[Luna POV]
As we proceeded towards the others, I looked around at the buildings that surrounded us. They seemed to be built bigger than what we’ve seen in the two previous cities and a lot of them had things that I could only think were for ventilation all over the roofs from what I could see.
“I wonder what this city specialized in?” (Luna)
“We haven’t been able to figure that out either. We only barely explored it at all yesterday and this is the only part we’ve seen, but from what we did investigate, this seems like the district where a lot of alchemy was performed and medicines were made.” (Velvet)
“Interesting. Have you guys found any interesting items or stuff like that?” (Luna)
“Some small things here and there, but nothing any of us can make use of. And even then, a lot of the stuff was either broken or so old it was useless.” (Velvet)
“Hmm.” (Luna)
After several more minutes, we walked onto a different street and several minutes after that, we reached the inner wall of the city.
“Over there is where we were staying last night.” (Velvet)
“It does indeed look like an inn or maybe a barracks.” (Luna)
“It has beds, so does it really matter?” (Velvet)
“Not really.” (Luna)
We entered the building and found the others sitting around a table with some old papers scattered all over it. Skadi was sitting at the head of the table with a frustrated expression on her face as she glared daggers at a piece of paper sitting in front of her. Soleil, Ophidia, and Mio were looking over different things. Soleil had several pieces of paper that had drawings of people, items, animals, and plants with a pensive look. Mio had some kind of…thing, in her hand, and Ophidia was organizing papers next to Skadi.
“We’re back.” (Velvet)
“Hey Velvet, big sis.” (Soleil)
“Good, Luna, come look at this please. I’m getting a headache trying to translate this.” (Skadi)
“Alright.” (Luna)
I walked over and stood behind Skadi and looked at the paper in her hands.
“Interesting.” (Luna)
“What is it?” (Skadi)
“A recipe for cookies.” (Luna)
“…” (Skadi)
Skadi then slammed the paper on the table and let out a long sigh.
“And here I thought it was some important document or something. Stupid old language with words that look the same as others.” (Skadi)
“Hey now, that is important, that’ll make some real good cookies.” (Luna)
“How good are we talking here nya?” (Mio)
“I won’t say on the level of something from a professional bakery or a royal chef, but better than something you’d find in any random home.” (Luna)
“Nya. You gonna make some nya?” (Mio)
“Later. I’m going to need to find some of the ingredients since I might not have some.” (Luna)
“That’s a surprise.” (Ophidia)
“It’s not that I don’t have something that could act as a substitute, but if I used that, then it’d be something completely different in the end.” (Luna)
“What are you missing?” (Skadi)
“It calls for something that I assume was only grown in this city. To me, the words say it’s a kind of coco bean, but I don’t know if there will be any still in this city or wherever the previous residents got them from.” (Luna)
“Well, this is a big city, so we can only hope.” (Soleil)
“Yeah. Oh, and by the way, most of the papers on this table are recipes for other stuff. Other than that, there are what I think are ledgers or some kind of registry.” (Luna)
“*Sigh* All that time I spent, and I mistranslated all of it. I thought most of these were some kind of code some military types used to use.” (Skadi)
“Well, they could also be some kind of hidden alchemy recipes, but since I don’t know alchemy above making basic healing and stamina potions, I wouldn’t really be able to gleam any secrets from them.” (Luna)
“Basic? Luna, the stamina potions you make are what would be considered highest quality.” (Velvet)
“I think that’s just due to the ingredients. And even then, the ones I hand out to people are the successfully made ones. I fail more than I succeed when making them.” (Luna)
“What ingredients do you use nya?” (Mio)
“Aside from the basic herbs, I also use some wyvern materials. I mean, what else am I going to use the wyvern stuff for? It’s not like I know how to make armor or weapons and aside from the meat I use for cooking, I have no idea what else to do with it. And no one say sell it, we already have more than enough money that we could literally live for probably a few thousand years before we have to worry about running out.” (Luna)
“Well, putting aside Luna’s nonexistent sense for material worth, shall we head out and look around the city more?” (Velvet)
Everyone else agreed to Velvet’s words and they all stood up at the same time.
“Let’s all meet back here in a few hours and share what we find.” (Skadi)
With those words, everyone filed out of the room, leaving me standing there alone.
“…Did I say something strange?”
{No, I think they were all excited to go out and loot whatever they could find.}
“If that’s the case then I can totally understand. It’s not every day you get to explore a completely abandoned city.” (Luna)
{You’re heading straight for that tower now, aren’t you?}
“You know it. If it’s going to be mine, I should at least get a layout of the place so I can figure out what I’ll use it for.”
