35 The Underworld

Rocks, dust and the smell of oil permeated through the area.

Beyond the levels of rocky cliffs and bright orange ores that released hints of heat from them, the sounds of metal hitting against similar materials echoed repetitively.

"Everyone! That should be all of them!"

"Thankfully that's over… my arms are killing me…"

A man with dirt-stained clothes rubbed his right shoulder and started to move it into circles trying to release the tense feeling he had.

Beside him was a middle-aged man with gray hair and unkempt facial hair of the same color, copying the actions of the person next to him.

"Mr. Oleg, I saw a few more monsters runoff. Shouldn't we chase after them before they cause any potential harm?"

"Hmm…"

Oleg tapped the pickaxe he had in his hands and stared in the direction one of his allies pointed to.

Noticing some movements in the distance he stopped looking and began to clean up the bodies the monsters left behind.

"No, it's fine. Two people already dealt with them while we were wrapping things up here."

"Two people already did it?"

The man took a glance at the space Oleg looked at and just saw darkness pass the empty and broken down structures this abandoned town had.

Seeing how Oleg was so nonchalant about it, the man decided not to think about the issue anymore and just help his team move some of the bodies.

'There's been more monsters coming in bigger batches recently…'

Pushing the body of a monster that had similar properties to a Silvermane Guard to the end of the street, Oleg began to wonder how they should move forward with this.

"Master! We got the rest of them."

After musing about the situation for a bit, Oleg noticed that two people had come out of the dark alleyway he looked at previously.

One was a man with bright red hair tied in a small ponytail. He waved his arm around which can be a bit eye-catching to some people considering the shape and form it had.

Which was that it was entirely made out of metal.

Right behind him was a woman with long purple hair and matching purple eyes. She was also eye-catching since she carried a large scythe on her shoulder.

However, it seemed that she was fed up seeing how her face scowled in place following the guy in front of her.

"Welcome back Luka and it seems like Seele over here…"

"This guy almost gave me another damn headache."

"Haha, I just wanted to see if I can defeat more monsters than you in that short timeframe."

"Don't bring me into your idiotic games."

Seele clicked her tongue after hearing what Luka said while the person in question awkwardly rubbed the back of his head and looked at Oleg for help.

"Alright, that's enough. Let's head back and report our findings back to Wildfire and tell the leader about the growing corrosion these past few days."

Oleg clapped his hands together and the two stopped their arguing after listening to what he said about the corrosion.

"So it was true…"

"Yeah, judging by the amount of monsters roaming around right now. Your report from back then was very helpful."

"Thankfully we dispatched them before any casualties happened but the amount of medical supplies we have might not be enough for the future."

"That's true… considering the vagrant issue in the mines, more and more people are getting injured." 

Seele clenched her fist after learning more about their current situation and felt a strong itch to do something about it.

But she had no idea what to do, so waiting for orders from the leader is the best thing she could do right now.

"Well, we actually got some new medical supplies just recently."

"When did that happen?"

Two pairs of eyes immediately landed on Oleg after hearing what he said to which he chuckled, finding their reactions amusing.

"It came from one of the people Sampo brought with him."

"The people that sketchy person brought with him…. Are you sure we aren't getting scammed?"

"Are we sure we can trust people like that…"

Luka and Seele had skeptical looks after finding out who gave them the apparent supplies and Oleg felt a bit hopeless but understood their doubts.

"Well from meeting the person who gave the supplies, I feel like we should be fine. Consider it a gut feeling."

"I don't know if something like a 'gut feeling' is enough for a thing like that."

"Don't mind it too much. Plus we didn't get it for free, the person in question asked for our assistance in providing information on an object called a Stellaron."

"A Stellaron?"

"It's a bit of a long story but just know it has some connection to the Eternal Freeze affecting the surface."

Taking in those last few sentences, the two were even more curious as to what this object was.

The three continued to walk for quite some time before they eventually reached the main town where the majority of the people in the Underworld lived—Boulder Town.

