Traveling with Wriothesley: Day 9
"Good morning," Lumine greets Wriothesley while stretching her arms out.
"Morning," Wriothesley responds while dusting off his gauntlet. "How was your sleep?" He asked with a small smile across his face.
"It was very nice." Lumine smiled back, recalling how their evening went.
Last night, Wriothesley covered Lumine with his fur jacket, keeping her warm while she was asleep. The thought of it brought a warm feeling to Lumine's heart.
"What about you?" Lumine asked in return as she walked up to the Duke.
"It was nice for me too," Wriothesley replied, his voice calm as ever. "I'm just cleaning up my stuff, waiting for you to wake up." He spoke softly.
"I remember Sigewinne used to put stickers on your gauntlet." Lumine pointed out as she noticed what Wriothesley was doing.
Wriothesley chuckles at the mention of his Melusine friend. "Yeah, she and the other Melusines do that a lot."
"They're so cute and silly with their pranks." Lumine giggles, taking a seat near Wriothesley.
"Well, the thing is... she got a bad habit from me. Sigewinne started making bets on who gets to put the most stickers on my stuff." Wriothesley sighs.
"Pfft, you shouldn't gamble around children." Lumine playfully replies, teasing him for fun.
"Hey, I try to be a good role model." Wriothesley refutes, laughing with their companion.
"I know, I know~" Lumine giggles and walks off. "You'll be a good father if we ever have kids."
"Wha... what did you just say?" Surprised, Wriothesley's eyes went wide and approached the Traveler.
At that moment, his heart almost froze, in a good way that he couldn't explain.
"Ehehe, nothinggg!" Lumine dodges his question, wondering if her joke was too much. "Gotcha!" Suddenly, she placed a sticker on Wriothesley's face.
"So you did that just to catch me off-guard, eh? How sneaky." Wriothesley smirks and runs after Lumine, starting their day with laughter and silliness.
Later on, they embarked on their journey once more...
"Look at this fella. It must be cozy to sleep like that." Wriothesley said as he noticed a sleeping flying serpent.
Lumine walked up to him. "Agreed. They look sooo light."
"Haha, you are light too. I could easily lift you." Wriothesley chuckles, teasing Lumine with his remark.
"Wow, flexing your strength so early." Jokingly, Lumine pretends to be annoyed. "Well then, carry me from here, all the way to the main city of Sumeru."
"Sure." Wriothesley smirks, ready to take on Lumine's dare with confidence.
"I was just kidding!" Lumine pouted and laughed.
"I know, I was kidding too." Wriothesley chuckled at her reaction. "But I would carry you, just not that far. Or else, why don't you just bury me alive right here?" He crosses his arms as they continue their playful banter.
As the Duke looked away, he noticed a rogue Hilichurl from a distance.
"That guy's wandering around." Wriothesley pointed out, standing close to Lumine to keep her safe.
"That reminds me of Cater..." Lumine muttered as they stared at the creature.
"Who's that?" Wriothesley turned at Lumine, asking her curiously.
"You didn't know? He was in your prison." Lumine replied. "Cater, a small, white-haired boy with blackened hands."
"Oh, now that you said that... I do remember someone named Cater." Wriothesley rests his chin on his hand, recalling the inmate.
At that moment, Lumine tells the story about Cater and everything that happened in her adventure.
"Why didn't you report any of this to me? I would've made things easier for you and the kids." Wriothesley crosses his arms, raising his brow as he asks.
"I'm sorry, don't be mad. I just thought I could solve it all on my own and I did." Lumine smiles apologetically while waving her hands in front of her face.
The Duke sighs and closes his eyes. "I'm not mad. But from now on, I want you to trust me with everything." His voice sounded deeper than usual.
"Yes, I promise!" Lumine answers in a pleading tone of voice.
"Good," Wriothesley looks at his companion. "Now that I'm with you, you can rely on me." His gaze softens once more.
"But you said, that Cater guy was a hilichurl right?" Wriothesley asked once more.
Lumine nods. "Yes. Hilichurls were once human. They were... Khaenrian people, turned into monsters by a curse."
Wriothesley lets out a deep breath. "That's quite heavy to take in." He says, staring at a distant hilichurl camp. "Knowing they were once people, just like us."
"Yeah," Lumine replies. "But if they cause trouble, we have no other choice but to stop them."
Wriothesley nods in agreement. "Indeed."
"See that tornado?" Lumine points ahead of them. "That's our destination."
"What's in that place?" Wriothesley asked out of curiosity. "Isn't that dangerous?"
"Hehe, don't worry. We're going underneath it." She smiles, refusing to tell him more details about their next planned destination.
