Way of the Knights

Chapter 854: Lenna’s Home

—

Lenna was almost skipping as they stepped out of the shuttle. It was obvious that she was excited to return, impatient even. 

Raven decided to leave the shuttle station somewhere near the Broken Badlands but not on it. He could instantly access it from this distance and it's safer this way. It's also camouflaged, it's practically invisible to everyone except him. 

The two of them didn't bother hiding their presence. Lenna was the who suggested it. She said that she was well known here and it's not strange for a newcomer to show-up here anyways. 

When they reached the plateau, Lenna paused to take a deep breath before she resumed walked. Raven followed behind her, maintaining a respectful distance between them. They were silent on the trip but that's because Raven was busy inspecting the entirety of Lenna's home. 

"Lenna? Is that you, Lass? You've returned?" 

"Aunt May!" Lenna's cheerful voice interrupted Raven out of his reverie. He then saw Lenna running towards a middle-aged woman. 

"Oh, my. It really is you! I'm glad you're back! How have you been? We missed you!" 

The two relatives talked to each other, it was mostly Lenna who telling her aunt what she's up to roughly. She didn't tell her about her near death experience though. 

Raven just stood there, absorbed in his own thoughts. He had made numerous discoveries upon landing here and that's what is keeping him occupied at least. 

"…oh by the way, this is Raven. He's someone I met outside." Lenna turned towards him and gestured towards her Aunt. "Raven, this Aunt May. She's the one who took care of me ever since I was young." 

Raven smiled and nodded at the middle-aged woman, the latter returned the gesture. They didn't bother exchanging words since there's no need to. Plus it was obvious that this woman was wary of him. 

Lenna sensed the strange atmosphere and couldn't help but purse her lips. Nevertheless, she remained silent instead, changed the subject. 

"By the way Aunt May? Where's the rest? My parents? I don't see them here." Lenna asked. 

"Oh, they went out to distribute supplies." May replied, she walked back to their home with Lenna following her. "It's out house's turn this time around. They didn't want to go but they're bound by an agreement." 

"Ah, so I was out for that long huh?" 

The two of them reached the opposite side of the house, May pretended that she was searching for something. She looked around and saw that the man didn't follow them around, that's when she turned around and asked her niece:

"Lenna, be wary of that man." She stressed, "Don't trust him that easily."

"I trust him Aunt." Lenna sighed, "But I honestly don't think he's that bad. He did return me here safe and sound. Of course, it's in exchange of something but it's not something so drastic."

"What kind of deal?" 

"He's searching for someone." Lenna replied, "He showed me a picture and I can't recognize the person. He had a nice ship and I wanted to return here so I thought that I might as well try my luck. I told him that I'll help him ask the people around here, maybe someone knows something about the man he's searching for, that in exchange that he'll give me a ride back here. He fulfilled his promise and so I must too with mine."

"Is that really all?" May asked, sounding really skeptical.

"Yes, Aunt May. That's all." Lenna sighed again, "He didn't hurt me. Heck, he didn't even try to start a conversation if it's not necessary. I don't think he's that bad."

"Just making sure, Darling." May replied, "You can never be too sure nowadays. For all we know, he could be faking it." 

"Oh, trust me. He doesn't need to try. He has no interest on what we have here. For all I know, this place might as well be a trash heap in his eyes. He's a child of the Divine Realm after all." 

May's eyes comically widened at the mention of that. 

"Is he now?" 

"Yes." Lenna nodded, "It hurts to compare out living conditions, Aunt May. I feel like crying. He so damn rich. His shuttle was basically a Divine Fortress, it turned the fierce spatial storms outside into a mere joke. He has a lot of food too, he fed me a lot you know? And that's without asking for anything in return so far. I don't think he's that bored to rob us or harm us. I think we're safe. He's not that bad."

"You see, I know you said that to comfort me but all it did is make me even more suspicious." 

"Aunt May. He's not that bored alright." Lenna countered, "Besides, I'm pretty sure that he's here strictly out of business. Once he gets what he wants out of us, he'll leave peacefully."

"Well, you were never a poor judge of character." May sighed, "Alright then. We'll see what we can do to help." 

"Thanks, Aunt May." Lenna cheered and hugged her again. 

From the other side of the…house. Raven shook his head. 

They probably thought that they were far enough to not be heard by him but oh, how wrong they were. Raven could here everything in this place, even the gentlest gust of wind didn't escape his ears. 

Raven didn't blame the aunt for suspecting him. That's normal out here. The Outer World is filled with too much treachery that trust turns into a luxury here. 

Lenna wasn't wrong with her assumptions though. Raven was here strictly out of business. He wanted to search for clues about his Master's whereabouts, he isn't that bored to cause a scene in here. 

After a couple of minutes, Lenna went out of the house and approached him. 

"Hey, sorry for making you wait out here. I got a little distracted with my Aunt. Do want to come in?" 

"If you don't mind." 

"Not at all! Come!" Lenna cheerfully lead Raven within the…house. 

Raven fought the urge to squint when he heard the groan of the wooden floor from his weight. He also noticed that majority of the things out here were covered with dust…well, ash more like actually. This ash was something from the decayed crust of this broken star, constantly falling over this plateau. 

There's a few chairs and tables around. The roof has many holes and it looked liked it was roughly patched up together to form…this. 

"Sorry. This place must look ugly for you. It's all we have so please bear with it." 

"Okay." Raven nodded, he didn't want to sound pretentious so he didn't bother trying to make-up excuses. 

"Right, so I told my Aunt about out deal." Lenna said. "Well, I told her everything minus the part where I almost died. She doesn't need to know that."

"We're just waiting for the rest of my family to return. Once they're back, I'll tell them about out deal too. We have quite a reputation here so that should help with your search."

"I appreciate that." Raven replied. "I won't be staying here though. I'll most likely stay at my shuttle instead."

Raven took out a scroll from his spatial ring and passed it to Lenna. 

"This scroll contains the same image I showed you before. It's a portrait of my Master. Take it with you to help with you search. If you find someone who knows something, just call my name. I'll hear you."

"Also, to help with your search, I'm willing to provide rations as a reward. Some for your family if they're willing to help me and some for the one who knows something – which I hope someone does actually." 

"Oh…that's fine. W-we're not really lacking in terms of rations-"

"Say that again once you remember all the variety of food you devoured while you were on my ship." Raven playfully scoffed. "Just do as I say. You'll thank me afterwards. Anyways, I'm off. I'll be on my ship. Give me a call once you discover something." 

Just like that Raven disappeared from Lenna's home like a phantom. His disappearing act somewhat frightened Lenna because she didn't even noticed how he moved, he just downright dissipated like he was never there in the first place. 

She pursed her lips and unfurled the scroll on her hands. The image painted on there looked like the one he showed her, only this one looked more vivid and realistic. 

Then she remembered Raven's offer. She felt slightly embarrassed actually. She didn't know what came over her when she tried to refuse his offer. Even more embarrassed when she remembered what kinds of food Raven fed her during the entirety of their trip here. 

Indeed, it was foolish of her to refuse that. Why did she even think about it? 

Raven's pockets were literally filled with all sorts of delicacies and stuff she wouldn't mind having. If the man offered it to them, who was she to refuse? 

With that in mind, Lenna rolled the scroll once again and kept it in her own spatial ring.. She sat inside the house and waited for the rest of her family to return. 

62d67767f92eb560e77c9100