67 Leon Goldentree (2/2)
Velvund chuckled and said, ”Why? To bring you home, Leon, my boy. I told you that you'd be in good care, no? So I've already ordered for you to be adopted into my little family here in this city, the Goldentree Clan. It is the least I can for you, who has already done an enormous service for the East and because… I see a bit of myself in you.”
That's rather generous of him, even if I told them about the Ashborn-Dragoncrest conspiracy. I mean, just like that? He barely even knows me, aside from what I've revealed about me...
Lacrima quietly said, ”I cannot detect any signs of malicious intent from him, boy. Even I don't know what tell you about this. If anything, you should be grateful that considerate, well-natured people like him still exist these days. 'The older the tree, the wiser the fruit,' I guess....”
Velvund patted Reed's head and said, ”It's probably a bit too much for you to take in right now, but know that so long as you stay in this city and bear the name of Goldentree, you will no longer have to endure the undue suffering of your past.”
Reed quietly tried to digest the idea of good natured people, but couldn't stomach it somewhere in his heart of hearts.
Of course he knew they existed. Of course he did. Astor, Astrid, Horatio, Ophelia, Sebastian, Violett, and ...Lu'um existed. Although they each possessed their own agendas, they'd still made friends with a person who had nothing, who was nothing — like himself before he gained what he now possessed.
He knew — but even still, he still felt it unbelievable whenever he thought about it.
Velvund noticed Reed's brooding expression and said, ”Is something wrong, son? What troubles you so?”
”It's… just that, um, I've never been helped so... straightforwardly like you. Someone who decided, on the spot, to help another person just because he could,” said Reed in confusion. ”I've met some good people in the North who have been very kind to me, but you're a first for me, Sir.”
The old Avunian looked at the lively city and said, ”If you'd seen what I've seen, my boy, you'd understand. Why Kindness is the seed of all Hope.” He stared at the people down below with a warm expression and quietly said, ”This world is inherently painful and miserable — this is truth — but if we all work together, I believe that one day we'll be able to make this place heaven on earth.”
He turned toward Reed and said, ”And I believe that Kindness is the key to that reaching that future. The connection, the bridge that will unite all of us together.” Velvund pulled out a crown made of silver and brilliant marigolds and put it on Reed's head.
”I'm you'll understand what I mean one day, my boy. But for now, take what I've told you and chew it on it whenever you please,” said Velvund as he adjusted Reed's silver crown.
Once Velvund finished adjusting Reed's crown, he pointed at the room behind them and said, ”Consider this your new room, my boy. For now, why don't you get some rest and take everything I've told you. Let's talk some more tomorrow before I bore you to sleep myself, haha…”
He opened up a spatial tear and said, ”If you need anything, ask Rivia outside and she'll help you,” and walked into the beckoning darkness of the void.
And just like that, Reed had been left to his own devices.
A gorgeous, if albeit, minimalistic room would be his new room . It was a room infused into the heart of the tree-spire itself — which was a living being. The Anima that pulsed around it thrummed with vitality.
Reed found it strangely comforting in an odd way.
Lacrima hummed a little tune and said, ”I would have never thought these little fellows could have accomplished something like this. It's a bit rough around the edges, but it's still miles better than anything I've seen in that frozen wasteland up North…”
What are you talking about? Found something interesting? said Reed as he walked around the room as he inspected his new room.
”The tree-spire, this building itself is possessed by a spiritual automaton of some kind. That is what is allowing the Anima to flow so freely around the entirety of the building. I suspect it can probably even attack and defend against multiple assailants with the hefty amount Anima it controls,” said Lacrima.
Wait. It's possessing the entire tree-spire, so doesn't that mean that we're inside of it right now? Doesn't that mean that it's watching me right now?
Lacrima laughed and said, ”No, boy. It seems to be preoccupied with something else from the looks of it. But that noisy little girl outside is.”
Reed quickly turned around and discovered a pair of faintly familiar blue eyes peeking through a small crack in his door, staring at him as if he were an alien from another world.
As soon as she noticed that she'd been caught, she hurriedly shut the door. A young scream outside alerted Reed that something else had happened, but he didn't want to go outside.
A part of him knew that it'd eventually come around to him, though, so he put on his polite face and walked towards the door… unaware of the implications he would soon create…