Mochitsuki Tearmoon Empire: Volume 5

1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7183-7156-9
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 350 Seiten

Reihe: Tearmoon Empire

Mia's summer cruise has turned into a full-blown adventure! Stranded on a deserted island sans boat and supplies, she and her friends need to figure out how to survive. Well, she and most of her friends, because Esmeralda has gone missing! The group decides to split up to look for her, and Mia gets paired up with Abel.

Hey, maybe being stuck on an island isn't so bad! Especially if it means she gets to be alone with her sweetheart. Little does she know, deep within the island lies a dark secret lost to time. In unearthing it she will learn the hidden truth of the Tearmoon Empire... and how it's inextricably linked to her own morbid fate.

Can Mia break free of the bonds of history and avert her ever-impending doom? Maybe, but not before she gets in some quality flirting time! After all, Mia's primary concern is and always will be herself, and the only bond she's interested in right now is the one with Abel. Too bad the island isn't about to let her have her way...

Autoren/Hrsg.

Mochitsuki, Nozomu

Weitere Mitwirkende

Gilse

Teng, David

Leseproben

Chapter 1: To Be or Not To Be...

“Esmeralda is...gone?”

Nina’s only response was to nod. She could offer no other details. Apparently, everyone had gone out to search as best they could, but Esmeralda was nowhere to be found.

“Hm...”

Faced with this mystery, the mind of Great Detective Mia instantly logicked out a few possible explanations:

(1) The events of the day left Esmeralda feeling like the odd one out, so she threw a hissy fit and ran away from home. Cave. Whatever.

(2) She couldn’t resist the Call To Adventure™ and decided to explore the mysterious island.

(3) She got hungry and went looking for something tasty to eat.

Mia shook her head and sighed.

“Ugh, I swear, that girl...”

“She might have gone to the spring by herself. Perhaps for a morning bath, or for a drink of water...” suggested a nervous Nina.

Mia nodded.

“Hm, good point... She does seem like the kind of person who’d claim that a glass of ice cold spring water, fresh from the source, is the only way to start the day... Let’s hurry and go take a look around the spring then.”

“Hold on.” Sion put up an arresting hand. “There’s no point in all of us going together. Keithwood, could you head down to the beach? Keep your eyes on the sea and cover as much of the shoreline as you can.”

“You’re thinking she might have gone to see if the Emerald Star is back, I presume? Got it.”

“That and pirates. In the unlikely event that they have a ship somewhere around here, she might have mistaken it for the Emerald Star and gotten herself kidnapped.”

Sion’s comment jogged Mia’s memory.

In that case, it was entirely possible that pirates had been using it as a hideout.

“Unless she’s intentionally refusing to come back, we should assume that she’s being held against her will. By people who either were already here or are newly arrived by sea. It doesn’t seem too likely at the moment, but we should be on guard just in case. Better safe than sorry. Nina, I’d like you to come with me. As for you, Abel...”

“I’m joining the search party too, of course,” Mia declared. “I’ll go the other way, the one opposite the spring, and search that side.”

As the resident survival expert—self-appointed, obviously—this was her time to shine. She turned to Anne.

“Anne, I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to stay here. If Esmeralda comes back, make sure you keep her from running off again.”

“Understood. I’ll do what I can to prepare food for everyone as well.”

Fortunately, they still had some greens left from Mia’s foraging trip. She’d hauled back a small mountain, having given no thought to portions or practicality, but it was a boon for them now. More importantly, they’d all received the Keithwood Seal of Edibleness.

“In that case, you’ll want to remove the nodes on those stems just like we did yesterday, and...”

While Nina was giving Anne a quick refresher, Keithwood headed out.

“Miss Anne, I’m sorry that we’ll be leaving you here by yourself. If anyone strange shows up, just hide. Don’t confront them,” advised Sion.

With this, he and Nina departed as well, and after them the last pair—Mia and Abel—prepared to leave as well.

“All right, time for me to go too, Anne.”

“Please be careful out there, milady.”

After exchanging a quick farewell, Mia followed Abel out of the cavern. Walking in the opposite direction from the spring, they were headed for the place she’d previously explored with Keithwood. They soon entered the forest, following small winding trails left by animals that wove through the branches. Protruding tree roots made for an uneven path, which was made worse by the water-logged soil. On multiple occasions Mia almost lost her balance, but she managed to stay upright and plodded on.

