Chapter 200 - An Old Artifact?

The kid was sitting on a bed and swinging his small feet. 

"Hmph!"

He pouted his lips after glimpsing at the person sleeping on the bed, then he buried his face on the soft teddy bear in his arms.

After a few minutes, he raised his head and peeked at the sleeping person again. 

"Hmph!"

With another dissatisfied noise, he hugged his doll even tighter.

A while passed like that. The kid would peek at his uncle from time to time and then pout even more than before.

"Ariyan?"

Until the uncle sleeping beside him finally woke up. 

Kairen rubbed his eyes as he stretched his body. He then sat up and looked at Ariyan's sulking face.

"Since when have you been awake?"

Ariyan looked at him with his round dark gray eyes that now had some hints of sleepiness.

"Since mama left."

"Oh!"

Pull Pull Pull

Kairen pulled the kid's soft cheeks with a willy smile on his face.

"Where did she go?"

"Work!"

Ariyan pouted his lips as he uttered that word. It was visible how he hated that 'work'.

"What about Kain?"

"Hmph!"

The kid huffed angrily and squeezed his teddy bear in his arms.

"Papa hasn't come home after he left with uncle! He hasn't even called me! Hmph! And he said we would go out together since it's the end of summer! HMPH!!!"

"...."

Kairen pulled the kid's cheeks even more.

Kain hasn't come back?

'Is he still in the hospital?'

But his wounds were mostly treated when they returned from the mission. 

'It's odd for him not to even call home but I'm sure he will be fine.'

With that thought, Kairen let go of the poor kid's cheeks and got out of bed. 

He had come back home late at night. It was too late so he didn't wake up anyone and naturally didn't know who was at home and who wasn't. 

He didn't expect the commander to let him go so easily, but he did! After the interrogation, he stayed at his luxurious jail for the rest of the day and then was brought to Kain's house in the middle of the night. Kairen honestly expected to be imprisoned for a while or go through some scary interrogation, but none of them happened. It was really surprising.

-Then, what if I... ask for a favor from Mr. Steyton?

"Hah!"

Kairen sighed and shook his head. It was not the right time to think about that. He didn't want to ever think about that 'favor' the commander talked about.

Kairen stroked Ariyan's head.

"You are hungry, right? Let's eat breakfast."

"Un!"

Ariyan also jumped down from the bed and followed Kairen.

Kairen was not skilled in cooking, but he still knew some basics as he had to cook when he lived with his brother. After coming here, he had learned some small tips from Alessia that made his horrible foods eatable. 

Anyway, he didn't need to do much cooking as it was only breakfast and nothing much. The kid and his uncle sat around the table and started their meal.

-I've lost my memories.

Kairen had been thinking about the interrogation the whole day yesterday and still couldn't find a proper answer.

'And that man knows me...'

But who was he if he knew Kairen from Earth?

Kairen didn't have a lot of friends. He had a few but they weren't too close to him. There were also no other significant people in his life. His parents were long dead and only his brother remained for him. 

'Is it possible... that it's him...?'

Kairen shook his head. There was no way that it would be him. Why would he be here anyway? Also, that soil dude was so talented in fighting and controlling his power, but there was nothing like that on Earth. If he was from Earth then he must've gotten here a long time ago for him to be so powerful... but Kairen didn't remember anyone who had suddenly disappeared from his life.

SLAM

"Uncleeee!"

Kairen almost jolted up from the sudden loud slam on the table. 

"Y-Yes?"

SLAM SLAM SLAM

Ariyan slammed the table with his small fists, his cute face now getting red from anger.

"I called you so many times! Why didn't you answer me?"

Kairen looked at the kid's face, which was supposed to be scary but was even more adorable, and held back his smile.

"Sorry! What did you want to say?"

"Hmph!"

The kid shifted his gaze with a grumpy expression as if sulking.

'He is not in a good mood huh?'

The normally cheerful and quiet kid was really furious since morning. Was it because his parents were both gone to work and he was left alone? He also said something about going out with his family... 

'Hmm...'

Kairen nodded his head.

'Understandable!'

Poke Poke Poke

Kairen poked the kid's puffed cheeks.

"Sorry I was thinking about something! Tell me now, I'm listening!"

"Hmph!"

Poke Poke Poke

"I sincerely apologize, master!"

"Hmphhh!"

Poke Poke Poke

Kairen heard the kid's low mumble after poking his cheek a few times more.

"Can uncle take me out to ride my bicycle?"

Kairen's finger poking the kid's cheek froze in the air.

Go out? But he wanted to sleep again! Even after two days, he was still tired because of that power! 

Kairen whipped his tears inwardly.

"Alright!"

He could see the kid smile while still doing his best to look angry.

'Hah! Really, where is Kain?'

Kairen wondered while looking at the kid's now happy face.

'I should give him a call later.'

. . . . . .

"Huff... Huff..."

Drip 

Drip

Water trickled down his cheek and fell to the ground. He gasped for air as he leaned on a wall. He took a few deep breathes before looking up at the man in front of him. As soon as the man received his gaze, he nodded his head to him.

