Time passed by quickly and it's now morning. Kai had a meeting with the girl in the cloak yesterday but due to all the events that have happened, he forgot. That girl is in Blue Waters so Kai is currently walking around the guild to catch a glimpse of said girl.

"Not here."

Kai walks to another area.

"Not here either."

Kai walks to the training area for combat.

"Where is she..?"

Kai walks limping like he hasn't eaten or drank water for days.

"Is she not here or something..?"

Ryo seeing the desperate Kai searching, decides to talk to him and ask him. Ryo approaches him from behind.

"Hey..Kai?"

"..?"

Kai turns around and looks at Ryo, a glimer of hope flashed in his eyes.

"Ryo!"

Kai jumps and charged at Ryo causing his eyes to bulge out.

"Gah!"

Ryo fell on the floor and is now in pain from Kai's hug.

"Kai..please..stop!"

"Ah!"

I forgot that he's alot weaker than I thought he was.

"Sorry, it's just that I saw hope for my search."

"Eh..?"

Kai stood up and waited for Ryo to stand of his own volition. Ryo stood up with ragged breathing while clutching the side of his chest.

"What is..it?"

"Do you know a girl in your guild who knows [Redirection Arts]."

[Redirection Arts] can only be taught to high-ranking members or prodigies in the Blue Waters, because it is very important to the guild and leaking it out could cause their power to tilt.

At this moment, Ryo gained some of his breath and stood up properly.

"Let me think."

He put his hand on his chin with his left hand supporting the arm. He pondered for a moment.

"I know of five, if you remove the adults, there are three."

"Can you get me to meet the youths?"

"Hm?"

He looked at Kai in surprise.

"Well, I can arrange a chance for you to meet but I can only let you meet two."

"Why?"

"The other one is currently in secluded training. She doesn't want to be disturbed while improving her mana capacity."

Kai nodded.

"Then I'd have to trouble you."

"No problem."

Ryo smiled and led Kai to the second floor of the guild.

"Sit down on one of the chairs over there. One of them is always available so you can meet her now."

"Thank you."

Ryo waved his hand.

"No need."

With those words, Ryo left and went back downstairs.

"Hm, if those two girls weren't who I wanted to meet then I'd have to meet the other one. If they aren't any of her then I'd have to ask Ryo if there is a chance that their [Redirection Arts] were leaked, or another person learned them."

A few minutes passed.

I wonder when they'd arrive.

While he was thinking that, Ryo popped out and had a girl who looked to be thirteen or so with him.

"Kai, this is one of the girls I'm talking about."

Kai looked at the girl behind Ryo.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Kai."

"Likewise, I am Kanako."

She seems really polite.

Kai glances at Ryo and shook his head slightly.

Ryo nodded in response.

"Okay, since Kanako isn't the one you wanted to meet, you'd have to wait for a week to meet the other one."

"Thanks."

Kanako glances at Ryo then Kai before turning back to Ryo.

"I wanna talk with him more. Can I?"

"Well if Kai wants to."

"No problem."

Kai nods his head.

This girl is really naive, making you want to protect her, although I am currently younger than her I am alot more capable.

"Well I'm gonna go, I have matters to attend to."

Ryo bows his head slightly and walks away leaving Kai and Kanako alone.

"What do you want to talk about?"

Kai asked in a carefree tone.

"Anything! I hardly get to talk with anyone close to my age or younger than me so anything is fine."

She smiled making her look dazzling in front of everyone's eyes.

This girl is really cute, I wonder how she would look in the future. Kai thought to himself.

"How old are you?"

She asked him.

"Ten."

"I'm thirteen."

I thought as much.

"Kai?"

"Hmm?"

She looks at Kai in an admiring way.

"Why do you feel so mature even though you're just a little kid."

Little kid. I wanna cry right now. I acted really mature in my past life just for them to avoid saying: "you're too young." but it looks like I can't avoid it, I don't know if I should laugh or cry. These thoughts were rolling around Kai's head.

"I should be asking you the opposite question though."

Kai smiled at her innocently.

"Well, it's 'cause they won't let me get in trouble or anything! It's like I'm being protected too much."

Like? No, it definitely is.

"Well I'm sure it's because they don't want anyone hurting you, maybe because you're the cutest girl here?"

Oh crap, I said that for real.

