Chapter cover: Jake and Lea playing chess, the first looking thoughtfully at his white pieces while the latter playing with one of the white pawns she had taken, looking unimpressed.
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Date: 19/11/ X643
"OUCH!" Lea had accidentally poked Luminous in the back with her ruler as she shifted it to draw another straight line. It wasn't on purpose and Luminous didn't complain, but moved away from the radius of the ruler. It was longer than what the siblings expected.
She tapped the pen to her chin and glanced at Jake.
Jake could practically see a huge question mark above Lea's head as she stopped drawing. He can't blame her. Lea was drawing the layout of the sewers of Magatia – not a pleasant job, but nonetheless a job.
Jake recalled his memory in the sewers, it was disgusting and with the gas mask, it was bearable. Although Jake's night vision was worse when compared to half-demons, with a special eyedrop, he could in the dark as if it was day. For the last 12 hours, they were wandering about the sewers of Magatia – created by a group called 'The Garden of Sinners'. They had many names, but that particular name stuck.
It was certainly impressive, even after centuries have past, the foundation was still strong.
"Dead end?" Lea asked, blinking once. Jake tapped his hand, "Possible."
The siblings sighed. Even with a draft, they couldn't be sure – and fighting their way through makes their sense all wonky.
Yes, even in the sewers, the monsters are tough with the…fishy experiments. And Lea was underequipped even by a mage's standard. She didn't even have her battle gear with her, and went to the dungeon with just a grey T-shirt, tough jeans and a tiger-striped jacket – the first two specially sewed by from the old tailor of Ellinia, goes by the name of Tan. They were serious goods – people would pay for them, if they know where to look.
How Lea managed to procure the…casual wear was amazing.
He watched his younger sister drew the map. There was a serene look on her face, as if she was an artist painting the landscape she saw in her mind's eye. For a moment, Jake imagined her as a painter, sculpturing statues, dedicated to the Transcendents each with her style with it and her hands caked in clay with chisels and hammers as her tools and some other tools Jake didn't name.
Then, Jake shook his head and smiled at his sister. Lea noticed the smile and gave him a disgusted look before wagging her pen as if Jake was a naughty boy. "Wipe that off,"
Jake pouted for twenty seconds until Luminous came to view and blinked twice.
"Need help?" Luminous asked as he stared down at the map, taking in the information or at least part of it. Jake glanced at Lea who merely shrugged and waved her brother away...rather reluctantly, Jake noted.
"Do your research – Origin has a possibility of being connected to the whatever research you are doing." Lea said it casually. Jake sighed – she was right.
He left Lea alone who went back to drawing lines and writing down details to the minute. By the Transcendents, that ass job will never get done! Especially when it is estimated they only covered 5% of the shit.
The thought itself is so depressing.
Soon, he engrossed himself in the research – with the familiar scratching sound of pens and crushing of papers. The lab is quiet, even with the two Heroes here, Jake prayed he didn't jinx it.
XXX
"You two are boring," Aozaki remarked when she found them drinking tea and relaxing. The siblings stared at her, before looking down at their tea cups and looked at the brown contents of it. They learned from their mistakes; not to respond to any of her comments if possible.
"At least the Heroes will keep me entertained – those two are always at each other throats."
CRASH!
Papers were launched into the air from a distance. For a moment, there was a leather-bound book, before it hit the ground with a loud thud. The three people stared at the yellow papers which were falling gently as gravity took effect. They fervently hoped it wasn't a domino effect – and there was none, much to their relief.
"PHANTOM!" shouted Luminous's voice. Jake pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. Luminous has shouted the thief's name for the umpteenth time – god, how did they even bother liaising in the first place?!
A chuckle caught his ears – and Jake knew it was Aozaki's. The argument began – and it wasn't pleasant to his ears.
"You could've moved to one side-" began Phantom until the light mage shot him down with one word. "Narrow."
"Then you could use an alternative path!"
"And get lost in the labyrinth?" Luminous replied, his tone even. And the conversation went on and on – Jake swore their reasoning skills are sharp. Phantom and Luminous were reading the materials they needed earlier, and highly likely none of them noticed the other.
His sister merely sighed and scowled at her tea – her relaxing mood was gone in an instant. "Must be Phantom's fault."
Aozaki and Jake could only nod in agreement. Phantom has the reputation of being a troublemaker – a legacy of his that was even mentioned in this era. Especially with the grand stealing of jewels – not too long ago, he stole Kerning City's legendary treasure, and it caused an uproar in the Maple World.
Several days later, it was returned with a note attached to it. What it said; nobody knew except for the Dark Lord of Kerning City.
Lea started playing with her sheathed dagger, spinning it around her hand before she suddenly unsheathed and threw it at Jake, fortunately, the dagger slipped between his fingers and did not go further than his fingers as the hilt was too big for the space.
It was undeniable that they needed to move around other than walking.
"Aozaki, think you can make a room for us?" There was a mischievous gleam in Lea's eyes, and Jake didn't know he had the same gleam too. It was as if the two avians spotted their prey – and are about to swoop and grabbed them with their talons.
The only problem: 'who is the predator and who is the prey?'
Lea began warming up as if she knew the answer, but Jake politely remained in his seat, but his body itching for some action. It has been a while since they pitted their skills against each other.
The alchemist lit up one cigarette and inhaled it before exhaling the grey smoke. It spiraled upwards and gradually became colorless. "That's a silly question."
...
A/N: I apologize for the short chapter. It's tiring these days with the lectures (and hands-on lessons, especially programming) and also doing tutorials (sort of homework). I can't guarantee that I can update another chapter this month unless I am super free. Thank you for reading this.