Chapter 343: Short distance

Khan ended up spending the whole night with Monica snoring in his bed. He obviously gave up on sleeping to opt for a long meditative session alternated by mental exercises and quick inspections at the Orlats on the sidewalk.

The Orlats never went to sleep either, but Khan didn't know if it had taken short naps while he was busy training. Still, that behavior convinced Khan to mention the issue to his companions once the morning arrived.

Khan had to use the menus on the walls to keep track of the passage of time. The environment outside the window couldn't tell him how long he spent in the meditative state, and he was kind enough not to use alarms to let Monica rest properly.

A faint tremor ran through the synthetic mana in the room and pulled out Khan from his meditative state. He opened his eyes in time to hear a weak groan coming from his bed. Monica had awakened.

Monica raised her head and inspected the room, but her sleepy eyes widened when they fell on Khan sitting next to the window. She remained silent as she scoured her mind to search for the previous night's memories, and she lowered her gaze after finding them.

"So, yesterday wasn't a dream," Monica whispered while sitting on the bed and wrapping her arms around her knees.

"No, it wasn't," Khan calmly replied as he stood up and reached the bathroom.

A few seconds later, Monica saw Khan entering the bedroom with a glass of water in his hand. That unexpected kindness left her surprised, and she remained silent as Khan reached her and waited for her to finish drinking.

"Thank you," Monica said before clearing her throat and taking another sip.

"How are you feeling?" Khan asked while remaining at the side of the bed.

"Just a slight headache," Monica revealed in a faint voice. "I'll be fine in a few minutes."

"Do you want me to pick breakfast for you?" Khan questioned.

"No need," Monica responded while diverting her gaze from the cup and playing with her curls. "I've already bothered you enough."

"It's fine," Khan reassured. "I've dealt with much more on Nitis. I was only a bit surprised to see you so wasted. I didn't expect it from you."

"It's that idiot Francis' fault," Monica explained. "He always uses special booze to get me drunk quickly."

Francis Alstair was the second second-level warrior recruited by Luke. He was tall, with a skinny build, slightly long golden hair, and dark eyes. He never spoke too much. He limited himself to laugh at the jokes. Still, on the ship, Khan had noticed that Francis became more talkative when Monica was around.

Khan had yet to get an idea about Francis. He was as polite as the others, but Khan couldn't say anything else about him. Yet, Monica's revelation added a feature that Khan didn't like to his figure.

"That doesn't sound like something he should do," Khan stated, making sure not to be too explicit or harsh with his words. He didn't know how Monica would take them, and Francis remained a member of a wealthy family close to Luke. It was better to tread that conversation carefully.

"Don't tell me!" Monica cursed. "I would have stopped talking to that bastard long ago if our families weren't so close. We are childhood friends, and we basically grew together, but I hate the guy."

"Not drinking with him is a good start," Khan suggested.

"It's not so simple," Monica uttered while turning to look at Khan. "Francis is an important member of the Alstair family, which is almost as famous as the Cobsend family. Being nice to him is almost a duty for me."

"What if...," Khan began to ask before shutting his mouth and gazing at an empty spot of the bed.

"He doesn't have the balls to take advantage of me," Monica responded. "My mother would eat him alive if he tries. She wouldn't care that my father wants us to marry to strengthen the friendship between our families."

Khan knew that the life of the wealthy descendants wasn't as easy as it looked, but he had only heard something about Martha's situation before. Monica added a new perspective to that window into their life, and it looked far from good.

"Thank you for worrying about me," Monica continued while wearing an honest smile that brought Khan's eyes back on her.

"It's nothing," Khan replied.

Monica and Khan stared at each other for a few seconds, and the silence slowly grew awkward. However, Monica eventually lowered her eyes to inspect the black cardigan that Khan had worn. It didn't take long before a comment left her mouth. "You wore some clothes."

"Of course, I did," Khan sneered.

"What a pity," Monica whispered while bringing the glass to her mouth.

Khan couldn't help but shake his head, and a chuckle also escaped his mouth. Monica spat the water back inside the glass since his reaction made her laugh, and Khan ended up exploding into a giggle at that scene.

"Don't!" Monica complained as laughs made her fail to muster a serious tone. "I'm trying to drink."

"I'm sorry," Khan uttered as he suppressed his laugh and pointed at the glass. "Do you want me to change it?"

