The Reincarnation of the Kingmaker

Chapter 37: Selina's tragic past

"This girl's mouth seems to not know how to hold back," Natas chuckled as he shortly glimpsed at Leah.

"There's actually a reason for that," Kayn's smile can't help turning downward. Leah wasn't acting like that because that's the type of character she is. There's a deeper reason behind that.

"May I hear about it?"

Looking at Leah and confirming that her distance is far enough so that she won't hear his whispers, Kayn replied, "You're Selina's sponsor, did she not tell you about her past?"

"We barely had any deep conversations. I didn't even know that she was once your girlfriend until you mentioned it," Natas shook his head. Most of his interactions with Selina back then were only when he was giving her instructions for a mission and whenever she wants to do something that she believes could help them achieve their goal. Other than those, they don't make any casual conversations. The only time they did was when she went against his order and expressed her relentless desire to help Kayn reach the top of the 'Tower'.

"Selina's mother was assassinated,"

Natas wasn't able to prepare himself mentally for the sudden revelation. He was almost rendered speechless, "It is that serious?"

"It was," Kayn nodded his head. "She was five years old during the time it happened. Her father was away on a trip to take care of something important, and only the bodyguards of their family were present. Some of the bodyguards were Heroes while the majority were Superhumans, but despite that, they still didn't stand a chance against the assassin and were killed one at a time,"

"When the assassin was finally coming for Selina and her mother, her mother immediately hid Selina inside the secret vault under their house, and after that, she distracts the assassin away from her daughter's location. But what her mother didn't know was that her daughter already opened her Gift at that time, so she easily melted the vault's door thinking that she was playing hide and seek with her mother,"

"She was a kid, a very innocent one on top of that," Natas can't help but say in the remark.

"Indeed," Kayn agreed. "Selina kept on searching for her mother until eventually, she found someone. Without holding back, she went to hug that person, thinking she was her mother. She even called that person mother, completely ignorant of the truth that it wasn't her mother she was hugging but was actually Leah, who arrived at the scene when everything was already too late,"

"Knowing that Selina still didn't know that her mother was already dead as she had mistaken her as her mother, Leah had no other choice but to pretend like she was Selina's mother. She told her to get outside for the moment, and after that, she hastily cleaned the place before finally letting Selina back in,"

"But, how did Leah fool Selina? Even if she was a kid, she still has clear eyes to spot the difference between Leah and her mother, right?"

"Because Leah's Gift is shape-shifting. She was specifically chosen by Selina's father in secret because of that Gift. Whenever Selina's father is away to take care of something important, Leah would then immediately act like the latter to fool all of his competitors and enemies in hopes of holding them back from potentially harming his family,"

"However, not all the time that kind of strategy would work, especially if the person you're up against is someone who is fearless and desperate, which just so happens to be the assassin who attacked their home,"

"Still, that doesn't explain why Leah nags like a mother and has a mouth that doesn't know how to hold back," Natas has yet to see the answer to his curiosity.

"The reason for that is that Leah had to pretend to be Selina's mother for close to a year because her so great-father was away for that long because of an unexpected accident during his trip back to Earth. During that time, Leah's character obviously changed, and she learned to become an actual mother to Selina,"

"After finding out about it, Selina's father strip Leah of her job as his doppelganger and assigned her to become Selina's assistant instead so that she can help his daughter cope with knowing the truth that her real mother is gone. It was also her responsibility to clean up her mess, and moreover, it is a chance for her to live the life she wanted. And as you can see, this is the life she has chosen — to stay by the side of the girl she once treated, or might still be treating, as her daughter. I don't know for certain,"

"By the way…"

"What are you still doing down there, Kayn?" Leah suddenly called out from the top of a small slope.

"I just heard something and wanted to see what it was!" Kayn immediately replied.

"It's probably just some monsters that are running away from the north,"

At that moment, they can already hear numerous explosions echoing in front of them and numerous monsters screaming in pain.

Just based on that, it's already expected that weaker monsters would run away to their location.

"So, Selina has already begun her onslaught?"

"Yes! If we don't hurry up, we won't get anything," Leah strongly believes.

"You can go to her first, while I'll stay here for the meantime and clean up the monsters you've missed,"

"Are you sure you can handle it?" Leah felt a bit worried about Kayn's idea. She might have witnessed how good Kayn was in battling monsters in the past, but those were injured monsters as the school would obviously not allow a perfectly-well killing machine to be a part of their student's test. Moreover, Kayn is currently using a sword. She hasn't seen him used one, so she is bothered that he might not be able to wield it like how he wields a dagger.

