

[ Anathea ] ¨Ohhhhh my gawd… I nearly died… that hurt so baawd. My back… my back…¨

Ragna drops with her trying to apologize, still crying.

[ Ragna ] ¨ I'm so sorry, I didn´t mean to hurt you.¨

Anathea lifts her head, her eyes still pale.

[ Anathea ] In her mind ¨There is no way this is Ragna… what's this personality switch?¨

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Anathea hurtly gets up from the ground.

[ Anathea ] ¨Question! Are you Ragna?¨

Ragna looks at her in confusion.

[ Ragna ] ¨Ragna..? You mean my brother?¨

Anathea's eyes open in shock.

[ Anathea ] ¨YOU¨RE HIS BROTHERRRR!¨

[ Crimson ] ¨Yes, I´m not Ragna. My name is Crimson Gin. Younger brother of Ragna Gin. He is Ragna, I am Crimson.¨

Crimson gets up from his knees.

[ Crimson ] ¨I just wanted to thank you for saving my daughter Nora. I want to repay you two… where is the other one?¨

Hearts walks back into the inn the next second.

[ Hearts ] ¨Gomen, I went to the restroom.¨

Anathea points at Hearts with some anger her tone getting louder.

[ Anathea ] ¨Why´d you leave me alone?! And now you come back after what happened! You meanie!¨

[ Crimson ] ¨Alright, that´s enough. I just wanted to thank you two for saving Nora. I am going to repay you two by giving you both permanent discounts.¨

Crimson moves over to the kitchen.

[ Crimson ] ¨The inn is closed but for you 2. I´ll make an exception.¨

Crimson pokes his head back looking at Anathea and Hearts.

[ Crimson ] ¨I got 2 open rooms for you both. Feel free to use them for free for today. Sit down for a bit. I think you guys deserve some food.”

Anathea and Hearts both sit near an available table. Anathea still glares at Hearts with anger.

[ Hearts ] “Hey, Ana? Do you still wanna be in a party?”

Anathea thinks about it due to the sudden change in topic.

[ Anathea ] “I don’t see why not too. Even if lots of things happened today.”

Hearts smiles at Ana.

[ Hearts ] “Let’s do the best we can!”

Hearts eyes light up in happiness after what Anathea said.

[ Anathea ] “Yeah, let’s do our best.”

Hearts leans back on her chair.

[ Hearts ] “Since I told you my past, why not share some of your past?”

Anathea thinks for a moment.

[ Anathea ] “As you know, I am an elf. I was born in the elven country Kathin. I didn’t do much or remember much of my past. I am 4000 years old.”

Hearts eyes widen.

[ Hearts ] “F- Four Thousand?!?!”

[ Anathea ] “For the last two thousand years I shut myself in my room. I only left when the country decided to send me to a human country to form better bonds.

[ Hearts ] “Why did you shut yourself in?”

Anathea ponders for a moment.

[ Anathea ] “I don’t know actually. I just did. I’m pretty lazy if you didn’t know. Slept and read books.”

Hearts look at Ana seriously

[ Hearts ] “Now, I wanna know…”

Anathea sees how serious she looks and hesitates slightly.

[ Anathea ] "W- What?"

[ Hearts ] “How do you have two Will elements!? That’s so cool! I wish I had two just like you! I didn’t know you could have two! Tell me! How did you do it!?! I wanna know!!! Earth and Light are so cool!”

Hearts voice filled with excitement and rush getting closer with each word. Anathea is unsure what to do from Hearts energy.

[ Anathea ] “Okay! Okay. just calm down a bit.”

Hearts backs up and sits back down.

[ Anathea ] “So… as far as I remember. My first Will element was Light. The one I was born with and use the most. As for my other 2 elements.¨

Hearts jump even more with excitement.

[ Hearts ] ¨Other two! You have THREE?!?!? What´s the third?! Tell me!¨

Anathea tries to calm down Hearts.

[ Anathea ] ¨Alright chill for a bit so I can explain.¨

Hearts sits back down eagerly to listen

[ Hearts ] ¨Gotcha!¨

Anathea sighs.

[ Anathea ] ¨Okay… so… I… don´t remember how I got Earth and Water. As far as I can remember after one day. I just got them. Sorry to disappoint.¨

Hearts energy seems to have dropped.

[ Hearts ] ¨Naruhodo… that is weird. I am sure it´s rare to have more than one. But not to remember is abnormal. Do you have memory loss?¨

[ Anathea ] ¨I am sure not. I don´t think I did anything for me to lose my memory.¨

Hearts point at Ana.

[ Hearts ] ¨We´re sparing tomorrow.¨

Anathea's eyes widen in confusion.

