Rade's Demon Elimination Service

Chapter 32: A New Roommate

Kalleid was waiting for Carys Haeven to wake up and that was when he noticed that he badly needed a haircut.

The spring season has drawn into a close and the scorching heat of summer has come. Bringing the curtains back to let the sun's shine get through the window which illuminated the whole room, appearing as though the room was brighter which was always gloomy in a constant state.

Kalleid savored the heat on his face, the glasses which he usually wore was out of his field of vision. He had always been weak against the cold so the heat that the summer was bringing was a welcome change in the weather. Now, he does not need to shiver in coldness.

Spring has always been his favorite season, it was not too much, not too cold nor was it hot. Just enough for someone who was sensitive in heat and cold registers around his surroundings.

It had been exactly two days since the boy on his bed was brought in by Sis Nina and still he hasn't woken up yet. Kalleid was starting to get worried, but he was assured by Nina that it was an aftereffect of the weapon that Carys was using which greatky depleted his spiritual energy as it created arrows from the wielder's spiritual energy.

There were many names of the bow holy weapon which was not a rarity since most holy weapons have long history.

The Slaughter and the Cuare or the Absorber.

The first name was much well-known than the other for the reason that not many people know of the function of the bow. Like the legendary scimitar holy weapon Aíma, it also absorbs from another source to become more powerful. Unlike the scimitar Aíma, the Cuare feeds on its wielder's spiritual energy to become more powerful. But both of the holy weapon have the same function of parasitism.

If the Cuare bow wasn't able to absorb spiritual energy, then it would automatically absorb the life force of its user. There was was only one known master of the Cuare bow— the Manslayer of the Scorching Corpse Field (or at least that was what Kalleid could remember since the title was too long for him to linger in his mind). And even when there was that title, there wasn't much known and legit information about that particular wielder of the Cuare.

Kalleid thinks that maybe they met a tragic ending or that maybe they were only a part of the myth which was established in order to get more attention and build the reputation of this holy weapon.

The anonymity of this particular holy weapon only makes itself more powerful unlike the Aíma weapon that also lifted its wielder's skills and body as it grew stronger with each kill. Aíma was also infamous for being held by only one family— the cursed bloodline of Aldam.

When Nina told Kalleid those details, Kalleid knew that there was more to this. Nina came back a day after she brought Carys in to check and see if he would ever wake up, but, of course, he never did.

"How could he have gotten hold of the Cuare bow?" Kalleid asked gently.

Nina answered then, her voice was grim and her eyes were darkened. "I'm not too sure, the Cuare is supposedly inside the Huntsman Order. There are only two possible ways this went down: either this Haeven kid stole the Cuare or that it's the Huntsman Order itself who lend it to him."

Which will more complicate matters as they were already, Nina thought then but never said out loud. All the possibilities that this could insinuate, Nina does not want to talk or say anything about.

"But it isn't a weapon fit for him," she added after a moment of reflection. "Because the Cuare acts like a parasite though it's not like the Aíma that could be found inside its wielder's body. It only take away from him rather than make him stronger and it does this while being used by its wielder. The Cuare has been continuously absorbing his spiritual energy so that must the reason why he was still sleeping even after a day. Also, I found these."

Nina took out a few dozens of demon cores, shining with the luminance of the the sun's natural light and the fluorescent on the ceiling. Kalleid's jaw dropped with the quantity of it all. There were different types of demon cores and Kalleid touched one to know whether they were fake or real. There was the familiar humming of life and beating heart when he picked it up and he realized they were indeed real.

"Sis Nina..." Kalleid said in an amazed voice. "To have captured so many cores..." But he was abruptly cut short by Nina.

"It wasn't me who killed those demon to have thay kind of amount of cores," Nina said and shook her head. Instead, Nina pointed at Carys, sleeping soundly and innocently at one corner of the apartment. "It's probably Carys Haeven," she explained. "I went back to where I found him. To see if I missed anything else or if he has any possessions that I wasn't able to see when I carried him. Then I saw those demon cores just lying around the construction site. He must be taking advantage of the oncoming Spatial Void to have gathered so many cores so he could feed the Cuare. But are these really for sale or he's planning to do something else entirely with these?"

"They might also be for paying his expenses. I mean no one is exactly looking for him though he might be considered missing now, right?"

But Nina did not answer him.

Kalleid sighed as he remembered that talk, it somehow unsettled him.

Snapping out of the daze he was put under, Kalleid looked at the buildings just in front of his. He was on the fifteenth floor and he could overlook the landscape of the city. It wasn't dramatic or even beautiful, it wasn't scenic but the busy streets and the people going to and fro enable Kalleid to take his mind off the topic of Carys Haeven. Distraction was very welcomed, much more so now that he was overthinking about everything.

There was a slight rustle behind Kalleid and, at first, he did not take any notice of it, fearing that he might scare the boy out of his wits. That was understandable, of course. Kalleid could only imagine how he would freak out if, one day, he woke up in a foreign place and that the last person he saw wasn't the one who welcomed him as he wake.

