153 Lock And Key

"This is a Lock and Key riddle. If you can figure out where the lock is, all you need would be the key to get to where you seek," he explained.

Finishing his sentence, he removed his hand from the letter. Nazo stood up and turned to leave the room. But his actions left Lycster extremely confused. The boy ran up to Nazo, blocking his way out of the room.

The guards were alert to this and tried to apprehend Lycster but were quickly stopped by Nazo. They remained at their post and did not interfere any further.

"I'm sorry sir, but you have not helped us to solve the riddle," Lycster asked innocently.

Nazo shook his head, "It is your riddle to solve, not mine."

With those words, he left the room with his guards trailing behind him. Vy, still deep in thought, realised he was leaving. She picked up the letter and placed it back in her pocket before she ran out.

She called out, "Thank you, Mr Nazo. Thank you for your help."

Nazo stopped in his footsteps. He turned back to Vy. He simply gave her a slight nod before he continued on back to his room.

Lycster, on the other hand, tugged the sleeves of Vy's yukata. The confused expression on his face made it easy to read his thoughts. Vy smiled as she bent down to meet Lycster at eye level. She lightly ruffled his hair.

"Mr Nazo has helped us! He has provided us with an important clue in solving this riddle."

Realising Lycster didn't quite understand Nazo's cryptic words, Vy explained it to him in great detail. After hearing her explanation, as they walked out of the Dining Hall, Lycster tried to piece the information together in his mind.

"So what you're saying…." before he could finish his sentence, Lycster hit hard into another guest.

He did not see where he was going and had bumped straight into a guest who was walking in his direction. The person, seeing that Lycster had bumped into them, quickly pushed him off. This caused Lycster to almost fall to the ground with a thud, if not for Vy who caught him in the nick of time.

"Watch where you're going, boy," the person sniped.

Vy looked up only to see a muscular man with a bearskin over his head. Next to him must have been his subordinate. They were both similarly dressed, but the muscular man had a more oppressive aura. While they looked mostly human, Vy was pretty sure that they were not.

Their hair was in dreadlocks, their skin was darker and their arms were covered in what looked like battle scars in the form of claw marks.

Yoon was the member of staff who was guiding the two men through the hall. He witnessed everything but did not say anything. It was difficult to tell how he felt about the situation either as his mask covered his facial expressions.

Vy did not want to make a scene in the hall so she did not say anything. As long as these men do not pick a fight with them, she was not going to provoke them either. Vy helped Lycster up and dusted his clothes.

She ignored the men as they were guided away by Yoon. Her focus was solely on Lycster.

"Are you alright? Did you get hurt?" she asked him as she searched his body for any sign of bruises.

Lycster shook his head, "I'm alright!"

From the corner of her eye, Vy noticed Yuna walking up towards them. She held a small stack of papers in her hands. When she came before Vy, Yuna bowed.

"Miss Blackfire, would you and your brother like to go on a short excursion?"

Yuna explained that the surrounding area around the main building all belonged to Yama Yoma. This also included a large portion of the nearby flatland that had been converted into farmland. This was where most of the food needed in Yama Yoma were grown, harvested, cooked and served.

At this time of the year, the strawberry fields were ripe for picking and all guests who stay in Yama Yoma were welcome to do so.

"That sounds like fun! Can we go? Please Vy, can we?" Lycster pleaded.

Vy never intended to object. Yuna gave them a detailed set of instructions on how to get to the field. Just in case they got lost, Yuna also gave them a paper map of the surrounding area.

She also recommended them to visit a few other places on the map that was along the way. All the places sounded really interesting to them, so Vy and Lycster planned out their route. Once they were ready, they thanked Yuna for her suggestion and went on their way.

Despite it being the afternoon, the cool mountain air refreshed their lungs bringing them great joy. As they walked down the path indicated on the map, they admired the beauty of nature. The cherry blossom trees blew in the wind as their petals started to fall like fresh snow in winter.

It was a beautiful sight to behold. The pale pink petals emitted a soft fragrance that moved with the wind. Although that meant the trees would slowly become barren, it could only mean that the change of seasons was upon the land.

It did not take very long for them to arrive at their first stop, one of three, before they would arrive at the strawberry field. With Vy's keen sense of smell, she could tell that they were on the right track.

They had entered a bamboo forest. The green bamboo sprouted from the ground and stood tall above the both of them. Looking up at the sky above, the green stems of bamboo only allowed a sliver of light to peek through the canopy layer.

The dirt path they walked on was lined with hay walls held together by dried bamboo, giving a yellowish-brown colour instead of the usual green. It was as picturesque as a postcard.