Chapter Seventeen: A Foreign Environment

Ren looked up at the woman in front of him, who was just smiling and looking at him. Ren didn't know why or really what was going on, but now the two could understand each other, which made Ren curious.

"How can we understand each other?" Ren asked the woman.

The woman smiled yet again. "You woke up with a headache, right? Well, that was because, per my orders, I had a surgeon install a translation device into your head. After all, we are a civilization that currently contains half a dozen species and knows of even more. With this device, we can all understand each other in our own language. For instance, right now, to me, you're speaking our language, but to you, I'm speaking...what do you call it? English?"

"Yeah, you're speaking English, but you performed surgery on me without my knowing? Ren asked, concerned about what else they may have done.

"Relax; all of us get this surgery; it's kind of mandatory," the woman said.

"How do you know how to install it on your device?" Ren asked.

"You're not the only captive we have taken in this war; we have had many captives who have spoken different languages. Some were more cooperative than others, but all of them eventually stopped helping,. the woman explained.

"So there are others like me?" Ren asked.

"Well...not anymore; like I said, they weren't very cooperative in the end." the woman said.

"So they're dead? And what's next on that list?" Ren asked.

"No." The woman said coldly with her fists clenched. "Nobody will even dare to harm you."

"And what insurance do I have for that? You're word, who even are you?" Ren asked.

The woman smiled again "I won't tell you my name just yet, but believe me, if I say so, nobody would dare even consider harming you."

Ren had to think about this. "I'm in no position to argue; after all, she is holding my life in her hands."

Ren looked at the women in her beautiful crimson-red eyes and said "So, what's next then?"

"It seems you understand the situation. That's really good. Get up and get dressed in these clothes that I prepared for you and meet me outside; I have a lot to show you." the woman said.

"Is she...ordering me?" Ren thought to himself.

Before she left the room, though, she asked a quick question "I should've asked this earlier when you asked for mine, but...what's your name?"

Ren realized he hadn't told her his name before either, but unlike her, he didn't care if she knew his name.

"It's Ren."

"Ren, huh? I like it" she said before leaving the room with a smile.

After she left the room, Ren found the clothes she had prepared and put them on. The clothes were similar to a black dress shirt with a red tie and a black jacket, along with black dress pants and dress shoes.

"So...I couldn't afford these in my life, and she's giving them to me? And the fabric. Why is it so soft?" Ren thought to himself. The fabric of the clothes felt as if he were wearing a cloud; it was so soft.

It was then that the door to the room opened, and the woman walked in.

"Oh, you're done already...good." the woman said with a hint of disappointment.

"What did you want to come in early or something?" Ren said.

"I mean, it's nothing I haven't seen before." the woman said.

"What?" Ren responded, dumbfounded.

"Don't worry about it; anyway, follow me." the woman said.

"Where are we going?" Ren asked, hesitating to follow her.

"My home."

Ren was confused but still did as she said; after all, he didn't have much choice in the matter. As soon as he walked out of the room, he saw people dressed just like the guards staring at him with anger and disdain; however, none of them did anything to him but showed respect to the woman in front of him.

"Is she the captain of the ship or something?" Ren thought to himself.

It was then that he heard a voice speak through the ship.

"Beginning Landing Procedures."

"Who was that?" Ren asked the woman.

"Our ships are AI-oriented; they run mostly the diagnostics and autopilot for the ships." The woman said.

"Your ships have AI?" Ren asked.

"Yes, every ship is powered by an AI system; our ship's AI is named after our ship's name, Thera." the woman explained.

"Thera?"

"Yes, Thera is the goddess of victory," the woman said.

Ren was doing his best to gather any information he could get about these people; after all, if he somehow makes it back home, he will have a wealth of intel on the enemy.

The woman then led him to the hanger of the ship, and it looked somewhat similar to the hanger on the UNS Eternity, with rows of Centurions and jet-like ships.

"So this is where you keep the Centurions." Ren said.

"Is that what you call them?" the woman asked.

"We call the machines you use Centurions the ones we use Sentinels." Ren explained.

