LUSAN

I groaned, rubbing my head, "My head still hurts."

"Same," Tara whined as we walked out of the dungeon.

I'd be accurate. I don't remember anything that happened in the final part of the dungeon.

All I remembered was that there was mist around. . . And yeah, that was it.

Although it seemed like other people were in the same boat as me, everyone else around me was just as confused.

Besides Kassie, of course, she was her usual self, whistling away.

"Hey Kassie, what exactly happened down there?"

"Hmmm." Kassie tapped her chin in delight, "You guys got stuck in a trance; that mist probably stunned you. . . So I got you out of it."

While both Tara and I knew how she did it—through Purpura Solum, Christof remained silent but

I knew he was questioning things in his head about the situation.

"Whatever you did. . ." Nath looked at us with a gentle smile over his shoulder, "Thank you for helping us."

Before we knew it, we had already arrived at the Village of Vaia.

"Come along." Nath gestured for us to follow him into the office, where Gemma should be waiting.

The usual people filled the place with chatter, and everyone with a different task did it quickly.

One thing was for sure: their village was also filled with vibrancy and colour that painted the place.

The Village of Facia would have that one day as well.

Nath opened the doors, and Gemma diligently worked on whatever paperwork she had in front of her.

She looked up, instantly displaying a warm smile that reassured us and made us feel welcomed all the time.

"Ah, welcome back. It's great to see you all," Gemma examined us. "A success?"

Nath nodded proudly, "A success." He looked over at us, "We couldn't have done it with them."

I felt a sense of pride swelling within me; it was always lovely to hear someone compliment us for once.

I have heard people downplay us several times, but at least there was hope.

"Well then, thanks for taking care of them, Nath. It's my turn to show them around."

Nath nodded, leaving alongside Christof.

Gemma smiled at all of us, "I would like to express my gratitude once more. In doing so, I believe it's time to show you our education facilities."

"We would love that!" Kassie was the first to clap her hands excitedly at her offer, "Lead us the way!"

Gemma nodded as we began following her.

We watched as Kassie took the initiative with all her questions.

The amount of questions that she was piling up on Gemma was more than impressive to me.

Kassie wouldn't stop talking about education and kids.

I nudged Tara on the rib, "She seems pretty excited, huh?"

Tara smiled softly. "Well, she does have a kid of her own, after all."

We watched her practically jump with joy at every question she asked.

I couldn't help but think that Kassie was average, only until I realised she was mighty.

"Now." Gemma stopped and gestured to us, "This is where we teach our kids."

She showed us exactly what I imagined a classroom to be like.

Vibrant and filled with personality, but also a touch of professionalism and seriousness.

The kids attending were working on Vestiga's basic history.

"There learning about the types of Plantea Beasts?" Tara commented, watching in awe.

Gemma nodded in confirmation, "That's right. Would you like to take a closer look?"

"We would love that!" Kassie cheered as we ventured into the classroom, where the children worked diligently, etching words of knowledge and wisdom onto their papers.

The teacher acted as a guardian of knowledge, her words flowing through their ears, taking down every detail she had spoken about.

I never really had an education like this one.

We were usually taught by our parents, who their parents also taught.

But they didn't know that much; people who usually lived in these areas had never seen what the Kingdom of Juvo looked like.

I had only heard what it looked like through word of mouth, and even those words amazed me.

We watched as the teacher explained the different types of Plantea Beasts.

Some were classified as S+, and others were not so much.

"The Plantea Beasts that you should be worried about," the teacher declared, "are the Dae's."

I titled my head in confusion: the Daes. What were the Daes exactly?

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

I had never heard about them until now.

"It's another word for Demon," Kassie answered my questions, seemingly knowing the confusion on my face.

"You know the classics of a Dae, who loves to scare others. They love to distort your imagination and feed off of it." Kassie chuckled, "But fear not! They're scarce."

"And if you do?" Tara asked carefully.

We all anticipated an answer as we watched Kassie tap her chin in thought.

"Well!" she clapped her hands together. You'll probably be dead." Kassie continued to smile.

Seriously. . . How could she find amusement in that?

"I think I'm going to have nightmares tonight. . ." Tara muttered to herself.

"Wow." Gemma smiled happily as she listened in, "You seem to know a lot about Plantea Beasts as well."

Kassie shrugged sheepishly, "I was at the Kingdom of Juvo in the earlier days, learning about it."

It was the first time I heard Kassie tell more about her life before coming to the Village of Facia with Lenin.

What else didn't we know about them?

I only knew they must have come from some nobility in the Kingdom of Juvo, as mentioned multiple times when I was younger. Those who had Solum since they were born were from the nobility.

As a gift from the Deus above.

Now, that was common knowledge; everyone knew that, and if you didn't, you would be living under a rock.

"Ah, I see; it's an honour to have someone who has been taught from the Kingdom of Juvo to come here."

Kassie waved her hand in dismissal. "Eh, don't mention it. If anything, I didn't learn that much. I never really was a good student." She scratched her cheek nervously.

"How can you teach them so much, let alone enough."

"That's a good question," Gemma declared as everyone continued to watch the class. "While our curriculum isn't exactly true, we find our answers through different accounts and experiences."

"That makes sense." Kassie nodded as Gemma returned the nod.

"That is why," Gemma cleared her throat, giving us her full attention. I would like you to provide us with the knowledge you possess to help our village. We will be heavily indebted to you."

While she was looking at all of us, she was more specifically looking at Kassie.

"Me?" she pointed at herself. "Well, I would love to help! But what exactly would you like to know?"

