Meanwhile in the Hestia Familia's Mansion.
Learner and Wiene were in the backyard, while Haruhime was hanging clothes.
"Onee-chan, do you have a family?" Wiene asked, she was intrigued by the families of everyone after learning that every Xenos were her family in a weird way.
"Yes" Learner answered remembering her days in 'The Between'.
"Really? Who are they?" Wiene asked again.
"They are…" She said, making a small block of ice, and molding it into a small figure.
"This is Brother" Learner said and made the figure float.
It was a worm-looking thing with 2 arms that ended in claws and various eyes around its body, its mouth was just a spiral of teeth that ended at its throat.
"Whaaa…" Wiene struggled to say as she was amazed by the ice sculpture but frightened at the sight.
When Learner saw this, she rapidly dispelled the ice and made another one, it was a human, with wavy hair, serious eyes, and a sword in his hip.
"Ah! Onii-chan!" Wiene gasped and grabbed the figure.
Seeing Wiene play with the mini-Calvin she couldn't help but smile, she didn't know if it was her instincts or her brain that was telling her to take care of Wiene but it felt nice every time she was happy.
'so, this is what caring for someone feels like… a great discovery for my ever-growing knowledge' Learner thought as the human brain was the most complex thing she had ever encountered, and discovering every single emotion in it would be a great advancement, it was weird too, as when she copied Calvin's brain some emotions were simply unused and some were lacking completely, which confused her as she thought that everyone could express every emotion.
'Maybe he is just different?' she speculated.
"What about Onii-chan? What is his family like?" Wiene asked pointing at the ice figure and waking Learner out of her train of thought.
"Well… I don't know, but you could say they are…" Learner said making two small ice figures.
The first one was a woman with long hair beautiful eyes and a long dress, her posture was graceful like that of a princess.
The second was a taller woman with a voluptuous body and messy long hair that reached her back, she had a feral look in her eyes and shark-like teeth, she was also wearing Amazon-like clothes that barely covered her body.
"These are Kala, and Ella, you could say they are his family" Learner said handing the figures to Wiene.
Wiene put the figures in the ground but felt that something was amiss.
"Then, what are you to him?" Wiene asked.
"Well, I am his mate- *Cough* I mean, lover" she said making an ice figure of herself.
Haruhime that was on the other side of the yard, heard this, making her ears and tail point upwards.
'M-m-m-mate…? That's why they smell of each other! Not because they sleep on the same bed, as brothers, but because they-they h-had s-s-s-sex every night…' Haruhime thought covering her face that got redder and redder the more she thought about it.
"Ohh… I see" Wiene said putting the mini-Learner beside mini-Calvin.
Suddenly the door to the backyard was opened and from it, a gasping Bell came out.
"We… *gasp* we… *gasp* have a… problem" he said between gasps with his hands resting on his knees and sweating profusely.
Learner and Wiene got closer to Bell while Haruhime finished her task and got closer as well.
"Are you alright Bell/Bell-Sama?" Haruhime and Wiene asked with worry.
"What kind of problem?" Learner asked not worrying for Bell as she had seen the kind of power that he had.
"Calvin has been kidnaped" Bell explained.
"Hah?"
>>>>>>>>>>>>
"So, Fels sent a letter to the guild saying that Calvin was kidnapped by someone? And then you came running as fast as you could?" Learner said looking at the letter that Bell brought with him.
"Yes" Bell answered.
"Then, you came to tell us to go? Where is the rest of the Familia anyway?" Learner asked.
"They are already going to Rivira, as the letter said, and I came to tell you because, knowing how strong he is, our enemy could be even stronger" Bell said.
"I guess that makes sense…"
'*Sigh* he probably underestimated his opponent like always… I guess that losing a fight will hurt his pride even if just a little' Learner thought.
"Let's go then, who knows what might be happening to him right now" She said making Bell nod and walk back to the door before stopping and looking back.
"But, what about Wiene? we can't leave her alone" Bell asked not wanting to leave Wiene in the mansion alone, as Hestia was working at the moment.
"I'll take her with me" Learner answered making Bell lift an eyebrow.
