Chapter 188: Chapter 178: Annoying Constellations

Listen While Reading:

-----

I tried to tell the truth only once, and these two got all scared. They immediately thought it was some sort of trap and got all nervous, thinking the Constellations had some sort of ambush there prepared against us. Do they have to be so paranoid about it? I also dislike and do not trust most Constellations, but there are seriously some good guys out there. You have to search really hard or get lucky to find them, though.

“In a month, you say...” My brother stared into my eyes. “Alright, I’ll trust you for once. You’ve helped me so much since you woke up. And I have to be honest; without you, we would have never been able to defeat Uroboros, even less what Heisenberg transformed into.”

“Hmm… That’s right, we owe you that much at least.” Fenrir nodded. “You’re strong, brat.”

Being recognized by the protagonist and Fenrir felt so strangely awesome. It was like one of my dreams coming true. And how much they have changed as well. All the efforts, the fights, the suffering—everything felt like it was very worth it.

“Then?” I asked.

“We’re going, but...” My brother stopped my enthusiasm. “We need to rest! At least two weeks, or three.”

“You want to rest from all people?” I laughed a bit. “You, the one that is diving dungeons all the time?”

“L-Look, I’ve been a bit tired lately. I’ve been bearing with it all alone, but I kind of want to give myself some luxuries now.” He sighed. “And... well, I don’t want to screw over my relationship with Henrietta. So I want to spend some time with her and dedicate her a few days—at least, a week or two. Before we go back to the grind.”

“Aww! I knew you had it in you, big brother.” I cheered for him. “You two are so different, but together, you make a cute couple.”

“I shouldn’t have said anything.” He facepalmed, hiding his embarrassment.

“Though there’s a few things I need to do myself too,” I said. “One of them is exploring a certain dungeon that’ll appear later. I have an item the constellations gifted me that tells me when dungeons are opening, you see. The other is a promise I made with Hilda. I promised I would go to her village and help her raid the dungeon gate that destroyed it. Will you accompany me?”

“Of course. You don’t even need to question that,” he said. “But when are we going? And how far is it?”

“She used to live back in Texas,” I explained. “Yep, it’s a bit farther away, but we can go flying or something, right?”

“Texas, huh? That wasteland...” My brother sighed. “I used to think it used to be a normal state, but then when the apocalypse came, it was one of the states that were flooded the most with monsters and gates. The entire desert over there became a Dangerous Zone. Explorers sometimes go there to train and get resources where nobody else goes. But… Usually, nobody is there.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s quite a bad place, but it’ll be fun in a way, right? If it's so desertic, it’s like an adventure! Let’s see the positive side of it.” I smiled.

“Fine…” My brother smiled, kissing me over the forehead. “You’ve made a good friend. Hilda made those items for you, right? The armor and that gauntlet?”

“Yeah, she did! She’s the best.” I nodded. “I feel like I have to repay her.”

“Fair enough.” Fenrir nodded. “We’ll be going there then. In a week—hmm, a week and a half? Can she wait?”

“I suppose so.” I nodded. “And after that, another week of rest, and we move to the dungeon where you found Fenrir. Ah, this is so exciting! I love dungeon diving! ”

“Wait, you do?” My brother sighed once more. “You’re such a weirdo, haha.”

“Look who’s talking! Mister Edge Lord, that got the worst reputation in town." I slapped his stomach jokingly.

“D-Don’t call me an edge lord! I was not in the right place back then! I… I do regret a few of the things I did. They were unnecessary, yeah. But most of them were justified!” He protested.

“Yeah, yeah~ Don’t worry, your sister will always love you, even if you’re an outcast edge lord, big bro.” I giggled.

“I told you I wasn’t an edge lord! Tsk!” He clicked his tongue like one.

“You did the thing!” I pointed at him.

“I didn’t!” He protested again.

Fenrir could only laugh in the background as he saw us banter and talk. He seemed really happy. And honestly, I was. To go back to this normalcy, where I can just rant, banter, and enjoy my day with my big brother. It is all the reason why I’m fighting so much. And I think that’s also on my brother’s side.

