Goodnight.

Chapter 54: goodnight.

Mary tried her best to explain what had happened, all the while worrying that Roah would get mad. She didn't know who she was, but she could tell by Roah's demeanour that she was someone to be wary of. There would be no chance of even having a fighting chance against her. Let alone stopping her if she decided to attack.

She stumbled over her words as she tried to tell Roah what had gone on and how she had taken him back home to get some help, but nothing came out of her mouth. Now she was faced with someone she felt intimidated by. She froze up completely.

"What's going on? Did you find him?" Aria walked out of the Tavern, making sure not to disturb her unborn baby by rushing too much and then made her way over to Roah.

"Oh, Duke Ebner's daughter? What brings you here?" Aria asked as she saw Mary standing beside Kalon.

"It's really not her fault. I was tying my laces in the middle of a busy street. She just walked past and caught me in the eye with her knee. It's not anything serious. She even took me back to her house to put some ice on it to make sure it didn't bruise. She really isn't at fault." Kalon said on Mary's behalf since she was too nervous to speak, but as he did, it made her feel a little more at ease.

"No, it was my fault. I should have been watching where I was going. It's my fault for not seeing you there." Mary argued back with Kalon, trying to take the blame for injuring him, but As Kalon said before, it wasn't a big deal.

"No, really, It's my fault. I shouldn't have been tying my laces in the street. I should have saved that for when I got back here." Kalon responded with his own reason why it was his fault, and it seemed like the conversation wasn't going anywhere.

"Fine, you are both at fault. Now stop talking already. You are giving me a headache." Roah sighed. Watching them go back and forth with each other made her realise pretty quickly that Kalon was fine, and she didn't need to beat anyone for picking on him.

"Roah, be careful with your words. That girl is the daughter of a duke. You could be punished for being so rude to her." Aria warned, but it seemed to go right over her head. And Kalon didn't even know what a duke was.

"I still feel bad, though." Mary tried to apologise once more, but Kalon was quick to stop her.

"It's honestly fine. I don't feel any pain at all." He then removed the towel from his head to show that there wasn't even a bruise thanks to the woman Mary had taken him to.

"I can't deal with this. You seem fine. I don't know why I even worried. Just don't venture off too far. I'm going back inside." Roah sighed before heading back inside the Tavern alone. Aria stayed behind to try to mediate the situation, but both Kalon and Mary seemed too stubborn to simply let it go. So she, too, eventually headed back inside.

Kalon and Mary made their way over the seating area outside the Tavern and continued to talk. Mary seemed to be interested in how strong Kalon was. Still, as he told her that he only started cultivating a week before arriving in the city, she felt a little less interested and decided to make sure that he didn't get injured again.

"Hey? How about I protect you if you get accepted into Frisson Academy? It will be good training for me if I am going to become a guardian. And I will make sure that no one picks a fight with you until you are strong enough to defend yourself." Mary concluded that Kalon was weak and defenceless just from the amount of time he had been cultivating for. But he didn't tell her that he had been a swordsman before he could even run.

The three most essential parts of cultivation were the mind, body and soul. Training even one of the three would cause the rest of them to increase in strength. Absorbing Qi would mainly strengthen the soul, and one mental durability would primarily enhance the mind, and finally, physical training would significantly strengthen the body. But even one of them would benefit the others a lot, which most cultivators greatly overlooked.

On the other hand, Kalon was tortured and tormented by his older brother when he was young. He had been beaten to the verge of death many times, which made him a lot more mentally durable than other cultivators his age. And training in swordsmanship had strengthened his body beyond that of a typical twelve-year-old. The only thing that was lacking was the strength of his soul since he was new to cultivation, but the other two made up for his weakness.

Kalon had yet to learn the importance of training his mind and body and therefore underestimated himself greatly. He thought that everyone at the school would be as strong as Roah, which intimidated him a lot. He didn't know how he would survive in such a place, but he should have known better when he looked at Mary.

"Okay, then I will trouble you with protecting me." Kalon put his hand to his fist to show that he accepted Mary as a stronger warrior and bowed his head slightly.

"It won't be a problem at all. All I will have to do is tell everyone that you are under my protection and no one will get in your way. You will be untouchable." Mary boasted with a smile as Igris stuck his head out from the door.

"Kalon, We're going to eat now. Are you coming in?" He asked as he saw them both sitting outside.

"Oh no, It's getting dark. I'm late for dinner with my parents. My dad will kill me. I will see you later, Kalon. It was nice meeting you!" Mary shouted out before running as fast as she could.

"It was nice to meet you too!" Kalons called back to her, but he wasn't sure if she heard him before turning the corner. He sighed before heading back into the Tavern with Igris.

"Looks like you've got yourself a little girlfriend already." Igris teased as Kalon passed him in the doorway.

Kalon looked over at the bar to see Roah sitting there with a drink in her hand, and he blushed slightly.

"She isn't my girlfriend. In fact, I don't want a girlfriend!" Kalon responded with a little bit of anger in his voice.

"Oh, So you're looking for a boyfriend then? Well, I won't judge you." Igris teased him once again, but before Kalon could say anything, Roah scolded Igris.

"Leave him alone. What he meant to say is that he's too young for a girlfriend. I'm sure he will have a lot of them when he gets older." Roah said and then patted the seat next to her while she smiled at Kalon, calling him over to sit next to her.

"Oh yeah? And what makes you so sure?" Igris asked with a look of curiosity on his face.

"You managed to get yourself a beautiful wife, didn't you? If even you can get married, then anyone can. I don't need to worry about Kalon. I bet he will be quite the looker when he's older. Just look at how cute his little cheeks are." Roah said boldly as she pinched his cheeks when he sat down beside her.

Kalon quickly recognised the scent of alcohol on her breath and sighed.

Aria sat down on the other side of Kalon and then waited as Igris went into the back room to finish off the final parts of their dinner before coming back out and eating it together. Once they had all finished, Roah took Kalon upstairs to an empty room where Aria said he could stay and sat beside him as she tucked him into bed.

"I have to set off to the next town over from here, so I won't be here when you wake up. But if you need anything, then make sure you trouble Igris as much as you can. He has been mean to you all night, so I think he deserves to be punished, don't you?" Roah caressed Kalon's cheek with the back of her hand before leaning over and kissing him on the centre of his head.

"I don't know when I will see you again, so make sure that you practise what I taught you and you become as strong as possible. I believe in you. So how about next time we meet we have another little sparring match? Who knows, maybe you will beat me?" Roah smiled as Kalon weakly nodded his head as he tried to fight back the tears.

He had become a little bit attached to her since he had been under her care. She was nice to him for seemingly no reason at all and had gone out of her way to make sure that he will make something of his life now that he was no longer in the Sylton empire.

"Please don't go! I changed my mind. I don't want to go to school anymore. Can't you just teach me yourself?" Kalon begged. But Roah knew that he would never become stronger if he depended on her for the rest of his life.

'You silly kid. You're going to make me cry if you make it this hard for us to part.' Roah thought before pulling him closer and resting her hands on his back.

"Goodnight Kalon, I hope we meet again soon," Roah whispered before raising her hand slightly and striking the back of his neck. Kalon's body fell limp before she gently lowered him back down to the bed and put the blanket back over his chest.