CH 16

Chapter 16- Helos, the City of the Sun (1)  

When the carriage that carried us reached Helos, the sun had already set, and night had come.    

“Halt!”  

The palace gate guards stopped us this time as well, but  

“You guys are working hard.”  

“We apologize!”  

Due to Banu, we were able to enter the city easily. It was as if he was a free pass when it came to the checkpoints.  

“So, this is Helos?”  

I looked around. Although it was night, the bright lights made it credible to say that it was day…well that’s a little too much exaggeration, but the lights were really bright.  

“Yes, it is. The bright lights even at night tell you that it is truly the city of the Sun.”   

Arje seemed to have already visited the place before. Maybe she frequents such cities since she is a royalty?  

“Arje, you must have been here before?”  

“Yes, quite frequently. The temple of the Sun here is worth visiting, especially if it is your first time here.”

“The temple of the Sun?”  

“Just like its name, it is a place where the priests who worship the sun are gathered.”  

Banu replied to my question, instead of Arje.  

“And it is also the place that we must go.”

The place where we must go?  

“Banu, why are we going to the temple, when you said that you will get Aris a sword?”

Arje asked, puzzled.  

“Right. Shouldn’t we go to the weapons store to find a weapon?”  

When I agreed with Arje, Banu just let out a dry laugh.  

“We wouldn’t have come here if we were just going to find an ordinary sword. The sword that I was talking about is….”  

Banu pointed straight across with his finger.  

“Inside that temple.”   

The place to which Banu pointed had a large white temple standing on top of a hill. Oh, so that’s the temple of the Sun. The place from which I came from wouldn’t have such a grand temple. Was that truly built by humans?   

“In that temple? Why is there a sword inside the temple?”   

Arje still made a face of disbelief.   

“You will see when we get there, your majesty.”

But Banu did not give out the answer so easily. What was he hiding?  

“You are hiding something, right?”

When I glared at Banu, he laughed again.  

“It’s not fun if you already find out. Shall we take a quick tour of the city while we are here?”  

“A tour? What kind of nonsense is that?”  

A tour all the sudden? What kind of madness is that Banu guy thinking?  

“The temple is open only from sunrise to sunset and is closed afterwards. You do not mean that we will rob the place, right?”  

Banu made a questioning face of ‘would a swordsman do that?’    

“We are not doing something like robbery.”  

From my answer, Banu nodded as if he expected it.  

“Yes. What I’m saying is that we should take a break and then head over.”  

Banu tapped on Peter, who was busy looking over with his mouth wide open.  

“Close your mouth. You are telling everyone that you are a country mouse.”   

Still, Peter had lived in the mountains all his life. Daglen was probably the only city he visited to sell lumber, so it must be his first time seeing such grandiosity.    

“Huh? Ah, yes!”  

Peter jumped and then closed his mouth, but he could still not help looking around the place.  

“So, what will you do? Will you stay or go back?”  

Before Banu could even finish his sentence, Peter replied  

“Of course, I will stay here!”  

That he would go after looking around some more.  

“Is it because you are so young? You are so full of energy. Then, Arje…”  

“It is okay. I will go take a rest with Aris; you guys can go over.”  

Arje stretched, as if she wanted to rest at the inn more than taking the tour.  

“Arje, I will look around this place some more.”  

But I wanted to look around this place.  

“Shouldn’t you go to bed early if you are going to go to the temple early in the morning?”  

Arje nagged like a mother.  

“It is all right. I am not a little kid.”  

When I did not give up, Arje just sighed aloud, as if she could not do anything.  

“All right. I will settle inside the inn, please come after you finish touring.”   

And Arje went inside the inn.  

“All right. Now that she is gone, let’s look around the night streets of Helos without limitations.”  

And so, I followed Banu and Peter and looked around the night scene of Helos. There was a lot to see, many people, and the city was really splendid.  

“Banu, what brings you here?”  

From his handsome face and red attire, there were a lot of people who recognized Banu. Many of them were women. At this point, he was purposely strolling around to enjoy the attention.   

“I came here to take a quick look around.”  

“I see! We were always waiting all day for you!”  

“I also waited for the next time I could see you, Julia.”    

The lady called Julia jumped in her place from excitement, then looked at us standing behind him.  

“And who are these people behind you?”  

“They are kids that I’m accompanying for a bit.”  

He introduced me and Peter as kids. This was possible, since Peter and I still looked young on the outside.  

“Is that so? They are not of importance to you, then?”  

The lady named Julia stared at me, especially.  

“I suppose?”  

As soon as Banu replied, Julia locked her arms around Banu.  

“Banu, if you don’t have a place you want to go right away, will you come over to my bar? I will buy you a drink.”  

Banu smiled from the words of a free drink.  

“That sounds great. The two of you wait nearby. If you go far and get lost, it will be too much trouble.”  

And so, Banu let us be and then started to chat with a guy pouring him a drink.  

“What the heck? He’s treating us like little kids.”  

I complained and looked over at Peter. Peter would agree with me, too.  

“Peter?”  