…n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

After all of that sweet talk, I finally stepped out of my room. I wished I could have more time alone so I could assess all my gains. But there were people outside patiently waiting for me. Especially my friends. Not everyone was here, but a couple were.

“Anna!”

“You’re finally out! You know how annoying it was to wait for you to finish your talk with your brother?”

Annabelle and Baihe greeted me. The first hugged me tightly and adorably, and the second reprimanded me for taking too long talking with my literal brother. I can understand she missed me a bit, but does she have to be so rude about it?

“It’s nice to meet you too, Baihe, Annabelle.” I hugged Annabelle. “And did you have to be so grumpy over it?” I asked Baihe.

I noticed her arm was back. And the demon arm I had given her had turned into a small black ring. Well, that was Astaroth, I sensed he was asleep right now. Good for him, I guess.

“A-Ah, sorry. I was just so nervous.” She apologized, hugging me tightly alongside Annabelle. “I missed you, and I was worried. A-And I didn’t know what to do.”

“Calm down. I’m here. Do you have to be such a baby about it?” I giggled. “You know what to do. Help my brother; be with Annabelle. Train to become stronger, and do girl stuff too. You don’t remember doing anything before working at your family’s restaurant?”

“N-No, not really… Ah, well, I… I used to like K-Pop and Barbies. Weird combination, right?” She laughed a bit.

“At least it's better than me being obsessed over anime and being a total weeb because my brother infected me with his weeb disease…” I joked around, and Baihe laughed out loud.

“What’s “anime”?” Annabelle was a bit confused.

“You don’t know what anime is?!” Baihe asked. “You’re unreal, Annabelle. Alright, I guess we can spend these days binge-watching stuff at least.”

“Anything that can get our minds away from all the worries, I guess.” I shrugged. “How are you handling things so far, Annabelle? Has my brother been welcoming?”

“I-I’m fine…” She sighed. “I… Well, I did say my goodbyes to him back then, so I don’t have any regrets about Big Brother now. I do sometimes wish he could be here with us, but… I think he needs to rest.”

“I-I suppose...” I nodded. “I don’t know what to say honestly. But I want you to know that I’m here for you. You can stay here as long as you want. You’re part of the family.”

“Anna…” Annabelle’s eyes were already streaming with tears. “Thanks. I did stay for the last few days. But Scarlet invited me to live with her, and I think that’s what I should do. She’s my only big sister left, so we need to look for one another now. But I’ll come visit every day!”

“Hahaha, sounds about right!” I giggled, patting her head. “How’s Scarlet?”

“She’s been mourning a bit, maybe more than I did.” Annabelle sighed. “But she was fine. Whenever she sees your brother, she immediately lights up and gets all happy and coquettish again.”

“She’s really into your brother,” Baihe said. “How will he handle two girls?”

“I have no idea; let’s leave that to him.” I shrugged. “Alright, so what hour is it? Five PM? How about we binge-watch some anime? I’ll order some food, whatever you want.”

“Really?” Annabelle asked. “I can finally learn what this “anime” thing is!”

“I guess we can do that for starters.” Nodded Baihe.

“I can tell how much you missed her.” Jack stepped in. “I won’t disturb you while you’re with Anna. I’ll be off. Henrietta just called me, and I asked her for a date. She accepted right away, so I’m off, haha. Have fun, girls.”

“Have fun yourself!” I waved my hand as he quickly stepped out of the apartment, flying out of the terrace, resembling a blur of darkness.

Like that, we ordered food and started binge-watching anime with my besties. I had a lot to catch up on, so they happily told me what had happened so far. Scarlet was fine, as Annabelle told me. Kevin was busy because he recently entered a new dojo to learn more fighting techniques, finding his own lacking.

Sara has been handling her guild, which has missed her a lot, and she can’t come visit us as much as she wants. Hilda decided to stay in the city and bought herself a place to open a shop; she’s been busy dealing with that. Dimitri went back to his city after he healed his arm and got his fat paycheck. He was happy once he struck a good deal.

