Chapter 16:

Apples! Just Exactly Rodan's Favorites!

White Nightmare


...

“They call me the White Nightmare... everyone calls me that.

But not for Roro and Nono, they always called me by my name.

And Roro was the one who gave me name, a beautiful name...

That’s right... I am Ruru Blanche.”

Ruru is staring into the quiet Red Forest. Low-level monsters are gathering around her, yet they do not charge nor attack her. They are sitting calmly, some are lying down, and some are seen like bowing down to her. It is as if Ruru was their queen. Ruru prefers to ignore them.

“Roro... the moment we stepped outside our nest, you knew this would happen, don’t you?” She spoke to one of the trees. She is about to mourn again, but just before her tears falls from her eyes, she smelled something familiar.

“This smell... I... I want it!” she said to herself while quickly rushing to the source of smell.

It was on the open road, where a cart full of fruits is passing by in the time of night. Ruru gulps a bit, trying to hold back her appetite. Behind that mask of hers, she is already leaking saliva.

“It’s my favorite fruit! It’s been awhile since I last ate a green apple. There’s one in that cart...!”

For a moment, Ruru thinks of assaulting the cart and take the fruits in there. But, she remembers her goal.

“No... I must not. I must hold myself. I don’t want bad things to happen again.

...”

Ruru looks into the sky, “I won’t eat one without Roro and Nono. I must find them first!”

...

..

.

Back into five years ago again...

Rodan was just about to enter his old room upstairs, only to found out that the door hinges were loss from its place. And when he pushed the door open, it fell.

“...We just got some replacements for doors yesterday, and now another door needed a replacement again? Sheesh, what did she do to it?”

As Rodan entered the room, he saw his room was dark. Not a single luminescent lamp was active. The only source of light was from the opened door just now. Rodan walked near the bed and saw Ruru was still sleeping. But when he looked closer, he heard her panting heavily.

“Bad dream?” he muttered. But when he stepped to the other side of the bed, he suddenly felt some sharp objects piercing through the soles of his shoes.

“—GYEKK! What the heck?”

When he checked those objects, he realized they were glass shards coming from one of the lamp casing on the wall. It didn’t end there, however. Rodan had a feeling that the rest of the lamps were also broken to pieces.

And he was right. He checked to every corner and noticed glass shards on the floor. All of his lamps in that room were destroyed.

“Aduh...” he rubbed the back of his head. He just remembered that the same thing happened back in the circus when she was rinsed in the scope of the spotlights. They were destroyed without her touching them.

“Ah, forget it. I’m going to stress myself this way. Gah, when will Ringo’s delivery arrive? I want to eat an apple now...”

Rodan decided to clean up the glass shards, which ate several minutes. But when he was sweeping the last pile, Ruru woke up.

“U-Um...”

“Oh, good morning, Ruru...” said Rodan casually while sweeping the floor. “Ah, please don’t get your feet down just yet. There are some broken glasses that must be removed.”

“Ah... I’m sorry,” she suddenly apologized.

“What for?”

“I did it, didn’t I?” she said softly. “I... I didn’t tell you about me being sensitive to lights. I’m sorry, Roro... I think I accidentally broke them.”

“Huh... You call that broken?! Well, it doesn’t matter. I was wrong to forget that trait of yours, Ruru. You’re sensitive to lights, huh?”

“Y-Yes... I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

“No need to say sorry, Ruru. If I said it is okay, then there’s no need to say sorry. Come on, then, let us head down,” Rodan said as he was just finished sweeping and had the shards dumped.

“Understood,” said Ruru.

Downstairs, Rodan found Nono lying down on the couch. It irritated him because he was using the entire long couch that Rodan normally uses.

“Oi, Nono! That’s my couch. How dare you use it for yourself?” Rodan stated casually.

“Hng...?” Nono responded as he forced himself to wake up.

“Aside from that, get cooking, Nono! Today’s your turn to cook!”

“Yes... yes... I’m going... yaaawn....”

