Chapter 121
Zero ate with gusto . It didn't matter if he was already bursting at the seams . The combination Grandma Moppo and Zoe's cooking was a powerful drug that left him craving for more . It only became more delicious with every plate . Zero saw how there were no signs of stopping from the two women in the kitchen . They whipped up new dishes every ten minutes and Zero wondered how extensive their culinary repertoire was .
Hua Tuo was mortified . He'd never seen his student ate as much as he did . Sure, Zero would occasionally end up finishing a whole roasted boar but the physician chalked it up to Zero's abnormal need for energy . He'd never seen the brunet smack his lips and grab food with both spoon and hands . In fact, Zero moaned and smiled with every plate he cleared as if he was truly enjoying the moment .
"Don't choke, there's more from where that came from!" Grandma Moppo laughed heartily as she set down two more plates .
Zero nodded and gave them a huge messy smile before digging into the piping hot pie . Zoe came to clear the plates . Leon, Jacqueline and Rima had stopped eating half an hour ago . They were too full and have fallen asleep after eating too much . Hua Tuo shook his head . A few hours ago when they received lunch invitations, he didn't think that it meant a party to celebrate Zero's miraculous cure . It was actually Amaraline's suggestion . Clowis and Lowis arranged a secret hunting trip to bring back all the food they could . Cleo and Latitia worked extra hard so that the harvest would be bountiful for the celebratory feast . The whole village worked together to thank Zero in the only way they knew . Zero was in bliss, savouring every bite . He blushed at their thanks but didn't turn down the food .
Zoe and Grandma Moppo didn't stop . As the most experienced members of the village when it came to cooking, they pulled out everything they had from their reserves . Zero loved authentic dishes and unique cuisines so Zoe tried to replicate everything she knew . Thankfully, the villagers of Half Moon village had a very diverse background so Zoe had many options . Grandma Moppo decided to bring back some original cuisines from her childhood . It was the first time in many years that the old lady made such nostalgic food and it was quite the treat for the village . Zero found the exotic dwarven-fae food exciting and Zoe took the opportunity to commit those recipes to memory .
One by one, the party died down with villagers excusing themselves after eating their fill . Some brought food for their comrades who have yet to eat and the only left eating was Zero .
"Mii," Zero called out from their mental link . "Are you able to remember the taste of all these food? I'd like to be able to replicate them for Truen and the Gods when I see them again . "
The strawcherry assistant gave Zero a snappy answer, annoyed at being disturbed from her initial task of monitoring enemy movements for Zero .
"I can't do two things at once . . . you have to make up your mind, Zero . "
The brunet made a face when he heard Mii's reply . Zoe saw it and was slightly alarmed . She signed to Zero using her hands to ask if he was alright .
Zero took the chance to learn some basic sign language from Zoe earlier so he understood the gist of what she was saying . He gave her a reassuring smile and signed back that he was fine .
"Why are you so snappy?" Zero groaned to Mii who huffed .
"It's only natural to be snappy when somebody asks the impossible of you . I'm not able to multitask just yet . I can only do one thing at a time since you're not strong enough to unlock the rest of my abilities . The world you've seen is still too small and your understanding too shallow . "
Zero winced . Mii knew exactly what to say to make it hurt the most . "I'm sorry . . . I just wanted to make people happy . . . "
At Zero's dejected tone, the strawcherry fairy sighed . "Look, I'll tell you what I can do . Since the villagers are patrolling the area and keeping watch on the enemy's movements, I'll work on getting those recipes you wanted . As long as you absorb a part of it, I can analyse it and recreate the recipe . Do you still have that magic reader?"
Zero nodded when Grandma Moppo and Zoe were not looking . Mii sounded satisfied and told Zero that once she was done analysing it, she would compile all the recipes in a book to the magic portable library . Zero was thrilled and Mii warned him that knowing the recipe wasn't enough to recreate the dishes perfectly .
