Life didn't get easier, even in another world

Although the commander had approved of Kairen and agreed with his thoughts, he still didn't allow him to immediately proceed with his plan. They still had to undergo a lot of preparation before attempting anything. Now that they know their world might be a target of a dangerous individual, they had to prepare a lot of things in advance.

Only a unit wouldn't be enough to stand against that man. Kairen didn't know if gathering more people would be of any help, as he'd heard the story of the battle that happened between him and the final emperor, but he was sure that going with too few people when there was a risk of that man attacking them was pure suicide. If he could, Kairen wanted to go alone, but he was sure that he wouldn't be allowed to do that. Even if the commander let him do as he pleased in order to reduce the risk, his brother wouldn't. Aaron would stick to him for sure, and that would be counted as a group suicide attempt. Kairen had to go back to his daily life and wait for further orders from the headquarters. However, he couldn't just rest assured and live as if everything was fine. After thinking about this and that for a while, Kairen raised an abrupt request.

"Can I take a look at all the ancient artifacts that were gathered?"

He wanted to examine them thoroughly for anything that might help them out. Kairen had a brief guess about those artifacts after learning more about his power. Those artifacts relied on a power similar to his power to boost the user's strength, and in return, they polluted the user's soul with destructive universal energies, and when the energy inside the soul reached a certain point, the soul wouldn't manage to take them and would shatter, or meet other fates. That was the 'curse' that Alan had told him about.

But what would happen if Kairen, someone whose soul was already filled to the brim with the said universal powers, used those artifacts? "Something dangerous happened whenever you touched them or even got close to them before. It's not a good idea to try to use them," Aaron nagged nonstop while walking by Kairen's side. "That was when I had no control over my power. I know how to stop it from leaking out now."

"So what if your soul gets even more damaged after attempting to use them? Come on! What good will they even bring you?"

"I won't know until I test them!"

Kairen was told that all the artifacts were being held in a special room with a lot of magic and devices used to restrict them. They were currently walking to that place which was located inside the headquarters. "You only know how to make me worried," Aaron grumbled after glaring at Kairen with a fierce gaze. "...Sorry."

Kairen could do nothing but apologize. After walking for a few minutes, they finally arrived at a door at the end of the corridor. The door was opened by the staff and Kairen was allowed to go in. Although his brother wasn't permitted entry, he walked in anyway as no one could stop him. Kairen paused for a second after entering the room. It was because of the sudden surge of power that he felt as soon as he set foot inside, and a flow of universal energy that he could never feel on the outside. "Wow!"

He exclaimed quietly and walked close to one of the artifacts. It had protective glass all over it and multiple magic circles and various devices to keep it ineffective. Kairen didn't know if it was because of the protection or due to him having more control over his power that the artifact didn't react at all to his presence. Kairen tapped the glass with a finger. The bracelet on the other side of it lay on a soft cloth without any change. 'How should I use them...'

Kairen was worried that acting rash would damage the surroundings, so he had to think things through before trying anything out. Kairen looked away from the bracelet and looked around. All the artifacts were gathered in the past two years and were placed here, except for the one that Kairen destroyed. Kairen began to move to the end of the room where the crown was located. He thought that it might hold a secret or have some differences from the rest of the artifacts as its shape and usage weren't the same as the others. He glanced at the other artifacts while strolling toward the crown.

"Ah?"

But then, he stopped walking when he was passing one of the glass containers. Kairen's gaze locked on the necklace that was on the other side of the glass, unable to move any other way.

'This...'

It was an old and rusted bracelet, one that had beautiful patterns engraved all around it, one that must've been expensive if it wasn't too old, one that was too familiar for Kairen. -This is... Mother's... M-mother's

A buzz rang inside Kairen's head. -Where have you gotten this from?"

-It's mine! Give it back!

In a blurry vision, someone was holding a shiny thing with a hand and waving it around, while shouting with an angry voice. "You dirty thing! How can you have such a thing?"

"Give it back! It's my mother's!"

He shouted with all his might, but the kid's words were completely ignored by the tall, chubby man. "Shut the trap!" The man pushed the kid back with a hand. The force was enough to cause the frail boy to stumble and fall down. "Tell me who you've stolen it from!"

The boy shouted back with anger and fear, "I haven't stolen it! Stealing is bad! I would never do such a thing! That's m-mummy's bracelet! I wanted to sell it!"

"Haha!" The fat man chuckled in a loud voice. Their argument was loud enough to catch the people's attention, and by now, a group has gathered around them, watching the argument with piqued interest. "M-my money!" The kid clasped his hands and watched the man, whose figure has cast a shadow on the child's whole body. The man grabbed the bracelet with beautifully engraved patterns and examined it. "Look at this little thief asking for money for something he's stolen!"

"No!" The child stood up again and raised his hands up to catch the bracelet, but he was too short to reach the man's hands. He could feel the people's gaze on him and could hear them snorting, or mumbling things about him being a thief. Tears began to well up in his eyes. "I-I don't want money, just return it to me! Return it! That's my mummy's! Give it back!"

"Give it back? On closer look, this thing looks so similar to one of the jewelry my sister had. It got lost a few days ago... I guess fate has done its work and the bracelet is back in our family's hands!"

The man chuckled and turned around. The crowd made way for him and he strolled away from where the little kid was standing. "Give it back! Give that back! It's mine! Mummy gave it to brother, a-and he g-gave it to me!" the little boy shouted while running behind the man. "Give it back! Please! It's not stolen!"

"Stop running that mouth of yours!"

The chubby man yelled as he turned back. His big hand grabbed the child's collar, raised him up, and threw him with a powerful push. "Ah!" the child flew in the air and landed on the ground a few meters away, hitting the hard ground and rolling a few times before stopping. The boy groaned and curled his body from pain, watching the man leave with his mother's bracelet through a teary vision. "Hic!" His attempt at standing up and chasing the man failed miserably as he couldn't even rise his body. The crowd tasked at him and scattered around while talking about the thing that just happened, ridiculing him or cursing him while walking around. "Brother... Hic!"

When the child finally managed to sit up, the man was long gone. Having lost the only thing that remained of his family, the last thing his brother handed to him and the one precious item he had with him, the child's heart was filled with despair and sorrow. He didn't bother to move as he sat there and began crying loudly, not carrying how the other people looked at him. He could still hear a few of them cursing him while some among them looked at him with pitying eyes. He even saw a pair of eyes with a strange color staring at him emotionlessly through a hooded cape. The child, who had lost everything he had, didn't care about any of them.