Chapter 11: Ominous Red MoonsRecepti Onist Pov

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  I run through the grass field near our house. It's my favourite activity. Soon I reach home.

  "I'm back," I shout.

  "Oh, welcome back, Recepti! Did you have fun pying out there?"

  "Yes, Mom! As always."

  "That's good. Now let's eat."

  We go to the living room and sit down on our chairs.

  "I'll never leave you!" I suddenly excim. "We'll always be together!"

  "Oh, that's so sweet," my mom gushes.

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  I run through the grass near our house again. Now I'm twelve years old.

  "I'm back," I shout.

  I get no answer. Oh, I'm sure Dad and Mom are still working. I wait for them until midnight. As I look out of the window, two red moons stare down upon me. A day passes. Then several days. And yet, they don't return. Soon, I have no way of denying the truth anymore. Hunters can die, and my parents are hunters.

  The red moons grow a little bigger.

  Now I must make a decision. Otherwise, I will starve to death. I need to find a job, and this pce, far from any civilisation, is certainly not where I can find one. I pack up the rest of our food and money and leave the house I always lived in.

  I travel the path along the intimidation stones and reach a town.

  Since my parents taught me a bit of dismantling, I go to the dismantling store. I enter. "Hello. How can I help you?" the clerk asks. "I would like to work here," I answer. "We have no need for errand girls," the clerk retorts. "No, I can do dismantling," I try to crify. "Sure, sure. And my grandma can outrun a healthy twenty-year-old. Get out. We don't need you," the clerk retorts again. "P- please," I plead. "No." I am shut down once again and thrown out.

  The red moons grow a little bigger.

  I try other shops. The same answer. Be it the smith, leatherworker, or armourer. They all reject me. Even when I beg the innkeeper to let me become the inn's errand girl, I get rejected. Now I only have one option. It's dangerous, yet if I starve, I'll die anyway. Becoming an adventurer. I make my way to the adventurers' guild and enter.

  "I would like to register," I say.

  "Huh, a twerp like you wants to register?" a deep voice behind me questions.

  I turn around. "Y- Yes. I w- want t- to register," I say with all my courage at the muscur man in front of me.

  "A twerp like you has no business in the adventuring trade."

  "B- But I need t- to!"

  "No, you don't. Now go out before I throw you out myself."

  "N- No!"

  "Haaah, it can't be helped." He sighs and grabs me by the colr, ignoring my struggles, and throws me out.

  The red moons grow a little bigger.

  Later, I try again, but every time, a person is blocking me. In the end, I have no choice but to adventure without a guild card. This means I have to sell everything at a lower price, and I always need to pay money whenever I enter the city.

  The red moons grow a little bigger.

  Luckily, I find children in simir circumstances to me. We ally ourselves. In the first few days, everything goes well. We pick up medicinal herbs that are near the path to sell them at pharmacies, never going deep into the forest to minimise monster attacks. We are barely able to pick up enough to sustain ourselves.

  Furthermore, in our free time, we do physical training. Soon, however, the first mishap happens. Someone in our group picks up an unknown herb. Shortly after, he dies from poisoning. When we ask the apothecary what it was, we're told it's a blood rose. Their thorns release deadly poison for anyone pricked by them.

  The red moons grow a little bigger.

  Another day, we are attacked by a pack of wolves, even so close to the path. More than half of us die.

  The red moons grow a little bigger.

  An ice storm forces us to seek refuge. We can't find refuge fast enough, and two children die from the cold.

  The red moons grow a little bigger.

  Forced by our circumstances, we get stronger, and soon we can hunt slimes and goblins. Still, there are casualties. In the end, I'm the only one left alive. When I turn fifteen, I am not happy. I am sad, wishing I had people to share the birthday with.

  The red moons grow a little bigger.

  Now, to prevent others from struggling as I once did, I become a guild receptionist. However, I am still powerless to stop the adventurers from making the kids go back. My words fall on deaf ears. Therefore, when my work is over, I find the rejected kids and give them tips. Tips, my comrades had to die for. Thanks to that, the causality rate is lowered significantly.

  I look up. Two giant red moons obscure the sky. Suddenly, as if coming alive, the moons look toward me. Everything around me suddenly becomes blood red, and I feel like I'm in a swamp of blood. A strong smell of lead permeates the air. I taste blood and hear the screams of my friends as they die one by one.

  Figures appear from the blood. Figures I identify as my friends. I desperately try to climb out. However, the blood doesn't let me. Arms reach out of it and pull me in. As if in quicksand, I sink deeper and deeper and eventually I'm submerged in the blood. The st thing I see is the moons and a mouth that wasn't there before. It grins with a deranged smile.

  Then I wake up.

  "It was just a dream," I tell myself. I remember st night. After reading her note, I ate the food before thinking about what to do. Finally, I decided to go home again. However, my clothes were blocked by a barrier, and I couldn't possibly go out in sleepwear. So I had no choice but to sleep here again.

  I push my upper body up and look beside me. There, Lunar Rabbit lies, her arms and legs sprawled out in an X. I look at her for a few seconds before silently standing up.

  "Good morning," I hear a sleepy voice behind me.

  I turn around and look at her. Her slightly open eyes reveal a red that makes me shiver. I hurriedly look away.

  "G- Good morning," I reply in a stiff voice.

  "No need to be so stiff. I won't do anything to you."

  I try to rex but fail.

  "Okay, nevermind. Doesn't seem like you can anymore." I hear a resigned sigh.

  "So, are you gonna get ready now?" she asks me. "It's half past seven."

  "What?! It's already so te? Oh, no!"

  I run up to my clothes and take them. The barrier had already disappeared somehow. I change my clothes right there, not minding Lunar Rabbit, who is curiously staring. Somehow, her focus seems to be directed at my bust.

  "I wonder how you couldn't convince them when you had two such big arguments," she says, but I don't understand what she means by that.

  Soon, I'm done changing. Seeing Lunar Rabbit still stare at my bust, I chuckle and say, "Don't worry. Yours will also grow bigger."

  Hearing me, she looks a bit worriedly at her own chest.

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  Luna Pov

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  But I don't want it to grow bigger.

  HidingInTheNovels