~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~
The sole person that held the key.
Held in a cage, a soul of tragedy.
Tragic souls who hold the ability to use「 Ki 」.
~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~
As they were nearing the mansion doors, Kairo looked around and saw some maids sweeping.
Their uniform had a black and white motif, with black being the base color while the small buttons, gloves, collar, and apron that covered most of their dress were all white. A few of them wore white, frilly, lace headpieces.
The maids bowed at the three of them, and he and Aisia waved back. He had a nervous smile the whole time. The maids giggled to each other, thinking that Kairo was an adorable kid.
The heavy door to the mansion opened and Kairo fell silent seeing how spacious and extravagant it was inside. He knew that this mansion was big, but looking at it up close, it felt like it was even bigger inside.
Ornaments, statues, paintings, and the like littered the area. It was as if Grisia was royalty.
"A fly's going to enter your mouth if you don't close it," Aisia warned Kairo.
Indeed, Kairo realized too late that his jaw had dropped.
"Rest for a while, you two. Afterwards, show him around, Sia. We'll meet back here later for a shower bath at the waterfall."
As Grisia disappeared to some room, the two went to a lounging area. Kairo placed his stuff down and sat on the soft chair.
"Holy—! What is this chair?! I'm sinking!"
"First time?"
"Yes, we only had wooden chairs and benches back in my village, and this is more comfortable than my father's rocking one. It's like I'm being sucked in and it's being molded into my shape!" Aisia looked happy at Kairo's fascination.
"Since it's your first time, I have a trick I wanna show you," she told Kairo as she herself sat down.
"A trick?"
"Yes. Right now you're sitting down, right?"
"Yeah?"
"You're still tense. Try letting go even more by relaxing your neck and back."
Kairo tried out what she said and he sank even deeper into the soft chair. Parts of his back and neck that had never been touched by the wooden chairs in the past were being supported like never before.
"Straight-up magic," Kairo had never felt such comfort before. Especially since he just travelled and camped outside for around a couple of months. This was a much-needed break for his fatigued body.
"Right?!"
"That hits... the spot..." his eyes felt very heavy all of a sudden as his vision started to blur and darken.
It was all an interesting chain of events. He coincidentally met Grisia, then he met Aisia, and because of her, he got to know Grisia's connection to him, and now, he was in his house as a guest.
He wondered, as his consciousness slowly drifted to dreamland, what else was in store for him in the future.
~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~
Earlier when Grisia disappeared from the fountain area at the marketplace...
"Stay here," Grisia told Aisia. He then appeared at a nearby dark alleyway where he met a small, hooded figure with soft, golden locks peering from beneath the hood. "Who are you and why have you been following us since I met the kid?"
"So, this time, you decided to come to me this soon," the hooded figure said, who sounded much like a little girl.
"You didn't answer my question," Grisia unsheathed his weapon. The dark blade shone with a sharp glint even when the sunlight struggled to reach the damp alleyway.
The hooded figure held her hands in the air. "I am not hostile nor am I an enemy of Kairo. I am only here to observe and spectate. For now."
Grisia placed his blade at the person's throat. The hooded figure didn't flinch. "I never said the kid's name."
"Yes, Kairo is his name. I admit to knowing that."
"Just who are you really?" the hooded figure remained silent to Grisia's question. "You don't mind me taking a peek at your face, right?"
"No. It doesn't matter at all," the figure replied with a sly smile showing underneath the hood. "I believe you won't say anything you don't fully understand yet to Kairo anyway."
Grisia withdrew his sword and lifted the hood of the figure's cloak.
It was a small, blonde girl with long hair and average features. She had no wounds, but she looked slightly malnourished. Her hooded cloak was rugged and dirty. She was somewhere around Kairo's age, definitely younger.
Her bright green eyes and the dark creases under them spoke of having been through quite some rough stuff, he could tell, but nevertheless, she kept a calm smile.
She looked tired, yet somehow resolute.
"What's with kids these days?" Grisia thought out loud, lowering his sword. The girl simply smiled at his comment.
"By the way," she started. "I know「 Ki 」."
Grisia paused for a moment and was able to verify that what she was saying was true. That's how he was able to sense her amidst the busy crowd of the city after all. He turned his back to her and sheathed his sword.
"An interesting reaction. Do you trust me enough to turn your back to me, even if I just showed you that I practice「 Ki 」?" her head bowed, but her eyes remained locked onto the back of his head in curiosity.
"I have no reason to mistrust you. Apart from your creepy, stalkerish behavior, you have done us no harm. Yet."
"So, you're simply being watchful?"
"Perhaps."
"By turning your back? Maybe you do have an eye behind your head."
It was the comment Aisia jokingly made earlier. Could it have been a coincidence? Or had she been listening all this time?
Grisia didn't like how she was being familiar with him, but since she was cooperative enough, albeit cryptic, and hadn't shown any ill will towards them, he decided to let her off the hook and simply be wary of this child until she does something fishier than what she was already doing.
On the other hand, the fact that she knew and practiced「 Ki 」, and had decided to reveal that information was beyond him. Users of that power are extremely rare. She was definitely one of the most dangerous individuals currently in the kingdom that he knew of, including himself.
