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Cain and departure.
🕑 Added 2022-09-07 10:39:21 +0000 UTCSeth appeared right outside a simple-looking house at the age of the town. Its walls were made of already rotten wood and it also didn’t have any windows. This was the house of the thieves guild leader and probably the poorest-looking house in the entire town. If not for the absence of dust, one might even take it as a simple abandoned house.
Knocking gently on the door, Seth only had to wait for a few minutes until a tired young man opened it. Cain’s tired face brightened slightly when he saw it was Seth.
“It’s good to see you, ascended Seth. Come in so we can talk.”, said Cain before moving to the side to let him pass.
Seth nodded and walked into the simple house. Taking a seat on the only chair inside, he looked up at Cain and said: “You look like you’ve had better days.”
Cain sighed and sat down on the bed before saying: “Some trouble came my way lately. Also, the darkness source I’ve been trying to materialize is slowly taking shape, but no matter how much I try, and how many vials I use, the progress is simply too slow.”
Seth nodded and said: “That is because you have two weak affinities and your energy absorption speed is quite low. It’s normal. Also, the theory I gave you the last time was incomplete.”
“I noticed after receiving the new books you left with Ian. I understand why you did it, but I still would have preferred it if I know beforehand.”
“Why did you want to see me?” asked Seth with a shrug.
“I mostly wanted to ask you for some guidance, but after reading through the new books for a bit, I don’t need it anymore. By the way, are those girls with you?”
“You mean my students? Yes. Did they make any trouble for you?” asked Seth with a chuckle, already knowing the answer.
Another sigh escaped Cain’s mouth as he nodded. “That explains a lot. A sudden group of ascended appeared in town, fighting crime everywhere and acting like they were justice’s incarnation. I even had to pull most of my men into hiding. Same for the assassins.”
“Haha, I’ll be leaving after my visit here and take them back to the capital. I also know Sophie has already released your men from prison, so there’s no need for you to be so serious about it.”
Cain smiled wryly and nodded. “That girl, Sophie, is not bad. She’s a lot more considerate than the former lord, and she also doesn’t require that much to look the other way. Quite a good leader you brought me there.”
Seth shrugged and said: “I really did not. I only saved her back then to gain the lord’s favor, but after finding out about his… special practices…. I just took care of him. Sophie becoming the city lord is your own doing.”
“Wasn’t that your intention from the start?” asked Cain with a raised eyebrow.
“No. That was all you. I admit she’s good in bed, but I have no other ties with her.”
“Sigh… to think I wasted so much effort in getting that position for her.”
“Look at the good part. She’s quite kind, and also thinks about the poor of the city, trying to help them as much as she can. You won’t find such a kind lord any day. You’ve always ruled from the dark and that will not change either.”
“Maybe…” muttered Cain with another sigh.
Seth looked around the small single-room house and asked: “Why do you choose to live here? I’m sure money is not something you’re missing with your connections.”
Cain also looked at the small house with a smile before saying: “Why ask when you already know the answer? Besides being the place where I grew up, it’s also the place where I am most at peace.”
Seth sighed and stood up to leave. He knew Cain was the bastard son of a noble merchant from the capital, who raped his mother when he passed by here and left her with a child. Cain single-handedly made his way to the capital and entered the academy while planning his revenge.
After becoming a fallen, which messed up his plans, he didn’t get discouraged and formed some relations with the capital’s underground guilds before returning to his home. Here, he continued practicing to become an ascended, all with the hope of someday fulfilling his revenge.
As Seth was about to leave, Cain lifted his head and asked: “All those moves in the capital, what is your goal?”
Seth smiled, stopped right before walking out, and said: “Taking over the kingdom, what else?”
Once his words ended, he left Cain alone and walked out.
When he arrived back at the camp, it was already late in the evening, but Seth found the girls talking to his parents around a small campfire.
Seeing everyone there, Seth looked at the girls before saying: “Tomorrow morning we’ll start heading back to the capital. Your training will also resume and it will become even harder. I have prepared weighted clothes for all of you to wear as you run, while in the evening you will spar for four hours instead of two. Also, there will be no breaks since my father will drive the other carriage.”
Ignoring the pained looks on everyone’s faces, he next turned towards Caitlin. “Since you’ve ignored my words to wait here and joined Leora on her way to the village, your food rations would be brought to the same level as the rest. No extra food for you.”
“NOOOO!!!” a tragic yell escaped Caitlin’s lips as she fell to her knees and said: “Please, teacher. Anything but my food!!!”
“Seth, honey…” Hilda wanted to advocate for Caitlin, but Seth cut her words short: “Mother, she’s my student, not yours. Stay out of it.”
He then ignored Caitlin’s pleading look and turned towards the rest, who were watching Caitlin with pity.
“Get to sleep early since we’ll be leaving at first light. Good night.”
