Chapter 63. Orchid teleported

Orchid teleported straight to Gran’s home the moment the lightning subsided only to see their entire house destroyed into chunks of rubbles of various sizes. The guards posted at the gate prevented any curious eyes from peeking in. They were completely serious about not letting anyone to get close until they had confirmation from their Chief, only Orchid was an exception because they couldn’t stop her, and it’ll be more troublesome if they were to magically teleport away from their post.

“Wh-what happened!?”

“Orchid, come here.” Roselyn smiled and motion her little sister over to her.

Orchid waddled over to her smiling sister. She noticed the little creature in her sister’s arm halfway there and immediately teleported beside Roselyn. “Yo-you gave birth!?”

“That’s the first thing you have to say?” Roselyn rolled her eyes at her younger sister. She then handed the sleeping baby in her arm over to Orchid. She whispered. “She’s my daughter.”

“Daughter…” Orchid paused for a long time while staring absentmindedly at the girl in her arms. “D-do you have a name for her yet…?” Orchid asked. The baby girl in her arm was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

It wasn’t just Roselyn who wanted a daughter, Orchid always wanted to have a younger sister. However, after Roselyn and her their parents were already too old to have a third child. To her, Roselyn’s daughter was already officially her younger sister.

“I have a name…” Roselyn replied. She leaned into Orchid’s ear and whispered the name to Orchid.

“What do you think? Do you like it?”

“I love it!” Orchid replied. She looked down at lovingly at the girl in her arms.

“Where’s everyone else?” Orchid only just now realized that it was just Roselyn and her out in the opening with some servants at their side. Everyone else was just missing. “Oh wait, nevermind, they’re out back? Or well what’s left of the back?”

Roselyn nodded her head. “They’re rebuilding the house.” She then silently chucked to herself. “I told them I won’t tell them the baby’s name until the house was finished.”

“Oh you’re pure evil, sis.” Orchid laughed. She then remembered why she was here. “What happened to the house anyways? I saw that there was a powerful lightning strike, did you two offend a powerful Exotic?”

Roselyn furrowed her brows. “I’m not sure, everything is too hectic right now for me to get an answer. Once everyone saw that no one was hurt all their attention went on her.” She looked up at the baby fast asleep in Orchid’s embrace. Orchid politely returned the baby back to Roselyn.

“I’m going to ask them right now; I’ll tell you what they say.” Orchid hurriedly walked off towards the back of the destroyed home.

Sipppp

Boss was lazily drinking water from a cup sitting off to the side watching the trainees and Gran work at restoring the house. His appearance cleaner, but for some reason he was still wearing Roselyn’s gown.

“Oh man you guys have a lot of work to do, might take all day just fixing this.” Siiiip

“Come on Boss help us outtttt! Don’t you want to know the name of the baby?” Arthur said exasperatingly.

“I already know the name of the baby, Dr. Galil, Roselyn and I narrowed it down to three, it’s going to be one of them.” Boss replied and continued to sip his water slowly and loudly. He continued “Besides, do you know what just happened to me? You know that big lightning bolt? I stopped it from hurting the baby, I threw my body straight into it you know? I deserve some time to recuperate.” Boss answered. His words caused Gran to stiffen up for a short moment before returning back to separating the rubble.

“You look fine though.” Julie quickly remarked while tossing the rubble aside. The current work they were doing was removing all the broken stuff and unbroken stuff into separate piles and then slowly fixing the entirety of the house.

“F-fine!? Look at me! LOOK AT ME! Does this look like someone who is fine!?

“Your hair just looks very poofy, what’s the problem?” Michael replied.

“Just poofy? JUST POOFY? Let me zap you with the strongest lightning bolt on this planet and then you tell me if my poofy hair is just fine.” Boss angrily remarked,

“Oh? Poofy hair? Lightning bolt? Want me to comb your hair?” Orchid appeared behind Boss and started patting his electrified poofy hair.

“O-Orchid!” Cobble was the first to exclaim in surprise.

“Oh, this feels pretty good~” Orchid remarked while feeling Boss’ hair through her fingers. She continued to reply to Cobble “Yep, that’s me your good ol’ Auntie Orchid magically appearing out of nowhere. Cobble, you should’ve been able to sense me the moment I showed up to talk with my sister. Why’re you so distracted? Want me to beat you up a bit?”

She then turned to look at Gran who was completely stiffen up from her sudden appearance and continued “Future husband, what’s going on? What happened here? Do you know that everyone in the village is already outside trying to have a peek? I’ve heard some guests say this is because you guys scared someone related to a powerful Exotic and this was his revenge…?”

“Nope! It was something even scarier than a little Exotic.” Boss responded.

“Oh? What’s scarier than Exotics?” Orchid continued to feel the boy’s poofy hair, the soft poofy hair in her hand felt irresistible to her, she just couldn’t stop. Boss didn’t try to stop her and replied, “I don’t know!”