Her face turns beet red at Kai's compliment. It's like staring at a tomato.

"W-w-what are you saying?!"

She turns around and crouches while covering her face.

Ah, I know why she isn't allowed outside now. Kai thought.

She turns to face Kai, still crouching while covering her face. She peeks out slightly before turning red again and closing her hand after seeing Kai's innocent smile.

Too easy..

"I kind of know why you aren't allowed now.."

Kai mumbled.

"What did you say?"

She peeks out and asks.

"Nothing."

Kai waved his hand.

In this world, trickery is still very common. Like the prior world, it's part of the daily routine of alot of people. Take the Dark Guild for example, they kill people for jobs, but sometimes they also get requests like swindling or any other form of crime. This is how the world works, survival of the fittest. And with this girl's demeanor it'll be like taking candy from a baby. If she was a bit fierce, at least if she ignores strangers and can tell signs of malicious intent or anything, then she'd be less easy to trick and take advantage of. But with her current demeanor, taking advantage of her is even more easy than taking advantage of a child.

[Assassins] also need to be skilled in the art of trickery and swindling. Just knowing how to assassinate people won't make you a great [Assassin], you'd need to learn how to infiltrate places and hide your presence, know how to make a proper escape, and most of all, to keep calm to the end. Being an [Assassin] means risking your life at every second. Grudges can be a dangerous thing, it could turn a fly into a dragon.

"If you'd like, after everything I'm supposed to do is over, I'll help you go outside."

"Really?"

Her eyes brimming with excitement. She doesn't feel like a thirteen year old, rather I feel like our ages are reversed. Well I am over twenty but that doesn't change her attitude being lower than a girl her age.

"Hey you two, what are you doing?"

Hm?

A person who wore armor appeared beside them.

"What do you mean?"

"The head guard had called for a meeting, he ordered everyone below the rank of elder to participate."

Kai looked at the man and analyzed the words.

"Why?"

"Didn't you hear the ruckus last night?"

Ah, guess it was my fault. Kai thought.

"Where are we suppose to assemble?"

"You can come with me, I'm heading over there right now."

Kai nodded slightly and stood up from the chair. Kanako followed closely.

"Hey Kai, he seems a little creepy."

"Shh."

What is this girl thinking, he's one of the guards. Would you call a guard creepy when he protects your life? Not to mention the fact that she easily gets scared, if this guard decided to shot out some insults, I doubt she'd be able to resist crying.

Although Kai could step up for her, she'd be reliant.

[Observe]

==========================================================================

Name: Ishikawa Kanako

Race: Human

Age: 13

Level: 21

Health: 90/90

Magic: 250/250

Strength: 70

Speed: 80

Stamina: 100

Will power: 50

Defense: 50

[Special Skill]: [Insight]

[Skill]: [Added Experience]

Magic: [Elemental Magic] Level: MAX

[Support] Level: MAX

[Martial Arts] Level: 3

[Redirection Arts] Level: 2

Titles: [Prodigy] [Blue Waters Member][Cursed]

============================================================================

[Prodigy]..? You mean my level of [Prodigy] is the same as hers? Eh.. Isn't this really unfair? Kai's train of thought continued.

What the..[Cursed]!? Could it be that something happened to her!?

[Observe]

[Cursed]

Granted to someone who has been cursed, effects may vary. Makes the user vulnerable to mental attacks.

"Uhh, Kai..?"

She's looking at me in a weird way.

Ah crap, I've been staring at her!

"It's nothing."

"I..see..."

She looked at herself and checked if there were any problems. She then posed a questioning look then raised her shoulders.

So that's why she can easily be swayed by words, I never knew that [Curses] like that exist.

[Curses] are types of magic, like [Chants] and [Spells]. [Curses] are long-term attacks. The effects vary from each one and only fairly strong people can use it.

With Kai's current power, removing a curse would be as easy as lifting a hand.

"Hey, Kanako. Come here for a bit."

"Hmm?"

She went to Kai's side with a look that she wanted to interrogate Kai.

Kai reached out to her and light appeared on his hand.

Ding

"Eh?"

The guard turned around after he heard Kanako's remark.

"What's wrong?"

The guard looked at her.

"I just heard a 'ding'. Did anybody else hear that?"

"No?"

The guard answered immediately. It looks like he doesn't want to waste time.

