Chapter 5 ~Important Tasks~

As the Leonard family is of the lion clan, just like every other beast in nature, they go through their mating period. This incident happened two to three months after Lea and Rae met each other. She was going through her mating period, which Rae didn't know anything about. Lea's parents told her to skip school, but Lea was unaware of the seriousness of the situation. Her family eventually gave in to their beloved one. She went to school feeling okay. At lunch, she felt uneasy. Lea asked Rae if they could go home together, and Rae agreed. When the last bell rang, Rae couldn't find Lea in any of the classes. So she went to the restroom to check. When she opened the door, all she could see was Lea sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall. She was sweating and panting very heavily. Her cheeks looked flushed. From her slender thighs to the knees, there was a tint of red that could be seen.

"Quite a sight that would be. I should have been there to see that." Zecora frowned.

"I know, right?" Rae chuckled. Zecora glared at her.

"Let's continue."

Rae asked her what was going on, but Lea just told her to go away. Angered by this, Rae really did leave but called Leon, who was playing basketball with his friends at the school court. After hearing the situation from Rae, he left the court and rushed to the restroom on the first floor. Leon dashed inside and threw his school jacket on his sister and then called home. After a few minutes, Raion drove a car to the school. Leon asked Rae to come too because Lea needed someone beside her. The remaining students just stared with their mouths gaping. Who would not? That was one hell of a luxury car. Raion just vanished in 10 seconds. They reached the mansion in less than 10 minutes. After this incident, Leaena Leonard and Raehith became famous in their school. Zecora and Leon were already famous. They don't need to become more famous for such incidents.

"This was the secret of yours?" Zecora sighed.

"Wait, there's more. This calendar, which I accidentally forgot in your office, has the dates marked on it. You know, her mating period days." Rae smirked while tapping her fingers on the calendar placed on the table.

Zecora twitched his eyebrows then said, "You think I'm a beast who would barge into her room while she's vulnerable like that?"

"You really won't?" Rae asked in surprise. Zecora growled in return.

"It's no fun with you, Zecora. I'm going home. Finish your work early, and you better not forget that you have an appointment tomorrow." Rae said.

"I know. You don't have to remind me."

Both of them left the guild's cafeteria and went home.

~Next day, 3:50 a.m.~

"We arrived on time, right, brother? But who would have thought that you were invited too?"

"Oh, about that. Zecora visited us yesterday, and he invited me."

Lea and Leon went into a hotel room. Number 845. Shortly after, exactly when 5 seconds were left for the clock to click 4, Rae flung open the door. Her brother was with her.

"Good morning, guys!" Rae roared.

"Good morning!" The Leonard siblings answered.

All of them sat on the only bed. Refreshments arrived in a few moments.

"The fact that we all always assemble for our meeting in casual clothes is super cute!" Rae said.

"Yeah. It's cute." Lea giggled.

"Let's start with our first topic, Zecora," Leon spoke.

"Yeah. But before that, let's please use something other than cursing and nonsensical words for the invitation to the meeting." Zecora answered, ruffling his hair. Not that he minds but Lea always makes a good comeback to his words, enough to take him aback. Like the one at the cafeteria. Definitely a turn-on.

"Yeah. I'd prefer that." Lea answered, and Leon added, "Yeah. Even our conversations about this get super weird. LOL."

"Every time Zecora calls me cockroach, I immediately understand that it means we'll have our usual meeting. We've been doing this since we bonded in high school, but I don't even know how the three of you all converse about the meeting. Tell me, I'm curious." Rae spoke.

Leon and Zecora's mind- There's no way I can tell her that our conversation went about fucking each other.

Lea's mind- There's no way I can tell her that our conversation went about making our closeness fucking obvious.

"No can do." Zecora answered seriously. "Lea, I wanted to say that Mr. Leonard told me about what happened to you before high school, and I shared that with Rae."

"What?!" The Leonard siblings shrieked.

"Moreover, I told him about your mating period, Lea," Rae added. Both siblings' faces turned blank.

"We wanted to tell you because I felt that if we hide this fact then you'll feel betrayed. We're sorry Lea." Zecora said looking pitiful.

"A-Ah! N-No problem. A-Actually I too wanted to tell you about this someday." Lea said looking flustered.

"Thank you, Lea, for forgiving us."

Zecora started, "Now, let's get into our actual business. As you all already know about Auth-"

"Kiera. I christened her."

"What? Who christened who?" Leon said in surprise.

"Our child." Zecora smiled when he said that while pulling Lea closer to him.

"???" Leon was dumbfounded.

"I was about to tell you about this brother. Wait, let me pass on the information. And Zecora, stop making baseless truth." Lea said. Though that made her happy. She was squealing inside.

