Chapter 21: 17 [a disposable camera]

While Terasia was busy posing with the pair of stone lions at the entrance, I quickly studied the handout map of the park in my hands. 

“Are you interested in turtles, by any chance?” I asked, glancing up at her.

She stopped waving her hand in front of the stone lion’s lifeless eyes and looked at me curiously. “Turtles?”  

“They’re something like, uh, kobolds? Green and small, but cuter and with shells on their backs, I guess,” I tried to explain while pointing at my map. “There’s a turtle and tortoise museum here which apparently houses the largest collection of specimens in the world. And it says in the description that you can watch and feed live turtles inside.”

“Why would anyone be interested in watching kobolds?” she asked in a disgusted voice. “Not to mention feeding them??” 

“No, they aren’t kobolds. I’m just trying to give an analogy…” I let out a small sigh and smiled at her. “I promise you’ll change your mind when you actually see what they look like.” 

She raised a doubtful eyebrow at me, but her attention was immediately diverted as soon as we entered the park and passed a line of trees. “Avery, Avery, isn’t that the weird-looking tower that we saw from the train? What is it called again? A…a…”

“Pagoda,” I said helpfully. 

“Oh, right, that,” she murmured and shot me a quizzical look. “How do you even remember such a complicated word?” 

I shrugged my shoulders. “It happens to have the same name as the brand of salt that my mum uses at home.” 

“Seriously?” 

“Don’t ask me about it.” 

We stopped in front of a flight of marble steps leading up to the pagoda. From up close, I could see that its exterior was beautifully adorned with Chinese-style ornamentation, with intricate carvings along the red-coloured eaves and colourful motifs of clouds above its arched entrance—quite befitting, I thought, since it looked tall enough from where we were standing to reach the fluffy white clouds in the sky.

“Come on, let’s take a picture together!” Terasia took my hand and pulled me close to her, while trying to angle her camera to capture as much of the pagoda as possible. “One…two…three!” 

I tried to keep a neutral expression, but felt my eyelids involuntarily twitch as the flash went off. “W-wait, I’m not sure if I blinked just now, can we take it again?”

“Never mind that, it just makes you look funnier,” she said with a nonchalant grin. 

“Thatʼs definitely reassuring to hear…hey, wait for me!” I shouted after her as she ran up the stairs to the top of the pagoda. 

“First one to the top treats the other for lunch later!” she shouted back from somewhere above me. 

“Oi, thatʼs not fair! And didnʼt I tell you to bring money for lunch?!” 

“Yup! But it still feels good to have the Hero treat me to lunch, you know?” 

“A-arenʼt you one shameless Demon Lord…” Panting hard, I finally reached the very top of the winding stairs and leaned my arm against the door frame, feeling the cooling wind whistling across my flushed cheeks.

Terasia turned around to face me with a beaming smile. “I said that the first one to reach the top is the one whoʼs treating, didnʼt I?” 

“Eh?” Now that I calmed down a little, I realised I had just been tricked into thinking that she meant the last, not the first. “T-then, why did you run up the stairs and make me chase after you?” 

With a mirthful laugh, she took my hand and led me out of the door onto a balcony. A strong gust of wind whipped my hair into my eyes; swiping the loose strands of hair aside, I blinked and gazed upon the scenery that spread out before me—a beautiful crystalline lake sparkling in the sunlight, surrounded by lush trees and spacious leisurely lawns that made up the parkʼs breathtaking landscape. 

“Because I want you to see this,” she said, her hair fluttering in the wind and flying in front of her face. “And treat you to lunch too, as thanks.” 

I gave her an amused look. “Thanks? What for?” 

“For…everything.” She laughed and tilted her head up to gaze at the cerulean sky. “Everything that youʼve done for me, Avery…whether itʼs in this life or another.” 

“Youʼre making it sound as if I have done a lot so far.” 

“And itʼs true, you know. Even if you may not realise it now.” 

I paused and reached out to push aside her wind-blown hair. The wind tossed the silken black locks back immediately, however, and she smiled up at me through them. I smoothed her hair back with both hands instead, revealing her lucent aquamarine eyes and the long, dark lashes that framed them. 

“Terasia…”

“Hmm?”

“I…I-I saw you in a dream yesterday,” I said hesitantly. 

She didn’t say anything in reply, but I thought I saw a spark of emotion flicker in her blue-green depths, seemingly urging me to continue. 

“And I wasnʼt me, o-or Stefania…” I felt a knot forming in my throat and swallowed hard. “I was the first Hero of Eltshion, journeying across a strange land together with a party that I didnʼt recognise. You were there, too…might you have any idea what…”

My voice trailed off as I realised just how silly my question must have sounded. Why am I telling Terasia about a random dream I had, and asking her to decipher it for me?

“N-never mind,” I muttered, hastily averting my eyes to the floor. “It’s nothing—I mean, I was just rambling about something that doesnʼt make any sense.” 

Terasia frowned for a moment, then shook her head and gave me an enigmatic smile. “Donʼt worry about it.” 

“O-oh…I kinda ruined the moment, didnʼt I?” I returned her smile awkwardly. “Shall we move on to the rest of the park?” 

After descending down the pagoda, we took a short stroll around the lake. As it was close to lunchtime, there were not many people visiting the park; a sense of calm and serenity washed over the park, inviting us to explore it at a leisure pace. The vast and clear surface of the lake shimmered like watered silk in the afternoon sun, reflecting the crisp white clouds that sailed across the sky. Weeping willow trees grew along the grassy shoreline, their drooping leaves susurrating quietly in the gentle breeze and casting dappled shadows on our path. 

Perhaps most importantly, Terasia could take as many pictures as she liked without annoying anyone else but me—much to her unbridled delight. 

“Avery, youʼre standing too far away, go closer to the statue of the funny old man until you can hug him.” She glanced up from the viewfinder of her camera and gestured at me with a thumbs-up. “Pretend you are kicking his butt!” 

You are reading story Failed Hero’s Second Chance in a Magicless World at novel35.com

“Why are you making me kick Confuciusʼ ass?” I protested. “Did he do anything wrong to you??” 

“Come on, just do it!” 

“Okay, okay, hurry up and take the photo already…” 

With a click, the flash went off and she eagerly advanced the film. “One more, and this time, pretend you are kissing him on the cheek!” 

“HELL NO—there are limits as to how much you can make me violate a statue!” I immediately recoiled and jumped off the statue, dusting myself off as I rejoined Terasia. 

“Aw, it could have been such a good picture too,” she said regretfully, lowering the camera. 

“Why donʼt you do it?” I huffed, taking her camera away from her hands. “Go on, show me how youʼll do it. Or are you telling me now that you want to chicken out?” 

“W-whoʼs going to chicken out?” She flipped her hair angrily and quickly climbed the poor Confucius statue. 

“Ready?” I switched the flash on and lifted the camera to my eye. “Three…two…one—” 

“Oi, you youngsters!” someone, who looked to be a park warden, yelled at us from a distance away. “Get down now! No climbing on the statue!” 

“Whoops—” Terasia leapt off the statueʼs base and exchanged a panicked look with me “—now what?” 

I spied the park warden approaching us furiously and winked at her. “Now, we run!” 

Ignoring the park wardenʼs shouts, we made a frantic dash across a nearby bridge to the other side of the lake. I took hold of Terasiaʼs hand and hurriedly led her into a nearby building. Thankfully, we werenʼt followed, and soon we breathed a sigh of relief together. 

“Where are we now?” Terasia asked, glancing around at the building before noticing a sign in front of its entrance. “The Live Turtle and Tortoise Museum?” 

“Oh, yes, this is the place I was talking about earlier!” I quickly walked to the sign to take a closer look. “It says here that thereʼs a $5 entrance fee, and you get a free bag of vegetables to feed the turtles inside.” 

She hesitated. “Do kobolds eat vegetables now…?”

“I already said they arenʼt kobolds!” Gesturing for her to follow me, I approached the counter by the entrance and passed the lady a ten-dollar note. “Aunty, two tickets please.”

“Right away, handsome.” She promptly handed me two ticket slips, as well as two bags of long beans. “Please feed these to the turtles that are on land only, okay? And remember to be careful with your fingers!”

Terasia glanced warily at the lady as we walked through the gate to the inner courtyard of the museum. “What does she mean by being careful with your fingers?” 

I chuckled and gave her a bag. “Here, take one.” 

“E-erm, Iʼm not very…” She trailed off once we entered the courtyard, and with an alarmed look on her face, she frantically pointed at a giant brownish creature basking in the sun. “W-what is that thing?!” 

“A prime specimen of a tortoise.” I gave her a gentle push towards it. “Take out a long bean and try feeding it, Terasia.” 

“Uh-huh, sounds like a bad idea…” She gingerly took a step closer—only to hastily retreat when it suddenly turned its head in her direction and opened its mouth wide. “Eek! Donʼt come here! G-go and attack Avery instead!!”

“Donʼt worry, it’s interested in eating the vegetable, not you.” Suppressing my laughter, I approached a group of tortoises and dangled a long bean in front of the nearest one. It immediately stretched its neck forward and chomped on the other end of the bean. “See?” 

“Whoa…” Terasia mimicked my action with a turtle crawling towards her—and gasped in surprise when it clamped its jaws tightly around the long bean, yanking it out of her outstretched hand with impressive force. Another eagle-eyed turtle nearby spotted the food and tried to climb on top of the first turtle to snatch it away. 

“I must say, theyʼre definitely as greedy as kobolds,” she remarked, tossing the second turtle a long bean. “There you go, take it and stop fighting with your friend.” 

As if in response, the turtle snapped its jaw at her and grabbed the bean in its mouth before ambling into the shade. 

“Wow, how rude…” She fished out another long bean and gave it to the turtle still chewing on its long bean in front of her. “I shall reward you and make your friend jealous ~”

“You can pet them too, you know,” I suggested. “Just bend down and stroke their shell as they eat.”

“They wonʼt think that my hand is food too, right?” she said worriedly. 

I flashed her a grin. “Maybe?” 

“N-no thanks, then, Iʼll just stick to feeding them…h-hey!” she shouted at a turtle who had grabbed onto her bag of long beans and shooed it away. “You greedy little…hmph, I wonʼt give you any!”

Before long, I had finished my bag and petted the group of tortoises for a while before sending them off. Terasia, on the other hand, was attempting to ration out her long beans to every turtle she saw for some reason. She was actually doing a pretty good job at keeping track of which turtle had eaten a long bean, I thought as I watched her chastise the group of insatiable turtles following after her. 

“Terasia, itʼs almost time for lunch!” I called out to her. “Let’s visit the rest of the museum before we leave!” 

“Wait, I-Iʼm still trying to feed the rest…” 

“Just dump the long beans on the ground, theyʼll come out to eat if they want to!” 

She reluctantly took out the last handful of long beans and scattered it around her. Immediately an army of turtles swarmed the food, climbing and toppling over each other in their slow-motion frenzy to get a bite. 

“Ugh, I knew it, theyʼre not even going to leave any for the slower-moving ones,” she muttered as we left the compound. 

“Itʼs alright, maybe they arenʼt feeling that hungry yet,” I said, shrugging. “But I do know that Iʼm craving some good food.” 

“Mm, me too.” Terasia smiled at me happily. “Shall we go try some Japanese food later? I heard that it’s a popular lunch option around here. My treat, of course.”

You can find story with these keywords: Failed Hero’s Second Chance in a Magicless World, Read Failed Hero’s Second Chance in a Magicless World, Failed Hero’s Second Chance in a Magicless World novel, Failed Hero’s Second Chance in a Magicless World book, Failed Hero’s Second Chance in a Magicless World story, Failed Hero’s Second Chance in a Magicless World full, Failed Hero’s Second Chance in a Magicless World Latest Chapter