After saying his piece, Seth entered his tent and started making heavy clothes for the girls. Since he couldn’t create metals yet, he just stitched pieces of iron weapons cut with destruction energy into the material. His clothes looked kinda shabby, but they did their job.
Being done with that, he asked the system about his lust source progress.
<Lust: 12% >
‘Sophie brought me decent progress. Monitor this town as well. If Cain ascends, he might prove useful in the future.’
<Understood. Host, Caitlin is waiting for you outside the tent on her knees.>
Sighing, Seth walked out and motioned for Caitlin to walk in. She moved on her knees, not willing to stand up, and once inside the tent, she brought her face down, her forehead touching the ground.
“Please, teacher. Spare me.”
“And why should I? Didn’t you easily disregard my orders?” asked Seth with a raised eyebrow as he sat on the bed.
“I-I just wanted some more food. Please teacher, please forgive me. I will never do it again.”
“What about when you talked back to me after I had you absorb the life force of those assassins? And you trying to use my mother to extort food from me?”
Caitlin didn’t dare lift her head but had nothing to say back. She knew he was quite right, but was also discontent since he promised her all the food she can eat.
Seth felt quite bad for the poor girl and said: “Listen, Caitlin, what I need the most are people I can trust. While hard, everything I’m having you do is for your own sake as well. You need to become stronger now that you became an ascended.”
“Life is tough for poor commoners and they must latch onto every opportunity they get. You got the chance to become an ascended and rise from the rest, but if you become complacent and don’t progress any further, it all would have been for naught.”
“I know the food was pretty much all you ever cared about, but it’s about time for you to grow up. You now have companions, friends, and other people that cared about you. You can’t continue with the mentality of giving everything away for better food. I do not need a crybaby who will betray me at the first sign of food.”
“That’s why your punishment remains. Spend the time you would otherwise spend eating with the other girls. You can leave now.”
Caitlin stood up with a tragic-looking face and walked out of the tent.
Seth watched her slumped shoulders and dragging steps as he muttered: “This girl is so much trouble…”
<Host, my simulations show she had already formed an attachment to the class and host.>
‘I know and I planned on letting her slowly grow up, but I want her to be by my side when things will finally go down. I don’t want it to be a chance, but a guarantee. She had the carrot, and now I’m giving her the stick. When she can’t take the stick anymore, I’ll give her the carrot back.’
With his Caitlin problem solved, at least for now, Seth lay down on the bed and closed his eyes to sleep. Just then, he heard slow footsteps from the entrance and opened his eyes.
Seeing it was Leora, he frowned and asked: “Don’t tell me that brat sent you here.”
Leora shook her head and came into his bed. Closing her eyes, she lay on the bed and asked: “Can I sleep here?”
Raising an eyebrow, Seth asked: “Why?”
Leora didn’t answer and seemed to have already fallen asleep, much to the confused Seth’s dismay.
‘What’s on with her?’
<After host rescued Leora from the dungeon, she’s been having frequent instances of sleeplessness. These only got worse ever since she arrived here. She is exhausted.>
‘Is it because of this place?’
<Most probably. My calculations show host is bringing her an extra sense of security.>
Seth smiled and looked at the frown that appeared on Leora’s face. Moving to stand to the side, he grabbed hold of one of her hands and closed his eyes as well. He was not sleeping and just cultivating, but wanted her to know he was here for her.
‘She should have just told me if she was afraid to sleep alone. Silly girl.’
Early in the morning, Leora woke up and left Seth’s tent quietly. Seth opened his eyes after she was gone and shook his head.
A few minutes later, he walked out of the tent and quickly distributed the weighted clothes to the girls before wiping any traces of the camp ever being there using destruction energy.
With his parents in the second carriage and him in the first, he instructed the girls to start their jogging and whipped the horses to begin the journey back.
Not even ten minutes later, he noticed his mother approaching the carriage and slowed down for a moment to let her climb next to him.
Seeing her hesitant expression, Seth smiled and asked: “Did they complain again?”
Hilda shook her head and said: “No, they did not, but… isn’t it too hard for them? They look so frail.”
“Mom, they are already ascended. It is hard, but this will allow their body’s strength and stamina to keep up with their status as an ascended. Once one becomes an ascended, their body will also get revitalized, but their strength and stamina will not increase by much. They still need training.”
Hilda looked at the running girls again and said: “But why aren’t you running with them as well? They are just girls your age.”
Seth created a small rock in his hand and showed it to his mother before crushing it using his strength. He cheated by creating it empty on the inside and using the system to increase his strength slightly, but his mother didn’t know this and was left speechless.
“Because I don’t need it. Don’t worry, mom, I will not push them more than they can take it.”
Hilda said nothing else and rested her head on her son’s shoulder. She sometimes felt she didn’t know him anymore, but this change also made her happy.
She was always of the opinion he hated them and would one day leave the village in search of something else. When it happened, she never expected him to actually return. But now, seeing him here, taking her and Nash to the capital with him, she knew all her worries were for nothing.