The two exchanged a glance before exploding into a laugh again. The faint barrier that separated them seemed to vanish at that point. The politics became unable to poison their thoughts anymore.

"Please, don't be so worried around me," Monica requested once she stopped laughing. "I promise I won't use anything you say to make problems for you."

"I need to watch my back among these wealthy soldiers," Khan said in a joking tone.

"Come on!" Monica giggled while reaching for Khan's arm. "Sit with me, at least. This is your bed."

"Fine, but no hugs," Khan declared as he sat on an empty spot of the bed.

Khan was only joking, but Monica went silent when she heard his words. Her eyes darted back and forth between Khan and the windows in something that looked like embarrassment.

"You didn't need to be so explicit," Monica whined.

Khan frowned before relaxing his expression. Monica was behaving differently in the privacy of his room. Her elegance was still there, but her complete confidence seemed to waver, and she had also shown quite the foul mouth.

"Stop staring and say something," Monica complained in a cute tone.

"You are different," Khan revealed.

"I'm not different," Monica explained while looking at her glass. "I have an image to maintain in public. I need to be the refined and confident descendant of the Solodrey family, but the rude, whiny, and demanding me is the real me."

"Why did you show it to me?" Khan asked.

"I don't know either," Monica sighed. "You have been so kind, even after everything I did. I felt safe, so I just stopped restraining my behavior."

"I've only given you some water," Khan joked.

"And your bed, and you chose not to change room even if that could lead to problems," Monica added. "You either are a creep, or you did that to make sure that nothing happened to me."

Khan felt cornered. The building had so many rooms that moving into a new one would have been extremely easy. He didn't even have much, so the luggage wasn't a problem either. Still, Monica was right. Khan wanted to make sure that she woke up safely.

"I didn't leave because this is my room," Khan lied. "You can't break the bond between a man and his room."

Monica exploded into a laugh that continued until she felt forced to leave her glass on the bedside table. She managed to stop only after coughing a few times, but she didn't forget to reply. "I've never heard something so stupid."

"You don't know what it's like to grow up in the Slums," Khan declared in a serious tone. "Having a house was a privilege. I grow attached to them even now that money isn't an issue."

Monica felt terrible for having mocked Khan so openly. She stretched forward and placed a hand on his shoulder while doing her best to convey her regret. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"I was joking," Khan exclaimed before winking at Monica.

Monica initially didn't understand what had happened, but an angry "you!" left her mouth when she realized that Khan had tricked her. She couldn't help but attempt to push him out of bed, but he grabbed her wrists and started to laugh.

"Why did you trick me?" Monica complained as the two continued to fight. "I was complimenting you."

Khan did nothing but laugh while playing along. Monica seemed to forget about her situation, and a proud expression appeared on her face when she managed to lock Khan's arms above his head.

"I got you!" Monica exclaimed, but Khan wore a knowing smirk that made her realize where she was. She had ended up sitting on Khan's chest during the fight.

"Ah, I didn't mean to!" Monica shouted before jumping off Khan's chest and retreating toward the pillows.

"So, you can drop your refined manner when you want," Khan commented.

"I'm not talking to you," Monica said as she grabbed a pillow to hug it.

"You do realize that you are still in my room, right?" Khan teased.

"It's my room now," Monica declared.

Khan laughed and left the bed. He approached the wall to play a bit with the menus, and he didn't hold back from reassuring Monica. "I have already taken a bath. You can use the bathroom if you want."

"Did you take a bath while I was sleeping?" Monica asked.

"A certain drunk woman drooled over my chest while I put her to bed," Khan reminded her. "I had to."

Monica fixed her eyes on the end of the bed and went silent. She couldn't complain at all. Meanwhile, Khan deactivated the cover from the last window and went to take a peek at the street. The Orlats was still there.

"I'll go find Master Ivor and eat something along the way," Khan announced. "Are you sure you don't want anything?"

"Why Master Ivor?" Monica asked.

"An Orlats has been in front of the building for the entire night," Khan revealed. "I think it's checking on us."

"Oh, you shouldn't bother," Monica exclaimed.

"How so?" Khan frowned. The Orlats had their hands in all sorts of shady businesses. Warning Master Ivor was the least he could do.

