Somani followed Hambara for the rest of the day. The man didn’t speak that much, and when he did, it was concise and to the point.

He went around doing different chores: buying camping equipment, giving his sword to the swordsmith for sharpening, and buying leather oil for his armour.

After buying two meals from a vendor, we headed back to his home.

The food for the day was a stew with steaming yoghurt, combined with meat slices and something I couldn’t figure out. It tasted amazing. Somani managed to finish his bowl before Hambara.

Having his fill, Hambara took to his room, and through my spherical vision, I could see that he was reading a book on… dating?

‘What should I do, Grandpa?’ Somani asked.

‘Just wait here.’

As Somani sat there, doing nothing, I tried to control both of my bodies at the same time.

The cat host was still sleeping. I awoke, then tried to eat some of the stashed food.

The strain was immediate; both my visions shrank considerably, barely allowing me to see beyond my hosts’ bodies—my eyes’ vision was completely cut off.

I endured and pushed forward. The strain turned into pain, but I didn’t stop.

The cat took a step, then two, reaching for the food, then taking a bite. I increased the radius of [Manima Senses] on both hosts while also trying to restore the eye vision and other senses. The first part worked, but the latter was off limits for now.

After a long while of this strenuous work, the cat was completely fed, while…

“Kid, do you know how to fight?” Hambara had exited his room.

‘What do I say, Grandpa?’

Why is he asking us this? Does he want to know if we can pose a threat to him?

‘Say no,’ I ordered Somani; I was still bad at lying, so I figured the truth would be the best option, again. Plus, making your opponent underestimate you was better for a surprise attack.

“No, Uncle.”

Hambara didn’t say anything; he just went to the storage room and took out a ladder. He put it under the window in the roof, then started climbing.

Reaching the top, the man opened the window, then jumped onto the roof.

“What are you waiting for? Come, join me.”

Somani waited for my permission, which I granted.

He climbed the ladder, but was a bit short to reach the ceiling.

Hambara offered a hand, and Somani took it…

The roof had walls on three sides. The side with no wall had a low railing and an… incredible view.

Black stone buildings stretched for as far as the eye could see, a giant wall slowly curving to surround them. The buildings were varied: some were tall, others one story; some were large, others tiny, but they all were made of the black stone.

As one got closer to the centre of the city, the buildings became single-story but seemed enormous, and at the very centre, there was another wall. This one was white and was barely visible from this distance.

“Are those walls? Why do they need walls inside the city?” Somani asked the question that I was wondering about, too.

Hambara stared at the wall in the distance for a long moment before answering. “It’s what separates the Noblesse district from the rich inner districts. Now, you see that barrel over there, go and get us both a sword from it.”

Hambara pointed at the meeting point of two walls, where a wooden barrel with metal studs was stationed.

Opening the damp lid, Soamni found a plethora of wooden weapons; he only took two swords.

They felt solid to the touch, although a bit damp. They had a single ‘sharp side’, a round guard, and were the length of Somani’s leg.

Handing one to Hambara, Somani awaited further instructions…

Hambara attacked with lightning-fast speed. Using the flat side of his sword, he slapped the side of Somani’s shin, who fell on his ass.

Argh

Somani groaned as he massaged his shin.

“In a real-life battle, your enemy doesn’t wait for you to take a stance and get comfortable. Take that into mind. Now, stand up before I start beating your ass.”

‘Stop whining and do as he tells you,’ I encouraged Somani. The man couldn’t possibly want to harm him; he would’ve done that long ago. This was training; he was giving him instructions.

I should focus too. Using a sword seems harder and less intuitive than claws.

As soon as Somani was on his feet, he got bombarded by attacks. One, two, the third attack, and he was knocked off his feet again.

“Don’t put your legs in front of each other; that makes your stance weaker. Instead, stand with your legs as wide as your shoulders, and make them…” Hmbara continued with his instructions.

It wasn’t painless, but Somani endured.

With each fall, he was given more instructions, and with each fall, he gave it his best to correct his mistakes.

By the end of it, the sun had set with Somani having fallen on his ass almost three hundred times. He was heaving for breath, using only a single eye to see. His second eye was swollen and purple; lots of his body was purple.

Hambara’s eyes were cold as he held his sword loosely by his side; it had some blood smears on it.

“Isn’t this what you wanted, kid? To grow stronger?”

Somani glared at his torturer, but didn’t give in to his taunt; it wasn’t the first one.

“Y~huff~es.”

Then he fell forward unconscious.

As Somani lay unconscious on the ground, I saw how Hambara staired at him with a sadistic smile.

***

“Agent Shamoni, why the heck are you bringing this case to me?” I asked angrily, annoyed that I had just wasted a few minutes reading a new case only to find out it was about a murdered farmer.

A farmer case?! Brought to me?! That Gamher must really wanna get rid of me.

“Detective Shraider, have you fully read the case?” Shamoni spoke with his usual professional tone, no emotion seeping through from his perfectly calm face.

Argh, why do I have to be stuck with this stupid guy?

“No, of course I hadn’t read the case. How about this, get this shit away from me before I throw it at your stupidly beautiful face.”

“Sir—“

“If you’re so insistent, go give it to some newbie, maybe hang it on some billboard inside the guild. Now, get out before—“

“Biomancy.”

That single word made me shut up. I now understand why the death of a lowly farmer, which happened in the thousands, was brought to me.

“Are you sure it’s Biomancy and not some flesh manipulation skill?”

