Akiro's humble visitor walked towards them while glancing at him with a smile etched on his face however, his pleasant personality was a stark contrast of him. His brows that'd almost met and his eyes as sharp as a sword had directed towards the visitor whom who felt the cold harsh winds in his position.
The mansion's owner unconsciously put his hands on his pants' pockets and thought suspiciously, 'What is his reason for visiting my humble mansion?'
Assessing his reasons in a hasty manner, he asked, "What do you want?"
The latter did not answer and walked forward, attempting to hug him to which he avoided. The visitor's compassionate behavior did not work and instead made him more irritated.
The man sighed in a weak smile and said, "Am I not allowed to visit a friend?" He was more than familiar of the owner's stiff and undfriendly attitude but the pretentious cover of him would not work on a person from Akiro's inner circles. That man won't have second thoughts on showing up despite how silly his reason could be. On the surface, he was nothing more than a shining lamp on Akiro's eyes.
His babbles only stopped when his eyes went around the garden and saw an unfamiliar young lady unaffected by his presence. "Are my eyes fooling me? This young lady seems foreign to me," he said and sideglanced on a friend.
Akiro happened to block his sight earlier, unaware of a new boarder staying at his huge mansion but he would not fail to notice a lady with hair as black as the night skies, a feature that was rare he only knew one person who had such color.
Her eyes perked up at the visitor as she felt his unusual long stares. She knew who he was pertaining to for there were few persons in the mansion that she'd knew whether they were new or not. Turning around, she stared back at the person whose gaze would not leave her.
"Why?" Luna asked, furrowing her brows. If it was not important, she'd stop sparing him a glance as she found magic more interesting than meaningless conversations.
'Focus,' she thought, forming and deforming the pocket watch.
The visitor walked into her place and gifted a bright red rose from his coat as he said, "Milady, I'm Ryle Xanthe, Akiro's closest friend. It's a pleasure to meet you." His eyes stared warmly yet with elegance beffiting a noble person.
The man who introduced himself as Ryle Xanthe was spared some attention by the mansion's owner upon seeing how he was acting towards the lady.
"Stop going into circles, what do you need this time?" Akiro said and looked at him without an ounce of interest and continued, "We have many important things to attend to for the next few days. We won't need a nuisance so state your reasons now."
On the corner of the garden was Luna whose focus declined because of the endless babbling of the two inconsiderate persons on one side. In the end, she concluded to pause her magic training and instead stayed beside Miss Zione and joined her on watching them talk at each other.
"Fine, I will now explain my intention for visiting today," he sighed and continued, "I as always have came into a problem at the proud Xanthe's family and their traditions. As you may already know, I need a place to stay. You'll let me in again, aren't you?" His smile let out, an attempt to gain his favor.
The latter glanced back in boredom, hiding his concerns and said, "A place to stay? There will be nobles willing to sell their houses for you. Find yourself home and don't disturb me here."
"You know that I don't want them bothering me around and they won't even dare step at your place so can't you help a friend?" Ryle said and looked at him with a smile filled with grief. He went further and turned his back, preparing to leave.
Akiro sighed deeply as he remembered Ryle's struggles with his family so he nodded slowly. "Fine, may the mansion be stay peaceful," he uttered.
Ryle, who knew hid next words were, turned around with a grin on his face and the shining light on him had turned back, blinding even the sun. His little acts were frowned upon by Luna as the former looked like a child although the person in subject did not care in the least.
"Thank you very much, my friend. I shall never forget your kindness," Ryle said, bowing down to him as if he was a king. Akiro did not bother responding upon his acts that he'd hear every time he would help him on several crises, whether big or small.
"Oh, before I forget, may I know this lady's name?" Ryle mumbled and stared at Luna with a sweet smile on her face. With his problem solved, his earlier interest towards the young lady had heightened to a great degree he would not be able to sleep without knowing her name.
Luna felt uncomfortable for she was not used in conversing with a man whom she felt he ate a whole radio with his undying chatters. "I'm Luna," she simply said.
"Hi, Miss Luna, it's nice to meet you. Don't worry, I'm a harmless person who wants to be your friend as whoever's his aide shall be a friend," Ryle said and showed his sincere face and later his confident smile.
'I think he talks to anyone like they've known each other for a long time. Does this man ever ran out of energy?' Luna curiously thought and wandered off her mind.
Ryle looked towards Akiro with a wide grin on his face and asked, "Hmm, why is there a new person here? Did you hire another assistant?"
Hearing it, Luna thought about his words seriously. It was possible since she would be helping him on his work-related matters. But he shook his head because she'd have a different role that the usual assistant would not do.
"She's not as she is a special guest here. You will know it later. Regardless of that, you have interrupted us for a long time. Go inside the mansion with Miss Zione. She will prepare you a room. Stop disturbing me," Akiro said and summoned his pocket watch.
Nonetheless, he did not expect him to went further into his matters and satiate his curiosity.
"A special guest? Sir Akiro had let a girl set foot at his mansion!" he said and continued, "As far as I know, you only let a worker get inside of your place." He gazed at the young lady and asked, "Are you his special someone?" With his eyebrows wriggling, he looked at both of them.
Luna's eyes widen and her face turned red from embarrassment and thought hard to understand where his words came from. "What?!" A single word suddenly came out of her mouth in utter shock. 'He's a chatterbox, indeed,' she thought.
"Stop bothering her, will you? I might have a sudden change of mind if you don't stop talking," Akiro said.
Despite her annoyance, Luna was surprised to see that Ryle could annoy the whole out of him.
