"That's the conclusion... Any questions?"
A man approaching 50 stopped writing on a large board and turned to look at the crowd, who were listening to him in silence. Seeing that no one was responding, the man looked at the time on his watch and put the markers down on the table in front of him.
"Well, that's all for today. Have a good day"
The crowd of students began to make noise, some quickly leaving for their other classes, others gathering in their groups to chat quietly.
Kalen was distracted near the window when he suddenly heard several people approaching.
Three people came up to him, two women and a man. The man smiled, pulled out a chair and sat down.
"What happened to you? ¡You were missing the whole vacations!"
Kalen smiled slightly.
"I was travelling and didn't have time to call. How are you guys doing?"
The small group were Kalen's friends from university, just normal people who had no idea of Kalen's true identity, let alone anything to do with Urasis.
One of the young women reached into her backpack and pulled out a small wooden statue.
"Yale and I took a trip to the Island of Holy Paradise. We brought you this as a gift"
Kalen's smile trembled at the mention of the island, but he did not let his emotions show on his face and accepted the statue from the young women.
He looked at the wooden statue and frowned.
"A woman?"
The young man called Yale sighed and looked at the young woman.
"Shella thought it would be a good idea to give you the Wind pillar statue"
Kalen looked at the wooden statue again. A woman was carved with so much detail that the statue was even realistic. It was the famous Wind Pillar, one of the Pillars of humanity.
"...Thanks, I guess"
The other young woman began to giggle at Kalen's reaction, and the next moment the other young men mimicked her and began to laugh.
Kalen sighed and smiled.
As they all laughed, a person peeked through the classroom door and looked at the group.
"Hey Kalen!"
Everyone stopped laughing and looked at the person in the doorway. Kalen looked over as well, and when he saw who it was, he sighed tiredly.
'Are you just trying to make trouble for me?'
Elisabeth smiled and started to walk towards the group.
All the students in the room looked at Elisabeth in surprise, and even more surprised at Kalen, who rubbed his forehead.
Yale and Shella turned to look at Kalen in surprise.
"How do you know her!?"
While Elisabeth was a popular and influential person at the university and even on social media, Kalen was quite the opposite.
He was never interested in attracting attention, let alone being popular with people, so he was fine with his small group of friends and that was enough.
But now Elisabeth had destroyed everything he had spent two years building. Now everyone would be talking about him... it wouldn't matter for much longer.
Elisabeth came up to them and looked at them all with a smile.
"Hello to you all! It's a pleasure to meet Kalen's friends!"
The young men were stunned by Elisabeth's greeting and were slow to react.
"N-no, the pleasure is ours"
Yale approached Kalen and whispered.
"Really, how do you know her?"
Kalen put his face in his hand and sighed.
"Our parents know each other... just by chance"
He couldn't tell them that he'd met her at the Urasis test. That would raise more questions he didn't want to answer.
Elisabeth looked warmly at the group.
"Sorry to interrupt... but I need to talk to Kalen... may I borrow him for a moment?"
Everyone was dazzled by Elisabeth's presence and nodded quickly.
"No problem!"
Shella looked at Yale and the other young woman.
"Let's go!"
But before Yale could get up, Kalen stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder.
"You stay here, I have somewhere to go"
Kalen looked at Elisabeth.
"I hope you don't mind coming with me"
Elisabeth shook her head.
"Not at all"
Kalen walked through the group and started to leave the room, Elisabeth walking beside him.
Yale was taken aback, as was everyone in the room.
"I can't believe it..."
The two young women nodded as they watched the duo walk out the door.
Once outside the hall, Kalen stopped Elisabeth and looked at her seriously.
"What are you doing, why did you come to see me?"
Kalen had no doubt that Elisabeth had the methods and contacts to investigate him. So, he wasn't surprised that she had found him, but he was surprised that she had sought him out so quickly.
It had been little more than ten days since they had returned from their ordeal, and Kalen had been locked up for a full week.
"I just wanted to see how you were"
Kalen ignored Elisabeth's smile, not believing her words.
"Ha, don't lie to me, you wouldn't waste your time looking for me just for that"
Elisabeth smiled sadly.