“If you don’t know, then why do you think it’s scarier than Exotics?” Orchid continued to playfully ruffle the boy’s hair.

“Isn’t not knowing something scarier than knowing it?” Boss asked. Orchid paused in her patting and thought for a moment. She nodded her head “You are right boy.” She then turned her head toward’s Gran who felt a chill crawl up his spine. That is why I know I’ll be with Gran and Roselyn in the future.

As if Gran could read Orchid’s thought he quickly interrupted and answered. “It wasn’t an Exotic, just a natural phenomenon. Mhm.” Even Gran couldn’t believe what he had said but what else would it be if it wasn’t a natural phenomenon? An Earthly Tribulation? A Tierrian Tribulation? What does that even mean?

“But you are right, we should prevent weird rumors from spreading. I’ll go and quell it immediately.” Gran quickly raced out of the backyard and rushed outside of the entrance to a crowd of people who have gathered around curious about the situation that happened inside.

“Ahem, what you all have seen was just a natural phenomenon that happens once every thousands of years at this very location.” Gran begun to tell his fib to the crowd of people who were standing outside.

“A natural phenomenon, why would such a thing happen here? I don’t believe it!” A passerby shouted.

“Oh yes, a natural phenomenon, you’re not from our Boulderville so you don’t know. But it has been passed down from generations to generations through the words of my family and their ancestors that every thousands of years a lightning will fall from the sky and land here at this very spot!”

The crowd began to whisper to themselves what Gran was saying wasn’t something they have heard. Even when those who didn’t know anything asked the villagers all they could do was shrug and wait for Gran to continue.

“Oh yeah? Why would it happen here every thousands of years?” The same passerby continued to argue.

“Do you know why my home is the only place that is completely gated from the rest of the village?” Gran asked the passerby who kept questioning him. The passerby didn’t know what to say so he only waited for Gran to continue.

“That’s right, it’s because at this very spot thousands of years ago the same situation occurred. I built a wall around my entire home not because I don’t want the rest of the world in, rather I want to make sure none of the villagers get harmed.”

“Chief~, are you okay~?” A little girl teleported beside Gran and asked.

Gran looked down at the short 12 yr old girl and patted her head. “Carson, don’t worry it was just as predicted, I made sure everyone was safe and out of danger. Our ancestors also told us about that.” Gran smiled at the little girl and turned his attention to the audience.

“Now, I don’t want people spreading rumors about what happened, it was just a natural phenomena that our ancestors predicted and dealt with thousands of years ago. Nothing more, nothing less. Like pfft, an Exotic that is powerful enough to ruin my home? What did they send? King Baroque himself? Wahaha!” Gran left out a hearty laugh turned around.

“I need to clean up the place before the festival, so head on home and get ready. Tomorrow will be the day and I hope everyone can come and watch our kids show what they’ve learned.”

“Chief Gran~ Can I help you out with the cleaning?” Carson asked, her innocent puppy dog eyes made it so that Gran couldn’t say no.

“Me too, I want to help Chief too.” A 12-year-old girl with cyan eyes walked up and bowed before Gran. Gran couldn’t refuse either girl he just wanted to quickly head inside before anyone else showed up.

Whish

A pebble flew directly towards Gran face causing him to catch it in midair and crumpling it into dust.

A little boy with magenta eyes walked up and stood before Gran who towered over him. He looked up at the Chief squarely in the eyes and calmly stated “I’m going too.”

Gran sighed when he saw these three trainees, he taught alongside Boulder was standing before him with powers now.

“Alright Carson, Krystal, and Poe. Let’s go clean up my house. Everyone else thank you all for worrying but this is enough.”

Gran returned through the entrance of the house followed by three little kids beside him. The gate slowly closed on the audience who had yet to disperse.

A mustached silhouette stood further away hidden in the audience at the backside of the Chief who returned inside.

“Interesting…” The moustache silhouette turned around disappeared into the dispersing crowd. He returned back to the Inn within the split of two mountains and calmly stared out the window.

A letter magically appeared in his hand, causing him to raise his eyebrows. It was a letter written to all the teachers by the Headmaster himself, this way of messaging was only if the Headmaster had urgent news to report to all the Teachers. The gentleman walked over to the sofa and sat down with a drink in his hand as he began to read the content of the letter.

…

“Wow~ What a mess~” Carson teleported around the home and expressed her opinion. “The meditation room is destroyed too! Yay~” She applauded.

“I mean, oh no, it’s broken.” Carson quickly corrected herself as Gran gave her a displeased look.

“Knock it off Carson, we’re here to help out the Chief not fool around.” Poe commented and walked over to the rubble. small pieces and medium sized pieces ranging anywhere from a pinky to a fist started to elevate off the ground floating over to the side next to the other piles of rubble.

“Teacher, I can move these for you so you can focus on the heavier ones.” Poe continued to send pieces flying off to the side onto the ground. Carson and Krystal walked over and picked up pieces they could toss and threw it over to the pile.