He simply wasn't sure what to do with her yet. If he decided to try and neutralize this person here and now, at least a large fraction of the city will undoubtedly face destruction.
Kairo might need to learn「 Ki 」as well if he is to go on his journey of vengeance, especially with a person like this shadowing him. Not that he endorsed vengeance, but it was not like he personally cared for the boy and his business. He only thought that revenge would be a great source of motivation for Kairo to become stronger, that was all.
He only planned to be there to equip Kairo with the necessary tools to make sure he does not die young. It was also in his own interest to make sure that Kairo becomes strong after all, to tap into the potential he saw in him. That's because—
"Just so you know," the girl said, interrupting his thoughts. "To ease your worries about me, I plan to reveal myself to Kairo when the time comes."
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
"Well, suit yourself. I'll deal with you when I need to. I'll cross—"
"—you'll cross the bridge when you get there," she finished his sentence. Grisia turned around to face her. She was still only smiling ever so slightly, like this was all humorous to her, but only for a little bit now. "Not that the phrase makes sense anyway. People don't have the option to cross the bridge if they haven't reached it yet," she shrugged.
Grisia sighed. "Creepy kid," he then disappeared and left the girl alone, appearing back to where he left Aisia, who stood up in surprise.
At the last second, before he disappeared, he caught a glimpse of the tragic face that mysterious girl bore as she stared at the ground in his leave. He wondered what she wanted with Kairo and what her relationship with him was.
~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~
Back to the present, in the mansion where Kairo fell asleep...
"...ro."
"...airo."
"Kairo!" Kairo slightly jolted from being woken up by Aisia's voice.
He slowly opened his eyes and realized that he was deeply nestled in the soft chair. He felt that half of his chin and neck were wet, so he finally sat up and wiped the drool that reached down to his shirt.
"Had a good nap, did we?" Aisia giggled.
"Apologies," Kairo stretched. "Ah, that was a much-needed nap," he noticed from the windows that it was nearly sunset outside. "Oh shoot, I have to set up camp!"
"Huh?"
"What?"
"Silly boy, you don't have to camp outside. Did you have such a realistic dream that you forgot you're going to sleep in a room from now on?" she laughed at Kairo, whose palm met his own face.
"Right. You're right, Aisia. Sorry, I'm just really... disoriented," he said, his hand moving from his face to his temple to support his head.
"Disoriented? What's that mean? Does that mean 'dumb'? If so, you're very disoriented."
"No, it means 'confused'. I'm good now though."
"Hmm... maybe there are some merits to reading books after all," she pondered aloud. "Well, I was supposed to tour you around like a landlord renting a house to a poor noble, so stand up, wake up, and let's go up, boy'o."
"Go up? There's a second floor?" Kairo stood up.
"Yes, but we're not going there yet. I just said that because it rhymed and it was fun to say it. Now giddy up, Kairo!"
Giddy up Kairo...
That phrase rang in his mind. It was the phrase his dad used to say. He wobbled a bit, sitting back down on the chair.
"Hey, are you well? Maybe let's stick and focus on that 'wake up' part first, yeah?" Aisia said, a bit worried about Kairo.
"No need, I'm good."
"Really? 'Cause you just said you were, but then you act like a demented old coot, confused and needing to sit back down after moving too much."
"What even is that comparison?" Kairo chuckled. He stood up again, seemingly fine this time around. "Alright, now I'm actually ready."
And so, Aisia gave Kairo a tour around the mansion. Aisia introduced a stretching Kairo to the maids as they saw them during the tour.
"And this here, good sir, is a storage room containing crates and, would you look at that, more crates!" Aisia said in her landlord impression.
"Hmm, yes, marvelous, marvelous. Quite interesting actually. Is that marble?" Kairo said in his pompous noble impression, pointing at the wooden wall with his pinkie finger.
"No."
"Why, how quite."
The two laughed at their exchange.
"Ooh la la! Lady Aisia is having quite a fun time with her boy friend, Sir Kairo," a tall maid with spectacles commented. Her dark hair was tied in a dignified ponytail with a white, frilly maid's headpiece over her head.
"Oh, ha-ha. Laugh it up, Esmeralda. This stinky boy is not my boyfriend."
"Oh, my apologies, but I only meant boy friend as in, a friend that is a boy. Oh-ho-ho!" Esmeralda laughed with playful conceit.
"But I'm not stinky—" Kairo smelled himself. "You know what, I think it's about that time we take that shower bath Grisia invited us to."
"Absolutely," Aisia agreed.
Kairo and Aisia met with Grisia downstairs to go take a bath at the waterfalls.
They got their bathing stuff and headed to the waterfalls area by following a river. Once they arrived, Kairo was taken aback by the loud noise and the majestic sight of the large waterfall.
Even though it was dark outside, with only the fireflies and oil lanterns to serve as a light source, the waterfall itself and the river were glowing beautifully somehow.
"The water is glowing because of some algae, Grisia told me," Aisia told Kairo.
