Chapter 341

341 – A Time for Growth #1

The day after receiving a pile of documents at Hippolyte’s office.

I had set aside all my time today to explore the land.

It suddenly occurred to me that wandering alone might get boring, so I also visited Luna’s cottage early in the morning to check if she was still mad at me.

Ding, dong—.

After ringing the bell in the yard and no one coming to greet me, I began to wonder if she had gone out. However, the sounds from inside suggested she had merely ignored it.

Is she busy?

Then, in the first-floor workshop when the door finally opened, I witnessed an unexpected scene.

Swoosh, swoosh—.

“Landlord! I’m also packing this—!”

“Yeah, put that in the bundle…! I’m taking everything I can—!”

And there it was—Luna packing her belongings into a large bundle. Could she be getting rid of things she’s collected?

No, Luna liked laying things out or stacking them; she wasn’t one for cleaning or organizing. Thus, my mind naturally came to one conclusion.

It seemed Luna was packing to leave the city. Luna was leaving without even telling me?

Why?

Although I asked myself, far too many possibilities came to mind, each being a reason why Luna could leave me without it feeling odd.

“Luna, no!”

In my shock and confusion, I ended up yelling.

I then rushed toward the bundle she was packing, pulling out whatever I could find inside.

Seeing food supplies for a few days and extra clothes in the bundle confirmed my suspicion—Luna was indeed preparing to leave.

“Luna, no—!”

“What is it, Hassan? What are you doing?”

Luna looked at me with surprise, then her brows furrowed in anger.

“Hassan, what are you doing? Why are you removing what I struggled to pack? I carefully arranged everything in order!”

None of that mattered to me now.

“Luna, you’re leaving the city, aren’t you?”

“….”

The way Luna slowly opened her eyes at my words, without answering, made it clear my suspicion was correct.

After glaring at me for a while, she finally replied curtly.

“Yes.”

“I’m leaving Sodomora.”

My vision went dark. My limbs felt numb, my heart pounding as if I had caught some terrible illness.

It felt like if I didn’t do something immediately, the ground beneath me would collapse, sending me into an endless abyss.

“Luna, I’m sorry! Please don’t leave me!”

Clutching her waist, I buried my face into her soft belly.

“Hyaak—!”

As usual, her revealing outfit left little coverage. Her belly, exposed to the world, was white, soft, and warm.

If I were to lose this softness that belonged only to me, I wasn’t sure if I could bear it. The reason I had become a capable silver-tier adventurer, and even resolved my existential doubts, was all thanks to Luna.

The thought of her leaving the city because she was fed up with me was unbearable!

“Luna, don’t go! I’m sorry!”

“Belly, belly—it’s itchy! Your beard—stop it! This hurts! Let me go!”

The thing that had once been only mine, this softness, felt like it might slip away forever if I let go. This sense of loss only fueled my desperation.

“Luna, don’t leave! I’m sorry!”

“Belly, it hurts! Beards—didn’t you shave? It itches! Put me down!”

Luna flailed, trying to escape my grip, her limbs thrashing about as she struggled to be released. Seeing her fight so hard to get away made me sadder.

Was she so tired of me that she wanted to leave this badly? Annoyed, I extended my tongue and licked her belly button.

If I couldn’t have her, at least no one else would.

Plop.

“…Ack! Let go, you idiot!”

“Alright. I’ll put you down.”

Eventually, I had no choice but to release Luna’s waist. In return, I bundled her tiny frame into the large bag as if to carry her away with me.

“Let go of the landlord, thief! All black-haired men are thieves! I won’t let you steal my new friend too!”

Then Doris, the nymph of honey water, started hitting me with her hands and feet.

“That’s just like what you tried last time—stealing Kore by putting her in a sack! This Doris knows your plan! Stop this now!”

Her relentless attacks hurt more than I expected, forcing me to abandon my attempt to shove Luna into the bundle.

Swoosh—

Finally, Luna slipped out of the sack.

“Hassan, idiot. Anyway, I’m leaving Sodomora.”

“That’s right! This Doris and I have decided to embark on a long journey. You can’t follow, black-haired man!”

Luna and Doris seemed determined to leave Sodomora. The thought that I would have to let Luna go filled me with melancholy. But noticing my gloom, Luna’s furrowed brow softened slightly.

“However, I’ll be back in a month. I’ll come back from Ideope.”

“So, you’re not leaving forever?”

“That’s right!”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was going to tell you later, but Hassan wouldn’t even listen to me. Instead, you just started bothering my belly with your scratchy jaw—!”

Luna rubbed her reddening belly, which did indeed seem sensitive and a bit sore.

But learning that Luna wasn’t leaving this city or me for good made me incredibly relieved.

“Why are you going to Ideope?”

“I’m going back to my hometown to take the test to become a superior voodoo priest. I’ve got a lot more to learn.”

“Is that so?”

I thought about how Luna had greatly improved her skills during recent battles against monsters. Without her, we would have struggled in many of those fights.

She wasn’t like Hippolyte or Elfride, capable of overwhelming force alone, but in party hunts and group battles, her ability to generate various factors was incredibly valuable.

One could say she was a kind of powerful crowd controller, with potent CC abilities.

I calmed my initially anxious heart and asked Luna,

“So, what’s the benefit of becoming a superior voodoo priest?”

