The two ladies went upstairs in a rush after saying that they would change clothes first and as well pack Claret's things up. While waiting for them, Luna faced Akiro who was seemed bothered by something which she wanted to know what it was.
"Anyway, why did you let them know about your powers? As far as I know, it is rare magic, or am I wrong?" she asked.
Akiro's eyes squinted and stopped sipping his tea. He noticed that Luna kept underestimating him. Without looking back, he answered shortly.
"My powers are strong enough but it doesn't matter," he uttered.
Meanwhile, Luna was uttery perplexed by his ambiguous answer. As far as she knew, rare powers especially as unusual as time powers should not be casually announced to anybody. That unwise decision could probably lead to troubles rather than praise.
Her thoughts were cut short when the two ladies went downstairs. The similarities Mavel had said couldn't be seen in the slightest. Mavel had her long wavy hair at her back and had a slightly fitted maroon dress paired with thin-framed eyeglasses while Claret's hair was braided into two combined with her light pink frilly dress and high-heeled shoes of the same color. The former looked like a full-grown lady while the latter appeared to be a living life-sized doll.
'They're definitely contrasting today,' Luna thought as she sideglanced at them.
Mavel who was holding a rectangular suitcase with her left hand reached the ground first and faced her benefactors. "We're ready although we have to take a long walk because Claret wouldn't be able to catch up with our speed and horse carriages can't go this place because they always got lost in this forest cursed with illusions," she said.
Luna awkwardly smiled as Mavel assumed that she could run as fast as them. Nonetheless, her awkward smile vanished after hearing that the forest they just took earlier was a cursed one. She shivered at the thought of losing in this forest again.
'Not gonna happen,' Luna thought.
Akiro, whose tea was empty placed his cup on the wooden table at the center of the living room and stood up. "That's not a problem. Uhm, hold each other's hands," he uttered.
Luna quickly got what he meant. He planned ti use teleportation that requires direct contact with the user. Since Luna would be touching Akiro, she thought that the others would be brought along with them if she made contact with the rest. However, she did not know if the number of persons could affect the distance when using teleportation.
"Let's do it now," Luna said.
The two ladies were slightly startled but Mavel chose to do what they said and held Luna and Claret's hands. Akiro touched Luna's shoulders, as he felt that there was no need to hold her hands anyway and snapped his fingers. At the isolated place of an alleyway, the four bodies took form in a blink of an eye. Meanwhile, Luna who was expecting to teleport right at John's house was left confused.
"Why did you bring us here?" Luna asked.
"It's crowded with people today. Aren't you the one confused earlier about me telling anyone about rare abilities?" Akiro questioned.
"Hmp, what's wrong with asking?" she said.
"U-hm, excuse me but why are we here?" Mavel interrupted.
She once read a book about the ability of teleportation where anyone could transfer to any location in an instant but did not expect to see a person using it. The man in front of them was a formidable man above most magic-users.
Mavel did not know about Luna however, upon seeing how her tone of voice towards him was, she assumed that Luna was someone who had the same level of skill as Akiro.
Amidst that, she did not know why they ended up in a dark, ominous alleyway that not a single soul in his or her right mind would go.
"We're going to John's place. It's near this place. Let's go," Akiro said and walked away after that. Luna cursed him at her mind for not explaining it clearly to Mavel and Claret.
"Claret and uhm, Miss Mavel, we couldn't appear suddenly in the middle of a crowd so we ended up here. Well, now let's go?" Luna uttered.
The two didn't ask any further. Mavel walked beside Claret and followed after them. They soon found themselves in a huge tavern.
"Did you set a meeting with him here?" Luna asked.
Akiro shook his head. "He's the owner of the tavern and will definitely be here at this hour," he said.
Luna did not expect that the man will be quite rich. Moreover, the tavern looked like the most popular one after she saw the crowd of people inside. But what caught her eyes were their attired as most of the people inside wore armor like knights, robes like mages and priests. She unexpectedly felt that she came inside an RPG game however, she remembered something.
"Wait, then why are we finding him at the border of West Village if he's here all along?" Luna asked.
Akiro looked back at her with furrowed brows.
"I told you that time to touch my arm because we'll teleport to another place. Assuming that you heard it, I used my ability but you didn't hear me. I don't know why you didn't hear my instructions," Akiro said.
Luna suddenly felt wronged although it was her fault in the first place. She couldn't help but feel nostalgic upon seeing the houses near the border. Abruptly, she felt someone's hand who caressed the top of her head.
"Just forget it and do better next time," Akiro said.
Luna suddenly cheered inside her although her face frowned after Akiro treated her like a kid. She fixed her hair and looked towards the ladies at her back. They just opened the door and hurriedly followed after them. She sighed in relief.
"I'm in relief now after seeing that Claret's brother has a good business," Mavel said as it was slightly worrying her earlier since she felt closer to Claret and would bother her if she left her in a poor state.
Ignoring her, Akiro began talking to a man beside long wooden table that separated the customers and staff as well as the shelves that contained expensive liquors at the back.
"Good Morning Sir! Here's our list of liquors, order anything you want," the man said.
Akiro shook his head and said, "I'm here at a meeting with your boss. Kindly tell him that a man named Akiro came to visit him."
The man did not look at him suspiciously as some important people came to visit his boss from time to time. His boss was a growing businessman after all. Then he immediately nodded and came inside the curtained doorway without any door. The moment he told it to John, his boss stood up quickly despite the piles of paper he needed to review and sign.
"Where is he?" John asked.
"In front of my work sta--"
His words were instantly interrupted when John ran outside and find the man although it was unnecessary because Akiro was just standing in front of the curtained doorway.
"Mister Akiro!" he shouted.
"I said that I'll be back quickly, haven't I?" Akiro uttered.
"I'll not forget your utmost help. Do you already find a way?" John asked. He heard him yesterday that he would only come back if he brought Claret with him. However, he found it hard to believe that Akiro could solve his problem overnight so he concluded that Akiro might want to discuss his plans with him.
"Tsk, tsk, don't underestimate me. Why don't you peek beside me?" Akiro said.
John did it without hesitation. He didn't regret that because his wish did come true overnight. A bunch of tears started to form beneath his eyes but he was holding it back as much as he could.
"It's sometimes not too bad to cry you know," Akiro said.
John could not finally hold back his tears after hearing his encouraging words and cried to his heart's content, savoring the unexplained hapiness, sorrow and revenge.
~~To be continued.