It was scary, Kalleid thought and nodded to himself— maybe he was trying too hard to convince himself that it would be Carys who would be scared and not him with both of his knees already shaking in any case that Carys decided to attack him while he was pretending to be distracted by some chores.

True to what he thought; just then, he saw in the reflection on the window that while Carys seemed to be as healthy as a horse, he was also reaching to his weapon, the Cuare. That doesn't seem to have secured Kalleid's security and safety.

Kalleid bitterly smiled to himself, thinking if his body was in any mood to get sliced in half or if he has enough bleach to mop the floor with if blood spills.

He loathes household chores.

So, finally, he decided that maybe he would scare him just a little and spoke up with the gentlest tone he could manage because, after all, he did not find being stabbed through and through or even shot at so appealing. It was the morning, for heaven's sake!

Who in their right mind would like to spend their whole afternoon cleaning up their own blood and guts?

Answer: no one!

"Please don't."

Then Kalleid slowly turned towards the boy who was tiptoeing around the apartment as though he was sneaking out. He was still wearing Kalleid's clothes— a pair of matching pyjamas and short sleeved shirt— and his feet were both bare on Kalleid's apartment's floor. He would definitely look adorable in Kalleid's perspective, if it were not for the fact that he could be planning on shooting with the Cuare weapon in Kalleid.

"Or you're going to ruin my apartment. We're fifteen floors up so I'd like it if you don't do any rash thing that would blow the place up."

Carys stopped tiptoeing.

Earlier, his back was bent to make the smallest amount of noise as possible but he now straightened himself— no longer trying to hide anything. There was an uncanny sense on his blue eyes, but the tussle that was his long fair hair only made him comical and funny.

When Kalleid thought back, he could still recall how Laurinette Haeven looked like when she was alive through the time that she was still the Shadow Fantasm's vessel and the form it took just to lure both him and Rade within his domain back then. And the person standing right in front of him has so similar features to the dead person that it gave Kalleid a little shiver on his arms and spine.

He suddenly shook his shoulders, prompting a reaction from the other boy whose eyes widened.

The only difference was that Laurinette Haeven used to have very short hair and there were smiling lines on her face, while Carys Haeven, despite looking timid and shy, has very cold countenance. It wasn't hard to differentiate the two and Kalleid could now understand how they looked similar to each other but then they weren't.

"How is your sleep?" Kalleid asked, he smiled languidly at Carys and noticed that the boy was all tensed up and frozen in place.

Kalleid thought fast and, in his mind, he thought that Carys might wondering why he was in his residence instead of Nina's, the one whom he probably saw last before losing consciousness.

"The woman who found you, Lovenya Kov, told me to keep you here until you wake up," Kalleid explained but Carys did not let loose of the tension on his shoulders and the sides of his lips, pursing while his eyes were scrutinizing Kalleid's whole being. "Boys and men weren't allowed on where she lives in since she's living in an all-girls building so she asked me if you could stay here and I consented. You've been asleep for a few days, how are you feeling?"

While he was talking, Carys only watched him with unsteady blue eyes. It was apparent on his posture that he was still tired because of his situation and even more so on his lively blue eyes with all the bags under them. Kalleid suspected it might be because of the holy weapon Carys Haeven was using or just that he might not have a regular sleeping pattern.

"I feel... better," Carys suddenly responded which surprising Kalleid. He never thought that his question would actually be answered by Carys. His voice was a little hoarse due to being just newly woken up but it held a certain degree of gentleness. "You..." Carys started to say but Kalleid was already moving.

Carys was jittery, and every move that Kalleid made, he was always on edge as if the older boy would do something bad to him. Although he could feel the younger boy's uneasiness, Kalleid moved as he pleased. He took out a little bowl and a spoon from one of his kitchen cabinets as though it was the most normal thing to do which, in all honesty and retrospect, actually was. After ladling some soup to the little bowl, he gestured for Carys to follow him to his little table with only three wooden stool chairs.

He has few sets of furniture since Kalleid knew that it would be useless to make everything fit inside the small space of his apartment.

"I only have this," Kalleid said and placed the bowl of soup in front of Carys who sat quietly. "I'm not really a good cook and I don't know if instant noodles would be good for you so I tried making a chicken soup."

"This is not..." Carys said but his voice faded away while he was looking down on his own bowl and, rather abruptly, he attacked the soup and the boiled chicken on the watery substance on his bowl with his spoon.

"That's not what?" Kalleid asked Carys. "You don't have to answer me since you're eating though, maybe later?" Kalleid asked with uncertainty but Carys only ignored him.

The silence went on for quite some time that it started to make Kalleid uncomfortable. Because of the awkward silence, he decided to just grab a bowl of soup himself and eat while Carys wasn't done slurping down what was offered to him.

Kalleid understood what Carys wanted to say.

This was a butchered version of chicken soup. Although he had been living alone since the moment he decided that he could, Kalleid was not really an expert on kitchen. There were only few dishes that he could which he won't be able to mess up, unfortunately for Carys, the chicken soup wasn't one of those.