As the three passed through the entrance, Oleg spoke of wanting to meet with the leader but noticed that a crowd of people, the majority children, were grouping up near an open spot in the middle of town.

"What's going on.."

Seele felt curious after seeing a scene that was not often made during their daily lives and quickened her steps to see what it was.

Luka followed along as he was also curious while Oleg squirted his eyes in the distance to see what was happening.

He saw a glimpse of short purple hair and immediately thought of the man he met just recently.

"I wonder what he's doing."

Passing by the growing crowd Seele and Luka eventually made it to the front where they noticed a bunch of children sitting down and impatiently waiting for the person in the middle to do something.

"Now what should I show next… Anyone want to recommend something?"

"Me! Me!"

"Ah! I have something!"

The shouts of children began to grow as the person in the middle tapped the bin he was sitting on.

"How about the little lady over at the front."

"Yes! Hook has been waiting for this!:"

Hook waved her small arm around as she was ready to answer in case Yuuto called out her name.

"Since you said that you've been on adventures before, can you share how you do them?"

Yuuto looked at the shining eyes Hook had as she couldn't wait to hear his answer. He turned quiet for a while before releasing traces of white mist from his hands.

"Of course! Well to first start off an adventure, you would need to find out where you're going right?"

The mist around Yuuto began to converge near the top of his hand before it formed into a small ball. 

Details showing small lines representing where the land and oceans met, Yuuto let the small orb he created float around.

This continued as sculptures of planets, floating rocks and even specks of ice representing stars began to spread around Yuuto, mesmerizing the crowd.

"We travel to different places in the hope of learning more about the world and by doing so we go on a lot of adventures."

Yuuto spoke and placed his hands near each other and discharged a lot of mist which caught everyone's attention off the small sculptures floating around.

"To go on these adventures we use something called the Astral Express to guide us."

A long rectangle began to form before it moved and added detailed grooves and lines in an attempt to create what the Express looked like.

'It's a bit hard but I think I did a good job.'

Yuuto felt proud before letting the mini Express model move around in the air.

It floated around, passing by the spectators and children whose eyes shone seeing the object fuel their imagination on what they thought occurred in Yuuto's stories.

"Wah! What is this circle thing!"

"That is called a planet. It's an object in space you're currently living on."

"How about this small thing?"

"That is a star, they float above us and can be seen in the night sky."

"The sky…"

One of the children looked up and instead of a bountiful sky, all he saw was dust and a rocky surface covering the tall ceiling above him.

Yuuto awkwardly rubbed his head seeing the reaction of the boy and walked up to him. He squatted down and patted him on the head and showed him a kind smile.

"Don't worry, my friends and I are working with Wildfire to help show you some things you've never seen before. So just wait alright.:

"Really?"

"Of course~! You already know that some of the older brothers and sisters are doing their best so just believe in them."

"Okay!"

Yuuto playfully ruffled the boy after seeing his expression change and went back to his seat.

Sitting down, Yuuto noticed the presence of a few people and saw Seele, Luka and Oleg standing off to the side.

He also felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and decided to end his show for today.

"Sorry kids but I think that would be the last story for today." 

As soon as he said this, waves of boos and pleas for more began to go around however he just clapped his hands to stop all the noise from getting any louder.

"Alright that's enough. Don't be too sad since I'll do another one of these tomorrow. But remember to share some of your stories in exchange just like how we did earlier."

""YES!""

Yuuto waved his hand to the various children and adults walking away while greeting the parents who gave their thanks for doing this little show of his.

"Mr. Oleg, it's nice to see you again."

"I'm happy I can say the same."

The ice sculptures around Yuuto crumbled into dust and sparkles of ice fell onto the dirt ground. Meeting Oleg close up, he gave him a handshake and talked about a few menial things.

"I didn't know you were a person that put on shows like that."

"Actually I was waiting for you to come back since I had a message that needed to be relayed. It just so happened that a few kids wanted to play so I entertained them a bit."

