Cale was stunned.
Never in his entire life of eight years did he ever see his twin brother smiled happily like that. Even when their mother was still here, his twin brother had manage to control his expression to hide his real feelings.
Keith was someone who always maintain his stoic expression. He did not show his sadness on his face when he was sad, nor did he show his happiness on his face when he was happy.
Thus, seeing Keith was grinning from ear to ear was truly a rare and strange sight to behold.
Cale furrowed his brows.
This was his first time seeing a rare and sincere smile filled with happiness on his twin brother's usual stoic face.
And, Keith was smiling so broadly while holding a cheque of money that their father had give it to them a moment ago.
"...Are you alright, Keith?"
Cale could not help but hesitantly asked his brother about his brother's current condition.
Such a gleeful grin should be call a pure expression fitting for a child but it looked too evil to call it one and a little strange to call it a devil's smile at the same time. To be precise, the smile was both childish and wicked.
Keith simply hummed in response as he innocently tilted his head. His eyes were still gazed on the cheque with his smile that did not seem to disappear at any moment.
"Why would I not be alright?"
"You're smiling too much, almost like a villain."
The said smile was completely gone from Keith's face in an instant at the mention of his smile being similar to a villain's. It was instead replaced by a deep frown on the forehead.
"You're talking nonsense."
"I did not."
Hearing Cale's quick retort made Keith let out a heavy sigh. Even more so when he saw the look that Cale was giving to him. Cale was staring at him as if he was doing something crazy.
"Let's get ready for our visit to the town."
Keith changed the topic so that his brother would stop thinking about useless things that would only bring headaches to hin. Fortunately, although the quick-witted Cale didn't seem to buy it, he just agreed to it just for the sake of wanting to go to the town as quick as possible.
When Keith was sure that Cale was completely gone from his sight, Keith turned his attention toward the cheque that was still in his hands again. He looked at the amount of money listed on the cheque that was given by the count.
10 million gallon.
It is about equivalent to 10 million Korean won.
His heart was beating faster at the thought of having so much money on his hand.
Although he wondered why his father gave such a large amount of money to children who were barely eight years old, Keith did not bother to ponder about it any longer. After all, for Keith, no, Kim Rok Soo who never experienced the bliss of wealth and luxury, having a lot of money is truly the best.
You don't have to worry about anything as long as you have money.
Keith quickly made a plan in his mind for today. Today might be the only chance for him to freely go out to the Rain City because he knew that the assassin and the torture expert would surely kept him busy with harsh lessons and hellish trainings.
"Will you out to the town today, young master Keith?"
Keith did not flinch at that question because he noticed that Ron was approaching him with silent footsteps.
He did not want to admit it, but the trainings he endured did heightened all of his senses. His senses became quite sharp and perceptive that he could even notice the presence of the assassin expert in stealth.
He became a little proud because he did not endure all those dangerous trainings for nothing. He would be gone mad if there were no results for the amount of time and body he sacrificed just for the sake of learning under the vicious father-son duo.
Today, he will try to apply what he has learned—stealth in his way to successfully obtaining the ancient power.
"Yes, I will go out with my brother today in the town."
'So, don't follow me.'
Keith did not speak his thought out loud but the smile on Ron's face made him know that the assassin understood his unspoken thought.
"I understand, young master."
'Good.'
He did not want the assassin to follow him and only to see what he will be doing soon.
"I hope you will be prepared for your training tonight, young master."
'Shit.'
Keith cursed in his mind. Seeing Ron's benign yet vicious smile was only making him more restless.
"Let's postpone it to tomorrow. I would be preoccupied with other things this whole day."
He would be doing a labour work today for the sake of obtaining the ancient power—to only undergo another harsh training that will drain all of his energy from his body.
Ron widened his signature benign smile when he realized that his kitten young master was trying to skip today's training.
"I'm afraid I cannot do so, young master. Tonight's lesson would be something new for you to learn."
