After cleaning up the entire house, he looked at the clock and sighed. "To think it's already 8 PM. I should order something to eat."

"How about going out with me?" Ria suddenly appeared with her sleepy eyes.

"I was about to order something since I realized you have woken up." Kai looked at her messy clothes.

"How about we eat outside? It's good to refresh our mind before having intensive training, you know." She smiled.

"Fine. You should wash yourself first and change your clothes. It's quite freezing outside."

"Sure. Gimme ten minutes." She waved her hand and walked back to her room.

Kai looked at the pile of documents she needed to cover this whole time. Seventy percent of them contained the research about him, starting from his new sword, Sound Concept, Lion Blood, and so on. The rest thirty percent only had the investigation and data about Tasha and the others.

He just had no heart to decline her teacher after seeing her doing this much to him.

Walking straight to her table, he smiled. "Thank you."

He waited for eight minutes, and Ria had finally dressed herself up.

Unlike her usual lazy appearance, she had tidied herself up a little bit. Instead of having her hair get messy by just keeping it loose, she tied it into a ponytail, making her look energetic.

After having enough sleep, the bag under her eyes reduced so much to the point it didn't look there was one from the beginning.

She had a one-piece purple dress, reaching her knees. To fight the cold, she covered herself with a long leather coat and high leather boots.

As for makeup, she never used it to the point she never had one to begin with. Even so, people might mistake her as someone who just entered her prime, not someone who was the same age as his mother.

"What?! Did I mesmerize you, naughty boy?" She smiled and walked toward him.

Kai pinched the bridge of his nose and massaged it for a few seconds before looking at her again. "Who are you?"

"Oi, oi. I am your teacher! I have finally dressed myself up, and you are this rude." She crossed her arms as if he just wronged her.

"Ahaha, I was kidding. I never saw you this beautiful in the past two years, but I remembered your appearance back when I was still a kid." Kai put on a gentle smile, happy with his teacher. Even when meeting with the president, she wore either a military uniform or the usual lab coat, making him a bit concerned.

"Now you say it. But this teacher doesn't approve of this taboo relationship."

"Do you think I approve that?" Kai narrowed his eyes.

"Who knows…You are someone who will marry his sister with the reason not related by blood, so there is no telling."

Kai twitched his eyebrows and sighed. "I am just thinking whether I should put your picture on a dating site. I am sure there will be many people lining up."

"Don't you dare." She slabbed the back of his head. "I don't have any intention of getting married. Just let me carry your child later. I don't want to have one myself because it will take everything from me. It's not like I am a man who needs to work hard to repopulate this planet."

"Haha. Anyway, let's go. I am a bit hungry."

"Sure. It will be my breakfast."

"I will fix that time of yours during my stay." Kai rolled his eyes. "No, I mean seriously, you should probably have a husband that can control your time and schedule."

"It's an assistant, not a husband." She shook her head. "Anyway, let's go. We will go with all you can eat."

Kai smiled as they both walked. According to her, the store wasn't far away, so she often visited the place.

However, Alex was baffled when he saw what it was. It was simply a festival with a hundred stalls on a long road in a certain marketplace. "This…"

"This is the marketplace in this area. I often come here because there are many menus here. And they are pretty cheap, considering this place is always like this every day. Come, come. What do you want to eat?" She grabbed his hand like a girlfriend would do and dragged him inside.

Kai wanted to tell her about the hand, but she looked like an elder sister right now, so it was fine. He decided to enjoy this relaxing time with her.

The two then started eating, trying thirty stalls in just an hour as if their stomachs were a rubber.

After filling their empty stomach, she just clung to his hand while enjoying the walk without any aim.

"Kai, do you remember the first time I met you?"

"Yes."

"You almost died due to a magical beast, but to my surprise, when I arrived there, the beast had already died, perplexing even the genius me. Do you remember what happens back then?"

"I think I have told you about this? There was someone using a mask killing the magical beast. After killing the beast, that person disappeared."

"That was a strange case that I couldn't even solve. There might be something hidden in United Asia, but I don't know if you have the will to discover it."

"I have gotten used to living here, so I currently have no plan in going back other than helping Sak—I mean, Yajima Haruko from the balance and payback for what the Katsuragi Family has put my family into a troublesome situation." Kai sighed.

"I know that desire well. In fact, I am supportive of that idea to the point I want to join you when the time comes, but who knows whether I can move again or not. If I can, I am going to investigate the one who helped you and thank you for saving my student."

"Well, it's your choice. I can help you, but I won't stay for too long in United Asia."

"Yeah. Anyway, it really brings back memories when relaxing with you. Now that I think about it, I have never had a time like this with you."

"Yeah. The only thing you did every day was killing me, so there was nothing like this."

"But I still fed you and washed your body."

"That was only when I was a kid."

"Well, this kind of memory is good once in a while. There are many things I want to talk about with you, but I can't just bring myself to tell you other than any teaching materials."

"I will be here three months." Kai sighed.

Finding the hidden meaning in his words, she simply smiled. "Yeah. That's good enough. Still, the memory of when you were a kid put a smile on my face every time I recalled it. The brat that looked like he had no will to live actually kept telling me to live. It was so hilarious that it wasn't even funny."

"Just like how you saved me, I just wanted to tell you to live because you looked like me in the past." Kai shrugged.

"Yeah, yeah. I remembered that. It was like our existence just gave a boost to each other, so we could keep living, fending ourselves off those hurdles in life."

"You sound like an old lady."

"I am still in my forties." She pinched his arm, annoyed.

"Whatever. In any case, it's true that the training brought me trauma, but I never once thought I hated you. In fact, I have been grateful to you this whole time."

She smiled and closed her eyes. "I want you to rely on me more. You know what? When you suddenly came to this base, I almost had a heart attack after hearing you are heavily injured. I was sad that you didn't call me because I would immediately board the plane and head to United Asia…And probably destroy the Katsuragi Family."

"Ahaha…That was my fault. I should have overcome my trauma sooner."

"But I guess it's okay. It was only because they chased you out of that base, you could stay here." She made a genuine smile as if this was the "peace" she wanted this whole time.

"I also heard that you were the one treating my family and me when I collapsed back then. Because you were afraid of my mental state, you chose to leave me in Michelle's hand. I am a bad student…"

"No, no. You are my treasure that can understand me. And the opposite applies as well. I can understand your feelings and know that it's not the time. If not, you would have called me." She smiled. "Alright. Let's stop this depressing talk. Everything is alright now."

"Yeah."

"Oh, maybe one that is a bit more serious. It's regarding your new sword. I have the prototype ready, but I need to test it first, so you can't really use it right now. It will be ready in another two weeks to three weeks with my current prediction."

"I am looking forward to using it. This will be the time you lose, Teacher."

"It's 25 years too early for you to challenge me."

"Why are you using our real age difference?" Kai twitched his eyebrows.

"Because I am sure I won't be able to challenge you if we are the same age. As for right now, there is already a chance of you defeating me. And I still remember you have the necklace that Rapakha gave you."

"Yeah. Although I don't know where the "promised land" in his mouth is, I can put it on my neck while traveling around the world." Kai nodded.

"You still need to reach one star general first before that." Ria sighed. "Well, let's wander around for one more hour before going back, okay? It's not like we have a lot of time like this."

Kai smiled and nodded. "Yeah."