A woman’s gossip was a terrifying weapon. The incident between Isaac and Kaizen had spread across the entire Campus within hours. Some of the colleagues and seniors of Kaizen in the 2nd Military School rose up to defend him but faltered when the girls in favour of Isaac clashed against them.
Not only were they inexperienced in dealing with the girls, the rumour about Isaac’s background had begun to change. After the shameful display of running with his tail between his legs, it was now Kaizen who was labelled the fool of the Rondart Family and that Isaac was mislabelled as such because of his birth and the lack of support within the family. With such rumours taking shape, the students who tried to defend Kaizen stayed quiet to avoid being grouped together with Kaizen.
In fact, some of the students were enraged at Kaizen. All of the girls began treating the students in the 2nd Military School as insects, and the boys were mad that Kaizen had destroyed their chance at romance before it even started.
While the Campus was in a turmoil with this incident, Isaac himself was enjoying a leisurely life within the port lodge. The Student Council investigated what had occurred on the day of the incident and placed him under house arrest.
Isaac welcomed this decision. As someone who found just walking to the Campus from the port bothersome, he now had a reason to stay at home. But it didn’t take long before the peace was broken.
“Don’t you guys have cla.s.ses to attend to?”
“What, is that the first thing you say to your cute Hubae?”
Disappointment was clearly visible on Reisha’s face. She came to visit Isaac early in the morning with a large fish in her hand. Next to her was Kunette, who was quietly staring up at Isaac.
“What are you here for? Students are banned from entering the port, you know.”
“That rule only applies to the students of the Campus. They said that College students are exempt from that rule.”
“Really? Then why did they never… I guess there is no point in them coming here.”
The College was an inst.i.tution for the gifted, and it held the responsibility of a.s.signing the most tremendous amount of work to challenge them in any way possible. Kunette and Reisha would be the only people who’d have the time to visit the port to play in the entire College.
“… Isaac, I want honey.”
“Hm?”
Kunette began tugging on Isaac’s pants as she asked for the honey. It seemed Kunette’s goal in this visit was the honey.
“Then why don’t we have some honey tea?”
There was nothing special about the honey tea. Calling it tea was overselling it; it was just a spoon of honey mixed in warm water. But Reisha headed to the kitchen instead and decided to make sashimi for herself with the fish she had just caught and Kunette simply heated the honey itself and started devouring it with her spoon.
At this point, Isaac didn’t care what Reisha and Kunette were doing. He wasn’t one to feel loneliness, for he never really cared about having social contact. For Isaac, these two were just entertainment if they were around and nothing more.
“Do you not like honey?”
Reisha seemed to have a mixed feeling to Isaac’s question.
“Rather than hating it, I just find honey made by humans bland.”
“Bland? The honey?”
“… Elven honey, tasty.”
Watching Kunette, who was obsessed about honey, talk in a lucid state seemed to give credence to Reisha’s words.
“Hm, I’m starting to get curious as to how they taste?”
“Ahem! If you really, REALLY want it that badly, then I just might try extra hard to ask for some from home.”
“No thanks, I’m not that desperate.”
Sadness enveloped Reisha’s face as her somewhat arrogant att.i.tude was cut short by Isaac’s remark, but then she quickly perked up again.
“Oh yea, I heard you did someone in already. That’s too bad! If I was there too, I would have f.u.c.ked him up good along you.”
“And where did you learn to speak like that?”
While Isaac was baffled by Reisha’s crude choice of words, the door opened without a knock and a boy came barging into the lodge.
“Hey! I didn’t think you’d come to visit me personally? Should I say it’s been a while, brother?”
“Don’t act so friendly, trash.”
Kainen’s rudeness quickly came into Reisha and Kunette’s attention. Reisha jumped off her chair while Kunette began to growl with her fangs in plain view. After a quick loathing look at the two, he turned back at Isaac to continue his words.
“Are they your new guardian angels since Mazelan Sunbae is gone?”
Isaac stopped Reisha and Kunette, who tried to speak against Kainen.
“These two aren’t very useful as guardians.”
“Huh? Sunbaenim!”
“… I’m useless?”
Isaac quickly calmed down the two from crying before looking back at Kainen.
“So why is someone so n.o.ble visiting a piece of trash like me?”
After a brief pause and a cold look, Kainen smirked at Isaac’s question.
“Family business.”
“Family business… Is it because of Kaizen?”
