207 Last moment of peace (1/2)

Detra, Lilith, and Marcus asked Leona how things went on their side during the last couple of days and the fire mage began to share her experience while training Joseph and Claire.

She went on to talk about how the two had a bit of trouble at first but soon after began to catch the hang of it pretty well, about how weird it was to act on the role of a teacher alongside a talking frog, about how glad she was once Ashley arrived and started to lend a hand on the training.

Ashley, apparently, had become some kind of expert on the study of magic affinity and helped a lot with figuring out how the magic of the two kids worked.

She would spend every day talking with each of them separately, listening about their feelings, their backgrounds, their desires, their motivations, as well as spending some time with both Leona and Xadi, who kept his true identity a secret from Ashley due to how embarrassing he imagined it would be if his sister saw him like this, and also observed their performance during their training.

This lifted a huge weight from everyone's shoulders as it paved the way for Claire and Joseph to really understand how their powers functioned.

Leona also commented on how the two insisted on competing on magic duels every day to see who was improving at a faster rate with the final score being three victories for each.

A few other minor details were shared such as Joseph's annoying tendency to try and flirt with all of the female mages of the temple and Claire's tendency to sneak out by herself and blow up some important constructions by accident.

”So, overall, how was it to play the role of a teacher?” Lilith asked.

Leona began to rub her head as if she was trying to drive away some harsh memories, ”stressful, not gonna lie... but watching them slowly growing every day was more than enough to reward me... I can't wait to see how they perform on the battlefield!!”

Lilith smiled as she realized that Leona had enjoyed her time. It seems like everyone had made a little bit of growth during these last couple of days.

”By the way...” Marcus commented, ”where is Xadi??”

”Oh, he's hiding from miss Ashley...” Leona explained, ”he keeps trying to hide the fact that it's him inside the doll from his sister... something about pride as the older brother or whatever...”

”Should we tell her...?”

”I think this kind of thing needs to be solved among themselves...” Leona assumed.

After that, they were alerted by one of the members of the temple that dinner was about to be served.

Marcus stood up and helped Lilith move towards the dining room, which she used as an opportunity to talk to him, ”so how are you handling the whole speech thing?”

”Honestly... It feels so wrong...”

”Why...?”

”Marcus, relax... I'm sure Ellie doesn't even care about this stuff... As long as we get Evlin back, who cares how we do it?” Lilith tried to convince him.

”Still... I just don't feel like it should be me out there...”

”Mmmm... Maybe that's the thing... It's not that you want to steal Ellie's moment... It's more that you just don't want a moment at all...”

”Well... Maybe...? I mean... It's not like I deserve it...”

”Oh come on... You're still hung up on your past?? We just spent a whole week fighting our past!” Lilith commented.

”I know, I know... I shouldn't be stuck on things that were out of my control... But I just wished that when my moment came, it wouldn't just be handed to me... I wish I would have actually earned it...”

Lilith grabbed his hand and squeezed, ”trust me... You earned it more than you know... You deserve to show the world what a true hero you are!”

Marcus just smiled, ”thanks, Lilith!”

They joined the others and finally entered the dining room. Ashley showed up soon after with Ellie using her arm to help her walk without falling, much similar to how Marcus was helping Lilith right now.

Ashley just smirked at them while noticing their situation, ”so... who wants to race?”

Lilith just gave a slight push on her shoulder while laughing off, ”nice to have you back Ash... we missed you!”

”I missed you guys too... God, you have no idea how often I just want to escape from that guild and just embark on another journey with you guys...” Ashley commented while moving Ellie closer to a chair so she could sit.

”Trust me, you don't...” Lilith replied, ”I would love to just stay the next couple of days stuck on a guild and not have to fight another monster or demon or whatever... I need some vacation...”

Ellie wanted to watch the two chat a little longer but her curiosity started to boil inside of her as she kept looking at the people gathered there, ”Hey, where's Lance and Xadi?”

”Lance is in a room sleeping... I talked to him yesterday when we arrived an-” Lilith was about to talk a little more but she stopped once she heard the sound of a mug falling on the floor and breaking.

Ellie just looked at the broken pieces and raised her head to stare at the one who dropped it.

”Ashley...? You ok...?” the girl asked the woman who looked like she had been frozen by shock.

Ashley dropped on her knees and grabbed Ellie's shoulders, ”Ellie... Ellie, could you repeat what you just said?”

”I... I just wanted to ask about Lance and Xadi... Oh!! That's right! Isn't he your brother? Have you talked to him?”

”...” Ashley stared at Marcus and Lilith with eyes of disbelief, ”guys... what is she talking about...??”

Marcus and Lilith tried to hide their discomfort but they couldn't bear it for long and just admitted the truth.

”Mia tried to attack Evlin with Xadi's soul... And Ellie and Daren stopped him and placed him inside a frog doll...” Marcus explained.