I never expected to meet this person out in the streets. I struggled to even tell how many years it has been since I last this man. What could be the odds?
"Krist…? Wait, what are you doing out in the rain?"
Just like always, this damned guy failed to read the atmosphere. Not taking any excuses, he instantly would sweep in and enforce his own, silly and lighthearted atmosphere in the room. Never caring for what it was before either.
"Wait, I have a better question. The heck are you doing in… Oh."
This time, he managed to catch me by a surprise. When our eyes finally met, his words suddenly stopped before his face turned serious. In one instant, the happy-go-lucky behaviour that didn't fit his age disappeared from his aura.
"It's a pleasure to see you again, master."
Bowing my head with no reservation, I slammed my fist against my chest. Despite the relatively small change, only now I was willing to acknowledge the presence of this man. Only now, the person that inspired me to follow both scholar and athletic path, was truly standing before me.
"I'm glad to see you again, Kristoff. What happened?"
Once this man was serious, not even with my enhanced abilities to read other people I would ever come close to the abilities he had. Even though he had a pretty weak affinity with magic of the world, it would be hard for me to imagine anyone capable of stopping his march if he were to be bothered with conquering the whole world out of boredom.
In my eyes, the only thing preventing him from reaching for the crown of the entire world was lack of ambition.
But I also had to account for the fact, that although I truly revered him, there was no denying that my current opinion of him was a creation of a kid's mind. Without the ability to comprehend the meaning of his actions and his words, I created a convenient image of this man, as someone capable of everything.
Only time would tell whether the true master of mine was indeed someone as exceptionally qualified for everything as I remembered him to be.
"Quite… A lot. Using the scale that you taught me… Well, my current situation is that I'm in a pool of shit, all the way to the nape of my neck. And just now, I took a big breath."
For the first time in a long while, I realised how much this man influenced my life. While I only knew him for four years, he shaped my personality at least as much if not even more than my parents during that time.
And it was his self-defence teachings that allowed me to survive the chaotic days when the apocalypse begun before the relative peace of the new world was established.
"I…"
Looking at me with his eyes turning into slits, it didn't take long before my master's face relaxed.
"I understand. Do you need some help?"
Hearing those words, I couldn't stop a slight smile from appearing on my lips. As much as I knew that he would react like that, I couldn't just rely on his help alone.
Not only because I didn't want to burden him with my own problems.
But also because as one of the leading martial artists of the old earth, he was right in the middle of the circle of people that now took over the world.
"No. Not for now at least."
There was no way I would fill in my master yet. Knowing him, if my situation would catch his interest, then no matter how much I would struggle, he would be able to easily uncover my rouse. But that would also leave him a message that I do not want him to meddle yet. Given how all my thoughtfulness was steeming from his lessons, this was the only way to at least temporarily, keep him out of my way.
"Okay then. I can see how tingly you are, so I assume you are in hurry. Whether it is a girl or a fate, do not let either of them wait."
And there I had it. Random and completely normal sentence one would say in a passing, yet when it came out of my master's mouth, I could tell how little I managed to hide. Because to believe in how he managed to chance his words to perfectly describe what was going on in my life right now, I just wasn't naive enough.
"Thank you, master. May our paths converge soon."
Lowering my head before this monster of a man, I could only feel gratitude. While indirectly, he saved my life on more occasions than I would count. From the ability to go day by day as a member of the new, absolutely lowest social class, from how I didn't need to fear for my death all that much, all the way to how it were his teachings that made my mind resilient enough to keep pushing forward, no matter what.
Leaving the man right where we met, I hastened my steps when compared to the initial pace. With the slight delay caused by this unexpected meeting, I was starting to risk running late.
And I wouldn't want to missperform on the very first day of my debut!