Henrietta has been busy as well, dealing with all kinds of things in the city; she’s a representative of the government in a way, due to her guild’s ties with it. She has been the one mourning the deaths of the two hunters, Hector, and Heckert, the most. Sepa had given the corpses back by sneaking inside my inventory and putting them out. Yeah, she can do that while I am unconscious.

And well, I also heard the Hunter’s Association Chairman of this city’s branch has been in a coma since the battle. Apparently, he went out to fight and opened an old wound by overexerting himself, so he has been in a rather grave state.

From what I remember, he was one of the strongest S-Rank hunters in the nation before he was severely wounded by a Demonic Human inside a dungeon. Since then, he has retired and become chairman. But back then, in the first year of the apocalypse, where everything was in chaos, he singlehandedly restored peace to almost half of America. Or, well, what remained of it?

He’s seen as much as a hero as we are now. And... it is a bit sad that he’s in such a critical condition now. I don’t remember anything from him in the novel. He was such an overlooked character that it never became important. But he protected the city after all. And I think that wound he has might have been caused by a Demon’s Curse.

And the only way those can be fully healed is with the power of a Celestial’s Blessing. Henrietta is more of a fighter, not a healer. But I am different… I suppose I should visit him tomorrow. Someone as strong as him is needed here. I can’t afford to lose another powerful person.

“Woah, so that’s an attack on giants? What a weird anime! So people don’t have powers and have to fight these giants out in the walls?!” Asked Annabelle. “And this guy… Even? He turned into one! Wow, I totally didn’t expect that!” She laughed ironically.

“Yeah, I mean, before all the superpower stuff happened, these kinds of fantasies were very fun. But now that everything has been normalized so much, I guess it comes out as bland.” I laughed.

“Then I’m going to show you one I used to watch.” Baihe quickly changed the anime to one named “Epic of Caterpillar”. I did hear about this one a bit.

It is about a person who reincarnates as a caterpillar in a fantasy world and eats monsters to gain powers and evolve into a fairy or something.

[The Cosmic Throne {Butterfly That Flies Across the Universe} says that you’re about to witness the best anime to have ever been created.]

[Prepare yourself to feast your eyes on its glorious animation!]

What’s gotten into her?

“Woah!” Annabelle really seemed to love this one. We were already at episode 8, and we have not stopped. “Put the next one in quickly! I don’t know what’ll happen to Kireina! Will she survive the Spider Queen after she absorbs the two other Emperors?! She looked super OP!”

“Hahah, we’ll see!” Said Baihe. She looked much more relaxed now that I was here. However, I also noticed Annabelle lifting her mood.

That’s good. Let’s enjoy normal things for once without having to worry about anything, even if for a few days.

[The Cosmic Throne {Primordial Dragon King of Frost} wonders if you’ll ever check the “Epic of Ice Dragon” anime next.]

[The Cosmic Throne {Dragon Princess of Heavenly Light} agrees with her beloved father.]

Who the hell is this guy now?!

[The Cosmic Throne {Maiden that Watches Over Nature} recommends “Brand New Life Online” to watch next.]

Huh?

[The Cosmic Throne {Emperor of the Blood Throne} says you should definitely watch “Vampire Summoner’s Rebirth”! Or he will personally come down to suck your blood.]

Why do Constellations know about anime?

[The Cosmic Throne {Queen of the Blazing Wood Dragon Throne} says you should check “Reincarnated With A Glitched System” for some top-notch GL.]

[The Cosmic Throne {Barbarian Queen of Black Diamond and Azure Seas} nods vigorously over her beloved wife’s recommendations.]

These Constellations are all popping out of thin air. And GL? What’s that? Girls Love? I-I am not sure I should watch that.

[The Cosmic Throne {Queen of the Underworld} says you should definitely watch “Reborn as a Ghost” at least once in your damned lifetime!]

[If you do, she promises she will not torture you and will only kill you painlessly.]

Go away!

-----