Martial Arts Worlds

"…"

With the warm steam of the pot touching his face, Kiernan silently took off his cook's apron and headed to the exit.

"Kiernan, where are you going?!"

The chef asked with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"I'm sorry, Chef, but I can't work here anymore."

Kiernan said, and left the kitchen.

"What?!"

The chef cried out, and the rest of the cooks looked around in surprise. They didn't understand what happened, as he was doing really well.

Without giving them an explanation, Kiernan returned to his room, brought out his bag from his inventory, and stuffed his clothes and belongings into it.

Since he didn't want his room to look empty, like he didn't have any belongings, he took out all his stuff from his inventory to give his room some life.

Especially his clothes, as he frequently changed his clothes, and if someone checked his room and didn't see his clothes anywhere, they might wonder where the hell he was getting them.

He had to use his inventory very carefully, and even though he could use the spatial ring as an excuse, it was a valuable item and he might get robbed.

Once robbed, they would easily find out that there was no such thing as a spatial ring, and they would start to wonder where he actually hid them.

"Sigh…"

Kiernan tossed the bag over his shoulder, closed the lights, left his room, and headed straight to the fifth floor.

The hallways were empty as everyone was on the training courtyard practicing their combat skills as the day of the tournament was close.

Knock~ Knock~

He knocked on Master Arakawa's office, heard some shuffling of the papers inside, and then a deep voice followed.

"Come inside, young Kiernan."

Without even seeing him, Master Arakawa knew who was on the other side of the door.

Kiernan opened the door, walked in, and closed it gently behind him.

Master Arakawa's eyebrow jumped as he saw him wearing his outdoor clothes and having a bag dangling from his right shoulder.

It immediately looked like he was going to head out.

"You're supposed to be on your kitchen shift. Is something wrong?"

"I am thankful for the job opportunity and for the time I had here, but I must head back home now."

Kiernan said.

"What? This is pretty unexpected. You know, this looks pretty suspicious to me, as I accused you of stealing the journal this morning, and now you're leaving…"

He said with a frown.

Kiernan nodded, tossed the bag to the desk, and said.

"You can search it. I don't have anything to hide."

Master Arakawa looked at the desk silently, sighed, and tossed it back to him.

"I believe you. Can I ask why, though? Tanaka is holding you in high regard as he likes your work ethic. You could've become an official student in a month or two if you kept doing what you had been doing so far."

"I know this comes as very sudden, but I must leave. I have stuff to do back at home that I cannot postpone."

Kiernan said, bowed, and headed to the door.

"…"

Master Arakawa watched as he walked out and closed behind him, a deep sigh escaping his mouth.

"Deep sadness, I felt from him."

…

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Kiernan descended down the stairs and came across the training courtyard, where everyone was busy training.

With his sharp gaze, he saw a beautiful black-haired girl training against an instructor, her fists moving fluidly and gracefully through the air.

She had a determined look on her face as she landed hit after hit on the instructor, who even had to tell her to slow down as he couldn't keep up.

It also looked like she was angry or frustrated about something and wanted to vent out her emotions to the instructor.

"…"

Kiernan slid his hands into the pockets, turned away, and walked out of the dojo without saying anything.

Creak~

Pushing the gate open, he took one last look at the dojo and then started walking down the paved road with the cold winds coming from over the mountaintops.

The trees swayed slowly in the breeze, and Kiernan stopped walking for a moment, almost like his feet were trying to drag themselves back to the dojo.

"…"

Kiernan frowned and continued walking, taking the road that led straight out of Dusk Town, and went straight to the neighboring city.

It was the nearest place he could catch a plane that would take him back to New Rakuya.

"Inventory…"

With the inventory appearing in front of him, he tossed his bag inside and resumed walking as that bag felt like it weighed a ton out of nowhere.

This was the first time for him to feel like this—it was as if his body was fighting against himself for some reason.

"You sure have created a problem for me, Old King."

Kiernan frowned and walked up the hill, trying to leave his feelings back in Dusk Town.

…

With a towel in hand, Aoi walked out of the training courtyard, wiping the sweat off her face, and just wanted to jump straight into the bath.

When she thought about a bath, once again, she couldn't help but remember the last time she had a bath—last night.

'Come on, Aoi, stop it…'

Aoi slapped her cheeks and headed to the stairs, but at that moment, she saw her grandfather talking to Tanaka on top of the stairs.

"We're in need of a new chore boy. Kiernan came to my office and just quit—he is gone, so we need a new one."

Master Arakawa said.

"He left? Why?"

Tanaka asked with a frown.

"What?"

At that moment, they heard someone speak, and when they looked downstairs, they saw Aoi staring at them wide-eyed.

"Aoi… Did you just?"

Master Arakawa's eyes widened in shock.

She didn't stay behind, ran out of the gate, and looked towards the paved road of the uphill with the sun setting over it.

"Aoi, wait!"

Master Arakawa ran after her and saw her stare towards the uphill, his eyes shaking as he looked at his granddaughter.

"A-Aoi… Did you just speak…"

"Grandfather…"

Aoi bit her lips, fell down on her knees, and tears streamed down her face.

"Why did he leave?"

"A-Aoi!"

He held her tightly, feeling his own tears welling up in his eyes, and felt so happy that she could talk without realizing how impossible the situation was.

Nothing they did was able to help her to regain her speaking and hearing ability, but now, out of nowhere, she was speaking again.

Aoi covered her face, sobbed silently, and felt her heart break into a million tiny pieces.