“It looks like it rained again during the night. Watch your step, Mia.”

He extended a hand to her, which she promptly grasped with a smile.

“Always the gentleman. Thank you, Abel.”

“I-It’s nothing. Th-The ground’s pretty muddy. I don’t want you to slip, that’s all,” he said, his eyes drifting in every direction except hers. “There sure has been a lot of rain this year, hasn’t there?”

As she watched him take a sudden interest in the sky, she remembered that there was something important she had to tell him. Well, “remembered” might not be the right word, since she’d never really forgotten. She’d simply put it off. Lately though, it had frequently occupied her thoughts.

She’d been wondering whether she should tell Abel about her knowledge of the future. What would he think of her if she confided in him the truth of her foresight? His trust, especially, was extremely important. She had to make him believe her so he could prepare for what was coming. However she went about it, there was no room for error. The stakes were high, and her stomach filled with butterflies every time she considered attempting it. As a result, she’d never been able to broach the topic. Time, however, was running out. She made up her mind.

“There certainly is. By the way, Abel, there’s something I’d like to tell you. I already spoke to Keithwood about it, but I think you should know too. Very soon, there’s going to be a serious famine,” she said, purposefully choosing a mild, matter-of-fact delivery.

She honestly couldn’t care less about what might happen to Sunkland, but Remno worried her. The recent incident with the revolution was certainly cause for personal concern, but it was also Abel’s homeland. If possible, she’d like to see the kingdom remain peaceful. So she adopted a dispassionate tone, hoping to minimize the shock of her words by speaking them as if they were well-established facts.

At first, Abel looked at her with surprise.

“Seriously? Are you sure about that?”

“Of course. I can’t show you any definitive proof, but—”

Before she could explain further, Abel said with a gentle smile, “Never mind. If you say it is so, then it is. I believe you.”

And that was that. He trusted her so easily that ended up looking like the one who had just been hit with a bombshell revelation.

“You— What? Huh? You believe me?”

“Yes. Once we manage to get off this island, I’ll go talk to some people I trust. I’ll mention it to my father too. He might not believe me, but given how this summer is turning out, some people will.”

“Ah. Well, that’s good, but... Um, why?”

He shrugged helplessly as she stared at him in disbelief.

“You have no reason to deceive me. Besides, even if the famine doesn’t happen, it’s still you saying it will. Whatever happens, even if it’s just out of honest concern, I trust your motives.”

“I... But... Uh...”

His earnest eyes robbed her of words. There was no logic to his trust. He hadn’t reasoned his way to believing her. He simply did, because it was her. She was delighted. And touched. And a dozen other things. They were so overwhelming that her brain simply gave up on expressing any of them, leaving her with only a blank stare.

“Anyway, let’s keep moving.”

He pulled her ahead, their hands still clasped. His reddened ears suggested the vulnerable nature of his words had caught up with him too. The realization allowed Mia to retrieve some semblance of her composure.

direct

Mia was having another one of her moments, in which her mind was filled with flowers and rainbows and smiling Abels. She spent the rest of the walk savoring her inner delight, stopping only when the underbrush abruptly gave way to the rocky ground she’d seen yesterday. Patches of brown earth could be glimpsed through the countless cracks that ran along the craggy surface, and the area seemed very difficult to walk across.

“She...couldn’t possibly have gone past here, could she?” asked Abel as he regarded the unfriendly terrain.

“You’re right. It looks very dangerous, and she’d probably have no reason to do so. It’d be a waste of her time and energy...which is exactly why she’d march across this rocky mess! Because she’s Esmeralda!”

In Mia’s eyes, Esmeralda was the kind of person who, if given instructions by a superior—her parents, for example—would obey them religiously, but if told something by someone she deemed equal or, god forbid, below her, she’d be overcome by an irresistible urge to do the exact opposite. Put simply, she was a real handful.

It bears mentioning that Mia also had a tendency to reach for mushrooms that she was explicitly told to keep her hands away from, but alas, people’s flaws are often apparent to everyone except themselves. Mia and...