Chapter 238 Morning Meeting
Lee Seng and Ritsuka made their way back into the bin room with towels strapped around their waists. They both dug into the bins and grabbed their clothes. Lee Seng moved it to his nose and sniffed it. It smelled like lavenders and oranges.
"Mmm, it smells good." Lee Seng commented. He set his shirt and shorts to the side and slipped on the boxers. Ritsuka moved his clothes to his nose and got the nostalgic smell of home.
"Smells like home. What does yours smell like?" Ritsuka kept the shirt on his nose for a while longer before setting his things to the side and slipping his boxer briefs on.
"Lavender and oranges. Mom always had lavender, something, in the house, so I always liked to eat oranges. So the smells kinda just went hand in hand with each other." Lee Seng slipped his shorts on and grabbed his shirt. He tossed the towel into a bin and waited for Ritsuka to finish. "What does \'home\' smell like for you?"
"Mmm, not sure how to describe it but y\'know when you live in a place for a while, your scent just gets attached to it?"
"Mmm, yeah." Lee Seng nodded.
"Well, I guess that smell, for the most part, with the permeating smell of ramen throughout the house." Ritsuka slipped his shirt on and tossed the towel into the same bin as Lee Seng\'s and the two moved out of the bath house floor.
"Man," Lee Seng yawned. "Even though Keng is probably sleeping, I might sleep too."
"I forgot you literally spent most of your day here. You should get some sleep." Ritsuka patted Lee Seng as they descended to the guest beds. Keng was quietly sleeping away on the other side as the two entered.
"What about you? What\'re you gonna do? You just woke up, right?" Lee Seng asked, quietly.
"I\'ll nap. I could use one. Thankfully, I can nap just about anytime and anywhere." Ritsuka smiled. Lee Seng nodded and waved.
"I\'m gonna get some shut eye then."
A Couple Hours Later
A shake woke up Lee Seng. He half-snorted as he saw Ritsuka standing above him.
"Huh?" Lee Seng groggily answered.
"Keng told me to wake you up. He said he didn\'t wanna disturb you." Ritsuka answered. "He\'s downstairs with some other Foxes."
"Ah." Lee Seng nodded. He set his head back onto the pillow and rubbed his eyes.
\'I guess I did fall asleep.\' He yawned. He slowly forced himself up as Ritsuka moved over to the foot of Lee Sengs bed. The suns light poured in from the small windows. Lee Seng rubbed his eyes and turned to look at Ritsuka.
"Oh," Lee Seng realized Ritsuka was in a different outfit. It looked like a simpler and more modern version of the traditional clothing he got when he first arrived here. "You got some new clothes?"
"Oh, yeah." Rtisuka looked down and pinched his silk shirt. "Lady Vix\'i said the heat here is no joke, so I should wear this to keep myself cool."
"Mmm, that\'s a good idea" Lee Seng yawned, again. "I guess we should go down." He stood up and followed Ritsuka down the stairs.They followed the spiraling staircase for awhile until they started to hear voices.
"The plan changed, Halys. We have to leave the Village because Lee Seng brought a friend here." Keng explained. "What\'s more simple than that answer?"
"You still didn\'t answer my question. Do you still want training or not?" Halys sighed. Ritsuka and Lee Seng stepped off the stairs and entered the first floor room. Halys, Lady Vix\'i, Keng, Zixin and Nabi sat at the table with, what looks like, tea and some small breakfast.
"Oh, he\'s up. You can ask him yourself." Keng pointed. Halys sighed and shook his head.
"Lee Seng, Ritsuka, come sit and eat with us." Nabi waved them over.
"I guess Ritsuka\'s been introduced to everyone?" Lee Seng rubbed his eyes. He pulled the last seat as Ritsuka planted himself to his left.
"Mmm, I introduced them to Ritsuka." Keng answered.
"Good." Lee Seng nodded. Tea poured into his cup. His plate filled with an assortment of eggs, biscuit with butter, and some meat he couldn\'t identify. "What\'s this?" He pointed at the meat.
"It looks like meat but it isn\'t." Zixin answered with his mouth full. "It\'s good." Lee Seng nodded and set the meat in the biscuit and attempted to stack some eggs in the biscuit.
