The silence inside Rhea’s house lasted several seconds.
Garron remained standing near the table with the pressure of a Gold-ranked hunter spreading around him, while Kael calmly continued eating as though nothing particularly important had happened.
Rhea stood between them, although she was beginning to realize that positioning herself between Garron and Kael would accomplish very little if either man actually decided to move.
Garron’s expression slowly hardened.
“What did you just say?” Kael swallowed before taking another spoonful of stew.
“If you didn’t hear it, asking again won’t help.” Rhea closed her eyes for a moment.
“Kael,” Garron said, deliberately using his name without any title, “I don’t know what happened inside the Hollow Depth, and I don’t know what you’ve told Rhea, but you should be careful about how you speak to people in Greyhaven.” Kael glanced at him.
“Why?” The question seemed to irritate Garron more than the insult.
“Because you’re not in the wilderness anymore.
This city has rules.” “I noticed.” “And people with influence.” Kael nodded once.
Garron apparently mistook that for progress.
He straightened slightly as he continued, “The Vale family has operated in Greyhaven for three generations.
My father commands one of the strongest private hunter groups in the region, and my older brother works directly with the regional Guild administration.
I’m a Gold-ranked hunter myself.” Kael listened until Garron finished.
“Okay.” Then he continued eating.
Garron waited.
Nothing else came.
Rhea pressed her lips together.
She had known Garron for several years, and she knew exactly what he had expected.
Most people in Greyhaven reacted differently after learning his family name.
Some became respectful.
Others became cautious.
Even people who disliked the Vale family generally considered whether offending them was worth the trouble.
Kael appeared to consider the information approximately as important as being told tomorrow might be cloudy.
“You don’t understand your position,” Garron said.
Kael sighed and placed his spoon down.
“I have no position in your family.” “That’s not what I meant.” “Then say what you mean.” Garron’s jaw tightened.
“You have no recognized rank.
No organization supporting you.
Nobody even knows where you came from.
There are people in this city you cannot afford to offend.” Kael considered that statement for a moment.
“Then they should avoid offending me.” Rhea looked toward the ceiling.
There went the last remaining possibility of the conversation ending peacefully on its own.
“Garron,” she said firmly, “enough.” He looked at her.
“This is my house.
Kael is here because I invited him.
You came because you heard I returned safely, and I appreciate that.
But you’re not going to walk into my home and start giving orders.” “I’m trying to protect you.” “From my master?” “From someone you met in the Hollow Depth and know absolutely nothing about!” Rhea couldn’t entirely argue with the second part, but that wasn’t the point.
“I chose him.” Garron stared at her.
“Now leave.” The words changed something in his expression.
For years, Garron had been accustomed to giving Rhea advice whether she requested it or not.
Sometimes his advice had genuinely helped her, which was one reason she had tolerated his increasingly controlling behavior.
This time, however, she had rejected him in favor of a stranger he could not even sense.
His attention returned to Kael.
“This is because of him.” Rhea frowned.
“No.
This is because you don’t listen.” Garron ignored her and stepped toward Kael.
Kael picked up his spoon again.
That casual dismissal was apparently the final insult.
Garron reached down and grabbed for his shoulder.
“Don’t,” Rhea warned.
His hand closed.
On nothing.
Garron froze.
The chair was empty.
The bowl remained on the table.
Kael was gone.
“Don’t touch me.” The voice came from behind him.
Garron spun around.
Kael stood several steps away.
There had been no burst of speed.
No sound.
No movement that either Garron or Rhea could follow.
One moment he had occupied the chair, and the next he simply didn’t.
Rhea understood slightly more than Garron did.
That did not make what she had seen feel normal.
Garron’s embarrassment rapidly turned into anger.
Force surged through his arm as he stepped forward and threw a reinforced punch toward Kael’s chest.
Rhea’s expression changed.
“Garron!” The punch never landed.
Kael was suddenly standing to Garron’s left.
And right.
And behind him.
Garron’s eyes widened.
Three Kaels surrounded him.
Before he could process what he was seeing, the Kael on his left raised a hand.
Slap!
Garron’s head snapped sideways.
He stumbled.
Slap!
A second palm struck the opposite cheek.
Garron turned furiously toward that Kael, only for a third slap to hit him from behind.
“What the—” Slap!
He swung.
His fist passed through the space Kael had stopped occupying.
Another Kael was already beside him.
Slap!
Rhea stared.
The situation was so absurd that for several seconds she forgot she was supposed to stop it.
Garron attempted to retreat.
Kael occupied the space behind him.
Slap!
He raised both arms to protect his face.
Kael appeared at an angle his guard didn’t cover.
Slap!
Garron turned.
Another Kael.
Slap!
“STOP!” Kael did not stop.
Garron tried moving toward the door.
Two Kaels were already standing there.
He turned toward the kitchen.
Another occupied that side of the room.
Rhea slowly realized something.
Kael was not moving around Garron.
He wasn’t using incredible speed to create afterimages.
He was simply occupying whichever positions made Garron’s attempts at defense meaningless.
“Master…” Every Kael looked toward her simultaneously.
“Hmm?” Rhea’s skin crawled.
“Nothing.” She decided Garron could survive a few more slaps.
Unfortunately, the noise had attracted attention outside.
The front door suddenly opened and three men wearing the Vale family’s insignia rushed inside.