But Peter was staring into blank space, with his face bright red.  

“Peter!”  

“Ahh!”  

When I shouted towards Peter through his ears, he ran to the side after getting frightened.  

“When a person calls you, you should reply.”  

And as I laughed at his reaction, Peter made an awkward expression.  

“Sorry, I was a bit distracted.”  

“Really, what were you thinking of?”  

When I approached him smiling, he again stepped back with a frightened face.  

“What’s up? Why are you acting differently?”  

“Earlier, there was lady Arberaj and Banu, so I didn’t have to step up.”  

“But?”  

“But now that we are left alone as Banu promised, I really don’t know what to do.”  

A promise with Banu? Was this the thing that Banu whispered into Peter’s ears from earlier?  

“A promise?”  

“Ah!”

Peter was surprised. What an idiot, getting surprised from telling something himself.

“You are really funny. It doesn’t matter if the two of us are left alone, right?”  

“Huh?”

Peter opened his eyes wide.

“That means that?”

Peter’s eyes were looking forward to something, so I looked around.

“Since it’s boring to just wait around here, we should look around the premises! He just said to not go off too far, but he didn’t say that we can’t look around, right?”

Peter’s face became a little disappointed, but then he nodded.

“Sounds good.”

And so, Peter and I spent time looking at the shops and gadgets nearby.

“Peter, there is so much to see here.”

I talked it over to Peter, enjoying such passing time.

“Ah, yes. I guess so.”

But unlike earlier, Peter was avoiding eye contact with a blushed face.

“Why are you blushing? Is it because of the incident from last time?”

When I mentioned the time when he touched my thighs, he rapidly shook his hands.

“No, I have been truly sorry about that!”

Peter still didn’t know what to do.

“I was shocked, to be honest.”  

“I am really sorry.”  

“It’s all right. So, cheer up, and let’s enjoy this. I feel like I’m the only one enjoying it.”  

“Yes! Will do!”

And after calming Peter, we looked around more. It was nice to see that Peter seemed a bit more cheerful than earlier.

“Miss Aris! Should we take a little break?”

How far had we walked? Peter suggested that we take a break, as if he was tired.

“Really? Are you tired?”

Compared to him, I was still full of energy. From how sleepy I was, it must have been the next day, but I still had enough energy to walk a bit longer.

“Yes, I want to rest a bit.”

Peter seemed to be reading my face. Was he sorry that he got tired first?

“Is that so? Then let’s tell Banu and go back to the place that Arje reserved for us.”

I tried to go back, but Peter pointed towards the alleyway.

“I want to rest somewhere a little quiet.”

I was curious about why he wanted to rest in a narrow alleyway, but I still nodded.  

“Really? Then, shall we? I guess it’s not too bad to rest somewhere quiet.”  

I was joking with Peter a bit, and then sat on a box that was nearby in the alleyway. I guess he did seem to have a point, with the noise quieter, my ears seemed to be less sore.

“Peter, aren’t you going to sit? Didn’t you say that you were tired?”

From my words Peter hesitated a bit, and then sat next to me cautiously.

“Miss Aris, aren’t you tired?”

Peter asked, as if he was curious as to why I still had energy.

“I guess it’s because I am a bunny? I am still not tired.”

As I spoke, I let down my hood. My suffering bunny ears popped up after being crammed.

“It must be tiring to hide those ears like that.”

“Yes, they are a bit stiff.”

I smiled at his concern, touching the tips of my ears. At first, they were annoying, but I was still glad that I could hear well with them.

“Umm Miss Aris, this might sound a bit rude, but”  

Peter gulped.  

“May I massage your ears?”  

“My ears? Why?”  

What did that mean? When I asked, Peter reflected a flustered face, while blushing.  

“There is no other meaning! You just said that they were stiff! When things are stiff, you should massage them!”  

Peter did have a point. Like shoulders getting massaged, maybe my ears needed one, too. First of all, they were big ears.  

“Is that so? Then go ahead.”  

I nodded without thinking much.  

“So, I have permission, then?

Peter gulped with anticipation.  

“You said that you wanted to, right?”  

From my words, Peter carefully placed his hands on my ears.  

Flap.  

When Peter’s hands approached my ears, they flapped automatically.  

“Tell me if they hurt.”  

And as soon as Peter held my ears,  

“Heeeeeek!”  

An unexpected phenomenon occurred. From head to toe. I don’t know how to express it, but to put it in one word, it was like being struck by lightning. I’ve never been struck by one, but if I had, it would feel like this.  

“I’m sorry! Did it hurt?”  

Peter took his hands off immediately, but the stinging pain stayed, and I could feel my breath getting shorter and my heart beating louder.  

“Peter.”  

“Yes?”  

Peter looked at me with a nervous expression.  

“For the massage, I will take your words only. Thank you.”  

Since then, I tried my best to get rid of the stinging sensation until Banu found us, and Peter had his head down as if he was a kid who broke something.  

Still, I did learn something from this event.  

It was that my ears were a vital point and that I should not let them be touched carelessly.