"What\'re you talking about? Training?" Lee Seng looked at Halys.
"You two are supposed to get trained by me, remember?" Halys reminded them.
"I guess you did say that." Lee Seng took a bite of his stacked biscuit. The flavors melted in his mouth and he cooed at the delicious taste. He looked over at Ritsuka who was taking a small bite of his leftover biscuit.
"Mmm, I did say that. Even he remembers." Halys pointed at Lee Seng while looking at Keng. "Why can\'t you answer for the both of you?"
"That doesn\'t really matter at this point, Halys." Lady Vix\'i rubbed her temples.
"We can\'t train here." Lee Seng told Halys. "So, you either train us in the cursed forest or figure out a place Keng, Ritsuka and I can stay for the time being." Halys groaned and wiped his eyes with his hands.
"Why do you two say the same things?" Halys complained.
"If you can\'t figure out where to put them and don\'t want them to go back to the Tomb then we should just use the old cabin. The area around isn\'t as dangerous as the cursed forest and is closer to the Village. You can stay near Chimera and attend to whatever you need to while also committing yourself to the boys." Lady Vix\'i suggested.
"The old cabin might be in disrepair. You sure you want them to stay there?" Nabi worried for the boys.
"It\'s either that or the Tomb." Lady Vix\'i raised her eyebrows at Halys.
"Fine. We\'ll use that forsaken place." Halys grumbled.
"What\'s wrong with the cabin?" Lee Seng asked. Zixin stood up and grabbed more food while Nabi sipped her tea.
"The cabin is in the Floral forest. I think you went that direction yesterday." Nabi answered. Lee seng nodded. "Well, it\'s said that cabin is haunted. Every Fox Spirit that has resided there, ended up leaving in the middle of the night."
"Why\'s Halys scared of that place then?" Lee Seng asked.
"Because he was one of them." Zixin chuckled. Halys swung at Zixin, who easily dodged as he took a huge bite of his stacked biscuit.
"You believe in ghosts?" Lee Seng chuckled. "That\'s… something."
"Ghosts are real. You just haven\'t had to deal with a ton of them at once. That cursed place has many of them." Halys explained. "You don\'t have ghosts on Earth. You wouldn\'t know."
"Well, you have two Saviors now. Maybe we can purify that place of ghosts." Lee Seng answered with his mouth full. He munched on the biscuit as Keng nodded.
"This could be added training. If you\'d just listened to all of what I said, you\'d have agreed with me sooner." Lady Vix\'i told Halys. Halys stuffed his face with eggs, trying to hide his embarrassment.
"Ritsuka, you wanna practice with us later?" Lee Seng looked at his friend.
"Hmm?" Ritsuka perked up. He had been minding his own business, listening to the conversation. The sight of humanoids that looked similar to Lee Seng was still a bit much for him, so he decided to listen so he didn\'t have to show his worry. "I guess. If you\'re training then I guess I\'ll train. Doesn\'t hurt me that much."
"Cool," Lee Seng nodded. "I guess that\'s settled. We have a total of six days in this Realm to train and deal with the cursed forest before Ritsuka and I have to return to Earth."
"So that means three days to train? Isn\'t that not enough time?" Ritsuka looked at Lee Seng.
"About." Lee Seng nodded.
"And three days to hunt for the rest of the curse?" Nabi asked.
"Mmmhm." Lee Seng nodded.
"Do you think that\'ll be enough time to deal with a curse that big?" Lady Vix\'i asked.
"We\'ll have to try." Lee Seng shrugged. "I need to figure out how to use this Seer energy sight thing."
"I guess that settles it then." Lady Vix\'i moved her eyes between the group. "General Halys will train them for three days. Do as you see fit in that time. You\'ll have to deal with whatever is in the cabin as well. See it as additional training." Lee Seng and Keng nodded. "In that time, I\'ll try to see if we can get any more help with the cursed forest expedition. Zixin, Nabi and I will definitely come to aid you two. So, just focus on training and clearing out the cabin. Everything sound good?"
"Yup." Lee Seng and Keng nodded.
"Good. I got some extra clothes if you need it. Otherwise you can just Realmwalk back for your outfit."