Lea held her brother's hand and they both closed their eyes. All hunters have only one similar skill to each other and that is [Sharing]. It can be used to share information and memories. It can also be used to talk with each other without anyone else knowing. But [Sharing] also has its own drawbacks. It can only be activated if the users are connected. Be it hands, fingers, ropes even threads or anything. Another one is that if two people are sharing and someone else also touched them then they would also be able to take their information. It can be used to steal information too.

"All done! Do you understand now brother? I'll officially introduce Kiera to Dad and Mom today after we get home."

"Should I start now?" Zecora asked while yawning.

Everyone nodded.

"According to Kiera, this world is written. So that will make us this world's characters. Another point is that anything happening in Hiraeth is pre-destined. Our decisions, our skills, our personality and everything. I'm thinking about digging more into this matter. Any other information, wildcat?"

This group was formed when they all met in high school. All of them were really famous. Leon and Leaena came from the famous family of hunters, The Leonards. That family had trained their children from an early age and was known to have the strongest strength followed by Taurus. But Zecora and Raehith paved their own way. Well, both of these siblings were really good-looking so everyone sucked up to them. Zecora graduated as a Valedictorian and was popular among girls. Moreover, he was the Vice-Captain of the Basketball team while Leon was the Captain. Rae excelled in sciences and was popular among the girls. The brothers were already best friends and after Lea and Rae became friends, their paths intervened. All four of them hung out together frequently.

Lea pondered and answered, "Yeah. There is something Kiera told me about yesterday night. She said that in this world there are only two certain people who are regressors. That means they are the only people who know the end of the world and have regressed."

"What?!" Rae screamed. That wasn't a problem because the rooms of this hotel are soundproof, for many reasons.

Leon stayed silent.

"It's quite..." Zecora started, his amethyst eyes were beautifully shimmering, his palm on his mouth, "...disturbing."

"There was another thing, more surprising than the first one." Lea continued. "She said that 'Every world will end with a thud'. And this noise can only be heard by the main character of the book I mean Hiraeth. That could be our only way to find the main character because the main character won't even know that they are the main character without this."

A silence fell.

"Due to the excessive information, which the system can't handle, the system has decided to shut down," Rae said and lay on the bed.

"System error," Leon said in a robotic voice.

"This humble system is going to die without receiving much love from his master. Don't pity me, I'm perfectly fine, more or less." Zecora continued with a bitter smile.

All three of them lay on the bed, even though it was cramped.

"Come on guys. Are you really that much surprised?" Lea laughed.

"Let's don't panic," Zecora said in a calm voice. "Dow you have a guess who could be the main character?"

"Well, I think, It's me," Lea said laughing awkwardly.

"I didn't expect you to be arrogant like this, my little sister," Leon said tearing up.

"I think it's me because Kiera is a Legendary skill. And an OP skill is only for the main characters."

"Hmm..." Zecora pondered, "There is a possibility that this could be true."

"This is enough talking about this crap. It's not like Hiraeth is going to destruct today or tomorrow." Rae snapped.

"Yeah. Let's forget about this for some time. Another thing I wanted to discuss is Lea's rank."

"What about Lea's rank? We didn't even measure her rank at home." Leon asked, confused.

"Brother actually we measured my rank before entering the gate. And after returning and getting Kiera my rank dropped down from A to B."

Leon just listened to his dear sister. He didn't have any energy to even twitch his eyebrows.

"We only know that her progress is prisoned somewhere. So after some time, she will definitely get it back." Zecora said thinking seriously.

Everyone inside the room pondered hard about their current situation. A few minutes later Rae spoke up. "Let's leave this topic we won't be able to do anything about it anyway. We can only depend on Kiera for any other information about Hiraeth and Gates."

Everyone nodded.

"Here is the next topic." Leon started. "Actually there is a place where an S-class gate appeared. The place is Maitri Bagh."

"Oh? Wait, but that place is..." Lea said surprisingly.

"Yeah. That falls in the Gemini Guilds' vicinity. On top of that it is a Zoo." Zecora said checking his phone. "Sorry, I didn't have too much time to go online. My secretary sent me the location yesterday but I didn't check it."

"If it is a Zoo then it would be bad if a dungeon break happened. Monsters aside the animals in the Zoo will also run like headless chickens. It would be definitely a hell." Rae said shivering.

"Anyway, I'm saying that I won't be going inside that Gate. I have a prior arrangement." Rae said pouting.

"You are not in Gemini, idiot," Zecora said tapping on her head. Such cute siblings.

But even though Zecora said that Rae can join the raiding party if she have written permission from both her Guild Leader and Zecora. High Authority people can also join in other Guild raids.