Keith's eyebrows twitched. He did not about the new lesson, but whatever it is, he was sure it will be something terrifying and extremely difficult, based on the awfully benign and secretly excited look on the assassin's face.
"Postpone it to another day. I will spend most of my time today with my brother."
He was blatantly using his brother as his shield. It was not a lie or a complete truth either, not like Keith cared in the first place.
There was a twisted and dubiously benign on Ron's face that Keith failed to notice as the assassin his head.
"I will do as you wished, young master."
Keith might had a stoic face, but he was extremely relieved that he was able to get away from the training today. Even if it was just for a day, it was better than nothing.
'Perhaps I can use Cale to avoid training in the night.'
He would surely try to do that in another time.
***
"Keith, choose a sword for me!"
"It's your sword. Why should I do that?"
"I don't care, I want you to choose a sword for me!"
Keith sighed at that demand from his brother. At first, he thought that a visit to the Rain City with his brother would be easy. They will just walked around the street and browsed a couple of stores. He even thought that his brother would spend more time in a toy shop.
But, here they were.
In a weaponry shop with hundreds of dangerous weapons.
He should knew better that his brother was not normal.
Considering that his brother's eighteen years old self was actually a trash according to the novel, Keith knew that normal was never the suitable world for Cale. Not like he would actually let his brother grow up into a trash in the first place.
"Just choose whatever suit you. I don't have much knowledge about swords."
It was a lie that Keith hoped his brother would buy it.
He never wield a sword in this world, his brother also knew it. Even in his previous life as Kim Rok Soo, he was never good with swords. However, for the very least, he had a decent amount of knowledges regarding swords that he managed to record in his mind considering the people he cherished in the past were also great swordsmen.
In this new life, he had also learned under the guidance of Ron and Beacrox. Ron might only teach him about daggers and weapons used for assassination, but he also once explained it to him about other weapons. Not to mention that the countless time he watched how Beacrox wield his greatsword whenever the cook was free.
Cale pouted his mouth. He reluctantly agreed to it after realizing that his weak twin brother had never once wield a weapon, not knowing the trainings his brother received from the butler and the cook of the Henituse household.
When Cale turned his attention toward thinking about choosing a decent sword suitablw for him, Keith looked around the shop. He stopped looking around when something catch his eyes.
Daggers.
As a disciple of an assassin, he was naturally interested in the daggers. Although Ron had give some to him (and the assassin kept to himself, only allowed Keith to use during trainings), Keith preferred to have a weapon of his own in his hand.
He wanted to buy some daggers but he did not want his brother to question his suspicious action when his brother never once saw he wield a weapon before. He also did not wish to deal with the critiques from the assassin about buying daggers without the assassin's permission or whatnot.
That was until Cale crushed his thoughts.
"Keith, are you interested in daggers?"
"No, I am not."
Keith quickly denied it.
"But, you should buy it! Daggers are light and easy to carry. So, even if you are weak, you can wield it with no problem."
Cale who was holding a sword took a dagger and swing it repeatedly, trying to demonstrate it for his weak twin brother. Then, he took Keith's right hand and gently pressed the dagger on top of it.
Keith held back his sigh when he saw his brother was smiling excitedly with a pair of shining reddish-brown eyes. His brother really was treating him as if he was a fragile being that would collapse at any moment. Not like he wanted to correct his brother's absurd assumption, but it was still somewhat annoying to be seen as a weak person when he in fact was trained by the assassin and torture expert.
"Did you finish choosing a sword?"
Cale scrunched his nose when he realized that his brother was trying to change topic, again.
"I did. It looks cool, right?"
He swung his newly acquired sword with energy and high spirit. Keith stoically nodded his head.
"Yeah. Let's go now."
Cale did not respond to his words but he instead grabbed a few daggers and purchase it with silver coins. Keith furrowed his brows.
"What are you doing?"
