Chapter 36 - Nozomi’s delight

It didn't take long for Himari to heal up from her injuries, her natural recovery speed was high. Ernie didn't know if it was due to her becoming a sage or just her natural body's recovery speed.

Whichever the case may be, he was glad she was alright.

She wasn't even out for long, roughly five minutes.

Ernie sat with little Nozomi in his lap as she was playing with a scroll.

Her large black eyes were glued to the scroll as she tried to mimic the hand signs in it.

"So Nija completed her training as well huh? I'm surprised I didn't see her yet."

Ernie said as he rubbed Nozomi's soft brown hair.

While Himari was out, Ernie was conversing with Hina about their training.

"Bashira told her she had natural talent for becoming a sage which is why she learned faster than we did. But, she likes to slack off sometimes and mess around."

Himari shook her head and looked over at Ernie and Hina.

She puffed her cheeks.

"You only one because I wasn't ready! If I transformed, i'd be able to block your attack."

She pouted.

Ernie chuckled a little bit. He didn't even manage to unleash his full strength so he wasn't too worried.

"A loss is a loss. Now, about that bet."

Himari's face changed as she realized they made a bet and she had to do whatever he asked of her. Her expression continued to distort as he could only imagine all the horrible things he might have her do.

Seeing that calm smile on Ernie's face gave her goosebumps.

A minute later, Himari was on the floor kneeling as she bowed to Ernie multiple times.

"Long live Ernie The Great! Long live Ernie The Great! Long love Ernie The Great!"

Himari kept chanting over and over again as she constantly bowed to Ernie.

Ernie couldn't help it and started laughing, while Nozomi joined in with him.

Hina was just shaking her head at his foolishness.

"Alright, you can stop now."

Ernie told her as he was just dying of laughter.

Rubbing his eyes, he got rid of the tears that were forming. Even when he tried to keep a serious face, he couldn't help but laugh again.

Hina pinched him causing Ernie to shout in pain.

"What'd you do that for?"

"You're acting like a child!"

"Geez, a man can't have fun once in a while."

Ernie complained.

"You are going to make a miniature you, look at Nozomi!"

Hina told him as she pointed to the small little girl standing tall in front of Himari with her hands at her side. She held her head high as if she were the one who was being praised.

"Hehe, what can I say?"

"Anyways, what's this about a transformation?"

Ernie said as he looked towards Himari.

"It's where we use the senjutsu chakra we have created in our body, it empowers our body. There are many benefits to using this as not only does it increase our senses and all our attributes, it also allows us to use new jutsu that we wouldn't be able to otherwise. I'm telling you Ernie, if I was in Sage Mode you would not have won!"

Himari told him as she refused to believe she would lose to Ernie in her transformation.

"Maybe you should have used it at the beginning."

Ernie commented.

"She couldn't. She used most of the chakra she gathered fighting Nija yesterday so she never had time to create anymore."

Hina said.

Himari nodded to her sisters words.

"I was just too excited and couldn't control myself, that's why we ended up fighting. Still, let me gather some more and we can duel again."

Himari told him.

"I see… well maybe next time. Today I need to go around and help the villagers prepare for the big move. There is a lot of work that needs to be done, and we don't have much time to do it."

Ernie told them.

"What can we do to help?"

Hina asked.

"We'll need to load a bunch of materials we harvested into a wagon for starters. Need to put food together as well, the money we've made overtime also needs to be stored and transported as well. All of these things will take a few days, but there are still important documents we need to take, and we need to draw up a path we'll take. One that will get us there quickly."

Ernie started checking things off one by one as he mentioned them to the girls.

"I will help everyone load the materials."

Himari told him.

"I can help with the food or creating a path. It will also give me time to learn a bit more about the villagers. There are a lot of new faces around."

Hina said.

"There are 639 people in the village to be exact, a lot of them are good hearted people who were just trying to get away from all the fighting. Others came here in hopes of protection, some came due to our fame."

Ernie explained.

"Oh, what's with that blue rose on your shirt by the way?"

Ernie asked as he noticed both Hina and Himari had it embedded into their shirts.

"Remember we talked about a clan symbol? This is what we came up with a while back, do you like it?"

Hina asked as she touched the symbol.

"It's interesting, but why a rose?"

"Well, it's blue because of all of our eyes, and the rose due to your eyes. When you use your reitgan, it's truly beautiful like a rose."

Hina responded.

"When do you plan to properly wed us? We aren't getting any younger ya know?"

Himari asked him.

Nozomi's ears perked up when she heard that. Her mouth opened wide as her eyes seemed to grow.

"Uncle Ernie's getting married!?"

She shouted.

"Calm down Nozomi!"

Ernie told her as she jumped up and down and kept saying it over and over.

She didn't seem to hear his words as she ran out of his house.

"Uncle Ernie's getting married!"

Ernie shook his head as he could still hear her voice. She was planning on telling the entire village.