"That was good enough for your second day."

Splash Splash

As Alan moved around in the training ground, the water on the ground splashed everywhere. His clothes were also wet as well as everywhere else in the building.

"But still not enough. You know what would've happened if I hadn't stopped it on time, right?"

Kain gulped as he nodded his head. He looked down at the thing on his wrist. It was shining blue again. Kain thought about the explosive power that burst out of the bracelet just a few minutes ago. If it wasn't for the man stopping the explosion just in time, by now both of them and this building, maybe even the buildings and people nearby would be have been cut in pieces.

Alan had told him that he needed to train. He told him some stuff about the bracelet and the power and answered some of his questions. Since he was trusted by unit 5's team leader, Kain decided that he could follow his words for at least a day and did as he was told.

He had trained the whole day yesterday so that he could control the power, but in the end, he didn't seem that successful. He had followed all of the instructions given to him by this man, however, it looked like one day of training wouldn't be enough. 

"You must be more careful."

Alan looked at his wet smartphone with a sad gaze.

"I won't be able to stop this thing all the time."

He carefully used his power on the smartphone, removing all the water from it. 

"It was just a weak burst of power. That was why I could stop it. But I won't be able to do the same after some time passes and the power gets fused with your soul."

He said that while turning on his phone. Once the screen lit up, he smiled proudly and tossed the phone into his pocket. 

"I still don't get it. Why would something like this appear out of nowhere? And why me?"

Kain picked up his drenched phone from the ground and handed it to Alan with a demanding face. Alan looked annoyed, but he still received the phone and used his power on it, removing the water from the phone.

"You called it an ancient artifact? Why would such a thing exist without anyone knowing about it?"

Alan threw the phone to Kain's face.

"Because it's an ancient artifact that no one knows about! Are you dump?"

"Then how do you know about it?"

Kain looked at the phone's screen. There were a lot of missed calls. He looked at the 28 missed calls from Alessia and gulped.

"I said I won't answer any personal questions."

"This is not personal! I should know if the freak who had been teaching me every kind of stupidly weird stuff for the last 24 hours is sane or not!"

"Hah! Brat you-"

Drrrrr

Drrrrr

Alan's words were interrupted. Kain's eyes widened as he looked at the caller's name.

"He is back?"

He moved his hand to answer the call, but stopped midway and glanced at Alan.

"Oh, the brat? Answer it. And tell him to come here."

"What? Come here?"

Smack

Alan smacked the back of Kain's head.

"Shut up and go train!"

He forcefully pulled the phone out of Kain's hands and then kicked him aside.

"Hey!"

And answered the call immediately.

-Hey, Kain! Where have you-

"Oy, brat! Come here right now!"

-...

-Papa? Is it papa??

-Alan? Why is Kain's phone-

"The older brat is with me. Come here. I have something to tell to-"

-PAAAPAAAAAA!

Alan had no choice but the move the phone away from his ear as much as possible.

-PAPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! BAD PAPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Alan moved the phone to Kain.

"Is it your brat?"

"...."

-WHY DIDN'T YOU ANSWER MY CALLS I CALLED YOU SO MANY TIMES PAPA YOU ARE REALLY A BAD PAPA WHY DIDN'T YOU COME HOME YOU PROMISED THAT YOU WOULD TAKE ME OUT ONCE YOU RETURN FROM YOUR WORK I HATE YOU SOOOOOOOOO MUCHHHHHH SO SO SO MUCHHHHHH.

-Ariyan give me back my phone.

-BAD PAPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA LIEEEERRRRRRRR!!!

"....."

"....."

Alan looked at the phone, then at Kain.

BEP

And ended the call. 

"Maybe there was no need for that brat to come here. I can talk to him later."

"...."

Kain took back his phone with a gloomy face.

"My son hates me..."

"...."

"It's all your fault..."

"...."

Pat Pat

Alan patted his shoulder.

"Forget about it and let me tell you more about the artifact, huh?"

"...."

Kain nodded his head with the same gloomy face.

"Hmm... You must know about the 6 generals of the empire, right? The most powerful individuals in each category of unique skills would be chosen to be the 6 generals of the empire."

Alan sat down in a dry spot.

"Do you know how those 6 generals would be chosen each generation?"

"By... some kind of test?"

Alan shook his head.

"There surely would be a test, but that wasn't the trick."

Alan sighed.

"Yes, they would fight and show off their powers to everyone. The strongest among all would be chosen through countless factors. But in the end, the person who would become the next general wouldn't be chosen by a test... but by some artifacts... The 6 Holy Artifacts of the empire."

"...."

Blink Blink

Kain's blank face was completely ignored.

"The artifact would give power to the chosen one. It would connect to the user's soul and could never be separated from the person until their death. That's exactly the same way in which the emperor would be chosen... by the 7th piece of the artifact set, the Divine Crown."

He paused for a moment and lowered his voice.

"All of them must've been destroyed or sealed after their last masters passed away... That kid's power must've been the thing that broke the seal."

Alan pointed at the bracelet.

"And that bracelet of yours is one of those artifacts.. Which means it must've chosen you as his master for some reason."