Nathan yawned in boredom as he stared at the ceiling with cold eyes. During the course of the days, he just stayed indoors waiting for something to change... and it did.
For several days he noticed that the mood was becoming somewhat somber, although some people had expectant expressions on their faces.
Nathan had no idea what was supposed to be happening. Because of his bad reputation no one would talk to him, and he was ignored if he asked anything. So, he had no choice but to remain oblivious to the events that were unfolding.
'...How boring' Nathan muttered as he yawned again.
'That's because you got used to being in constant action' Amelia replied, remembering the several weeks Nathan had been hunting calamities.
'Sometimes I miss mundane things, like watching TV or watching a movie...' Nathan tried to remember the last time he had completely relaxed but no specific moment came to mind.
From time to time while training with Syril, there were days when neither of them simply didn't feel like training anymore. So, she would start brainstorming things they could do.
Although there wasn't much to do inside the Khan facility either, so they limited themselves to watching TV and movies.
Still, Nathan hadn't really taken a real break in ages, maybe the months he'd been in recovery after almost dying at the hands of the Blood ogre, but that didn't really count as a holiday.
'What's a television?' Amelia asked listening to the unfamiliar words Nathan was saying.
Nathan just stayed quiet and simply thought of a television. Amelia saw his thoughts and after a couple of seconds responded in surprise.
'Ohh! I didn't know something like that could exist'
Throughout his time getting to know Amelia, as the consciousness trapped inside the bracelet, he realized that she had no knowledge whatsoever of what technology was on earth and her knowledge was far from normal... at least from what she could remember.
Nathan began chatting idly with Amelia, teaching her a few things about earth, then suddenly went quiet abruptly, alerting her.
'Nathan? What's wrong?'
'Shhh!' Nathan urged her to be quiet and moved closer to the door, putting his ear against it, trying to hear what was going on the other side.
"Is everything ready, old man?"
Nathan froze as he heard the voice faintly heard from behind the door of his room.
"...Yes, we got the third core" The man replied with annoyance.
"Wow, I'm surprised you managed to kill a third rank calamity on your own" Spoke a male voice that Nathan also recognized.
"On my own? Dozens of my men died!" The man from before shouted in annoyance.
Nathan swallowed without daring to move even one of his muscles, besides not using what little essence he usually kept in his body so as not to reveal his position, let alone his mere existence.
'Why are they here?'
Faye and the king of the mercenaries were somehow walking right in front of his room as they chatted with the outskirts leader Nathan had encountered when he fell from the top of the castle, killing Seinor as well as a skeleton-like calamity.
"It was just lucky I'm still alive... a kid fell from the sky and collapsed the roof"
Nathan paled when the man mentioned him in their conversation. The less attention, the better.
"Oh? I'd like to meet the boy you speak of" The king of the mercenaries commented casually, which made Nathan feel even more worried.
'No, please!'
"He should be around here somewhere... No! A damn kid is the least of our business right now!" The old man shouted again in annoyance, then Faye sighed:
"Yeah, yeah, we just take the core you got"
For the second time Nathan felt grateful to the old man. Last time for healing him when he was about to faint and now for changing the subject.
Slowly the voices of the three began to drift away, Nathan could no longer hear them and did not want to enhance his ears with essence to prevent them from noticing his presence, so he just stood in the doorway and sighed.
'So, it has to do with them...'
Nathan began to understand why the atmosphere was so different by comparison when he arrived at the temporary fort.
The presence of his sister and the king of the mercenaries could not mean anything good, which meant that something was about to happen.
Nathan leaned his head against the door and looked up at the ceiling.
'What do you think about?' Amelia asked seeing him looking so thoughtful.
Nathan shook his head slightly.
'Nothing... it's just that---' His thoughts were cut off by a couple of voices behind the door again.
"Did they really find it?"
As soon as Nathan heard the voice, a big grin appeared on his face.
'No, no. It's not time yet' Nathan covered his mouth with his hand and closed his eyes, concentrating on Gril and Tana's conversation.
"Pretty good for people from the outskirts... their lives were good for something in the end"
Nathan smiled slightly at Tana's thoughts about people from the outskirts.
"Well, they're only good for something if we can get out of this place" Gril snorted.
Nathan had never really heard them talk normally before, but he could tell that the government and the people on the outskirts didn't get along at all, to the point where they almost didn't even consider them as persons.
Nathan heard Gril stop next to Tana, then he heard him sigh.
"What's wrong, Lynn?"
The young black-haired girl shook her head softly.
"It's nothing..."
Gril simply looked at her indifferently and turned back to continue walking.
After that, Nathan stopped paying attention to their conversation, instead he looked at the large sword at the back of his room that was leaning against the wall.
Then he looked down and held the necklace in his right hand.
'Ah... I've never really felt like hitting someone so much before'
Amelia was silent, remembering Nathan's state of madness that day. She knew that somehow he wasn't going to rest until he had vented his anger that had built up since his battle with the duo.
Nathan let go of the necklace and stretched out both arms.
After several weeks, even a month, his wounds from cuts and burns had healed, and although they had left ugly marks, they were a reminder of the mistakes he had made.
Nathan lowered his arms again and stood up slowly before he sat down on the edge of the bed, looking towards the door with a slight smile on his face.
Then suddenly his expression faltered, and he sighed crestfallen.
'Although I have no idea how to deal with them without Faye and that man getting in the way...'
Nathan clicked his tongue and raised his head again.
'Never mind... I just have to wait, patience is a virtue'