Chapter 28: An Object After Death (1)

Cheadle never hid her dislike for Hawke.

　　Because Hawke was once a "tomb raider" who roamed various ruins and tombs.

　And also because this "tomb raider" who she deeply despised and detested had actually taken away her most cherished childhood friend.

　　If that were all, it would have just been one thing, but this damned bastard had not only failed to bring happiness to her childhood friend, but had also caused her friend to bear the consequences that she should not have had to bear if not for him, at the cost of her life.

　　Cheadle always wondered why her best friend would fall for a man like Hawke.

　　So after that "incident" ended, she often felt a sense of injustice for her "close friend".

　　Now...

　　Despite having only met him once, her impulse to take Mo Yu away was something that Cheadle felt she couldn't suppress.

　　And the memories that surged in her mind were actively stirring her emotions.

　　This led to her being unable to control her emotions and blurting out her thoughts.

　　"Uhm."

　　Mo Yu was surprised by Cheadle's words, and for a moment, he didn't know what to say.

　　He could vaguely perceive that -

　　Hawke, Cheadle, and the mother of his predecessor who he had no memories of, must have all gone through something in the past together.

　　However...

　　Leaving aside the motives behind why Cheadle wanted to take him away, he didn't want to leave the temple for the time being.

　　The location was isolated and quiet enough to be a perfect environment for him to practice, so he didn't want to leave for now.

　　His current plan was to quickly consolidate his foundation of the "Four Major Principles," and then he would move on to master the two advanced application skills of "Gyo" and "Ken."

　　Only when he had reached this level would he consider leaving the monastery.

　　Even if he had to leave, he would never leave with Cheadle.

　　Who knew how many antagonistic enemies a Two-Star Professional Hunter would have?

　　Most of all, the Heavens Arena, where he could draw battle experience, was where he wanted to go in the future.

　　About this matter -

　　He had actually already planned this out. He just needed to wait until his nen skills were proficient enough, and then he could compete with the tower masters of Heavens Arena using only nen skills without using "Hatsu".

　　His reason for not using "Hatsu" was because he didn't want to expose his ability in public without value, and only using nen techniques allowed him to accumulate strength faster.

　　Cheadle naturally didn't know what was on Mo Yu's mind.

　　She looked at the silent Mo Yu and wanted to further explain that she was not joking.

　But her sense of reason stopped her from pursuing her thoughts further.

　　 Currently, her highest priority was not to take Mo Yu away from here, but to completely eliminate the "Nen Restriction" that could threaten Mo Yu's safety.

(TL/N: We kinda need help here. The "Nen Restriction" in the above quotes was literally translated to "Price of Power" but we have no fucking clue what that means, so we just guessed. Even our Chinese dude couldn't figure it out, but that's probably expected, cause he has no knowledge of HxH.)

　　"What I mean is-"

　　Regaining her composure, Cheadle spoke softly and in a mature tone: "The city I live in is very bustling and lively. If you have time later, you can come with me and stay there for a few days before coming back here."

　　"Okay, I've never seen a "big city" before in my life, so it'd be a good experience."

　　Mo Yu, with the assistance of his predecessor's memory fragments, expressed a look of anticipation and excitement at the right time.

　　Cheadle smiled faintly, then raised her index finger and said, "There is one more thing."

　　"Hmm?"

　　Mo Yu looked at Cheadle in confusion.

　　Cheadle then emphasized heavily, "Don't use honorifics with me in the future."

　　"..."

　　Although Mo Yu felt a little off, he chose to comply.

　　Afterwards-

　　Cheadle took the initiative to pick up a conversation and chat a while with Mo Yu.

　　Well, it was called a chat, but it was more like a one-sided questioning by Cheadle.

　　About things like...

　　"Has Hawke ever hit you?" "What does Hawke usually feed you?" "Does Hawk make you do odd jobs to make ends meet?" and so on.

　　He honestly didn't know how Cheadle was able to come up with so many questions.

She continued questioning him from morning until noon, without any regard for the significance of the matters at hand. Mo Yu could hardly bear it and, seeing that it was already noon, he quickly used "making lunch" as an excuse to escape from Cheadle's inhumane "care".

　　However, just as he got up, he was pressed back into his seat by Cheadle.

　　"You sit still, I'll do it." Cheadle said, in a tone of voice that did not allow any objection.

　　That strong and confident attitude made Mo Yu, once again, comply with her goodwill and sit still in his chair.

　　Cheadle, on the other hand, went straight to the kitchen.

　　"..."

　　Walking into the kitchen, Cheadle lowered her head slightly.

　　A gleam reflected on the lenses that concealed her eyes.

　　After a few seconds of silence, Cheadle raised her hand and pushed her glasses frame up lightly, before starting to cook.

　　Half an hour later.

　　The chimney on the kitchen roof gushed out a roll of black smoke, while a strong smell of burning came out of it.

　　"?"

　　Mo Yu looked at the black smoke mixed with a burnt smell emanating from the kitchen and in his mind flashed back to the confident expression that Cheadle had shown when she pushed him back into the chair.

　　A Two-Star Difficult Disease Hunter who specialized in helping people solve all kinds of difficult problems but couldn't cook?

　　It was a classic setting, right?