Kaine stared at the door Renn had just walked out of for a few seconds, then, he looked around the room and...
The room felt... different.
He couldn’t quite put a finger on this feeling, but it did feel like he lost something. For a moment, he mindlessly looked around the room, as if trying to understand what it was he was feeling, then suddenly, his eyes fell on the shirt he was wearing earlier.
His blood on it had dried up, he would need to wash it.
Kaine stared at the shirt, then, he remembered different things Renn pointed out, laundry, drying the laundry, cleaning his room, changing his bedsheets, the bucket under the washstand that he needed to empty and tens of other different things he needed to care about and suddenly...
Kaine frowned.
This was... a lot.
Most of the tasks weren’t difficult, he knew how to do them, as for those he didn’t, he could learn them.
The problem was time.
Kaine looked at the three women, they needed food four times a day, medicine twice a day. He needed to check their wounds, he would need to change their bedding.
Soon, their treatments might become more complicated.
Then there was himself.
Kaine still needed to train, he spent eighteen years building his body and refining his skill. He had no intention of stopping now.
If anything, now that the System could increase his strength even further, training mattered more than before.
And then...
There was money.
His savings wouldn’t last forever, he needed to procure a source of income that could cover the cost of medicine and food.
Meaning that if things continued as they were, he would need to leave the estate and earn money on his own, that would take even more of his time.
Working, preparing treatment, making food, taking care of three injured companions, that, combined with laundry, cleaning and every single thing Renn handled for him all this while...
He couldn’t do all this on his own and train sufficiently at the same time.
This...
He needed to do something about it.
So Kaine made a decision and turned towards his summons.
"I need you three to return to the Sanctuary."
"Where are you going?"
Serathiel asked curiously and Kaine...
"My father."
He gave an answer.
"I need to speak with him."
The women nodded slowly, Kaine sent them inside, then, he left the room.
...
For most of his life, Kaine never needed to visit his father. Everything he wanted was always arranged for him, however, in some rare cases when he did need to talk to him, Kaine walked into his office and no one would dare to stop him. Gareth too, would welcome him with a smile.
Today, however, just as Kaine was about to walk into Gareth’s office again, the servant stopped him.
"You can’t go in, Young Master."
Kaine tilted his head.
"Is my father inside?"
He asked a question.
"Yes."
The servant nodded.
"Tell him I need to speak with him."
"I already informed him of your arrival when I saw you in the corridor, Young Master.
The Lord asked that you wait."
This was... a first.
"...alright."
Kaine nodded, again, he wasn’t surprised. He just sat down and waited, like his father wanted him to.
Ten minutes passed by, then ten more.
Kaine waited silently. People moved through the corridor around him, servants passed carrying documents, a guard entered Gareth’s study and left several minutes later.
Thirty more minutes passed by.
Kaine glanced towards the closed door, then, footsteps approached from the other side of the corridor.
A middle-aged man dressed in dark formal clothing walked towards the study. Kaine recognised him, he was one of the people responsible for managing several Valcrest businesses inside the city.
The man noticed Kaine and paused that instant.
"Young Master."
He bowed.
Kaine gave him a small nod.
Then, the servant standing beside the door looked at the middle-aged man and...
"The Lord is expecting you."
He informed him.
The man momentarily glanced at Kaine.
Didn’t it seem like he was waiting to meet Lord Gareth as well...?
Then how come... he was being called in?
That had never happened before, let alone Young Master Kaine himself, the man remembered Lord Gareth pausing their meeting because a servant walked in with a list of materials Young Master Kaine had requested a week prior to when he actually needed them.
The man remembered Lord Gareth giving explicit orders to gather every material before turning back to him.
And now...
He was being called in before Young Master Kaine himself?
’Is this what becomes of you... when you are Unranked?’
The man thought about it, then, he glanced at the servant and walked in. The servant closed the door behind him, Kaine stared at the door.
There was no change on his face, he kept waiting.
After waiting for another hour, the third man who had stepped inside fifteen minutes ago walked out. The servant then finally turned towards Kaine and...
"Young Master, the Lord will see you now."
Kaine stood up and walked in.