"Fine! I'll go get a room before you change your mind. Miss Zione, can you accompany me?" Ryle uttered. Miss Zione nodded and they both walked inside the mansion.
'I wonder how the quiet Miss Zione deals with a chatterbox Ryle Xanthe,' Luna thought.
With the two of them alone, the garden came back to its normal state. It's as silent as Miss Zione. Neither of them chose to speak but it didn't last long since Akiro started to break the ice. He decided to be Luna's teacher so he should take the initiative to start. Instantly, they ended up exactly how they started earlier.
"Let's continue your training. Let me see how you do it again," he said.
She did as she was told and performed it faster and more efficient than before, counting every second and relayed it to him.
Akiro almost had a fright. Between the two of them, she valued time the most. They only started training yet her meticulous habits were clear to see. He began to wonder how people lived on Earth. It's a pity he had to leave that world early and failed to explore but mentally shook his head and focused on teaching her the next step.
"You're surprisingly fast to catch up with magic. Since you did well, it's time for the next step," he said.
Luna agreed for she was simply too tired of concentrating between forming and deforming the watch that she began to count every second to accurately see her progress. 'I'm quite excited about the next step,' she thought.
"Time traveling requires a long time of practice. I'll only be teaching you its power to stop time for today. To do that, you just have to focus and think about time to stop. As a beginner, you'll barely make it stop for a few minutes but it will be enough to escape from danger for our mission tomorrow," Akiro said.
His power of time was a great source of magic and Luna obtaining half its powers had helped her manipulate it with ease and skip the process of growing one's magic. Although she showed great potential, her control over it couldn't be said. If she used too much magic for the first time, it would have an adverse reaction especially for a body that's not even supposed to hold magic.
Akiro decided to let her use it little by little. It was not a problem for him if she wouldn't be a help for his next task. It was his wise decision to better let a person rest and prevent a future accident from happening.
At his side, Luna heed his words in detail. She closed her eyes and strived for time to stop while she imagined everything around shouldn't move the second she opened her eyes. Although when she saw Akiro, he was still alive and breathing. She looked helpless however Akiro interrupted her unhappiness.
"You're wrong. Looked around you, the time definitely stopped," Akiro said and looked around on the garden. Luna was confused as his movements were a sign that she failed so she asked him for a confirmation.
"How come I made it when you're still moving?" Luna said. He laughed a little that Luna took wrongly. 'What's wrong with my question?!' she thought. However, she chose to stay silent before he'd laugh at her even more.
"My fault, it's because I also have the powers of time and since we both have it, I cannot be affected by your powers. It's mine after all. Nevertheless, we're the only ones who can move. Look how the birds above stayed mid-air and unmoving. The wind also stopped," he explained.
'I made the time stop!' Luna thought, her eyes gleamed. She was in so much glee and found it amazing but couldn't believe that she was able to use such a skill. After a minute, she saw everything quickly came back to its normal state.
"I'm glad you're able to learn for a short time. Another thing, during a halt of time, you can make others move when you touch them but you should be careful because you might accidentally touch your enemy, then you'll not be able to escape," Akiro reminded.
Luna listened heartily. Somehow she felt nervous about the future, and about her first task. 'What if something bad happened to me?' she thought, and reminisced a past. She ended up shaking her head and eliminated all her negative thoughts about using magic in the wrong way.
"Ease your mind, I'll assure you that everything will be done smoothly," Akiro said. After all, he would always make sure that he would do all his work at his best.
Luna felt relieved by his words. "Then, are we done for today's practice?" She asked for she's already tired. Although it didn't look tiring at first glance, using such magic powers that exceeded human's natural abilities would make a beginner worn out easily.
"Yes, we should get inside so you'll be able to rest," Akiro answered.
They both went inside the mansion. Luna noticed that they took some time to reach the main house. It's far too long for a garden to reach the back entrance of the mansion. Since Akiro snapped his fingers earlier in convenience, she hadn't realized how huge Akiro's garden was.
When they reached the living room, Luna let her body fell on the couch. Miss Zione and Ryle were there and she smiled at them, a sign of greeting for she's too tired to talk.
"The two of you finally got inside. You took too long outdoors. Enjoying your time alone?" Ryle teased. Akiro couldn't possibly ignore him. He believe firmly believed that a misunderstanding shouldn't be made.
"Don't misunderstand!" He said that made Ryle laugh. Ryle didn't get to see Akiro's irritated look often so he used every opportunity that came. He didn't have any ill intentions though. It's just Akiro was too cold and distant.
"I already knew what's happening, I asked Miss Zione and we had a little chat here," Ryle uttered.
'He's aware yet he continues to be annoying,' Akiro thought. His quiet days were gone. Luna ignored them. She's exhausted to even pay any kind of attention and turned to Miss Zione and talked to her instead.
"I'll be going upstairs to rest," Luna said.
Miss Zione nodded. Although Akiro's busy arguing with Ryle, he heard her and nodded too.
"Rest well Luna!" Ryle shouted.
Luna didn't say anything and only used her remaining strength to walk upstairs. When she finally reached her bed, she suddenly thought that Akiro's home would not be peaceful when Ryle's around yet he made the place lively after all.
'It's not that bad meeting new friends,' Luna thought. Meanwhile, she could still hear them talking since Ryle's voice was so loud she couldn't sleep.
'Would his voice minimize a little bit? I couldn't sleep!' She rolled on her bed a few times and forced herself to sleep.
Miss Zione thought Luna would have trouble sleeping so she walked up to her room and chanted a spell that turned her room to avoid outside noise. Luna suddenly felt her room's silence and found herself able to sleep.
~~To be continued.