That night, after they were done covering a huge chunk of the syllabus. Avon was about to leave when Aveline spoke out,
"Avon, how far is your residence from here"
Thinking about the distance till the spaceship, he had no idea so he just said,
"It takes like 30-40 mins with the pods."
"You go to the academy for only language right?"
"Hmm" Avon answered in a confirming tone.
"How about living here with me for the remaining days?"
Avon's eyes widened, his first instinct was to refuse but he needed to give an excuse, as he was searching for one, she spoke again,
"Why waste your time travelling. I can teach you everything. Even the academy is closer from here. If you stay here, we'll have more time to cover the syllabus. We can finish it all tomorrow itself."
Avon still couldn't just agree and spoke firmly,
"Thank you but I'll have to refuse. I can't trouble you more than this. It's fine, 30-40 mins isnt much. Plus I'm also progressing my mind cultivation."
Aveline knew he would refuse ,it irked her a little bit she spoke casually with no aggression as though him living with her was no big deal.
"You can cultivate here too. In fact I can teach you efficient ways of cultivating."
"Uhmmm...."
"Stop searching for reasons to refuse when there are none!"
"Uhmm, but there's still my luggage..."
"You can bring it over or but new ones, there are excellent stores nearby."
"I need to practice the language too..."
"Do it here, wait, it's Rhonese right, I know it, I will teach it to you, you can stop going to the academy too."
"You really know it?"
"Yeah"
She replied casually.
"Don't search for new excuses"
Aveline said again
Avon was dumbfounded..
"But it's not righ-"
"Shut up" Aveline said.
He didn't expect that. He just shut his mouth in shock.
Then he just let her drag him all the way from near the door to the living room.
That night, he was cultivating sitting cross legged in the hall. They had just finished making arrangements for him to sleep. He would sleep in the room beside hers. That room was not for storage but rather for looked like a room someone used regularly, but Aveline told him that she maintained it just as a pass time.
While he was immersed in cultivating, Aveline entered the room silently and began observing how he cultivated.
On her face a look of disbelief appeared. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Umbeknownst to Avon, he had put Aveline in deep turmoil.
She didn't interrupt him and watched the entire time he cultivated for. After half an hour he opened his eyes just to see Aveline looking at him with a very serious expression.
"When did you come in?"
Avon asked somewhat surprised. He heard no footsteps that he did usually.
"Sometime ago"
She answered flatly and continued speaking in a very serious tone,
"Avon, I will ask you just once, how do you know this technique?"
"You mean the way I absorb mana?"
"Yes"
Avon couldn't say that Reveria had taught him because she had told him to not reveal anything.
His mind began racing, what excuse could he give to convince her. First of all he thought this technique was something common, but looking at how serious Aveline was right now, her eyes with a dangerous look, standing before him with her arms crossed, he knew that his assumption was wrong.
His hesitation was enough for her.
"Don't lie to me"
She said in a commanding tone while stepping forward. Her eyes squinting slightly as she looked at him.
"Speak the truth immediately, else you will regret it Avon."
He knew he was done for. He looked at her in fear. Thinking hard about what to say but little did he know that he would get to experience Aveline's decesiveness thoroughly.
Suddenly some kind of pressure began suppressing him. He couldn't move and was also feeling suffocated.
She simply walked over and placed her hand on his forehead.
Avon 's eyes widened as he remembered this was what Reveria had done to extract his house's location from his head. He immediately realised that Aveline might be trying to access his memories.
But before he could even finish this chain of thought she withdrew.
Her face completely white as though she had seen a ghost. He body began shivering slightly and the pressure suffocating him disappeared altogether.
"You...know Reveria? You're her disciple? She's alive?"
She spoke in a low mosquito voice, her voice shivering too while stepping backwards in disbelief.
Avon decided to remain silent. He wanted to see how much of his memories she had seen and what her reaction could. Based how she had just locked him, he knew he had to talk his way through, if he was given the chance.
Aveline stood still, looking at the floor for. After a few seconds passed, she took a deep breath and and slowly exhaled.
She looked up again and the regular calm expression was back on her face.
"Tell me about your origins."
She said in tone that was neither commanding not requestive.
Avon knew he had no choice here. He was also shocked that she recognised Reveria but then he remembered how the heretics had recognised her too. His master was probably famous. Now all he could do was hope that Aveline was no heretic.
"...yes...but before that I must ask you, is purple the most evil of all colors"
Aveline just stared at Avon for 2 seconds and chuckled,
"I just saw your memories, even if I was a heretic I wouldn't answer it correctly."
Avon knew it was futile but in this predicament, his brain seemed to have slowed down.
"You don't have to worry, I'm not heretic, in fact I am one of the few who are on your master's side.
