As the children were getting into whatever shenanigans they could think of with Himeko. Welt left them to do their own things and was now taking a stroll around the colony. Combined with the rhythmic tapping of his cane on the ground, and being a new face in town, Welt had attracted the attention of many of the residents. And many of these residents were curious about these new arrivals. Many of the older folks kelp their distance, watching Welt through their discerning gaze. And the young children too kept their distance, but out of shyness rather than judgement.

The residents who did approach Welt were the ones who were closer to sixty and seventy. Halfway through his walk, an absolute unit of an old man taking giant strides toward Welt, seemingly unfazed by nerves. Stopping in front of Welt and blocking his way, bright blue eyes bore into Welt's own brown eyes. The two old men never broke the staring contest for a very long time and were beginning to attract the attention of the other residents. Unsurprisingly considering two old men were standing unmoving in the middle of the street.

Inching closer to Welt's face, the old man said,

"I'll assume you were one of the people who caused the commotion yesterday."

Resifting his grip on his cane, Welt said,

"You assume correct, I do apologize for disturbing the peace."

In the few moments after, the air around the two seemed still as ice. When it shattered when the mountain of man let out a large and boisterous laugh straight from his massive chest. Welt himself let out a small chuckle as his head bowed down slightly. Finishing his laugh, the old man stroked his white beard, saying to Welt,

"Well then, I do apologize for that. It's not everyday we have people arriving at our colony here."

"It's alright, though I was concerned I had done something wrong and I haven't even been here for a full day yet."

"Now that we're done with that, my name is Percival, and what might your name be?"

"I'm Welt Yang, though just Welt is fine."

"Well then Welt," wrapping his arm around Welt's shoulder, Percival began to walk, taking Welt with him "seeing as you what I assume to come from outer space, Asuka was the one who greeted you."

"That would be correct."

"Seems about right, then I would be correct to assume that Elias and Cecilia were there too?"

"You would? But why the questions Percival?"

"Oh nothing but musings of an old man."

"Sometimes the musings of an old man can provide wondrous insight."

After several moments of silence of Percival, he said,

"Alright I'll tell ya, Elias used to be my student. One of the first things he did after walking was learn how to use a spear. But now that's grown up now I think he might be close to being past my level soon."

"I know that feeling well, seeing your student learn and grow is a one of kind feeling. But sometimes you can't help look back and not be a little sad about it."

"Indeed, indeed it is Welt. It seems like yesterday that you see your student struggling to do even the simplest things to us, but when they're all grown up and they do the same thing they struggled so long ago as naturally as they breath, it really shows how fast time flies."

Stoping at the end of the street, the two of them spotted a familiar face walking toward them. Still in the clothes he wore yesterday, Asuka came up to them as Percival said to him,

"Seems you've been busy Asuka, did you get any sleep last night?"

"I appreciate the concern Percival, but today is not the first day where I've not slept, and it won't be the last."

"Suit yourself." said Percival, removing his arm from Welts shoulders. Starting to walk away, Percival turned his head around and said,

"Asuka, whatever the hell you're planning to try to keep contained."

"I will Percival, though I do trust you to help sort it out if it doesn't."

A muttered 'bastard' could be heard from Percival as he walked away, getting a small smirk to appear on Asuka's face. Turning to face Asuka, Welt said,

"He's a good man, but he can be quite intimidating when he wants to."

"Very much so, I'm sure he's got a heart of gold." 

"That is something everyone can agree on. But Welt I was hoping too ask you a couple of questions." 

"Of course, I'll try my best to answer them." 

"Let's keep walking," the two of them began to walk again, meandering across the colony.

"Just how long have you been on the Express for Welt?" 

"Me and Void Archives have been traveling on the Express for just over a year." 

"How did this happen? It's probably not a normal occurrence on most worlds to have a space traveling train come and pick people up." 

"You would be right, it really wasn't a normal situation. I won't get into the details too much, but me and Void Archives ended up stranded on a destroyed spaceship. We both resigned to wait to wait till our end as we both knew without help we would be unable to return back home." 

"But you did get help didn't you." 

"We did, by chance Himeko came upon us in the Express, and the rest is history."

"It appears the navigator of the Express is kind enough to take in lost souls." 

"She does more than that. Not everyone on the Express stays as long as we did. Most of the time the people who join us need a ride and we more than happily give them one." 

"So I would be correct to assume you wouldn't mind two more joining you permanently." 

"We wouldn't." there was a long pause as Welt mind began to connect information, "You intend to send your students with us?" 

"Not both of them. Just one, I will be going instead." 

"I understand, I'll make sure to tell Himeko." 

"Good, I do hope you'll consider."

There were several moments of silence between the two before Welt said,

"If you don't mind I have something to ask you myself." 

"Of course, what would that be." 

"What exactly happened on your world?" 

Hearing this, Asuka stopped immediately, letting Welt pass him who only noticed after taking several steps past him. Face completely still, Asuka said, 

"What do you mean by that." 

"Your student mentioned something called the Crusades yesterday and how it nearly erased humanity. On my home world there was a force called Honkai that managed to succeed in annihilating humanity. But the efforts of a select few gave humanity the opportunity to come back and defeat the Honkai once and for all. I wanted to know if this world had befallen the fate mine had in the past, and the reason this place existed was to be a safe haven for humanity." 

Asuka's face seemed to relax as his hand come to his face, 

"I see. And I to inform you, humanity has not been destroyed, it survived the Crusades and now thrives." 

"I see, that's a relief." 

Beginning to walk again, Welt saw that Asuka wasn't moving. Turning to speak to him, Welt noticed the direction that Asuka's head turned to and looked in the same direction. Once his eyes rested on the same thing that Asuka's did, Welt realized that it was the house that he started his walk from. Letting out a 'oh' in realization, Welt walked back toward Asuka as Asuka said, 

"I have some more things I need to take care of. It won't be long but it would be best if you were to return back to your companions." 

Giving a nod in agreement, Welt walked towards the house but stopped when Asuka said, 

"I do hope you'll agree with what I asked." 

Watching as Asuka walked away, Welt shook his head as he entered the house preparing what he would say.