Fortunately, the Priest has a good temperament. Aside from being startled, he wasn't offended at all. "Don't worry about it, it's fine" the Priest said with an understanding smile much to Kence's relief. This priest was the one who healed his master to a great extent, he was afraid he'll make him angry
"Thank you" Kence bowed and felt great admiration to this Priest. His temperament was really gentle and kind! Kence is comfortable interacting with him
"Come, come. Let me heal you too" Kence nodded his head and went closer to the priest. The old man once again chanted some prayer and the same holy light appeared on his hand
The light shone on Kence's chest and penetrated his clothes to reach his wound. Kence feels as if he was being bath by a holy light and it's like he was floating with the clouds. The healing process wasn't painful at all, in fact it was comfortable as if the light came from a God itself
After the light vanished, although Kence can't see inside his clothes but he was almost sure that his wound is fully healed now
"Thank you, sir!" Kence said with gratitude
"Don't call me sir, just call me Grandpa Ginta" the Priest said and he really wants to pat the adorable youth's head but remembered that Kence doesn't want to be touched and stopped himself
"Okay, Grandpa Ginta!" Kence said while smiling sweetly
Ginta nodded his head "Come visit me in the Church if you are free. But for now, I still need to do something"
Ginta turned to the City Lord and Otto naturally knew what it meant and gave to him the fee. The Priest only healed two people but the price already reached seventy thousand Magic Crystals
The price was this pricy mostly because of Calter's injury as it was really too severe. If Ginta didn't gave discount for Kence, then it would even be higher
Seventy thousand Magic Crystals, even to powerful Nobles that is not a small sum! Fortunately for Calter and Kence, the fee came from the Shan Clan. They didn't spend even a single Magic Crystal at all!
After Ginta and his two Paladins went out, they all returned underground with the still unconscious Calter
----
Night time arrived and Calter is on his and Kence's bed while still being unconscious. Kence was naturally worried for him but decided to focus on his cultivation
For him, if he was powerful enough, he will always be able to protect his master. At the assassination attempt, he barely protected Calter using his life and now he feels how powerless he is
He knew that his actions before were not enough to fully save Calter, it was only because Nan was there that neither of them lose their lives
A sense of crisis grew on his heart and Kence also had a change in mentality. He knew he still doesn't know a lot of things on this world but there is one thing that he learned the hard way. And that is strength is everything!
Without enough strength you might not even be able to protect someone you really care about even if you used your life in the process. Having a backing like the City Lord himself is not enough, one must have their own power!
When Kence started learning Magic Theories again after he went into a short coma, he was surprise that the things that are hard for him to understand before became too easy
The manual from the City Lord that gave him some headaches before suddenly felt easy. In the whole day that he studied, his comprehension reaches the level of Level 5 Magic Apprentices
He is only Level 3 now yet his comprehension is above his level. "C-could this be what they mean when they said one will have the greatest growth when they experienced life or death situations?" Kence asked to himself while feeling as if it was unbelievable
Kence put the manual on his side, since his comprehension is now higher than his level, it means he has a solid foundation. He can now absorb more mana to improve his cultivation base!
Kence closed his eyes and sensed the abundant mana in the surroundings. He used his mind to pull them towards him but he was once again given a surprise!
Normally, one needs to forcefully control the mana to enter their bodies. One of the reasons why over cultivation will put a burden on one's soul. But now, Kence can feel that the resistance of the mana particles in the air lessened significantly. His cultivation speed is now two times faster than before!
He can't help but open his eyes again in shock and feels that this is too inconceivable. "I-Isn't this too much of improvement?" Kence asked to himself
Even if one will improve after a life and death situation but this improvement is too huge! Higher comprehension skills and two times cultivation speed, anyone would kill just to have any one of these not to mention both!
"This is unbelievably but...." Kence balled his fist while thinking at how Calter almost lose his life. "If it means I can protect my master better then I'll gladly accept this!" Kence said to himself with a tone full of determination
There's no use thinking too much about it. Since he was blessed like this, then he will gladly use the opportunity to become strong and repay his maser for all the kindness he showed him!