"Oh? Now I can't wait to see what's out there." Wriothesley grins, feeling the excitement rush through his veins.
Along the way, they encountered a Wenut.
"Ah! It's coming after me!" Lumine yelled out while trying to climb to a higher ground.
Wriothesley quickly grabs her hand, pulling her to safety.
"What is that thing?" Wriothesley asked while watching the creature move underneath the sand.
"It's a Wenut," Lumine answered. "Ah right, it's your first time seeing one."
"Wenut..? Sounds kinda cute if you ask me," Wriothesley scoffs, trying his best not to laugh out hard.
"Well, you're not wrong..." Lumine chuckles, finding his reaction quite cute.
"I did tell you I'll take you to the giant ruin guards up close... so here we are." Lumine walked off, leading the way for the Duke.
"Damn, imagine if this big guy is actually alive." Wriothesley follows along, gazing at the ruin guard with awe.
"We'd have to run for our lives then, hehe." Lumine laughs as she pictures the situation in her head.
Together, they explored the ruins, following an underground pathway.
"What a beautiful light," Wriothesley muttered as he admired the glowing light inside the ruins.
"That's not all. Follow me." Lumine reaches out her hand to Wriothesley.
"Careful, you might slip and fall." Wriothesley worried as Lumine stood close to the edge of the platform.
"For you? Maybe I would." Lumine chuckles as she playfully answers.
"Haha, don't make jokes like that while I'm worrying for your safety." Wriothesley gently grabs Lumine's hand, pulling her back.
"Sorry~" Lumine sticks her tongue out while apologizing.
"Acting cute after pulling that stunt?" Wriothesley jokingly clicks his tongue and calmly shakes his head. "You're a cold one are you?"
"Hehe, it's not like I'm purely joking," Lumine responds and stands next to Wriothesley, knowing that he is just teasing her back.
"Haha! We'll see about that." Wriothesley finds himself amused, thinking that Lumine was still fooling around.
But at the same time, he too, is developing feelings far stronger than just plain friendship.
"Here we are, in the heart of the tornado, I guess?" Lumine spoke as they reached the center of the ruins.
"This place looks frozen in time with the neverending tornado around it," Wriothesley mutters, looking at the sky around them.
But their tour wasn't over yet.
The Traveler stands in the center, guiding Wriothesley to a very special place.
"Where are we going? It looks so different down here." Wriothesley asks, noticing the grass around them.
"You'll see, we're already almost there," Lumine replied enthusiastically while walking on.
As the two reached the exit, they were greeted by stunning scenery in front of them.
"Woah..." Wriothesley's mouth fell open, impressed by the otherworldly beauty of the place. "Is everything... frozen in time?"
"Yes. This is the Orchard of Pairidaeza, also known as the Eternal Oasis." Lumine tells Wriothesley the name of the place while glancing at him.
"This is blowing my mind." Wriothesley walks off, his eyes exploring every corner of the timeless realm they were in.
Lumine steps foot onto the water and looks back at the Duke, inviting him to join.
"Damn, you can even walk on water?" Wriothesley smiled, impressed by what he just witnessed. He follows her, walking across the lake that was frozen in time.
"Look, even the fish aren't moving," Lumine said as they passed by some fish stuck midair.
"Cats are gonna love this place." Wriothesley chuckles at his own thoughts. "So how did time stand still... what's going on?" Out of curiosity, Wriothesley asked Lumine while they stood together.
"King Deshret built this place as a cemetery for the fallen Goddess of Flowers. It's meant to keep her memory, that one single moment... for all eternity." While answering the Duke's question, Lumine walked towards the grass.
"That sounds... bittersweet." Wriothesley replied, his voice was lower than usual, almost like a whisper. He stares at the ground as if taking in the history of the place.
"Yeah, King Deshret truly loved the Goddess of Flowers," Lumine replies in the same tone, sharing the Duke's feelings about the Eternal Oasis.
The two of them sat on the chairs in front of them.
"This is where the 3 gods of Sumeru used to gather." The Traveler continued their story, telling Wriothesley everything they knew.
"How impressive. This place holds a lot of precious memories." Wriothesley muttered while gazing at the flowers around them. "It's almost like it's okay to stay here forever, with you."
His words brought a smile to Lumine''s face. "That sounds nice..." Her eyes sparked with joy as she replied. "I feel the same way."
Note: Sorry I wrote this half-awake so it's tad bit messy... also after some debating, I've decided to just write Lumine instead of the "Traveler" all the time.
It was getting tiring, even though I wanted to make it more gender-neutral for an easier self-insert experience ;-; sorry and I hope you don't mind. I will edit out the earlier chapters to fix it too.
My Wrio birthday art (for more fanarts, I post on Twitter @404___ccc)
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