Chapter 17 Two Siblings

"Congratulations on your breakthrough, Pandora. I will be taking Winter Soldier with me on the business expedition. I want you to stay behind in Valdmor and make use of your profound concealment techniques for espionage once more to keep an eye on any shipments that enter or leave the town during my absence."

Pandora finished reading the letter and destroyed it then and there before leaving the inn. For some reason, the thought that Leonardo gave that damned elf a special moniker but she got nothing irked her, even though she knew that Juvia's identity must be kept a secret.

However, no matter how vexed she was about it, she could only swallow her grievances and wait for the leader to return. Until then…

…

Leonardo was unaware of the side effects from having his will fused with Pandora's blood essence or the weird thoughts in her head after the fact. Now, he was still occupying a high cliff overseeing the small settlement of convicts with Juvia by his side. The two of them had arrived here two weeks ago, and Leonardo did nothing but observe the day to day lifestyle of the people below ever since.

Of course, some small breaks for food and rest every now and then did take place but Juvia who was now a saint, and by extension did not require food or sleep for sustenance, kept up her vigilance and meticulously observed every person in the settlement.

At first, she found it somewhat taxing to simultaneously observe over 300 people who were eccentric in nature. However, as days passed on, it became something akin to a second nature to her. Albeit chaotic, everyone had a set pattern to their lives, and this pattern is a reflection of their experience over the years ironed out under the relentless sands of time.

Juvia didn't know this, but Leonardo specifically organised this practice to hone her observational skills and temper the way she judged people.

Two weeks ago, these 300 or so people were nothing but filthy convicts in her eyes, a subconscious thought implanted in her mind under the influence of Jeffery's storytelling. However, after first hand experience, she came to realise that she was rash with her judgement.

Although most of them were bad, some good was present in the settlement.

A young boy spending days on an empty stomach to provide bread for his sister.

A rough man splitting his day's worth of bread to somehow lose it accidentally, and the bread happened to fall in a position where the aforementioned young boy wrestled it out of the jaws of stray dogs and claws of stray cats.

An old man purposefully paid the aforementioned rough man an additional loaf of bread for seemingly no reason.

And a mysteriously cold person afraid by virtually everyone sneaking his way at night into the settlement with a bag full of food, the same food that exchanged hands countless times during the day.

As for where this food came from? Nobody knew, nobody cared, and nobody felt entitled to it.

For all it was worth, everyone had a special someone to place their needs above oneself. Because everyone had a special someone, a trace of light and good miraculously survived in this harsh environment.

Over the course of the last two weeks, Leonardo's short breaks for food and nap time had gradually snowballed from indistinct periods to stable periods, which slowly began to expand into hours before he began to literally laze about either stargazing or mentioning stories of his mother on Earth, to which Juvia attentively listened without disturbing his train of thoughts or breaking focus.

On this fateful evening, Leonardo finally stretched out after consuming a juicy red apple variant. Due to his young and immature features, Juvia found his lazy countenance quite cute and so she chuckled lightly behind her fair hand that hid her luscious lips.

Leonardo didn't give the matter much attention as he approached the cliff hanger as he voiced out his command, "Let's go."

The next moment, Leonardo jumped off the dozens of metres high cliff with his hands tucked away inside his pockets. Within seconds, he was about to crash heavily into the rocky ground before an invisible force restrained his descent, allowing him to land gracefully on the dirt covered ground.

Behind him, Juvia landed just as gracefully with her ponytails whipping about, she then fixed her glasses habitually with a faint smile before voicing out her thoughts, "About time, leader!"

…

It was just like any other day in the settlement of convicts. People exiled from their tribes for all sorts of reasons, good and bad. Ruckus laughter sneaked its way through the thin walls of a fairly popular bar in the small settlement and into the ears of a young child perched right outside its widely swung windows.

The smell of heavy ale and beverages did nothing to dilute the high vigilance in his leopard-like eyes as he carefully observed two stray hounds in a corner not that far away.

Soon, a stray piece of loaf was shot seemingly accidentally from the open window. As though it was a gunshot inviting a brutal race, the young child rushed to his feet in a speed rivalling if not eclipsing the sprinting burst of the two black hounds.

The dogs barked their warning through their voracious fangs to which the kid responded by hurling a handful of stone pebbles into their maws and crazed eyes. The beasts reflexively halted their advances in defensive measures, and the kid took advantage of their instinctive response to grab the piece of loaf into his embrace before rushing down a nearby corner.

Not a split second later, the dogs chased down the kid's tail. However, on the next turn, a wide slab of metal held by the kid greeted the two dogs with a heavy clash in their faces.

The two dogs winced in pain and debris blocked their sense of smell and vision. By the time the came back to it, the kid and loaf of bread was no longer in sight, forcing the dogs to begrudgingly return home on an empty stomach, concerned about how to provide for their baby puppies in the dark alleyway.

Late into the night, the young boy with shoulder length black hair and deep brown eyes with gems for pupils approached a rundown hut like many others lined up on the road. This was his home for as long as he could remember, and regardless of how helpless a pair of siblings were, they managed to live through their hardships seemingly unbothered by the common folk of this settlement.

The young boy was rather happy that he managed to find some food for his little sister who was nine years old this year. However, the moment he entered his own humble house, a pleasant smell prickled his nose, and he could almost got a full spasm of pleasure throughout every cell of his body.

He instinctively looked through the broken door to the kitchen so he could find a beautiful big sister cooking a pot of meat soup in a stone oven. A tongue of flame extended from her dainty pale hand to simmer the sauced water while potatoes, tomatoes, and meatballs bobbed over the murky surface inside the pot.

After swallowing hard, he heard the laughter of his little sister from across the room where he found her hugging the arm of a ridiculously handsome young man like a swing, swaying back and forth uncontrollably.

Although the food smelled good, the young kid instinctively felt an aura of death looming around the beautiful big sister. On the other hand, the young man had a mysterious compelling aura around him that naturally drew people's attention and empathy, especially his deep pitch-black eyes with a barely concealed sadness within their smiling expression.

Not knowing how to react, he didn't even notice the loaf of bread falling from his embrace and onto the dirty floor.