"Buying daggers."
"For who?"
"For you."
Keith sighed as he rubbed his own temple.
"Put it back. I don't need it."
Cale simply shook his head after giving gold coins to the seller. Like an older brother trying to softly convince his younger brother, Cale explained the reason why Keith need the daggers.
"You need these. You can use these whenever you're in danger."
'Why would I be needing this whenever I'm in danger? I have no plan to involve myself with upcoming dangers stated in the novel.'
Keith seriously disagreed with his brother. And even if he was in danger, he did not really need weapons to help him because he can just use ancient powers after he successfully obtained them.
Cale grabbed both of Keith's shoulders as he looked straight into Keith's eyes.
"Listen to me, Keith. I'm your older brother."
Keith scoffed.
"We're twins."
"I'm still older than you by a few minutes."
Keith did not bother himself to win an unbelievable argument with his so-called older brother nor did he had the energy and time to. He wondered what would Cale's reaction be when he realized that Keith was actually older than him, not like Keith would reveal it to his brother. For Keith, only his mother should know about his previous life.
Cale smiled triumphantly as he made a satisfied face while holding a few daggers.
"Let's go, Keith!!"
...This will be a long day.
***
"Keith, this cake is delicious!"
Keith did not reply to the jovial exclaim from his twin brother who was sitting in front of him while eating different type of desserts.
Honestly, he regretted his decision of agreeing with his twin brother to visit the Rain City together, a little.
It was tiring.
They walked for a long time in the street, went to many different stores and shops, browsing the items and purchased it. Only when Cale felt hungry did they stopped with their shopping and Keith finally had a chance to sit down and rest.
If it wasn't for Keith's good stamina thanks to the trainings, his legs would sore and ached so much. He would be completely exhausted with no energy left.
"...Cale."
Cale who was busy munching cookies tilted his head. The corner of his mouth was a little dirty with cream from the desserts.
"What is it?"
"Did you really have to buy so many clothes?"
"Of course, I'm getting taller and bigger so I need new clothes that can fit me."
Keith held back sigh.
"Then, why did you buy it for me?"
He could still remember how he need to let his measure being taken while Cale choose several designs of clothes to be made. It was exhausting.
Cale grinned.
"I wanted our clothes to have matching designs!"
Keith did not reply to Cale's innocent answer as he just sipped a sweet drink. He was finally taking a break from the dreadful lemon teas brewed by the assassin disguised as a butler. What a bliss.
"But..."
Keith put down his drink on the table when Cale continued speaking while holding a biscuit. There was a sad and melancholic smile on Cale's face.
"Isn't this just like the time we spent with mother?"
Keith felt like there was something in his throat, blocking him from speaking out loud. His heart unwillingly was throbbing at the memories of their mother.
"...Indeed."
He could still clearly remember the time they spent together in the Rain City. Buying clothes, toys, relaxing and enjoying delicious desserts.
Keith forcefully closed the records of those precious memories to prevent the pain his heart was feeling at the moment.
"...Cale, do you remember the enchanted box that we buried inside mother's grave?"
Cale blinked his eyes at the sudden question that he did not expect at all.
"Yes, we buried it on mother's funeral. Why?"
"Do you know the contain of the box?"
Cale shook his head as a response, earning a nod from Keith.
"I see..."
"What is it?"
"Nothing. I'm just asking out of curiosity."
"I'm also curious. What do you think is inside the box?"
"...I don't know."
Keith lied. In fact, he was the only one who knew the contain of the enchanted box. It was a diary.
He could vividly remember what his mother said to him when they stayed in the Harris Village.
"Open the box when you're in desperate need for help."
Keith had ask what he should do to open the enchanted box. His mother simply hummed while stroking his head with a gentle smile on her lips.
"You and Cale are the only who can open the box with a sole method."