{Are you going to collect any interesting kind of building you find and add it to your island?}
“If I was going to do that, then I would have been stealing buildings since the start of the journey. I have standards, one of which being that the place needs to be abandoned.”
{Ufufufu. So, if the places you thought were interesting were also abandoned, then you would have taken them?}
“Absolutely. By the way, I’m still on the lookout for any ruined or abandoned castles or forts. If I can’t make it work out for the final product of the island after its renovations later, then I’ll just place it somewhere else or repurpose its materials for the island renovations.”
{While I doubt you’ll need the materials, you could always place them somewhere else and we could use it as a vacation home.}
“True, but wouldn’t we just need to change the scenery of our home for the same effect?”
{Yeah, but there are places in the Divine Domain that you could never imagine in the mortal world that we can’t make our home look like.}
“I didn’t know that. Anyway, we can talk more about this at some other point. I have a tower to explore and an abandoned city to loot, I mean inspect for things that I can use for myself or the others.”
{Just say loot. It’s not like anyone will be mad at you for taking stuff if it’s all been abandoned for hundreds of years.}
“Then loot awaits me.”
Chaos Realm:
Grey: Oh, is this the first abandoned city Luna gets to loot?
Yeah.
Grey: Good for her. The first abandoned city is always the most fun.
Atmos: Now that I think about it, you did that a lot when you were a mortal. Though you also had a penchant for running into traps. I'll never forget that one time you were chased out of an old, abandoned temple being chased by a boulder.
Grey: For the record, I ran from the boulder for a bit, I could have destroyed it if I felt like it.
Atmos: Hehehe.
Order: Payto, come here.
Coming.
*Payto leaves the room*
Atmos: Hey Grey.
Grey: Hmm?
Atmos: I'm gonna hug you now.
Grey: What brought this on all of a sudden? Not that I'm complaining.
Atmos: Just seeing Payto and Order being all close and stuff. Not to mention Luna and Tamamo.
Grey: Wait, is this a roundabout way of you telling me you-
Atmos: No. I am not hinting at anything like that. I do not want a baby and I won't want one anytime in the near or far future. Do I want to be more intimate with you, yes, but I do not, in any way, want to have a kid.
Grey: I just needed to make sure. I'm not ready for that either.
Atmos: I know. That's not saying I won't change my mind one day, but for now or a few million millennia more.
Grey: Good to know. Now, about that hug.
Atmos: Get over here.
[Luna POV]
As we proceeded towards the others, I looked around at the buildings that surrounded us. They seemed to be built bigger than what we’ve seen in the two previous cities and a lot of them had things that I could only think were for ventilation all over the roofs from what I could see.
“I wonder what this city specialized in?” (Luna)
“We haven’t been able to figure that out either. We only barely explored it at all yesterday and this is the only part we’ve seen, but from what we did investigate, this seems like the district where a lot of alchemy was performed and medicines were made.” (Velvet)
“Interesting. Have you guys found any interesting items or stuff like that?” (Luna)
“Some small things here and there, but nothing any of us can make use of. And even then, a lot of the stuff was either broken or so old it was useless.” (Velvet)
“Hmm.” (Luna)
After several more minutes, we walked onto a different street and several minutes after that, we reached the inner wall of the city.
“Over there is where we were staying last night.” (Velvet)
“It does indeed look like an inn or maybe a barracks.” (Luna)
“It has beds, so does it really matter?” (Velvet)
“Not really.” (Luna)
We entered the building and found the others sitting around a table with some old papers scattered all over it. Skadi was sitting at the head of the table with a frustrated expression on her face as she glared daggers at a piece of paper sitting in front of her. Soleil, Ophidia, and Mio were looking over different things. Soleil had several pieces of paper that had drawings of people, items, animals, and plants with a pensive look. Mio had some kind of…thing, in her hand, and Ophidia was organizing papers next to Skadi.
“We’re back.” (Velvet)
“Hey Velvet, big sis.” (Soleil)
“Good, Luna, come look at this please. I’m getting a headache trying to translate this.” (Skadi)
“Alright.” (Luna)
I walked over and stood behind Skadi and looked at the paper in her hands.
“Interesting.” (Luna)
“What is it?” (Skadi)
“A recipe for cookies.” (Luna)
“…” (Skadi)
Skadi then slammed the paper on the table and let out a long sigh.
