Underworldly Dealings II

No, that was probably not what was happening to him. According to the demons, he was getting stronger and considerably fast at that. Kies was just impatient. While it would normally take other people months to improve as much as he did in just a week, he was still being impatient and thinking that it wasn't fast enough.

His core was probably fine. If it wasn't then he would at the very least feel something that would tell him there was something wrong with it.

"Well, that was lame. I really wanted to hear a story but whatever," Falte said disappointedly. He turned his back so that it was facing the wall on the bed and tried to go to sleep. "By the way, how do you not get bored? Don't you spend most nights staying up with nothing to do and no one to talk to?" Falte asked out of curiosity. He couldn't imagine how painful it would be to stay up for entire nights with nothing to do.

"I usually just train."

"Aren't you a hard worker? It would be nice if I had even half your energy."

"Do you not train?" Kies asked the demon. Based on what he said, it didn't sound like he did that much.

"Oh, I do. You won't believe the h*ll I went through to get to the level I am at. The keyword is went, past-tense by the way. I don't want to do something like that again my entire life."

"What kind of training did you go through for you to say something like that?"

Falte turned around to face Kies again and smiled. "Since we don't really have anything to do right now, let's play a game. Take a guess. I'll give you a hint: I am an assassin." That was the only clue that he gave Kies and he would have to guess what it was like based on his profession.

Kies thought about the question. He remembered reading a book on assassins before. "Did you have to hold your breath underwater for a long time and learn how to hit targets with your eyes closed?" These both were things that he remembered reading about in the book.

"What!? Where did you get that information from? A five-year-old?" That was something out of a novel. While the underwater breath-holding one was somewhat reasonable, even experienced assassins didn't know how to hit targets with their eyes closed. Being able to hit a target in the dark when it was hard to see is one thing but hitting one with your eyes closed is unreasonable. But Falte could see where Kies was getting that from.

If one ever lost their sense of vision, they would need to know how to figure out their target's, or targets' location by using their ears and nose. But still, an assassin's goal is to kill someone discreetly and without being caught. They would wait to ambush the target at a convenient spot or set traps. The assassin that Kies was thinking about was one that would chase after a target or multiple at once and kill them with swift strikes unseeable by the naked eye.

There was no point in doing something like that. Not only was it risky, but it was also ridiculous. Falte explained to Kies that assassins didn't do that and that everything he said was something that probably came out of a book, which it did. "Take another guess. I'll give you another hint: I'm not the most patient person?"

"Did you train to the point where you can run into a crowd of enemies and kill your target and escape without getting caught?"

"..." Falte sighed and shook his head. That wasn't it either. "I mean, I could do that already without any training. I'm a demon after all. I can literally fly up to my target, stab them, and fly away before anyone can have the chance to react. But who the h*ll would do something as risky as that?"

"I don't know then." That was all Kies could think of when he thought about what training an assassin might go through.

"I'll just tell you." Falte gave up as well. If Kies continued trying to guess, it would probably all still be something that sounded like it came out of a novel. "I had to hide in trees and bushes for hours or even days on end without moving. Do you know how painful that is!? No noise, no movement, nothing at all. I had to hide and wait for my target to come back and ambush them."

"Oh." Now that Falte told him, it made sense. He should've gotten it with the clues that Falte gave him but somehow didn't. He guessed things were really different in real life than what was written in books. "But do you really not do any of that either," Kies asked. Were there really no assassins out there that trained the way that it was written about in the novel?

"Hm... There might be ones. It isn't impossible, but I can assure you that if they ever have to do that, they're not very good assassins. There is a special term we call these kinds of assassins."

"What?"

"We call them your average brute. Charging into everything without thinking and fighting everyone who comes at you. In other words, a soldier."

"Oh."

"Anyway, I'm going to try to go to sleep now. I better try before the skies start acting up again." Falte turned back around to face the wall and closed his eyes. It was still raining outside but the lightning and thunder had stopped.

Kies walked over to the wooded bucket, picked it up, and dumped the water outside before putting it back. He then went outside and leaned against the wall of the house under the roof and watched as the rain dripped down in front of him. It was going to be a long and boring night.

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