Kaya blinked in confusion for a few moments before she nodded her head. "Well, hopefully, that map proves to be worth the effort."
"It's still a mystery to me what that map wants to indicate. It's ancient yet it also was able to draw the continents perfectly correct."
"Hmm, for a map that's almost 3000 years old, that's certainly weird. But, perhaps the Progenitor used some kind of ability to determine how the continents were shaped." Kaya suggested as she rested her head on Kai's hair.
"Could be possible. However, that's not what I'm looking for. There are also weird borders around the world."
"Hahaha, does the Progenitor believe in the flat earth theory?" Kaya asked jokingly.
"He could be…"
"... I said that jokingly. How could that be the case? If he was able to draw the world with such precision 3000 years ago, and yet he thinks the earth is flat? That sounds illogical."
"When we don't have any clues as to what he was thinking about that time. We can only assume. In this case, everything could be possible. However, can't forget that spider monster we found in the frozen plains. It said something about another realm of some sort that I didn't know about and nobody knew about apparently."
"Do you think that…" Kaya frowned slightly as she looked at Kai. She could easily see what Kai was trying to say. It was a very serious matter.
"Yes, I think those borders mean that there exists another world perhaps beyond our scope of understanding." He said.
At this point, the fact that another world exists somewhere was a given for Kai since he saw with his own eyes a creation from that world. However, what he lacked knowledge of was where it was, how it exists, and why it exists.
"People believed in the existence of aliens for a very long time, so perhaps this was the answer to their suspicions. A whole other world possibly filled with monsters and abominations." Kaya sighed.
"They will probably never realize it exists or at least, not anytime soon. Unless, of course, someone unravels that information to them." Kai sighed as he held onto Kaya's waist so that she stayed close to him.
"Let me guess, are we going to be those people who will unravel it?" Kaya asked with a mischievous smile.
"Depends. If we need to, then we shall do it. But, for now, there is no reason for it. The world is already chaotic enough as it is. Making it even more chaotic wouldn't fix anything." He replied.
"That's true," Kaya murmured before she closed her eyes and rested her body on Kai, feeling his warmth fully. "Uh, I want to stay like this forever."
"Your muscles will get soared."
"Pfft! What kind of answer is that!" Kaya exploded in laughter.
And just like that, the two spent the rest of their time together talking and flirting peacefully. By the time Kai had to leave, he made sure to pinpoint a date they could leave and they decided that in three days, they would be able to during the weekend.
The trip as a whole won't take more than a day or two at most depending on what they find.
With that, Kai came back to his apartement to continue with his day. However, when he reached his apartement, he found Aria in the kitchen, cooking.
Kai was confused for a second since he had never seen Aria cook before. As far as he knew, cooking wasn't one of her best skills. In fact, when they tried to cook together when they were young, she ended up almost burning the house so Kai didn't allow her to cook anymore. Aria seemed to agree with that notion and didn't try to cook again.
"What are you doing?" Kai asked confusedly.
"Oh, good evening. Ehem, I was making dinner…" Aria replied timidly.
"Why?" He asked with squinted eyes.
"I thought that since you seemed busy the last few days, I wanted to help a little. I don't do much around the apartement anyway." She said.
Since cleaning and swiping could be done with a single move of his hand, Kai didn't require much help in keeping the apartement organized and clean. Aria found herself with nothing to do to help.
"... Do you even know how to cook?" He asked as he approached her and took a look at what she was cooking.
"Yeah, I think I learned how to. Well, a few recipes, I still can't do the harder ones." She replied with an awkward tone.
"..." Taking a sniff from the food, Kai turned around and looked at her for a second before he nodded his head. "Suit yourself."
After that, he left the kitchen and walked to his room. Meanwhile, Aria simply watched his silhouette for a few moments. She felt rather relieved that he didn't stop her from cooking.
"I will do my best so that he would like it." She murmured to herself as she continued cooking.
When dinner time arrived, Kai left his room only to find the table already set and Aria sitting on it, waiting for him.
Kai looked at her for a second before he approached the table and sat down with a sigh. In front of him were a plethora of dishes, all looked quite delicious.
'Interesting.' He thought to himself.
To see this much improvement in Aria's skills was indeed quite surprising in itself. She went from being unable to use the knife unless it was to kill someone, to actually being able to make high-quality dishes.
"Please, go ahead," Aria said.
Kai nodded his head and took a bite from his food. Immediately, an explosion of flavours errupted in his mouth.
Meanwhile, Aria waited anxiously for his reaction to the food. Eventually, Kai opened his eyes and looked up.
"It's not bad." He said.
"I-Is that so…"
"Yes, I'm impressed." He replied.
That was his honest thoughts. This was certainly a delicious meal by all means. That was something he couldn't deny.
"I'm glad…" Exhaling a long breath, Aria finally started eating too.
As the two ate in silence, as usual, Aria seemed to still have something to say which Kai noticed from the start.
"Speak." He said as he continued eating.
"Mmm… I…" Taking some time to find confidence, Aria finally spoke. "I wanted to apologize for what happened the other day."
Kai's movements halted as he looked up and asked. "What do you mean?"
"About the picture. I didn't apologize properly since I kept it a secret from you. I should've not done that." She said.
These words were what Aria had been wanting to say for a while now. She knew that Kai was bothered by the matter purely from the awkward atmosphere in the apartement. There was anger or tension but he certainly didn't seem to have forgotten about it.
"..."
Kai didn't immediately reply as he instead sighed and stopped eating. "Why is there a need for an apology?" He asked.
"Because… I should've not kept that picture, no?" She asked.
"Who said that? If I remember correctly, you wanted to keep that picture and I agreed. Why would I want an apology for that?"
"..."
Kai seemed to realize what Aria had been thinking about and the reason why she even cooked food. Perhaps she wanted to show that she was remorseful and sad for what she did. However, Kai found no reason for it.
Both of them agreed that she should keep the picture since it was hers. She bought the camera and she took the picture.
"Listen here, what happened between us a few years ago is something that I will never forget and never forgive you for. However, I'm not enough of a fool to let that blind my judgment of what's good and bad for me. Your betrayal was indeed a bad thing. But, what you did before that, as fake as it might've been, was still something I take positively. You gave me something I didn't know I had and then took it away from me. However, I at least learned how to find it again." He explained.
Kai's life after he ran away was brutal, his joining the Hitman's Guild and his success there. It was all with a sole goal in mind which was to grow stronger and stronger as fast as he could. He chased the desire to take revenge for a few years before he realized how horrible his life had become.
In pursuit of revenge, he lost what he wanted the most, freedom. His freedom that he sought after was gone and the reason for that was his foolish desires. That's when he realized that there was no reason for him to take revenge on his one and only desire in life.
He knew that sooner or later, his father would appear again and he would have to face him. However, when that time arrives, Kai knew that he will be more than ready for him. After all, he was the strongest man alive, a title that his father had before him and now he was the one to grasp it.