Kence ignored everything around him and just focused on his cultivation for hours. He only opened his eyes again when he felt some movements on the other side of the bed. He looked at Calter and become worried
Calter was trashing around the bed while his whole body became wet with his own sweat. Even the area of the bed around him was drenched in sweat
"No…. no...no!!" Calter was moving his head left and right and started shouting. Just one look at him was enough to see that he's having a very bad nightmare
As of now, there were waterfalls on his eyes making him look pitiful
Kence cannot see his master like this any longer and went to Calter's side while holding the latter's hand with his own
"B-Big Brother... Big Brother.... Big Brother...." Kence called out repeatedly. Luckily, Calter soon woke up from his nightmare
Seeing Kence's face filled with worry and care, Calter felt relief. He had another nightmare again. In these past days, he constantly had the dream of Kence dying and hating him
This haunt his mind for days and almost made him insane. The pain from his dreams was too much for him to handle. He was more than willing to experience physical pain than have a nightmare like that again
Calter pulled Kence's body to his and buried his head on the latter's neck. "Sshh. It's just a nightmare Big Brother, everything's okay" Kence comforted him while gently patting his back
Instead of feeling better, Kence's soothing voice just made Calter's tears to continue coming out. Kence has all the reason to hate him for getting hurt like that yet he was still the same as before. Sweet and caring
Even if Kence got hurt because of him more than once, Calter still can't let the youth go. His possessiveness won't let it, he wants Kence to always be with him
Kence leaving him just like what happened on his dreams was something he cannot take. Although he wants to maintain a mighty, manly, and strong facade in front of Kence but his heart and mind was pushed to the limits
Except for Calter, no one knows how much it hurts seeing Kence soaked by his own blood. He thought that Kence will die again because of him. It brought great pain on his heart and made his mind unstable
If he didn't focus on his fight with the Shan Clan, he would have already broke down long ago. In the past days, the fight was the only thing he focused on
But after the fight and seeing Kence regained his consciousness, all the pent-up emotions inside him exploded at once. He can't stop himself from showing his vulnerability to Kence no matter how unsightly and unmanly it isl
Feeling the warm tears of Calter on his neck made Kence to tear up too. He wants to continue comforting his master but seeing Calter like this broke his heart and he can't stop himself from crying
Kence buried his head on Calter's neck too and cried on it. The events that happened after he woke up was too fast and his brain still wasn't able to digest it
But when he saw Calter's shoulder before that was covered with ice because of a severe injury, he was really worried and afraid. It also greatly affected Kence's mind but just like Calter, he focused on other things
The two cried on each other for a while and the first one to recover was Calter. As he already released his pent-up feelings, his condition is better now. He wiped his tears and cursed himself for such a disgraceful act
The situation changed and now Kence's head was buried on Calter's chest. Kence still cannot stop crying. His heart was more fragile that Calter after all and will take more time to recover
After some time, Kence fell asleep on Calter's chest. Although Kence slept a lot before, horrible experience will put a huge burden on one's mind after all.
Calter laid him on the bed and gently wiped the tear stains on his cheeks. Calter also brushed away the remaining tears around Kence's eyes and just stared at the latter's face for a while
"I promised I'll do everything I can to always protect you. I will also give justice for what happened to you" Calter vowed on the sleeping Kence before exiting their room
He first went deeper below of the Magic Tower where the cages of magic beasts were located. It was also the area that the assassin was imprisoned
The assassin has lifeless eyes now due to the regular torture that Calter gave him. There was no part of him that does not have any wound
There were cuts, bruises, burns etc on him. His nails were removed from both his fingers and foot. The torture he went to was unbelievable. If not for a healer mage constantly healing him, he would already lose his life a long time ago. But even then, if Calter continue torturing him, sooner or later he will die
Instead of the usual that Calter will immediately retrieve his torture box from his spatial ring. This time he just stared at the lifeless assassin on the floor without any emotion on his eyes
"Do you know how angry I am right now?" Calter's emotionless voice echoed in the cell but he doesn't receive any reaction from the broken assassin
Calter crouched down and grip the man's remaining hair on his hand and made is so that their faces are close to each other
"I am so angry but I don't want to kill you yet" at this time a hint of despair flashed on the man's eyes
He translated Calter's words to "I don't want to kill you yet because I still want to torture you"
"Scratch that, I don't even want to kill you. For hurting my beloved simply killing you is already a great show of mercy" Calter said while shaking his head
"In fact, torturing you is too redundant. I don't plan to continue torturing you if you agreed to my plan" Calter then released his grip on the man's hair violently
"I am still too weak now to do what I want with you. But in the future, I will surely have the power to make you my tool!"
Calter paced around the cell sensing the slight hint of life and hope on the assassin. "You know the God of Order, right? But I bet you don't know that any agreement or vows that you made through him is not something you can violate"
"You have two choices now. First is for me to continue torturing you every day until I have the power to make you a proper tool. Second, I will stop torturing you if you swear to the God of Order that you will be my loyal slave forever. After that, you won't see me unless I have the power to do what I want to you"
"So, what do you choose?"