Chapter 19: A Peasant's Plight
Damien woke up from his slight daze as the carriage came to a halt. At this hour, the travellers were sparse, a poor blacksmith, and a few farmers bringing the last of their unsold grain back with them, were the only others present. They bid Damien a short goodbye, he was relatively well known in and around the village here. And well respected too.
Walking through the village street, Damien belatedly realised the scarcity of warmth, 'I would have remembered to carry warmer garments if it wasn't so damn hot in the mornings.'
"Aachoo!" A sudden sneeze erupted as he hastily tried to cover his face. 'Shit, first Kai's injury, my family showing their faces in the city, the extra hours at the Keep and now a goddamn cold' He began cursing the recent events that had plagued life.
But Damien's pain stemmed from one issue more than any other, 'Tressa doesn't understand… I just wanted him to be capable, not injure himself like an idiot… What even was he trying to accomplish that he ended up in such a state… Not to mention his mood as of late and all those unusual questions he'd asked me… That reminds me… Abernathy.'
Thoughts were overbearing Damien's head when he suddenly stopped walking. He immediately came to his senses and realised he'd already crossed his own house. With an awkward expression he turned around and made his way home.
Damien entered his house to feel a faint warmth, it wasn't much considering Kai wasn't in the condition to retrieve any firewood and Tressa had plenty to manage on her own as is.
Despite the feeble nature of the warmth, it made him forget all his worries, it was an extremely comforting environment. He had worked tooth and nail for it, and this was the only remaining peace he had in life.
The aroma of white roses filled the house with further vibrance. Tressa had the habit to collect white roses from around the village pastures, she would soak the petals in water and boil it to spread a subtle fragrance through the house, it was a habit she'd learnt from her mother and had taught to Kai as well.
"Achooo!" Damien sneezed heavily, another sneeze had crept up on him while he was lost in thought.
"I told you to carry warm clothes in the morning, but all you do is complain about things after ignoring my words of warning…" Tressa was standing not too far from Damien. She stood tall with her arms in a cross, and had the typical expression of 'I told you so' plastered on her face.
"Come now, it's not that bad…" Damien spoke as he sniffled through his nose, he really wasn't interested in apologising for not listening now that the damage had been done.
"I've prepared some warm soup for you and the bread is just about ready too… oh and we have a guest, she's been waiting for you for a while now, I told her you'll be back late but she was desperate enough to stick around, so you better relieve her now…" Tressa spoke as she made her way to the kitchen to fetch Damien's dinner.
Damien wasn't in the mood to meet with anyone but it wasn't as if he had a choice in the matter. He entered the main room of the house, where the dinning table was located, on it lay some fruits, a little left over soup and some aged bread.
Kai was seated there keeping company with the visitor. Sitting besides him was an old lady, who seemed to be at least 50 years of age. She had a kind nature, much of her hair had turned white and her face was shaded in wrinkles.
The old woman immediately noticed Damien enter the room and stood to greet him. Damien returned her formality, "Long time Mitilda, how have you been?"
"Not too well lately… I… I'm sorry to bother you like this, even waiting here and troubling your wonderful family. But matters are desperate for me Damien." She spoke straight to the point.
A slight look of concern shadowed Damien's face, but he did well to hide it.
"I hear that many in the village have come to you in a time of need, and you being benevolent have helped them through their… predicaments… I don't ask for much, just a little bit of coin…" Mitilda's voice became even more nervous.
"And I'll pay you back as soon as I can, I assure you!" She quickly added so as to not scare Damien off.
An internal sigh reverberated inside Damien's head. He naturally couldn't do so in front of the kind old lady. "I'm sorry Matilda, but we're short of coin ourselves, I wish I could help but I'm afraid I don't possess the means."
The old lady's expression dropped as soon as she head Damien's words. "Please… my son… he needs help, and bringing him to the city for treatment, it requires an amount I cannot afford, not yet… please Damien, I have no one else left to turn to… he's really unwell." The old lady's words began to turn into murmured sobs.
Damien held a conflicted expression on his face, he soon turned to his son who'd been sitting on the table with a quiet and awkward look, clearly he just wanted to avoid the situation.
'Ah I wish I could too son, but it's not too late for you.'
"Kai go to your room, and call for your mother before, we need some time with Matilda." Damien spoke casually but it was enough for Kai to leave immediately.
Kai slowly closed the door of his room, Matilda had left half an hour ago, with a small bag of coin. He didn't know the details but seeing the grateful look on her face, she probably got what she had come for.
What distressed Kai though, was the fact that his parents had been bickering over the decision to give the old lady money. Tressa wasn't happy that Damien caved and gave her a part of their savings, especially since they had been running extremely thin recently.
'I bet my classes with Sir Illinor have a part to play in this…' Kai lamented as he processed his parents argument, they definitely did not know how to be discreet about these things.
Two knocks in quick succession sounded at his door. Before Kai could get up to reach the door, Damien opened it and entered.