"Trust me, I am no longer the same as who I was before," Kayn smiled confidently. After all, he is now someone who has undergone reincarnation.

"We literally just met last week. How much improvement could you even make in that short span of time?" Leah felt hilarious at Kayn's claim.

"Well," Kayn turned to look at his side. Coincidentally, a Dark Boar was charging straight in his direction with great speed. He doesn't know why, but it was such perfect timing, "I can use this as an example,"

Seeing Kayn's look, Natas didn't hesitate to step back to wait for the scene to unfold.

As for Leah, she put her hand on the sheath of her sword. She understood what Kayn wanted to show her, but still, she wants to be prepared in case he fails.

Since the Dark Boar was still a bit far away from him, Kayn took it upon himself to get close. With his sword already unsheathed, he prepared his arm to swing it to the incoming Dark Boar.

Seeing its target wanting to fight against it, the Dark Boar grunted loudly as a sign of accepting the challenge.

"That's how I like it!" Kayn instantly felt excited after seeing the Dark Boar's response.

Albeit, there was already a very clear ending to their battle…

Swoooooshhh!

A strong gushing sound of the wind echoed throughout the entire surrounding. At the same time, the leaves on the ground were blown away and scattered everywhere with the trees seemingly dancing along the direction of the wind.

However, this beautiful scene was soon after destroyed by a loud painful cry from the Dark Boar as its head shoved onto the ground quite hard, leaving a mark on its wake, only stopping after hitting a tree.

In the next moment, a dark figure suddenly landed on the back of the Dark Boar's head as he delivers a powerful strike with his sword to its nape and driving it from left to right, instantly severing the head of the Dark Boar.

The Dark Boar wasn't even able to let out its last breath and close its eyes before dying.

Dark blood promptly gushed out from the neck of the Dark Boar, abruptly tainting the patches of beautiful flowers nearby with its hideous and horrible color.

Everything happened in one quick and fluid motion. Only Natas was able to follow each step along the end, whereas Leah was already questioning the truth when Kayn cut the Dark Boar on its legs, which is what causes it to shove its head on the ground.

"Just when did you train in using a sword?" Leah wanted to know just how Kayn did it.

"I haven't," Kayn shook his head after landing on the ground near the dead Dark Boar. He made sure not to land near the blood as that would just unnecessarily dirty his uniform. Though there is the self-cleaning function of his uniform, it's not that effective anymore due to how long he has been using it.

"Then how do you explain what just happened?" Leah doesn't believe Kayn.

"I have used a dagger before. I simply viewed the sword like a dagger, but much longer and could perform even more varieties of styles for combat,"

"No wonder you are one of the stars of the Starlight Hero Academy. Your talent is just monstrous. These monsters should be fearing you instead," Leah decided to believe Kayn. "Since you can handle things on your own, then I'll be leaving you here all by yourself. If it ever gets dangerous for you, just come north, you'll find us there,"

"I understand,"

After bidding farewell, Leah no longer hesitated on going after Selina.

"We can finally have a conversation with no risk of letting other people hear us," Kayn can't help heaving a sigh of relief. "So, what were you trying to tell me just now?"

That was the main reason why he wanted Leah to leave and go meet up with Selina.

"I thought you didn't hear me," After all, Leah suddenly interrupted their conversation. Moreover, Kayn had to focus on fighting against the Dark Boar, so he thought that he didn't hear it, or might have just forgotten it already.

"I hope that it is something important and helpful. Otherwise, I will go and catch up with Selina and Leah, and focus on hunting monsters to earn some Credits," Kayn crossed his hands in front of him with his eyes cold, evidently showing that he wasn't happy that someone tried to interrupt him from earning money.

"Yes, it is important. Very helpful as well," Natas tapped Kayn's shoulder to tell him that there was no need to worry. "Ever wonder why monsters are gathering at this place?"

"To form a potential Monster Horde?"

"Of course, not! Well, that was what I thought at first until I felt a powerful Mana coming over there," Natas pointed to the west side of the Eclipse Forest.

"You mean at the center of the Eclipse Forest?"

"I don't know if it is the center or not. All I know is, it's coming from that direction,"

"So, you're telling me that something powerful is attracting all these monsters at this place?" Kayn felt intrigued. As far as he could remember, there was no report about finding any powerful item or material, or whatsoever, at this place back then. But he did find some mysterious and unexplainable traces over the place that Natas is pointing to when he was training here. Perhaps if he goes there right now, he would know what those were.

"Are you thinking what I am thinking?" Natas looked at Kayn with a smile.

"You want to go treasure hunting?" Kayn smiled back.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!"