Chapter 5: Chapter 2 ~Past, full of tears~
~Outside the Gate~
"Now, let's get back to work," Zecora said while adjusting his cuffs and handing the ball to the staff. His amethyst eyes were glowing with seriousness.
"Sir, are you going to meet Mr. Leonard?"
"Yes, I have an appointment."
"But, sir, you said to the ladies that you would be waiting here until they came back..." The man said it with a confused face.
"Just do as you are told unless you want to lose your job." Zecora's angry face sent chills down the man's spine.
"S-Sorry sir. I-I was out of line." The man was shivering.
"Good. I don't need any escorts. I will be going alone. You all are to go back. No one should be waiting here."
The whole crew thought that their guild master was leaving the hunters to die, i.e., Lea and Rae, but they all followed his order nonetheless. As he rode on that white LA Ferrari, everyone in the crew vanished like assassins. Zecora called someone while driving that luxury car.
"Hello?"
"Sir, it's me, Gemini Guild's Guildmaster." Zecora was smiling.
"Oh! It's you, Zecora."
"Yes. It's me. Don't we have an appointment today?" He let out a chuckle.
"Yes, I know. While we're at it, have lunch at our place."
The voice sounded young, but the words were those of a man in his forties.
"I don't see why not," Zecora replied.
"Haha. You sure know how to talk."
"I'm already at your door, sir," Zecora said, pulling out his purple-coloured long overcoat, which matched his eyes perfectly.
"Oh, already? Darling, Zecora is at our door. Would you please greet him?
Really!? I'll go and get him!" The voice was attached to another cheerful female string.
"I see that you are still so in love even now."
"I don't see why not." The man chuckled.
*Ker-Chak*
"Welcome, Zecora! Oh my, that white turtleneck! And those black pants! They sure suit you better than my husband!" A woman, all dressed in her beautiful yellow attire and that silky dark blue hair, which seemed too light to be steady and reminded Zecora of a certain someone, greeted him with a cheerful smile. She was regarded as one of the most beautiful figures in India, as well as among hunters.
She is Chryseis Leonard, Leaena's mother. Lea got her beautiful hair from her.
"Haha. You're still young as ever, Mrs Leonard." Zecora laughed.
"Oh, come on, don't talk so cheesy. Oh! Your outfit matches your car. The only thing that doesn't match is your overcoat. Wait, I get it now! It matches your eyes!" Chryseis started to pat Zecora's shoulders.
"You sure are very quick to catch on, Mrs Leonard."
"How long has it been since you've visited us?" The voice that matched the phone call said. The owner of the voice was all dressed in black. His stunning golden hair glowed even more than the black suit he was wearing.
The man in front of Zecora was India's top guild, Leo Guild's Guild Master, and Lea's father, Raion Leonard. The amber eyes are what Lea inherited from him.
"Haha. It hasn't been that long; I was here the previous month too. You look younger than you did last month." Zecora laughed while sitting on the sofa.
"Ha!? I can see through your white lies, Zecora!"
"No, no, it's the truth, sir. You both are and look young for the parents of a 21-year-old girl and a 23-year-old boy."
"Enough with your flattery! I'll bring you some tea." Chryseis said giggling.
"Yes please."
The woman left and went to the kitchen.
"So what were you going to tell me, sir?"
"I'll tell you, but I have a question first.
Why did you send Lea to raid a gate without me knowing?" His amber eyes were gleaming.
After a pause, Zecora looked at him and answered, "I didn't get the feeling to tell you, sir."
Raion stared at him. His face didn't show any signs of anger, just a plain face, or so Zecora thought, but as you would expect from a doting father, of course, he was boiling from the inside.
"So it's okay, but if something were to happen to my child, you would pay for it with your life." Chryseis, who was holding the tray with cups of tea in one hand and the other hand clutching Zecora's shoulders, said this sentence in his ears.
Zecora shuddered.
"Don't scare him like that, darling."
"I'm not scaring him. Zecora knows how we are exactly, right, Zecora?" She said this while sitting next to her husband after placing the tray on the table.
"Yes, I know, mam. I'm sure they are fine even as we talk now. They'd appear after about 2–3 hours. So let's get back to our important conversation, sir." Zecora said while sipping the tea. "Oh, it's delicious, mam." "Thank you, dear." She answered not before giggling.
"I wanted to talk about Lea. You know that after the gates appeared in Hiraeth, there have been a total of three Dungeon Breaks in India, right?"
"Yes, sir, I know."
"One was in 2006, in Rajasthan, just before Lea was born. Thanks to the nation's rapid recovery, the environment was at peace when she was born. The other was in 2015 in Odisha. Luckily, at that time, she was in Japan with her brother. The association managed to assemble all hunter guilds, so we fought with our full strength that time. But the most recent one, in 2017, was the most disastrous." Chryseis bit her lips and trailed off. So Raion continued.
