The smell of roasted chicken had tickled Lucid's nose. She has not eaten something cooked and this would be the first. 

Lilac  placed the chicken in the center part of the table, and on the rest were also different variety of foods. 

Lucid could help but drool, when Lilac and Leon saw that, they just laughed while giving the girl her share.

"Mm~" 

Lucid loved the taste. It was much different from those raw vegetables she eats everyday.

"How's the chicken?" Lilac asked Lucid who was  happily eating the roasted chicken. Lucid opened her eyes and a smile formed in her face "Its delicious!~" Lucid complimented happily. 

Upon hearing the compliment, Lilac blushed shyly, it has only been her husband and her deceased daughter who would compliment her food. It was great to receive those words. 

"When will they arrive?" Leon, who had finished first, asked. He was reading the newspaper. 

"They will arrive at noon." Lilac replied as she cleaned the table. Lucid also helped her with cleaning it and went to prepare for lunch. 

...

Sound of galloping could be heard, and a beautiful carriage was moving in a fast pace. 

The town people were surprised to see the carriage, and what was more was the emblem in the carriage; The sign of the noble Marquees, an eagle.

"The Marquess? I heard that it was the Great hero's title!" A fellow townsman spoke after he saw the emblem. 

"Hey! Isn't the Great hero the nephew of the Luminine family?" Another fellow townsman replied. 

Gossips were being talked and whispered to another, the people inside the carriage heard them but feigned ignorance since it was true. 

Not long after, the carriage stopped in front of a house. It was surrounded by blooming lilies and it was in a very nice spot in the town. 

The door of the carriage was drawn open and a girl and a boy first went out of it. 

It was Mina and Ban. The girl was wearing a dress colored blue, the boy was wearing a black tuxedo. The neighbors were astonished on the sight of the youngsters, the girl was pretty but her beauty wasn't on par with Lucid. 

After the two got off and became the center of attention, their parents, Meru and Bree soon followed out. The two were truly a pair.

They  waited outside the door of the house, and not long after, an old woman wearing a linen dress came out. 

She had her hair not bunned, but she let it rest on her shoulder today. 

"Aunt." 

Meru first spoke out, he smiled upon sight of his aunt who had taken care of him in the past.

"Aunt-in-law..."

Bree went closer to Lilac and touched her hand, she bent down and gave a curtsey. Lilac was not surprised but she blushed upon sight of her neice-in-law. 

"This.." Lilac shifted her gaze to the two children. Meru turned his head to face his kids "Our kids." he replied. 

Lilac nodded and she went out of the way, gracefully leading the family in the house.

As the family went in, the neighbors outside  couldn't help  but gossip. 

"The luminine family is really lucky. Tsk tsk." A woman who was  on her fifties spoke out.  "Who would have thought that they would have became great heroes, they even got beauty!" Another woman spoke out. 

"But remember 25 years ago? Even if they had luck now, they lost their daughter. Ayaaa..." A woman who was on her twenties added. 

"Mm. Let's not recall that date. It was a great-catastrope." The woman earlier recalled something bad and replied. 

...

Inside the house, it was more spacious than it was being seen outside. 

The fragrance of woods could be smelt along with the smell of the prepared food. 

When Meru came in first, he saw his uncle waiting for him in the living room. He excused himself and went there. 

"How's life Meru?" Leon asked his nephew who was now recognized as the great-hero.

"It has been good. " He spoke as he took out a ciggarate from the pack in the hands of his uncle, he took out his finger and lighted up a small flame. "Anyways, the monsters have been acting up lately. " He added while smoking. 

"Hmm?" Leon raised his head and tilting it to the side, he was interested. 

"While visiting the town yesterday, a true dragon appeared.  If I wasn't there, there would have been a great massacre." Meru shortly stopped for a while and continued "It could be that something bad is coming. I had one of my disciples go to the south to check there, and he told me that there were brief earthquakes." He added. 

Leon who was listening puffed his cigarette "Sand worms?" he asked. Meru nodded upon the question indicating his agreement. 

As he was about to tell more, he caught a glimpse of a girl who had dark blue hair exiting the kitchen. The girl turned her head around looking at the guests with astonishment. Upon seeing her face, his heart felt something was amiss. Too similar! 

"Mother Lilac!" Lucid went out of the kitchen and embraced Lilac.. Bree and her kids were surprised upon the sight of the mysterious girl. 

Bree found the girl a bit famaliar, and she sorted her memories and found out; "Wasn't this the girl back then? She was freezing in the cold so I used a little bit of my fire magic to warm her. Do she and Aunt-in-law know each other?" She asked inside. 

"This is?" Meru turned his head and asked Leon who was beside. The old man gave out a grin "This is our adopted-daughter Lucid." He replied taking his cigarette off. 

Meru was dumbfounded.

Upon looking more at Lucid, he really had felt familiarity with her. Lucid found Meru's stare and went to him and took his hand to shake with hers. 

"Nice to meet you , Big brother Meru. I'm Lucid Luminine." Lucid spoke out as she kept on shaking Meru's hand. 

A friend meeting an old friend. 

Rei3

I apologize for the late update, My phone crashed alot and the written chapter vanished.  hehe.