Ezekiel woke up to an unfamiliar-looking ceiling, then after looking around the room for a moment, remembered that he was in Borene. Ezekiel yawned, stretched a little bit, and then got up from out of his bed. After last night's training, he was slightly sore, but he got ready to start his day by quickly putting on some clothes. After thinking about what to do today, he decided to start off his usual morning with a bath, but he wasn't sure if this town actually had one. An answer from the innkeeper said otherwise, and soon, Ezekiel found himself holding lots of soap in front of a public bath, and he had to say, it seemed much nicer than the one back in Wolfwater.
Ezekiel, after convincing the bath owner to buy some soap for customers to use, hopped in the public bath. The water temperature was about the same since it was a naturally made hot spring like Wolfwater's bath was. Ezekiel was about to finally relax after a long night of training when Suko popped out of nowhere with a bottle of alcohol, saying, "Surely you didn't forget our little agreement, now, did you?" Ezekiel wondered what he was talking about for a second, then remembered the agreement between them. Ezekiel sighed, then said, "I unfortunately didn't." Suko grinned, then said, "Alright! I was able to get some intel last night, and it seems that there's gonna be two fine ladies in there this morning!" Suko quickly hopped out of the bath, followed by Ezekiel, who was not looking forward to this. The spring was divided into two by a tall wooden fence like Wolfwater's was, so Suko, using his fire breath, quickly breathed a small hole in the wooden fence, stepped back from it, then motioned to Ezekiel, saying, "You go first." Ezekiel pondered what he should do from here since he felt the idea of peeking in on women was extremely wrong. Ezekiel suddenly had an idea, as he decided to peer through the hole but close his eyes so he wouldn't see anything. However, as Ezekiel was performing this action, Suko noticed what he was doing and said, "You can't fool me like that! Have no shame, man! Open your eyes." Ezekiel grumbled silently, "Dammit," and proceeded to slowly open his eyes. Lucky for Ezekiel, the thick steam from the hot spring on the women's side was making it almost impossible to peek through it, although he could roughly make out two figures that had black outlines. Suko then said, "See, peeping partner? This ain't so bad, is it?" Ezekiel decided to say nothing, as any answer he gave would only prove himself to be an accomplice of Suko's peeping schemes. Ezekiel stepped back from the hole and said nothing, wondering if he was done. Suko, already climbing the fence, said, "What are you doing down there? Come up here with me!" Ezekiel, already wanting to forget about this stupid agreement, reluctantly climbed up the fence and was next to Suko. Both of them slowly put their heads up and over the fence, and both of them peered into the women's bath. Ezekiel quickly put his head back down once he realized what he was doing, but Suko pulled his head back up, saying, "Don't be such a pussy, Ezekiel! Do you know how many people want to be in our position right now?! Especially the readers?! Look!" Suko pointed at two figures rather close to the fence, and after squinting his eyes a little bit, he saw two familiar faces. One belonged to Kairi, and the other belonged to Aqua, who were talking to each other in a friendly manner while taking their bath with soap that Ezekiel had provided them with a while back. Both of them were chest-high in the water, so only the top half of their boobs, excluding the nipple part, could be seen. Kairi then playfully splashed Aqua, and Aqua splashed her back, both enjoying themselves to the fullest. Kairi looked down at her own chest which had average-sized breasts, then noticed Aqua's huge bazongas, saying, "Wow, big boobs really do float in water. I'm kind of jealous." Aqua looked embarrassed, saying, "T-They're not that b-big..." Kairi made her way behind Aqua, squeezing Aqua's huge bazongas and messing around with them a little bit, and Aqua let out a small squeal of embarrassment. Suko's nose began gushing out blood in excitement of the scene unfolding before him, but somehow he kept his grip on the fence. Both Suko and Ezekiel stared for a long time, simply watching Kairi and Aqua mess around in the bathtub while soap covered their bodies. Suko was breathing heavily with a bloody nose and a perverted smile. Ezekiel got a bloody nose as well (because let's be real, what guy wouldn't), but he quickly turned away from the sight and put his head under the fence, felt extremely shameful, and plugged his nose before any more blood could make its way out. Ezekiel looked at Suko, asking, "These two are what you meant by 'two fine ladies?'" Suko shamelessly said, "Yep!" Ezekiel asked, "Is this supposed to be the fanservice part of the book?" Suko grinned mischievously, and with his nose still dripping with blood, said, "Maybe, maybe not. There's definitely more fanservice than this to come, at one point or another. But anyway, who cares! Get an eyeful of them before they leave!" Ezekiel, refusing to peep any further than he already had, said, "Look, Suko. There's a better way to go about doing this. Wait till the writer makes an eventual swimsuit chapter in one of these books when you can actually look at them legally." Suko looked over at Ezekiel, asking, "What's a swimsuit?" I'll have to invent swimsuits as well in order to make the swimsuit chapter a possibility. The readers are counting on me for it, thought Ezekiel, although he would need the help of a tailor. Ezekiel's train of thought was interrupted when Kairi and Aqua suddenly noticed Suko peeping over the fence. They both shrieked, then quickly hid most of their body under the water and fired off magic at Suko, who got hit in the face and fell back into the hot spring. Ezekiel silently climbed down, and Kairi was shouting, "Suko! I'm gonna fucking kill you once you get out, you pervert!" Aqua was making no audible noise, as she was still hiding inside the water and steam the hot spring produced, still very embarrassed.
