251 Good night
The day after the infiltration mission, Kairen had to go on a mission with unit 5 to aid in the war on the borders. Two days after that, he was sent to observe a group suspected to work for Philomns. Two days after that he was once again sent to take down a Philomns base with unit 5. Another few days were spent chasing a war commander who had run away from the front lines and two more days to find the traitor on their side who had revealed their plan of ambushing the enemy. As soon as he was done with that, he was sent to capture one of the politicians that were suspected to leak information with the help of another agent from the Secret Operations Unit, and after that, he was once again on the borders with the unit 5.
All this went on while they were still investigating the last temple, the Temple of Dawn.
As they were obviously busy, the investigation went really slowly. They didn’t have any sources of information besides the books that Alan brought and not everyone was allowed to read the books either. Only Kairen, Alan, and Glenn were permitted to work on that case, not even the intelligence branch could investigate this case, so it took more time than imagined.
They had found out some stuff so far though. Not about the Temple of Dawn, but about the religion. They had found out quite a few interesting pieces of information.
For example, they now knew that the head of that religion, the man that was known as an apostle by some people, had no known past. It was as if he had suddenly popped up out of thin air.
Furthermore, the man had lived for 500 years, but no one knows how. He would disappear from time to time and not show his face to the public for years before appearing again looking as young as ever. Although the reason behind his disappearance was unknown, it too soon turned into some holy and religion-related story. There were talks about how he would isolate himself from the lowly hostels of everyday life to spend his time getting close to the god and ascend to higher stands or other stories like that.
The other thing was about the military forces that the religion had. It was strange to the bone that a mere religion could have enough power to go up against the empire’s forces. According to the books, the man ‘granted people unique skills’ and then kept them by his side.
‘How is this even possible to grant people unique skills?’
The followers of that religion didn’t believe in a ‘god’, like the other religions. They believed in the chain of cause and result. According to the books, those followers who were honest and obedient enough to fulfill the cause would receive a unique power as a result. And how did they receive it? The books say that the man, the leader of the religion, acted as a medium to grant the people the powers they deserved.
.....
The believers who had received powers through the religion would stay loyal to the man and follow his orders.
Back then, when the world was still in conflict with the monsters and there were no systems to ensure people’s security like now, having a unique power meant that you and the ones close to you were guaranteed to have a safe and comfortable life. Even if you didn’t have offensive power, you would gain enough money and be protected enough that you could live the rest of your life with ease.
That was why, after it was proven that the followers of that man could gain unique powers, the number of followers increased rapidly. Everyone wanted one power and did anything to get one. As a result, the number of unique power users who followed the man only increased to the point that he almost had an army as big as the empire’s forces.
‘Yeah! And it’s not suspicious at all that a mere religion has so much power!’
How did the emperors of that time stay quiet and didn’t stop that man? Were they merely fools, or did they not have the power to do so?
‘Alsooooo, why the heck are the empire’s artifacts found in that religion’s temples? Did they steal them or something?’
Those goddamned artifacts! They belonged to the empire’s generals, the enemy of that religion! Why would they find them in the temples belonging to the religion?
‘And why the hell did they kill that dragon?’
The religion went on and killed the dragon who lived in the current location of the Frozen Ocean. Then, they built a temple there!
‘Did they seriously kill a being such as a dragon only to build a temple? Gah! Crazy!’
Thinking about it this way, it was clear that the man put too much care and attention into the locations in which the temples would be made. It was kinda obvious that the locations were something more than important for him, to the point that he spent years killing a dragon and building a temple there.
Kairen jumped on his bed, face first.
“I’m gonna dieeee.”
He mumbled as he lay motionless on the bed.
“I missed you so much...”
He said with passioned voice towards nothing but his bed.
How long has it been since he could get a night of proper sleep in his house? Kairen had been working so much these days, both investigating the religion and working for unit 5 and the Secret Operations Unit, that he was starting to turn into a walking, talking ‘work’ himself.
“Ughhhh.”
He groaned as he tossed and turned. He was too tired that he wanted to sleep and don’t wake up for at least two days. But there was a problem.
“I’m hungry...”
He was finally granted a day off after three days of working nonstop. In fact, he wouldn’t be granted this day off if Glenn hadn’t asked the team leader for it after seeing Kairen crazily mumble things to himself for hours as he stared at the air.
“I’ll just order something for today...”
Kairen said, staring at the air.
“Uh, but where is Ariyan...”
It was already evening. Where was the kid? Kairen remembered picking him up from the kindergarten and bringing him home.
“Is he with Mrs. Neal?”
The kid had been spending his time with that woman recently. Kairen was hardly home so Ariyan had no choice.
“But I saw his shoes earlier...”
Nagging to himself, Kairen got up from the bed and staggered towards the kid’s room.
‘So he was asleep.’
Did he eat anything for dinner? He didn’t sleep empty-stomached, did he? Wait, why is he not covering himself with that blanket? It’s cold! Do these kids think that blankets are only for decorating their rooms?
Walking inside the room, Kairen approached the bed and covered the little boy with his blanket. The house was warm, but still, it wasn’t a good thing to let a kid of five sleep like this! What if he catches a cold? Nah! No way!
He examined Ariyan’s face before nodding to himself for some unknown reason and turning to walk back.
TAK
When his foot got trapped in something and fell down.
‘Gaah!’
Screaming silently, he jerked his head towards the kid.
He was still asleep despite the loud voice.
‘What was it?’
Turning his head back, Kairen looked at the thing that made him fall just now. It was Ariyan’s backpack.
‘Sorry...’
The contents of the bag were now all scattered on the ground. Peeking at the kid one more time, Kairen started to put his stuff inside the back one by one.
‘Huh?’
When he stopped doing so after picking up a paper.
‘What is it?’
It was dark in the room but he could somehow read the things written on the paper.
‘An invitation... for parents?’
The teacher had called the kids’ parents to a meeting?
Kairen read through the paper.
‘But it was for two weeks ago...’
And there wasn’t only one paper. There was one for the last week and even one for the last month. The teachers would call the kids’ parents regularly to talk to them or call them to inform them if the child has any problems.
But the thing was that Kairen had never received any of these. Ariyan never ever talked about them.
‘This kid...’
Kairen didn’t know how he was supposed to feel. He glanced at the sleeping kid while silently picking up the papers one by one.
‘This is...’
Until he reached the last one.
‘It’s for the day after tomorrow?’
Kairen read the title and the explanations on the paper.
‘A theater? Will kids play a show?’
It was an invitation for parents to come to watch their kids play a show.
“Hmmm...”
Kairen hummed to himself as he read the paper for a second time. He then folded the paper and put it inside his pocket.
Finishing putting things back inside the kid’s bag, Kairen stood up and walked out, this time being more careful not to fall down again.
“Good night.”
He whispered before slowly closing the room shut.
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