NOVEL NEXT Episode 005: Dorthaunzee and We
We toured the main facilities first, and with each one, Svilran gave helpful descriptions.
For the <Dormitory>:
“This dorm has everything a dorm would have! Your room is stocked with basic items to make your life easier; it has some clothes, towels, and toiletries too! If you ever need something washed, it’s as easy as putting them in these washing machines. The dorm lacks a kitchen, however.”
Dorthaunzee felt grateful.
For the <Wishing Fountain>:
“This is a really cute spot! I personally love it. This is where we make wishes. It’s probably why you ended up here! Fainn and I are probably the only ones that can make serious wishes... Please don’t make wishes at this fountain... Just in case.”
"Maybe I'll come here often," Dorthaunzee conveyed.
For the <Observatory>:
“This is where we look for worlds and heroes! It’s a lot of hard work because of how complicated using the telescope is. Do you want to look through the telescope? Look, see that woman there? That’s Elma! Oh—Fainn, it seems Elma has met up with that world’s Hero!”
Dorthaunzee was very interested in both the telescope and Elma.
For the Portal:
“This is where we dispatch Heroes from! This is also where we collect them from... You’re a bit of a special case, Dorthaunzee, but should you join us, we’ll be able to dispatch you from here!”
She was starry-eyed.
Then we went to our house—
“This is where Fainn and I live? Hmm? No! Don’t make that face, Dorthaunzee! Fainn and I live together, but it’s out of necessity. We have our separate rooms and everything! Right, Fainn? We’re not doing anything that would make a nun disapprove, right?”
Finally, we wrapped up our tour by visiting the watermelon-producing jungle.
“Here in the Hero Hub, we currently grow one fruit—watermelons! Here’s a welcome melon, Dorthaunzee!”
The nun happily received the watermelon the size of her head and kept walking along with us as we looked around the jungle.
“I can carry that if you want, Dorthaunzee,” I said.
“It’s no trouble!” she conveyed, smiling with her eyes.
I had only just noticed, but she was walking pretty close to me. It was nice. Sometimes I would look at her lantern with child-like wonder, too. Svilran, meanwhile, was leading our group and proudly pointing at all the ‘hidden melons’ as she called them.
“Oh! There’s one—oof—“
“Hey, be careful, Svilran,” I said, having caught her after she tripped on a vine. “Keep an eye on your feet. You know the ground’s not even here.”
“Y-Yes! Of course!” she replied, red-faced. The fall must have scared her.
I helped her stand up straight as Dorthaunzee clapped by slapping her melon.
I chuckled and shrugged. “It’s a full-time job around these parts.”
“Faaainn,” Svilran whined. She playfully pounded on my arm. “Don’t make it sound like I’m a job!”
“You two get along,” Dorthaunzee conveyed, a ticklish feeling radiating from her.
I pushed her head away and kept her at a distance as I smirked. “Well, it wouldn’t be good for us to not get along.”
She kept swinging her tiny fist at me, but my arm was longer than hers. “Fainn! Stop bullying me in front of our prospect!”
“Why? This is funny. And look, Dorthaunzee thinks it’s funny.”
“Now, now,” Dorthaunzee conveyed.
Svilran broke away from me and ran to Dorthaunzee. “Miss Nun, Fainn is being mean to a former goddess,” she cried as she hugged her. “Admonish him!”
I looked on, straight-faced. “There seems there was some kind of reversal here...”
Dorthaunzee wagged her finger at me. If it wasn’t for her happy eyes and the feeling she was radiating, I would have thought she was actually chastising me.
“Dorthaunzee! Admonish him seriously,” Svilran said, giggling.
I walked past Svilran, flicking her nose as I did. “You’re going to tire out this woman with your antics, Svilran.”
“I don’t have ‘antics,’ Fainn,” Svilran snapped back. She marched behind me. “Fainn, I don’t have antics.”
Dorthaunzee followed us, still streaming her glee into our consciousness.
One hour later—
“This edge of the Hub is still so mysterious. I almost think I’m dreaming when I stare at it,” I said.
“I sort of wish we had a different scene to look at, but this is soothing.”
Dorthaunzee nodded along.
The three of us were sitting at the edge of the Hero Hub and were looking out into the sea that reflected the stars above. We couldn’t actually cross into the ocean, but the water could reach our feet, as mystical as it was.
“I want to be a Hero,”
Dorthaunzee conveyed.Svilran and I looked at her, the girl sitting between the two of us as she looked out into the distance.
“I want to help people, too.”
What she could convey—it was pretty limited. It was like there were hundreds of thoughts behind the one that made it through—that was what I got after being hooked up to her for a while.
“Well, if you want to join us,” Svilran said, “then we will gladly accept you! Right, Fainn?”
“That’s right...” I grinned at Dorthaunzee."So, do you want to help people with us?"
She nodded, smiling with her eyes.
“Welcome to the team, Dorthaunzee.”
“Oh, goodie,” Svilran said, clapping and celebrating. “I wonder if we’ll be able to pick up more missions?”
“Heh, I’m just glad the wish worked out.”
A wave of immense relief came from Dorthaunzee... Right. She had come to us wounded... She must have been through something rough... Of course, she would be relieved to have been saved... I studied her habit. I wondered if she thought her god had saved her. From my perspective, there was a pretty good shot that was the case, and if it wasn’t her god, then some Imaginal Will was looking out for her. I looked at the starry sky and was disappointed that there weren’t any other stars falling toward us.