"Cooking is an art . It requires a lot of patience, practice and trials to get it right . A novice like you wouldn't be able to get it right on the first try . "
Zero was deterred . In fact, he became determined . "I'll do it again and again until I get it . I'm sure master would be happy if I took over kitchen duties for a while . "
Mii considered it for a moment and agreed before cutting off their mental connection .
Hua Tuo observed how his student had that strange expression again as he ate . He was probably talking to someone using mental connections but Hua Tuo wasn't sure who it was . Was it Demon King Baal again? Also, the physician was slightly worried . His student didn't show signs of slowing down but Grandma Moppo and Zoe were already showing signs of fatigue . They'd been cooking non-stop for two hours and had yet to eat anything themselves . As a doctor, that wouldn't do .
"Grandma Moppo, Zoe . . . please rest . I'm sure Zero knows how thankful the village is by now . You need to eat something yourselves . "
Zoe blinked and shook her head . Grandma Moppo wiped the sweat off her brows and grinned . "Don't worry doctor, we have just a few more dishes to finish up . I'll eat later . Zoe doesn't really need to eat but she'll rest up . She'll be fine tomorrow morning . "
Hu Tuo didn't know much about Zoe or Grandma Moppo . He didn't pry his nose into the villager's business too much after all . Zero who listened on the side-lines blinked .
"Zoe, won't you be hungry?"
Zoe signed to Zero and Hua Tuo could only wonder what she was saying . Zero smiled brightly after Zoe finished signing and grinned . "I see, that's great!
Twenty minutes later, Grandma Moppo finally sat down to eat and Zoe was entertaining Zero with some stories . Hua Tuo took the moment to return back to the apartment to make up for his lack of progress in meditation over the past few days . He'd been too busy after all . Zero waved goodbye to his mentor and chatted one-sidedly with Zoe .
"That's nice, I'm sure Rima will find her fated person one day . I'm just really worried about the village now . "
[Don't be,] Zoe signed . [The warriors are strong and the children can protect themselves . ]
Zero frowned . "Wouldn't it be sad if everyone had to leave?"
Zoe looked wistful at that . [The day would eventually come, Zero . It will only be a matter of time before this home is abandoned . It's an honour for a Zashikiwarashi like me to have lived for so long . Usually, we don't serve masters with long lifespans and many generations . Half Moon village has always been a little special . ]
"What do you mean?"
[We're ghosts born from the feelings of family love . Grandma Moppo is the last living master of this village . I've been here for a very long time, longer than you can imagine . ]
Zero looked slightly worried . "What happens when she leaves?"
Zoe smiled sadly . [I will no longer be bound to this village . Zashikiwarashis exist to serve and protect the homes of their masters . If the master abandons their homes, the Zashikiwarashi will continue to be bound to the home until the master's lineage completely disappears . ]
Zero was mortified . "That's incredibly lonely! But everyone else is still here . . . will you really disappear?"
Zoe shrugged . That's something no Zashikiwarashi had the opportunity to find out . Normally, a clan didn't accept so many strangers without common blood . Nobody knew what would happen to a household spirit if the family they served adopted heirs .
[We'll get to find out what happens when Grandma Moppo returns to her ancestors . ]
Zero didn't like it . Grandma Moppo had just regained her ability to walk without her staff . Life wasn't fair .
Grandma Moppo heard Zero's half of the conversation and chuckled . She put away the washed dishes and joined their conversation in the living room .
"Zero, it's only natural to die . All living things need to return their lives to Gaia so that we can be reborn again with new bodies . "
Zero froze at Gaia's name . Wasn't it En who oversaw the rebirthing cycle? How was that related to Gaia?
"You might not understand it now but you will understand it one day . "
Zero highly doubted it . According to the Great Gods, Great One couldn't die . As a result, Zero was exempted from death . Grandma Moppo chuckled and ruffled Zero's hair .
"Don't look so sad . I've lived a great life . Thanks to your magical abilities, I'm once again able to live up to my name as a great Dwarven-Fae hunter . You'd think that dwarves and fairies wouldn't be able to get along due to their conflict of nature but you'd be wrong . My ancestors are proof that understanding could still happen between different species . Coexisting with humans will be possible one day too . "
Zoe clapped and Zero was confused . Grandma Moppo grinned . "A very long time ago, dwarves and fairies never got along . The dwarves couldn't stand the fairies' lackadaisical attitude and love for mischief . They envied how fairies could fly and had magic so the hate grew . On the other hand, fairies didn't like the dwarves because they kept destroying the earth they tried to protect by mining and building strange things using it . They hated how the dwarves were always loud and insensitive until one day, a dwarf called Dunford and a fairy called Elmory met . "
Zero was absorbed in the story and urged Grandma Moppo to continue, curious as to how two races who hated each other could come to live together and create such a unique village .
"Dunford was an odd dwarf . He didn't like drinking and loved to cook . He was always scouring the forest for ingredients to create new recipes . The dwarves didn't quite like Dunford because he didn't share their same love for shiny metals and good beer . On the other hand, Elmory was a fairy who loved helping lost travellers in the forest . She was kind, beautiful and hardworking, unlike her friends . The fairies laughed at Elmory and called her foolish for wasting her time helping ungrateful travellers when she could be sipping on nectar and napping in flowers . "
Zero nodded . Grandma Moppo's eyes sparkled as she continued .
"One day, Dunford got injured when he went out to collect ingredients . He fell into a pit and broke his leg . Elmory who'd been passing by spotted him and helped him . She was fascinated by a dwarf who had a different hobby and they became fast friends . "
Zero grinned . "Did they fall in love after that?"
Grandma Moppo chuckled . "Yes . Yes, they did . However, the fairies and dwarves didn't like that so they had to leave their original villages . That's when they came by this forest and cliff and decided that it would be a great place to build their house . Remember the lab in the forest where Raj and company frequents? That was the original house . "
Zero's eyes went wide . "How did this happen then? The tree houses and underground tunnels . . . "
Grandma Moppo grinned . "This is done by the children of Dunford and Elmory . Some children married other dwarves, some married fairies and to satisfy both communities, they decided to build both in the trees and underground . These half-dwarf and half-fae children were often targeted by other dwarves and fairies so they had to build some sort of defence in the village . The architecture for the tree houses was created by a very clever fairy who married a half-dwarf here . Her name was Elaine . The tunnels were actually the creation of some mischievous children who decided to dig holes underneath to hide when they played tag . Fairies had magic and dwarves didn't so the dwarven children created secret tunnels to outwit their fairy cousins . "
Zero giggled . It sounded like fun to dig and hide . "How did it become a passageway for travel? Wouldn't it be too small for adults if it was made by children?"
At that, both Zoe and Grandma Moppo became more solemn . "Humans came once and tried to destroy the village during the dark ages . The passageway only allowed children to hide, so many adults died . The remaining children of the village decided to widen the tunnels so that they could live in for a few hundred years until the humans no longer bothered them . "
"A few hundred years?" Zero marvelled . From what he knew, humans didn't really live as long as hundred years .