"We expected someone to keep track of our movements," Monica explained. "We couldn't keep our arrival a secret, so we just accepted that some interested parties would spy on us. I wouldn't have chosen an Orlats for the job, to be honest."

"Is this because of the mission?" Khan asked.

"Partially," Monica replied. "Khan, we are all valuable members of important families. Having people spying on us is almost normal. The opposite would have felt odd."

"But the spy is there," Khan uttered. "Shouldn't we scare him away or something?"

"It's better to show this than something potentially problematic," Monica explained. "Besides, the interested parties would just send a better spy the next time, maybe someone that we won't notice. This one is an Orlats. I wouldn't be surprised if it spread lies to get a better reward."

Monica's explanation had no flaws, and Khan immediately accepted to be inferior to her in that field. It was clear that she was used to dealing with those issues.

"Your life sure sounds troublesome," Khan commented.

"That's nothing," Monica snorted. "Imagine pretending to like Francis all day long."

Khan and Monica laughed, but they separated in the end. Khan left his room and found a domestic that led him to the room where breakfast would be served. He was alone, but the food arrived as soon as he sat, and he didn't hold back.

Master Ivor was the first to arrive, and Khan used that chance to mention the Orlats outside the building. Master Ivor repeated Monica's answer, so Khan decided to disregard the matter.

Everyone eventually gathered for breakfast. Monica ended up being the last to arrive, and her appearance showed no trace of the previous night. She had taken a bath and had changed into comfortable clothes meant for the bust work waiting for them that day.

Monica's behavior had gone back to the refined and slightly playful manners that she used in public. However, she glared at Khan whenever she found him smirking at her.

Of course, Khan never let the others notice his smirks. Even Martha remained unaware of those silent interactions, but she made it easy for Khan since she was in a pensive mood.

The group finished their breakfast and separated to prepare for the imminent trip. Luke had yet to reveal the details of the mission, but no one raised questions, so Khan also chose to remain silent.

An hour later, the group gathered before the entrance of the building. It was still early, but the streets already had people. Most stores on Milia 222 never closed, so that lively scene wasn't surprising.

"Our ride is here," Luke exclaimed when a long and luxurious floating car stopped in front of the building. "I hope you have taken everything you need. We might remain there for a while."

"There where?" Khan couldn't help but ask.

"You'll see," Luke smiled as he hopped inside the car.

The ride lasted for a while. The car crossed the entire city and stopped before the last elevator available. The tall guide from the previous day was waiting for the group there, and he quickly led everyone on the main street above them.

Khan began to understand where they were going. The elevator had led the group on the opposite side of the hangar, where a similar structure grew. Yet, no interplanetary travel set off from there, which left only a destination available.

The group entered the hangar-like structure and found dozens of bright, rectangular doors that seemed made of pure mana. The amount of synthetic energy in the area was so massive that Khan almost gasped loudly. He had read about those machines but seeing them created a completely different image in his mind.

"You should cover your head with mana, or your hair will go crazy," The tall guide warned as the group got in line to reach one of the bright doors.

The area was crowded, but the lines moved swiftly. Each person who crossed the doors completely disappeared, and Khan even sensed their mana vanishing into thin air.

"It feels incredible that they can keep these teleports active all the time," Khan found himself exclaiming during the wait.

"It's a technology possible only in specific locations," Luke explained. "It's still expensive, but the short distance makes it somewhat bearable."

"There are also six or seven species working together to keep Milia 222 mana reserves always full," Bruce added. "They divide the expenses for these short-distance teleports, so they aren't too heavy on the economy of this place."

Khan had studied all of that, but the matter still felt incredible. Milia 222 had short-distance teleports that connected each asteroid to the next, and, according to the rumors, they had never gone down in years.

"The Cobsend family has an industry on the second asteroid," Monica whispered to Khan when the others began to converse among each other.

"Do you know what we have to do?" Khan asked, but Monica shook her head.

"Well," Khan decided to tease Monica since the moment allowed it, "Make sure to cover your hair with mana. We don't want you to waste the efforts of my bathroom."

Monica didn't reply, and her companions' conversations soon captured her. Still, she found herself glancing at Khan's curious expression often. He appeared utterly mesmerized by that environment, and she thanked her dark skin for hiding her blush.

Author's notes: I'm working on the second chapter now.