“And here I thought it was some important document or something. Stupid old language with words that look the same as others.” (Skadi)
“Hey now, that is important, that’ll make some real good cookies.” (Luna)
“How good are we talking here nya?” (Mio)
“I won’t say on the level of something from a professional bakery or a royal chef, but better than something you’d find in any random home.” (Luna)
“Nya. You gonna make some nya?” (Mio)
“Later. I’m going to need to find some of the ingredients since I might not have some.” (Luna)
“That’s a surprise.” (Ophidia)
“It’s not that I don’t have something that could act as a substitute, but if I used that, then it’d be something completely different in the end.” (Luna)
“What are you missing?” (Skadi)
“It calls for something that I assume was only grown in this city. To me, the words say it’s a kind of coco bean, but I don’t know if there will be any still in this city or wherever the previous residents got them from.” (Luna)
“Well, this is a big city, so we can only hope.” (Soleil)
“Yeah. Oh, and by the way, most of the papers on this table are recipes for other stuff. Other than that, there are what I think are ledgers or some kind of registry.” (Luna)
“*Sigh* All that time I spent, and I mistranslated all of it. I thought most of these were some kind of code some military types used to use.” (Skadi)
“Well, they could also be some kind of hidden alchemy recipes, but since I don’t know alchemy above making basic healing and stamina potions, I wouldn’t really be able to gleam any secrets from them.” (Luna)
“Basic? Luna, the stamina potions you make are what would be considered highest quality.” (Velvet)
“I think that’s just due to the ingredients. And even then, the ones I hand out to people are the successfully made ones. I fail more than I succeed when making them.” (Luna)
“What ingredients do you use nya?” (Mio)
“Aside from the basic herbs, I also use some wyvern materials. I mean, what else am I going to use the wyvern stuff for? It’s not like I know how to make armor or weapons and aside from the meat I use for cooking, I have no idea what else to do with it. And no one say sell it, we already have more than enough money that we could literally live for probably a few thousand years before we have to worry about running out.” (Luna)
“Well, putting aside Luna’s nonexistent sense for material worth, shall we head out and look around the city more?” (Velvet)
Everyone else agreed to Velvet’s words and they all stood up at the same time.
“Let’s all meet back here in a few hours and share what we find.” (Skadi)
With those words, everyone filed out of the room, leaving me standing there alone.
“…Did I say something strange?”
{No, I think they were all excited to go out and loot whatever they could find.}
“If that’s the case then I can totally understand. It’s not every day you get to explore a completely abandoned city.” (Luna)
{You’re heading straight for that tower now, aren’t you?}
“You know it. If it’s going to be mine, I should at least get a layout of the place so I can figure out what I’ll use it for.”
{Are you going to collect any interesting kind of building you find and add it to your island?}
“If I was going to do that, then I would have been stealing buildings since the start of the journey. I have standards, one of which being that the place needs to be abandoned.”
{Ufufufu. So, if the places you thought were interesting were also abandoned, then you would have taken them?}
“Absolutely. By the way, I’m still on the lookout for any ruined or abandoned castles or forts. If I can’t make it work out for the final product of the island after its renovations later, then I’ll just place it somewhere else or repurpose its materials for the island renovations.”
{While I doubt you’ll need the materials, you could always place them somewhere else and we could use it as a vacation home.}
“True, but wouldn’t we just need to change the scenery of our home for the same effect?”
{Yeah, but there are places in the Divine Domain that you could never imagine in the mortal world that we can’t make our home look like.}
“I didn’t know that. Anyway, we can talk more about this at some other point. I have a tower to explore and an abandoned city to loot, I mean inspect for things that I can use for myself or the others.”
{Just say loot. It’s not like anyone will be mad at you for taking stuff if it’s all been abandoned for hundreds of years.}
“Then loot awaits me.”
Chaos Realm:
Grey: Oh, is this the first abandoned city Luna gets to loot?
Yeah.
Grey: Good for her. The first abandoned city is always the most fun.
Atmos: Now that I think about it, you did that a lot when you were a mortal. Though you also had a penchant for running into traps. I'll never forget that one time you were chased out of an old, abandoned temple being chased by a boulder.
Grey: For the record, I ran from the boulder for a bit, I could have destroyed it if I felt like it.
Atmos: Hehehe.
Order: Payto, come here.
Coming.
*Payto leaves the room*
Atmos: Hey Grey.
Grey: Hmm?
Atmos: I'm gonna hug you now.
Grey: What brought this on all of a sudden? Not that I'm complaining.
Atmos: Just seeing Payto and Order being all close and stuff. Not to mention Luna and Tamamo.
Grey: Wait, is this a roundabout way of you telling me you-
Atmos: No. I am not hinting at anything like that. I do not want a baby and I won't want one anytime in the near or far future. Do I want to be more intimate with you, yes, but I do not, in any way, want to have a kid.
Grey: I just needed to make sure. I'm not ready for that either.
Atmos: I know. That's not saying I won't change my mind one day, but for now or a few million millennia more.
Grey: Good to know. Now, about that hug.
Atmos: Get over here.