[ Anathea ] ¨Spar? Tomorrow? I mean I guess we could.¨

[ Hearts ] ¨We definitely are. I wanna see your three elements!¨

Crimson shoats to them from the kitchen.

[ Crimson ] ¨Food is done!¨

Crimson comes out with a giant tray of food and puts it on the table. Plates of bread, meat, stir fry, stew, and liquor. The smell made both Anathea and Hearts drool a bit while staring at the food.

[ Crimson ] ¨This meal is on the house. Eat. This is my repayment.¨

Anathea takes a big gulp.

[ Anathea ] ¨I haven´t eaten a big meal like this… in forever…¨

[ Hearts ] ¨I´m not sure… if I could finish this.¨

Crimson lets out a small chuckle

[ Crimson ] ¨Eat till your fill.¨

Anathea takes her spoon and takes a bite out of the mushroom stew.

[ Anathea ] ¨Fuah~ so light and savory~¨

Hearts takes a piece of the niupai steak biting into it.

[ Hearts ] ¨oishii~ it's so juicy~¨

They both begin feasting on the meal given to them. Demolishing the meal rather quickly even with the amount given. Crimson looks at them with gratitude.

[ Crimson ] ¨Slow down. No one´s taking the food.¨

Anathea grabs a cub of the liquor that was on the side.

[ Anathea ] ¨Down the hatch!¨

Crimson looks at Anathea.

[ Crimson ] ¨You sure? That one is strong.¨

Anathea doesn´t listen and takes a big gulp of the liquor.

[ Anathea ] ¨Ah~ oh~ phew~ oh gosh¨

Anathea´s face began to flush as they became more airheaded.

[ Crimson ] ¨And she is drunk now.¨

Crimson laughs a bit. Hearts takes a sip of the other liquor on the tray.

[ Hearts ] ¨Oh, this one is refreshing. ¨

(Author´s Note: Hearts isn´t 21 but the drinking age is different in this world.)

Anathea says to Crimson.

[ Anathea ] ¨hic¨ ¨I´m not drUnk… I´ll have yoU know I am not a lightweight.¨

[ Crimson ] ¨Haha, you two continue eating, I´ll go set up your rooms.¨

Anathea plants her head on the table as she slumps. A loud thump was heard. Hearts finish the leftovers of the food.

[ Hearts ] ¨Well… I'll keep in mind not to give her liquor next time.¨

Hearts cleans up the table a bit then pokes Anathea´s head

[ Hearts ] ¨Hey. Wake up.¨

Anathea jerks her head up rubbing it.

[ Anathea ] ¨Augh… my head… did I fall asleep?¨

[ Hearts ] ¨For about 10 minutes.¨

Anathea gets up slowly.

[ Anathea ] ¨One sip of it and I got intoxicated. I guess he wasn´t kidding.¨

Hearts gets up also from her seat.

[ Hearts ] ¨Probably don´t drink liquor again next time lightweight. Especially a strong one.

Anathea gets a bit angered.

[ Anathea ] ¨Hey! I´m not a lightweight!

(Author´s Note: She is.)

They both make their way into their rooms. Walking to the stairs and approaching their rooms.

[ Hearts ] ¨You can use the shower room they have first. I think it has a mini hot tub. It´s over there.¨

Hearts point to the room next to the inn rooms.

[ Hearts ] ¨It´s pretty late, you should get some sleep soon.¨

Anathea nods slightly.

[ Anathea ] ¨Right.¨

Hearts go into her room, and so does Anathea. Anathea walks into her room plopping onto the bed. Her hat falls off and she takes off her cloak.

[ Anathea ] ¨So tired…¨

Anathea gets up and out of her room, making her way to the shower room. Opening the door, going in. The hot tub made from strong wood had warm water with steam coming from it. To the side of the tub is a seat and a bowl. Anathea removes her clothes, dropping them onto the ground revealing her naked slim body. She takes a step into the tub, slowly enveloping herself in the water.

(Author´s Note: Fanservice shot)

[ Anathea ] ¨So warm~¨

Anathea´s body was fully covered by the warm water beside her head. She slowly dips her head further into the water.

[ Anathea ] ¨blublublbublu.¨

Anathea covers her nose down her head in the water causing bubbles to flow up. Time passes as she washes herself. Anathea comes out of the water, the water flows from her body. Anathea steps out of the tub, grabs one of the free towels for use, and begins to dry herself.

[ Anathea ] ¨So sleepy…¨

Anathea dresses herself in clothes. Simple clothes such as a white shirt and basic pants. Anathea exits the shower room, walking to her room. She opens the room to her door plopping down again on the bed.

[ Anathea ] ¨I wonder what our next actions will be…¨

Anathea soon drifts asleep quickly. The moonlight beams into her room from the window.