Chapter 11: Chapter 10: The Town of Norvek and the Strange Necklace.

Echoes of Fire and Shadows

Chapter 10: The Town of Norvek and the Strange Necklace

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After half a day of travel, we had finally arrived at the town of Norvek. We were barely able to reach the town before nightfall.  

From the outside, the town looks a bit like a fortress due to its 5 or 6 meter tall majestic stone walls. The town is located near a large river, so we had to cross a bridge to be able to reach the portcullis of the town.

The area around the town mostly consists of grasslands and wheat farms, so the landscape didn't really change much for the majority of our trip.

“Wow!” I started to look around with excitement as soon as I got off the wagon.

We had just been let into the town by the guards, so we didn't waste any time and went directly towards the place we are going to stay at… Tiria's house.

"So? What do you think of Norvek?" My mother started patting my head just as she got off the wagon.

Several strange, yet alluring smells invaded my nostrils just as my Mom asked me that question…

My eyes wandered around the busy streets of the town that were filled with so many unfamiliar faces...

The voices of the street vendors trying to promote their products resounded in my ears…

"It is just as I imagined it!" I looked at her and smiled. I couldn't contain my excitement.

The town was extremely beautiful. The streets were paved with stones, most buildings and houses were made out of brick and wood, there were plants and trees as well as other decorations such as fountains and small statues that gave the town a cozy and welcoming feeling.

"You seem to like the town very much." My Mom seemed pleased.

"I do! I do!" I nodded vigorously.

I couldn't help but to be excited thanks to visiting a town for the first time in this fantasy world. 

"That's very good then~." Lilia smiled and kept patting my head.

"Yaaaawn… The trip was way longer than I remember…" Liliana had a sleepy expression on her face while she was getting off the wagon.

She immediately walked up towards me and hugged me.

"You're a very comfortable pillow~..." Liliana spoke with a playful tone while she placed her head on my shoulder.

Liliana, Luna, and I ended up falling asleep at some point since the trip was very long…

I woke up just before reaching the town only to find both twins clinging to me while they were asleep. It was a very heartwarming sight, but it was a bit difficult to escape from their embrace...

Just while I was thinking about that, Luna had gotten off the wagon and walked up to us.

"Julius… Umm… Sorry…" Luna couldn't look me in the eyes. She was averting her gaze while looking extremely embarrassed.

The reason why she's apologizing to me is that she was drooling over my shirt while she was asleep. 

Something like that is not really a big deal. Well, at least to me it is not a big deal...

"It is fine. You don't need to apologize." I smiled at her.

"But still…-" Luna still looked very ashamed.

I quickly shook my head in denial.

"Like I just said, it's fine, Luna. I don't mind." I kept smiling at my embarrassed older sister.

"Are you sure…?" Liliana asked shyly.

"I'm sure." I nodded while smiling at her.

"Okay..." Luna smiled back awkwardly.

It was a very cute smile.

"Oho! You two are really getting along~. To make Luna smile like that~...Fufufu!" Liliana whispered in my ear before letting out a teasing laugh…

Jeez… She likes teasing us way too much…

Well, it is not like I dislike it. 

"I would like to see you smile too." I muttered in such a low volume that only Liliana would be able to hear me.

"Jeez, what are you even saying!? You're making your older sister embarrassed, Julius!" Liliana hugged me even tighter than before.

I simply smiled in response.

"I don't know about you three, but I want to rest for a while. My back hurts thanks to the long trip…" Lilia stopped patting my head and walked towards the building in front of us.

Our Auntie's house is actually quite big and looks very homely. It is a two-storied house mostly made out of wood with few outside decorations.

The house has a large stone fence that protects the entrance and a small green patio with a few exotic plants, flowers, and even a large oak tree.

The house was located in one of the main streets of Norvek, so the most important locations should be close by. 

In short, Auntie's house is a good place to live!

"Y'all can go ahead and make yourselves at home! Fred, Martin, and I will take care of the luggage" Tiria urged us to go inside just as she got off from the front of the wagon.

Fred and Martin also got off the wagon without saying a word. Fred had his usual easygoing expression while Martin looked as pale as a sheet.

What in Melius' name did Auntie and Dad do to him…?

"I'll take you up on your offer. Let's go kids" Lilia smiled at us while beckoning us to go inside Auntie's house.

For some reason, Martin was looking at me with a pleading expression. He was trembling in fear…

Seriously, what did they do to him…?

Oh well, it is not like I can blame my Dad and my Auntie for being mad at him.

Anyway, I guess I should be helping them with all of our luggage.

"Are you sure you don't need help with the luggage?" I asked my Dad.

"Oh! So we have a gentleman among us! But no thank you. We already got everything covered, isn't that right?" Tiria looked at Fred and Martin and smiled.

