“Their food is a little on the spicy side here.”
“!!!”
And as if on queue to Charlotte’s words, Van’s eyes slowly started to widen as his breath momentarily stopped from the creeping pain that slowly made its way to his tongue. He has eaten spicy food before back in the market near their house, but this one was different.
It wasn’t that it was spicier, no. The strength of the taste was just too much for Van’s palette who had only tasted Pit food for quite some time.
He quickly grabbed the glass of water offered to him by Charlotte and chugged it without pause. He then looked at her, his red eyes a little squinted as he looked at Charlotte with a sort of hostility.
“Why didn’t you–“
However, before he could even finish uttering his complaints, the scenery inside the huge screen suddenly shifted and a loud noise thundered the whole festivity area.
The screen showed several shifting images, what caught Van’s attention, however, was the woman being painted on the huge screen.
“Is that… you?” Although the woman on the screen was a lot younger than Charlotte, the similarity they carried was too much to just ignore.
“Indeed,” Charlotte let out a small chuckle, “That was me about 50 years ago.”
“Interesting,” Van squinted his eyes even further as he looked back and forth between Charlotte and the woman on the screen, “It even painted you moving 50 years ago. Maybe I should start having the things in the Relic Graveyard fixed when I return…”
“Are you falling in love with my charms?” Charlotte whispered into Van’s ears, teasing him and trying to nudge him a couple of times. But as always, Van tried his best to dodge her.
“Sure. You were beautiful, Miss Charlotte.”
“T… that,” Charlotte quickly stopped trying to tease Van as soon as his sweet words whispered into her ears, “Be careful there, Van. This grandma might just fall in love with you.”
“…Please don’t,” Van said as he slightly moved his seat away. What’s with him and old people, Van thought. First, it was Latanya, and now Charlotte was starting to tease her… although if Van remembers it clearly, the first time he met Charlotte, she also teased him.
Maybe it’s just an old people thing?
“!!!”
Van’s thoughts were then disrupted by a thunderous roar that filled the entire auditorium. Van was going to turn on his [Time Perception] skill first, but before he could do so, he realized that the roar was coming from the screen.
“…That’s a monster?”
Van focused his attention on the screen as a white-skinned human almost filled it entirely. No, it wasn’t all human. It only had one eye, and if Van was seeing it clearly, those were houses around its feet.
“It’s the Black-class monster, an abnormal Cyclops…” Charlotte muttered, “It almost decimated half of Africa when it got out of the Portal all those years ago.”
“…How big was it?”
“Taller than the wall you erected around the Portal of the Pit,” Charlotte furrowed her eyebrows as she glared at the screen, “And it wasn’t only enormous… it was fast and not to mention smart as well.”
“Hm…” Van’s eyes did not leave the screen as he examined the human-like monster. With just one of its swings, a city was gone.
“It killed the only Platinum-rank Explorer that Africa had,” Charlotte then continued her story, “It was pure luck that I happened to be traveling nearby before this calamity of a monster destroyed everything.”
And as if continuing the story for her, Charlotte was shown fighting the Cyclops on the screen, bursting out from inside the monster’s eyes and absolutely destroying its head. Van could not help but be amazed due to how clear the images were.
“So… this is how you gained the title White Hippopotamus,” Van muttered in awe. Charlotte, however, twitched her eyes upon hearing Van’s astonishment. How did this boy even learn different languages when he was so stupid with other things? Charlotte wondered.
“What does a hippopotamus look like anyway? Must be a majestic creature. Will we see one sometime soon?”
“…” So he doesn’t even know what it looks like!? Charlotte thought as she let out a short sigh. The presentation of Charlotte’s exploits continued for a whole 30 minutes before everyone started clapping their hands.
“!!!”
“That’s us!?”
Van could not help but suddenly stand up from his seat as he saw himself on the screen. He tried moving a couple of times to see if it really was him, and to his extreme shock and surprise, the him on the screen imitated his movements.
“Are you sure this isn’t some sort of Skill!?”
“It… It’s technology, Van,” if Charlotte wasn’t also on the screen, then she would have surely already burst out in laughter. And after a few seconds of trying to calm himself down, she too stood up and raised her hand towards the people.
The fiasco lasted for a whole minute before the crowd died down and the images on the huge screen disappeared, replaced only by its black default color. Van still could not wrap his head around how the thing worked. If the others saw this, Van was sure that they would also be shocked beyond belief.
“White Imvubu,” King Badru then approached Charlotte, followed by two people behind him, “I want to introduce you my grandchildren…
…This big one is Siwazuri,” Badru said as he gestured towards the tall dark-skinned man that adorned himself with what seemed to be gold.
“And this pretty one is Adia,” Badru then placed his hand on the young woman’s shoulder. As soon as the two were introduced by their grandfather, they quickly bowed and kneeled on the floor.
“There’s no need for that, please stand up,” Charlotte quickly waved her hand.
Van could not help but blink his eyes a couple of times as he stared at the King’s grandchildren. They were probably about the same age as Andrea, but he was finding it hard to discern their ages since they all somewhat looked the same for him.
As expected, King Badru’s grandson, Siwazuri, was bald like him… and the rest of the men in the country. They also had tattoos on their body, so Van has been using that to separate them from each other.
On the other hand, his granddaughter, Adia, wore her hair straight, with a part of it in dreads similar to Latanya’s. But alas, unlike Latanya, any woman he has seen so far was lacking in a certain department.
“It is an honor to finally meet you, White Imvubu!” Adia quickly saluted towards Charlotte as she stomped her foot on the ground, causing the whole stadium to quake.
“Oh?” Charlotte could not help but be a little amused.
“I apologize for my sister’s display, Queen Charlotte!” Siwazuri bowed as he tried to pull Adia away, “Unlike your gracefulness, my sister is like a water buffalo in a stampede.”
“It’s perfectly alright,” Charlotte chuckled, “Kids need to have that fire in their eyes to succeed.”
Charlotte then slowly placed her hand on Adia’s shoulder, causing her to flinch. King Badru’s smile quickly disappeared as soon as he saw Charlotte doing that, his sweat quickly emerging from his face.
Adia, on the other hand, stood her ground, biting her lip to try and distract herself from the nerves that were starting to crawl throughout her whole body. Even the people that were clapping their hands instantly stopped.
It remained like this for a whole 30 seconds before Charlotte removed her hand.
“You will be strong in the future, Adia.”
And as soon as Charlotte said that, Adia’s legs gave out, falling on her butt as she burst out in tears. The other people watching as well, cheered for her as the whole auditorium shook due to their roars.
King Badru and Siwazuri then lifted Adia on their shoulders, bouncing her up and down as the people once again started singing the Ballad of the White Imvubu.
“…” Van, on the other hand, wondered what just happened. Was this what Andrea meant back then by embracing other people’s culture when they went to the Chinese restaurant back in the market?
The festivities continued on, with Charlotte being kept busy by the people that wanted to meet her in person. And so, Van took this time to go towards the huge screen, touching it to see if he could figure out how it worked.
“…” Van even went behind the screen, trying to see if there were actually people hiding there. But to his surprise, it was just empty, with only a barrage of black ropes hanging here and there.
“…Puppets?” Van thought.
“…Hello, you are called Va-an, yes?”
Van’s little exploration was then cut short as a voice called to him from behind.
“…Princess Adia,” Van slightly bowed his head towards the woman that was approaching him.
“No, no,” Adia quickly waved her hand, “I’m not a Princess.”
“But you are King Badru’s granddaughter?”
“Well…” Adia placed her hand on her chin, “…Just call me by my name. You are the White Imvubu’s protege, my status is beneath you.”
“…Call me President Van then.”
“What was that?”
“Nothing,” Van shook his head, “Did you need something from me, Miss Adia?”
“Not at all. I just wanted to speak with you, if that is alright?” Adia respectfully asked as she placed the small dreaded part of her hair behind her ear.
“…Sure,” Van said as he took one last glance behind the huge screen. Maybe someday, he will discover the secrets of this… technology.
“My grandfather said you and the White Imvubu were trying to find something in a specific Portal?” Adia quickly asked as she let out a smile, “I was wondering if I can come with the two of you?”
“…That’s not really for me to decide,” Van shook his head, “We’re going to the Pit, I don’t think it is appropriate for a princess to go there.”
“The… Pit?” Adia slightly tilted her head to the side before letting out a small hum, “Ah! You mean the Portal being used as a prisoner?”
“…Yes?”
“But we don’t have those here.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Well, we used to have one a couple of hundred years ago, but it was abolished when the Circle went away.”
“What?” Van once again asked. If the Pit no longer existed in this country… Then what were they doing here in the first place? “But it… the Portal should still be here?”
The Portals being used as a Pit held a certain unique characteristic amongst other Portals– it didn’t have an Objective, and thus can’t be closed; at least that’s what the general public knew. Considering there were a lot of things new to Van’s eyes here, anything he had ever known back in America might as well be… all lies.
“It does,” Adia let out a short sigh, “But…
…No one is really allowed to go there, maybe even the White Imvubu.”
