Life didn't get easier, even in another world

356 I’m leaving

The room was barely lit by the yellow color of the candles that were fighting to disperse the immense darkness of the land of the dead. In one of the chairs in the corner that was faintly bright was sitting Kain, with his curly dark-brown hair messy from him pulling on it again and again and his face like someone contemplating the most complicated philosophic question in the world. With narrowed eyes, he scratched his chin for the sixth time in the last half an hour while staring at the person sitting opposite him, the man who called himself Reynold.

After glancing at the redhead for about ten seconds, Kain suddenly said,

“Are you serious?”

“This is the third time you are asking this.”

“I want to make sure you are not lying.”

“I have no interest in lying to you. Also, the things I just said shouldn’t be so unimaginable for someone who is living in The Void... Well, maybe not living...”

“....”

Kain pretended that he didn’t hear Reynold’s last words as he kept on repeating the question he had asked two times prior to that.

“So you mean, Kairen is actually someone who got transformed into our world from somewhere else? His... His body changed due to him moving through worlds and he is actually a 33-year-old man????”

.....

Reynold nodded his head.

“D-do you mean, I’d been treating an adult man in his twenties like a little teenager the whole time we lived together? I... I even slept in the same bed with him! I... I mean that... This... This makes him my older brother, not my little bro!!! I’ve been calling someone older than me ‘my cute lil’ brother’ while pinching his cheeks. He... must’ve been suffering the whole time... N-no maybe... he was having fun fooling me the whole time... Oh my god! Oh my god!!”

Looking at the man that was on the verge of having a mental breakdown, Reynold couldn’t help but smile faintly.

“He lost all his memories when he got transformed into your world, so in terms of mental age, he was even younger than 13 years old when you got to know him.”

Kain’s shoulders eased a little bit after hearing those words and he heaved a slight sigh.

“Are you sure about that?”

Reynold once again nodded his head.

“Also, it’s not simply ‘aging back,’ or ‘getting younger,’ when you move through worlds, so you can’t really say that Kairen suddenly aged back to become a younger self of himself. It’s much more complicated, which I doubt you’ll understand even if I explained.”

Kain first wanted to retort to those words that seemed to insult him but after a few seconds of thinking, he understood that Reynold wasn’t insulting him but rather, telling the truth. There were a lot of things in this land that Kain couldn’t understand.

After thinking for a while and completely removing the complicated feelings and thoughts from his mind, Kain glanced at Reynold who was busy flipping through a book.

“So, what should we do now that Kairen was sent to the wrong world? Shouldn’t you bring him back?”

“That can’t be done right now.”

“Why?”

“You won’t understand.”

“...”

Kain’s lips twitched slightly, but there were no other changes in his expression. He opened his mouth to ask another question when Reynold suddenly stated something.

“I have to leave this place again. That world I sent Kairen to is not a safe place... I’ve got to keep an eye on things in there.”

Tap

Reynold closed the book he was reading and threw it on the sofa.

“After thinking about it, this seems to be a rare opportunity to teach that stupid-ass brother of yours some useful lessons.”

“That world is dangerous? Isn’t it where he originally lived?”

Kain asked as he watched Reynold get on his feet and approach the cloth rack.

“A long time has passed since Kairen left that world and a lot of things have happened when he was absent. Furthermore, me going there is not only to help out that child but to make sure he doesn’t accidentally destroy that place.”

Reynold picked up his cloak and wore it over his head, completely covering his face with its hood.

‘Accidently destroy a world? Kairen is that strong?’

Kain couldn’t help but wonder over those words. His little brother didn’t seem that strong, not even capable of destroying a world. He couldn’t even think about such things in the first place as all he cared for was lazing around and doing nothing.

While Kain was thinking about the possibility of his brother actually destroying a world, Reynold picked up the book from the sofa and glanced at him.

“That’s why for now, I can’t teach you how to use that device to go back to your world. It might take a while until I come back, and as time doesn’t flow normally here, it might take a long time until I next see you.”

Kain instantly pushed all his thoughts to the back of his mind and fully focused on what Reynold was saying.

“Until then, it might be too late to do anything for you. As you know, the souls gradually lose their original characteristics when they spend a long time here... By that, it also means their ability to control their unique powers... and that unique power is the key to returning to one’s living body.

“That’s why I’m assigning you some... homework to do until I return. If you neglect on doing them, there might be no chance for you to leave this place again.”

“...I-I understand-”

Before Kain could finish his sentence, Reynold threw the book in his hands toward the sitting young man. Kain caught the book midair and glanced at its cover. It was a blackish-red thick cover that had no titles or names on it. Even without opening the book he could see how old and aged the pages were from their yellow color and damaged sides.

“Read it and do everything I’ve written in it. Don’t even waste a day.”

“Y-yes!”

Realizing that the book was probably written by the great emperor, the mysterious man of history, emperor Reynold, Kain held it more carefully and treated it gentler, afraid that he might damage the precious thing.

Seeing how Kain had instantly started reading the book, Reynold nodded to himself before turning around to walk out of the room. He opened the door, stepped out, and his figure vanished before it could even appear inside the large hall of the castle. The door remained half-closed as the curly-haired Kain was the only one left on the whole floor.

. . . . .

“So, Mr. Jack, why did you come to this city?”

Sitting in front of Kairen was a woman in her thirties, folding her arms while leaning back in the chair in a comfortable position. She kept scanning Kairen from head to toe as she talked, making the young man feel more and more uncomfortable with each passing second.

“I-I came here to find shelter.”

“Hmm... I see!”

The woman nodded her head without taking her eyes off Kairen. The room turned completely silent.

“Uh... So, aren’t you guys letting me go? For what am I even being held here? It’s not like I’ve committed any crimes or something!”

It has been two days since he arrived in this world. Since then, he was being held in the same room where he got interrogated by that middle-aged man, and it was only this morning that he was taken out of there.

“Well, yes! You are free to go!”

The woman shrugged her shoulders as he gave Kairen a carefree look.

“Eh, really?”

Kairen hurriedly sat up straght.

‘Wait, where should I go now?’

Just realizing that he had no place to go, Kairen once again lowered his head and rained in his thoughts. After a few minutes, he raised his head once again and glanced at the woman who was busy eating fruits.

“Um... Sorry, do you probably... Do you probably know someone named Aaron Steyton?”