“I’ll be able to learn the nocturnal sorceries I couldn’t before! I’ll learn strong and terrible curses!”

“Ah.”

So it seemed that by advancing to a higher rank and awakening new abilities, she could learn more sorcery. The details must be like that.

But I hadn’t realized that Luna had such a strong desire for self-improvement. Ideope was quite a long and difficult journey.

In my heart rose a desire to tell her that I liked her just the way she was, and she didn’t need to go.

But I didn’t want to be the kind of boyfriend who would hinder her growth out of selfishness.

Perhaps sensing that, Luna continued in a calm and serious tone.

“Hippolyte and Elfride are both amazing and strong girls, right? Hassan will surely become an impressive man once the shrine is built. But I feel like I’ll be left behind if I stay as I am.”

“Luna, no one thinks that.”

“But I do—I’m sure if I keep this pace, I’ll fall behind regardless of how hard we both try. So, I want to train myself.”

“So, that’s why you learned things from Nemea, right?”

“That’s not enough. This time, I’ll return to Ideope to learn the sorcery they teach only the daughters of the deep and ominous night!”

Just by the long name, I could tell it wasn’t ordinary voodoo. Powerful sorcery, indeed.

I imagined Luna in the middle of the night, nailing straw dolls onto trees. Well, it must be potent.

At that moment, Doris added with a chuckle.

“The landlord is said to be learning the bed-warming techniques of the Mongmas! She’ll surely become a strong sorceress, scaring off those foreign-eared troublemakers and beastly Amazons alike—.”

“Shh, quiet, Doris!”

“Ahh—!”

Luna quickly clamped her hand over Doris’s mouth mid-speech. Although Doris wriggled, Luna covered her face and said calmly, trying to hide her embarrassment.

“Anyway, it’s settled. It might take a month or, at most, two months….”

“Should I come with you?”

I was eager to join Luna on her long journey. However, she shook her head.

“No, there’s no bundle you can fit into. All I’ll bring is what can fit inside this luggage.”

The bundle Luna pointed to with her finger was far too small for me to fit in. It seemed like Luna intended to travel lightly, leaving many things behind.

“Also, Hassan will be busy building the shrine and other things soon. I don’t want to be a bother.”

Luna’s resolve was firm. Was a month or two away from me really no big deal for her? Reflecting on how she had impressive willpower and perseverance, it wasn’t surprising.

She came alone to a distant land to revive her home island that had been cursed, and despite poverty and hunger, she survived by boiling grass roots and tree bark.

With such resilience, cutting emotional ties must be as easy for her as for a UDT warrior enduring basic training.

Still, the thought of not seeing Luna for a month or two made me a little sad already.

Is this how soldiers leaving for duty and their lovers feel?

“And I’ve already talked to Hippolyte and Elfride. When I come back, we agreed to compete fairly. So don’t let them get a head start, Paranoi—.”

“Understood…!!!”

“d*mn, you surprised me!”

I spat an involuntary swear at the sudden movement from behind me as Paranoi casually stepped beside me.

“This righteous judge Paranoi shall oversee a fair decision over the mistress of this harem…!! Until Miss Luna returns, with the fiery eye of hell, I will make sure no woman crosses the starting line early…!!”

Though I’m clueless about the details, it seemed an agreement of some kind had been made between Luna, Hippolyte, and Elfride while I wasn’t aware.

Judging with Paranoi as the referee, however, made me a bit uneasy.

“So, when exactly will Miss Luna be departing…?”

“Soon, but I won’t tell you when or where I leave. Receiving farewell might make me feel sad for some reason. So, I’ll slip away quietly and stealthily like a thief—.”

“Since that’s the case, please leave me out of this, Hassan—.”

Luna pushed me out of the cottage, saying she needed me to clear the place for packing.

As I left the cottage, still dazed and reluctant, Luna handed me a small scroll.

“Read it later tonight. Don’t show it to anyone else—just by yourself—.”

Seeing how flustered she was explaining seemed to indicate that it contained something significant and personal.

…

In the end, Luna disappeared in the afternoon. She had left without warning, without even saying a proper goodbye.

“She really left.”

Alone in the now empty cottage without Luna or the nymph Doris, an indescribable feeling of emptiness washed over me.

In this world, there were no smartphones or internet, making it difficult to keep in touch when separated by distances.

Would she safely reach Ideope across the sea?

I lay there staring blankly at the ceiling, feeling not so much sadness but confusion from the sudden and unprepared departure.

Rustle—.

The moonlight from the dual moons lit up the second floor of the cottage through the window. The homely atmosphere of the house filled with my belongings brought back old memories.

Luna and I had built this cottage together.

There were times when we had to climb on the roof to repair leaks during the rain. And the times when we filled the house busily with furniture.

The joy on Luna’s face when we installed the plumbing and created the bathroom. Together, we tended the garden and chased away ants.

Her giggling voice every night while brushing her teeth still rang vividly in my ears and eyes. And now, I lay here alone, wondering how it had come to this.

After all, Luna was always here in the cottage. Even when I was away on missions or briefly separated during the arson trial, she was always here.

I imagined what she must have thought during the lonely nights while looking at the ceiling.

I didn’t know. To console the slight heaviness in my mind, I reached into my pocket and found the scroll Luna had given me earlier.

I unfolded it.

The uneven handwriting.

The scroll smelled of mint, a scent Luna favored.

…

---