Kairos walked over towards a man, who was facing away from him and tending to his farm. He grabbed onto the man’s shoulder.
“Hey, can you tell me what farm this one was labeled as?”
The man trembled fiercely. Though, he did slowly turn around.
Seeing this, Kairos felt relieved, thinking that he would actually be told the specific arrangement.
However, once the man turned around, he had a somewhat rebelling expression on his face, one that seemed angered.
“I-I won’t tell you, monster!”
Unfortunately, as valiant as the man wanted to be, his fear made it difficult to truly act that way. Even just after he said that there was a look of regret on his face, that showed he regretted his actions.
In the end, the man closed his eyes, as though waiting to die.
Kairos was a little ticked off, but the whole situation was also his fault. He wondered what drove the man to do such a thing, despite the fact he was obviously not a brave person. Perhaps it was what they called, ‘A Man’s Pride’.
It was something that Kairos never really understood, but it was the kind of thing everyone else seemed to get as though it were common sense.
After letting out a sigh, he let go of the man and turned to another guy.
“Since the other won’t tell me, why don’t you?”
This time the person quite literally jumped, unable to contain his nervousness. Without even turning around, he responded while trembling.
“I… I won’t t-tell…. y-you! Mon-Mon… Mother!”
Kairos’ eyebrow twitched.
“If you’re going to spend that long to say something, at least say it correctly.”
The guy was quite afraid, and couldn’t speak up anymore.
Kairos realized that since he showed he wouldn’t attack after someone said that to him, the others might’ve also assumed the same. Doing a direct approach was going to be a little tough.
Kairos then pointed toward the man.
“Alright, how about this. If you don’t tell me, then I’ll kill the man I’m holding onto.”
The guy froze up in shock when he heard that. As for the man, he flinched, but remained resolute.
“I-It doesn’t matter if I die!”
Kairos felt a headache coming on. He was thinking about performing something else, but stopped himself.
A young girl spoke up.
“Um, I don’t think the title of the farm matters this much.”
The man’s face twitched
“But-”
Then, thinking about what she said, he came to realize that it really didn’t matter. It wasn’t like it was private information or anything, and it really didn’t matter that much. The guy came to that same realization soon after and slowly began walking away, pretending that he was never there.
The young girl spared a quick glance at the bloody arm on the floor, before looking back at Kairos.
“I remember that plot of farmland is supposed to be E-150. Please go away, now that you know.”
Kairos let go of the man.
“Thanks.”
With that, he began walking away, while everyone watched him from the corner of their eye.
There was still the stage to check out, but he decided to wait for the trio to show up before dealing with any of that business. While thinking that, he came back to the center of the city, and headed back to Tiana’s room.
He gave a light knock.
After a few moments, Tiana opened the door, and was slightly taken aback when she saw who was on the other side.
“Why… did you come back?”
Kairos coughed.
“Um, while checking out the city, I accidentally… killed someone. Now the farm E-150 is open, so I came to inform you about that.”
Tiana looked at him strangely.
“You accidentally killed someone?”
Kairos averted his gaze slightly.
“Well, saying it’s an accident isn’t exactly correct. It wasn’t really my intention, but then I kinda got angry and then did that.”
Tiana didn’t respond for a few seconds, taking that time to process what she just heard.
“Doesn’t that mean you not only have the same problem as me, but it’s far worse?”
Kairos waved his hand dismissively.
“I already told you I don’t have that kind of problem.”
Tiana raised an eyebrow.
“…It’s kinda confusing why my lie detector isn’t going off.”
Kairos shrugged his shoulders.
“So you can tell that I’m not lying. It was just me losing my temper a little bit.”
With that said, the way Tiana looked at him looked anything but believing. In fact, she was kinda glaring.
“Just because it’s not a lie, doesn’t mean it’s true.”
Kairos blinked a few times.
“Huh? You can’t be accusing me of…”
Tiana clicked her tongue.
“Yes, I am. If someone truly believes something, then it isn’t a lie. However, people believe wrong things all the time. In other words, you’re dumb.”
Kairos’s eyelid twitched.
“What are you talking about?”
Tiana rolled her eyes.
“You know what I’m talking about.”
Kairos let out a long sigh.
“I’m actually not crazy, alright? At least, not my definition of it.”
Tiana clicked her tongue.
“So you basically admit you’re insane, just not in the sense that you would describe it.”
Kairos raised a finger.
“Just because I describe it a different way, doesn’t mean it’s wrong, alright?”
Tiana put two fingers on her forehead and sighed with frustration.
“Whatever it is, you’re basically at my state of craziness, or even worse. If we don’t do something about it, then you’re going to start doing things like that again.”
Kairos blinked a few times.
“…You don’t really have to worry about that too much. Frankly, everyone is going to be at least a little on edge because of the apocalypse.”
Tiana clicked her tongue.
“Then we should bring ourselves further from the edge.”
Kairos shook his head.
“I mean, there’s a reason why some people are paranoid and things like that. Being a little crazy is an advantage when you are in an extremely dangerous situation. It’s simply an evolutionary response to help us survive.”