Ruru watched as Nono went to the kitchen. “Um... Roro, is he going to be okay?” she asked.

“Yup, he’s one-million percent fine. Don’t worry about him, he’ll bring us food.”

When Rodan and Ruru sat down on the couch, Rodan just realized something.

“Oh, yeah... this may be late for me to ask, but Ruru... you’re quite fluent in human language aren’t you?”

“Um.. it’s not actually fluent, if you ask me...”

“Hm?” Rodan tilted his head a bit, not understanding.

“AH! I mean, you see, um... I can understand humans because... um... uh...”

Rodan frowned when hearing her stuttering, “Why is she looked like she was scared of me? Am I that scary?”

“Erm... I can understand human language because... I don’t know, I just... kind of able to.”

“What kind of answer is that? This kid...” Rodan’s eyebrows tilted for a moment. “But wait... if she can understand human language and speak so fluently, the only possible thing I can think of is that either she actually learned them when she was still a slave, or... she has the ability to interpret languages she doesn’t understand.

Hmm... I’m curious. Let me try using a different language and see if she understands.”

“Say, Ruru... listen to me!”

“Yes!” Ruru affirmed loudly.

Rodan took a deep breath and began speaking in a completely different language. What he was saying was that he adored green apples and how he wanted to find a heavenly land full of them.

“Yeah! Green apples are delicious! I also love them!” Ruru astonishingly gave her reply, which shocked Rodan.

“What in the world... tch, let’s try another language!”

For several times Rodan switched languages. But again and again Ruru showed that she could understand ALL of his words, even though he had changed for over twenty languages.

“Y-You... understand them all, huh...?” Rodan’s eyebrows scrunched up.

“Of course!” She replied smilingly, but soon, she realized what Rodan meant. She quickly covered her mouth. “I’m sorry!” she said while still covering her mouth.

“...ho... I see, now. It’s okay, Ruru. I’m just wondering,” said Rodan while stretching out his feet on the table.

“Hmm... so she actually has the ability to understand multiple languages. Most of the languages I used were from a faraway land in a wide archipelago where many delicious foods exist. Augh... now that I remembered that land, I wanted to go there and fetch some fresh fruits. Their fruits are superior than the ones in here... sigh...”

“It’s creepy, isn’t it...?” Ruru asked while looking down. “...How I could actually understand whatever people are saying... even though they were strangers.”

Rodan let out a long breath, “Huff... lookie here, Ruru. It’s not strange you can understand them all. In fact, that’s an amazing feat. Only little amount of people can be like you.”

“Really...?” Ruru slowly looked at Rodan’s face in hopeful expression.

“Absolutely, and in case you didn’t know, I am a polyglot, hu-hu-hu~” Rodan bragged. “Those languages I spoke were just a few of a MANY—*CRACK*”

Suddenly, the table broke in half due to the weight of his foot, shocking Ruru in the process. In the same time, Nono entered the living room with a tray on his hand. He nearly dropped the tray while staring emptily at yet another broken stuff.

“Oh... no...” Rodan said while sharing the empty stare like Nono. “My limited edition table...”

...

..

.

In that same day, Rodan and Nono decided to go into the city and buy some goods to repair whatever things that still can be repaired. They also wanted to restock resources as well.

Outside, Rodan and Nono were climbing on the cart front. Ruru watched as they rode them.

“—Ah, Nono, I guess I should stay home. I’m concerned for Ruru,” said Rodan while cancelling his step onto the cart.

“Well, that’s true, but... it is only you who understood repair materials, Roro. Remember when the last time I bought them? You were raging sky high because I bought the wrong material.”

“—Huh, well, that’s because you bought the expensive ones! You should reconsider our financial status, Nono...” Rodan retorted.

“Um...!”

“Hm?”

Ruru suddenly approached the two. “I... I can take care of the house. Leave it to me, Roro, Nono!”

“You sure?” Nono asked. Rodan was shaking his head aggressively, trying to convince her that she’s not okay alone in the house.