Keith did not ask anymore as he thought that he could think about that method in other times. If he and Cale were the only one who can use a certain method to open the enchanted box, that means the sole method to open the box has something to do with being blood-related to their mother.
He was not sure whether he will open the box because things were currently peaceful and he knew about the couple of things that will happen in the near future.
"Keith, let's go home."
Keith lifted his head to only see his satisfied brother finished eating almost everything on the table.
"Sure."
They both stood up and walked out from the shop. There was a man worked as a driver standing in front of the carriage with Henituse crest,
"Ah."
"Hm, what's wrong, Keith?"
"You can go back first."
"Huh? Why?"
Keith did not answer as he spoke to the driver.
"I will spend a few hours in a shop alone. Bring me there and take Cale home."
"No!! I want to go with you!!"
Keith raised the corner of his mouth.
"Really?"
"Yeah!!"
"You won't like it."
"Why would I not like it?"
Cale huffed his chest with a deep frown on his forehead. He crossed his arms, not understanding why his brother was thinking that he will not like going to the said shop.
"...I will return home alone."
Keith smirked triumphantly as he walked out from the carriage. He turned back to see his brother was openly showing his dislike toward the shop.
"Pick me up here a few hours later."
"Alright, young master."
"Keith, you better return home fast!"
"Yes, yes."
Keith bid Cale a simple farewell before the carriage was completely gone from his sight. He turned his attention back at the shop in front of him.
[The Fragrance of Tea with Poetry]
It was a tea shop that allowed you to read poems while drinking tea. This clean three story building looked to be pretty expensive. It was true that the owner of the shop was very wealthy. In fact, as the bastard son of a concubine of a large merchant guild. The only thing was that he was living here while hiding that identity.
'If I recall correctly, the owner goes to the capital around volume 3 to meet Choi Han there. It is there that he claims that, he may be a bastard son of a concubine of the merchant guild, but that he will become the owner of the merchant guild.'
The man who shouts and swears to Choi Han that he will become the owner of the merchant guild. Keith had only read the first five volumes, and thus did not know if the man ever ended up becoming the owner of that merchant guild, but since he was one of the main character's partners, he probably will succeed.
Clang.
A quiet but clear bell sound announced Keith's entrance into the tea shop.
Keith stood at the entrance and looked around the tea shop. There were not many people there.
"Welcome."
The owner of this shop warmly welcomed Keith in. Keith looked toward the baby pig-like man who welcomed him in from the counter.
'He must be the owner.'
The wealthy bastard, Billos. His round face and full body definitely looked like a baby pig like the novel described. His charm was his extremely bright smile.
'He looks like a piggy bank.'
Keith took out a gold coin and put it on the counter as he ordered.
"I plan on staying on the third floor all day today."
Billos stared at Keith with a smile on his face. Keith knew that Billos recognized who he is as he pointed to the bookshelf.
"Any tea that is not bitter. Do you have novels here too or just poems?"
Keith looked toward Billos. He prefered novels to poems.
"Of course. We have a lot of novels as well, young master Keith."
Just as what Keith expected, Billos knew who he is.
"Really? Then send up the most interesting book and a cup of tea."
"Yes. I understand."
Keith's gold coin fell onto Billos's chubby hands. Keith turned away as Billos tried to give him change.
"I'll drink more tea later so just keep it."
"...But it is still too much, young master."
"Then, do you have spatial bag?"
Billos blinked his eyes several times before regaining his composure.
"Yes, we have. Would you like to purchase it, young master?"
"Yes."
After all, spatial bag is needed for his work today.
***
"Spatial bag is really convenient."
Keith muttered to himself as he ran past the market and toward the western part of Western City. The slum is located to the west. No matter how wealthy a territory may be, there are always going to be poor people.
This world from a fantasy novel has magic and sort. Why should Keith do labor work to obtain the ancient power when this world has magic?
Keith had buy a lot of breads and shoved all of it inside the spatial bag. That was why he could move with ease because he did not have to tire himself by carrying heavy bag of breads.