“Oh hey!” Carson immediately noticed there were other people helping out. “It’s you guys!” She waved at the trainees who were working on opposite side of the home.

“Hi C-c—”

“Carson~”

“Hi Carson!” Arthur embarrassingly couldn’t remember her name.

“Hi Krystal and Poe too!” Arthur waved at the other trainees who arrived shortly after Carson teleported over.

“You remember their name~?” Carson teasingly joked.

Arthur embarrassingly scratched his head. He couldn’t tell her that Krystal and Poe had an easier name for him to remember, could he?

“Are you guys here to help us clean up?” Arthur asked.

“Yep~” Carson replied. Krystal and Poe nodded their heads. Little pebbles and rocks continued to move from one side of the home to the pile off to the side.

“Wow, I wish I had psychic powers.” Arthur sighed.

“My powers are alright, but aren’t you an Exotic? I should be the one sighing about not having yours.” Poe jokingly remarked.

“I don’t know what my power is yet… what if it’s no good?” Arthur sighed and muttered to himself.

“Power is power, there is no bad one only bad people.” Poe reply caused Arthur to let out a smile.

“What about a power that if you use it it’ll instantly kill you~?” Carson asked.

Her question resulted in Poe flicking a finger on her forehead.

“What kind of Exotic has a weird power like that? I don’t think that kind of power even exist! Right, Chief?” Poe turned and asked Gran who was moving large chunks of rubbles off to the side. Gran looked over and answered. “I’ve never heard of one.”

“Oww, I mean, we haven’t heard of it because it’ll kill them right~?” Carson asked while rubbing the mark on her forehead.

Her question dumbfounded Poe and everyone else. It’s true, what if that was the case. Almost everyone’s eyes fell upon Arthur who hadn’t found his powers yet and felt a little apologetic. What if…?

“Don’t worry young master, your powers won’t be like that.” Shelly assured.

“R-really?”

“Mhm.” Shelly nodded her head seriously.

Her response made Arthur smile in delight. He didn’t even question her how she knew; he was just happy that he won’t instantly kill himself after obtaining it.

“Hmm…” Poe raised an eyebrow at Shelly’s answer and Arthur’s change in behavior. He would have thought Arthur would ask her more questions about how she knows. Even the two girls beside him were also curious how Shelly knew, yet none was willing to ask her that question.

Krystal was even more so not willing to ask Shelly questions. Ever since she learned her powers in Naturelle, she had been able to sense the thoughts and feelings of everyone she had made eye contact with. However, when she gazed into Shelly’s eyes it was the first time, she wasn’t able to read anything. Krystal hypothesized that either Shelly had no thoughts or feelings, or she was much more powerful than herself. But how could that be…? Even Gran wasn’t immune to her.

Krystal turned to look at Carson who would be the most willing to ask. However, when she turned to look at Carson who she thought would ask about it, to her surprise Carson only stood there not willing to ask.

“By the way, where’s Boulder?” Poe noticed that Krystal and Carson were not going to ask and decided to change the subject. He looked around and noticed that Boulder was nowhere to be seen.

“He’s asleep, over there.” Arthur pointed further away towards a makeshift area that was quickly thrown together by Gran for everyone to rest. Roselyn didn’t want to be inside yet so Gran left the servants to cater to her.

“Why is he asleep? Did something happen?” Poe asked.

“I don’t know, he just said he felt tired and fell asleep while standing up. It was weird!” Arthur answered. His comment made Gran raise an eyebrow from afar. He didn’t ask why Boulder was asleep either but maybe he should have? Gran decided he’ll keep an ear out and listen.

“That is strange.” Poe remarked. He was about to ask more questions when Cobble interrupted. “More working less talking.”

Cobble’s interruption made Gran completely annoyed at his own son. Don’t you know I want to know what happened to Boulder? You better tell me later! Gran shot a glare at Cobble who didn’t even notice what Gran was thinking and continued to separate the chunks of the home.

His comment made everyone remember what they should be doing, and they quickly went back to work. Seth and Michael assisted each other in lifting heavier chunks of rubble that no one else was moving. Gran was already preoccupied with one section, so they moved the stuff that Gran wasn’t doing.

“Psst, hey Arthur.” Poe leaned over and whispered in Arthur’s ear.

“Hm?”

“Who is he?” Poe asked he was wondering why there was a boy just sitting off to the side sipping on his second glass of water doing absolutely nothing.

“Oh, that is Boss. He doesn’t wanna do work.” Arthur stated flatly. He continued “He already knows the baby’s name, so he didn’t want to help out.”

“Wait, what baby?” Poe asked.

“You didn’t see Roselyn at the front with Auntie Orchid? Arthur replied.

“No, was she supposed to be there?” Poe asked. He didn’t remember seeing anyone standing at the front. He shot a glance at Gran who seemed oblivious to it.

“Weird, where did she go?” Arthur muttered to himself. The two sisters alongside the baby and a few servants were nowhere to be seen.