"Let's see. I have my clothes set in the bag, my armor is in there as well. Let's see what else I'll need?" Soren was speaking to himself as he was putting his stuff in the bag so he could move out before Rohan left for his quest. Although he didn't need to move out until tomorrow, he still decided to take care of it ahead of time, since he had to take Lavenza to the church, despite the fact that she had no personal items or anything she wanted to carry with her.
"Kyuu~..." Lavenza looked a bit depressed as she was seeing Soren preparing his stuff with a serious expression.
"Don't worry Lavenza, nothing will happen to me. We will just be apart for a little while, besides I can just visit you or call you on the phone whenever I have the chance to do so, if you feel lonely." Soren answered with an understanding expression as he rubbed Lavenza's head, in an attempt to make her feel better.
*sigh* "Kyuu~..." Lavenza could only nod reluctantly as was sighing with a depressed expression.
"I know you are worried that something might happen, but we are in the middle of the city, a place filled with people. We also have the Sea Knights if someone decides to cause mayhem, so you don't need to be so depressed now. Just think of it as a summer camp or something similar." Soren added as he closed his bag after putting his sword in his bag.
"Kyuu~?" Lavenza asked with a confused expression.
"Oh right. You wouldn't know what a summer camp is. Just think of it as a place where you are surrounded by nature and spend your time there during summer vacation, while hanging out with children of your age. It's nothing scary actually, it just takes some getting used to." Soren explained with a soft smile on his face as he was rubbing Lavenza's head softly.
After that conversation between the two of them, they left the house and made their way towards the temple. As they were swimming through the streets, they saw that the streets were as busy as usual, with some people advertising for their shops, while others were swimming as they minded their own business. There were still the occasional foreigners who were either using bubbles as breathing tanks or had artificial tails for swimming, but Soren wasn't as interested anymore since he had seen these kind of people more than a few dozen times by now.
As they were making their way, the duo saw a young painter on the side of the street as he was close to finishing a painting of a young couple who were posing a few meters in front of him. At that moment, Soren stared for a bit before he snapped his fingers with a bright expression before suddenly speaking with a happy voice:
"Lavenza, I have an idea on how to help you feel less depressed."
"Kyuu~?" Lavenza was rather confused and surprised from Soren's sudden idea, but she was a bit curious about it.
"Let:s wait here for a minute." Soren exclaimed happily and the duo decided to wait near the painter. After around ten or so minutes, the couple left with a sheet of paper in their hands as they had happy expressions on their faces and after they left, the duo then went to the painter.
"Hello sir. What kind of painting would you like?" The painter asked with a calm and soft voice as he was wearing an expressionless face.
"A portrait for the two of us." Soren answered with a smile.
"Two? Are you talking about your pet over the shoulder or should we be waiting for someone else?" The painter asked curiously as he pointing towards Lavenza with his pencil.
"She's not a pet, she's my friend, first and foremost. Two, I'm going to do this with Lavenza." Soren yelled with an annoyed expression on his face. The painter was surprised by Soren's sudden outburst, but he didn't feel scared from him. After that, he spoke with an apologetic expression:
"I'm sorry young man, I didn't mean to offend you."
"It's alright, it happens. Sorry as well if I surprised you." Soren answered back with an apologetic expression as well.
"Anyways, you wanted a portrait for the two of you, right? Just sit on the stool over here and stay still for a little while." The painter then pointed at the stool in front of him. After pointing, Soren sat down on the stool with Lavenza on his shoulder. Soren felt like the stool should have been floating away, but after sitting on it, he found out that was made out of stone. As for the next 90 minutes, Soren and Lavenza sat still with a soft smile on their faces as they were facing the painter motionlessly.
"Done guys." The painter spoke suddenly before putting down a pencil in the box next to him.
"Wait, you are already done?" Soren asked slightly suprised. He had noticed that time had gone by quickly.
"Yes. So, what do you think?" After the painter answered, he then turned his canvas towards Soren and showed a portrait of Soren and Lavenz, exactly as they have been standing for a while. The portrait was colored with all kinds of pencils, yet it looked as if it was made by a professional.
"Amazing. This is amazing." Soren answered with a satisfied expression.
"Thank you. That will be 10 copper coins." The painter answered as he took gently the portrait off from the canvas. The moment Soren heard that, he took out his bag and searched for a few copper coins in it.