Martin started trembling even more...

"Aye. Don't worry, kid." Fred nodded in agreement.

"Y-Yes…" Martin nodded feebly.

"You heard 'em. Go and make yourselves comfortable inside." Tiria smiled warmly at me.

"Let's go! I'll show you our room!" Liliana suddenly stopped hugging me and grabbed my hand. She started jumping and moving around thanks to her excitement.

Before I had the chance to agree, she started dragging me towards the house.

"Luna! C'mon! We can show him the treasure we found last time! Hurry up!" Liliana shouted while she was running towards the house with me in tow…

"Ah! Wait for me!" Luna immediately ran after us.

"Don't run inside the house and be careful with the stairs!" Our mother warned us.

"Yeah!" The three of us replied almost in unison before going into the home of our Auntie.

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I was currently in what used to be the room of my older sisters when they stayed in Norvek.

The room is a bit… Disorganized, to say the least…

"Hahaha! I can't believe I left this one behind!" Liliana laughed while holding a small wooden doll.

"Ah! I've been looking for this book for months! To think that I would leave it here!" Luna shouted with excitement while holding an enormous book and examining the pages.

I was just standing at the door as if I was looking at a disaster zone…

Piles of things like clothes, toys, books, and even accessories were basically everywhere…

Despite its current state, the room is actually quite nice. It has two individual beds as well as two separate closets and a pair of mirrors beside the closets.

There's even a small balcony on one corner of the room.

As for the rest of the house, I didn't have much time to explore it fully… Well, I barely managed to see a bit thanks to the very excited sisters that dragged me here…

I think I have a basic idea of the layout of the house.

On the first floor, there's the kitchen, a bathroom, the living room and maybe one or two bedrooms.

On the second floor, there seem to be three bedrooms, one storage room, and another bathroom.

We are currently on the second floor.

"I'm really glad that Auntie doesn't like to clean!" Luna said with relief while examining another book.

Besides this room, the house was pretty clean though…

"I agree! I agree! Hopefully, she hasn't found that SPOT yet." Liliana nodded in agreement before standing up with the doll still in her hand. "Julius, why are you just standing there? I have something to show you!" Liliana beckoned me to get closer.

I just smiled bitterly as I made my way towards my sisters through the wasteland that used to be their room…

As soon as I got close to her, Liliana started smiling warmly at me.

"You're gonna love this! It is so cool!" Liliana's excitement kept growing and growing. "We found it in the middle of town when we were playing with Mia and Klein!" Liliana walked towards the door of the balcony and opened it.

I wonder what they want to show me.

"C'mon! Hurry up!" Liliana beckoned me to come with her. "Luna, you as well! There will be time to read later!" Liliana winked at Luna.

Luna simply gave her a quick nod, left her books on the ground, and then walked towards the balcony.

It didn't take long for both Luna and me to reach our sister and the door of the balcony.

"Hehehe! You're gonna love this, Julius!" Liliana had a smug expression on her face.

Liliana then went into the balcony and started looking for something while Luna and I just stood there watching her.

"Ehh? I'm sure it was over here…" Liliana sounded a bit dumbfounded.

"What is she looking for?" I asked Luna.

"It is better if you see it for yourself. It is really incredible!" Luna showed me an adorable smile.

"If that's how it is, then I'll wait." I smiled back at my sister.

Even though I say that my curiosity is quickly getting a bit unbearable…

"Ah! Here it is!" Liliana shouted triumphantly after finding the thing she was looking for. "What are you two waiting for!? Come here!" Liliana was already overflowing with excitement.

The two of us did what we were told and we walked towards the balcony. Liliana was holding a very small and long wooden box.

"You guys are too slow! C'mon!" She quickly sat on the floor of the balcony. She started patting the floor to urge us to sit with her.

"This is a bit smaller than what it looked like from inside the room..." I said while I sat beside Liliana.

"I love sitting here and reading!" Luna said with enthusiasm as she sat by my left side.

The three of us were barely able to fit in the small balcony while sitting on the ground.

Despite that, I totally understand why Luna likes reading here.

The balcony has an amazing view of the town… I can see what seems to be the plaza and the market of Norvek, two enormous brick buildings in the distance, the people walking through the busy streets of the town, and even some of the neighbors in their own homes.

The balcony also had a clear view of the sky and the horizon… We could clearly see the sun which was going to set soon.

This is definitely an amazing place to have a drink and read a book!

"Alright, it is finally time for the moment you have been waiting for!" Liliana leaned on me and showed me the box.

"What's in the box?" I asked my sisters.

"Fufufu! I'm so glad you asked~! The thing inside the box is…-" Liliana paused before revealing the contents of the box to give some dramatic effect…

I, of course, felt a bit impatient thanks to that pause…

I ended up gulping thanks to the expectation…

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"The object inside the box is...-" Liliana quickly grinned from ear to ear and then opened the wooden box. "A necklace!" She revealed the object with a satisfied expression.