"I understand. Can you tell me what type of message you have?" Oleg sharpened up and waited for Yuuto to speak. 

"My friends went ahead and assisted some members of Wildfire to ease the vagrant issue but they need a person in power to help mediate between the two sides."

"I'm guessing the miners are still angry with the harassment."

"I'm not too sure about the details but they said they needed you to come along."

Oleg crossed his arms thinking deeply about the issue and Yuuto stood quietly waiting for his response.

As he was waiting Yuuto took out a small package from his pocket and inside was a few sticks of jerky he bought beforehand.

Taking a bite of the jerky, he noticed Luka staring at the snack in his hand and swore he saw his mouth salivating.

"Want some?"

"Can I?"

"Go ahead."

Luka took the snack Yuuto offered and hummed happily when he took a large bite from the jerky.

"Do you want some too?"

"No it's alright…"

Seele rejected his offer and Yuuto shrugged his shoulders and ate the jerky with Luka.

"I will go but I need to bring a quick report back to the headquarters."

"That's fine with me. I will help ease the miners but a person in power needs to be there."

Yuuto bit more into the jerky he had and offered Oleg some since he was also staring at the snack he had.

The two began to talk while eating, making Seele who rejected his offer a bit regretful after smelling the aroma coming off the jerky.

"If you're leaving, bring these two with you. They can help you communicate when I'm not there."

Seele and Luka snapped out of their thoughts with one thinking about the jerky while the other was savoring the food he had in his mouth. 

Oleg nodded at the two and they listened to his suggestion.

They had a good first impression of Yuuto after seeing him interact with the children of the Underworld so they didn't mind going along with him

Yuuto looked at his phone and saw the message he was sent and felt like he might need to rush over there much quicker.

He also looked at his surroundings for a bit before placing a brand new package of jerky on the bin he sat on before and told Oleg something.

"Before I leave, I should let you know 'that' person is here if you want to speak with her."

"....I will be sure to do just that."

"Don't be too harsh but show her the truth of the situation here."

"I was planning to do that anyway so don't worry."

Yuuto glanced at one corner of the alleyway and noticed some white fabric move before turning his head away.

"Alright my new friends! Let us go!"

"Yahoo! My bro!"

"...I think I might need to meet up with Nat after this…"

Seele rubbed the center of her eyebrows after hearing both Yuuto and Luka shout and wondered if she could just go ahead without following them.

"Don't act like that. Brighten up, you'll get wrinkles on your face if you keep frowning like that."

"Don't say another word."

Yuuto acted like he zipped his mouth and locked it with a key after seeing Seele frown even more but his lips trembled as he tried his best not to laugh.

"Here, just have a snack and relax."

He took a piece of jerky from the opened package he had and waved the food in front of Seele's face.

"Stop trying to tempt me wit—"

—GRRR

"...."

Seele froze in place when she heard a sound suddenly appear from nowhere and saw how the two were looking at her.

Her face reddened and turned her head away to stare at the front.

"She did give her breakfast to a kid who was waiting in line so I guess she didn't eat yet."

"Really? Then here have some. You need food to operate and you're part of Wildfire so energy is something you must have."

Contrary to her expectations, the two didn't laugh at her and instead urged her to eat while Yuuto gave her more sticks of jerky to have.

"Just eat it while we walk."

Yuuto smiled at her and turned his head to offer Luka some more as it looked like he was also hungry.

She looked at the food and bit into it, tasting the rich flavors it had, making her wonder when was the last time she ate something like this.

"...Thanks."

"...A tsuder–"

"Did you say something?"

A bit of bickering went back and forth between the two before they got used to what type of personality the other person had.

After leaving Oleg behind, Yuuto followed Seele who took the lead in directing where to go. Luka on the other hand wanted to ask him a question as he noticed something odd he did before they left.

"Hey bro, why did you put that package on the bin earlier?"

"Well…" Yuuto took a bit of time thinking of his answer. "There was a gray cat following me around so I just left it a bit of food since I knew it must have been hungry."

"Oh? I didn't even notice."