They had apparently been waiting nearby while Garron visited Rhea, and whatever they expected to find, it clearly wasn’t their young master being slapped from multiple directions by the same person.
“Young Master!” One hunter drew his sword.
Rhea immediately stepped forward.
“Don’t attack him!” Too late.
The man lunged toward the nearest Kael.
Kael’s expression changed slightly.
Garron had been irritating.
These three had chosen to attack with weapons.
The sword reached Kael.
Its edge darkened.
The hunter felt something strange in his hand and stopped.
Cracks spread across the weapon.
A moment later, the steel crumbled.
The man’s eyes widened.
Then his right arm suddenly weakened.
He collapsed to one knee.
There was no visible wound, but the strength had vanished from several crucial muscles and tendons.
The second hunter attacked from behind.
His armor deteriorated first.
Metal plates broke apart and fell around him.
Before he could retreat, one leg failed beneath his weight.
He hit the floor.
The third hunter had enough sense to stop.
Kael looked at him.
The man slowly lowered his weapon.
“Good choice.” Rhea stared at the two fallen hunters.
The Graveback Ravager had decayed completely.
The Stonehide Brute had died within moments.
Even stone had crumbled before Kael’s power.
These men were alive.
Kael had deliberately chosen what to deteriorate.
Not merely the target.
The extent.
The depth.
The realization was somehow more frightening than watching him destroy a mountain.
Garron apparently reached a different conclusion.
He stood with both cheeks swollen and blood at the corner of his mouth, staring at Kael with furious humiliation.
“Do you know what my family will do when they hear about this?” The slapping stopped.
Only one Kael remained visible.
Garron’s expression changed slightly.
For one foolish moment, he seemed to think his threat had finally worked.
Kael tilted his head.
“Probably come here and annoy me.” Garron’s face darkened.
“My father will make you regret ever entering Greyhaven.” Kael considered the possibility.
“Tell him to knock first.” Rhea made a strange choking sound and quickly covered it with a cough.
Garron pointed toward Kael.
“You think this is funny?” “No.” Kael looked at his swollen face.
“That is.” Garron stepped forward.
That was another mistake.
Two Kaels appeared.
One grabbed the back of Garron’s coat.
The other opened the front door.
Garron’s anger finally gave way to alarm.
“Wait—” Kael threw him outside.
Garron flew several meters before hitting the street and rolling across the ground.
One of the Kaels was already outside.
He waited until Garron tried to rise.
Then kicked him once.
Not hard enough to seriously injure him.
More than hard enough to send him rolling several additional meters.
The two disabled hunters were carried outside by additional Kaels and deposited beside him.
The third walked out voluntarily.
The door closed.
All the additional positions disappeared.
Kael returned to the table.
Rhea remained standing in the middle of the room.
Kael sat down and looked into his bowl.
His expression changed.
“Cold.” Rhea stared at him.
“Master.” “Hmm?” “You just beat a Gold-ranked member of the Vale family.” “He attacked me.” “That’s not what I’m talking about.” Kael touched the spoon to the stew.
Definitely cold.
“He interrupted dinner.” Rhea slowly sat opposite him.
“That’s what you’re concerned about?” “Currently.” Rhea rubbed her temples.
“Garron’s father is Marcus Vale.” Kael waited.
“He’s one of the strongest hunters operating around Greyhaven.” “Okay.” “Master, this is the part where you’re supposed to understand that there might be consequences.” “There might.” “And?” “We’ll deal with them if they happen.” Rhea stared at him.
Kael thought for a moment.
“Is his father stronger than the mountain?” She became silent.
“No.” “Then why would I walk around him?” Rhea opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
The answer was completely ridiculous.
Unfortunately, after watching Kael literally walk through a mountain because it stood in his chosen direction, she understood exactly what he meant.
Kael stood and carried the bowl toward the kitchen to reheat it.
The matter was apparently finished.
Later that night, Rhea lay in bed staring at the ceiling.
Less than two days ago, she had been certain she would die inside the Hollow Depth.
Since then, she had watched Kael kill creatures her entire team couldn’t defeat, walk through a mountain, exist in multiple places simultaneously, reveal perception that ignored every concealment method she could think of, casually produce materials worth fortunes, and humiliate a Gold-ranked hunter inside her dining room.
She had asked Kael to become her master because she saw an opportunity she couldn’t allow herself to lose.
Now she was beginning to wonder what exactly she had attached herself to.
In the room next door, Kael was already lying comfortably on the bed.
Elsewhere, another position occupied by him stood silently beneath the trees outside Greyhaven.
Far deeper inside the Hollow Depth, another walked through an ancient cavern that no human map had ever recorded.
There was no contradiction between any of them.
All were Kael.
All were aware.
And the Kael lying in Rhea’s spare room had already dismissed Garron Vale from his thoughts.
Several streets away, Garron was being helped toward a waiting carriage.
His cheeks were swollen almost beyond recognition, while the two injured hunters accompanying him could barely move without assistance.
The third man walked beside them in silence.
After several minutes, he finally asked, “Young Master…should we inform Lord Vale?” Garron’s eyes darkened.
His humiliation burned far more painfully than his injuries.
“Immediately.” Back inside Rhea’s house, Kael shifted slightly beneath the blanket.
The mattress was soft.
The room was warm.
Nobody was shouting.
For the moment, civilization remained acceptable.