Almost a year had passed since that encounter with the female ogre, and during this time, Kai's routine had changed a bit. Firstly, little Momo was now a frequent visitor, to the point where she practically lived with them. However, in Keiko's case, since the property was quite far, she spent less time there due to her work.
Meanwhile, Nejire, who attended school unlike Momo and Kai, could only come to play on weekends, though not every weekend, as she sometimes had schoolwork to do or accompanied her parents on their travels around the world.
But, although Momo and Kai didn't attend school, that didn't mean they weren't studying. In fact, now Kai was obliged to take private lessons alongside Momo. The good thing was that it was only a couple of times a week, since he could skip math and English classes.
Additionally, to Kai's surprise, the Pussycats continued to be incredibly close, coming to play all the time, helping him train, teaching him martial arts, and more. To the point where the heroes' mountain base was almost a second home for Kai.
On the other hand, his forge workshop had been completed a long time ago. Though it was initially somewhat difficult to forge items of a certain quality, thanks to the teachers Keiko and Yumiko had hired for him, he eventually got the hang of it. Now he was a fairly decent blacksmith, capable of making 1000-layer Damascus steel swords 10/10 times.
Creating high-quality Damascus steel swords was an achievement that made Kai very proud, making him feel like a real blacksmith. Therefore, honoring his word, he had given his best works to both Keiko and Yumiko, who received them with smiles and praised him to the skies as a genius.
But curiously, on one occasion when Kai visited his aunts' houses, he noticed they had all his creations in small exhibitions in visible places in their mansions and hadn't tried to sell any. Intrigued, he asked them the reason, only to get interesting responses.
"These are Kai-chan's works; of course, I can't sell them."
"Do you think I need the money, Kai?"
With such answers, Kai could only remain silent, but interested in knowing how much one of his creations could sell for. With his aunts' help, they organized a small auction where some weapons with only 500 layers he made in his beginnings were sold.
To his absolute surprise, his creations ended up selling for prices ranging between one and two million yen, which was crazy considering they were items he made when he was just a novice. So he immediately thought they had manipulated the price to make him feel better.
However, shortly after, Kai discovered that wasn't the case. In fact, the demand for weapons like the ones he made was quite large, something he verified by posting several of his creations in online auctions, where he achieved prices exceeding 3 million yen, although the shipping was a pain.
But the craziest thing was when he posted a 1000-layer sword and earned almost 6 million yen for it. Apparently, his blacksmith brand had become a reference within the community, which by the way was a hammer surrounded by an aura. So from time to time, he sold items in auctions, though they were of lesser quality than those he gave to Keiko and Yumiko.
Making weapons wasn't the only thing Kai did with his forge. He also made various types of kitchen knives for Nemuri and even learned some jewelry-making to craft many accessories for her and the people around him. But what made him the proudest so far were, without a doubt, the urns he made with his own hands, where his parents' ashes now rested.
...
In the middle of the garden, Kai was standing on one hand, perfectly still, with a focused expression on his face, wearing a comfortable black tracksuit. Suddenly, the blue-eyed boy was propelled several meters into the air, did a somersault, and landed on his feet.
"Yes, I've made quite a bit of progress in emission..."
With a satisfied expression on his face, Kai exclaimed to himself while moving his wrists. At that moment, a little Momo, dressed in an adorable blue dress with flower prints, peeked from the entrance of the house and exclaimed loudly with an adorable smile on her face.
"Kai-kun! Breakfast is ready!"
"Alright, Momo."
With a smile, Kai entered the house along with Momo, finding Nemuri, dressed in a simple white blouse and comfortable black pants, sitting in the dining room with her laptop in front of her, seemingly lost in thought.
"What are you thinking about, Onee-chan?" Kai approached and asked casually while focusing Gyo on his eyes to look at her, but as always, he couldn't find any signs of aura.
Since the fight with the female ogre, when Kai had been forced to protect Nemuri with his aura. The blue-eyed boy had been looking at his older sister with Gyo every day, trying to see if she had awakened some kind of aura. But so far, he hadn't noticed anything.
Full of curiosity, during this time Kai had tried different things to see if Nemuri could awaken an aura, since it wouldn't be bad if she could use it. He tried to use 'baptism' on her in various ways, such as covering her in aura, enhancing her abilities, or massaging her with aura—something he regretted because she now asks for it very often.