The tip of his expensive leather shoe started to become dirty from the dirty water. An unknown stench also filled Keith's nose, making him naturally start to frown.
This made him start to run even faster, stealthily. Learning stealth was really useful since he was able to avoid beggars and vicious looking people. It would be no good if people found out that the youngest son of the Count was doing suspicious things in the slums.
The slums were on one side of a small hill and constituted of old houses. Keith was heading toward the top of that hill.
'It's better here.'
After being freed from the stench, Keith stood at the top of the hill and turned around to look down at Western City.
He headed toward a tree that was fenced off in all directions. The fence, that was made of planks the width of Keith's body, had an entrance that had rotted. It was easily broken once Keith pushed at the fence.
This large tree seemed to have lasted for hundreds of years. Trees in the slums were usually chopped into firewood or had its layers peeled off to make it useless, but this tree was not like that.
A man-eating tree. Anyone who hung themselves on this tree became mummies overnight. Furthermore, any blood that lands on this tree instantly disappeared.
Finally, there was only dirt around this tree. Grass, and even weeds, were nowhere to be found.
This was the tree that Keith was looking for.
A long time ago, during ancient times, there was a person who loved food so much that his gluttony in the place of worship got him kicked out. That person ended up starving to death.
This tree is said to have grown on top of his body, and that person's grudge and strength were both in this tree. The Indestructible Shield that Keith was looking for was here.
How primitive, mysterious and strange was this! The majority of the ancient powers were mysterious like this.
Keith carefully observed a hole that was the size of an adult's head.
"Let's get started."
He started by taking several bags filled with breads out of the spatial bag and putting one bread into that hole. His hand soon disappeared into the darkness underneath the tree, and Keith could feel a cold sensation as the bread in his hand disappeared.
He felt like his whole hand might be sucked in, and quickly took it out.
The darkness in the hole underneath the tree was still the same.
"If you die with a grudge, you have to resolve that grudge."
This man-eating tree wasn't actually a man-eating tree. It was a tree that would eat anything. It was the side effect of the power that was left behind by the person who starved to death. But for such a thing to be related to an ancient strength...it was comical, but made it seem more realistic.
'I remember it said I need to feed it until the darkness disappears.'
The darkness in the hole underneath the tree was not the result of shade. It was darkness formed by the grudge.
This could not be done with other people. One person had to continue to provide a large amount of food until the darkness disappeared. Once the darkness finally disappears, the light that was hiding underneath would appear.
Once he eats that light, the, 'Indestructible Shield'' will become Keith's.
"Eat all you want."
Keith put the opening of the bag into the hole and emptied all of the bread into it.
And that day, Keith has finally obtained the ancient power called the 'Indestructible Shield', although he had to admit that the owner of the ancient power was noisy and crazy.
***
"Young master, you have returned."
Keith just nodded his head when Ron greeted him. He just ignored Ron's benign smile that seemed wider than usual.
"Hoho, I must say that I am impressed by your dedication to learn."
"What do you mean?"
'What is this old man saying now?'
"I'm talking about the daggers that you bought, young master."
Keith frowned. He should have told Cale to not talk about the daggers to the butler because the butler was actually an expert specialized in assassination and dagger arts.
"We should test the new daggers in our next training."
'Shit.'
Keith knew that buying daggers was a bad idea. He was sure that the next training would be more intense and harsh.
"However, my son wished to be in charge of the next training."
Keith raised his brows, wondering why would Beacrox wanted to be the one in charge of the next training.
"Alright."
He nodded his head.
He just hoped that the torture expert will not teach him how to wield a greatsword. It would be tiring to learn and hold such a heavy type of sword, not like Keith has ever signed up for it when he just wanted to learn dagger arts and stealth in the first place.
(Little did he know that he will rather choose wielding a heavy greatsword rather than do something terrifyingly dangerous in the next training)