We're Back

"We're back…" Once they stepped inside, Zen's voice echoed within the base, alerting everyone in the base to their return.

"Welcome back…" a woman with very short black hair peeked from the corner to greet them before her long eyelashes spread away, widening her eyes as they landed on the small girl laying on Zen's back. "Oh! who is she?" she added, tilting her head as she began moving towards them.

"Oh, rose! We found her alone in the <<Forbidden district>> and she was chased by a Nethercat, so we helped her out," Zen answered, slightly turning his head to see the sleepy face of the little girl "she couldn't remember her name so I called her lily"

"Ah, I see," Rose said as she placed her hand on her hip before throwing it slightly to the side, her hood earrings swinging along the movement of her body. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she is just unconscious," Zen answered with a subtle smile curving on his face "she is a special girl after all"

"What do you mean?" a frown filled Rose's face, with her eyes narrowing to show her confusion.

"She is a natural Imperfection"

"Ah, I see," Rose's chin raised alongside her shoulders, as a wide grin took over her face. "Now I understand why you brought her instead of the under-city orphanage"

"I'll go call everyone else," Rose added. "Go take her to Ema to check if everything is fine with her"

While Zen was heading to the infirmary after Harold left to take off his clothes, he suddenly felt the weight put on his shoulders slightly lessening. He turned his head slightly to find that Lily had lifted her chin after she woke up, and she was rubbing her eye gently.

"Oh! You woke up!" Zen exclaimed, his eyes widening as he watched over lily.

"Where are we…" Lily asked with a low voice, still struggling to open her eyes.

"Don't worry, we already left that place," Zen replied as he opened the door to the infirmary. "We are in a safe place now"

"Zen! You have returned!" Once Zen stepped inside, Ema's eyes widened in surprise once they caught a glimpse of him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm perfectly fine. I'm just a little tired since the mission took us a whole day," Zen replied as he let out a brief sigh.

Ema listened to Zen talk before letting out a sigh of relief. She then noticed the tiny figure he was carrying. "Who is this that you brought with you?" she asked as she slightly tilted her head and put her finger on her cheek while she walked towards Zen.

"This is Lily," Zen answered while Lily slightly waved at Ema as she tried to hide her head behind Zen. "I want you to check on her"

"Okay, sit her down on one of the beds," said Ema with a smile curved on her face as she looked at the little girl.

Once Lily was on the bed, Ema approached her before extending her arm forward to touch the little girl's cheek. Lily flinched a bit, closing her eyes as she felt the slightly cold touch of Ema's hand before feeling a warmth generate within her body.

Once she opened her eyes, she found her entire body glowing as a white aura enveloped it, with her eyes widening in awe as she looked at her palms. She then lowered her gaze to find herself hovering in the air like a boundless soul.

Not so long after, her body slowly began to go down before Ema removed her hand from her cheek. "You are all good to go now" Ema gave a smile before turning Zen.

"How is she?" Zen asked.

"Yeah, she is perfectly fine"

"I expected that"

"Why didn't you take her to the Under-City care group, though?" Ema questioned. Zen began laying down the details of the mission and why lily was alright even in that harsh place.

"I see now," Ema said. "You should take her to Kelton then to confirm her affinities since a natural imperfection can have more affinities compared to us"

"Zeeen!!" As they were talking, a sudden loud call echoed from the floor atop.

"Or maybe sometimes you just need to wait for him to come himself," with a smirk curved on her face Ema uttered in sarcasm.

Not so long after, the door to the infirmary suddenly swung open violently, taking the both of them by surprise. Lily immediately jumped from her bed and began running to hide behind Zen's body.

After that, Kelton entered the room, heavily breathing like a hungry beast. "I heard you brought someone interesting with you today"

Lily, who was peeking from behind Zen, quickly hid her head once Kelton uttered his words.

"Ahhhh, I see who you brought with you" with a wide grin covering his face, Kelton began to swiftly walk towards them.

"Relax, you crazy idiot." Once Kelton got close enough, Zen grabbed him from his head to stop him from moving as he looked at him with annoyance, "You are scaring her"

"Ow, Ow. You are hurting my head, Zen," Kelton uttered in pain as he tried to free himself from Zen's grip with both of his hands.

"And I won't stop until you calm down and stop acting like a maniac," said Zen tightened his grip even further.