"Now can we continue walking?"

"Ah, yes sorry for the trouble."

Eh? What just happened to me? When could I speak like that? Kanako flooded her mind with questions.

She turned to look at Kai wondering if he was the cause.

"[Status]."

==========================================================================

Name: Ishikawa Kanako

Race: Human

Age: 13

Level: 21

Health: 90/90

Magic: 250/250

Strength: 70

Speed: 80

Stamina: 100

Will power: 50

Defense: 50

Special Skill: [Insight]

[Skill]: [Added Experience]

Magic: [Elemental Magic] Level: MAX

[Support] Level: MAX

[Martial Arts] Level: 3

[Redirection Arts] Level: 2

Titles: [Prodigy] [Blue Waters Member]

============================================================================

Ehh!? The cursed title is gone! How could that be!? Her mind was filled with surprise but also a hint of fear.

If someone could remove a [Curse] that easily, curses wouldn't exist! Wouldn't someone have to be a really strong person who at least exceeded the person who casted it by at least fivefold to be able to remove a curse like this!?

She turns to look at Kai.

Kai flashes a smile.

But this time she wasn't embarassed or anything, rather she felt like nothing happened! Her mind was filled with joy and awe, she wasn't stupid. She knew Kai did something to her!

"Kai, how'd you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Don't play dumb!"

They whispered to each other so the guard could not hear their conversation.

"I really have no clue, sorry."

Grr, this man had been tricking her since they met, although the [Curse] was removed, this fact has not changed.

Unbeknownst to her, her thoughts were already changing. From the shy and reserved, to joyful. This was her true attitude that had been locked away only because of a [Curse]. Magic is a scary thing, changing a person like that.

But one should know, everything that changes can't remove the roots. Her mind has already been used to her [Cursed] self. A portion of her attitude would still remain and would sometimes still dominate her real attitude. Only a truly evil person could do something like this, and Kai obviously won't forgive them.

Kai's face flashed a look of seriousness for an instant that nobody else could notice. He'd get to the bottom of this even if it was the last thing he'd do. He can tolerate arrogance to a certain extent, he was a calm person in his past life. But he was also mature for his age, he'd look at things from everyone's perspective before acting. He'd try to see if he would affect anyone before moving.

He had seen far too many evil in his time. Theft and murder were common occurences. This is the world.

Soon after they walked, they were led to the meeting hall. Disciples as far as the eye could see. It was filled from top to bottom. Kai could tell the matter he caused was of grave importance, he didn't know that the trouble he caused would be like this! He miscalculated and hospitalized a few disciples and it turned into this. There must be a huge problem going on inside the guild, he had now regretted what he did. He should've just taught them a lesson to keep their mouths shut.

"Everyone, I've sure most of you have heard of the ruckus yesterday."

The man who spoke was the same one who first saw the seen Kai caused, he was the head guard!

"As all of you know, trouble is stirring between the three top guilds. Yesterday, an attack was placedo n some of our disciples, they were fairly strong and only someone from the other two guilds could defeat them like that. We speculated that they have something to do with this so I advise everyone to report everything you see to us."

Everyone discussed among themselves. Chattering could be the only thing heard.

The man swept his gaze over everyone.

"Also, we may need to take caution against traitors."

Everyone was shocked but shortly most of them nodded. It looked like there really was internal conflict.

"Therefore, we will hold an event in two months. Every youth who has reached the level of fifteen has to fight. Anyone twenty and below can participate. Those who do not fit the criteria aren't allowed to participate. Of course since this is an event, awards will be given. They will be announced in the competition, two months time."

Everyone roared like they just heard the most wonderful news in a long time.

"Finally I get to display my skills!"

"If only this event could've been held last year! I curse my age!"

"I may have a chance at winning this!"

"Fool, remember the [Redirection Arts], nobody can take the top spot from the users."

Endless talking, it looked like everyone was really excited. Kai was no exception, if all youths have to participate, then undoubtedly the girl with the cloak would show herself.

Kanako, who was beside Kai saw the excitement on his face. He looked quite confident in his skills. Not that she had any doubt, if he could clear a curse that easily, sweeping through this competition would be as easy as walking.

"I'm looking forward to it."

Kai had a mischievous grin.

I guess playing a little in a competition could help vent my frustration and clear my mind.