Kabanata 35
Keenan and Shana walked through the hallway, the atmosphere was dreadful and the silence was deafening. As Keenan looked around, he realized that a lot of people fainted and sleeping on the floor. They were assaulted by the presence that Captain Yora released, the pressure she cast was so strong and knocked them down. Most of them had their mouths bubbles as if they had seizures.
Although Keenan saw some people that still awake but they were not left unscathed, they looked traumatized. They shook their head as they have painful headaches, they felt like their heads were being drilled, the aftershocks that Yora inflicted still lingered in their minds. Keenan learned that he was the only person who didn't get affected by the aura, well he was affected but not enough to faint or have a headache. He was used to stressful situations.
"See, I can say that you are tough and talented. You have strong willpower and withstand Yora… Actually, not only that, you even endured mine and Yora's aura combined."
Earlier in the room, Shana and Captain Yora fought using their aura, and Keenan was in the middle of that storm. Yet he withstood it too.
"For a young man like you, not being afraid of our power is impressive. I don't know what childhood you experienced but I can say that you are not normal. No offense but, are you perhaps tortured or being put in life-threatening situations when you were a child?"
Shana curiously asked as she turned around and stared at him, she wanted to know the answer. It requires experience to withstand the pressure they released, Yora and Shana are not ordinary Nightbreakers.
To answer that question with no hint of lying and keeping his past life, Keenan decided to speak about his experience when he was a child.
"I… I survived a Rift Distortion, but I lost my parents and I'm the only one who lives."
Keenan grimly smiled, he recalled how he hid under the ground and heard how thousands of Nightmares descended from the Rift and their feet rumbled the earth, it was a memory that he couldn't erase no matter what.
Shana's expression immediately changed and continued walking, not showing her face, although her voice was shaking.
"I'm sorry about that."
"No, it's fine."
Keenan followed him. He didn't completely say everything about his life. Keenan's past life was full of hardship. He lived under the stress of killing and being killed. One time, he had to live underwater for three days just to assassinate a president of a country. So Keenan was not afraid of the auras that they released since he experienced far worse than that.
"… It's still impressive, that means that you can adapt to any hardship. Now I know how you survived in the wilderness for… How many days?"
"Around 9 days."
"Yeah, 9 days. And you didn't even have real food. You only have N-cores to eat. Wow, I can say that you are a monster."
Shana's tone returned to normal as she spoke. She was lifting the atmosphere.
"Thank you… You're making me feel better."
Keenan honestly said, he acknowledged that the hardships he endured made him stronger. It was evident that he became stronger. Keenan heard Shana giggled although he couldn't completely discern her expression, the woman kept walking ahead.
"Um, I just want to ask but, where are we going?"
Keenan asked as he looked around trying to remember the details of the ship. In case something bad happened, he had to map his exit path.
"Ah, we are going to my room."
"Your room? Do you mean the room where I was brought earlier?"
Keenan started to think that this was going to be bad.
'I thought this woman is kind, but no, I'm wrong at all. Just like earlier, she may try to press me again.'
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. Although I don't know about Yora. She's hard to understand sometimes."
"Yeah, just like you."
"Hm? Did you say something?"
"No, nothing."
Shana glanced back at him and Keenan stiffened. Still, she looked ahead again, and Keenan breathed in relief.
"Anyway, you will have to stay in our room for the time being… Yora will the one to decide if she will let you find another room or not."
"Can't you help me? You're her partner, right? Just speak to her or something."
"Nah, it will be hard to convince her. Besides, I already helped you earlier and she agreed. You should actually be thankful to me, Yora might even break your neck earlier. She was really angry."
"… Fair enough."
Keenan sighed and decided to accept his fate. But he will try his best not to get caught in any trap that Yora would do. They continued roaming and as they wander in the ship, Keenan realized that the mercenaries started to regain their consciousness.
"Hey, I just want you to say that you are lucky. No one ever tried that to Yora, because all of them are dead."
Gulped.
Keenan nodded with a grim expression and Shana slightly laughed as she liked his reaction.
It didn't take a long time for them to reach the designated room. Now that Keenan saw a portion of the ship, he learned that the room was on the top right corner of the ship.
'And If I deduce clearly, based on the size of the rooms that I saw, this is the largest. What do I expect, this is the Captain's room. Although it's strange why this room didn't have passcode security, even the maids can open it. I guess no one's in their right mind will try to enter it without approval from the Captain and Shana. Or perhaps those who did it were already dead... but it's still a mystery how I can't open it from the inside. I have to use the vent to escape.'
Shana opened the door and entered, she urged Keenan to enter and the young man didn't have a choice but to do so.
"Again, welcome to our room."
She smiled and spread her arms. Then, she closed the door and started walking towards him.
'I guess it will start huh.'
Keenan immediately understood what was going to happen. He had enough understanding of this situation because he did this kind of thing in the past.
"Your name is Keenan Corragio, am I right?"
"Yes."
"Then" Shana licked her lips, "sit on the chair and let you entertain me."
Keenan followed her instructions and immediately sat. He hoped that no problems would happen again.