“Please say no, say no, say no, say no, SAY NO!”

“Hng!” Ruru nodded. “Leave it to me! Roro and Nono can go together! I will guard the house with every might I have!”

“Now I’m as concerned as Roro,” Nono frowned. “Last night was disastrous. What will she do this time? Burn the tree? I hope not.”

“Hah... well, you heard her, Roro. Get your ass on! Let’s go.”

“Bwah...........” Rodan let out a heavy breath, implying that he was reluctant to go. “Fine... let’s go.”

...

..

.

As they arrived in the city, they were strangely greeted and welcomed by the people in there. Even the guards were bowing down politely. They greeted both of them, but mostly, Rodan got most of the credit.

“Huh... the heck’s going on here?” Roro wondered.

“I’ve no idea...” Nono replied while sharing the same confusion.

“If it was you who were suddenly getting popular, I would believe it. But if it was me... I don’t think so. I’m no longer in my popular phase, you know?” Rodan replied.

“Do you think I’m ever popular, Roro?” said Nono while having a tear fell off his eyes.

Nono parked their cart just in front of the guild house. Nono remembered he requested something from the guild master. But the moment he was inside, he was welcomed. Many adventurers were looking at him in a blaring look in their eyes, impressed.

“What... is going on?” Nono scrunched his eyebrows in much more confusion.

“Well, well, well! If it isn’t the city hero, Norio!” said one of the adventurers praising him.

“Wait, what? Hero?” Nono confused.

“Yes, you’re on the hot spot, brother! Look!” another adventurer showed an article. Nono immediately took it and read the title.

GREAT HEROES!

THE NOTORIOUS RODAN ROUGE PROTECTED THE GREAT CIRCUS!

A MAN IN GLASSES CREATED A BARRIER, ALLOWING PEOPLE TO EVACUATE SAFELY!

“What the...?” Nono got perplexed.

“Hey, Norio! I can’t believe you’re so brave, man! Why not join the adventurers? I believe you’ll reach S-class immediately!” said another adventurer.

Amidst of the praising and compliments coming from everyone around him, there was a single person who was secretly watching through the windows from outside. He had an unhappy look in his face. He then went away and watched the large cart where Rodan was.

“Hm?” Rodan noticed the man. But the man turned away rudely and walked away. He was carrying a roll of paper in his hand. Rodan decided to ignore him.

...

The day was full of joy and full of calamity for Rodan and Nono.

In one side, Rodan was no longer treated as a criminal because he saved people and risked his own life to protect people. Nono was easily popular among the people in the guild house, since he was a regular visitor there and had friends in there as well.

But on the other side, Rodan was incredibly saddened by the fact that they were given multiple discounts for whatever they want to buy. Even though being discounted, he still had not enough coins to afford what he needed. He refused to use his gold coins.

...

As they went back home on their cart pulled by two horses, on the way, Rodan murmured to himself.

“How agonizing... we were given 50% discount for anything we want, but in the end, our cash was not enough. Even my wallet was too dry to buy something, sigh...”

“Why don’t you just use those gold coins, Roro?” Nono asked.

“No way! They will act as our emergency resources should things gone dark! We’ll use copper and silver coins for buying things in the city, Nono! No gold coins!” Rodan retorted.

“Sheesh, what a pushover. If the time comes, I will use them, okay?”

“Gotcha, but I doubt that time will come, he-he-he.”

But when they arrived, they saw another cart parked in front of their giant tree.

“Oi, Nono... do we have any scheduled visitors for today?”

“No?”

Rodan quickly jumped off their cart and checked that mysterious cart.

“—UNGH! Holy molly! This cart...!” he saw an apple symbol was painted on it. Nono followed him from behind and recognized the horses that were used to pull that mysterious cart.

“Marie and Larry...!” Nono said as he remembered the horses’ names. “Roro, can it be?!”

“Yeah, it’s her cart! That devious woman! Ringo Pumilia!”

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