The Talk in the Guest Room

In the apartment's living room, Renir and Imee both silently sat on the floor with notes in hands. Their backs on the sofa and their shoulders leaning against each other.

After breakfast, they "played" for a bit before going back to work, with few breaks in-between including lunch, until now, four in the afternoon. Their minds absorbed in<span style="font-size: calc(var(--rem) * 1px * 1.0625); letter-spacing: 0px;"> what they were reading without considering that there are no spaces between them.</span>

Tomorrow was the exam and the first battle of Renir and Harvie. Imee too was taking it seriously since she wouldn't let anyone take the first place away from her. It was important for establishing her image. People are naturally inclined to follow the best person and to show that you are that best person is to be on the top.

Fortunately for her, she was not on the level of Renir who was rushing his studies since she had been working hard on her studies from day one. If she were to take the test now, she was confident to top it, however, not everything goes to expectation, thus, it was necessary to guarantee it.

Renir, on the other hand, was in a flux of reading, establishing connections, and understanding the concepts easier than he expected. His only problem was the memorization, and with nine subjects, including the written exam in Physical Fitness subject, he had a lot to remember and stack on his head.

This silence and concentration continued for a while even after sunset...

A few kilometers away, Sam's bike was still leaning on the wall, with no one dumb to steal in front of the famous yet mysterious dojo for the common people in Pentoran City.

The two, Avron and Sam was currently back in the guest room. Although he did nothing but wait and sit there, Sam was profusely sweating. After witnessing what was the hellish training for one to become Ernanfo's direct disciple, it was a no-brainer to conclude that he was in the den of monsters and they were about to poke the king of those monsters.

The sun had already set and it was time to meet one of the Fellnigh's few elites, the Symbol of Power, and also the one the Wicked is cautious of and respected.

Lights never once flickered but Sam thought it was flickering. This was due to his nervousness and when the scraping sound, the sound of the guest room's sliding door opening, entered his ears, he jerked from his seat.

"Would you calm down?" Avron looked at him, annoyed.

The one who opened the door was the stern man earlier, however, he did not enter and just held the door for a handsome man to come. This handsome man was sweating and a bit pale, however, his complexion and posture say otherwise, keeping a composed look and professionalism coming from him.

At first, Sam felt relieved. Even though the master looked young, he imagined him to still looked at the forties at best but this man looked like in his late twenties.

However, his heart jumped when Avron stood up and slightly bowed, "Uncle Ernanfo, it's nice to see you."

Sam's expression was of shock as he followed right after and greeted too, "G-g-go-good day, Sir Ernanfo...!"

His face paled when he realized his tone became of shout at the end, "Ah, umm..."

Ernanfo just looked at Sam with confusion after smiling at Avron.

Avron sighed at this and apologized on his behalf, "Sorry, Uncle, we were here from noon and waited till now. With nothing to do, I just told him about you and it looked like it scared him this much." even in front of this dojo's famed master, his voice was indifferent from before.

Hearing this, Ernanfo chuckled and said, "Don't worry, I am not as crazy as Avron and the boss to do anything harmful to anyone I see." he smiled and patted Sam on his shoulder.

Sam looked up and felt relieved when suddenly, he saw cold eyes that made his instincts riled up as it sensed danger.

"That is unless you're looking for it." Ernanfo had a smile on his face but it made Sam want to go home and cry in the corner till it's morning.

'What's with these people!? Why are they so scary as if they will be the cause of my death!?' And thinking about the news that Avron was about to tell Ernanfo, Sam realized, 'Ah! But that is our intentions here!' he steeled himself that that day will be the day of his death anniversary.

"Okay, sit down. I don't have much free time. The boss was still desperate to find this one guy." Ernanfo sat down as he wiped his sweat from his daily routine.

Avron and Sam then followed to sit down and when Avron replied, he went straight to the point, "But the reason we came here to talk, uncle, is to tell you about this one guy."

Ernanfo's eyes widened while Sam gulped hard, "So you know a guy named Renir too?"

"Yes, I know where he is too. He definitely fits the boss's description of him. He is a schoolmate of mine."