A necklace? 

I could only look at the object inside the wooden box with confusion…

For some reason, I felt that same strange sense of familiarity that I felt when I started practicing swordsmanship with Fred and magic with Lilia…

The necklace was nothing out of this world. It was made out of wood and carvings of boats and swords. Although the necklace didn't look that special, the carvings were definitely amazing.

"Julius, can you put the necklace on my neck?" Liliana asked with a grin.

I nodded in agreement while still being confused about the necklace and the sense of familiarity I was feeling again…

I quickly took the necklace out of the box and attempted to put it on Liliana's neck.

There was only a slight problem…

"Huh? It won't go past your head…" I said while flabbergasted.

As soon as the necklace approached Liliana's head, the necklace was completely stopped mid-air and pushed back towards me...

The necklace seemed to be repulsed by an invisible force… It felt like the necklace was refusing to be worn by Liliana…

"Isn't it the most amazing thing you've seen!?" Liliana simply smiled excitedly. "Now try it with Luna!" She pointed at our sister.

It took me a moment to process what she had just said to me…

When I managed to compose myself after witnessing the strange phenomenon that happened with the necklace, I turned around and faced Luna.

"You won't believe how we got this necklace!" Luna's usual shyness was nowhere to be seen. She was just as excited as Liliana.

While she was looking at me with a very excited expression, I tried to place the necklace on her neck, but it was the same result… The necklace stopped mid-air when it got close to Luna's head and then it was pushed towards me...

"It simply refuses to be worn…" I said while looking at the strange object.

Liliana suddenly leaned her head on my shoulder.

"Julius, try to guess how we got it~." She smiled at me.

Hmmm…

"You won it in a stall during a festival? I tried my best to guess.

"Nope! Not even close!" Liliana quickly shook her head.

Oh… This is going to be a bit difficult then…

Several possibilities crossed my mind, but I was unsure of what to say…

Really, how did they get something like this?

But before I could even try to guess again, Luna had leaned closer to me in order to whisper the answer.

"It actually fell from the sky! Hihihi!" She whispered before giggling.

"Huh? Are you serious…?" I looked at her with confusion.

Luna simply smiled and nodded.

"Jeez Luna! Don't ruin the game like that!" Liliana got a bit annoyed at Luna for telling me.

"Your game would have lasted an eternity if I had let you continue… There are more fun games than this one." Luna shook her head and shrugged.

Luna was unusually more outspoken today than usual...

"Well, I can't deny that this game would have gotten boring easily." Liliana actually nodded in agreement with our sister. "Now what should we do?" Liliana started rubbing her chin.

While my older sister was wondering what to do next, there was something on my mind that I needed to confirm…

"..." I looked very intently at the necklace for a moment.

After mentally preparing myself for a second, I grabbed the necklace and tried to put it on.

To my surprise, the necklace was not stopped in the middle of the air… I was actually able to put the necklace on.

"Ehh?" Both twins looked at me with shocked expressions. 

"I can put the necklace on just fine… What's the meaning of this?" I asked myself a pointless question. 

"Julius… How did you…?" Luna didn't finish her sentence. She was way too shocked about me wearing the necklace.

"No way! Mia and Klein tried on the necklace and they couldn't put it on!" Liliana had a complicated expression on her face. It was a mix of excitement, befuddlement, and a bit of happiness.

"I didn't do anything special, I just tried to put it on…" I smiled bitterly. 

There was that sense of familiarity a few moments ago, but it is now gone...

"Hmm…? Oh… Uh-oh..." I tried to take the necklace off, but it wouldn't budge at all…

"Julius, what are you doing?" Liliana tilted her head and asked me with concern.

"I'm trying to take the necklace off, but for some reason, I can't manage to do it…" I replied with a serious tone while trying to pull the necklace away from my neck.

The necklace was tightly locked in place… It was like this strange object was refusing to leave me…

Could it be that this object actually belonged to the previous owner of this body…?

I mean, that would explain the sense of familiarity, but isn't it too much of a coincidence?

Does this mean that the family of the owner of my body lives here?

No, I don't think that's possible since the twins said that the necklace fell from the sky…

Hmm… Every single day that passes I keep finding more and more questions about the former owner of this body.

"Well, I can't seem to take it off… I guess I'll have to live with it for the rest of my life." I quickly gave up trying to take off the necklace.

"W-W-What do we do…?" Luna looked extremely worried. She was looking at our sister very intently. Her usual shy demeanor was back.

"We could try to pull it with all of our strength! If that doesn't work, we could always use magic." Liliana suggested while making a small fireball appear over her opened hand.

