61 Unsettled businesses

"Ngow-pwea-ngow-----"

I struggled against all the people that binded me on the ground. I tried to move my every limb, yet I felt powerless.

"We have to do this, Kaff. You have no choice." Aunt was on the left side, holding down both my arm and leg.

"It's also the payment for what you did earlier." Three said as he held on my other leg before she continued and exclaimed, "If you hadn't enveloped the whole city with your origin, you wouldn't have caused so much panic that everyone hid in their houses for a whole day!"

"Guys, do you really have to be so rough with him?" Mom asked.

"Don't worry, ma'am. Your son is one tough guy. Even my master only did that once, and that was when he reached the half above the Grandmaster level." Croff was the one who held my other arm, on Three's side. They would most likely be enjoying this torture that I'm about to experience.

"Hel-eeee----"

I struggle once more but my physical strength isn't able to take them off, even more so since Aunt is personally holding me down.

"Heh. I'll enjoy this." Finally, Tek gently let go of my mouth, before he stood and gently checked a string that was attached to one of my tooth.

Few minutes earlier...

Mom noticed that one of my tooth was slightly out of place, about to come off, and then Tek suddenly commanded everyone to jump on me.

Aunt was the first to move, along with the words, "This is for ditching me! Hahahahahah!"

Then somehow, the boy also instantly reacted, probably using Soul Control to bind me in place. I tried to use my power, too but seeing Ellie within mother's hands, I couldn't really risk letting my actions go out of control.

Thus, everyone joined the somehow 'fun' event and pinned me to the ground, unable to move.

Going back to the present time, Tek is now about to pull on the string which was connected to the tooth while slowly nudging it.

If only I hadn't acted so much during the previous times that I tried to remove my baby teeth, Aunt wouldn't have heard and teased me as I had a hard time removing one.

Is it my fault that my body is so reactive to losing a single tooth that I can't endure the pain?

It's almost as much as painful from when I first experienced touching the azure Origin that I could only let out tears.

"Ready, kid?"

I only clenched my fists and closed my eyes as I opened my mouth.

"I'll make this painless. At the count of four; Four----!"

The number three wasn't even called yet, yet I felt an indescribable pain from the tooth on my lower right fang tooth.

...

An hour later---

Our whole party consisted of me, Mom, Aunt, Three, Croff, and the Verdant Skylark that we caught which was still within my barrier.

We were all inside my room, and I gathered them here because there's still an issue I have to tackle.

"Thank you all for gathering, it was a bit hard to call for everyone but it's good that we're all present."

I let out the few words that I usually say during my previous life whenever we started a meeting. I've modified it a bit to not sound too formal, but it seems like letting out those words became a seed for different reactions within everyone.

In short, it seems like everyone was suddenly surprised, and they had mixed reactions.

"Did you call us because you needed another ice cube?" Aunt complained.

When my tooth was pulled out, she was the one who gathered ice for me to heal my aching gums. Of cource, the bleeding was no more, yet there was still that pain that I can't describe. It's like I've been bruised on the teeth which was supposedly impossible, because something already removed from the body doesn't feel a thing anymore, doesn't it?

"No, this is more important. I'll be leaving again, and some of you have to stay."

Most of them were still smiling and supressing their laughter, but silence instantly permeated through the room and their expressions instantly changed into a more serious one as they heard my words.

"Of course, I have an idea where you plan to go. However, I can't agree that you'll be going alone."

"I didn't say that I'll go alone, Aunt. Of course I'm only human, and I still need help. But first things first, the top of my priority is Ellie, as she's the one that currently needs the most help right now since she only has about three years left before... something happens bad."

"This guy would die first though, but I get it. For you guys, family is first."

"That's right, and your master even told you that you have to protect Ellie. Did you have any news about him?"

Croff frowned before he replied.

"Unfortunately, not yet. This is the second time that Master had left me like this, and I can only wait for him before leaving you guys. I actually still want to travel the world, of course, but his words are still absolute;" he clenched his fist in front of himself before he let out the following words, "not until I finish my internal fluctuations anyway."

Internal fluctuations? What's that? If that's like his source power, then it could only mean that he's currently also improving himself even right now. I'm not sure how his powers work, and I don't plan to. But as long as he can still be our friend or ally, then there's not much problem for now.

"That's it for Ellie and Croff then. I hope Mom wouldn't object to this."

"Not really, it's actually reassuring. But provided I still don't have some powers and magic bothers me always. I hope you can at least let me experience what you tried to do, Kaff."

"I knew you were going to ask me again about it, and now that there are no worries on Ellie's side, I'll... I'll try to do my best tomorrow."

"Thanks Kaff. At least when you leave, I won't be worried so much. Handling that giant whale was already enough for me to be assured that you'll return home safe."

Mom put her hands on her chest and closed her eyes for a bit, before she left the room and probably went towards Ellie.

"Like mother, like son, yeah? I thought Pisa-sis would be against you leaving for a far place again, but it looks like she trusts you instead."

I glanced towards Aunt and replied.

"If I probably didn't show Dad before I left, she probably wouldn't let me leave. But since I agreed that I'll let her keep Dad's coffin, she just suddenly started to look calm."

Maybe there's also the fact that she wants to be by Dad's side..... but I didn't mention that and continued with the meeting.

