38 Two Years
Meanwhile, somewhere in a manor within Phione...
There was a certain room filled with a lot of bookshelves lined up along the walls, and on the front end of the door was a window.
Just before the window was a wide wooden desk accompanied by a chair, and within it sat a man. There were a lot of unsorted books scattered on the table, and some were even left open.
He was frantically flipping the pages as soon as he scanned through them, until he put them to his right and took one from the left. Most of the books were heavy and thick, bounded by a leather cover. There were a few books that looked like the one Kaff got ahold of before he got sent to this world.
The door to the room slightly opened, and a girl with a black one piece dress entered. She had long black hair that became silver at the end, her eyes a bit sharp, and her body was starting to become more lady-like. It was Dorother who turned ten years old, and also became a bit taller.
She peeked for a bit before closing the door once more, only to be stopped by the man within the room.
"You're not trying to escape again, are you?"
"I'm not." She firmly replied as she pouted her lips and puffed her cheeks.
There was a brief silence before Dorother started, "Why did spread bad rumors again? Why won't you tell me where Kaff really is?"
"He's a dangerous person, that's all you need to hear!"
"But Father!"
"Just...! Let me be alone for a while. Sorry for yelling."
Dorother stepped a foot backward before William shut the door to his study room.
"He always gets in the weirdest troubles..." She murmured to herself, while holding a token in her hand. It was the very same token she gave him two years ago.
...
Meanwhile somewhere within the northern region, Kaff continued with his training, while Yona personally instructed Arc on skills and techniques, and also gave her a strict schedule for each day.
As Kaff wasn't done with achieving the hundred-day duration within the bluish zone, he was just standing throughout the whole duration of his training. Strangely, he didn't need any kind of solid and liquid intakes that he didn't had to stop training. There were times that he'd willingly rest for a while before getting a visit from Yona within that instant, which made him wonder if there was some sort of indicator that tells her if he rested.
The days pass by like that, and continued over five months.
Arc reached the Master-level as a Sword User, while Kaff was still stuck at the 40th day of endurance. The last time he rested, Yona even scolded him, telling him that there was not much time.
She brought him news that Dorother had agreed with proceeding through the arranged marriage with the Rolf family's next head. The Flairfly and Rolf wanted to consolidate and increase their power and Vates authority within Phione, and there would be a large wedding ceremony to be conducted after two years.
Kaff wasn't sure as to why she had that information, and even bothered to acquire it or if she just wanted to pressure him more.
There was also another news that made his expression turn grim. His mother is already married as a concubine to the Merchants Union's proprietor.
He was stunned for a while, before Yona attempted to flick his forehead once more, only to be unexpectedly dodged as his mood turned back to normal.
Unknown to him, Yona wanted to put more pressure on him, seeing his progress grow smoothly.
She told him that she expected him to be finished within three months more before achieving the hundred-day limit, before progressing to the next step for his get-stronger sharpening.
Surely enough, three months passed and Yona came back after seeing a firm wisp of white and purplish colored smoke rising towards the air which came from Kaff's general direction. Seeing that made Yona shrug to herself and cursed to the side, yet not distracted enough for Arc to land a single hit on her.
Kaff finally finished, and once more viewed his unfamiliar surroundings from the bluish zone. The trees got a bit taller, a few grass laded with snow below on his feet already grew. He saw observed himself and realized that his whole body was soiled and smelled almost not as worse as a rotten egg.
But first, he wanted to rest so he laid on the snow directly instead, falling asleep in an instant.
The day he finished however, a rain mysteriously poured from the skies, instead of snow. Everything was drenched wet and Kaff also got implicated as he got a free bath while sleeping.
...
The next day, Kaff was forcibly awakened by feeling the wind along with a slight disorientation, before he opened his eyes and screamed at the top of his lungs... if he had been any slower, then he might have not formed a barrier with a spinning drill in front. The drill dug through the snow and met earth; passing without resistance before it stopped after a few meters of depth underground.
He could only chuckle with cold sweat on his back along with a bitter smile as Yona's voice resounded in his mind and said, 'don't slack off' before disappearing once more somewhere.
Knowing that the next part of his training was about to start, he willed himself to get up, and started to float upwards.
"...I'm flying!"
His eyes bulged from the discovery and lost control, falling back to where he started.
...
It took about two weeks before he could finally fly at will without resistance, with the help of more 'Kaff projectiles' drilling a lot of holes all around the white field of snow and ice.
Arc also learned flight movement, and had been training with Yona ever since, with her flight speeds even faster than when she was on the ground.
...
