As Kai tried to open his house door with his key, he was greeted by a pleasant surprise and he frowned.
"Are you kidding me, It won't open." He tried again to open it, but the door wouldn't open. It seems that his landlady must have changed the lock after he went missing.
Coming to this conclusion, Kai released a heavy sigh. He's just coming back home after 5 months and he can't even enter his own apartment. What dog shit luck.
Why is the universe always against him?
"Did a Evil god place a curse on me or something?" Kai thought.
"Kai."
Kai returned back to reality as a feminine voice called out to him. Kai turned back and looked at the person who called out to him.
What stood in his field of vision was a beautiful mature woman around her mid-thirties. She had long black hair which reached her hip, matching eyes and a curvy figure with considerably large breasts. She was wearing a white shirt, tight black pants and boots.
"Miss Elena."
Apparently, this was Kai's landlady.
Elena was surprised to see Kai. She had been taking care of Kai ever since he lost his parents at the age of 10. They had a very good relationship with one another and when Kai turned 15, he said he wanted to live on his own.
She was hesitant about letting him, but people who have turned 15, are considered adults so she let him under the condition he stayed at one of the apartment that she owned and payed rent which he agreed to.
5 months after the night owls returned, She asked Lyon where Kai was but he didn't answer and narrowed his head. After pressing him, he eventually told her the truth.
He said that Kai fell off a cliff during their trip to the dungeon. Naturally, a mage would have chance of survival if they reinforced their body with mana. But this mage was Kai.
When he awakened his fire magic, he also awakened a defective mana core. The mana core or origin is the container of mana inside the mage's body which determines the limits of their Magic Power.
The power to control mana is largely genetic. A census showed that roughly 1 in 100 individuals are able to awaken their mana core and gain their magic attribute.
But there were rare cases, where a mage awakened a defective core making it near impossible for the mage to wield mana and magic. Kai was among this rare cases.
Kai chances of surviving the fall was close to none, therefore, they presumed he was dead.
Hearing this news, she was heartbroken.
What kind of tragedy was this, he lost his parents at a young age, suffered for years and then lost his life without the ability to fight back. She and Lyon refused to believe that Kai was dead. It's they couldn't send a search party for him. Even so, they didn't give up hope.
During this few months, Elena wouldn't rent the apartment to anyone and could occasionally clean his apartment. She was planning to clean his house today as well.
But Kai stood before her, standing Infront of the house nonchalantly while looking at her.
He had appeared to have changed during this past few months when he was missing.
His brown hair had grown longer, he had become more muscular and he grown a litter bit taller. The one thing that caught her attention was his clothes. Tears were all over his shirt and his pants, it was beyond repairable.
But she didn't care about any of that, the important thing was that he was alive and she was glad.
Without warning Elena pressed Kai's head on her chest, as if to suffocate him. She gripped him with all her strength, afraid he will disappear again.
"Uh...Miss Elena."
"I'm glad you're alright." She held him tightly in her embrace for what felt like an eternity before releasing Kai from her embrace.
"Did you change the lock and rented out the place? I can't open the door with my key." Kai suddenly asked.
"Yes but I didn't allow someone to move in." She replied to his question. "I will give you a spare key." She added before opening the front door and entered inside the apartment.
Kai followed after her and when he got inside, he was surprised to see his apartment perfectly clean.
Although he wasn't the dirty type, but there were some of his clothes scattered here and there. Now, he didn't see any of his clothes scattered and everywhere was neat too.
"Did you clean my apartment while I was away?" Kai asked with one of his eyebrows raised.
"Yes, I cleaned it every week while you were away." Elena replied calmly.
"Why though? you couldn't have possibly known that I would return. Wouldn't renting the place, be the most logical choice?" Kai asked with a curious look.
"That might be right, but I had faith that you'll return. It didn't matter how long you took, I would have continued cleaning it." Elena replied.
Kai didn't know to say. He didn't expect her to have so much in him, so it made him smile slightly.
"Oh, I almost forgot, you're owing me 100,000 Valis for the past months." Elena said so suddenly.
Valis is the currency used in the kingdom of Fiona and other kingdoms. His house rent is 20,000 Valis per month, so he didn't pay for the months, the debt increased to that amount.
Upon hearing that, Kai's face suddenly turned pale. He just got home and now he has to pay the rent that he missed, that was too much. He currently didn't have any money, so he had to go the guild to take a job.
Normally, that won't be problem since he had gotten stronger but he wanted to laze around in his apartment before he took any job again and he also had to go to the library.
"Come on, that's too much." Kai said with a pleading face but Elena ignored it and said.
"You're the one who said you wanted to be independent so deal with it." She stated so mercilessly.
Kai was about to cry, that was too unreasonable.
"Just my luck." He mumbled under his breath.