Chapter 120- Mysterious Forest (Part 1)
"Ugh, spare me from that, would you?" Mikayla rolled his eyes as he walked toward the door, followed by Kaya. "My birthday is just a reminder that assholes can and are still after me for connections. Every goddamn year, a huge party filled with those idiots wastes a day of my life."
"Look at the brighter side, old man. You would get a gift from me."
Stopping for a second, Mikayla looked back at his daughter and said. "The best gift you could ever give me is when I see you taking the family from my hands and doing what's right."
Kaya went silent for a second as she stared at the old man. She could see a mix of hope and anger in his eyes. The anger wasn't directed at her, however, but at something else beyond Kaya.
"Now, I need you to explain to me exactly what the hell happened in the Frozen Plains."
***
A few hours later, Kaya was finally freed from Mikayla's office and she felt as exhausted as if she fought a horde of enemies for days. The old man asked her about everything concerning that day and she had to tell him everything, excluding the fact that Kia came to save her.
That she kept a secret to hide their relationship. As for his reaction, Mikayla was rightfully shocked and confused. To hear about the existence of a monster was something that he couldn't accept immediately.
It wasn't just big news. This was world-changing news that he got his hands on. For Mikayla, it might be good and bad news, though. The bad news is that he now knew of the existence of weird creatures lurking in the world that they basically know nothing about and that could potentially be stronger than the strongest of Origin users. The good news is that he ais the only person alongside Kaya that knows about this.
"I will deal with this matter." He said with a darkened expression. For some reason, he seemed rather hesitant to speak.
"Spill it out, old man. Since when did you hide what you think from me?"
"I… Sigh, I want to say I'm sorry, Kaya. I never knew that this could put your life at risk. I thought this mission was simple enou-"
"It's fine. You aren't at fault for this. Besides, my job is dangerous as is. Or, are you expecting your daughter to be a softie that hesitates when facing strong foes?" Kaya asked.
However, when she left his office, she rested her hand on the wall before sighing.
'What a hypocrite I am. Of course, I was scared. I couldn't even handle losing Kai even though I spent a whole day dying slowly. I'm indeed a softie, old man. Way too much of a softie… But, I don't hate it. I weirdly don't hate it.' Her sad face turned to a small smile as she continued her walk out of the HQ toward her car.
When she got inside, she found the one she's been thinking about resting in the backseat, eating what seemed to be lunch that he got from somewhere.
"Is the interrogation over?" He asked as he handed her a sandwich too.
"Sigh, I'm sorry for making you wait. He asked me about every fucking thing possible."
"He can't do much even with all that information. No one can do anything unless they're ready to take a huge gamble and further dig into this. Considering The Guild's and Divinity's position at the moment, neither of them can afford any major losses." Kai said as he took a bite of the sandwich.
"I… Well, hopefully, we won't have to dig into this for the rest of our lives which I doubt would be the case considering our luck." She said as she opened the sandwich and took a bite.
"Hmm, delicious! Where did you even get this?" She asked with a lightened-up expression. She already knew the answer to that as only certain food can really lift her spirit this much with one simple bite.
"I made it before coming here."
"Mmm, your food really needs to be treated like a piece of art in a museum. No, that would make it harder for me to eat it. Just keep it this way, it feels more special and amazing. By the way, where did you learn to cook this well, Kai? I doubt it's just from reading cookbooks. It just feels like magic."
"... Magic, huh?" Kai's eyes looked dazed for a second as he murmured her words. A flash of memory appeared in his head before he quickly shook it away. "I learned from cookbooks and some implementation of new ideas."
"Uh, I see. Guess I was wrong then."
After that, the two continued their lunch peacefully before Kaya finally turned the car on and they drove off into the horizon.
"What's our next step?"
"Training. I will help you and Eva get as strong as possible in the time before the plan starts. I have already decided on the day of the plan."
Kaya's eyes turned serious as she asked Kai. "When?"
"The red rose day. When everyone we need to deal with groups up in one single room. That's when it starts."
"The red rose day? You mean… One and a half months from now?"
"Yes."
"And where are we going to train? You did say we will have to leave, right?" Kaya asked.
***
"A forest?" (x2) Kaya and Eva asked as they looked through the window of the private jet.
The sight beneath them was that of a huge forest that extended for miles and miles into the horizon. This forest didn't belong to any country as it was located in a rather inhabitable area that had very perturbed weather and a concerning number of wild beasts and dangerous creatures. For that reason, all the countries that border this forest didn't want anything to do with it. They didn't even give it a proper name and so it was left simply named as the forest that no one should approach.
"It's a place where no one can follow us. Except for the animals and the weather, you won't have to worry about anything else. That's exactly what you need to be able to handle the training." Kai explained.
*Gulp*
The two girls felt nervous just hearing his words. How bad was his training going to be for Kai to do all of this just so that they don't get distracted with secondary thoughts?
As they were contemplating what will happen, Kai stood up and walked to the cockpit.
"Lower the altitude. We're going to jump." He said to the pilot.
"H-Huh? E-Excuse me. What do you me-"
"Just do what I asked without questions," Kai replied coldly as he turned around to the two girls.
"Grab your parachutes."
Looking at each other for a second, Kaya and Eva nodded before they got ready.
Then, they opened the door to the jet. Kai looked at the sky outside and then simply jumped out.
"M-Miss Eva… The m-master won't be happy if I let you ju-"
"Ah, it's fine. He won't need to know." Eva smiled at the nervous pilot then, she simply waved at him before jumping.
"But this forest is dangerous!! Oh, god, the master will kill me."
"Relax, old man. Your face is already wrinkled as is and you look really weak. Is your wife really satisfied that way?" Kaya asked him with a smirk.
"W-What? W-What do you mea-"
"My advice is that you should eat some honey. Helps a lot with that 'activity', you know what I'm talking about?" With a small wink at the lost old man, she also jumped out of the jet.
'What the hell is wrong with these people?!!'