Hunters: The Prequel - Chapter 258

Hildegarde snickered happily as she recalled the look on Mane’s face when he first saw the skill. It wasn’t happiness he experienced first – it was helplessness.

“How can the Dreamscape’s Will come up with such a cheesy name for its skill,” was what Mane thought when he saw the skill’s name? It wasn’t just the name that was cheesy, even the description was weird. It made Mane wonder what kind of being the Dreamscape’s Will was. It certainly wasn’t normal if that was how it named its skills.

Although Mane couldn’t say what he thought out loud since he was being escorted by the twins at the time, Hildegarde could tell what he was thinking by the displeasure on his face. It made her happy when she saw him react so negatively to the skill’s name. It wasn’t only because she also thought that the Dreamscape’s Will had a weird naming sense; rather, it was because Mane’s reaction was normal.

“In all the tests I’ve been to, since there was usually Edict or Chaos, they didn’t awaken skills. They awakened glows. But all the glows had weird names as well” Hildegarde happily explained at the time. It was fun to see Mane, who was usually always in control, lose his cool over the name of a skill.

Sensing her joy, Mane grumbled and said quietly under his breath, even with the twins in tow, “The Dreamscape’s Will and the Fairies must surely be drunkards.” When the twins asked whether he said anything, he happily lied that he did not. Seeing Hildegarde’s pretty face twist in displeasure at his comments made his decision to risk coming off as a crazy person worth it. Although the Dreamscape was overseen by its Will, it was the fairies that carried out its commands. So Mane was right to say that the fairies who had no issue implementing silly skill names were strange as well.

But back to the current issue: Mane was impressed by Lam’s analysis and made it known. After asking them to come in once more, only to be rejected by Lam, Mane bid the stubborn twins goodbye and entered the house. The door creaked when Mane opened it, and as he gazed past the relatively open compound, he saw his guardian.

“Oh, you’re here,” Mane was surprised to see Dan sitting outside the house. The older man was seated on the floor, and was using the door to the house as a backrest. He had a lazy expression on his face and was chewing on a stick.

“Of course I’m here. It’s my house you know. Where else did you expect me to be?” Dan grinned and answered in the upbeat tone Mane had grown accustomed to.

“I thought you would be out by now. You’re usually never around.” Mane walked up to Dan and sat right next to him. He stretched his hand to the older man, and Dan smilingly reached into his b.r.e.a.s.t pocket and took out a slender stick. The stick was similar to the one Dan was chewing on. It was as long as a finger, but very slender. It gave off a weird smell, and looked strangely appealing. From the practiced actions of the two, one could easily tell that this wasn’t the first time Mane had asked for the stick.

“I decided not to go out today,” Dan stated and passed the stick to Mane.

“I see,” Mane nodded and placed the stick right underneath his nose. He sniffed it gently, and a pleasant feeling washed over his body. He gently placed the stick in his mouth, and started chewing on it like Dan.

“So now you are also an addict,” Hildegarde teased as she lay supine on Mane’s head. Mane’s lips twitched at her words, but there was no way he could reply her. Their relationship was slowly becoming one-sided. Since Mane couldn’t speak to Hildegarde whenever he was around others, she could say anything she wanted and beam in satisfaction as Mane could do nothing to defend himself.

She was right though. The stick Mane was chewing onto was called the ‘Lover’s Whisper’. It was mined from the trunk of a millennium old Hyperion. It was great for clearing the head, and easing a person’s fatigue. It prevented cases of acc.u.mulated fatigue, and was very rare. It lightened a person’s burdens, and was a generally useful. However, it had some side effects and some negative aspects. The negative aspect of Lover’s Whisper was its smell and taste. Anyone taking it for the first time would be repulsed by how it smelled, and its metallic taste would be unpleasant at the start. However, once a person pushed through these negative attributes, they would gradually grow to enjoy it.

It was similar to alcohol in this sense. It was just a much more expensive and rare drug. Also, it was powerful against weak minds. Lover’s Whisper had a slight hallucinatory effect. It was called slight because it paled in comparison to the strong hallucinations some Magical Beasts were capable of, but its hallucinations were powerful enough to delude anyone with a weak will. Because of that, children weren’t allowed to take it.

Dan fed Lover’s Whisper to Mane a day after he could finally get out of bed, when his injuries were fully healed. He did it to see if the hallucinations it drew would be related to Mane’s ‘forgotten past’. Mane didn’t like the taste, and he didn’t care for the smell either, but he couldn’t refute Dan’s suggestion since that would seem suspicious. It was either take the drug, or tell him the truth. Obviously, Mane took the drug. It was clear that Dan didn’t learn anything new about Mane, since Mane’s mind was strong and he didn’t fall prey to the hallucinations. In Mane’s eyes, those hallucinations were only good enough to deceive 4 year old children. After all, he was even able to see through the cloak of Ananse, the Wise Spider Goddess. Granted, it was because of the power of his True Eyes, but it should be noted that they were still sealed at the time.

Just when Mane thought the nightmare was finally over, Dan showed up the next day with another stalk of Lover’s Whisper, saying that it may work this time. Mane had read about the substance in one of the books Dan had given him, so he knew about its rarity. It was so rare that most people used the same stalk over and over again. Although that reduced its efficacy, to them it was better than nothing. But Dan offered him a new stalk. Mane tried to reason with Dan, and pointed out its rarity. He had no plans to put that disgusting substance in his mouth again, and didn’t even know why people liked it. However, for some strange reason, Dan had an abundance of this rare merchandise and told Mane so.

Mane didn’t ask him anything about it though. It seemed that is was related to Dan’s past, since he always had a look of longing on his face whenever he used it. It wasn’t in his place to pry into Dan’s past. So Mane kept taking it and taking it, until it reached a point where he was eager to take it. And when Dan stopped offering it to him, Mane was the one who began asking for it. In other words, Hildegarde was right. Mane was now an addict and an avid lover of the substance known as Lover’s Whisper.

“So, you beat up Tito and his gang,” Dan smiled and said?

“Yeah,” Mane simply replied.

“Well done. They’ve been terrorizing that little girl for a long time now” Dan sighed and stated.

Mane didn’t ask why Dan didn’t help them. Although he looked like a rough man, Mane knew he was actually really kind. After all, if he wasn’t kind, he wouldn’t have rescued Mane – a stranger he didn’t know at all – and saved his life. Mane was curious about something else.

“Why did you refuse to teach him how to defend himself? He has talent. Even I can see that. Surely a veteran like you wouldn’t miss it”

That was what Mane really wanted to know. Dan was a kind man. Even if he didn’t want to help Lam and Lily directly, he could have done so indirectly by teaching the boy how to fight. So why didn’t he? Mane could tell that there was a secret about Lam. He just didn’t know what it was.

“Hah,” Dan sighed tiredly. “Tomorrow, come with me to see Old Fan. It would be better for you to hear it from him” Dan stated and got up. He brushed his trousers with his hands and walked towards the door.

“Okay,” Mane nodded. “But where are you going? Didn’t you say you are staying indoors today?” Mane raised his eyebrows in doubt.

“I did,” Dan pointed at himself with an innocent expression? His action almost caused Mane to fall face first onto the ground.

“You really have become like him,” Hildegarde mercilessly added as she compared Dan’s current actions to Mane’s interaction with the twins. Mane ignored her and spoke to Dan, “Yes you!”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. You literally just said so”

“Okay then. I guess I lied”

Mane fell onto the floor at his reply as Dan left with a look of innocence still plastered onto his face.

“Now you know how the twins felt,” Hildegarde flew around Mane and scoffed.