Suko surfaced from the hot spring after being knocked into it, laughing, and said, "That was worth it." Suko looked around for Ezekiel, but Ezekiel, however, decided to leave since he didn't want to be Suko's partner-in-crime for something as dirty as this. Ezekiel, after drying himself off quickly and putting on his clothes, made a mad dash to his room, where he hoped he wouldn't be found out by either Aqua or Kairi. After some time had passed, he could hear Kairi furiously knocking on Suko's door and shouting at him to open up, with Aqua attempting to calm Kairi down. Although inside his room, Ezekiel was able to determine what was occurring based on the sounds of what was going on outside. Suko slowly opened the door, and Kairi kicked the door open. Suko emitted a loud "OOF" sound when the door slammed into his face and he was knocked to the ground. Kairi walked into his room, cracking her knuckles, ready to give Suko a smackdown. Aqua quietly stammered, "K-Kairi, c-calm down..." Kairi looked at Aqua, who then said, "You're just going to let this man walk home free after seeing our naked bodies?! I think not!" Then, Kairi went all out against Suko, with a lot of slapping and punching noises being made. Suko, screaming out in pain and apologizing over and over, left Ezekiel very worried about his own safety. Ezekiel gulped when he heard this play out, nervous as to whether or not he'd be next to receive a death sentence like that from Kairi for peeping. Ezekiel decided to simply lay down on his bed and read his Book of Knowledge and play it off like absolutely nothing had happened. A couple minutes went by of Kairi beating up Suko, and everything finally went quiet. Ezekiel then heard a knock at the door, and he tensed up. Ezekiel then said, "C-Come in." The door opened, and standing there was Kairi and Aqua. Aqua appeared as if she'd seen a murder, while Kairi was smiling innocently and asked, "Can we look for my parents today?" Ezekiel, worried for his own safety, immediately said, "Sure! We can do that!" Ezekiel, still a bit tense, set down his book and said, "W-We can go right now if you want to!" Kairi then said, "That's fine, but I think Suko is still sleeping right now, so we should leave him be for now." Ezekiel nervously nodded, and Kairi and Aqua then went to go get Bear and Tokuda. Ezekiel breathed a sigh of relief to himself. I think I'm in the clear for now. Goddamn, Kairi is fucking scary, thought Ezekiel, making a mental note to himself to never purposely piss off Kairi in any form or fashion.
Once everyone was gathered (except for Suko, who was "still sleeping"), they all made their way to a restaurant that Kairi suggested they try for breakfast. They had rather good breakfast items, but it wasn't anything that Ezekiel hadn't seen before in his old world. Bread slightly toasted, eggs that were yellow and scrambled, thin slices of pig meat cooked in strips, and a couple other things that he knew about but didn't have official names in this world. While eating, he decided to look in his Book of Knowledge in order to see if it had any more clues as to where Kairi's parents could possibly be. After looking over the page more in-depth, there was something that did stick out to him: Kairi's parents owned the only mine in this kingdom, and seeing as it was the only mining company in the kingdom, it helped Ezekiel really narrow down where to look. There were now two places to search: the mine itself, and the company headquarters located rather close to the mine. Ezekiel decided that the best place to search first would be the company headquarters. Ezekiel brought this up while everyone was enjoying breakfast, and everyone agreed to help search the company's headquarters.
