Multiple weeks carried on smoothly for Kai and Mr Walton. They had gotten over their small feud in a short amount of time.
Every morning at 6, Mr Walton would drag Kai down for endurance training and sword lessons. The difficulty was increasing day by day as the rounds increased while the snow slowly stopped.
Mr Walton was an exceptional instructor, he knew every mistake just with a swift scan. His swordsmanship was on a whole different level, what he did when he fought with Kai was just a small teaser.
His strength was monstrous. Like a mountain clashing down. Every time he struck, the whole floor seemed to shake. His movements were clean and thunderous like a statement he was zealous about.
In a mere span of 6 weeks, Kai had improved tremendously due to the help and guidance of Mr Walton. The man taught him swordsmanship and even magic on some days.
Mr Walton didn't only help Kai because he needed the child to finish a humongous task for him. But he felt like the child was his own grandson if he ever had one.
Though Kai mainly improved due to his hardwork and dedication. He had never given up or made excuses for missing out on practice. He was robotically consistent with his effort.
Kai strikes were polished with precision and he only aimed for critical spots. All his attacks connected and his body movements were fluid. He was almost on par with a Royal Knight but not quite yet.
He also has been helping out more at the shop. Moving from packaging orders to making them. It wasn't as perfect as Mr Walton's but it was good enough to be sold at a decent price.
They had been training and working so diligently, it felt like it could even stay this peaceful forever.
The only abnormal item in their routine is Lithia Argenetia. She had been visiting anytime she could in her schedule. But everytime she did, her face had gotten
much paler than before and much thinner.
She had lost all her weight, all that's left of her is skin and bones. She was like a walking skeleton with an alarmingly low temperature even though winter was over. She wore overcoats on top of coats and fur gloves. But her freezing temperature never rose.
Until one day, her magic border broke. Lithia had run out of mana. But that was impossible for her. Her rate of producing mana was as fast as the border using it up. It was impossible for her mana to run out unless the core function was put to a halt.
It was out of the ordinary as to why Lithia had gotten sick all of a sudden. She had the power and blessing to stay healthy for as long as she lives. Her getting sick was like a bad omen.
What could've taken such a great mage down and incapable of their own speciality?
But it got worse from there as the border broke. Assassination attempts broke out and Luar had to deal with it all. But soon the link will run out of power as long as the owner doesn't recover.
Lithia Argenetia became bedridden. Her frail body had given up as she took one step from her work station. All that came out from her when she woke up sometimes was gibberish that no one could understand.
After Lithia had fainted, Luar took action. It ran straight to Mr Walton's house for assistance. He was one of the few Lithia would trust with her life. And he would be able to block assassination attempts while it figured out a cure.
Luar had reverted back to it's cat form due to lack of mana and energy. It prayed that it would reach Walton's before any assassins could sneak into the house while Lithia was unconscious with Claude defending.
The boy could use magic but it was useless against aggressive close range fighters whose only aim is Lithia. He could at least hold up for a good minute or two.
Luar smashed through the window with its small body. Glass fragments flew everywhere like rain into the shop.
Shocked, Mr Walton was about to give a strict scolding before it realised the feline that broke his windows was Luar.
"What brings you here?" Mr Walton asked, ushering Kai to clean up the glass while he bends down to the cat's height.
"No time for chit chat. Lithia had fainted. I need you to come over and watch over her." Luar hurriedly said, glancing around.
Mr Walton didn't question any further, he had sensed the urgency. He picked up his coat from his rack and put it on.
"Kid, you stay behind and clean up the mess. Close the store by using the sign. Bring some supplies we need for us to last a few days. Take any sword you feel comfortable using then come find us." Mr Walton spoke at an extremely fast pace. His mouth moved faster than his hands.
Without even seeing Kai's response, they both left in a hurry. They dashed out at their fastest pace, hoping to reach before any worse disaster struck.
Kai finished up sweeping all the glass fragments and discarding it into a bin. He looked at the spot that used to hold a glass pane. From there, he poke his head out and tilted it up.
The magic barrier Lithia casted did not exist anymore. The sky felt extremely empty without it.
Seeing this, Kai hurried up. He took a box and stuffed it into the window, hoping it would make a decent substitute so that pests couldn't come in.
He then went and took an empty sign and wrote, 'STORE CLOSED. OPENING DATE IS NOT DECIDED. SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE CAUSED.'
He read over it one last time and pasted the sign on the small glass pane in the door. He hoped it would be sufficient enough to make customers less irritated as he knew some of them booked a fixed appointment time with Mr Walton.
Kai grabbed a bag from one of the cabinets. He rushed into his room and Mr Walton's to take some possessions. Clothes, toothbrushes, towels along with other random objects he could find and stuffed them into the bag.
Just as Mr Walton instructed, Kai looked for a sword. Preferably one that fits the situation. He saw a dagger with an insanely sharp tip that fit his requirement and grabbed it without a second thought.
It wasn't a sword but he had a feeling he knew how to use it. It wasn't that much different from a shortsword's thrust he thought. Mr Walton always tested him with a different sword every week, this should be fine.
And then Kai switched off all the power circuits and carried the bag which he had stuffed the dagger into. He left through the shop's door and locked it. He then headed towards where the others were.