"Ooooh... what the heck is an algae?"
"Small underwater plants? I don't know."
The three of them stripped except for their underwear as they went to bathe in the river.
The two started playing around, splashing water at each other. Grisia told them to be careful because the rocks underwater may hurt them if they were too clumsy.
The two responded and acknowledged what he said, but Aisia splashed him with water too. He didn't react, he just let himself be splashed.
Kairo and Aisia laughed.
"You're a rock!" Aisia responded to Grisia's warning.
After some time, the two got tired and started to simply sit around and chat in the water. Kairo thought that having a nice bath at an inn would be refreshing, but it's more fun with company.
"Two days from now, we will start your training," Grisia told Kairo. "You too, Sia," Aisia turned to Grisia with a face filled with shock and excitement. "You'll be needing what I'm about to teach Kairo if you're to continue dancing on the edge."
"Yesss!" she beamed with joy.
"But that means no more going outside unless I tell you to."
"Sure, I'm fine with that, training will be fun enough anyway."
"Why two days from now?" asked Kairo.
"I want you to get used to living around here. It's tough for a kid to be out of his village for that amount of time you've been travelling. Two days is still too fast, but you don't seem like the typical kid, and I predict that you're gonna be restless, so it should be fine. Unless you need some more time."
"I understand. I think two days will be enough for me," Kairo replied.
"Yeah, I get you, Grisia. He is quite odd for a kid," Aisia commented.
"I'm older than you though..."
"YEAH? So, what?"
"Kairo, why don't you try taking a shower under the waterfall? Sia will accompany you."
"Alright," Kairo responded. He was pretty excited to try it out.
"Leave it to me," Aisia said. "Let's go, village boy!"
"I don't live in a village anymore."
"Ah."
The two approached the waterfall under Grisia's watch.
Aisia went under the waterfall first, then Kairo followed her.
The sound of the raging waterfall became somewhat of a white noise to him as he had been near it for quite some time, but he still got surprised by how heavy the water could be once he was under it.
It was pretty hard to stand straight from the constant barrage, but he was slowly getting used to it. He simply hoped that a rock wouldn't suddenly fall from above onto his head and split his skull.
As Kairo appreciated the feeling of the shower, he started to get an odd feeling, as if he had already experienced this before.
The waterfall surged as if something huge was raining down on him, passing through him. He felt like he was out of his body. He thought that this was interesting, but he snapped out of it.
He tried to recreate that feeling. His breathing slowed down and he felt like his sense of self was expanding from his body. He tried to maintain his concentration. There it was again, the light feeling in his left eye. He thought about why he was feeling that until he was interrupted by Aisia.
He snapped out of it and moved out of the waterfall. The feeling in his left eye was dissipating rapidly. More notably, his whole body felt really light, probably due to being under the waterfall for so long.
"Don't linger for too long there, it'll be bad for your body. Grisia tells me that every time we come here. For your first time, you were in there for quite a while, Kairo boy'o."
Meanwhile, Grisia observed Kairo and had a serious look which the two didn't notice.
"Interesting..." Grisia thought to himself. "It seems that the boy can naturally emulate ki without knowing about it. This is already the second time..."
After they finished taking a bath, they went back to the mansion to get ready for sleep.
It was already late at night, so Grisia lit up the oil lantern he brought and led the way back to the mansion. Once they arrived back at the mansion, they were greeted by some of the maids that Kairo had seen around.
Grisia told one of the maids, Esmeralda, to lead Kairo to a guest room, and that he would be staying here for quite a while. The maids were happy to know that a new person would be staying in the mansion.
Kairo followed Esmeralda along with Aisia to his room. He was led to a door, and when he opened it, he was greeted with a bright, large room beyond his wildest dreams.
There was a bed that could hold two big people, filled with fluffy pillows and a giant, red blanket. The room was lit up with multiple lanterns, which explained why it was remarkably illuminated even though it was already night time.
He walked up to a cabinet and when he opened it, he was met with a large collection of clothing.
"Maybe instead of a merchant or a medicinal herb collector, I'll be an adventurer..." Kairo thought out loud in awe. Aisia chuckled.
"If you do, then I will too. That should be fun," said Aisia.
"You may use anything you see here in your room and in the mansion as you wish, Sir Kairo. But if you're uncertain, you may simply ask us, the maids, Lady Aisia, or Lord Grisia," Esmeralda informed him.
"Please, just call me Kairo, Miss Esmeralda."
"Oh? Then you may simply call me Esmeralda as well," she smiled, fixing her glasses.
"Alright... Esmeralda," Kairo replied with a nervous smile.
"Well then, I'll leave you two to it," Esmeralda told the two, closing the door gently in her leave.
Kairo looked around and was taken aback by the fancy room.
Aisia stayed around for a bit in Kairo's room to talk more before she went back to her own room until she was sleepy.
Once Kairo was alone, he extinguished the lights. He had taken a nap earlier, but he was still feeling sleepy.
And so, he closed his eyes, preparing to wake up early in the morning tomorrow. It's been a while since he felt relaxed and joyful.
He looked forward to tomorrow.