Once finished eating and asking for directions from the townspeople, everyone headed over to where the company headquarters were. After walking for a little bit in the kingdom, they all had arrived at the building that was described to them. Although he was told it was a castle, Ezekiel was rather surprised to see that the company headquarters was actually a decent-sized castle, not one big enough for a king, but big enough to house quite a few people. Kairi took a look at the castle, and the banners on the castle immediately told her that she was in the right place. A smile formed across her face as she quickly ran across the bridge that led to the entrance of the castle, only to be stopped by two guards. One guard asked, "What business do you have with the company?" Kairi quickly said, "Please, I need to see my mother and father. They have to be here." The two guards looked at each other with confusion, then one guard asked, "What is your name?" "Kairi Zessid. I'm the daughter of the owners of this company," said Kairi. The two guards looked as if they didn't believe her, but one guard said, "They aren't seeing anyone today, but I'll notify that you asked for them." The guard then went inside, and the others finally caught up to Kairi. The guard still blocking the way asked, "What business do you have here?" Bear said, "We're with her." The guard looked a bit unhappy hearing that, but he nodded in response. A little while later, the guard finally came back out and said, "The owners of the company would like to see you." Kairi was allowed inside and escorted by one guard, but the other guard stopped the others from following behind her, saying, "Only her. Please don't attempt to follow her." Ezekiel sighed, realizing that there was nothing they could really do. Ezekiel and Bear sat down on the pavement, and Aqua looked at them in curiosity. Tokuda kept his hood on, but the guard noticed him. The guard asked, "You look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?" Tokuda said, "No," attempting to keep the conversation as short as possible. The guard studied Tokuda a little longer, but ultimately, he decided he was thinking of someone else.
Inside of the castle, Kairi was escorted to a giant room, where there were two empty desks sitting side by side to each other, and the entire room was surrounded by bookcases filled with books of all kinds. The guard then said, "The owners should be back in a minute. Please wait here until they arrive." The guard then closed the door, leaving Kairi to herself for a bit. Kairi noticed a wooden chair in front of the two desks and sat down, assuming that she was supposed to sit there. She looked around the room in awe, remembering that her parent's old study was like this as well. Despite the number of years it had been since she was separated from her parents, she remembered the small details very well. Her dad's desk was always littered with papers that were unorganized and a mess. She looked at the desk on the left and saw that it was quite a mess. She then turned to the desk on the right, which was clean, organized, and well-managed, assuming that it was her mother's desk. She giggled to herself, surprised that their habits seemed to persist after all these years. Kairi then began to reminisce on the days when she would always be interested in seeing what her parents did, and despite being shown multiple times by both her mother and father, her interest in what they did only grew. She remembered the time when her mother and father were so convinced that she would take over the company, so despite being at a young age, she was temporarily made an assistant manager by her parents. She remembered that all the workers that worked for her parents at that time had no trouble at all with this decision, and actually rather liked the new young and somewhat bossy assistant manager. If Kairi had to put it into words, it was sort of like having a huge family consisting of a mother, father, and a bunch of brothers and grandfathers. Kairi wondered if the company was still the same as it was back then, but her thoughts were interrupted by the large door behind her being opened, and standing in the doorway were two figures. Both of them stood still as Kairi got out of her seat and faced both of them. The two figures' eyes widened in surprise, then both began to smile. Kairi smiled when she realized who the figures were, running at them at full speed. Kairi embraced the two figures, looking up at them and saying, "I'm home, mother, father." Kairi's mother and father, who embraced Kairi tightly, said, "Welcome home, Kairi."
Long story short, Kairi and Kairi's parents caught up with each other in an emotional reunion, telling each other their lives after the events of the Humanity War. Kairi's parents were happy to hear that Kairi was doing well for herself as a famous food critic, and Kairi was happy to hear that the company her parents were currently running was still doing well after all this time. Time flew by rather quickly since they were all so absorbed in talking and catching up on the years that they couldn't spend together. That's when Kairi's mother suggested, "Why not take this to our house? It is getting close to lunchtime." Kairi and Kairi's father agreed, and they stepped out of the castle to find that Ezekiel, Bear, Aqua, and Tokuda were still hanging out near the front. Kairi asked Ezekiel, "You're all still here?" Ezekiel said, "Yeah, we've been waiting for you." Kairi's mother then asked, "Friends of yours, Kairi?" Kairi responded, "Yeah. They all helped me find you both." Kairi's father then said, "If that's the case, why not join us at our place for lunch? Surely a reward for doing such a thing must be in order." Bear's stomach growled, then he said, "I'll gladly take you up on that offer," and the others agreed. Kairi then said, "As a famous food critic, I can vouch for Ezekiel and say that he's a great cook." Kairi's mother then looked over at Ezekiel and said, "Is that so? Well, once we get back, the chefs should already have something ready for us. Of course, if you would like to, you're more than welcome to cook something yourself, as Kairi says your cooking is quite good." Ezekiel said, "I think I'll pass for now. I'm interested in seeing what stuff the chefs made." With that, Kairi's parents led the way to their house.
