Life didn't get easier, even in another world.

305 It’s common

The white stone. The white jewelry that his brother had. The thing that the holy saint was so desperate to get his hands on.

That was an item that was given to Aaron by a stranger. A man he had never met in his life, and someone he didn’t think he could ever see anywhere in his world. Just glancing at the man’s features for a brief second was enough for one to know that he wasn’t a normal person.

From his long blood-red hair that reached his waist to his crimson eyes... Even his clothes didn’t match the way they dressed on Earth those days. Even before the catastrophe, he had never seen such clothes. The things that the man wore looked to fit more medieval-style clothes than modern ones.

As he had told the commander before, he had met the man only once for a few seconds. Just like how he appeared out of nowhere the day they were confronting the holy saint, the day he met that man for the first time he had also come out of nowhere.

‘It was just before I got here, before coming to this world. I was about to enter the gate when someone came to me and threw this thing at my face.’

It was what Aaron had told him when he asked about the stone.

‘Actually, it’s not just the stone. The cloak as well. He gave both of them to me at the same time, before vanishing soundlessly.’

Why would someone appear out of nowhere, give some stranger something, then leave again? He also came to help Aaron out when the stone was about to get taken away.

‘Maybe you know him but can’t recognize-‘

.....

‘I don’t!’

‘So? What is the stone?’

Aaron had said that he knew what the thing was and how he was supposed to use it as soon as he got his hands on it.

‘It had some kind of power inside it. I don’t know what that exactly was, but that boosted my own power when I wanted to. It also has some other functions, such as healing and huge defensive power. That was how I survived the explosion of that bomb... though your power made the stone’s power kinda... twisted. It was a whole with the cloak, which also has some defensive and concealing skills.’

It boosted his power. How much familiar.

‘The power you showed when you moved stones... the ability to control earth... was that the jewelry’s power?’

‘No. That was my own power.’

‘Huh? Why haven’t you used it then until now?’

‘There was no need to it? You guys are seriously weak that I didn’t even have to use half of my power on you!’

‘Hey!’

‘It has the power to boost my ability, but I haven’t used it yet. I couldn’t use it against that white bastard either as the stone was taken away from me.’

He hasn’t used it yet. What a relief.

Kairen had already confirmed that the stone was indeed what he thought it was. He had shown it to Alan a few days ago and the man had also agreed with him.

The stone had a familiar power in it. The familiar power he had sensed from the bracelet that Kain had. Alan also confirmed it, saying that it was similar to the ancient artifacts but also different from them. He said the stone didn’t give off the ominous feeling that the artifacts had, as if it was gentler than those vicious pieces of shit.

Alan’s way of describing things was really... Different. Why would someone describe a stone as gentle and an artifact as vicious?

Whatever. Kairen didn’t care if one was gentle and the other wasn’t. What was important for him was the fact that the stone was dangerous and that he had to make sure Aaron never used its power. Aaron was strong by himself so he could take care of most of the things with his own power, but Kairen still had to keep an eye on him. He didn’t want the same thing that happened to Kain to happen to Aaron as well. He couldn’t make the same mistake.

“Ren? Why aren’t you eating?”

“Huh?”

Kairen was snapped out of his thoughts by his brother’s voice. He blinked a few times and looked around.

“Oh!”

They were eating lunch.

“Is something the matter?”

“No!”

Aaron shot him a suspicious gaze, making Kairen look down at his plate.

“Your food got cold. Let me heat it for you.”

“No, it’s fine.”

Kairen shook his head and resumed eating. It was a pity that the food had gotten cold, but it was still delicious so Kairen ate it all happily.

“Mmmm...”

“...”

“Hmmm...”

“....”

“Ummm...”

“....”

Hearing the continuous, suspicious hums of Ariyan, Kairen turned his head towards the kid. As if waiting for him, Ariyan opened his mouth almost immediately while averting his gaze.

“Uhhh sooooo...”

He was fidgetting with his finger, a habit he had found just recently that made Kairen think that he was mimicking his father.

“Ariyan is a little bit hungry... anndddd... there is a little bit extra fooooddd soooo.... soooooo....”

“Pfffftt- Ahem!”

Kairen covered his mouth and swallowed his laughter.

“Do you want more?”

“I-I... I might want more...”

The kid lowered his mouth. Kairen could see his ears getting red for some reason. He filled the kid’s plate and turned his head only to see his brother having a similar smile on his face while Claire was shooting looks of envy at the kid’s plate of food. He then raised a finger to point at Aaron.

“If you want food, you can also ask your uncle to give you more-”

“NO!”

The kid strongly shook his head, looked away from Kairen, and resumed eating food.

‘What’s your problem with my brother!?’

Really! This kid had a deep grudge against Aaron for some reason that he even avoided eating the food he made... Well, if he could resist the tasty food Aaron cooked, that is.

Kairen sighed and went back to eating his food. The rest of the lunch went in silent with everyone eating and no one saying anything.

“But is it really alright for you to go back to work?”

Aaron said abruptly after they had finished eating and Kairen was about to wash the dishes.

“Why shouldn’t it be?”

CLACK

Aaron placed the plates inside the sink.

“Can you use your mana properly?”

His comment made Kairen flinch a little bit.

“Uh... Not as well as before, but I still can cast some spells and use magic quite-”

“You threw up blood again, didn’t you?”

“-Well- Huh?”

The second comment made Kairen flinch even more. He turned his face towards the sink and bit his lips.

“No, why would you think that?”

It was a useless attempt to lie.

“Ren!”

“Ahem!”

“Does your team leader know it?”

“...”

Kairen paused. He searched for ways to change the subject or maybe lie and run away from the situation, but none of the ideas that came to his mind felt useful. Sighing in defeat, he nodded his head.

“I’ve told him that I probably won’t be able to go on missions for a while.”

He had talked to team leader Dains about the issue. The issue was... that he couldn’t use as much mana as he used before. The power he could use has also reduced a lot. He could still cast spells that were pretty strong for a mage, but they were not even close to how his spells used to be before that incident.

Alan said that it was the after-effects of using too much power. He said that it was a common symptom among the mages that had experienced brutal battles. He said that overusing mana leads to the exhaustion of the soul, which was said to be the source of a human’s mana, and that was why he couldn’t use as much mana as before. Alan said that it wasn’t permanent though. He said his mana would go back to how it was if he doesn’t exhaust it for a while.

Captain Neal also said similar things. He went to train with her a few times but ended up throwing up blood after casting a few spells each time. The woman got so panicked that she contacted team leader Dains immediately and asked him to give Kairen extra days off. The team leader surprisingly accepted.

But those days had come to an end and he had to go back to work again starting tomorrow. After talking to captain Neal, the team leader agreed that Kairen could skip missions for a while and only help out Glenn in office work until his mana went back to normal.

Of course, if his problem isn’t solved, he will eventually get expelled. Why would SMF give a salary to an agent that can’t fight and is literally useless?

.....

Kairen doubted that he would get expelled with his strange power and the commander’s attention on him and his brother, but he still didn’t want to risk losing his job.

“Oh, they said to bring you as well.”

“Huh? Me? Why?”

Kairen shrugged his shoulders.

“Donno!”

But he was ordered so... he had to do as he was told!

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