NOVEL WEB Chapter 139: Beach House
Quickly, Seber took me back to shore and lay me on the beach. A few of the residents stared down at me from their houses, some filled with worry and some looking at me like I was a complete idiot. But that was the least of my concerns…
"You good?"
"Fuck no, I'm not good… I should have never trusted you in the first place… take me to where we'll be staying…." I groaned, coughing up another mouthful of water as the woman slung me over her shoulder. "Careful, you piece of- ugh… my stomach…. be careful..."
"Can I get a, please~."
"Oh fuck you..."
It wasn't long before we arrived at a white stone house near the edge of the cove. It was pretty much a beach house, with our front lawn being a sidewalk and then the sand of the beach itself. To be honest, it wasn't that bad of a location, but something did disturb me.
"Please don't tell me I'm living with you…." I groaned as Seber struggled to get the key out of her pocket while keeping me on her shoulder. The setting sun behind us was like a ticking clock slowly getting ready to sound the alarm of the day's end.
"Unfortunately, you are, so I'd get used to it. And trust me, I hate this as much as you, but the temple doesn't trust you to act on your own. Remember, they still think you're a child, and I hope you intend on continuing to convince them such a thing otherwise, I'll be running into some trouble… you as well… urgh… finally."
Seber pushed the door in, revealing a small cozy living room with the outside sunlight basking it in a radiant orange glow. This was our new home for the predictable next five years, and within those five years, I had to somehow convince a bunch of lunatic, religious fanatics that I was a god… what bullshit is this.
"*sigh*... I guess the inside is not that bad as well," I muttered while the woman placed me down on a pillowy ocean-blue couch. Clearly, this place had a theme, and I was kind of digging it. Blue and white was a good combo, but that wasn't the main thing that caught my attention. "And holy shit… is this a blubber carpet? That's crazy."
Quickly, I hopped off the carpet, groaning ever so lightly as my injuries continued to pour blood. And as I ran my finger across the silky smooth gray carpet dotted with black spots and red stripes, Seber appeared once again.
"Come here, quick. Let me patch you up," She muttered, but instead came to me and kneeled right beside me. Sitting up, I felt her take off my shirt and lightly touch my wounds with her rubber glove-wrapped hands. It seems she was not only a good fighter but was pretty well-versed in healing.
"To be honest, I never took you for a medic."
"I get that a lot… but it was what I wanted to do before I got kidnapped by the organization. I probably would have been successful if it wasn't for those bastards."
Carefully, she disinfected the wounds with a glass bottle of vodka and then ran a disinfected needle through the skin of my injuries. The cuts were clean and sharp, but thankfully they hadn't touched any of my vital organs, so stitching me up was almost unfairly easy.
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The room was silent as she finished patching me up as painlessly as possible. Stray streams of sunlight entered through the window, the sun seemingly stalking us with the last remaining minutes of its daily life. A sea breeze tumbled into the room as our front door was still open, allowing me to catch a glimpse of the rocking waves at the edge of the sandy beach. It was most likely still warm, so catching its last minutes of heat before the moon sapped it wouldn't be a bad start to my evening.
My throaty chambers echoed a slight hum across the room as Seber finished patching me up. And as I began to move again, she helped me up back onto the couch before grabbing a nearby remote and switching on the decently-sized TV.
The shimmering rays of sunlight from outside were now slowly dwindling into white streamers of the cosmos. From where I lay could even catch a glimpse of the mood previously hidden by the bright, screaming rays of the sun.
"I'm gonna pick up some dinner. Probably soup for you, right?"
"Hm… yeah, sure."
"No thanks? I'm paying for it…"
"..."
"Alrighty then, princess…."
Creeeeeeek
"Claim reward…" I muttered upon seeing Seber leave the house, closing the door behind her gently. The inaudible chatter of the television and its dim light illuminated the dark living room around me. It was the perfect setting for some meditation… but of course, I had to figure out just what this god had granted me in exchange for risking my life. "It's probably some… useless… item…"
My eyes widened at the sight of the thick glass vial appearing in my lap. The golden liquid, gently cradled by the clear container, shimmered a familiar aura. It was aether. No, it was more specifically an Aether Potion.
Just like how there are potions that replenish health, stamina, and mana, there is bound to be a potion that replenishes aether up in the heavens, right? And here, I got a good look at what this item could potentially look like.
"But, I don't have an aether bar or gauge, meaning you gave me this for one thing… to work on my aether core."
It was strange. Somehow I had an aether core instead of a mana core, yet I was still able to use and manipulate mana. I was so caught up in everything previously that I never really got to think it over, nor did I even get to investigate it… okay, maybe I had some time, but at those points, I was either too exhausted to do anything else or… ummm… I was just too lazy, procrastinating and pushing it back to the next day.