"Okay, Okay. I understand. Just stop, please"

With his eyes narrowing and giving a look of doubt, Zen gazed upon Kelton before deciding to release him.

"God, that was painful," Kelton uttered as he grabbed his head and tried to rub it. "You really don't know how to control your power, huh?"

Zen's eyes tightened in annoyance as he looked at Kelton, a visible tension appearing on his neck. Kelton, however, diverted his gaze to the little girl hiding, trying to avoid eye contact with Zen.

"Hey there, I really didn't mean to scare you," Kelton tried to talk in a soft voice as he called to Lily, "I just become like this when I get excited"

Lily, however, didn't seem to believe the man's words as she continued to hide behind Zen.

Zen quickly extended his arm as he turned his head back, patting Lily's head as he said with a warm smile, "Don't worry, he isn't gonna do anything bad to you"

"But… He was acting like a scary monster just now…" Lily uttered as she looked back at Zen.

"Don't worry. He is just a weirdo sometimes," Zen assured her.

One would assume that those words would make anyone lose his confidence in an instance. However, Kelton didn't seem to be affected by it as he looked at them talking, as he was used to people calling him by those words.

Lily didn't look entirely convinced, but she decided to give the man a chance and peeked at him.

Kelton looked at her with a smile as he extended his arm forward. "What is your name?"

"My name is Lily," the little girl said as she stopped hiding and stood beside Zen.

"Then, Lily, can you give me your hand?"

Once Kelton asked, Lily looked at Zen, asking with her eyes what she should do. Zen quickly gave her a nod and pushed her slightly forward. She then nodded back and slowly extended her arm towards Kelton.

Once Kelton grabbed her hand, cloth strands that were wrapped around his arm began opening before expanding to wrap around Lily's arm. The little showed an expression of panic, so Zen moved his hand to pat her head.

The wraps color started shifting from white to black and started gathering the water in the room to make it hover around it before absorbing it all. Surprisengly, Lily didn't feel any of the water that the wraps absorbed and rather felt as if feathers wrapped around her arm.

Not so long after, the wraps turned into their original color and shrank back. Kelton released the girl's hand and stood up to face Zen. "You really brought an interesting kid with you"

"What did you find?" Zen asked.

"She has an affinity for Venom, Nature, and the ability of absorption like you"

"Ah, I see. That's really interesting," Zen uttered as he rubbed his chin. "Is boss here?"

"No, he went to meet with someone and won't return until tomorrow," the voice of Rose echoed as she entered the room alongside Edwin.

"Hmm… Can you take Lily to one of our spare rooms, then?" Zen added "Let her stay there until boss comes back"

"As you wish," Rose nodded, her eyes fixated on the little girl standing next to Zen.

"Go with her, for now," Zen turned to Lily said before giving her a little push forward. Lily then nodded and ran towards Rose before grabbing her arm.

"Kelton, I don't have time right now, so can you prepare a thorough report on what Lily is capable of?"

"It will be ready by tomorrow," Kelton replied in an instance.

"That would be good"

"Are you returning to that castle that you talked about?" Ema asked.

"Yeah, I need to go," Zen replied as he scratched his neck "I feel like I'll miss out on something if I don't go"

"Didn't you say you were tired, though?"

"I'll just take a regeneration dose and go"

"Are you going there alone?" Edwin suddenly asked, breaking his silence.

"Yes." Zen quickly replied "if boss was here I would've asked him to accompany me, but since he isn't, I'll just go alone"

"What is inside of that place is still unknown to us, so I can't take any of you with me this time," Zen added.

"Ah, by the way" as Zen was leaving the room, he suddenly stopped.

"Hmmm?" Ema's face was coated with puzzlement as she looked at Zen.

"Here, take this," as he walked back towards Ema, he grabbed one plant that he gathered out of his pocket "I know you wanted one of these to do some tests on it, but you didn't ask because you didn't know how"

Ema's face instantly brightened and a wide smile appeared as she said, "Thank you, Zen"

"I'll bring you more of them when I am coming back," Zen added as he patted her head gently.

As he watched them talk with each other, a wide grin was curved on Edwin's face.

"O-okay then. I'll get going now" Zen cleared his throat as the both of them turned away, their cheeks red like a tomato.

"Y-yeah. Take care," Ema replied quickly and walked to store the plant.