allonlinenovel Chapter 168 Strawberry Niwa's Little Brother
Chapter 168 Strawberry Niwa's Little Brother
"Hmph~ The Shirakasa clan said that this was suddenly delivered to them by Abe no Seimei a certain year after you left, and that they were asked to hand it over to you after the last festival a thousand years later." Fuyuki's words carried a clear hint of displeasure and helplessness.
No wonder Bu Yue was initially unwilling to hand over the item to Yu Bai. A thousand years ago, Bu Yue had a particular dislike for Abe no Seimei because of the incident where Abe no Seimei "teased" Yu Bai.
However, because this belongs to Fengyue, even if Buyue is extremely unwilling, she would never arbitrarily decide to discard or ignore it.
So even though Bu Yue was very unwilling, she still reluctantly handed the protective charm over to Yu Bai.
"I see. But what does he want to do with this amulet?"
He examined the amulet in his hand carefully, turning it over and over to check it, but found nothing unusual or special, which made him a little suspicious.
"That guy is always so mysterious and cryptic." Bu Yue glanced at the protective charm in Yu Bai's hand, her lips slightly pursed, her face like a cat's fur.
“Feng Yue, you don’t need to pay attention to him. When the time is right, the usefulness of this thing will naturally become apparent.”
As he spoke, Bu Yue gently took the amulet from Yu Bai's hand and skillfully slipped it into Yu Bai's pocket, as if handling a trivial matter. Then, he took Yu Bai's hand and strode towards the castle tower.
"Let's go, it's getting late, you should rest too." Bu Yue's voice echoed in the night sky.
Yu Bai was gently pulled along by Bu Yue, his steps involuntarily following hers. Yet, his heart was still filled with curiosity and doubt about that mysterious guardian.
"Huh? Okay, but that amulet..." He was a little confused as to why Fuyuki was acting this way, and tried to bring up the topic again.
But before she could finish speaking, Bu Yue interrupted her: "I've already prepared hot water for you. Wash up and get some rest."
Could it be that Bu Yue is acting this way because this amulet was a gift from Abe no Seimei?
Because his friend's change was so sudden, Yu Bai pondered everything that had just happened and realized that nothing else could have caused Bu Yue to behave this way, so it could only be a problem with the owner who made the amulet.
Looking at Bu Yue pulling him along, Yu Bai couldn't help but chuckle.
He never expected that even after a thousand years, Bu Yue would still remember what happened back then so fondly. However, this side of Bu Yue also surprised and adored him.
Yu Bai had never seen Bu Yue so "stingy" before. This unexpected contrast made him want to tease her.
He smiled, his eyes crinkling, and took a few quick steps behind Bu Yue, looking rather cheeky, to get to her side: "Slow down, Bu Yue. You know, a thousand years have passed, how come you still can't get along with Lord Qingming?"
"..."
Upon hearing this, Bu Yue paused slightly and remained silent.
Upon seeing this, Yu Bai couldn't help but burst out laughing.
While the two were playfully bickering, neither of them noticed that the amulet in Yu Bai's pocket was emitting a faint light. However, the light was so faint that it was difficult to detect.
……
For the next three days, Yu Bai went into "lying down" mode.
When he has nothing to do, he goes to the seniors' group to have tea and chat. When Bu Yue is not around, he will also secretly take out the amulet to study it.
Unfortunately, after studying it for so many days, we still haven't found anything. The amulet is just like any other ordinary talisman, with nothing unusual about it.
Yu Bai, who never engaged in internal strife, immediately said that since they couldn't figure it out, they should just let nature take its course. From then on, apart from carrying the amulet on his person every day, he never took it out to check it again.
It wasn't until the Time Government's underground city activities began that Yu Bai was able to recover from his lazy, laid-back lifestyle.
Looking at Ichigo Hitofuri, who was so excited he could hardly contain himself, he thought to himself, "These younger brothers are definitely Ichigo Hitofuri's destiny." In all the time since Ichigo Hitofuri came to his citadel, he had never seen Ichigo Hitofuri so energetic, cheerful, and lively.
Perhaps because he came from a citadel that was on the verge of corruption, Yu Bai usually appears as the gentle, "virtuous," and skilled in the art of tea, Ichigo Hitofuri.
In the words of Hasebe and Yukichi, she was a treacherous concubine.
God knows, when he overheard the two Hasebe brothers secretly calling Ichigo Hitofuri a wicked concubine, he laughed until tears streamed down his face.
Compared to Ichigo Hitofuri, who was now standing at the front of the group with sparkling eyes, Yu Bai was starting to look forward to seeing what kind of short swords they would bring back for him.
As a result, they left home happily in the morning, but returned home looking pale and sickly in the evening.
The dungeons are endless, and the new brothers can never emerge.
Ichigo Hitofuri slumped dejectedly in the corner, his resentment darkening the surroundings.
He began to doubt whether he was really that unlucky. He had found a lot of resources all day, and his younger brothers had also dropped a lot of swords, but they were all short swords that they already had in their citadel.
This sense of powerlessness and frustration made him begin to doubt the blade.
(Here, it's set up so that any sword spirits already present in the citadel will only appear as empty shells when dropped on the battlefield or forged, containing only the sword itself without any spirit inside. The only possibility for duplicate sword spirits to appear in the same citadel is receiving another citadel, like Hakubai did.)
New brothers... We haven't dug up a single one.
Tears welled up in my eyes. o(╥﹏╥)o
Thinking of this, Ichigo Hitofuri, who was squatting in the corner, put his hands on the ground in despair, and his resentment deepened.
"Ahem... that first phase, it's alright. This dungeon event will continue for many more days, there will be plenty of opportunities. There will be supplies, and there will be new brothers too," Yu Bai said, suppressing a laugh to comfort her.
At this moment, Yu Bai's morality and sense of humor are at odds.
As a good lord, he knew he shouldn't laugh like that, but he simply couldn't help it. This subtle psychological shift made him feel both guilty and helpless.
Fortunately, Ichigo Hitofuri didn't notice anything unusual about him. He just nodded silently, as if telling himself: If you persevere a little longer, there will always be hope.
Seeing that their elder brother had cheered up a bit after being comforted by their lord, the short swordsmen also stepped forward to comfort him.
"Ichigo-nii, it's alright. We'll go down the dungeon a few more times tomorrow, we'll find it eventually!"
"That's right, that's right!"
……
Ichigo Hitofuri: It's absolutely because I don't love my younger brothers enough that they don't come out, it's definitely not because I have bad luck! Absolutely not!
Yu Bai: Pfft... Hold it in, hold it in, I can't laugh right now. Hold it in~ (Sa Beining trying not to laugh.JPG)