Chapter 3: Hunting.
The boy was rubbing his eyes, which were filled with tears. He looked up at Kael and said in a soothing voice. "Mister, are you going to leave me alone?"
Kael’s gaze shifted towards the boy, and a small sigh escaped his mouth. "This kid, he followed me all the way here?"
He leaned down lightly, directed his hand towards the kid’s head, and patted him lightly. "Kid, it’d be better for you to stay at that orphanage."
But the boy didn’t listen to even a single word he said; his eyes welled up once again. "WAAAAHHHHH!!!"
Kael just stood there as if he didn’t know what he should do. A bead of sweat appeared on his temple as he muttered. "Being around kids surely is tiring."
He placed his hands under the boy’s arms of the boy and lifted him. His arms hugged around the boy’s torso, putting him in his grasp gently.
"Now please stop crying, kid." He whispered in the ear of the boy.
The boy still didn’t stop weeping, and now even his snot had started to flow through his nose, which covered a small portion of Kael’s shirt.
Kael’s eyes slightly flinched, but his calm demeanour didn’t budge even the slightest bit. He then started patting the back of the boy, trying to make him stop crying. "Alright, kid."
"It’ll be all fine, so stop crying."
The boy had finally started to calm down; his weeping had stopped, but the light hiccups had caught him.
And a loud noise, which sounded more like a growl, fell inside Kael’s ears. Kael’s gaze shifted towards the boy’s stomach, and then his eyes, which were looking a little too adorable.
"Are you hungry, kid?"
The boy gave a polite, yet cheerful nod. "Yes, mister." He said in a soothing voice.
"One moment before you were crying, and now you’re being cheerful? Such a strange child you are."
Kael let a sigh escape through his mouth. "Then, shall we make our way to the forest from where we just came?"
The boy smiled, and it looked cheerful, yet innocent and pure. Something which Kael had never sensed in his entire life.
’What’s this strange feeling that I’m experiencing right now? Is it affection? Or is it sympathy?’
He started walking towards the direction of the forest, but his words flew out of his mouth. "Whatever this feeling is, it’s making me kind of upset, yet assured at the same time."
They both silently made their way towards the forest, and the moment they reached there, a strange amount of energy, which was slightly different from mana, started to wrap around his fingers.
He then swung his index finger gently, aiming it towards the nearby tree. A huge wave of crimson energy left through his finger, and the moment it touched the tree, it was sliced down in half, and so were the multiple trees behind it.
The boy looked at the strange gesture that Kael just performed, and his mouth opened slightly. "Mister, what was that?" The kid tilted his head lightly; his voice carried curiosity inside it.
"I just swung my finger, kid." He walked closer to the sliced tree and kept it on the tree’s stem.
"Wait right there, I’ll be back in a minute or two."
"Mister, where are you going?"
The boy asked, but before he could continue, his eyes started to well with tears once again. "Are you trying to leave me alone once again?"
Unknowingly, Kael let a smile appear on his lips as he patted the head of the boy. "I’m just going for a small hunt, so wait right here."
He walked a little more inside of the forest, and he heard a strange sound of multiple animals coming from the nearby area.
He made his way there and took cover behind the tree. His gaze fell on a horde of boars that were trying to attack a deer.
"Well, if I hunt that group of boars, then I’d be able to get some food for the boy and also save the life of that deer."
He directed his finger towards the group as he clicked his fingers. A shockwave left through his hand and travelled directly towards the group, beheading them all in one clean arc.
His gaze drifted toward the deer, and he noticed the shock in its eyes, as if the strength within its body had been completely drained.
He ignored the deer and picked the largest boar amongst the others, and kept it on his shoulder. "This will do."
Then, he made his way towards the place where he had left the boy. When he reached there, he noticed that the boy was sitting there calmly, his hands on his knees as if he was scared of his surroundings.
’This kid surely is adorable.’
Kael threw the large boar on the ground, and a loud THUD filled the air when the body made contact with the ground.
The boy flinched when he heard the loud THUDDING sound. He got a little too scared, and his eyes filled with tears. And when he noticed that a headless body of a boar was kept on the ground, his skin started to turn pale.
"Yeah, he surely is a little kid."
"I’m at fault for this; I made him scared." Kael lifted the kid in his arms and lightly hugged him. "Don’t worry, kid. It’s all fine, don’t be scared of it."
The kid took a deep breath, but his snot was already on Kael’s shirt once again. "Yeah... I’m sorry, mister, that I got scared once again."
"I’ll be a good boy..."
A soft smile appeared on Kael’s lips as he muttered. "Let me prepare a nice meal for you, kid."
The kid gave a quick, polite nod, as if he was craving food for days now. "Yes, mister." The boy’s voice remained soothing.
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A/N
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