A year had passed since the day they first stayed at the field they were in, and Yona took a break from their training. That day was also the day when Kaff and Arc's god's marks were removed. The next day, they resumed their grueling baptism and the two started to form a team as they assault Yona at the same time.
Kaff's training went by dodging and blocking Yona early within the day, resting for the earlier half, and tagging a team with Arc until nightfall. On every week they would conduct one on one with Yona, which both of them do not really prefer...
For every two weeks they would compare and have pointers regarding their magical energies with the same practice with Yona, before resuming to using their usual activities in regards to actual battle.
Time passed by fast, and before they knew it, another year had already passed.
It was time for Yona to leave for somewhere, but before she left, she left some gifts for the both of them. Arc received a new double-edged sword with an orange blade and a black hilt. On the blade there were a few engravings, and once she got ahold of the sword the engravings glowed with golden light. Arc thanked her for this and even approached for an embrace.
After a suffocating parting, Yona then turned to Kaff and handed him two necklaces. One of them was a storage which can keep items within a nine-meter cubic space... Yona also told him to not place any items yet inside because his father's corpse within a coffin is inside.
The other necklace is a surprise, and only told him that it would bear fruit for a few years. Mentioning the word fruit, Kaff had his doubts about the contents of the necklace but he still kept that in mind...
Yona didn't mellow out from their two years of companionship, but the two girls had a certain friendship, while Kaff treated her as a teacher and a master. It couldn't be said that there were no tears shed on the day she left, though.
Before she finally parted, she still gave a last lesson for them.
Simply, they just have to find their way back towards Phione without relying on flying.
Why did she have to stale at their already warm farewells... Kaff and Arc could only complain and let out their thoughts as Yona left---as they totally had no idea.
...
Two months later---
...
The streets were laded with various flowers, paroles, lanters, and all sorts of decorations colored in a dark hue.
On a certain manor within Phione, two families took up a large size of territory, encompassing almost a third of Phione.
Vates filled the whole place and blocked a perimeter that almost encompassed a third of Phione. Pillars of light stood, light screens displayed a massive polygon that could be seen from above. From the distance, a large golden barrier enveloped the whole place.
A few of the guards on one edge of the barrier were chatting each other.
"Why are they so happy?" A Vates on guard spat to the side as he complained. Two of the other Vates glanced towards further in the district from afar, and people were busy yet there was a hint of excitement on each person's face.
"If it weren't for the news that the demon child would invade us at this special occasion, I would've also joined in the parade instead."
"No one even knows what really happened. Even I was sent there but only got lost within the blizzard at that time. Anyway that's too long ago, I can't really remember the details."
There was a long black carpet that was embroidered with golden lines on each side. It stretched from a certain manor from the distance. No one dared to step within the black carpet even when there were barely any lookouts.
If one tracked the carpet, a few dense forestry could be traversed before a simple gate could be seen.
There were eight golden speeding lights from the distance, and were travelling in a formation. One of them started to dive and the rest followed, landing in front of the simple gates.
All of them wore light armor within and black robes that covered their whole body. A man with all of his hairs almost white slowly walked and put his hand in front of him as he started to chant something, before golden light moved towards the gate and formed a circle with an unknown character at the center.
As soon as the circle appeared, all of black robed people behind the man quickly passed through the gates which didn't even open as if it was thin air, before the white-haired man entered himself.
The light disappeared and the place went silent.
On the inside, a large amount of black robed people could be seen and lined up along the black carpet, until it reached towards the small staircases that connected to the large doorway inside.
The eight people passed through the doorway, and exited behind as they went through, and were greeted by a thin bald man with a butler's suit.
"Greetings to our dear guests." He respectfully bowed his waist before he walked and guided the eight people towards a recently built black pavillion behind the manor.
The pavillion reached a hundred feet above, and about three hundred feet on its sides. The walls were only composed of golden pillars of about half a foot thick that were separated every ten feet, and they could see that there were already a lot of seated Vates on a long table inside. There were also a few circular tables on the sides. On what seemed to be a front of the pavillion, stood a platform that wasn't very high.
There were three slightly elevated seats on the center, and in front of them was a chair with armrests, and almost looked like a throne.
The group of eight were seated near the front, and could clearly see that the two on the elevated seats was a tall man which had a suit on, and the other was a man with a large body frame. The center seat had no one there.
The tall man stood after seeing the eight people guided by the thin bald man and personally went near them before they reached their supposed seats.
"Greetings, Savar. A salute to the Flairfly household."
"Greetings, Master. I hope you're doing well. Thank you for coming."
As soon as the two spoke, the crowds within the pavillion slightly toned down their voices.
