Kai woke up with the view of the familiar ceiling. The window that he had opened was not shut tight. And the night sky from earlier was now blooming with clouds.
What had happened after he had passed out beneath Luar?
Did..someone carried him back to the attic, If so, who?
But that question didn't cross Kai's mind. His eyes were glued to the wall in front of him.
The person was always around him with every second of the day. It took the utmost effort to ignore it.
Even in his dreams. They were even worse then.
Kai got off his bed and found the tile to push the ladder down from. He quickly made his way down to the shop.
He looked around and spotted a clock. It was 9 o'clock. If he was right, the shop still hasn't opened.
He arrived at the bottom level and found Mr Walton nowhere to be seen within the house. He then looked outside the window to find him in the yard swinging a sword.
Kai opened the door and walked up towards the man who hadn't been aware of his presence yet.
"Mr Walton."
Mr Walton turnt around and stared at Kai. "Let's get to training. Pick up the sword and I'll teach you a few things."
Confused, Kai went near the warehouse and picked up a sword that had already been placed on one of the wooden boxes. He walked back to where Mr Walton was.
Mr Walton had one hand on his waist as he smiled. It seemed as if he intended to pretend he didn't know what had happened the night before.
"What do you want me to do?" Kai asked, looking at the gleam of the blade.
"Your swordsmanship for your age is remarkable. Your ability and quick thinking is a great plus. Your strength and technique needs revision." Mr Walton praised and criticised all of a sudden.
Mr Walton walked aside and revealed what he had been going at earlier. "So you see this scarecrow? I want you to hit it 500 times each with different angles of a strike. High, middle and low. This will help your precision and strength. During it, I will fix your stance."
Slowly, Kai walked up towards Mr Walton. Instead of hacking at the scarecrow with the sword, he thrusted it at Mr Walton. Merely missing his neck by a few millimetres.
"What is your objective? I know you were there with Luar. You saw it." Kai tilted his head up and glared at the suspicious man in front of him.
Mr Walton halted. He didn't know what to say. Did Kai not immediately get knocked out by the magic perhaps? It may have been better this way. There wouldn't be a need to start explaining from the start.
"I have no evil intentions. I plan to train you as if you're my apprentice. Until you leave."
"And the catch?" Kai didn't seem to believe someone could waste time doing something that wouldn't benefit them. Even if they're a Saint.
Mr Walton's eyes seemed to turn into a darker shade of green. "When you go to the capital. I want you to find the church. And I want you to put an end to it."
"What?" Kai lowered his sword.
Ignoring Kai's confusion, Mr Walton stepped back and pointed at the scarecrow. "You should start or else you're going to be doing this till sunset."
Kai frowned and stepped forward. He started hitting the scarecrow with all his might, doing exactly as Mr Walton said. His grip loosened overtime as his hits got slower and weaker.
But Mr Walton didn't let him back down. He continuously pointed out every mistake Kai made with each hit. Seeing as how he was training Kai until his stamina was drained, the church must've been a huge task to be awarded like this.
Mr Walton didn't let Kai rest until he was done hitting the scarecrow 1500 times. Until the material of it chipped off and broke.
And it didn't seem like Kai was going to give up even though the skin on his palms were peeling off. Until the blade itself was getting dull.
Finally, Kai swung one last time with Mr Walton keeping count. He hit it the hardest he could with his last string of energy and dropped the sword.
"I'm going to take a shower. I'll get back to work as soon as I'm done." Kai said without looking back.
"Do you still hate Victoria?" Mr Walton said with a straight face as he watched Kai jolt and looked back with the most disgusted look he could create.
Kai glared at Mr Walton. "Your question is absurd." He paused and smiled. "As long as she is breathing, I'll hunt her down to the ends of the earth."
"Even if you die and lose everything in the process? Your livelihood, your friends and your newly made family?"
"Even so." His eyes shone with resolve. He looked at a blank space and pressed his nails into the open skin of his palms. "And I'm not missing out on anything. I'll take my own sweet time dealing with her."
Mr Walton didn't say anything more. Luar was correct. Even though the bloodthirst wasn't directed at him, he could feel it in his bones. It made the hairs on his body stand.
He had heard rumours years ago about the first child of the Whitlock being an outcast and all. But he didn't expect the child to be treated so badly that he ended up in a village so far from his home.
Victoria was notorious among nobles and high ranking people for being heartless and cold blooded. But for the locals and the poor, she was seen as a wise ruler.
Throwing away things that are a liability and weren't worth the investment. And to her, that was Kai.
Mr Walton snapped out of his thoughts when he had finally heard Kai's voice again.
"Ah, what are we eating later? Do you want me to go out and buy again?" Kai asked with a smile. Completely changing the atmosphere.
"No. Its fine. I'll cook." Mr Walton replied.
Kai then left.