Tiana pressed her lips together.
“So how was killing a random person supposed to help you survive?”
Kairos fell silent, unable to find the words for a few seconds. He cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Anyway, my point is that it isn’t necessarily a problem.”
Unfortunately, Tiana wasn’t having it. She forcefully grabbed onto him before dragging him into the room. Kairos saw it coming and could’ve evaded her grabby hands. However, that wouldn’t have really done much since her physical stats were so much higher.
Even if he dodged once, he would just be caught the second time.
And so, he was dragged into Tiana’s room, after which she shut the door.
After doing so, she let him go and crossed her arms.
“Look, it’s going to be a hassle to stabilize you, but I still think that you are useful enough for me to go through this trouble for you.”
Kairos scoffed.
“Thanks, I guess.”
Tiana stared at him for a few more seconds, but lost the original enthusiasm in her voice.
“So… what would I need to do for you to get a hold of yourself.”
Kairos put a finger on his chin, thinking to himself. He was originally thinking of what would genuinely help him, though he was slightly reluctant. However, his thoughts eventually reached a random part, prompting him to ask a question.
“Hey, how did you display your skill information before?”
Tiana’s eyelids fell slightly, making her look quite irritated.
“Did you even hear what I said before?”
Kairos nodded.
“Yeah, yeah, I was thinking of something, but I still want to know how to see the skill information.”
Tiana sighed.
“You just tap it. It’s something you unlock after reaching the D rank. Don’t tell me you haven’t even tried it yet?”
Kairos rubbed his chin in interest.
“Huh. So it’s that easy?”
He then tilted his head to the side slightly.
“Say, how did you know I was at the beginning of D rank so confidently? I could’ve been at the beginning of C rank, for all you knew.”
Tiana coughed.
“Well… I may be able to see your stats or something like that.”
Kairos gave her a glance.
“…That’s kinda terrifying.”
Tiana shrugged her shoulders.
“I was kinda surprised when I realized I could do that as well.”
Kairos shrugged his shoulders.
“Guess there’s no point in hiding mine.”
Upon opening his status panel, his eyes moved to his abilities. Specifically, the one labeled “Alone”. It was the one he had no understanding of, after all. Clicking on it, the skill description was displayed.
[Alone (E)]
[If there are no beings within one kilometer that are considered in allegiance with you, all magical spells have their power doubled. If not, then your mana regeneration will be halved.
This is a passive skill.]
The corner of Kairos’ lip twitched.
He was thinking that the pulse spell he cast while back in the dungeon was much stronger than usual. To double the power was quite strong. However, the mana regeneration aspect was quite annoying.
It was the kind of ability that rewarded him for going out on his own and punished him if he stayed with his allies. Kairos didn’t really like this kind of ability.
It was one thing if it only benefited him under certain conditions, but the fact that it could act against him ticked Kairos off quite a bit.
With a sigh, he closed the panel.
“Well, that kinda sucks.”
Tiana pouted.
“What? But I thought that skill was pretty good…”
She then gasped before pointing at him.
“Wait, we are supposed to be finding something that will improve your mental state, not think about your abilities!”
Kairos shrugged his shoulders.
“Sorry, sorry. But… this is all for the sake of my mental state. After all, if I’m thinking about something else, I won’t be able to focus properly.”
Tiana clicked her tongue.
“You have a weird way of justifying things. But regardless, think of something, or I will think of something for you! I don’t have all day to wait.”
Kairos sat down in a chair.
“Ok, I’ll try to think of something.”
After a few moments, he spoke up.
“How about… I just sleep?”
Tiana looked a little fed up.
“Sleeping isn’t going to fix your sanity all on its own, it will only stave off the side effects.”
Kairos stretched a little.
“Then I could just laze around and do nothing.”
Tiana clenched her fist.
“Is that not basically the same as sleeping? Are you even trying here?”
Kairos scratched the side of his head.
“Those are really the only things that come to mind.”
Tiana tried to keep her somewhat stern look, but quickly lost the will to keep doing so, instead looking a little sad.
“Whatever then. In the time when you were thinking over useless things, I came up with some ideas as well. I can instead act as your father!”
Kairos felt something within him reject that idea strongly, almost to the point that he would rather die.
“For god’s sake, no. It was terrible enough to play the role as one, but to have a little girl be my own…”
Tiana put her hands on her hips.
“Come on, if you are just a little imaginative, then my acting skills will make you see no difference!”
Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.
“Even if we pretend to be in a world where this somehow works out and you convince me that you are my father, the problem is I don’t really care about that kind of thing.”
Tiana tilted her head to the side.
“Eh? You don’t care about your family at all?”
Kairos took a deep breath.
“It’s not like I don’t care about them, but it’s not like-”
He was about to say that they didn’t matter all that much to him but saw in his future vision that the butterfly on Tiana’s hair would glow red.
Kairos was a little shocked and found himself freezing in place.
A cheeky smile formed on Tiana’s face when she saw that.
“Heh, that means I’m right!”
