When Leko saw Buni for the first time, he wanted to melt. This was completely his feminine side talking, and Leko had to fight the urge to squish Buni's rosy cheeks. The man had a boyish charm, his smile was soft and cute, and his eyes were round and innocent-looking. Leko damn near doubted that this man knew anything about assassination. A combination of blond hair and clear blue eyes reminded Leko of soft spring mornings.
The urge to hug was strong for this one.
Until he spoke.
By the end of the hour, Leko cursed the cute-looking man that activated his mothering instinct. Buni did not deserve it. Not one bit. He was a monster. Leko groaned from his spot on the floor. His lidded eyes stared blankly at the plain-looking ceiling. He felt like a stampeding parade of elephants had trampled him.
"I'm looking forward to our next lesson, young master." The blonde said with a broad, pure smile. If Leko hadn't experienced an hour of hell, it would have made him coddle the bastard. He'd struggled to keep himself from spewing his guts out for the entire hour. He was dangerously close to the end. The taps from Buni barely grazed his skin, but each still felt like a boulder slammed into him at 200 meters per hour. Leko wanted to scream that the world was twisted to give such a monster a cute-looking face.
"I will serve you to the best of my ability from today onwards. Please take care of me, Young Master." The sweet voice of the devil continued, and Leko withheld a whine. Was it too late to send him back to the pits of hell from where he crawled?
"Young master!?"
Kurio's startled voice made Leko remember the state of his body. Buni didn't break it, and he could move. There were only bruises. There was no need for Kurio to sound like he was dying. Leko sat up, holding back his winch, and waved Kurio's hands away. Leko nodded to Buni. The blonde's eyes shone with hidden amusement.
The glint in his gaze reminded Leko of a sharpened blade.
Leko hadn't noticed at first how, despite the innocent-looking expression on his face, the man's eyes gave his feelings away. Maybe Leko was getting old. As he stood from the floor, his creaking bones certainly added to that thought.
"I'll see you tomorrow," Leko said.
Leko walked out of the room. His muscles were stiff from the whole day's work and the last hour's beating. Stealth training had not been what he expected. They played a basic game of hide-and-seek with painful attacks if Buni found him, which he did every time. He laughed at first but regretted it not long after. The attacks were only enough to bruise. There was no other damage. It would have been a nuisance if they had to contact a healer.
"Do we have balms for bruising?" Leko asked the silent Kurio. The man nodded.
"Yes, young master." His voice was softer than before. Leko looked at him for a second before dropping it. It wasn't his problem.
"Take me to the library, then fetch some of the balm. I expect you back to escort me to my room."
It may have been three days, but Leko was still pretty much lost when navigating the castle. It was too big. He'd need to set some time aside to memorize the layout. Leko grew up in this place. It was suspicious if he didn't know the area well.
"As you say, young master."
He tried to memorize the path to the library. However, since Leko didn't have a starting point, he had no idea what room Buni had led him to for his training. It was useless. Leko glanced up at the doors as Kurio pushed them open.
Leko stood, staring in awe at the expansive library. The front by the entrance had a small fountain with greenery surrounding it. It was only a tiny plot but stood out with its colourful flowers growing from the earthy patch. Littered around it was white, round tables with two chairs by each. Beyond that were the shelves, hundreds of them, two layers high. Leko almost drooled at the number of books those shelves could hold.
Heaven number two has been found. A shame that Leko was so tired. For today he'd grab some books and read in his room as he planned before stepping foot in this beauty. Leko hoped there was a system, or he'd browse his reading time away. Leko gleefully set loose in the library and began hunting before returning to his room.
Leko sunk into his bed after a long hot bath drawn for him by Faier with a cheerful hum; he had already dismissed Faier and Kurio for the rest of the evening. Leko felt no need to keep them here when he wasn't planning to move from the bed.
Surrounding him were books that he'd brought from the library. Kurio hadn't questioned the titles when he helped Leko carry, or more like he insisted he'd carry all of it. Leko wasn't that weak. He hid his irritation with the butler, letting him do as he pleased. Leko's energy was already spent. There was no point in wasting any more time on pointless emotions.
The library, in the end, had a kind helper who knew where everything was and pointed him in the right direction. Leko was thankful, as stunning as the place may have looked. He didn't want to be stuck browsing while he felt like crap.
"Young Master."
Leko lifted his head from the book on etiquette to blink at Tor standing by the door with a tray of food. He gestured for the chef to come in and stood from his bed. Tor placed the food on the table and bowed once before leaving. Leko flopped onto the couch. He picked up a small piece of meat and put it on his tongue. His teeth shredded it with ease. The sticky brown sauce spread through his mouth. Leko still had no sense of taste. He could smell the sweet aroma that came from the food, though. It disappointed him that he couldn't taste it, especially knowing that this was probably something he'd never tried.
Nibbling on the food, he continued with the book. He flipped the pages every few seconds as he sped through. He was only noting the relevant details and disregarding the useless information. He wanted to learn etiquette, not its history.
-You've been poisoned.-
Leko clicked his tongue as the notification glowed in front of the paragraph he'd been reading.
"Can you please turn off the poisoning notifications? It's annoying."
-System has acknowledged Hunter Leko's request.-
-Poisoning notifications for Hunter Leko have been turned off.-
-Jaika is asking if that is a smart idea.-
"It's annoying, and who's planning to poison me here? I'll turn it back on later."
-Jaika is shaking her head.-
"You've been missing for the whole day. Did you pop back to criticize me?"
-Jaika was annoyed.-
"Why?" Leko frowned at the notification. What did he do that annoyed the god? He thought back on his day, but nothing came to mind. He didn't do anything that would offend a god unless it was just a cultural difference. Did he do something different than what they would do in this world?
-Jaika thinks poisoning oneself is too much.-
Staring at the notification, Leko wondered if she was joking. Gods weren't meant to care about their hunters. Some were helpful, but even that had its limits. The Hero's start line showed that gods didn't think much of humans; none of them was that useful unless they got something in return. Even Calen's sponsor had reluctantly helped the Hero.
"It's fine. It's a non-lethal dose. It just made me uncomfortable," Leko sighed. What was with people having issues with a drop of poison? He wasn't dying. "It's better for me to build up an immunity now than die of poison later. A dose that could kill me would work slower if I had immunity. It can save my life."
Learning how to handle poison, he doubted it would be basic training. Basics aren't enough in this world. Leko would need resistance to poison if he got it in his system while he worked. It was a necessary precaution if he wanted to jump into poison studies. Poison was incredibly effective when combined with a crossbow. He could already picture how much easier it would be to take down people with poisoned arrows.
-Jaika understands.-
"Thanks."
Leko continued reading the book while eating his meal. When he finished the book, Tor returned and took the tray with the empty plates away. Leko nodded to him in thanks and stumbled to his bed. He fell straight into it and groaned as the soft mattress swallowed him. Leko propped the other books next to his bed, picking one of the history books to start. He could stay up for a few hours before sleeping.
Leko was curious about the history of this world. The novel didn't go into much detail at all. He skimmed a few pages before frowning. Leko flipped through the book quickly before throwing it aside and picking up another history book. Leko handled the book with the same lack of care. The more Leko read, the more frustrated he got.
After paging through six history books, Leko gave up. The books only contained the history of the last five hundred years. Droitt formed long before that and hasn't been in a single war for five hundred years. The account in the books was essentially useless knowledge.
Nothing was recorded about ancient times when monsters and creatures first appeared. Leko sprawled on his bed and groaned. He'd need to find the information he wanted some other way.