Ezekiel found it strange that the castle wasn't their place of living as well. That's nobles with a lot of money to spend for you, I guess, thought Ezekiel. Kairi's mother explained a few things about the kingdom, saying, "This kingdom is sectioned off by class. At the very top in the higher parts of the kingdom, there lives the king and the extremely rich nobles. The 'top class' and 'king class,' so to speak. In the middle where we are currently, we are the 'middle class.' We have people like us who are fairly wealthy, but not as high class as those up there," pointing up the hill towards the castle, which was surrounded by extremely big and nice-looking homes. Kairi's mother then pointed at the very bottom of the hill, saying, "While they're still fairly rich compared to other parts of the world, down there would be considered the 'lower class.'" Ezekiel was surprised at that, as he assumed that there were two main classes to be expected everywhere: peasants and nobles. Ezekiel was not expecting there to be a system of class where it's essentially upper, middle, and lower-tier high class. The economy in this kingdom must be damn good, thought Ezekiel. Kairi's mother continued to say things like that, and Kairi's father also chimed in here and there, just to pass the time until they reached their home.
Once they finally did reach their home, Ezekiel and the others were rather impressed at what they saw. Demi-human butlers, maids, chefs, and more made a passage to the front door, starting at the front door and ending near the road, and once everyone arrived, they all shouted, "Welcome home, Masters!" They all walked the path laid out by the butlers, and once at the front door, Ezekiel realized just how big their house really was. He felt a little intimidated by it if he was honest since he's only lived in an inn for the time that he's been here. Kairi's parents then invited them inside, and everyone was astonished by how fancy everything looked. Kairi took a breath and said, "I've missed this." Everyone looked around in awe at everything before them since none of them had seen luxury like this before. After looking around for a short time, they were soon led into the dining hall, where Kairi's father and mother took the heads of a somewhat long rectangular table, and everyone else took their seats. A couple minutes later, foods and drinks of all kinds were brought to the table, and everyone began eating. Ezekiel was rather impressed with noble food, as he could tell the difference between the common food he usually ate and the food he was eating now. Everyone seemed impressed as well, as they were delighted to eat such high-class food.
After eating for a while, Kairi's father suddenly said, "Could I speak to Kairi alone for a minute? There's something I need to ask her about." Ezekiel looked over in confusion, but Bear stood up and started to leave the room, saying, "No problem. Thank you for the meal." Ezekiel followed suit, then Aqua, then Tokuda. Once everyone had left, Kairi sighed, wondering what it could be about. Kairi's mother and father looked at one another before Kairi's father spoke, saying, "You've grown into quite a young woman that we can both be proud of. I can still remember the days when you were so interested in what we did for a living. I even remember promoting you to assistant manager to help out a little bit. Boy, did the workers enjoy our little daughter helping out!" Kairi's mother laughed, also remembering that moment in time. Kairi's dad then said, "I'm sorry that we couldn't find you sooner, Kairi. In truth, after you disappeared from the war orphanage, we had no trails that we could work off of. Not even a search party of trained professionals could find you." Kairi shook her head, saying, "No, it's not your fault. If I hadn't run off like I did, you would've found me at the orphanage." Kairi's father then fell silent, then Kairi's mother picked up, saying, "We didn't give up, however. We've been looking all this time and even set up shop here in hopes of getting your attention, but when news of your success as a food critic started to make its way through the kingdom, we assumed that you were living your own life, completely separate of us." Kairi's mother paused, gathering the words she wanted to say. "We thought you might've hated us, or forgotten about us. Even if you had, we still tried to look for you, but it was difficult since you never stayed in one spot for long, always traveling. We're sorry, Kairi." Kairi's father then said, "We're both just glad you're okay and made your way back to us. We feel terrible that we weren't there to support you all those years that you needed us, and as a parent, it almost feels like we failed our job." Kairi then said, "As I said, it's not your fault that you couldn't find me. Please, don't worry about it." Kairi's father then said, "If that's the case, thank you for forgiving us. This moves me onto the question that I've actually wanted to ask you once you've become of age." Kairi's father took a deep breath, exhaled, then asked, "Kairi, if you're still interested, would you like to take over the family company?"