"Aren't we friends who care about each other?"
Kalen rolled his eyes.
"Really?"
Elisabeth laughed softly and suddenly changed her tune.
"You already have a job?"
Kalen fell silent at Elisabeth's question and looked at the door to the living room where several people were watching them curiously.
"Follow me"
She nodded and they walked through the halls of the university, then looked at Kalen doubtfully.
"So?"
Kalen sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"Yes... but I don't really understand what it's about. Why do you ask anyway?"
Elisabeth tilted her head slightly.
"Well... I wanted to hire you, but it looks like that won't be possible"
Kalen scoffed.
"You're a bit late"
They soon arrived at a large building, which Elisabeth recognized as the administrative area of the university.
"What are we doing here?"
Kalen stood silently looking at the large building and sighed.
"I'm going to withdraw from the career temporarily"
Elisabeth looked at Kalen in surprise, after all he thought, he was studying to one day stop being an assassin.
"Why?"
A couple of people walked by and looked at them for a few moments, when Kalen saw that they were gone, he looked at Elisabeth.
"Because I'll be gone for a year... the job is in Urasis"
***
The news came as a bit of a surprise to his classmates and even more so to his friends, even Elisabeth was surprised, since according to Kalen he wasn't going to Urasis.
Kalen had not expected it either, but he could not refuse this job, not when the request came from a person like Adaire, and his mother was there as a witness.
In the Atlas Circle, workers like Kalen had the right to refuse work if a request was not to their liking. But there were times when it was impossible to refuse.
One such occasion was when the person asking for the work had considerable influence of some kind.
In this case, Adaire had enough power that Kalen was a little afraid to refuse. On top of that, her mother, as a senior executive, was also influential, which made it even harder to refuse.
Kalen had just turned 19 and had a few more years before he would graduate from college. But now he would have to go away for a year to work for Adaire, so he would be back after his 20th birthday and could resume college at that time.
Even though he didn't like the job very much, Kalen took it as an opportunity to train with Urasis. It would also allow him to see a bit more of this wonderful world, as everyone said.
When Kalen arrived home in the evening, he put his backpack on the couch and went to the kitchen to get something to eat.
He still felt tired, even though he had slept for a couple of days in a row, so he planned to keep sleeping. At least to be fully fit when Adaire came for him.
Kalen sat down on the couch and turned on the television to watch something while he relaxed. He put on a series he had started before his first test and began to watch it quietly.
About ten minutes into the episode, something interesting happened that made Kalen watch the show with even more interest... but he wasn't the only one.
"Oh... the form of entertainment in this world is quite interesting"
Kalen jumped up from his couch and walked as far away as he could. He picked up a kitchen knife from the counter and pointed it at the person who had suddenly spoken.
Leaning her arms on the back of the sofa, Adaire looked curiously at the television.
"What are you doing here?"
He couldn't figure out how the girl had found out where he lived and how she had gotten in without him noticing. Nor did he know how long she had been standing there.
"Well... I was bored and needed a guide. It's hard to understand some things in this world... it gets too complicated"
Adaire began to complain about various things as Kalen watched her in surprise.
Seeing that the young woman was constantly distracted by the TV, Kalen put the knife back on the counter and took control, pausing the show.
"Hey, what are you doing!? I was just getting to the best part!"
Kalen refused to continue and looked at Adaire seriously.
"Answer my questions first"
Adaire frowned and her expression changed.
"Don't get cocky, boy... if you didn't notice me, it's because you're weak. Anyone could have broken into your house and murdered you while you were distracted"
Kalen swallowed, salivating at the rise in Adaire's tone, but he was also puzzled.
Compared to most, Kalen had better senses and was more alert to anyone sneaking up on him.
Not to mention the high security of the building he lived in.
So not just anyone could have broken into his home and murdered him. Adaire's standards were simply too different from Kalen's.
"I answered you. Now resume!"
Kalen gave the girl a puzzled look, but he paid attention and continued the series. He really didn't want to upset Adaire, not after remembering the killer instinct he had felt that day.
After all, Adaire could end his existence at any moment if she wanted to.