The babies did not even flinch at the presence of all these people and continued to sleep peacefully. They both looked so much alike, which probably meant they were twins.
Kalen watched them in silence for a few seconds, several questions coming to his mind.
'Why would they ask to look after two babies? There must be hundreds of maids in the palace'
The king stopped looking at the babies and focused on Kalen.
"So, are you ready?"
Kalen looked back at the king.
"How long will it take?"
The sun was still high in the sky, so there were still a few hours before nightfall.
The king rubbed his chin as he thought.
"Just a few hours... that should be enough"
It all seemed stranger and stranger to Kalen.
'Just a few hours? Well, that suits me'
Kalen shrugged and replied with a slight bow.
"That's perfect"
"Good!"
The king clapped his hands, and the two maids took the carts back. The king himself stood up and Kalen followed him.
Kalen had several questions but preferred to keep them to himself for now. After a minute's walk they reached the nursery and Kalen went in after the king.
Kalen frowned slightly when he saw the inside of the room, for it did not look like what he had imagined a royal nursery would look like.
But before he could inspect the room, he heard something behind him and turned around.
The king had left the room, and the maids had left the room after putting the babies into their cots.
The king smiled.
"Well, I wish you luck"
Then the doors closed, and Kalen heard strange noises behind them.
'What is it?'
Kalen approached the door and stroked its surface, only to find that it was solid metal and locked from the outside.
'Metal? Why would the door to a baby's room be made of metal?'
Kalen turned his gaze to the strange walls and studied their surface.
'These... are holes. As if something had been shot into the room'
Suddenly Kalen felt the temperature begin to rise, so he turned to see a beam of light flying in his direction.
'What?!'
Kalen moved to the side, raising his arm, and shielding his face from the beam.
The beam hit his forearm, leaving a hole in his clothing. Kalen looked down at his forearm and saw the bandage covering his skin.
He had applied the monk's bandage to his forearm, hidden by his clothing. He had yet to test its usefulness in defense... but he hadn't expected to do it so soon.
Kalen felt heat on his forearm, but the bandage was strong enough to withstand the beam.
Kalen looked at the babies and saw one of them looking at him.
The child... or rather Agnes. She looked up at him with her bright yellow eyes.
Kalen felt a chill as he looked into the girl's eyes. Those eyes weren't normal at all... they had too unnatural a glow, and as far as he knew, both children's eyes were supposed to be blue, not yellow.
"W-wait!"
The girl giggled playfully, and a beam of light shot out of her eyes at Kalen.
'Fuck!'
This time Kalen was able to dodge properly without being caught off guard, but at that moment another beam came close to his body, forcing him to use his aura to deflect it.
Kalen dodged and looked at the other baby, who had woken up and was looking at him earnestly with the same yellow eyes as his sister.
'Ah... now it all makes sense'
Kalen braced himself, building up aura on his legs and a little on the monk's bandage in case he couldn't dodge and had to defend himself.
'Well... this is going to be a long couple of hours'
***
Exactly 3 hours later, Kalen sighed and wiped the sweat from his brow.
'Damn... I don't want to do this again'
Kalen looked at the children who had just gone back to sleep and was finally able to relax. His clothes were full of small burn holes while some parts of his skin were red from the burns.
He looked around the room and finally understood why it had looked so strange earlier.
Kalen didn't know what had happened to the children or why they were throwing beams of light out of their eyes, but it seemed to happen a lot.
As he looked at his wounds, the doors to the room opened and King Angus peered out. When he saw Kalen, he smiled and entered.
"You are well, I am glad"
Kalen looked at the king and nodded slightly.
"I hope I have lived up to your expectations"
The king walked over to Kalen and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Of course, you have... I will reward you. Follow me"
They both left the room and two streams entered in their place. As Kalen walked behind the king, followed by the guards, he muttered to himself.
'Reward me? It's the least he can do after all the suffering'
Kalen was irritated, he was never in any real danger, but either way he would have preferred to know what he had to do and what was going to happen to these children.
Kalen wanted to know... no, he had the right to know.
"If I may ask... What about your children?"
The king walked on and began to speak.
"My family has been blessed by the sun itself for thousands of years. All members are born with the power of the sun... but there is a drawback, and that is that it is not easy to control, and even less so for a baby"
'Blessed by the sun? Is the sun a conscious being?'
As far as Kalen knew, the sun was a star, and not exactly something or someone that could bless a human being.
But who knew, Urasis was very different from Earth. All the common sense he'd learned in 18 years was useless in this place.
"It must be complicated"
The king nodded.
"It is... it's both a blessing and a curse"
Kalen assumed that whatever the king told him was public information, otherwise he doubted he would have told him at all.
Soon they were back in the throne room and the king walked down the red carpet and sat on the throne.
Kalen stood in the middle of the room and waited.
King Angus clapped his hands and Barret entered with a silver tray containing various items.
The knight approached Kalen as the king sat down on the throne. When Barret arrived in front of Kalen, he could see the items on the tray.
A wooden tablet with the symbol of a sun inscribed on its surface, a small leather pouch tied with a red cord, and a small wooden box.
"For fulfilling the request, these are your rewards"
The petition appeared to have been signed for payment in cash, along with various materials that Kalen assumed had already been delivered to Adaire.
Seeing Kalen's interest in the items, the king began to explain.
"The first reward is a kingdom passport, with which you will have no trouble within the kingdom. But!" The king emphasized the 'but'. "Just as I can give it to you, I can take it away from you, so I expect you to make good use of it."
Kalen nodded and continued to listen.
"The next two are simple monetary rewards, a bag of coins and a box of bills"
Kalen looked at the leather pouch and the wooden box.
'…Money'
It was something Kalen didn't need right now... but one day he would.
It was more than enough as a reward, he didn't know how much it was, but he guessed it would be a large amount. Considering that he was talking to the king.
Kalen bowed.
"Thank you, Your Majesty"
The king nodded, but before he could dismiss him, Kalen made another request.
"If it is not too much trouble... I need something to cover myself with"
All this time Kalen's clothes had been full of holes, and even if he could show himself to the king that way, he would rather go about the city covered.
The king smiled and laughed.
***
A few minutes later, Kalen was walking through the dark streets of the city. He had been teleported back to the surface and was on his way back to the mansion.
Night had fallen, and a few streetlamps illuminated the lonely streets.
Kalen wore a robe that covered his body and carried a small cloth pouch with a bag of coins and a box of notes.
He walked through the quiet streets for several minutes until he stopped abruptly.
Kalen sighed and scratched his hair in annoyance.
"Really? First day in town and they're already trying to rob me?"
Just as he said that several hooded figures emerged from the shadows and ambushed him from different directions.
Kalen looked at the hooded figures blocking his way and frowned.
'Eight people... two challengers among them. They are all armed'
Normal people were no problem for him... but two challengers together, that was something else.
He put the bag on the ground and pulled out a dagger hidden in his clothes. It was an ordinary dagger, not a relic'
Kalen had wanted to buy a relic-type weapon for those occasions when he had no choice but to fight... but he hadn't expected it to happen so quickly.
Mentally deciding that he would buy a weapon as soon as possible, Kalen lowered his center of gravity and prepared to meet the attackers.
"Anytime you want"