The Path of Ruin-Chapter 109: Perfect Results

"-up."

Kael slowly began to regain consciousness, accompanied by a voice that came from nowhere and that he couldn't quite make out.

"Wake up."

Wake up?

'Ah...'

Right, he had fainted. After throwing a punch at Volka's back, one that hadn't even hurt him, his body had simply refused to function anymore, leaving him face down on the ground.

"Ugh…"

As he recalled the final moments before fainting, an unpleasant sensation spread through his body.

No, he didn't feel tired or exhausted right now. He didn't know why, but no part of his body was in pain. Still, merely remembering those moments was an unsettling experience.

"I said wake up."

Furrowing his brows, he slowly opened his eyes. He turned towards the source of the voice.

"I'm alr-"

But before he could even finish his sentence, his eyes widened at the sight before him.

~splash!

"…"

He simply stood there, doing nothing as cold water dripped from his hair and every part of his face.

"…"

Even when he saw Hakon standing right in front of him, holding a bucket pointed directly at him, he didn't react.

His expression was as blank as could be.

But his eyes… they looked as though they'd inherited every ounce of that exhaustion from just before he'd fainted.

"Great, you're awake!"

Hakon smiled and flung the bucket aside. Kael, meanwhile, let out a deep sigh.

"I was already awake."

"Hm? Did you say something?"

"…"

He was doing it on purpose. There was no doubt about it. He'd only wanted to pour a bucketful of cold water over his face... and that was all. Whether he woke up or not didn't matter to him.

"Never mind."

He wiped his face with his hands, trying to get as much water out of his hair as possible. At the same time, he surveyed his surroundings.

He was still where he had fainted. He was on the relatively empty side of that massive yard. The knights were still training in the distance, paying him little attention. Before long, he turned around and found Volka exactly where he expected him to be.

Hakon's kindred spirit was looking at him right now with that same unsettling smile on his face. Just looking at him caused a disturbing tingling to spread through his entire body.

But he couldn't keep his eyes on him for long. Because standing right next to Volka was a new person.

She was an elderly woman with brown hair that was beginning to gray. The clothes she wore looked surprisingly high-quality, even though they resembled the ordinary clothes he saw every day in the towns.

"Meet Lady Semira, Kael. She is one of the few healers residing in the palace."

Come to think of it, not much time had passed since he fainted, yet his body was in perfect condition.

It was because of this woman.

Kael stood up first, making sure there was truly nothing wrong with his body. Then he approached the woman and bowed slightly before her.

"Thank you for healing me, Lady Semira."

"You can lift your head, child."

The woman's words and voice… were surprisingly gentle. He'd expected a more authoritative and arrogant tone from one of the palace's few healers.

After all, according to what he'd learned, very few people possessed a blessing or path abilities related to healing.

He was thinking about this when he heard something that made him doubt his own hearing.

"You shouldn't be thanking me. Instead, you should be hating those two devils who put you in that state."

"…?"

Kael lifted his head with his mouth agape, staring at the woman in front of him with eyes too wide with shock to blink.

The woman's yellow eyes glared at Volka and Hakon, who were standing right next to her, as if she were annoyed.

"We're testing the child. We need all these and even more for the eval-"

Hakon had just opened his mouth when Lady Semira suddenly approached him. Right in front of Kael and Volka, she yanked his ear with unexpected speed and force.

"Ow, ow—ow! S- stop!"

Hakon helplessly tried to pry her grip loose with his hand, but before he could, Lady Semira yanked his ear even harder.

Her expression had grown quite vicious as she did so.

"Shut the hell up. I thought maybe you'd changed a bit when I heard a scumbag like you had finally decided to teach someone something, but no such luck! You just found someone to torture just to satisfy that devil inside you, didn't you, piece of shit?! That 'disciple' thing is a lie, isn't it!"

"N- no, I swear it's not like that! Just stop! A- agh!"

"Didn't I tell you to shut the hell up, you bastard? Are you talking back to me, huh? Did you forget your fucking manners too?!"

Kael watched everything unfold without blinking, unable to move even a millimeter from where he stood.

'Holy shit!'

Hakon, who was no different from the devil himself, was being scolded right before his eyes, completely defenseless and unable to utter a single sound. And setting that aside, the beads of sweat trickling down Volka's forehead were a sign that even he was scared of this woman.

There was a being in this world capable of standing up to these two devils... even capable of scaring them!

Could he be dreaming? What he was seeing felt too good to be true...

Eventually, after a bit more ear-pulling and scolding, Lady Semira let go of Hakon's ear. As Hakon gently rubbed his ear, which had turned a deep red from all that yanking, Lady Semira turned towards him without a care in the world.

Kael instantly forgot everything he'd been thinking about, that sense of ease.

If she could do that to the demons, what wouldn't she do to him?

This woman was just as dangerous as they were if he wasn't careful!

"Calm down, child. As long as you don't follow the path those dogs are taking, you won't see my dark side."

…

Was that a warning?

A threat?

"On the contrary, if by any chance they pull any strange, devilish tricks on you, come tell me. I'll make sure justice is served!"

