NoGift 196 WE'RE THE BEST PROOF THAT THEY EXISTED

"Brother, what is it you need to discuss with me?" Flora asked.

She couldn't help but look back at the kitchen.  If she's not mistaken, wasn't Aurum Blackbourne a noble?  Could a noble lady who grow up with tons of servants to do her bidding actually be able to cook?  What if her cooking utensils were destroyed?  No, the more important question was, would Flora be able to eat her cooking and say that it's delicious?

"Don't worry, Aurum won't make a mess in your kitchen," Clay said, noticing his sister's train of thought.

"How do you know?  Wait- why are you addressing her so informally?"

"Is there a reason I couldn't?" Clay asked, a bit confused why Flora would even ask that.

"She's a noble young lady.  We're just commoners.  How could it be alright to just call her by her name?  Won't she be mad?"

Clay stopped.  He never really thought of that.  Maybe because neither Aurum nor Argent acted like the usual nobles – you know, those who were so high-browed they couldn't see anything below their nose.  They thought that they're high above than anyone else.  Especially the people they considered as 'commoners'.  If Flora didn't remind him, he would totally forget about the twins being nobles.  

But then, so what?  He's not really the type of person who would worry about something like that.  He didn't want to start treating the twins differently just because of that.  Argent aside, Aurum would surely slap him senseless if even tried.

"You shouldn't focus too much on things like that," Clay said to his sister.  "Remember, you're no longer confined in that village where you're constantly told that those in higher position should be respected and obeyed.  We're the same human as them.  If we start to think that they're some sort of higher beings just because of the circumstance of their birth, then wouldn't that mean that we're demeaning our own existence?"    

Flora didn't speak for a moment.  Her brother was right.  Maybe she had lived in that kind of environment for too long that that kind of mentality was engraved on her without her even realizing it.  Just as her brother said, she was already free.  She was no longer encased inside that small place, being constantly watched by those priests.

"I know, Brother."

"Good." Clay smiled and patted Flora's head gently.  "Now, let's move on to the more important part.  You know that I went to Vitalya to save that elf who helped us.  On one of its town, Achea, I meat Aurum and her brother again.  I asked them for help when I found out that the elf might be at Victoria City.  They agreed.  But in exchange, I have to make a deal with them."

Flora suddenly became nervous.  "A deal?"

Clay chuckled.  "Don't worry.  It's not something remotely nefarious.  In exchange for their help, they only needed one thing.  For that one thing, aside from helping saving the elf, Argent is even willing to sponsor our cause."

"That Argent Blackbourne is going to sponsor us?"  

Flora was no longer nervous, instead she was excited.  She'd only been out of the village for a little more than five months, but even she knew how wealthy Argent Blackbourne was.  If this was true, then they'd be able to help a lot more people oppressed by the Temple of Gaia.  Maybe they could even build a community.  That would definitely benefit everyone.  Especially the kids.

"Yes.  In exchange for all of those things, Argent wanted to have a look at the pendant our father left us."

She instinctively touched the pendant hanging on her neck and hidden beneath the dress she's wearing.  "Why?" she asked, a bit confused.

Because she truly couldn't understand.  The necklace their father gave to her brother was just an ordinary necklace as far as she knew.  Why would Argent Blackbourne promise all that to her brother just to have a look at an ordinary necklace?  

"I'm not really sure myself.  But it probably had something to do with the existing disagreement they have with the Temple." Although, it's probably more than a disagreement by now, Clay thought.

"You mean how the Temple considers the sPhones as blasphemous objects?" 

Flora was truly dumbfounded when she found out about that.  She couldn't understand how a device that was actually helpful to people could be considered as blasphemous.  Were they just afraid that with the help of sPhones, their bad deeds would be easily known to people?

"No, that's not even the tip of the iceberg.  The Pope kidnapped the twins' mother to blackmail Argent.  And then in retaliation, Argent destroyed the Holy Temple," Clay said.

Flora felt like her brain was suddenly bombarded by thousands of information that she couldn't immediately process.  "Wait- the Pope kidnapped their mother, so in revenge, Argent Blackbourne blew up the Holy Temple?"

"That's about it.  You'll probably learn about that incident regarding the Holy Temple in the coming days."

Clay was sure of that.  Since a part of Argent's plan was to spread the video that was taken during the disappearance of the Holy Temple.  Truly, Argent was scary that way.  She's even way scarier than some SS level Gift user out there.  Probably the result of having an equally scary brain.  

Flora slumped backward.  She suddenly felt like there's a huge headache coming.  Argent Blackbourne really destroyed the Holy Temple – the biggest church of the Temple of Gaia.  She couldn't believe that there would be someone who would dare to do that.  But she didn't feel scared.  She actually felt a kind of excitement she'd never felt before.  Knowing that there's someone out there willing to fight a huge organization like the Temple head on, it somehow made her happy.

"But why do the Pope need to blackmail Argent Blackbourne?" she suddenly thought of asking.

"I'm not exactly sure.  But it most probably has something to do with why he wanted to have a look at the pendant father left." Clay remembered how Argent asked him about the lore involving the Elf Queen and his family's ancestor.  Only after hearing that did Argent proposed that deal with him.  The pendant was probably connected to whatever source of dispute the Pope had with Argent and his family.  "Is it okay for you to let them have a look at the pendant?"

"Of course!" Flora didn't hesitate to answer.  Compared to the benefits they would receive, letting them borrow the necklace for a while was not that big of a deal.  Besides, she was sure that their parents wouldn't mind.   

Clay breathed a sigh of relief.  "Thank you."

"What are you thanking me for?  This pendant was left to you by Father.  So, there's really no need for you to ask for my permission."

 "Of course I have to ask.  The necklace is not something that is mine alone.  It belonged to our Father." A touch of sadness flashed in Clay's dark brown eyes.  "It's the only thing we have to remember him and our mother by.  It's the only proof that they had been part of this world."

Then he suddenly felt someone stretching his cheek.  He looked up and saw her sister who was now standing before him.  "What are you saying?  Isn't us being here together the best proof that they existed?"

Clay was stupefied for a second and then he couldn't help the laugh that erupted from him.  "You're right."

Flora acted indignant.  "Of course I am." She stood upright.  "Then I'll go and help Lady Aurum."

Clay didn't have time to say anything because Flora already walked towards the kitchen area.  He could only shake his head and smile.

Flora walked to the kitchen and saw that Aurum was already putting vegetables on a pot and stirring it while humming a lively tune.  She temporarily stopped in her track.  She looked at the ingredients neatly cut and arranged on the table.  It seemed like her worry was totally unnecessary.  Because from the looks of it, Aurum definitely knew how to cook.

"Hey, Black, I told you to stop eating those ingredients!  They'll be gone before I even finish cooking," Aurum said to the black haired kid who just ate a slice of tomato.

"But Black is hungry!"

"Then choose, continue eating those raw ingredients and not eat what I cooked or wait and eat a delicious a lunch later?"

Black pouted.  "Fine, Black will wait."

Flora almost laughed because of the interaction of the two.  "Lady Aurum, do you need help?" she asked.

Aurum turned around and then smiled at Flora.  "Then could you help me stir-fry those vegetables?"

Flora smiled back.  "Okay!"

Chapter end