Mancy skills were one of the rarest, even a step higher than the rare manipulation skills. That was because, unlike normal manipulation skills, where one had to have the thing they needed to manipulate, mancy skills could create matter from raw Mana.

“Yes, detective. We found traces of soul matter inside the created objects.”

Shit!

“What are you waiting for?! Take me to the crime site, and tell Bell to get off his lazy ass and join us.”

Before leaving my office, I swore I saw a hint of emotion on Shamoni’s calm face.

Did his eyebrow just twitch?

***

As Somani slept on the couch in the living room while Hambara continued to read his book, I focused on both of my hosts.

I was going to try something new—use two skills at the same time, but from different hosts.

Just focusing on both of my hosts put my mind under stress, but I endured.

I activated [Mana Manipulation] on the cat’s side, wanting to train it. I then activated [Biomancy] on the human’s side, wanting to heal him from some of his more severe injuries.

I knew if he was fully healed, that would seem suspicious to Hambara; Humans didn’t heal that fast. So I just focused on the bad ones.

As Mana flew from my film and Somani’s core, heading towards his eyes and healing the damage at visible speed, Hambara flew out oh his room—a sword held tight in his right hand.

He looked around before focusing on me. I immediately stopped the healing process, but…

“You can use healing magic?” Hambara looked at me with wide eyes.

No response—Somani was still unconscious.

“I know you’re awake, kid, so answer me, can you use healing magic?” Hambara said, dropping his sword.

I took control of Somani’s body and answered the man.

“Yes, Hambara.”

I was already caught red-handed with my eye mending in front of him. Plus, I was bad at lying, so answering truthfully was the safest bet.

I stood up and faced Hambara. His face looked calm after the initial shock.

Next time, I should be careful when using Mana and… Identify.

“…Who are you really, kid?”

“…”

“Still not going to talk, eh?” Hambara turned around and headed back to his room, but before he closed the door, he threw one final line.

“Suit yourself, kid, but remember, some actions have consequences.”

Slam!

I immediately pretended to fall back to sleep, but I was observing Hambara through my spherical vision.

The man… went back to reading his book.

I debated what to do next. My options were: continuing as is, escaping, or trying to kill Hambara and probably lose Somani in the process.

The first option looked the most appealing. I was gaining knowledge on how to fight from Hambara and becoming more familiar with human interactions.

But what if Hambara decides to kill, or even enslave me, so he can find out how I got the skill?

And that led me to the second option, escaping. I could probably escape if I took the man by surprise now, then I could hide somewhere, but what next?

Human cities are complex; I’d probably be caught as an escaped slave, then probably killed.

I contemplated the final option, but combined with the reasons of the second option, I probably wouldn’t be able to kill Hambara even if I wanted to.

The human has a level in the three digits.

In the end, what made me choose the first option was my lack of knowledge. My lack of knowledge on how humans interacted, how their cities functioned, how strong three-digit humans were, and many other factors.

If I want to be more independent in the future, I have to understand humans and their societies more.

Humans seemed like the master race, and until I became stronger, I had to make concessions to them.

After settling my mind on the matter, I went back to healing the boy and training [Mana Manipulation] through the cat. The effort needed to do these two things together was insane, but I endured.

***

The next morning, Somani awoke to the sun shining in on his eyes from the ceiling window.

Having been found to have a healing skill, I decided to fully heal Somani. He now looked perfectly fine, although the core and film were almost fully drained. 

The cat’s film was half drained. I could’ve fully drained it, but decided to leave some Mana for an emergency; still, I managed to get a level up.

Mana Manipulation has reached Lv. 8

“Awake, kid?” Hambara asked. He was drinking a black-looking liquid from a cup. He had woken up a bit earlier and immediately got to heating water by using Mana; I couldn’t figure out how, although his Mana strings had turned yellow before entering the cup. He then added a powdery black stuff to the drink and got to drinking.

“…Ya,” Somani rubbed his eyes.

‘What happened, Grandpa? I…’

‘You lost consciousness during the training with Hambara.’

‘Lost consciousness, huh?’

The boy didn’t seem bothered by the fact at all.

‘Yes, you did well yesterday. If you continue to train like that, we’ll save your mother soon.’

‘Hmph!’

“Hey, kid, although you healed your injuries, you still need meat to grow your muscles. In the storage, there’s some beef jerky. Get yourself a slice.”

Somani's eyes shot open. Thankfully, he was smart enough to ask me first.

‘He knows?!’

‘I was going to tell you. Yes, he knows, but only about my healing skill, so don’t share more.’

Somani nodded to Hambara and me.

“By the way, kid. This is the last time you’re getting a freebie. From now on, the house chores are on you. That means, cleaning, getting us cooked food, and defending the house, am I clear?”

“Yes, Uncle.”

“Excellent. After eating, get ready, as we’re heading towards the government office.”

“Why?”

“I’ll be adopting you.”

“…”

Somani must hang open. He opened and closed it a few times, but no sound came out. I took control of the boy and asked what was on both of our minds.

“Why?”

Hambara smiled.

“What do you mean by why? Don’t you want to be my child?”

“…”

“I’m just kidding, boy, relax. I’m doing this because you’ll be joining me on missions, so leaving and entering the city will become easier. Plus, you’ll get some rights. But the most important thing, every citizen of the empire gets a class gem!”

Even though Somani’s emotions were complex, I couldn’t help but smile.

“Happy, eh?”