The question hit Kairi like a train. As much as she probably would've loved to do that back when she was little, her objectives in life now had changed since then. She had become something else entirely in terms of a job, not even remotely related to the mining business. Plus, she had her own doubts as to whether or not she could carry on her family's legacy with their business. Kairi's mother then said, "Of course, this decision is entirely up to you. We've been saving this spot for you when you came back since you are the rightful heir to our business." Kairi's mother then saw her struggling with the decision and even saw Kairi looking at the door that her friends had walked out of. "You've got good friends there, Kairi," said Kairi's mother. Kairi looked pained about this decision, as she knew her answer to the question but didn't want to say it to their faces. Kairi's mother continued, saying, "As far as I can tell you, Kairi, those friends of yours will most likely do more for you than we could ever do for you. They'll always be there for you, and they might be able to fill in the gap of when we weren't able to do anything for you." Kairi was silent, staring at the plate in front of her. Kairi's mother then said, "As your parents, we support whatever decision you make. You've pretty much made your own life without us, and I do not blame you if you consider us relics of your past." Kairi's mother sighed, then smiled, asking, "I guess what I'm trying to ask here is: do you want to be with your friends?" Kairi looked at her mother and said, "I do. I want to be with my friends and do great things with them." Kairi's mother and father smiled, proud of their daughter for making her own decision with this. Kairi stood up proudly, saying, "Before I came here, I knew the answer to a question that I was asked a little while ago, but I wanted to see you both first to see if my answer would change. Now, I can stand tall and give him the answer to his question." Kairi's father smiled and said, "As your mother said, we'll support you. Now, go with your friends before I start talking more about the past." Kairi chuckled, then started to leave the room. Kairi's parents were happy for her, but they would be lying if they said they weren't a little disappointed. Kairi's dad then said, "When you're ready, you can come back and claim your spot at the family business. We'll always be holding onto the spot for you." Kairi, before leaving, flashed him a bright smile, then left the room.
Kairi stepped outside into the hallway, where the others were making small talk. Ezekiel was the first to notice Kairi and asked, "Everything all good?" Kairi then said, "Couldn't be better! We still have a whole day to do something before we head back tomorrow, so what do you all want to do?" Tokuda said nothing, as he simply wanted to leave the city so he wouldn't have such a high risk of being caught. Bear and Ezekiel suggested more sightseeing, and both Aqua and Kairi agreed to that idea. Ezekiel then suggested magic training later, and Aqua and Kairi agreed to that as well. Bear then looked over at Tokuda, asking, "Wanna be my sparring buddy later, bro?" Tokuda shrugged then said, "Eh, why not?" With that, everyone left Kairi's parent's house and began their activities for the remaining part of the day.
The day passed by extremely quickly, with everyone doing sight-seeing, then eating dinner, then practicing magic or sparring respectively. Suko had also joined them while they were sightseeing and also appeared to have learned his lesson from earlier with Kairi, as he sobered up and didn't say much. Ezekiel also remembered that he took part in his little peeping activity, not really by choice either, so he was embarrassed to look at either Aqua or Kairi for some time. Ezekiel got some good tips from Aqua and Kairi and was able to get a hold of magic a little more. Night then fell, and Ezekiel decided to stop his training for the day. Before he could go inside, however, Kairi appeared, saying, "Hey, Ezekiel, about your question from before..." Ezekiel stopped in his tracks, wondering what she was talking about. He then remembered that he did ask her to join his nation of science, and said, "Oh, yeah. What about it?" Kairi stood up straight and said, "I have my answer." Ezekiel, waiting for her to say the answer, said, "Yeah? What's your answer?" Kairi smiled as she said, "I wanna join your nation of science! To me, this group is fun and interesting to be around, and I wanna see it grow more." Ezekiel laughed then said, "Welcome aboard then! Although, I guess you're already a member, technically!" Ezekiel then grinned, saying, "It'll be a damn good time with you in the nation of science, Kairi." Kairi smiled wider than before. Ezekiel laughed once more then headed inside, leaving Kairi happy deep inside. This was all witnessed by the same hooded figure with pointy ears and green eyes on a rooftop some distance away, who quickly vanished in the night.
Ezekiel, while reading his Book of Knowledge after training, realized he could've potentially made one hell of a profit if he sold soap to Kairi's parents. Pissed off about the money he could've made, Ezekiel angrily went to sleep for the night, sleeping with a resting bitch face.124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXMP6eHeoHo