After hearing that from her, Gemma instantly smiled. "Well, we are pretty knowledgeable about Plantea Beasts and the dungeons; however, we lack knowledge about the history of the Kingdom of Juvo itself."

She paused momentarily, breaking the flow of her conversation, "We only have the best knowledge that we can go from being all the way here, which, to be frank, is basic knowledge. So hopefully, you can help."

Before she could even say another word, Kassie shook her hand excitedly.

I looked over to Tara, and we both could tell that Gemma wasn't expecting a personality like Kassie.

Kassie always seemed to liven up whatever room she was in, even if it was sometimes too much.

Everyone needs a person like her in their life to make things a bit more interesting.

Gemma bowed politely, a testament to a new founding partnership between the two villages. "We are in great debt to you; just be sure to call us whatever you need. We'll be there to help."

Kassie nodded, "When would you like me to write up some stuff to help you guys out?"

"You can do it whenever you feel free to, but I want to thank you again for now."

We all nodded, following Kassie as she hummed herself a little tune in the process.

With all the information we had gathered from the Village of Vaia, this was a place to foster and pass knowledge on to others.

Also, the soldiers here were just as skilled, if not stronger, than we were.

They had two sections but balanced each other out, thanks to the dynamic of two leaders doing different things.

I looked at Kassie's back, curious to get more out of her.

It was the best chance to learn more about the Kingdom of Juvo.

Tara, besides me, didn't care all too much about the Kingdom of Juvo, thinking that the people there were a lost cause of sorts, which she had every right to feel.

After all, those people in the Kingdom of Juvo didn't have the time to check on us to see how we were doing.

But the Kingdom of Juvo has always intrigued me, so I can't say no when the opportunity arises for someone from there to give us their wisdom.

"Kassie, could I ask a question?"

Kassie stopped her humming as she looked over her shoulder, nodding.

"I don't know much about the Kingdom of Juvo, but the royal family reigns there. The most powerful nobles in Juvo." I declared earnestly, "Do you know anything about them?"

Even Tara seemed to be curious about where this conversation was heading.

It wasn't every day that you heard someone from the Kingdom of Juvo talk about their history in these parts of Vestiga.

"You want a history lesson, huh?" She joked, looking forward now, "So what do you want to know specifically?"

I shrugged; I didn't think that far ahead about the question.

"Well, you know who they are and where they come from."

Kassie stroked her chin, thinking to herself.

Something told me she was doing it for fun; she knew exactly what she would say.

"They're called the Essenhearts." She declared, "And as you can all guess, they're the strongest in the Kingdom of Juvo; there's no denying that."

"Stronger than you and Lenin?" Tara spoke up.

Kassie looked over her shoulder, "Me, yes. Lenin, no."

That was a surprise to hear.

I had heard countless times from Lenin that Kassie was more potent than him.

"That's funny; Lenin says you're stronger than him," I added as Kassie raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"Does he now." She chuckled lightly as she began nodding to herself slowly. "I'll admit, as of now, I'm stronger than him."

Kassie paused momentarily, thinking about her following words, "But if we're talking about who has the most potential, Lenin beats me by a mile. There's simply no competition."

A glint of excitement appeared in her eyes. It was clear to me that she was anticipating that moment.

"Does he know that?" Tara asked, even more curious than ever before.

Kassie immediately shook her head, "Of course not." She chuckled, "If Lenin did, he would have the biggest ego, and I wouldn't hear the end of it." Kassie began pouting to herself.

"Your secret is safe with us." I gave her a thumbs up.

"Thanks, you two. Now, where was I?" She began to tap her chin instinctively.

"You were talking about the Essenhearts,"

"Ah, yes!" she exclaimed. "I was talking about that, was I? Good on you, Tara." Kassie smiled.

"The King of Juvo is named Aurelianus, and the Queen is Helian."

It was enough for me to shutter in awe at those names alone.

Those names impacted people like me, the Kingdom of Juvo, and its citizens.

I could only imagine the power that they wielded.

"Now, of course, like every parent, they had kids. Four, to be precise." She raised her fingers.

"Three boys and one girl. From what I heard, they were a loving family, but it wasn't until their mother died and their father sick that everything changed." She declared.

"Then what happened?"

Kassie looked away for a slight moment. "What do you think? A power struggle appeared between the kids—specifically, the oldest and the second oldest."

"So what about the two youngest?" I spoke up this time, wanting to know more about the history of it all.

"Interesting question."

I could've sworn that I had seen a smirk on Kassie's face.

What is she enjoying telling us about a story like this?

"King Aurelianus saw the bickering of the two oldest but was powerless to do anything. The only thing he could do was choose an heir." She looked at the two of us, "He decided to pick the youngest boy. Leonidas. Do you want to figure out what Leonidas decided?"

"He rejected the offer. . ."

She looked at me slowly, nodding, "Correct. He never wanted to be the King of Juvo. He had always thought he would be a prince. With all the drama circulating and the power struggle. . . He disappeared."

"He disappeared just like that?" Tara muttered lowly in shock.

"Just like that." Kassie smiled.

"Has anyone seen him?" I asked, looking for an answer.

Kassie nodded, "I wouldn't be surprised if someone did, but the thing is, no one recognises him anymore. Especially from these parts of Juvo, no one would know him."

I slowly nodded, so Leonidas was some mysterious being who walked the fields of Vestiga. If I didn't know any better, this person might as well have been a myth because if someone had spotted him, they would not have recognised him.

"Alright!" she clapped her hands together. Enough with that little insightful history lesson of ours. We should get going back to our village. Onwards!" Kassie struck a pose, continuing to walk once more.