But so far, Nemuri had not shown the slightest sign of awakening an aura. However, as a result of all his experiments, Kai discovered that by using the properties of emitter and enhancer of his aura. He could give a kind of buff to other people, increasing their strength and natural recovery for a while.
"Do you remember I told you I wanted to start writing, Kai?" Nemuri responded with a question, then gave Kai a loving kiss on the cheek.
"Yes, I remember. Are you having trouble writing?" Kai asked as he sat down with Momo next to Nemuri, who replied while shaking her head.
"Not so much with writing; I have more trouble coming up with an attractive idea that might interest readers."
"What do you have so far?" Kai asked as a woman of about 45 with dark purple hair, dressed in what looked like a sober and elegant uniform, came out of the kitchen carrying several plates, which she placed on the table.
"Well, my idea is to write a fantasy novel, so I want to write about wizards in the modern era, but I'm not quite sure how to frame it. Although I have more or less designed the main characters and the first scenes, I still feel they aren't good enough."
After everyone thanked the woman who brought the food, who bowed respectfully before returning to the kitchen, Kai responded in a thoughtful tone.
"Why don't you try making it like a secret society of wizards that hides from non-magic people? You could even create interesting names that sound derogatory, like how wizards refer to non-magical people as Muggles or something. Plus, you could make the protagonist a little kid who enters the world of magic."
Over the past year, Kai had been researching this world's entertainment to see if the things he remembered from his past life existed, noticing that some did and some didn't. However, when he tried to produce the works he remembered himself, he realized an obvious fact: it wasn't that easy.
Although he remembered the plots, characters, and other details of the works, he couldn't remember the specific details and only recalled the broad strokes. So, if he wanted to reproduce them, he had to recreate them himself using real artistic skills that he didn't have. The attempts he made demonstrated this, ending up with something boring that didn't attract even himself enough to give them a chance. So all that research came to nothing.
"Mmm, that sounds like a good idea..." Nemuri's eyes lit up with the idea before she fell deeply into her thoughts.
While Nemuri was lost in her thoughts, Kai began to eat as if his life depended on it. After all, a few months after training his aura and Haki, the amount of food he ate increased exponentially. For this reason, Nemuri decided to hire someone to help around the house.
After a while, Nemuri took her laptop and began to type on it at great speed, almost as if she were possessed by inspiration. She then nodded, satisfied with what she had written, and looked at Kai.
"That's an excellent idea, Kai. A lot of ideas came to mind." Nemuri thanked him with a beautiful smile as she watched the blue-eyed boy devour his food, to which Momo intervened with a sweet smile.
"Kai-kun is very smart, so his idea must be great, Nemuri Onee-chan. You'll write a great book."
"Fufufu, you're right, Momo. I'll become a famous writer," Nemuri commented amused, to which Momo responded cheerfully.
"Yes, when you publish your book, I'll be the first to read it, hehe."
"Oh, then I already have my first little fan. Onee-chan is very happy," Nemuri commented sweetly while caressing little Momo's hair, who nodded happily with a spoon in her mouth.
"Umu."
Nemuri smiled joyfully at seeing the two cuties who brightened her days happily eating. But suddenly, she remembered something and turned to look at Kai, then spoke in a somewhat more serious tone.
"By the way, Kai, we have visitors today."
"And who is coming today, Onee-chan? I thought Nejire and the Pussycats were coming next weekend," Kai asked a bit confused, to which Nemuri responded in a grave tone, surprising little Momo slightly.
"It's Chief of Police Kenji Tsuragamae."
Upon hearing Nemuri's words, Kai put down the utensils in his hands and asked in a serious tone.
"Did something happen?"
"He'll let you know."
A bit nervous about Kai's reaction, Nemuri decided to respond evasively for now, which only increased Kai's concerns. He quickly asked while looking her in the eyes.
"Is it serious?"
"You could say so, but it's not bad for us."
"That's good then."
Meanwhile, little Momo moved her head cutely between Nemuri and Kai, who had resumed eating with somewhat complicated expressions on their faces. She felt really confused by the strange conversation they had, but due to the exhaustive education she had received from her mother and teachers, she decided to remain silent and continue eating. Maybe Kai-kun would explain what happened later.
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Extra chapter as a thank you to Niaagara-san for joining my Patreon.