He looked at his son properly, assessing the state of Kai's body.
"You seem to be doing better… But why do you still look so tired, haven't you being doing nothing but rest?" Damien asked with narrowed eyes.
"I… um… recovery hasn't been easy… do you need anything from me father?" Kai tried his best to change the subject, he also made a helpless expression trying to purport innocence.
"Um… yes actually… Abernathy summoned me today, to pass on a message to you… basically Theodan wants to meet you. I'm not sure what you two are upto, but I'd expect a bit more discretion next time. Also do not trouble the steward or any other staff member in the process. We are not their guests… Is that understood?"
"Yes father of course. I'll make sure Theodan is more careful next time." Kai continued speaking with a helpless expression, but this time he actually did feel helpless, he really had no say in this arrangement.
"Ah no… ahem… don't you try to discipline the prince under my name… It's fine if it's his choice, then I'll let the matter be… Be prepared we leave for the city tomorrow, that is if you feel upto it?" A flustered Damien changed the topic this time.
"I do, I definitely do!" Kai spoke as an excited smile emerged on his face, he'd been dying to visit the capital. He wanted to meet with Theodan desperately, he also wanted to visit the Sirbirus Palace to continue conversing with Martin. If possible he would've liked to meet with Illinor too, since he had quite a few doubts regarding body refining, which only the Knight could clear.
"I know how much your friendship with Theodan means to you, but promise me you wouldn't do anything stupid. When dealing with lords, lesser or otherwise, things can easily become complicated, yet alone with the son of the King… And we are nothing more than common folk in this Kingdom. If we were to be convicted for as much as a petty crime, even falsely, there is no coming back from it, no higher power to grant us a pardon."
Damien spoke seriously, he'd worried about his son's friendship since he first heard about it. If not for the unfortunate status given to the weak prince and princess of the Kingdom, Kai and Theodan's friendship would have been considered beyond abnormal.
With his experiences under a Minor House of the Kingdom, Damien knew better than most common folk how feeble the status of a peasant can be in a noble's eyes. Kai's recent actions had been driving his suspicions that something was amiss. But rather than a direct confrontation, he wanted to trust Kai, so he settled with a brief warning towards what he feared the most.
After Damien left, Kai remained sitting on his crooked bed. His eyelids were slanted as he pondered. He held the faintly glowing piece of origin stone in his hands, his fingers nimbly brushed the surface of the fragment.
'Am I wrong for cultivating in secret. For taking Theodan's help… We aren't nobles, we aren't rich merchants either… we're just peasants…'
For the first time the classification of a peasant had bothered Kai, especially the helplessness that followed the term.
'Even as a body refiner or swordsman, I won't be able to achieve much, but I have a chance to be different, be better, if I become stronger, then everything can change, no once can trouble us anymore… But, I have to keep it a secret, it's not an option anymore, this is serious. If I continue the path of cultivation, I'll definitely gain abilities... Hopefully... And when I do I need to ensure my abilities don't stand out… It's not like I have the liberty to choose convenient techniques, rather I will have to temper the techniques to suit my needs.'
The boy's gaze shifted to his small satchel, he carefully removed a leather manual that was neatly wrapped in a white cloth.
'Soon I'll achieve low bone refinement. The first thing I'll need is a technique to compliment my refinement.'
Kai slowly unwrapped the white cloth, words were delicately marked on the manual, 'The Immortal Scourge'
After a few deep breaths, Kai cleared his head and grounded himself. There was much work to do.
He began by reading through the first few chapters of the manual. The preliminary content mentioned exercises one can use to shape the world energy within their bones to suit the technique of the manual.
He made a note of the exercises but stopped himself from delving further. After taking out the piece of origin fragment and ensuring his parents were asleep, Kai sat down cross legged on his bed. But the crooked orientation of the bed made the process dizzying, so he instead sat on the wooden floor.
He slowly began the breathing cycles, after re-familiarising himself with the breathing pattern Kai began to whisper an almost inaudible chant that continued with his breathing.
Faint slivers of origin energy were extracted from the origin fragment and were slowly making their way towards's Kai's meridians, they were so faint, Kai was struggling to perceive them while he maintained his breathing as well as the chanting. Moreover, every time the energy touched his meridians there was a slight discomfort that followed.
For some reason, the burden that followed the constant repetition of the cultivation cycles had entirely disappeared. Kai felt like he could continue on despite concluding eight cycles, his previous limit. The only difference he could think of between now and then would be the obscure sliver of energy that had been formed within his lower dantian.
Slowly but surely the process continued and Kai began to feel the slight addition to the swirling energy in his abdomen. A minute passed, an hour passed, Kai had fallen into a trance, he was completely submerged in this feeling.
With all his anxiousness and troubles, perhaps this was the only method that allowed him to cull the stress, a solution on which everything rested.
Unbeknownst to the young boy, the last sliver of glow from the origin fragment slowly began to fade into nothingness.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone