The Hug I Long For

The long night stretched on.

"Pop." A spark flew from the campfire, the flames flickering and dancing as the firelight illuminated the girl's contemplative face.

They sat in silence. Sevia sat before the fire, tightening her gray robe and gently blowing a warm breath into her cupped hands.

Looking at the slender figure that barely reached her waist, the female soldier said helplessly, "So, are we just going to keep this awkward silence going?"

"I'm not good at chatting," Sevia said.

To be more precise, she was not good at chatting with people she wasn't familiar with.

"I see," the female soldier replied.

After the girl had treated her wounds and fed her herbs that afternoon, she felt much better. Aside from some lingering weakness, her mind was clear and refreshed, making her want to find someone to talk to.

However, her previous attempts had all ended in failure. This girl with deep blue hair seemed to dislike communicating with others, remaining as quiet as a sealed jar.

Furthermore, from the looks of it, the girl had recently encountered something painful; even now, a thick aura of melancholy and resentment drifted around her.

The atmosphere lapsed into a brief silence again. Sparks flew out toward the cave entrance. While the land below was shrouded in deathly energy, the starry sky above was exceptionally brilliant.

The sky was cloudless and the moon was hidden deep away, leaving the stellar tracks to stretch across the firmament like a coiled river of dragonflies, with the fine sand at the bottom of the river shimmering brilliantly.

A massive purple celestial body hung in the distant starry sky, bewitching and eerie, making one want to peel back its mysterious veil. From the cave entrance, one could clearly see the craters on the planet's surface; staring at them for too long made it feel as though those scars were slowly writhing, staring back in return.

"Did you know? My hometown is a vast, endless grassland. We of the titan race like to call it 'Turatan,' which translates to 'The Place of Eternal Peace' in the titan tongue."

Sevia's gaze did not waver.

From what the other woman said, it seemed there were traces of other civilizations on the badlands outside of the kingdom.

Then again, the badlands were so vast that even if all the iron hive cities of the pan-human civilization were laid out flat, they wouldn't fill the immense distance between two hive cities.

To this day, pan-human civilization had explored less than one-thousandth of the vast world beneath its feet, yet it already dreamed of breaking the shackles of the stars and flying into the distant heavens.

"In Turatan, every member of the titan race is put in charge of a herd of far-trade sheep before they reach adulthood. These sheep grow very sturdy when they mature. The leading individuals are even taller and grander than our titan race's 'Hartan.' We usually carry our 'Tanlu'—that is, the places where we live—upon their broad shoulders."

"We have no fixed dwellings. Wherever they go to graze, that is where the homes of the titan race are."

As the female soldier spoke, her eyes gazed at the jagged mountains in the distance. It was as if her hometown lay just beyond those peaks hidden by the night, a boundless wilderness, and a bit of dust seemed to blow into her eyes.

Seeing the girl look up, her clear, fawn-like eyes silently watching her, the female soldier smiled and continued.

"Oftentimes, the goods carried by a caravan of far-trade sheep are so valuable they cannot be measured by money. They could buy up every town along their route, leaving a deep impression on many. That is why people back then called us the nation on the backs of sheep."

"These far-trade sheep have gentle temperaments. Even as the burdens on their shoulders grow heavier, they always follow the caravan without complaint."

"It is only when one day a sheep's legs are crushed by the weight and it kneels on the ground like a collapsing mountain that we realize they had been carrying weights far beyond what their shoulders could bear since long ago."

Sevia said nothing, picking up a wooden branch and adding it to the fire.

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked after a long while.

The female soldier smiled. "Don't be fooled by how those far-trade sheep grow taller than hills. When they are young, they are no different from soft little lambs. They're like little white puffballs, small enough to be held in your palms."

"And yet, even as small and fragile as they are, they do not cry because of any hardship or pain. It is as if a resilient and unyielding god forever resides in their eyes. If someone makes them angry, they will headbutt that person's legs for an entire month. Even if they are whipped until their bodies are covered in wounds, they are too stubborn to ever back down."

"I think you're just like those little lambs. You're just as small, not even reaching my waist."

"Please don't make such boring jokes," Sevia said. "It isn't funny at all, thank you."

The female soldier shrugged helplessly.

"Alright, I admit, you are a bit cold. Has no one ever told you that staying with you can be a bit stifling?"

"My name is Atula. My parents passed away early, and my Hartan grandmother, who raised me, hoped my life would always be simple and peaceful, so she gave me this name. What about you? Want to be friends?"

As she spoke, Atula extended her hand toward Sevia.

Sevia did not respond. She simply continued writing a letter on a stone slab with a calm expression, focused and serious.

"Little lamb," Atula's face filled with curiosity, "what are you writing?"

"A record," Sevia responded. "I am recording what I have seen and heard on this journey. I have written down everything you just told me."

"Furthermore, I have a name, and I have someone I love. Please call me Sevia."

"...Alright." Atula was a bit embarrassed by the girl's aloofness, scratching her head awkwardly. "Emotions are also sacred to us titans. Like an oath, they are worth protecting with loyalty. I respect your feelings."

"You look like you are worlds apart from the one you admire."

"Yes." Sevia gave a rare, peaceful smile. "She is currently in a place very, very far away from me. I want to record the stories of my journey to show her."

"And after you reunite? Will it be like dry wood meeting a fierce fire, or a long-awaited rain after a drought?" Atula asked.

For some reason, a faint blush unexpectedly swept across Sevia's face, and she shot Atula a rather angry glare.

"Please do not say such crude and impolite things again."

"If it happens again, this conversation ends here."

Atula pressed her palms together, apologizing repeatedly.

"I only hope..."

Sevia lowered her eyes and pursed her lips, her voice so faint it was almost inaudible.

"That she can give me a hug."

...

Time flew by, and two days passed in an instant.

Because the advanced outposts within the city could not be taken despite long sieges, the monsters of the gnawing parasite series launched a near-frenzied counterattack. This caused the player factions to lose numerous outposts one after another, and the war entered a relatively deadlocked phase. If things continued like this, this grade 3 main city would likely fall completely within a week, repeating the tragedy of the Golden Creature Advent Event.

After the president of Silent Sequence, Smiling Jazz, used force to mediate the conflict between Assassin's Creed and the Golden Navigator, all guilds set aside their previous grudges to present a united front. They formed a guild alliance and chose to hold a strategic meeting at the Mist Village Harbor outpost outside the city, establishing the allied headquarters there.

An hour before the main meeting was scheduled to begin, another meeting was being held in full swing.

In the basement of the Mist Village Harbor tavern, the high-level executives and core members of Light-Chaser Garden were gathered. They looked with solemn expressions at the golden-haired girl wearing an overcoat, who sat at the very head of the conference table.