"Ashka from commando?!" Orion thought, staring at the imposing, extremely powerful-looking man right before him.
This guy!!!
...Orion had no idea who it was!
"Who? Uh, am I supposed to know this person?" Orion was deep in thought, staring at the man right in front of him. His mind raced in circles, trying to connect dots that simply weren't there. The way the others looked at Ashka made Orion feel like maybe this was someone important, someone famous, maybe even legendary—but to him, it was just a name and a face he had never once heard about in his entire short life. He was deep in thought, but on the outside, his "thinking face" perfectly mirrored the shock and bewilderment of the other three people in his group. It almost looked as if he was just as stunned as they were, even though his confusion came from incompetence rather than recognition.
Ashka didn't seem to notice though. He just placed his hands on his hips, trying to find what to say, his presence filling the space even without trying. "From what I can see you people seem to already know who I am... but please don't let that information get in the way, let's all just work together and complete the mission, ok?" Ashka said without much worry in his voice, like he didn't really care for the words he had just spoken. His tone carried a kind of detached ease, the kind of casual confidence of someone who didn't need to prove himself.
The white-haired girl opened her mouth to say something, then quickly shut her lips, only to open them again a moment later, probably deciding to speak differently than what she first intended.
"As you wish, Mister Ashka," she obliged in a respectful manner. Her voice came out soft and sweet to the ears, like hearing a bird sing. Now that she wasn't speaking in a threatening tone, her voice sounded marvelous, almost mesmerizing, delicate but refined.
Orion heard her voice and was enchanted. So even her voice was beautiful, huh! As if her appearance wasn't enough already, her voice added another layer of elegance, almost unfairly so.
The girl then continued, completely unaware—or perhaps simply uncaring—of Orion's gaze and thoughts. "Then, I will presume you are the captain?"
"Spot on," Ashka said quickly, without much care for her precise guess, as though it didn't matter to him.
"That's a relief, to have someone competent as the official in charge," she said with her eyes closed and a nod. Though, in her tone of voice, it was possible to detect some hidden intentions—a small, barely noticeable shade of flattery hidden in her words, like she was carefully measuring her respect. "But so, what would be our mission?"
Ashka raised his hand in the air and concentrated for a second. Then, from his palm emerged a light, faint at first, then growing brighter, and that light suddenly gave place to a sheet of paper that materialized out of thin air.
"Woah! What was that?" Orion questioned inside his mind, his eyes sparkling with curiosity.
"It seems to be some kind of conversion skill, as assumed by the expenditure of his Spiritual Essence," Pawn pointed out inside Orion's brain, calm and observant as always.
"Conversion skill, huh? But from what? Spiritual Essence?"
"It would be assumed."
Orion was marveled. That seemed like such a cool trick to have! And Ashka had done it so casually, like it was second nature, not even worth bragging about. The ease of it made Orion admire him even more.
Ashka looked at the paper and explained. "Well, first of all let's do a little refresh. First of all, everybody should know what a sanctuary is, right?" At his words everyone nodded their heads.
Except Orion.
"U-Um... Mister Ashka," Orion raised his hand nervously. "I have no idea what's that!"
Ashka stared at Orion for a moment, his eyes casual, almost bored. He analyzed Orion's expression for a few seconds, his own face shifting from mild surprise to something closer to light disbelief.
"...Wait, are you mundane? But all the others are—" He stopped mid-sentence, his mind seeming to reach a conclusion faster than his lips could follow. His expression turned knowing. "Ah, I see. Damn old man," he complained under his breath, his gaze shifting to the Commanding Officer with eyes that carried annoyance but no direct disrespect. "Bah, whatever, no harm in explaining it."
He turned to Orion. While he did, the three other members of the team looked at him with even more disdain than before, their eyes sharpening, Orion had just lowered himself further in their eyes.
"Guh! I'm sorry I'm not educated, okay?! I never went to school!" Orion thought to himself, biting back the words before they slipped from his mouth. The journey already seemed hard enough with their previous contempt, and now it had worsened?
"Well. Do you know where monsters come from, kid?" Ashka asked, his voice steady. The question sounded basic, almost childish, since he wanted to measure just how much Orion actually knew.
"From their mother's belly," Orion almost joked, the answer rising in his mind instantly, but he stopped himself just in time. That would probably earn him more disdain from the group. Instead, he settled for: "From the Wilderness, right? The corrupted areas or something?" Orion replied as best as he could, though his tone betrayed his uncertainty. He didn't know the specifics. Of course, Orion had knowledge of where monsters bred, and where they lived, but he concluded that wasn't the real question. Ashka wasn't asking where they lived, he was asking where monsters truly came from. Orion knew they weren't from Earth, but where they all originally came from was a mystery to him.
"Yeah, they come from the areas defined as Wilderness, that you got right, but there's a step further," Ashka confirmed. Orion had gotten the general answer right, but the officer wasn't done. "Monsters come from another dimension. To be more precise, they come from the 'Second Domain.' The Second Domain is..." Ashka paused for a moment, almost as if trying to choose his words carefully, then shrugged lightly. "To be honest, no one knows exactly what it is. It's impossible to reach. It is a place, for sure, but no one has ever gone there. People can have visions or glimpses of it, but no one ever reached it. But although it's unreachable, there are pathways to it, and that's where the 'Sanctuaries' come in. Sanctuaries are... no one knows what they really are—"
"What an unreliable teacher!!" Orion thought, his inner voice groaning, though he wisely kept silent.
Ashka continued unfazed. "What is known is that, in ancient times, when humanity was still in its glory days, Sanctuaries appeared throughout the entire world. And that's when the end... began."