"I'm thinking of joining too. Cause Dad is going to hand his position to me tomorrow. I can do anything if I become the Guild Master, even joining in the other guilds' raid."

"Let's go together then. I'll get to see the fruits of your training. I also wanna ask you about something." Zecora said putting his hand on Leon's shoulder. Leon just tilted his hand in confusion.

Lea thought that everyone is going to be busy tomorrow. "After your ascension ceremony, I will go to get my hunter ID brother."

"O yeah. You already turned 21 right Lea? But promise me that you will go after the announcement."

"Yes, sure. I promise brother. How can I miss my bother's ascension?" Both of them laughed.

"Am I invited or not?" Zecora said frowning. "Of course you are. What about you Rae?"

"Didn't I say I have an arrangement? I am going to the hospital tomorrow but I will try to come."

"Why the hospital?" Lea asked concerned.

"Don't worry about it. It has nothing to do with you all." Rae grumbled.

"Wildcat, leave her alone. She always does weird things to catch your attention. Anyways these are the only things we wanted to discuss right?" Everyone nodded. "Okay so...it's 5 am... let's sleep till 6:30. After that we'll jog till our home by 7 o clock."

Leon slept between Lea and Rae on the bed. Zecora took a blanket and slept on the couch.

It's always like this. They solve their problems by listening to each other's. And sleep in one room like a sleepover at a friend's house.

Just imagining two B ranks and two S ranks in a room, moreover sleeping together, is downright funny.

Time flew by and they woke up at 6:35.

"Waah~" Rae yawned.

"Let's go jogging!" Leon cheered.

They got out of the hotel. They intended to jog to their home. Running was easy for them except for Rae because she is a mage. The fresh, cold yet dry wind was kissing their cheeks. The beast people, like the Leonard family always trusted and had faith in nature. Even if they live in urban areas they still can feel the calls of nature. And... something about the cold, dry wind told the Leonard siblings that something ominous has happened.

[The ominous thing isn't 'going to happen' because...it has 'already happened'... Beware of the people aroun-]

"Fuck you!" Leon mumbled.

Lea trembled at the words of the wind but she couldn't understand why her brother cut off the words of mother nature, whom she trusted very much. Soon Zecora's calm but hoarse voice settled her mind, "Winter is approaching soon."

"It seems so," Lea said. They reached the intersection. "We'll part our ways at the intersection right?"

"Yeah. Goodbye Lea, Leon!" Rae said turning left at the intersection.

"Let's meet at the banquet," Zecora said and went with Rae.

Leon and Lea waved back and turned to the right.

"Bhai, I'm not feeling good somehow."

"Don't worry my little sister. Everything will be alright. I'm here are not I? Your brother is also powerful you know?" Leon put his hand on his sister's head. "Yea. Thank you, bhai." Even if Lea said this but she can't seem to shake this feeling. She kept feeling shivers till they reached the door of their mansion. Leon pressed the doorbell button. Shortly after Chryseis opened the gate and smiled.

"My cute children went jogging?" The siblings grinned and got inside.

"It would be great if they did that every day," Raion said sipping his tea.

"Don't say that Raion." Chryseis smacked him. "Children, Go wash up. I've already prepared the breakfast."

They went to their room to wash up and came down for breakfast.

"Ma, The Halwa is great!" Lea cheered.

"How are the preparations going Dad? Do you need our help?" Leon asked.

"You are the star of today so let your parents prepare for this grand occasion." Raion smiled and added, "I've already posted on my Twitter account about leaving the guild on your hands".

"After the banquet, I'm going to get my Hunter ID papa," Lea said.

"Sure. That's an important task."

"About the banquet, I arranged it lavishly!" Chryseis said excitedly.

"I look forward to it, dear. By the way, Who are the guests?"

"All 12 Guild Masters of India, some dignitaries and of course, Leon and Lea's friends are invited."

"That's good."

Lea's spoon halted in the air and she asked, "Ma, you didn't invite our whole Leonard family?"

"They are our family, Lea. They don't need any invitation and can just barge in like they always do." Chryseis giggled.

"I'm done. I'm going to my room. Please don't disturb me." Leon said though his expression was unexpectedly grim.

"Don't mind him, Lea. You should prepare your documents for the Hunter ID." Raion said finishing the Halwa. "We'll prepare for the banquet."

"Okay, papa! I'm going to my room." Lea said finishing her meal.

~ To be Continued

Bhai- Term for addressing older brother in India. Another alternative is 'Bhaiya'.

Halwa- Indian dessert with a pudding-like texture made from flour/Suji (Semolina), Milk, lots of sugar and toppings of dry fruits like cashew, almonds, pistachios and coconut.

-My fav lines-

You think I'm a beast who would barge into her room while she's vulnerable like that?

You really won't?