Spirit Soul

[A/N: Thank you very much for the Golden Tickets! Here is the promised bonus chapter ;D]

Six days had passed since Kyle had first attempted to forge.

But just under a week, he felt as if he could lose his arm any moment.

Learning how to forge was far more taxing than he had initially expected.

As such, Kyle wasn't sure if he ought to be happy or sad about his teacher's behavior, which was different than initially expected.

Gard didn't even seem to be holding back at all.

His eagerness of transforming Kyle into a ranked blacksmith had made him overzealous.

It resulted in Kyle toiling in the smithy, forging several hours every single day, barely receiving any breaks.

That left him very little time to cultivate and even less to practice his weaponry.

Trying to complete the other two tasks with a sore body and aching limbs was far more troublesome and exhausting.

But Kyle couldn't afford to neglect the other two activities.

Despite that, Gard wanted Kyle to cut down his time on cultivating and weaponry.

He wanted Kyle to focus on forging, and less on other things.

Despite that, Kyle knew the importance of practicing martial art techniques, cultivation progress, archery, and a proper workout to retain a balanced physique.

Hence, even though Gard tried hard to convince him, Kyle simply refused to pay heed to his words.

As much as he understood his teacher's love for forging, Kyle had to improve his combat prowess too.

There was no way his blacksmithing capabilities would save his neck in an attack of beast hordes, let alone other intelligent races he would have to face in the future.

Kyle's rejection hurt Gard more than he thought it would.

Meanwhile, Mell was of the opinion that it was probably his pride that had been hurt.

Mell was still astonished about her husband's behavior, yet, at the same time, it was good to look at him not sulk like before.

Looking at Gard's demeanor and how he had changed during the last few weeks made her happy.

She could only hope that it would stay like this for a long time.

Unfortunately, one fine evening their peaceful life was tossed into the bin.

It had been an evening like any other that someone showed up on their door while they were having dinner.

*knock* *knock*

A series of small yet persistent knocks told them that the visitor was quite impatient.

However, upon hearing a voice through the wooden door, everyone got confused.

It was none other than Gaby's voice!

"Gard...Mell, are you guys home? It's me Gaby, and I'm here on behalf of the Guild. May I come inside?"

The four of them stopped eating when they heard Gaby's voice. Kyle's first thought was the question of what the Guild would possibly want from them.

However, only a moment later the severely injured Lohar's face flashed through his mind.

Recalling that, he wondered if the Guild had finally extracted some information from the Lohar and injured Nasga.

Looking at Selene, he noticed that she was already staring at him.

Smiling lightly, he took her hand for a short moment and grasped it tightly before he reassured her.

"Everything is fine, don't worry!"

After that, he let go of her hand.

Mell got up from the chair, while Gard could only sigh as he added,

"Let's put away the food for now. I feel like this will be a little bit more complicated."

Kyle felt the same as Gard, and nodded his head before he put away the dishes and the food.

Ignoring the dull ache that rose in his right arm, Kyle put the dishes away.

A fine layer of paste had been applied to his arm to prevent cramps and soreness.

Despite that, every single move made him feel like his tendons were tearing apart due to overexertion.

Thus, even the simple task of transferring them into the kitchen felt laborious.

In the kitchen, a small grain-sized dimension crystal was embedded on the shelf.

If he were to compare it to a specific device, it was roughly the size of a fridge, just that it took less space away.

When Kyle saw Mell using the dimension crystals for the first time, he felt as if she was wasting precious resources.

However, that was only until he found out that those crystals were not as rare as it was the case in his past life.

Shima was a planet full of resources that were in abundance.

It was even said that there were certain areas that could reproduce rare materials.

Even if that was not true, Kyle thought that the gigantic planet seemed to be more intriguing the more he found out about it.

Upon returning to the dining table, he saw that Gaby was already there. She was standing next to Mell, who told her to sit down.

Gaby was wearing formal clothes and had a serious expression on her face as she stated the purpose of her visit.

"Two days ago, Laila was able to break the Nasga's will.

She was able to successfully extract all the information from the prisoner before he succumbed to the injuries she had inflicted.

After listening to the information provided by the Nasga, we questioned the Lohar who finally woke up today. He told us everything that had happened from his point of view, and both their stories matched.

At the same time, he has requested our help."

While speaking her last sentence, Gaby looked at Selene, who instinctively moved closer to Kyle.

Before anybody could say anything, Mell suddenly intervened,

"It's nice that the Guild figured out what happened, but that shouldn't have something to do with Kyle or Selene. If you need something from me or my husband just tell us.

Don't beat around the bush!"

Mell was still trying to cope with the fact that Gaby was in their house, alive, while her son had died in the house owned by Gaby's family.

Nevertheless, the gaze Gaby threw at Selene made Mell feel extremely uncomfortable.