"Here." After Soren gave his coins, the painter gave the portrait to him and then they left. As Soren and Lavenza were leaving, the painter noticed there were a few more copper coins and tried to yell at them to catch their attention, but the two of them were too far apart to hear each other.
"Thank you." The painter said with gratitude, even though he knew they would hear his voice.
As for Soren and Lavenza, they continued their way towards the temple in a rather leisurely manner.
"He he. I'm sure he liked my little gift." Soren said to himself as he was smirking and looking a bit backwards.
"Kyuu~?" Lavenza was confused by Soren's sudden statement and decided to ask.
"It's nothing. He he." Soren chuckled as he rubbed his nose. It didn't take long for the duo to stop in front of the temple. The temple was the same as usual, knights were guarding the entrance, people were coming in and out and there a few priests swimming around as well. After getting past through the gates, the two of them entered in the main hall and before going anywhere else, Soren then took out his phone and gave a quick call.
Before long, a priest approached them and said emotionlessly:
"The Arch-Priestess has summoned you. Please follow me."
Before long, the duo and the priest stopped in front of one of the side rooms for the church, instead of Laventhign's room.
"The Arch-Priestess is waiting for you." After the priest said that, he left the duo behind towards his own business, while the two of them were staring at the door expressionlessly.
*knock* *knock* *knock*
"Who is knocking?" A female voice was heard behind the door.
"It's me, Soren." He answered calmly behind the door.
"Come in." After the voice ordered them to enter, Soren and Lavenza saw Laventhign sitting on the desk as she was working on a huge stack of papers.
"Welcome. How may I help you?" Laventhign asked with a forced smile on her face. For Soren and Lavenza, that smile felt slightly eerie and off and Soren asked curiously, albeit a bit nervously about it.
"Uhmm... Is there a problem?"
"There are no problems, just the usual pile of work." Laventhign answered as she was sticking her nails deep into her left arm.
'I guess she is not a fan of doing paperwork.' Soren thought to himself before changing the topic.
"Anyways, I think you know why we are here, right?" Soren asked slightly nervous while trying to avoid irritating Laventhign any further.
"Teaching and looking after Lavenza for a few months, if I recall correctly." She answered as she put down her feather pen on the desk.
"I have already made arrangements for where she will be staying for the next few months." She added with a calm voice as she was smiling a bit.
"I see... Then I guess it's time to split up for a little while Lavenza." Soren then spoke with a sad expression as he was looking at Lavenza.
"Kyuu~..." Lavenza nodded with a tearful expression before she suddenly decided to hug Soren tightly.
"Lavenza, we won't be split apart forever, we will still be- Uhhh... Nevermind." Soren tried to tell Lavenza that it wasn't necessary since they would still speak quite a bit through various means, but in the end, he decided to give up and give her a hug instead. The hug lasted for quite a while, as Lavenza was snuggling and crying on Soren's chest.
After a little bit more time, she stopped crying because her tears had dried up and she was out of energy more or less, but before they had to say their farewells, Soren then took out the portrait from before and gave to Lavenza as he spoke with a smiling expression:
"I figured you would cry for a while if we were to split up, so I decided to give you a present to keep you company so you don't feel lonely once we split up. Why do you think I suddenly decided to take portrait of the two of us today?"
"Uhhh... Reny~!" Lavenza then started hugging Soren as tightly as she could as was calling to Soren's name. In the meantime, Laventhign could only watch from the side as the two of them were sharing their hugs. She also wanted to comfort her, but she couldn't do that, since no one, expect Soren, knew the truth and it would be pretty weird for Lavenza to be comforted by a stranger.
After their tearful farewell, Soren finally left the room and Lavenza was left alone with Laventhign as was waving with her tail as she was holding on their portrait with her mouth.
"Let's go. I'll show where you'll be staying for your time here." Laventhign decided to help her take her mind off their farewell, but she knew that it would be hard for her to get over this.
After Soren left, he decided to slowly make his way back to Rohan's place and say goodbye to him as well before going to the camp. He felt a bit weird, now that he was all alone, but it wasn't something new to him, since was quite used to going around on his own. As he was swimming though, he noticed something was weird about the streets.
"Where is everyone? Isn't it supposed to be a busy street right about now?" Soren said to himself as he was looking around. Before he could have an answer to question though, he suddenly felt a horrible chill on the top of his spine and once he used his third eye due to his sudden chill. But once he did that...
*boom*