chap 46

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[AN: gyat damn.. powerstones.. me want powerstones.. and check out my patreon.. i already upload 2 interludes about Mordred and the arc family reactions to Jaune missing there..]

"Okay.. and then?" I asked Greta as she continue to draw on the sand...

What is she drawing? Well.. a map.. a map of khaleed... and vacuo in general...

At first after they know that i basically know nothing about khaleed or any settlements in Vacuo, they took over and guide me to their home which is... sad.. its just an abandoned building with basically little to no roof and so many holes on the wall... there are sands.. everywhere inside... but.. its their home.. and I will respect that as much as I could.

I know that if they have a choice, they wouldn't want to live in this place... but.... never mind... why am I even complaining anyway? They invited me to their home and from what I know (which is very little) street kids doesn't trust people this quickly... maybe they trusted me because I saved them and that's why they let me into their home.

And now... Greta is crouching and drawing a map on the sand with a stick.

"Okay.. now we are here.. in khaleed." She point at a..... I don't know what to call it.. it looks like a circle cut in half with a bunch of squiggly jagged line..

"Okay..." I answered her as serious as I can because.... She really need a drawing lesson.. there's no way that is how khaleed looks like on an actual map.

She then draw a line north of khaleed to another..... thing.... it looks like a rectangle is giving birth...

"And that is Vacuo." She presented up and look so proud of herself.

I look at her and scratched the back of my head. "Aren't we in Vacuo?"

"Yeah." She nodded at me.

"So why is that.. place also called Vacuo?" That is what confused me the most because I don't understand what she is talking about.. we're in Vacuo but there is a place inside Vacuo that is also called Vacuo? Doesn't that get confusing?

"Yeah!" Its Hans now that answered me.. and oum dammit... the look on his face its as if there is nothing wrong.

I let out a sigh and point at the ground. "We're in Vacuo right now." They both nodded at me. "And this is Vacuo?" I point at the rectangle and they nodded again and look at me as if I'm stupid.

I let out a sigh and scratch the back of my head. ".... why is this place also called Vacuo?"

"Because it's Vacuo."

"Because it's Vacuo Obviously."

Hans and Greta replied to me at the same time and I am trying to hold back the tears because of how many of my brain cells are dying right now.

I palm my face a let out a sigh. "...you know that...." I let out another sigh and stand up from my crouching position. "Never mind... you guys know better anyway.. I'm just a traveler.."

Hans laugh softly. "Well you're a pretty bad traveler if you don't know this much!"

"So.... where is Shade Academy?" I asked Greta once again... hopefully it's isn't another Vacuo situation.

"Its in Vacuo!"

Damn... its another Vacuo situation....

"Which Vacuo?" I asked her as I look around to find a place to sit buy all I can find is sand on the ground, a mat which is probably the place they sleep (I obviously won't sit there.. I don't want to be disrespectful and use the place where they sleep as my seating place) and... a... brick... there is almost nothing here....

"The other one." She replied back to me and I can't stand it anymore and just decided to just sit on the ground... let the sand get inside my pants.. I don't care by now... I'm too tired with all this Vacuo this and Vacuo that confusion.. and the fact that she said 'the other one'... there is another Vacuo? Just how many Vacuo is inside Vacuo!

"There is another Vacuo?" I asked her as gently as I can and try not to show the frustration on my face... if only Mordred was here... never mind.. if she was here I would probably had to stop her from fighting these two by now.

"Nuh uh." Hans answered me in Greta's stead once again.. "she's not talking about this Vacuo..."

"Is she talking about this Vacuo?" I point at the rectangle thingy that Greta drew because what he said also doesn't make sense.

I know that he speaks words pretty fluently but I don't understand any of them that came out of his mouth.. because if it's not this Vacuo then is it the other Vacuo? Had we even have an agreement about which Vacuo is which? Is the Vacuo we are in one is 'this Vacuo'? Or is the Vacuo that Greta draw is 'this Vacuo'? I'm confusion!

"Nah, that's the other one." Finally... finally it all make sense now! Okay so this is 'the other Vacuo' and 'this Vacuo' is where we are on...

"Okay.. so Shade academy is here.. so all I need to do is go north to go there?" I look at Greta again hoping that all she would do is nod.

But to my absolute fear.. she shook her head and pick up the stick... the stick of doom....

Oh God... no.... she... *sigh*..... she is drawing again...

I watch her draw.. 5 more things before she stops and look at her drawing with pride once again and Hans nodding as he look at the sand drawing too.

I wait for a few seconds for her to start talking but all I'm hearing is silence. "... the drawing is lovely?"

"Thank you." She replied to me before she become silent again.