Kalleid wanted to open a conversation to him but he wasn't able to since he didn't whay exactly Carys was comfortable talking about. Gulping down any fear, Kalleid started talking about himself.

"My name is Kaleidoscope Hiro Heiroknecht, by the way," he introduced himself. "Um... but you can call me Kalleid and I only ever use Kalleid Hiro anyway so... there's that. I think it's already a given but I'm a half hunter so I kind of know the ins and outs. Anyway—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Carys cut him off. His voice has some of the cracks that adolescence left, but the way of his speaking was very mild and well-mannered.

"You're one of Rade's new friends, are you not?" he asked.

Kalleid stilled, frozen on the spot. Whether he lied or not, Kalleid wasn't involved to anything that happened a year ago. His relationship with Rade was completely different from how he met Carys right now.

So he nodded.

"You know Rade," Kalleid stated. "You're one of his childhood friends, right?" Kalleid then asked politely.

"Was," Carys corrected him coldly, the mild temperament that he showed earlier has faded into the wildness of a blizzard storm.

Kalleid didn't comment on that correction, only smiled languidly and asked if Carys was done eating. He took away the utensil he had been using and started washing the dishes.

"Why did you pretended to be dead?"

His question only met with silence.

"Are you not afraid that I'll suddenly attack you?" Carys suddenly asked but he only remained seated. He waited for the other boy to flinch as he assessed his attitude and see if he could use him in any way. "Baring your back just like that?"

Sensing the scrutiny from Carys, Kalleid only proceeded on washing the dishes calmly. When he was done, he deftly dried his hands and put away the dishes on the drying rack. He turned around to Carys, sitting pretty on his chair in front of the table with his blue trained in Kalleid.

"Wouldn't it be too shameless of you to do that?" Kalleid asked rather boldy, he knew that Carys must have known his identity at the very first glance.

He was glad that he didn't lie to him by giving him a pretend name, otherwise, he would certainly be in attack right now. He was still feeling Carys, just like what the other boy has been doing.

"Sis Nina said that your weapon, the Cuare," Kalleid said slowly, his eyes didn't left on Carys' body. "Was her late husband's weapon."

Carys' eyes turned into slits with the mention of his holy weapon. His mind turned to that mysterious robed figure that has been helping him for the longest of time. Carys wasn't innately bright but his months on the street somehow made his senses sharper. Although he could sense a foreboding glint on Kalleid's eyes, not even a glare that would indicate that he planned a nefarious thing, Carys still became wary of him.

"What about it?" Carys asked cautiously, his voice was modulated and his tone was neutral. He learned that it was best not to show any kind of emotion when dealing with people.

Somehow, dealing with people were a little harder than killing demons, and that was a lesson he learned the hard way.

"I heard that Cuare harms the body of its wielders," Kalleid said, his brows were almost knitted together in the middle. "And that unlike other holy weapon, it doesn't acknowledge just one master. I'm just a little concern about your usage of the Cuare."

Carys' body stilled. His clear blue eyes became half-lidded as he stared at Kalleid and the tension that Kalleid tried hard to dispel has finally made appearance on Carys' shoulders. Kalleid smiled internally, cursing himself on why he must provoke the boy to move against him.

"This matter does not concern you, immortal," Carys snapped at Kalleid. "I appreciate that you brought that up but I can manage myself, thank you."

Kalleid felt Carys shutting him down, not wanting to talk more about anything with him, and he only nodded, accepting that Carys was guarded and a meal won't be able to pull those walls around him down. Forcing Carys and making him talk or even do what he wanted doesn't seem justified either. They have only just met after all.

"I'm sorry if I offend you," Kalleid said and bowed his head. Carys nodded once, dismissing the tensio though be remained quiet.

But Kalleid could not help but be bothered with what Sis Nina told him. Carys has no prior records of ever training to become a hunter and base on his posture, it was evident that he was still uncomfortable with his own body as a young adolescent. The certain grace and lithe movements of a hunter were also not evident on the other boy.

"If Carys Haeven failed to control the Cuare..." Kalleid could still recall how grim Nina's voice has been and how her eyes shone with tears that never left her eyes. She did not look at Kalleid, her red rimmwd eyes looked as though they were far away from where she actually was. "If this boy failed to control the erratic temperament of that weapon, it would slowly eat his life force up until there wasn't any left of him. That is the nature of that holy weapon, it is inevitable."

Kalleid tightly closed his eyes. Maybe later or never, he told himself again and again.

"Maybe later I could convince him and ask him about the holy weapon again or maybe I wouldn't do that in respects of what he wanted."

Kalleid knew that Carys would still be jittery around him, uncomfortable with his presence. He wanted to help him, but if his help only made the other boy uncomfortable, then he would let him act around as he pleases and not bring up any of the matter that he was curious about. He shut his mouth and let Carys moved out of the chair in the kitchen area of the studio type apartment, his energy seemed depleted with even only just doing the household chores.

Kalleid sighed, droplets of sweat made their way down his chin.

Now Kalleid wondered how long Carys would extend his stay on his apartment and if his stay would only consist of those very calculated conversations and prolonged silences.