Anyways, I saw your memories but I want to hear from you about your situation."
Avon then calmly explained everything, leaving now detail out. It went on for about an hour.
As she kept on hearing the story, her expression became more and more softer.
After he was done, she was looking at him with a sad look on her face.
Aveline looked at Avon with trembling voice and watery eyes and said, "Oh dear, this is what you are going through, dealing with heretics when you are so young.."
She slowly embraced him and he just let warmth permeate.
The change in her demeaner from about an hour ago was pretty much the opposite. This made Avon think that he should always remain on her good side.
He relaxed his mind and let go of all the tension.
Being embraced by her also caused his temperature to rise. But he felt that his body was weakening all of a sudden too.
"Avon...why is your temperature so high?"
She asked out of the blue.
"Hmm?" He was confused
"Let me get the scaleband. Let's check your temperature."
Saying so Aveline came back with a black bracelet. Then she put the bracelet on his hand and it automatically tightened around his hands. He felt something pierce his skin under the bracelet. Then in blue certain numbers appeared on the bracelet. The units for temperature on Steela were different. His temperature seemed to be 900 in that measurement.
"What? So high!" Aveline said, her voice relayed her worry.
Then later it showed some text which said that Avon didn't have any blood infection and then displayed some readings.
Aveline read those and said with a frown,"You seem to have overexerted yourself. Me exerting pressure on you might also be a cause but the main question is, did you not sleep enough?"
"Ahahaha....I did get some sleep"
"Did you get enough sleep though? Don't avoid it and tell me"
Then Avon told her about his messed up schedule and her expression conveyed that she didn't like what she was hearing.
"Listen to me, I understand why you are in such a rush and that you still have much to do. How will you do it without being in a good condition?"
"That is the thing. You said it. I still have much to do. There's no time left and I haven't accomplished anything."
"Simply overexerting yourself will not help you in any way, for things not under your control, you need to observe and adapt. You are adapting well but by doing this to yourself, you will render yourself unprepared for when the opportunity is available. Your master didn't know about the changes this planet has gone through, hence she thought it would be an easy task. For how the situation is now, it will take time. You are so smart and fast...don't destroy yourself for results."
Avon listened to her carefully, he sighed and said,"Whatever it may be, even if I am the fastest one or the smartest one, it doesn't matter if I don't achieve my goal. To whom will I say that I am proud of myself when no one is left. Effort is important but results are everything."
This time it was Aveline who sighed, she then said,"You are quite mature for your age. Well, what you said is true but do not forget. Not everything is in your hands. Also! Do not think much for now. You are unwell, sleep!"
'He is maybe barely half a century old, yet so mature and understanding about the cruel reality of the world.'
Changing her tone from a serious one to a light and playful one she pushed him down on the bed and then covered him with the blanket. Avon didn't provide any resistance and his head was aching before he knew it, he was feeling dizzy. He fell asleep instantly.
Afte having a long deep sleep, he opened his eyes again and saw that it was dark outside. His head was not aching now and he felt much better.
He looked into empty space, thinking about his situation.
' This is the 29th day and I have accomplished nothing. Tomorrow is the language test....still...how could I... After that is the raid, I must do extraordinarily in the raid to get recognition from the knight.."
While he was lost in thought, the door to one of the rooms opened and Aveline walked out of it. She was wearing casual clothes. She looked at Avon who was awake now and sat beside him.
"Had a good rest? Do you feel good now?"
"Yes I feel fine now. How long was I asleep?"
"For about 10 hours"
"That long?" Avon exclaimed with surprise.
"Yes. So, I bet you must be hungry. What do you want to eat?"
"I would like to take a bath first."
"Okay"
But there was a problem. He didn't have his clothes with him. So he decided to return to the craft first.
"Ah, I don't have my clothes right. Also I must return to the craft. I will leave now-"
"No, you will not go anywhere. Your clothes will be clean by the time you finish bathing. You still need to recover properly. You do not need to worry about clothes. Take a bath first"
Seeing the strict tone in which she spoke he knew there was no room for negotiation, so he agreed.
As soon as he came out of the bathroom a pleasant smell welcomed him. He had taken a long bath of almost 20 minutes and in that time it seemed, Aveline had prepared something for him to eat.
Regarding his clothes, she showed how to use the washing machine in her house and it was a pretty advanced one. His clothes were clean and dry within minutes.
Then they both had food and discussed about their next plan. After eating she helped him revise for the language exam.
They studied theory too, completing the syllabus.
After all the studying, Aveline showed him a movie in Rhonese language, which she said was the best way to learn languages. It had English subtitles so he could understand the movies.
According to her ,this would happen daily.