"Interesting, we call ours knights." the woman said.

Ren figured the best way to get information was to surrender some useless information.

Ren continued walking until he saw a very familiar machine, the same centurion or rather knight he met on the battlefield, being worked on by robotic engineers.

"Who does this belong to?" Ren asked.

"What do you mean?" The woman asked innocently.

"This is the machine that captured me; I was wondering who pilots it." Ren said.

"I do." the woman said.

"What?" Ren asked in surprise; after all, who would've guessed the person who was giving him such a problem was this girl in front of him?

"That was you?" Ren asked, just wanting to confirm it.

"Yes, this is my knight and the one who beat you." the woman taunted Ren.

"You didn't beat me; you beat my machine." Ren said. Ren is a humble person, but everyone has their pride.

"Sure, we'll go with that; it's almost time for us to get going; follow me to the ship exit." the woman said.

Ren followed her out of the ship ramp, along with many others; however, the sight absolutely shocked him.

Buildings taller than anything on Earth, vehicles flying in the air as if it were normal, beautiful skies that reminded him of earth—but that wasn't all. The area where they landed was filled with tons of people cheering at the arrival of the ship, but that wasn't all. People on the ship were basically running off the ramp and hugging people who seemed to be their family members. Ren looked up at the buildings around them and saw people cheering and throwing what looked like party streamers down from the balconies. However, when the woman stepped out of the ship, the cheers got even louder.

"Our goddess of victory!"

"Lucilia, you're so beautiful!"

"Yet another successful conquest!"

The crowds were going crazy upon seeing the woman in front of him.

"So...her name's Lucilia, huh?" Ren thought to himself after hearing the cheers from the crowd.

Lucilia walked over to a man and asked him something Ren couldn't hear, but he left shortly thereafter. Lucilia then ran over to Ren and hooked her arm and his together, walking arm in arm.

This shocked many of the people around them as well as the crowd. Lucilia led him to a vehicle similar to the ones he could see flying in the air.

"Get in the back with me; I'll be taking you to my house." Lucilia said as she got into the backseat of the vehicle.

"Alright..." Ren responded.

Ren sat down in the vehicle next to Lucilia, who was staring at him, still smiling.

"So...your name is Lucilia, huh?" Ren asked.

"How did you know?" Lucilia said it with a confused look on her face.

"The crowd was saying it in their cheers. You're quite famous, aren't you?" Ren asked.

"Oh, you have no idea..." Lucilia teased, while Ren was confused as to what she meant by that.

"So where is this home you're talking about?" Ren asked.

"A little bit away from the city, but when we get there, you'll be staying with us for the foreseeable future." Lucilia said.

"What are we going to be roommates?" Ren asked.

"Something like that..." Lucilia said.

"Why does she have to be so damn cryptic?" Ren thought to himself.

"Ma'am, are you ready to start going?" the man who Lucilia earlier said.

"Yes Gianos, and thank you for this." Lucilia said.

"It's not a problem, ma'am." Gianos responded.

Soon the car started to hover, and it went higher and higher until it was nearing the top of the skyscrapers.

Lucilia looked at Ren, who seemed like he was trying to regain his balance.

"Not used to this?" Lucilia asked.

"Nope, we don't have flying cars on Earth, so this is new." Ren said.

Lucilia smiled, looking at Ren "Well, if you start to get dizzy, you can lay on my lap."

"Uhm.." Ren said while starting to blush. Not every day a gorgeous girl offers her lap for a guy to lay on. "I think I'll manage, but thank you."

"How cute..." Lucilia thought as she lightly giggled.

"Ma'am, it's that we're here." Gianos said.

Ren looked out of the window and was shocked at what he saw—a giant house that looked bigger than even the White House in D.C. and had separate buildings around it too, and yet that's not all.

"Is that a floating island?" Ren said, freaking out at what he saw.

The house itself was on a floating island hovering above what looked like a giant lake, surrounded by trees with pink-colored leaves.

Ren had never seen such a beautiful image before.

"Ren, welcome to my home." Lucilia said.

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