"The one in 2017 happened in Chhattisgarh, where we are residing today." Raion was not angry, but a glint of agony could be seen in his eyes.
"Yes. That one time, I lost my parents," Zecora said.
"Yes, I know. That was also almost the end of our happiness, our child, our Lea."
Zecora shuddered.
What? Lea?
"W-what happened to her at that time? Please tell me!"
"We didn't know that a dungeon break was going to happen. I planned to surprise Raion. So I was going to the guild with Leon and Lea. Lea was going to turn 11 that year, and Leon was only 13. That day... that day... I-If only I had checked the news." Only after saying this did Chryseis burst into tears and her husband was consoling her.
"Just what had happened that day? This is the first time I am seeing the tough and strong Mrs Leonard so broken..." Zecora muttered.
"Calm down, dear. Zecora, that day, we mobilised all our members at Raipur, the place where the dungeon broke. Other guilds also helped us. But the number of monsters was too large, and almost the whole state was in destruction."
"I told the driver to drive Leon and Lea back and asked my assistant to help me get to the site of the dungeon break. Raion didn't know that we were in trouble. As soon as I got there, I helped the hunters. But in the meantime, the car that was driving to our home, which was just 4 kilometers away, was crushed by monsters, and the driver died. The side where Lea was sitting was crushed too. Luckily, at that time, Leon piggybacked Lea and ran off to some broken apartments. They hid there for 6 hours. Lea didn't wake up, so Leon took the risk of taking her home while the monsters were still roaming outside. He walked while Lea was on his back, panting. That day, while trying to protect Lea, Leon learned how to create an aura and how it could efficiently kill monsters."
"When everything was over, Chryseis told me about the situation. I was terrified at the thought of my children being in the car while the monsters were on a rampage. Both of us requested a high-level mage to teleport us. All covered in the monster's blood, we entered our house. All the maids were tending to Leon while Lea was lying on the couch and a doctor was beside her."
"When I asked him worriedly, he just shook his head and told us to admit her to the hospital as soon as possible. The injury on her head was deep." Chryseis again broke down in tears.
"We transferred her to the hospital. Only then did we realise that even after we treated her injury, she would not be able to wake up soon. She was in a coma for three years, and she missed her three years of education too. We couldn't do anything for her. Leon blamed himself for not taking her home soon, Chryseis blamed herself for planning that surprise, and I blamed myself for not being able to protect my family."
"There's no one at fault here, sir and mam; please don't blame yourselves," Zecora said, placing his cup down.
"Thanks for consoling us. We were happy that she hadn't forgotten us because of the injury when she woke up. She was so distressed about getting shunned for skipping three years of her school life that she educated herself during the three months of her summer vacation instead of recuperating. Of course, we tried to stop her, but you know how stubborn she is, and we all eventually gave in. I provided her with the best teachers I could. After the vacations, she was able to start high school right after, and that was when she met Rae and you, Zecora. The teachers gave her all kinds of tests, but she passed every one of them, so they didn't have any choice other than direct promotion. But still, to think she had to endure those filthy rumours."
Zecora hadn't known that Lea has suffered so much. She didn't even tell Rae anything about this, let alone him.
"There's no need to feel all miserable now, sir. She studied intensely more than anyone and completely disregarded those rumours; that's why our college's topper list has her name written on top of it! You should be happier about the present."
"Thank you, Zecora. It must have been hard for you to remember the day when your parents also died." Chryseis answered while wiping her tears.
"Not much... They weren't kind parents like you two are," Zecora said, averting his eyes. Then he suddenly laughed and added, "Actually, we siblings are really glad that they are dead."
"Oh. Let's not dig into that topic."
"We wanted you to know because you can take care of both our Lea and your sister Rae. Of course, there is also Leon," Chryseis said, breaking that gloomy atmosphere.
An awkward silence fell...
"I am deciding to step down from my position as the guild master of Leo Guild."
And Raion broke that silence with a huge bomb.
"What!? Really?"
"Yes. I'm going to officially announce that tomorrow. Be grateful you got to hear this from me first." Raion laughed.
If he's going to step down from the position, then... Lea? No, he won't give such a dangerous position to his beloved daughter. Then...
"Has he already come back? This soon?" Zecora chuckled after realizing it.
"Go and meet him," Chryseis ordered Zecora.
"I was already going to, though." He laughed.
Zecora had already stood up from the sofa before Chryseis ordered her. He left his overcoat on the sofa and went upstairs, quite in a good mood.
~ To be continued.
-My fav lines-
Don't scare him like that, darling.
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