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

A teenage girl sighed deeply before staggering back and plopping down to the ground.

“That’s it for today.”

She whipped the sweat off of her face with the back of her hand as she glanced at the beck of a man sitting on a chair beside a shady wooden bed.

“Only this much?”

The man soon turned back to look at her.

“I’ve told you before, I can’t use my power on him more than a certain amount.”

Asa said with annoyance.

“Didn’t you only say that you couldn’t heal him in one go?”

.....

“No?”

She retorted.

“I indeed said that I can’t heal him at once, as not only me, but he too had to experience the side-effects of me overusing my power. But there is also another thing about continuously using my power on his body, which will make the power have fewer and fewer effects the more I use it.”

“It does?”

“Yes! I’d explained this stuff the first day you guys KIDNAPPED me!”

Her emphasis on that specific word didn’t seem to have made the man even a little bit guilty. He only tilted his head from side to side.

“You did? I must’ve not been wholly focused on you.”

Asa help back another annoyed sigh.

“Yeah, sir. You were too focused on my team mate whom you have also KIDNAPPED, that you didn’t hear the words of the KIDNAPPED healer!!”

The soil dude nodded his head.

“Yeah. That might be true.”

“Gah!”

Asa wanted to punch her head into the wall.

Asa didn’t know what she had to do with this man.

“Um... So, how long will it take for him to recover?”

“A few weeks, at least.”

“That long?”

The man sounded disappointed.

“He has too deep wounds, his inner organs are greatly damaged, and he has lost tons of blood. In addition to that, his body is quite weak as well. It’s been one week already and he hasn’t even woken up. Judging by these all, it will take a long time for him to get better... Hmm but...”

She trailed off her words.

“But?”

Asa pretended as if she was deeply in thought.

“But if you perhaps released the KIDNAPPED me and Kairen, then he could be taken care of in SMF’s hospital. That would be much better than nursing a KIDNAPPED injured person when I’m also KIDNAPPED.”

The man immediately shook his head.

“You SMF agents are always so inefficient. How could I let him go back to you guys when he is so badly injured when you can’t even protect yourselves?”

“Hey!”

“God knows how many times he got injured because of you people.”

He sighed and shook his head.

“Hey! YOU were the one who beat him to shit not long ago!”

Mr. Hey visibly flinched.

“T- that was also because you guys were too stubborn and stupid to accept my offer! I had the right to beat the shit one of at least one of your agents.”

“Hey! Aren’t you a little bit too confident in yourself for a criminal?”

“Can’t criminals be confident in themselves?”

“Tch!”

Asa stood up and stumped out of the room.

“Whatever! I’m going to Claire, you’d better watch that fool’s condition.”

“There is no need to remind me to take care of him.”

“Yeah yeah.”

Asa opened the door to leave the room.

“By the way, you seem to have gotten close to Claire? Being kidnapped isn’t that bad, is it?”

Asa froze on her spot. She then answered as he slowly turned back towards Mr. Hey.

“Close... Huh? I wouldn’t say that we are close...”

Once she turned around, the man could see the creepy smile on her face.

“Rather... I’m teaching her some nice things!”

The teenager glanced at the unconscious Kairen as she said that, the smile got wider as she looked at him.

“...What nice things?”

The man also glanced at Kairen before looking back at the girl.

“Some... Beautiful~ things~ I’m opening her eyes to the unknown things in her life~”

“What?”

“You don’t need to know about it~”

“....”

Asa grabbed the door handle and left the room.

“Claire~ Claire~ Did you read the novel I told you about~ Come~ I was left off from when they were in the Temple of Rift~”

Mr. Hey tilted his head again as he listened to the girl’s voice that was getting distant.

He was a little bit curious to know what she was talking about after seeing that creepy smile on her face, but he decided to ignore it for now. He wouldn’t mind anything as long as it was not related to his little brother.

“Hmm...”

The man who was about to wipe the sweat off of Kairen’s forehead paused when he remembered how the two teenagers have been acting in the past few days.

At first, Asa did anything she could to run away or persuade him at letting her go. Claire was the one who was in charge of keeping an eye on her as he was busy nursing Kairen.

