Chapter 129: Seeds of Confession!
The Sahns listened with solemn respect, some wiping away tears. However, grief did not suffocate the night.
Because even as a few wiped at their eyes, the drums resumed, low at first, then rising again, and the party refused to die with the story.
The celebratory mood persisted, and the feast continued long into the night, filled with toasts, stories, and shared meals.
Lizzie had already made three friends through gesture alone and was in the middle of demonstrating something with Betty that had an audience of young Sahns watching with wide glowing eyes.
Not far from that chaos, Eli sat apart. However, his distance was deliberate rather than detached, because his attention had not left her once, not since the boss fight, and Kurt noticed that too, though he chose, very wisely, not to comment on it.
Meanwhile, Jerry had surrendered to sleep before the second round of food arrived, and Sam moved through the gathering, letting the children touch her ears with obvious fascination.
As Kurt watched them all with a smile on his face, Zoro found him by the fire near the end of the night. He sat beside Kurt without preamble, looked at the fading ember, and spoke.
[Translation: They will remember you. All of you. The land will remember too]
Kurt didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he looked out across the village, and then back at the fire. "Tell ’em we’ll remember them also," Kurt said finally.
[Translated]
Zoro looked at him for a moment. Then he reached into the cloth at his waist and produced two small seeds.
They were dark-cased, the size of a thumb joint, yet they pulsed with life, thin lines of light threading through their dark shells like veins as he held them out.
Kurt took them, and they felt warm. Not just warm, alive.
The System chimed immediately.
[Unknown botanical specimen detected]
[Analysis: Twin Seeds — Sahn cultivation origin]
[Compatible with Host ability: Bloom F-Rank]
[Potential: Can evolve Bloom to A-Rank upon integration]
[Notice: Host’s current base stats are insufficient to access A-Rank techniques. Recommend holding until base stat threshold is met]
"Can I keep these?" Kurt asked through the System.
Zoro’s answer came back without hesitation. [It is the least we can do]
"Cheers." Kurt gave him a nod and closed his fingers around them.
***
At dawn the hellgate began to flicker and deactivate with a soft hum, which was their cue that the savannah dungeon was closing.
The team bid the Sahns farewell with warm embraces and promises to remember their hospitality.
Sam, who had grown particularly attached during their short stay, hugged several of the village women tightly, then some of the younger warriors.
Finally, she turned to Zoro, wrapping her arms around him in a tight embrace. He stood there, surprised for one beat, before his arms came up and the hug was returned.
She pulled back and looked at him. "Take care of your people," she whispered, and Zoro returned it with a respectful nod, murmuring thanks in his language.
The exit reappeared at the dungeon’s threshold, the red rimming its edges faded to pale as the gate finished deactivating, and Sam, predictably, was the last one to step through it.
Kurt fell in beside her as they cleared the gate. The dungeon’s atmosphere evaporated behind them and the familiar grey of the city’s outskirts replaced two suns and golden grass.
The whole group exhaled collectively and the system chimed with the reward for clearing the hell gate.
[New System Quest: Clear the Hell Gate Dungeon - Complete]
[Reward: +30 Points]
[Available Points: 108]
On the journey back toward the guild, the group walked in comfortable silence before Lizzie punched him in the shoulder and gestured towards Sam.
Kurt approached Sam slowly as he rubbed the back of his neck, searching for the right words. There were no right words, but he started anyway. "Sam, about earlier..."
She kept walking. "I know what you’re going to say."
"Let me say it anyway." He said, and she slowed to listen.
"I left before you opened your eyes," he said. "And I’ve been trying to find the right way to tell you that I’m sorry for it, and there isn’t one. It was just wrong. You had my back in that volcano and I took that... and you for granted." He paused. "I’m sorry."
Sam was quiet for a moment. Her ears turned red. Then she let out a breath that sounded like something unwinding. "You’re the worst," she said.
"Yeah." Kurt let out a shaky laugh.
She fiddled with the hem of her sleeves. "You really are."
"I know." Kurt said quietly.
She exhaled slowly, something in her shoulders loosening. "...You came, though," she said softly. "Even through a hell gate. Even when you didn’t have to."
"I had to," Kurt said.
She looked at him sideways. "I really want us to be good, Kurt." Then she shoved him once in the shoulder lightly, and walked faster to catch up with the others.
Kurt took that as the forgiveness-ish it was and exhaled a breath he’d been holding. This was the exact kind of moment that called for a cigarette, so he fished one out quickly and lit it.
The guild hall finally came into view as the sun began to rise.
The team’s energy lifted, pace quickening. But before Kurt could follow them through the doors, Cassandra’s hand caught his sleeve.
"Kurt." Her voice was low, barely audible over the others’ chatter. "A moment."
She pulled him aside, away from the entrance where the others were filing in. When they were alone, she turned to face him directly.
Her usual confident posture remained, but there was a new intensity in her ice-blue eyes. "I need to tell you something."
"Alright," he said.
"I like you Kurt Manchester," she began. "I don’t know exactly when it started. But it has started, and I’m not interested in pretending otherwise." She paused. "I want you, Kurt. I intend to have you."
Kurt scratched the back of his head awkwardly, running a hand through his messy hair.
He didn’t need his memories to realize romantic declarations like this always caught him off-guard. It was too direct, too real for a man used to dodging relationships.
"Cass... bloody hell. I... uh... that’s... I mean, you’re serious?" He let out a short, nervous laugh, trying to play it cool but failing spectacularly.
"Look, I’m flattered—really—but I’m not exactly boyfriend material. More like the guy who brings trouble wherever he goes."
Cassandra stepped closer, and her expression didn’t waver. If anything, the intensity increased. "I know exactly what you are, Kurt. And I still want you."
He looked at her, at those ice-blue eyes that were giving him absolutely nothing to work with, and as Kurt opened his mouth to respond, still fumbling for words, the guild doors burst open with a loud bang.
Rook came charging out, carrying a sweating, feverish Emma in his arms. His face was etched with urgency as he shouted, "Where’s Lizzie?! We need her now!"