Her worries were proven to be correct a minute later as the former guard captain sighed.

"Unfortunately, it is a little bit more complex than simply asking for your help.

The Guild hereby specifically requests Lohar Selene's help!

I know I am asking for a lot. I have heard from Laila how Variants and black furred Lohars are treated by their own kind.

However, I hope you can reconsider helping the Guild, and the Lohars, whose towns have been destroyed.

In fact, a large number of their population within the Sadorla forest has been abducted by the Nasga race!"

Kyle felt like Gaby was talking in riddles instead of stating everything clearly.

It was even weirder that she requested Selene to help.

Yet, before he could open his mouth, Selene shook her head as she blurted out,

"First of all...NO thanks! I don't want to help the Lohars in any way! Why am I even needed to help them? Can't they protect themselves...why should I, who was abandoned after my birth, help those loathsome, vile beings!?!

They should rot in hell!!"

After Selene finished her short and angry outburst, even she was shocked with herself.

Earlier, Selene believed that she had accepted her past, and had moved on without any bad feelings.

However, the slightest mention of her helping the Lohar had caused the volcano of emotions that had been buried deep in her heart to erupt once again.

Every single word Selene uttered was laced with contempt and hatred.

After the ones who were supposed to be her own had abandoned her, she wanted to do nothing with them.

Mell, Gard, and Gaby had always thought of Selene as the quiet and shy Lohar.

Hence, her reaction was shocking to say the least.

They wore identical expressions of astonishment owing to her sudden outburst of emotions.

Meanwhile, Kyle smiled lightly, thinking that Selene was gradually overcoming her fear and hesitation.

He slipped his hand into hers to stop her from clenching her fists and doing something rash.

Rage had consumed her and her nails had dug into her palms, cutting some of the soft skin.

A few drops of blood oozed out of the cuts but Selene was oblivious to that..

Thus, he could only shake his head before looking at Gaby with a serious expression.

The situation was extremely odd, and for a moment all of them simply stood staring at each other.

There had to be a proper reason for Gaby or to be precise, the Guild to request none other than Selene's help!

"Gaby, if you're permitted to tell us what is going on, you should explain everything neatly.

Speaking in riddles will only waste our time and confuse us more…"

Kyle presumed the situation would escalate if he wouldn't intervene.

As such, he tried to salvage the situation, feeling that both women were too emotional right now to speak rationally.

He was particularly impressed with Selene who had taken a long time to speak her mind without hesitation.

Though he was not sure whether Gaby was feeling weird because of the Nasgas, or something else, in order to overcome one's pain, they had to talk about it.

There was no use in concealing everything within their hearts.

It would only hinder the others from helping them when the opposite was necessary!

"To put it simply, both the Nasga and Lohar had roughly told the same.

The Nasga and their elite troupes, the Blood Nasga, have infiltrated the Sadorla forest once again. This is nothing special, and happened quite often in the last few decades.

As such, there are many Nasga tribes and even some with which we have connections. Not all of them are out for blood and death. However, that is not the important point right now!

The most important point which both the Nasga and Lohar were sure of, is that the Nasga races colluded with a Aldra merchant.

Said merchant was used to destroy the villages and towns of the Lohar race.

In return, they abducted the women, children, and healthy men in order to sell them to the merchant.

Apparently, the injured Lohar was able to flee after being brought to a large Nasga tribe that seems to be a few days' trip away from here!

The Guild was not notified that the merchant was supposed to operate a covert slavery mission...and I don't really know what to say about that right now...

Maybe Mell and Gard have heard of him. His name is 'Knar Laz', and is also called the chubby merchant. He is one of the few merchants of the Thunderclaw kingdom, and was supposed to arrive in Vila town a few weeks ago…

I don't know the exact details and the intel we have is too little.

However, the Lohar you two brought back, have the Lohar's golden seal of chivalry.

He has requested Selene to come with them to help.."

The amount of information shared was a lot and Kyle took a minute to process everything.

'Lohar's golden seal of chivalry...what is that?...And why is it the chubby merchant again?! ' Kyle thought before his gaze averted to Selene, who looked at him in confusion too.

There was a glint of anger in her eyes as if she had finally understood something.

It was not due to the Guild, or the Lohar's request anymore.

Rather, it was because both Kyle and Selene felt that the chubby merchant was the same one they had encountered in the Alsa village!

As realization dawned upon him, Kyle felt that Selene might just march out of the door and kill the merchant in a fit of rage.

Her eyes shone with a distinct murderous intentions and her nerves were strained due to the efforts she was taking to not explode in anger again.

Seeing her filled with the mad urge to kill caused goosebumps to appear all over his body. Kyle wondered for the first time if he had been underestimating Selene and the state she was in.