“No. I’m just here because the name I’d forgotten had begun to come to my ears lately. It really is strange. Your personality is completely different from back home. It’s as if you’re a different person.”
The two stared at each other, neither yielding an inch.
“Ha, if I acted like this back in the mansion, I would have been buried in the Night of Tranquillity long time ago.”
“Impossible. The Nameless Desert is too good for you.”
The Night of Tranquillity was the tomb for the members of the Rondart Family, while the Nameless Desert was a public graveyard for the criminals and the poor.
“Well, try to struggle as much as you can.”
Kainen stopped his sentence to take another look at Reisha and Kunette with his gaze.
“I won’t stop you if it’s just some immature curiosity, but don’t get too involved with them. They live in a different world to us.”
“Hmph! That’s none of your business!”
Reisha reacted immediately while Kunette claws began to emerge.
“Hmph, You’ll learn your lesson once you’ve burnt yourself to those non-humans.”
Kaizen gave one last look at Reisha and Kunette and then snorted as he left the lodge.
As soon as he disappeared, Reisha started complaining to Isaac.
“What kind of human is that?”
“I hate that man.”
Isaac muttered to himself as the two continued their grumbling.
“What do you want me to do?”
With their mood completely ruined by Kainen, Reisha and Kunette started to annoy Isaac to relieve their anger. In order to escape their clutches, Isaac gave them his secret stash of snacks only for it to be devoured in its entirety within moments. But Isaac considered it a small price to pay to escape from them.
“What’s for lunch today, Sunbaenim?’
“Why are you asking me? I’m sure the students of the College get much better food in the cafeteria than the students of Campus, right? And how are you hungry again after eating all of my snacks?”
“But I want to eat something special.”
“Well I want to eat the usual.”
“Hiing, Can’t you just make that bulgogi again? Please?”
“No.”
“Aang! Sunbaenim!”
Reisha started her usual tantrum for some food. Kunette didn’t seem to care as long as there was honey within the ingredients. Cooking was a bothersome task for Isaac, but because of the sudden house arrest, there weren’t many ingredients in the lodge as well.
Unable to withstand the constant nagging, Isaac headed into the kitchen and poured some brandin powder in a pot of water. Brandin was a type of grain that was nutritious and had a long shelf life. It was the main source of food for the commoners in this continent.
It was normally baked into bread or made into porridge, and this time Isaac decided to make some porridge with some meat in the mix. With the right amount of salt, the porridge began to boil and release its savoury smell.
Kunette and Reisha were already in the kitchen before Isaac had realised. Seeing them drool at the sight of the porridge, Isaac started to wonder why he was tasked with feeding them. He then took out some bowls and split the pot equally into 3 portions.
“Wow! It looks delicious!”
Isaac had no idea as to what Reisha saw in this plain old porridge. But Kunette seemed to just stare at the porridge with a frown on her face.
“Here! You should find it more to your taste with this honey.”
Smile returned on Kunette’s face once Isaac handed her a small pot of honey.
“… Thanks for the meal.”
It seemed Kunette was finally attached to Isaac after the constant feeding, and she put up little resistance as Isaac continued to pet her head. He was thinking of asking Gonzales to bring in some more honey. At that moment, someone began knocking on the door.
“I’m having a lot of guests today.”
Isaac couldn’t ask Kunette or Reisha to answer the door since they were technically his guests now, and it would be rude for him to ask them to open the door.
“You better leave my share alone.”
Isaac gave his warning to Reisha, who already finished her share and was now aiming for the ownerless plate that was next to her.
“Who…”
Stab! The moment Isaac opened the door, the sharp edge of the knife made its way through Isaac’s chest. Stunned, all Isaac could do was look at the culprit. It was Kaizen, his eyes filled with hatred and vengeance.
‘I let my guard down.’
Cough! Cough! The knife seemed to have made its way to his lungs. He could barely breathe as he continually coughed out blood and was soon met with excruciating pain that followed. With blood painted on his face, the vengeful man that was once here was now gone; all that was left was a b.u.mbling fool, not understanding what he had just done. Kaizen staggered as he took steps backwards and then turned around to make a sprint back where he once came. All Isaac could do was watch as his knees began to give in and collapse on the floor.
“Sunbaenim!”
“Isaac!”
He could hear Kunette and Reisha’s voices. While his consciousness began to fade away, Isaac muttered to himself.
“The porridge is going to get cold…”