Living with Seele, a New Plan

"Seele? It really is you." He looked at Seele with complicated emotions. "You've grown up... How have you been lately?"

Seele's whole body stiffened.

She finally recognized the man.

A vague image flashed through her mind—a tall Guard escorting her young self to the gates of the Rivet Town orphanage.

He was... Oleg, the captain of those Silvermane Guards?

Seele had thought he had long since returned to the Upper District with the other Guards...

Then another figure surfaced in her memories.

The boy who had come alone to beg at the orphanage, who would rather scavenge outside than live in the orphanage... Jiang Mo.

In Jiang Mo's eyes, she had seen something different from the other orphans, something that made her yearn for it.

From then on, Seele had left the orphanage too, wandering like Jiang Mo.

"Oleg... it's you." Seele answered softly. "I... I'm doing well."

She did not want to say much about her life as a drifter.

"All right... child, you're still as strong as ever."

Oleg handed Seele a flyer.

"Take this." He pointed to a marked spot on it. "If anything happens to you later, or if you run into trouble, come find me here."

Seele took the flyer and gripped it tightly in her hand.

Just then, Jiang Mo came rushing over.

He had heard someone say Seele was surrounded, so he hurried over at once.

"Seele!"

He shouted as he ran to her side, looking her over from head to toe.

"How are you? Are you hurt?"

Seele turned and saw Jiang Mo panting heavily. She gave a small smile and shook her head.

"I'm fine," she replied softly, pointing at Oleg and the man beside him. "They helped me..."

Jiang Mo followed her hand and looked at Oleg.

"Uh, you were the ones who got Seele out of that? Thank you so much..."

"No need to thank us."

Oleg smiled at the two of them. "With Wildfire around, this kind of thing won't happen in the Underworld again. I promise."

When Jiang Mo heard the name Wildfire, his gaze changed.

He glanced at Oleg, desperately suppressing the excitement in his heart.

Is that so? Wildfire is starting to emerge...

Living with Seele, a New Plan

Oleg did not stay long. After patting Seele on the shoulder, he left with the man beside him.

Seele looked at the dazed Jiang Mo and poked his cheek.

"Jiang Mo, why did you come?"

"Oh, I heard something happened to you, so I rushed over..." Jiang Mo came back to himself. "It's good that you're all right."

Then he grabbed Seele's hand.

"Come on, I'll take you somewhere."

"Huh? Where?"

"It's a secret for now! Just follow me and you'll see!"

Before long, Jiang Mo led Seele through several alleys to the front of his shelter.

Jiang Mo pushed open a door fashioned from iron sheets.

Seele stood in the doorway, stunned.

The sight before her completely exceeded her imagination.

This was not just some shabby little shack.

Though it was small inside, it was clean and orderly.

Thick cloth covered the floor, food was piled in a corner, and there were even several books.

Most striking of all, the bed actually had a soft blanket and a pillow.

This was practically a mansion among shacks!

"What do you think?" Jiang Mo looked at Seele's shocked expression, feeling a little proud. "I put all this together."

Seele slowly walked into the shelter, touched the blanket, then picked up the soft pillow and squeezed it.

Her eyes were full of disbelief.

"Seele, move in and live with me."

Jiang Mo looked at her seriously. "It's safer here than outside. Together, we can survive."

Safe... together...

After so many days of struggling to survive alone, those two words held an immense attraction for Seele.

Seele suddenly felt as though a warm current had wrapped around her heart.

Looking at Jiang Mo, she nodded, her voice slightly choked.

"Okay... Jiang Mo, thank you."

In that moment, she truly wanted to stay. She wanted to spend those difficult days together with Jiang Mo in this tiny shelter.

The two of them stayed in the shelter for a while.

Jiang Mo took out some of his stored food: a grilled red sausage.

It was the last piece of meat he had gotten from that snack-stall owner, and he had never had the heart to eat it.

"Eat." He handed it to Seele.

Seele did not stand on ceremony. She took the sausage and bit into it.

The long-missed fragrance of meat burst across her mouth.

She looked at Jiang Mo, her gaze complicated.

This boy always managed to bring her an unexpected surprise in the hardest times.

They sat in the shelter and talked about the past.

They talked about the days when they searched through garbage heaps for food, the thugs who had bullied them, and the orphanage.

The atmosphere was rare and relaxed.

Seele felt an inexplicable sense of security.

This place was like a warm home, letting her temporarily forget the chaos and danger outside.

But after that warmth faded, Oleg's words and the Wildfire flyer began echoing in her mind again.

"The Underworld can't go on like this..."

"We have to do it ourselves..."

That night, in a small room partitioned off inside the shelter, Seele lay on a bed made of cotton and cloth, feeling somewhat dazed.

As she looked at the peaceful state of the shelter, then thought of all those people outside struggling to survive, she felt inexplicably torn.

Hiding here, perhaps she could survive safely.

But was this really the kind of life she wanted?

The Wildfire Oleg had described was not merely about survival. It was also a form of resistance. Perhaps they really could change the Underworld's current state.

She clenched the flyer in her hand.

The next day, Seele secretly went to Oleg's place to observe the situation.

She saw Oleg gathering a group of people in a hidden warehouse.

They were all people from the very bottom of the Underworld: drifters, miners, refugees who had lost their homes. Many of their eyes were numb and lifeless.

Oleg then divided some of the resources they had gathered evenly among everyone and gave them temporary places to stay. Though they were only crude tents, that was enough for them.

Then Oleg and his subordinates taught the refugees some basic fighting skills, organized them into rotating patrols, and helped those in need.

Seele saw that these people, once desperate, had rekindled their passion for life under Oleg's leadership.

All of Wildfire seemed to truly be working toward a shared goal.

The sight moved Seele.

After returning, following a sleepless night of tossing and turning, Seele finally made her decision.

The next day, Seele woke early in Jiang Mo's shelter.

Pushing aside the curtain used as a partition, she saw Jiang Mo sitting on the floor with a piece of wood in his hand, awkwardly carving something.

When he saw her, Jiang Mo set the wood down.

"Seele, why are you up so early?"

Seele walked up to him and stopped.

"Jiang Mo."

She stared directly at him and suddenly spoke.

"I've made up my mind... I, I want to join Wildfire."

After saying that, she waited for Jiang Mo's reaction.

She had considered many possibilities.

Jiang Mo might jump up, point at her, and mock her coldly. He might call her stupid, call her naive, or even force her to abandon the idea.

In her mind, Jiang Mo was the sort of person who was extremely rational and valued his own interests.

He definitely would not approve.

Wildfire? What kind of hellhole was that? A mob risking their lives for some baseless slogan, liable to be killed by Riftworld Monsters at any moment!

Jiang Mo might very well say something like that.

Yet now, Jiang Mo merely looked at her, blinked, and said:

"Wildfire? Sure."

"If you like it, go ahead."

He even curled his lips into an easy smile, then picked up the piece of wood again and continued carving.

Seele was completely stunned.

She thought she had misheard him.

"Y-you agreed just like that?" Her eyes widened. "Aren't you going to ask why I want to go? Aren't you going to try to talk me out of it? Aren't you... aren't you going to scold me?"

"Why would I scold you? It's your freedom."

Jiang Mo did not stop carving.

"What you want to do is your decision. Why should I ask so much?"

He paused, as if remembering something, then looked up at Seele.

"Oh, right."

"Go without worry. As long as you can come back for dinner every day."