Life Hunter

"…That"s not what I expected" Arima murmured and Scatha beside him chuckled in amus.e.m.e.nt.

"It"s already a really fine piece for your first work" She said and took the glaive in her hands "I can tell you what"s wrong with it if you want. The weight is not even, it"s heavier and lighter at places it shouldn"t. That solely means that you badly distributed the steel. It"s not a grave mistake since it"s something which needs training and experience"

"Also, while you were making the shape of the blade. You were too rough" She smiled and put the blade down "It"s the basic things you need to learn until a certain extent before you start working on thing more delicate like gun parts"

Arima nodded and noted that down in his mind. It"s been a week since he had been adopted by Scatha and he had received a basic training to blacksmithing during that time.

"With that said, let"s take a break. It"s been a week but you just trained at forging with me. It makes me happy to teach my work to my son but that"s not how a family should act all the time" She smiled and turned off the stove.

She then went up the stairs and signaled Arima to follow her. When they came back to the living room, Scatha turned off the workshop"s lights and closed the door.

"So, what are we going to do?" Arima tilted his head and asked.

"Well, of course" Scatha put on a coat and smiled "Some shopping" She said and Arima frowned. Why did it sound so dreadful? He had like a bad feeling about it.

They left the house a few minutes after that and Scatha drove to the nearest market hall. When they reached their destination and Arima left the car, he one more time admired the vehicle.

"I wanted to ask you. Why do you use this type of car even in these times?" He asked to Scatha and the latter smiled as she closed the door. The car was an old-style black mustang. Although it had been modified to work with Eion energy, it was still rare to see this kind of car and in a so good state.

"It was my father"s car. Although I had to tune it because it worked on gas before, I will always keep it" Scatha declared and Arima just hummed.

They then entered the shopping mall and started wandering in it. The whole place was very clean and pretty, it was full of people and the shops were very varied.

"Oh, yeah you don"t have a phone, right?" Scatha suddenly joined her hands like she had a great idea. She entered with Arima into a certain shop and directly went to the display cases with him.

"Their form didn"t change a lot in the last years" She said while a taking a smartphone "Maybe one day they"ll perfect virtual technology but we"ll have to continue with this until then" She paused and took two thin phones which she showed to Arima "Which one do you prefer?"

Arima raised an eyebrow "Why do I need a phone? I never used one and I"m good this way"

Scatha smiled and chose the phone herself "They"re really useful these days. You can track your position absolutely anywhere, you can also connect to the net without even a subscription. Well, you can also call anyone and more importantly, you can search for anything on this, anywhere, anytime. Isn"t that the dream for you?" She smirked while she paid for the phone.

Arima"s mood underwent a definitive change as he extended his hand for the phone. Scatha chuckled and gave it to him. He started to get used to it instantly "Okay, thanks" He used it five minutes and then put it away. Although he never used a phone before, the military equipment was enough to introduce him to portable technology.

"No problem, you"re also really smart, maybe you should get into programming and hacking. Believe me, if you intend to continue your way as a spec op, it will make your life easier" Scatha said and Arima nodded in understanding.

"Now it"s time to do what we came here for" She then grinned and dragged Arima in a clothes store. She came here today with the motive of being able to fill an entire wardrobe for her newly adopted son.

At first, Arima didn"t think much about it. He was just trying some clothes. He, of course, realized that Scatha was a bit picky and took her time but he patiently waited.

His expression started to really darken once they visited their fourth shop. At that moment, he started to really question the situation. They"ve been here for an hour and the only thing they bought was a shirt which he had to carry himself.

Two hours after that, there were only two more clothes and Arima was quite on his wit"s end. While he was waiting in front of a shop waiting for Scatha to pay, he witnessed an irritating scene. It was a simple group of thugs a.s.saulting a couple girls.

It wasn"t the first time he saw something like that since he entered the market. But since he was walking along with Scatha, he didn"t move and just a.s.sumed the security will get them.

But now, he was already quite annoyed and they were just a few meters away from him. He put down the bags and cracked his knuckles and neck. He slowly made his way toward the group with a smirk on his face.

Right now, more than helping these girls, he just wanted to let off some steam. When he arrived behind the guys. .h.i.tting on these girls, he tapped on the shoulder of one of them.

The guy turned around with an exclamation and saw Arima standing behind him, perfectly straight with his hands behind his back and a smirk on his expression. Although he was only thirteen, Arima looked on the outside like a fifteen years old boy and he also was tall since his height already reached 1.7 meters.

"What do you want, kid?" The man frowned and asked. He wasn"t exceptionally rude so Arima gave him credit for that.

