I opened my eyes, finding myself lying on a bed with a beautiful young nurse sitting beside me.
"Where am I?" I asked, suddenly alert.
"Mr.Zephyr, you're still in the Hunters Association," she said in a calm voice, her sweet smile reassuring me.
Just as I was about to get off the bed, I heard the sound of someone pulling back a curtain.
"Oy, Zephyr, don't think you've won. I'll come for you," said Eirin, getting up from the bed next to mine.
"Yeah, yeah, come again. I'll be waiting for you anytime," I said with a mischievous smile. "By the way, wanna come? I'm gonna buy something to eat, take this as a treat for the beating you took. You don't have to come if you don't want to."
"I guess I'll come since you're insisting so much," Eirin said, trying to hide his face.
"Oh, embarrassed, are you?" I teased, putting my arm around Eirin's neck.
"Hey, let go of me!" Eirin struggled, trying to break free.
As Eirin wriggled, the nurse smiled at the sight of us and, to my surprise, pulled out her phone. She looked at Eirin, blushing slightly. "Mr. Eirin, can I get your number?" she asked.
"Me?" Eirin asked, pointing at himself. "Sorry to say, miss, but I'm a minor."
"Minor??" Both the nurse and I said out loud at the same time. We were both stunned by this revelation. The nurse, hearing it, turned bright red with embarrassment.
"I'm deeply sorry!" she said, quickly leaving the room in a hurry.
"I can't believe you're a minor, judging by your build."
"Wait...does this mean all that smashing was just bullying?" I thought, recalling the fight I had with Eirin.
"You didn't mind our spar, did you? Like, maybe you got hurt too much or something," I asked, making sure he wasn't upset about it.
"Nah, I've taken harsher beatings from that old man," Eirin said nonchalantly with a smile.
"Judging by your tone, you seem close to the chairman," I remarked as we left the room.
"Well, he's the person I've spent most of my life with," Eirin replied, walking beside me.
We then descended to the first floor. As we reached the bottom, the hunters and people around us started gossiping, and some even began taking pictures.
One of the girls approached us and asked Eirin to take a picture with her. Eirin agreed, and after the photo was taken, more people began to gather around us.
"What a hassle."
I scooped Eirin up, and the sight left everyone, including him, in shock. With a powerful leap, I soared over the crowd, heading for the gate, only to find a swarm of reporters blocking the entrance.
"Let's get some fresh air."
I activated [Flight] at full throttle, disappearing from the spot with Eirin in tow. We ascended into the sky, which glowed with a warm yellow hue. "Too bad there's no sea around to enjoy the sunset," I remarked.
"Woah, you didn't tell me you could fly," Eirin said, feeling the wind smooth over his body.
"Well, we just met," I replied.
"Oh, foolish me," he said, scratching the back of his head with a sheepish expression.
I noticed a wooden shop with "Ramen is the Best Pleasure" written in bold letters. "I didn't know they had ramen in this world," I muttered softly.
"Did you say something?" Eirin asked, noticing my whisper.
We landed near the shop. It was dimly lit, with a male chef behind the counter and a young girl assisting him.
"What would you gentlemen like?" the man in the chef's outfit asked.
"Two bowls of ramen, please," I ordered politely.
The shop owner instructed the girl to start preparing the food and busied himself.
"By the way, Eirin, what's the deal with the chairman? He's not just a regular hunter, is he?" I asked, glancing at him.
"Says the guy who only awakened a few days ago," Eirin teased with a mocking tone.
"Which is exactly why I'm asking. It's confusing why I've never heard of the chairman if he's this absurdly powerful."
"The world's a lot more complex and devious, my friend, and that's something I learned the hard way," Eirin said with a solemn expression.
"Have you heard of the term The Unyielding Shield?" he asked, his tone suddenly serious.
"Isn't that the title given to Kealen Laufey, one of the six stars, for defending humanity on the day of the cataclysm?" I said, realizing Eirin was from that family. "But what does that have to do with the chairman?"
"That title originally belonged to the chairman," Eirin revealed.
"But why was it never made public?" I asked Eirin as more and more questions swirled in my mind.
"To tell you the truth, the chairman and my family were initially on good terms," Eirin began, his voice growing more tense. "But it all fell apart because of me. I was the son of a concubine, an unwanted child to my bastard of a father. He loathed me. When the apocalypse began, I was six years old, living with my mom in a shabby house, far from the grandiose Laufey estate. When my father awakened, the status of my family shot to the heavens. They only brought me to the main house to protect their reputation," Eirin explained, his tone laced with anger.
"Everyone in the household awakened good, unique skills. Most of my brothers and sisters got A-rank or higher unique skills. When I was around eleven, one of my brothers gave me an awakening stone, fully knowing the risk. It could've killed me. Miraculously, I survived… but I didn't awaken. No unique skill, nothing," Eirin continued, his frustration palpable.
"I would've been fine if they'd just left me as I was, but my father wouldn't let me out of the house, afraid I'd tarnish their reputation. A few months later, the chairman came to our house for urgent business. He saw the state I was in and took me in. They feared that chairman would expose them. And because of that...that damn reason, my family went out of their way to erase the chairman's identity from the internet, manipulating everything like nothing ever happened. Since the chairman's reputation was strong and he had ties with the Laufey house, my father twisted the media and people into believing that all of the chairman's achievements were his," Eirin explained, the bitterness in his voice unmistakable.
"When I turned fourteen, a miracle happened-I awakened, and I received an S-rank unique skill. The Laufey family demanded I return, but I refused. Since then, they've been trying to drag me back, but my only goal is to kill that bastard Kaelon Laufey. He abandoned my mother and made us suffer through everything," Eirin growled, his anger rising, a cold killing intent spilling from him.
"Calm down, Eirin," I said, trying to soothe him.
"Sorry...I must've gotten carried away," Eirin replied, his voice now calm but filled with a deep sadness.
====
Enjoy....