"Next thing on my list, is this guy."

I pointed my hand over to the Verdant Skylark which was trying to gather his energy, but only gets cancelled whenever he hits some kind of level of power. With this kind of lock within my prison, he wouldn't be able to go back to full health, but he won't be in grave danger.

I don't know how long has he been living in this world, but a bit of confinement within a somewhat of a cube prison wouldn't be such a tormenting thing, right? I mean someone who had lived for a few hundred years already might just feel a few years to be something like an hour, if I assumed it right.

If that's not the case then I could just hope that he doesn't run out of patience and try to blow himself up or do anything dangerous, so I also prepared for that event that if the cube gets destroyed before I return to Oasis, I'll just have it explode.

We still don't know who sent them, and if that person knew where Mom and Ellie are, then what's the point of finding a cure?

Of course, these things that I've planned aren't absolute, so besides Ellie...

"Could you also take care of him, Croff?"

"Sure. I'm also curious about beasts that can transform into human form as a matter of fact. If you don't need him anymore then I'll just study him."

"Why do you use the word, 'study?' Isn't that used for books?" the man actually replied, after being silent for a long time. I could also see a bit of fear in his eyes when the word 'study' was mentioned.

Croff didn't say anything back to him, though, which only made him sweat and go back to his cross-legged sitting position while he tried to gather energy.

Now, to the main party that will go on this journey.

"Three, Aunt..... I hope you could also go with me this time."

There was silence for a while, and no one told a word for about a minute.

"Is there a problem?" I can't help but ask because they were taking too long for a reply.

"Nothing, it's just weird that we'll go on travelling to another place again when we've just rested here for a few days. Don't you know rest, Kaff?" Three complained as she pouted.

"Also, when do you plan to leave? When do you plan to return? What if Ellie suddenly just died to something unexpected and you weren't here, and what if Croff was suddenly called back by his master? What would you do?" This time, Aunt talked in turn, after Three finished.

"You're strong enough to travel by yourself, but why do you still want us to be with you?"

"I also want to travel by myself and move on my own pace, but Kaff, you're always trying to rush things by going ahead and pushing yourself. Don't you think that you actually need some kind of breather?"

"I'm not against going with you, Kaff. It's just..."

They alternated turns in talking, and Three paused, and Aunt continued in her stead.

"We've talking about this... it's just we feel that you've been trying your hardest yet we know that you only want to protect everyone around you. Maybe Yona somewhat influenced your way of thinking, that it doesn't feel like you're only a child that's not yet at least ten years old. Maybe there are other factors, and that you're actually a genius, but we feel that we're... we're only a hindrance to you."

"I didn't want to put it that way, Kaff. But it just seems like you're always serious and barely smile lately. Of course there are a few jokes that could make you laugh, but... it just feels like you've changed along the way.

Don't misunderstand, I'm thankful for you for taking me away from the Rolf family's schemes, but 'Did I enter a different kind of problem instead?' is what I always think about whenever my mind is idle."

After Three's words, Aunt scratched her head with a grunt before letting out her thoughts once more.

"Also, you still haven't told me what's with the Sharl thing all about. If you could at least tell me what's it about, then I might just join you instead, whether you like it or not."

I listened to them, and there were a few things that weren't really that clear, yet I could somehow get their point.

Of course, I also don't seem like a child when I observe myself. From my childhood, I had to pretend and even talked like a kid that knew only few words and grammar, but everything changed the moment when I said that I wanted to read.

My life also progressed so fast, I mean, what kind of kid just decides to travel by himself and disregard his own parents' and relatives' words?

Inheriting Dad's personality might also be a factor, and they might take that into consideration but is it really normal? I'm only about six years old when I left Illa, and even reached Dad somewhere by luck.

Then after that, I only kept training myself, as if I didn't had a life to live as a child.....which wasn't normal.

Aunt was also there, and she bore witness to how I grew up, and even trusted me wholeheartedly in our journey.....even letting me saw something she highly likely treasured.

Three was a real child, yet she also probably experienced her own troubles living with a family that was part of a large faction, and almost probably lost her freedom if I hadn't taken her away... but being with me, she's forced to travel with pressure, compared to her own ideals, her experience with mine wasn't probably better than she thought.

Now that I think of it, how does she really think of me?

We haven't talked much these days, especially when Mom became a part of our party.

I know that I also have some kind of difficult-to-say feelings for her, but we're still...I still consider her as a child and it's not really an appropriate time for that kind of stuff.

There are a lot of things that we actually have to say to each other, yet it keeps getting delayed on another day, on the next day, until the thoughts are forgotten.

I could only sigh as I thought of these things inside my head.

"Fine. Three... and Sharl. Since the two of you somehow insist it so much, I'll tell you about a few things. Things that you might not be able to handle, or just probably laugh it off on the side as usual. I also initially wanted to tell a few people about these thoughts that I have, but since I invited you two to join me, I have to try my best to buy your services, right?"

The two looked at each other and smiled, before returning their glances at me.

"Of course! So let us sleep together, all of us three in your room as we discuss with ourselves, okay?"

I could only bitterly smile from Aunt's words, and finally used my Soul Control to remove the remaining other two people besides us that aren't invited to my room.

"Fine, I approve of the sleepover."