"But it's broad daylight, and what if something happe-" He was about to ask but was cut off by Learner.
"Nothing will happen to her." She answered in an almost threatening tone making Bell take a step back unconsciously.
"O-okay, I'll do my best to protect her as well" he assured with a serious look on his eyes.
'He is brave, but bravery greatly reduces survivability' she thought looking at the firm look on Bell's eyes.
"We are ready" Haruhime said from the side, wearing her adventurer gear, Wiene was beside her with a robe that covered her body.
"Let's get going" Bell said opening the main door of the mansion.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
When they reached Rivira, they reunited with the other half of the Familia that was in the middle of the forest along with Fels.
"You've come… as I was saying, according to the information that I have gathered Calvin should be somewhere in the 18th floor as none of my 'eyes' saw him leave" Fels explained to the newcomers.
"I think we should split up and look around, this way it'll be faster, seeing as we are running out of time" Welf said grabbing everyone's attention.
"I'll go search in Rivira itself while the rest of you search the surroundings" Learner ordered, making everyone nod as that was the best option.
"Before you go, take this…" Fels said taking out a bunch of colored stones from his sleeve.
"This will be handy" Learner said taking one and making everyone take one as well.
>>>>>>>>>
Reaching Rivira, Learner and Wiene went to where the most people were at the moment.
Opening the doors of the bar, everybody inside looked at her for a moment before continuing what they were doing.
Learner went to take a seat along with Wiene until somebody came closer to her.
"Hey, I know a good inn nearby, would you like to come with me? I can give you a good time…" the man asked but the way he said it meant that it wasn't a question at all.
"Piss off!" Learner exclaimed giving him a deadly glare and making him stumble backward as everyone looked at him like he was an idiot.
"*Hmph* coward" Learner scoffed at the man's antics.
"Y-You bitch!" He shouted taking out a knife from behind "You'll end up just like that motherfucker!" He said trying to stab Learner.
'As expected…' she thought easily catching the man's wrist.
"Huh?!" he confusedly exclaimed as he couldn't move his arm at all, he felt like his arm was stuck inside a giant boulder.
'Wait… What did he say?' she thought heightening her senses up to extreme levels she was able to smell blood but that was normal in adventurers, the thing was that it smelled like human blood.
In a quick motion, Learner stole his knife, grabbed the man's head, and banged it against the table.
*Bang!* the sound made the whole tavern stay quiet, and look at Learner.
"Agh!" the man shouted in pain and tried to move but couldn't as Learner was still holding his head against the table with incredible strength.
*thud* Learner stabbed the man's knife on the table just inches away from his face.
"Start talking, where do you have him?" Learner asked in a cold tone, putting more pressure on the man's head.
"Ahhh! I don't know what you're talking about!" The man said tightening his teeth at the pain.
"Oh? So, you want it the hard way, huh?" Learner said making a black tendril come from her hand, that was covering the man's ear.
"H-hard way?" He asked as he believed that the pain he was experiencing was already the hard way.
Suddenly, he felt something crawl inside his ear causing him a massive amount of pain.
"W-what is that?! AAAAAH! S-somebody! Help me!!! Ahhh!" He shouted and squirmed but couldn't get away due to Learner's grip.
Seeing the man shout in pain scared Wiene, as she didn't think that Learner would do that to anyone, but knowing that Learner was in control of the situation relieved her as she knew that Learner wouldn't let harm come her way, ans she was also amazed by the strength that Learner was showing.
As the screams died down, Learner freed the man from her grip, making him drop to the floor.
'You are lucky Calvin told me not to kill anybody, but he said nothing about crippling' Learner thought, looking at the now mentally defective man.
Searching through his brain, she saw disgusting things that she hoped to forget, but she also got the information she needed.
"I got the information" She reported to the red stone she got from Fels making it light up.
"Okay"
"Got it" various voices answered one after the other.
"Let's go" She said to Wiene in a soft tone and offering her hand which she happily took.
They walked to the exit and before leaving learner looked back at the tavern and spoke.
"You saw nothing"
That sole sentence made everyone turn their heads away while sweat dripped down their foreheads, promising to themselves not to talk about what transpired today.
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Happy new year everyone! :D