Well, it wasn't. At least not entirely.

On the contrary, this old woman seemed to be on his side.

When Kael realized he had gained an unexpected protector, he could only manage a single word to escape his lips.

"T- thank you…?"

At that, he saw a smile appear on Lady Semira's aged face. There was no trace of the irritated expression she'd shown Hakon. On the contrary, she was looking at him as if he were her own grandchild.

"Nice. Be like that."

While Kael stood motionless, she ran her hand through his hair, then turned around and began walking slowly towards one of the yard's exits.

"Even though he's picked up some bad habits, I'm sure Hakon will be a good teacher for you. Just do what he says, and don't do what he does."

After uttering these words, which everyone around him could hear, she left, walking further and further away.

She was really leaving.

And… Kael couldn't help but swallow hard.

'Damn…'

He glanced sideways at Hakon, whose ears were slowly returning to normal. The moment he did this, he became quite confused.

Unexpectedly, Hakon was looking at the woman's retreating back with… longing and respect. Not with the irritation and anger one would expect from someone who'd just been scolded. And before long, as if he was aware that Kael was looking at him, he spoke.

"Lady Semira can be considered the person who raised us. She would stand in the rear lines on the battlefield, always tending to the soldiers. Whenever she saw young ones like us, she'd feel sorry for us and show us the most attention."

Oh, so they had a connection from the past…

That's why Hakon let her tug on his ear without doing anything to her, without even using eon…

Lady Semira was a mother figure to him. And Kael knew all too well how vulnerable people are to their mothers.

After all, the biggest reason he was still alive was his effort to keep the promise he made to his mother. Even though he knew how easy suicide was as a solution, it was his mother who stopped him every time.

"I... understand."

"It's good that you do. Because we don't have much time to waste. Your evaluation isn't over yet."

…

Right.

The time he spent with Volka was only for the first test.

There was more ahead of him.

Though, there was one thing he was curious about…

As his eyes wandered between Hakon and Volka, who had silently watched everything unfold, he asked curiously.

"For the first test… how did I do?"

It wasn't Hakon who answered his question, but Volka, a broad smile spreading across his face.

"Perfect. I wouldn't expect anything less from Hakon's disciple."

*******

Given the length and absurd difficulty of his first test, Kael had imagined he'd be completely wrecked by the end of the day.

However, contrary to his expectations, the day continued in a more… 'normal' way.ğ

After Volka's test, he had taken a test that didn't require him to exert himself physically at all. The amount of eon he possessed, how well he could sense it, and how well he could use it had been tested.

The person administering this test wasn't someone Hakon knew personally. Therefore, there was no unnecessary small talk. They went straight to the evaluation.

And… he achieved perfect results in this test as well.

Faced with the staggering amount of eon he has, the man conducting the test had mistaken him for a Pursuer. When he confirmed that he was a Follower, he nearly lost his mind. But this was only the beginning.

Kael's sense of eon was also far too good compared to the average. Meanwhile, his control over eon was, in a word, extraordinary. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Setting that aside, the Path he followed and his Follower Ability were categorized as highly effective.

The third test focused more on his intellect. He solved numerous questions on paper and had to answer difficult ones. He was tested on which choice he would make among various dilemmas.

The result of this test was also quite positive. Although the evaluator told him there was still a lot for him to learn, she emphasized that his mental capabilities were quite advanced.

And so, at the end of every test he took, he was praised. He delivered an unexpected performance, leaving the evaluators speechless.

Well, there was no need for him to hold back anything. He was testing his own limits in every possible area thanks to this.

For this reason, no matter what test he took, he never backed down.

He met all sorts of new people. Despite the sky growing dark, he took countless tests and was evaluated.

In the end, as the clock neared midnight… He and Hakon had returned to where they had started.

They stood before the desk where the woman named Emila sat, in the room that resembled a vast archive. Two hours had passed since his last evaluation.

Emila, meanwhile, was waiting for them with a pile of papers in front of her. She was tired; she was probably still awake at this hour because of them, even though she likely needed to sleep.

Still, she did her job without complaint. In fact, on the contrary… she looked quite surprised.

"Wow, what's with these results? You didn't cheat, did you?"

"Of course not, my disciple is just quite talented."

"Quite talented? That's an understatement, from what I've seen. Your disciple might soon be a rival to the Third Prince."

"Haha, that would actually be fun... no?"

"No..."

Emila continued gathering the evaluations, while Hakon kept talking to her. Kael, who was watching all of this from behind them, merely furrowed his brows.

The Third Prince? He was hearing that title for the first time. However, he didn't like being compared to that person. Dealing with high-ranking nobles—especially when the person in question was the Emperor's son—never made sense, as far as he could tell. He didn't want to damage this Third Prince's ego in any way.

"Anyway."

Emila gathered all the papers in front of her, placed them into a single folder, then stretched and yawned. After that, she sighed.

"Go get some sleep. The evaluations will be processed tomorrow morning. Then, around noon, your disciple will receive a rank and choose his department."

"Sure, thanks again, Emila."

"You're welcome."

The day, filled with tests and evaluations, had come to an end like that.