Chapter 16: What Really Matters

Lu regained consciousness on a pile of soft, colored sheets. At the foot of his bed stood Esther who promptly jumped onto his bed and embraced him. Even though he could feel nothing at all and he knows she was merely creating space between her arms to create the illusion of a hug, her warm welcome still felt the same as a reception from anyone else he cared about.

"If you die, I'm going to kill you, so don't die, okay?" She cried.

Lu smiled. After she climbs down, Lu finds that his wounds were healed, his body felt light, and he had no missing limbs. Even after double checking it.

Two people chattered among themselves at the door. A cheerful man right outside amused the woman, who seemed entertained enough judging from her smile from ear to ear.

The man stops mid-conversation to point that Lu had woken up. The woman, who appeared to be Chrio after she turned around, found this true.

"Those two really did defeat three titans, huh. That's impressive, but that still is fewer than the four I killed outside last night. Alright then, Rai, I'll be off now".

"Alright, see you later Clay" the governess bid him, and she waved him goodbye cheerfully.

Chrio closed the door and walked closer to Lu.

"Rai?" Lu thought out loud with an inquisitive tone.

Chrio coughed, telling Lu that she does not want to hear a word about it. "That was my husband, the adventurer, Claude. He's the one who found you both lying unconscious someplace in the plains on his way back here." She explained.

"Moving on, would you mind if I asked what happened? I'm sure it must have been something crazy. It took five of the city's healers to patch you both up. Your wounds were nothing to brush off" Chrio said with concern evident in her tone.

Lu started, "Long story short, we finished mapping, then..." Lu stopped midway and remembered the play station for Monitum, which he thought should not exist. He stopped silent for a moment, hesitating whether he should relay the information or not. He does not know the explanation for it either if he does choose to share.

"Then?" Chrio asked Lu to continue from his cliffhanger.

"Then five titans attacked" Lu looked at her.

"Five? I thought the report said there were only three" Chrio asked "More importantly, it is pleasant to know you two are still alive after that. It would also explain how your bodies were when they were taken here", she said. Chrio knew the combat capabilities of Lu and Autumn well. She knew three titans would have given them mere scratches.

"Yes, there were five. We split them up, shut them all down... Then she tried to kill me...and then we were knocked out and then we were found. You know the rest" Lu shrugged.

Esther throws a fit, "Who's this Autumn fellow? Just point her out to me and she's minced meat the next day, Hmp!".

Lu wanted to respond but in the presence of others he could not give Esther more than a look to convey his messages, and hope for the best that she will understand whatever it is he had to say.

"It is alarming how the titans have been banding together lately. Any more of these cases and we might find ourselves needing to invest more on defenses" Chrio said, pinching her chin in deep thought. "I will attempt to send out some of my bounty hunters on a mission to reach out to our neighbors about our situation. Hopefully, it will do any good. On the other hand, what do you plan to do with her?"

"Her?" Lu asked, playing dumb to avoid the topic, albeit both of them knowing that Chrio could see through his facade clear as day.

"Autumn" Chrio said to dismiss Lu's act politely.

"Why don't you ask her instead? She's the one who attacked me. I don't want to have to do anything with her. I can live better with one less person trying to kill me as a matter of fact" Lu said bitterly.

The governess sighed and took a seat beside him, her eyes conveying sympathy. "You know, sometimes we have to say sorry even if it's not our fault. You can't blame her either. I don't know the details, but I heard that she had a bad history with an aurum. If you want, you could ask her about it some time. I don't think it will be easy to bring this up when I meet her later, so I can't help you with this"

Despite hearing Chrio drop the usual formality in her speech, Lu felt her sincere concern for him.

"You remind me of my sister. She used to scold me the same way" Lu smiled.

"If that meant I helped, even if only a little, then I'm glad to hear it" Chrio stood up. "Follow me, I've encountered a journal in the library on the topic of changing the color of one's feathers. I believe it would be most useful for you to prevent more incidents like these".

From that day forth, Lu and Autumn were assigned on seperate bounties while he attempted to repair his connection to Autumn any chance he got no matter how small.

When the sun sinks down after he had completed his daily task and failed at making an appeal to Autumn, he would try to use the techniques written in the book Chrio gave him to change the color of his feathers. Thanks to the clear and beautiful handwriting of the author, he found no difficulty in comprehending the words -- also because it was english, which he was thankful for as well.

Contrary to his initial belief, it appeared harder than he thought it was. At the first night, he could not even make a feather appear, much less a speck of an energy with another color.

It took him three days to create a feather using the technique, but what appeared was still golden, however it was hollow and he could clearly see what was inside of it.

A week went by before he could finally manifest a white feather. According to the book, there can only be two colors for a person, and Lu thought as long as it was not gold he would be satisfied.

Indeed he had finally spawned a quill of a different hue, but he was far from employing it for daily use. He wondered how Autumn fought so well with hers, which motivated him to practice more.

Coincidencially, it was around the same time when Autumn was no longer hostile to him whenever he made his attempts for peace.

On the second week, the duration of his white feathers had extended so much that he could use them almost comfortably, and he was assigned to some bounties inside Elle now that he could work with his feathers comfortablely. However, it was still not perfect. Lu wanted to be able to use them as much as he could with his gold.

Autumn still had not responded to him, but she does look his way at the very least, though it does scare Lu that she does it as if she was thinking of a way to kill him legally.

A whole month had passed and there was a three-titan attack which Lu did not have to partake in, as the guards had taken care of it while he worked merrily, amassing half of what he needs to purchase a residence in Elle. Lu wished his life would be more peaceful and wondered why he was gaining so much in such a short amount of time, then he brushed it off by being thankful instead. At this time he had perfected the use of his alternate feather color, but there was still no progress with Autumn.

He then proceeded to read the book about the sprites after he had finished his training for a different feather color. He learned that they were enemies of mankind, as they were unseen and tamper with souls in unimagineable ways, and a lot more often than not, end the lives of people because of their actions.

He then looked at Esther who was licking the back of her hand akin to a cat cleaning her paws. Her ears twitched when she felt Lu's stare and she smiled at him. He definitely could not feel any threat from her at all, so he was still not sure whether to call her a sprite or not, despite the book confirming that she does act like a sprite save for the part where they harm others.

One night when he was counting his credits, Esther asked what he was saving up for.

At that moment, Lu was reminded that he had a promise with Esther to look for her kin, but so far all he did was stay in one place and is even planning to reside there. He thought it was time to confront her about the topic which he had avoided for so long.

"It's alright, I'm not that naive to not know. You don't want to go out on an adventure to look for my parents, right?" Esther smiled. Lu's chest felt painful at that moment, because there was no more excuse for him. He did not want to lie to her even further. All he could do was nod and stay silent.

"It's alright. I wasn't really expecting that I will find them by looking, anyway. I mean, if they were here, either I or they would have found each other by now, right? Plus, we can always head out someday. It may not be next year, the year after that, or maybe even decades after. It's so much better to stick with someone who I can talk to than rely on luck on a journey alone, right?" She said.

Lu almost shed a tear at how Esther could be very reliable when it counts.

"Come on, no need to shed a tear for me. You know I can feel how you feel, so don't feel bad about it!" Esther smiled.

Lu nodded and agreed that the least he could do was let Esther only receive positive vibes from him. That night he slept peacefully, resting easy feeling a big load off his chest.