Inside, Gareth was sitting behind his desk. There were several documents spread in front of him and even as Kaine entered, Gareth kept reading one of them without looking at him.
Then, after making him wait for another minute,
"What is it?"
Gareth asked in a very formal, distant tone, nowhere near how he would normally greet him.
That didn’t make Kaine feel particularly emotional, he was being treated like this because he was an Unranked.
His ’father’ no longer considered him useful, so he had no need to talk to him like he was the priority, if anything, Kaine knew that an Unranked like him was now the last thing on his father’s list of priorities, if he was even there at all.
And Kaine...
He had come here to change that.
"I found a way to restore my Companions."
He revealed it.
This was why Kaine was here.
To reveal some truth in order to get back what he once had.
His Father and the Family wanted him to be useful and they believed he wasn’t. He was going to change that belief.
And it wasn’t difficult.
Serathiel and Lysara were Legendary Grade summons.
Legendary.
A Grade no one in their entire Zone had even witnessed.
Once the Family tested their grades using the Appraisal Orb, a step that they skipped because the physicians said his summons would never recover, the truth would be out.
Everyone would know that he didn’t summon useless women, he summoned creatures who could change the fate of the family.
All Kaine needed to do was prove the two of them could recover, which he could do quite easily if he could buy one of the catalysts.
One thing Kaine was going to hide, however, was Nerys.
She was a Shadow Demon, no one here knew who she was but if the word Demon somehow became linked with her, it could become troublesome.
Of course, he didn’t need to reveal Nerys here, Serathiel and Lysara alone should be far more than enough.
Kaine planned everything in his head once again, just then,
"Is that why you came here?"
Gareth looked at him and his voice turned even colder.
Kaine sensed that.
"I did."
He nodded.
"Leave."
Gareth ordered.
"The Physicians were wrong, their injuries are severe, but they are not irreversible. Father, I can heal them."
"Good for you."
Gareth spoke as he started reading one of the documents again.
Kaine did not give up.
"You don’t understand. The Family did not check their grades, they are—"
"They can be Legendary Grade Summons for all I care!"
Gareth screamed out loud, throwing the documents placed on his table.
Kaine’s body flinched at the sudden reaction, he hid it forcefully before anyone could notice and clenched his jaw.
Gareth, on the other hand, glared at him in anger, then, in a slow, final voice, he spoke up.
"It doesn’t make any difference.
A priceless sword shattered into pieces is still a broken sword."
Gareth then looked into Kaine’s eyes.
"Your Summons are broken, Kaine.
They are useless."
Those words made Kaine pause for a moment, he clenched his fists, trying to control himself to get what he wanted.
"I can hea—"
"You are just desperate."
That was when Gareth let out a short laugh.
"Those lashes made you realise what you are worth without the Valcrest Family.
A nobody.
You are a pathetic Unranked the Family no longer wants but we cannot throw you out. You now realise that and that realisation has made you desperate.
So now you are concocting lies to try and gain what you once had."
Kaine turned silent at those words.
Gareth made a disgusted face and continued.
"I never thought I’d see you, of all people, display such a pathetic, disgusting side.
But then again, it seems I’ve never truly known you, have I?"
Kaine couldn’t say anything else, he could see his ’father’ had already made up his mind. He never intended to listen to him in the first place, that’s why he made him wait, maybe he hoped he would leave on his own.
"I gave you a chance to correct your mistakes."
Gareth continued.
"Me, your mother, Master Orven, your Combat Instructor, and even the Physicians, every single one of them told you you were making a mistake.
Your mother was in your room, trying to convince you even when everyone else had given up.
But you stuck with the decision you made, now at the very least, show that same stubbornness and face the consequences that come with it without showing this disgusting sight you showed me to anyone else.
Don’t embarrass me any further.
Now leave."
He commanded.
Kaine stared at him for a few more seconds, thinking something might happen but when he saw his ’father’ wasn’t even looking at him, he closed his eyes and turned around.
Then, just as he was about to leave Gareth’s office.
"Don’t come back here.
I do not wish to see your face again."
And Kaine...
"Understood."
He walked out.
And after this, he wouldn’t come back and try ever again.
His father made his position abundantly clear.
It was time Kaine made his as well.