"I'll pass… I don't want a fireball anywhere near my neck…" I shook my head vigorously.

Despite not being able to take off the necklace, it doesn't seem like there's something wrong with it or me.

I don't feel any different from when I was not wearing it.

"I think it is better if we ask Mom about what to do. Hopefully, she'll know what to do." I smiled at them in order to calm my sisters.

"It might be for the better…" Liliana smiled bitterly before making the small fireball disappear.

"I think so too…" Luna nodded shyly.

I'm sure she has seen plenty of cases like this one and knows a way of taking care of this swiftly.

"However, I think I should apologize about the necklace… Because of my carelessness, I ended up like this and I can't give the necklace back to you. I'm sorry…" I apologized to my sisters from the bottom of my heart.

Lesson learned, never try on magical necklaces…

"You don't have to apologize! We couldn't even use it!" Liliana didn't seem to care about me having the necklace. "In fact, I'm way happier than you are the one using it!" Liliana suddenly started smiling from ear to ear.

"I really think it suits you…" Luna smiled shyly at me.

"I guess it is better to be stuck with something that suits me, right? Hehehe." I let out a chuckle.

It is a good thing that I at least look good with the necklace.

"But! Since you have shamelessly stolen our necklace, there's one condition you must fulfill if you want to keep it!" Liliana suddenly showed me a sinister grin.

One condition huh… I wonder what she has in mind.

Just as I was thinking about what kind of conditions she was about to impose on me, I was suddenly hugged by Liliana.

"The condition is very simple! You'll have to be together with Luna and me for the rest of your life!" Liliana hugged me tightly.

"L-L-Liliana!?" Luna looked at our older sister with shock.

Ah, it was that huh… I don't know why, but I had the feeling that she was going to ask for something like that.

"I can live with those conditions. I accept." I smiled and returned the hug. 

I also pulled Luna into our hug before she could even react.

That is probably the easiest decision I have ever taken in both of my lives.

"Ehh!?" Luna was extremely dumbfounded for some reason.

"Hehehe! You can't back out from this, Julius!" Liliana seemed very pleased with my answer and the fact that I had returned the hug.

I hugged both of my sisters very tightly…

"Thank you..." I thanked the two of them.

It is thanks to these two that I was able to gather the courage to tell Mom, Dad, and Auntie about how I met Melius, my mission to free him, and my desire for revenge against the God of Deceit.

I know that a dangerous path lies ahead of me, but I don't want to leave these two… In these short two weeks, these two have become extremely precious to me.

But not only them... Fred, Lilia, and Tiria as well have all become precious to me… All of them are my precious family…

It is true that at some point I will have to leave our home in order to fulfill my objectives, but I can say with certainty that I want to return to be with my family after everything is done.

After everything is over, I will spend the rest of my days with my family in our home. That's what I want to do when my mission and my vengeance are completed. 

"Well, now that we know that the three of us are going to be together forever and ever, we need to celebrate! Let's have a party!" Liliana started rubbing her soft cheek against mine…

Is she a cat now?

I’ll never say no to a party though!

"Forever and ever… That's…" Luna's face turned completely red while she started muttering something. "Uuuuuh…" She suddenly made a cute sound and hid her face using my shoulder…

Okay, that was really cute... Luna really reminds me of my former girlfriend Claire… The two of them can be very adorable when they are embarrassed.

"Hehehe! Let's tell Mom and Dad! I want to eat a lot and dance a lot as well!" Liliana smiled from ear to ear.

That smile was really adorable as well...

"Count me in for that! I want to eat Mom's bear stew!" I nodded with excitement.

Fred actually managed to hunt down a bear with his bare hands.

At first, I was a bit reluctant to eat the meat of a bear because I've heard that it usually smells awful and that the meat had to be cooked in a certain way and with certain different spices in order to not let the smell overpower the taste of the meat.

I also felt bad about going against the food chain, but…

I... Was... WRONG…

Our mother actually prepared a dish that almost killed me again and sent me to heaven… It was glorious! Absolutely delicious! 10/10 dish!

I ended up eating more than four bowls of that wonderful stew… 

It was an incredibly delicious crime against the food chain and I don't regret it at all!

"I don't know if they sell any bear meat in town, but I want some too!" Liliana agreed while drooling a bit.

"Forever and ever… Uuuuuuuuh…" Luna made that cute sound again after muttering something.

The three of us stayed on that balcony for a while before going downstairs to tell our mother of our plans for a party.

Since we had started talking about food, I had completely forgotten about the necklace and the condition that Liliana had given me...

Unfortunately, I had misunderstood what Liliana meant by the three of us being together for the rest of our lives… I wouldn't find out about the true meaning until a few years later...

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Chapter 10: The Town of Norvek and the Strange Necklace

END

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