"So... can you please explain it to me about.. what is this five places? Like their names?"

"Oh... I don't know what their names is but I know that there are between Vacuo and us." She tell me which I nodded along.

"Okay... so just go north and I'll reach Shade Academy..." I talked to myself because frankly.. it sounds pretty simple.. go north and I'll reach Shade Academy... hopefully it's just that and I have no problem along the way...

"Do you plan to go to Vacuo?" I look up as I heard Hans talked to me.

"Oh, yeah... I planned to go to Vacuo..." I tell them even though I am not lying in which that I did planned to go to Vacuo.. I didn't expect it to be this complicated... "I'm a traveler remember?"

"Yeah I remembered.. and you're a bad traveler if you don't even know the map of the place you're traveling too." He shrugged his shoulders.

I wanted to retort at him about how I actually have a plan but I stopped myself because he isn't wrong per say... I am a pretty bad traveler.. I should had done more research before I get to Vacuo... should had look for a map online of my scroll just so I can anticipate about where I would arrive in Vacuo.. could do a lot more things to prepare myself for when I get here but... but I wanted to spend time with my family more...

Is it wrong that I prioritize spending time with Mordred.. learning with Saphron... Calling Artoria once in a while when's she's not busy... Playing with Noir and Blancheur... baby sitter Olivia... bonding with Jeanne.... helping mom around the house... talking with dad...

Is it wrong for me to do prioritize that more than for my time at Vacuo? If all goes well and dad doesn't know that I'm in Vacuo.. it would be years.. years before I could see or even speak with any of my family again... is it wrong for me to spend as much time as I had and use it on my family?

Oh God... dad is still probably having a search party for me now... even though it's been a while since I ran away... Mordred... fuck... I don't want to know what she would do to me when she found out that I effectively killed 2 man... 2 man that would do the most evil thing a person can do to a child.. but still.. 2 living, breathing and sentient Man...

She would probably hit the back of my head and scold me.. but I know that she will help me.. she always do... I missed her.. she would know what to do now... oum dammit...

"John.."

She would probably drag me by my ears and tell me about how I should had brought her to here even against my better judgment if she know what I had done.

"John...."

But I can't.. I can't bring her here.. it'll ruin her future.. she would go to Beacon and become the greatest hunter there! She have such a bright future! I can't ruined it for my own future! I love her too much for that! I would rather stop trying to become a hunter before I would destroy her future!

"John!" Greta grab me by my shoulder with such a hard grip that I am actually surprised that my Aura didn't activate.

"Yes?" I asked her with a confused expression cause why is she grabbing my shoulder? She could had just called me.

"You didn't respond when we called out to you..." she explained and all I can do is stay silent because it look like I'm once again lost in my thoughts... it usually doesn't happened this much.. I think... well I don't think it ever happened when I was with Mordred.

[AN: well that's because Morder and Jaune got lost in their own world, not each other thoughts most of the time so they didn't notice it even happening.]

"Sorry... was just lost in my mind, that's all.."

"Its okay... its just that Hans was about to throw some sand at you cause he thought you got possessed by some desert spirits." Greta motion over to Hans with her head and true to her words.. Hans is currently holding a few hands full of sans and is putting them on a pile on the ground.. presumably to use as ammo against me.

"Oh...."

"Now that you're not lost in your mind and all that bullshit... we want to ask you some question.." Greta asked me and I nodded at her because I don't think there's any problems with me answering some questions..

"So why are you here?" She asked me.

"Well I'm a traveler." I answered her which once again is not a lie because I am technically a traveler.. or a person that is currently traveling to another place.

"Why?" Hans asked me.

"Why? Well... cause I travel?" Oum dammit.. that sounds really stupid...

"Okay..." ain't no way he believed that!? "You wanna go to Shade?" How did he know!? Oh yeah.. I did asked about Shade before.. it wouldn't be hard for them to put two and two together...

"Yeah.. I am.. I want to join Shade Academy.." I answered them which is 100% true..

"Awesome..."

"That's so cool."

Hans and grateful both exclaimed before Hans coughed onto his hand to get my attention.

"Is that why you're so strong? You're a hunter in training or some shit?" He asked me as calmly as he could but I could see the sparkle in his eyes from the sheer excitement at the prospect of meetinga hunter in training.

Oh yeah... I forgot.. a hunter is akin to a celebrity.... I forgot about that because of how many veteran hunters are in Orleans... I was always focused on the prospect on saving people rather than the fame that being a hunter would bring.

"Yeah.. I guess I could be called that..."

Hans and Greta then look at each other and bowed at their waist to me much to my shock.

"Please let us follow you to Shade! Please help us become hunters!"

Wait what!?