"Ohh, knowing you, you must've already taken control of your school..." But Ernanfo though a little, "No, that would be impossible. My cute daughter is in that school too so there's no way you can completely control it." he proudly laughed while Sam lowered his head even more, "But still... taking one man wouldn't be that hard for you. Wouldn't it be better to take all the credit to impress the boss? Why tell me?" he slyly smiled.

'He was able to understand that much just from one sentence?' Sam was inwardly amazed.

Beside him, still calmly sitting on the chair, Avron shook his head and said, "No, this is completely out of my hand out of respect for you."

"You want me to take half the credit?"

"No, that wasn't my intention. This is about your daughter, she is protecting that Renir."

Sam felt like every second was an hour just from those few exchanges.

"Hm? I didn't know you're this considerate. Just tell her that this is a part of her dad's work, I'm sure she will understand. That girl is especially kind, wanting to protect everyone." Ernanfo sweetly smiled.

"No, it is more complicated than that, uncle." Avron paused a little seeing that Ernanfo was still unsuspecting, "Yesterday, I have people to follow Renir, waiting for him and your daughter to separate paths on their way home at lunch break."

"Hm, hm, I'll forgive you this time that you let your men stalk my daughter since she's not your target in the first place. But..." Ernanfo squinted his eyes, "are you telling me that Imee walked home together with a guy without me knowing?"

'That was just the tip of the iceberg but I'm already sensing anger from him! How overprotective can you be?!' Sam was about to cry.

Avron nodded and continued, "The reason why this is out of my hand is that Renir and your... daughter didn't separate paths."

"....." Ernanfo was silent with his squinted eyes before it widened and what came out of his mouth was just, "Hah?"

"Renir went into your daughter's apartment with her."

"Hah??"

"Both are absent at school, yesterday afternoon."

"Hah???"

"And still absent until now. When my men came back, they told me that both still didn't come out."

"....."

"Which means that Renir slept at Imee's apartment."

"..."

"Which means that they were together from yesterday till now."

"..."

"Which means they are alone."

"Together."

"Without you"

"Her father knowing."

"Overnight."

"A girl and a boy"

"Alone"

"Inside four wal-"

"Avron" Sam had enough and grabbed Avron's mouth, "I think that's enough..."

Avron stopped and rolled his eyes towards Sam with a sharp look.

'Shit! Shit! SHIT!! What have I done, interrupting the Wicked?! I can't believe I was more scared of a person other than the Wicked to do this!'

"Hahaha... good job."

Sam and Avron heard a forced laugh while Avron slowly took Sam's hand from his face. They both looked back at Ernanfo and saw a different kind of being.

"If you haven't shut him up, I would've... for good."

Sam didn't know what was scarier, death by the Wicked, or those words.

"Avron... if you are not telling the truth and just said that to piss me off, it's working effectively... You think I can't touch you because you're the boss' adopted bastard?"

'Eh?' Sam's eyes widened in shock.

"If you are telling a lie, you are not going to see tomorrow." after saying that, Ernanfo stood up and said, "You two are coming with me... so that you can't escape."

'Why me too?!'

Sam then looked at Avron and for the first time, he saw an expression he had never seen before on the Wicked's face.

Worry.

.....

In the apartment, Renir weirdly felt worried for an unknown reason. His feet cold, his heart beating fast and loud, and his ears unconsciously twitched from time to time. It was like the time in Gantlet when his senses heightened and felt the Water Sentinel approaching with the intention to kill.

However, he doubted it. He knew he lost his power so that "sixth sense" surely must've too. When he was about to ignore it, he then heard something.

[Rune User Renir, this is Olmen, remember to reply using your thoughts only.}

Renir glanced and saw Olmen in front of them. Usually, his body slightly translucent since he was just inside Renir's head.

[Such a sweet scene.] Olmen commented which Renir blushed and acted tough;

'What is it?' since Imee was still on his side, he didn't make any more unnecessary movement.

[Well, good news, the Supreme Council found a solution to the problem about your powers and I have it on me!]