"I just wanted to ask you to leave them alone" Arima pointed at the girls with his chin and said. The two friends looked at each other and waited for the man"s reaction.

And he just laughed "Listen, boy, it"s not your business" He placed his hands on Arima"s shoulders and declared.

Arima nodded "Fair enough" He smirked and grabbed one of the man"s hands. The guy"s expression turned strange when he realized his hand couldn"t move anymore.

"But sorry," Arima put some strength and the wrist which made a scary sound as the man fell on his knees and cried in pain "I"m not in the mood to be diplomatic" He smirked and hit the man"s stomach with his knee. His eyes rolled and he fainted just after.

The instant he fell flat on the ground, Arima moved like a ghost. One of the three remaining thugs was sent flying for a few meters by Arima"s kick. The latter then disappeared in the eyes of the average people and kicked the biggest guy in the leg before grabbing him by the collar when he bent down. He threw the big guy toward the last thug and the two fainted when they crashed together on the wall.

Arima"s smirk died down and it just became a natural smile. He clapped his hands and looked at the two guards coming over "What is going on?" One of them asked Arima with a strange look as he saw his performance on the way here.

"Nothing, you can take these guys in custody" Arima casually waved his hand and showed the two guards his dog tag which was now completed with the name "Blade". The two guards trembled and saluted instantly. Of course, it wasn"t enough to be a soldier for them to do this. But on Arima"s tag, there was a gold star engraved. These days, that meant "special forces", but not only that, it also meant "enhanced soldier".

Arima came back to the shop and spotted Scatha leaning against the wall with a sweet smile on her face. Arima shrugged and took the bags from the ground one more time.

"You"re really a little soldier, huh?" Scatha smiled and commented while they were walking together.

"Well, yeah. You should be aware of that since the beginning" Arima snickered and responded.

"You"re right" She wryly smiled and looked to the front.

Arima glanced at her and wondered "Tell me, why did you want a son? I can understand that you chose a military orphanage since someone connected to the dark world can"t hope for more, but why did you adopt me?"

Scatha"s eyes wavered "Whether it was a son or a daughter, it would have been okay as long as I had a good feeling with the child" She said.

"Don"t change the subject" Arima interrupted her.

"Okay" Her expression turned even wrier "Well if I had to say why. It would be because I"m lonely" She said "I don"t think I will ever marry in my life but I always wanted to have children. In the end, I decided to adopt one. Also, I wanted someone to give my legacy to. Transmitting my forging skill was not really my intention at first, you learning it is more of a bonus"

Arima was a bit surprised "It"s surprisingly quite simple and honest" He commented and Scatha felt a bit awkward "But it"s fine by me. You seem to be a good person. I don"t think you would ever fail as a mother" He smiled and declared.

Scatha beamed and increased her pace "Then let"s continue, we need to finish your wardrobe" She said and entered another shop. Arima opened his mouth and looked at her blankly as she stepped in the freaking shop. But when he saw her genuine smile, he could only shake his head and follow her.

He said to himself that it wasn"t going to be that bad. That"s what he thought, and that"s what he immediately took back the next day when they went to another mall. And after five more days, he fell on his bed after Scatha finally finished Arima"s clothes collection. She also took clothes of higher sizes to antic.i.p.ate his growth.

That day, Arima swore that he would always go on shopping alone. And the same week, Scatha went to him and said something that really poured wine on his gears: "You"ll attend school starting from next week. At least until you"re sixteen"

"…Eh?"

Fortunately for him, his squad was called for a mission the next day. That allowed him to have some time to think.

"Isn"t that a good thing? I never went to an actual school" Farro said while they were in the helicopter going toward their next zone of operation.

"Yeah…" Arima muttered "I don"t really want to meddle with a world so different as school"

"Well, I can understand that" Farro shrugged and agreed. For an accomplished soldier, going to school is almost a torture.

"She just wants you to be a bit more social. I think it"s a great mom" Tiria also gave away her opinion.

"I think so too. I would want to meet her. I heard of the name Scathach, she is a reputed independent and skilled manufacturer" Tieria added.

"Hey, stop talking about that. We"re almost reaching the target" Moria shouted in everyone"s pagers "Arimane, take care of the chopper scouting the area. It"s to the north-west, our helicopter will move for you. Be ready"

Arima nodded and a.s.sembled his rifle He crouched down in the middle of the chopper and pointed the barrel toward the closed door. He nodded at Tieria and she opened it for him. Arima instantly saw the enemy helicopter and put in his scope before breathing in.

After a second, he suddenly moved the barrel to one side, obviously not pointing directly toward the target. But when he shot and Tieria closed the door. The target started acting strangely and crashed on the ground a moment after when Arima was already on his seat with his rifle tidied in its case.