Grandma Moppo laughed at Zero's incredulous expression . "Fairies can live hundreds of years, so can dwarves . It's not very surprising . However, there will be some changes if fairies and dwarves lived underground for a few hundred years . The dwarves became fairer and the fairies became stronger physically as they couldn't rely too much on magic . The feast cave used to be a farm during the dark ages . "
Zero was amazed as Grandma Moppo told Zero more about the village's past and secrets . "Only Zoe knows everything there is about this village . I've not been able to tell anyone yet . "
"Why would you tell me the village secrets? I'm not even a proper villager . . . "
Grandma Moppo smiled . "That's because you're the only person I can count on . Zoe will cease to exist when I die . It's a very lonely thing for a household spirit to not be able to welcome a master home . Zenobia and everyone else will one day leave this village . The children will find spouses and move away from it . However, you're different . Your master is an immortal and you might be able to achieve immortality someday too . All I ask is for you to return every few hundred years to visit the village and check up on Zoe . She's a very dear friend of mine and has always been here for me . Even when the village perished from the plague, she was there, listening to their prayers till the very end . I left the village for a while but returned because I had nowhere else to go . If it wasn't for Zoe before I met Qin Yun, I would've died . As a child, I didn't know how to cook or hunt, I would've starved if Zoe didn't take care of that . The farm in the cave was maintained by Zoe but I didn't know that until many years have passed . Zoe raised me so this is the least I can do for her . "
Zero looked at the Zashikiwarashi and felt a pang of pain . He could only imagine how lonely it would be for her when everyone leaves the village . He didn't know if household spirits disappear when the house is abandoned because they died from loneliness but he didn't dare ask . Having experienced loneliness in the void for a long time between waking and sleeping in that darkness, Zero didn't want Zoe to go through something like that .
"Can household ghosts leave the village?"
Zoe shrugged . [There was always a barrier that prevented me from leaving the village . The barrier expanded when the Sky Bridge was built but I've never been able to leave the village . ]
The brunet started thinking . It was a crazy thought but it might be worth trying in a year or so before they left for their travels .
"Grandma Moppo, is it alright if I took Zoe with me on my travels?"
The half-dwarf seemed stunned . "Can you do that?"
"I don't know," Zero admitted . "I have an idea but it might be a year or so before I can try it . "
Grandma Moppo didn't mind . "It's worth trying I suppose . However, by saying that I assume that you're ready to inherit the village from me?"
Zero paused . "No no, lady Zenobia is the Chieftess . I can't inherit it . "
Grandma Moppo scoffed . "The master of the village and the leader of the village are two different things . Zenobia knew that when she accepted the role of the Chieftess . All these years I've yet to name my successor and nobody has come to claim it . Everyone has their own plans . Think of this village as a long-term inn for troubled people . Some stay here to hide from the world for life, others use it as a shelter to rest up before heading back into the battlefield . "
Zero grimaced . That sounded about right too . Every villager who joined Half Moon village had backstories like running away from something or having no place to go . The Cockatrice descendants, Soon and his dead friends . . . even Mitchnew looked as if they were here to seek refuge and spend the rest of their lives in secrecy here . On the other hand, there were people like Raj, Wiser and Karris who had nowhere else to go .
"I understand . This is still a little too sudden for me so I'd like some time to think about it . Becoming a village master is a huge responsibility after all . I'm not confident about protecting it myself . "
Grandma Moppo sighed but agreed anyway . "Well then, take all the time you need . Hopefully, you'll let me know your decision before my time is up . "
Zero swallowed nervously and nodded . There was a knock on the door that saved Zero from committing to anything . Grandma Moppo got up to greet the visitor and Zero was amazed to see Lovina smiling at him from the door .
"There you are! I thought you might still be here so I came over with some of Cleo's tea . Am I interrupting anything?" she asked .
Grandma Moppo smiled and shook her head but she left anyway . Zoe took the tea leaves from Lovina to prepare tea while Zero blinked . Lovina seemed slightly strange and Zero wondered why so many people were looking forward to chatting with him . He wasn't good at holding conversations and sorely missed his teacher's presence .
"Hello, Lovina . What brings you here?"
The witch adjusted her hat and thanked Zoe who came with two steaming cups of tea .
"I heard that you performed the new type of healing magic and wanted to talk more about it . Are you interested to pursue the path of magic?"
Zero blinked . "I will study magic next year from a teacher but I don't know if I'll become a magician . I suppose learning some magic will be helpful on my travels but I'm not sure about pursuing the path of magic just yet . "
Lovina smile made Zero very cautious . The witch didn't appear to have any evil intentions but Zero felt uneasy . Just what was she planning?