Then after a few days, some strange things happened. He would often see the two girls stuck together while Asa was whispering something to Claire with a creepy face. Claire seemed to live in another world in those few days, mumbling things like ‘I see so that’s how it was.’ or ‘I don’t want to think that way but things make sense if it’s like that...’ or saying something about... Some boats? Ships? He didn’t really understand.

“Is it a cult?”

He was suddenly struck with an ominous feeling.

“One of SMF’s agents can’t possibly be a member of a... cult related to... sea? Uh...”

The man still couldn’t understand anything.

“Nevermind.”

He wetted the towel and cleaned Kairen’s face with it.

“No... What if Claire starts following a cult? She is a criminal working for Philomns at it is... If a cult is also added-”

“Ugh...”

The man closed his mouth upon hearing a groan.

“Ren?”

He leaned a little bit closer to Kairen.

Twitch

He put down the wet towel upon seeing the boy’s fingers twitch.

.....

“Mmm...”

Kairen’s eyelids fluttered and his eyebrows frowned. He moved his fingers and sore muscles, trying his best to open his eyes.

“Ren? Can you hear me?”

‘Yeah, I can!’

“Ugh-”

Kairen wanted to say that, but only a groan left his mouth when he tried to talk.

‘Damn, it hurts so much...’

He opened his eyes, only to close them back up from the pain he suddenly felt. His whole body ached and felt sore. His stomach felt like it was torn and sewed a few times and his chest was still burning. Worse than anything was the pain in his shoulder and his side.

‘I’m thirsty...’

He opened his eyes back up. The bright light of the room bothered him at first but his eyes soon got used to it. He turned his gaze to his side, looking at the man who was sitting on a chair beside him and leaning towards his bed.

“How are you feeling?”

‘I’m thirsty...’

He only hoped his brother would understand what he meant through his gaze.

“No. I can’t give you water now.”

‘Oh, amazing. He understood it.’

Of course, he would. He was his brother after all.

His brother...

“R..o... Ugh-”

He really wanted some water.

“Don’t talk.”

“Ro..n...”

Kairen slightly raised his hand. His muscles were stiff and sore and he didn’t have much energy, but he still put a lot of effort into it and lifted his hand.

“Ren-”

Grab

Kairen grabbed something with his shaky hand. It was the cloak the man was wearing. He grabbed it and pulled it down.

‘Take off this silly thing.’

“...Ren...”

‘Why are you covering your face. Take it off.’

“...”

Ron froze for a moment after seeing the look in Kairen’s eyes. He was asking him to take his cloak off as soon as he opened his eyes after being unconscious for a whole week. How rude.

“Sigh.”

He grabbed Kairen’s hand and slowly lowered it. He then touched the white stone on his cloak with the other hand.

Wiiinnggg

Click

The stone shook for a second before they heard a sound like the sound of a lock opening. As soon as that happened, the black fog-like thing that was always covering the face of the man and would prevent you from seeing his face even if you looked directly at him, disappeared.

A few strands of light brown hair were the first things that became visible. Behind them, he could see the familiar hazel eyes.

Lift

Ren lifted his hood completely. A young face, around 27-26 years old, shoulder-length light brown hair that was also covering a part of his face, and hazel eyes that looked a little bit darker than Kairen’s, having more brown tints than Kairen’s.

His brother’s face has not changed, and also has changed at the same time.

“Ah...”

Kairen gasped.

Drip

Drip

Drip

“H-hey!”

Ron flinched and jolted up.

“W-why are you crying? Ren? Are you fine?”

He almost screamed those words out of shock.

“Ron...”

Kairen raised one arm while moving his body up with the other’s support.

“D-don’t move! What the hell! Hey!”

“Bro...ther...”

Not listening to the panicked man, Kairen moved his aching body up as much as he could and grabbed Ron’s collar with his free hand.

Drip

Drip

“I...”

He moved his head closer.

“Ugh... M-mis...sed...”

That was as much as he could say with his dry throat and throbbing body.

Drip

Drip

He placed his head on the man’s wide shoulder.

“...”

Kairen could feel Ron visibly stiffen up. He seemed to be frozen for a second before he wrapped his hands around Kairen’s body.

“Yeah.”

Ron mumbled.

“Me too...”