Chapter 13

It was early in the morning.

Martin didn’t get much sleep at night. He kept watching Kyon’s tracking formation in the hope of catching the energy fluctuations, but all in vain. The weirdest thing that the formation was able to detect was an occasional rapid heartbeat. Martin consoled himself with the thought that his servant was going to arrive with the tools in a couple of hours. Then he would identify the anomaly in Kyon’s body and determine its approximate rank, and hence the price. It would decide Kyon’s fate.

People with exceptional unique bodies had always been valued. In the best case scenario, they found a powerful patron who was interested in their talent. In the worst, they got disassembled into parts to make a profit.

In any case, Kyon’s body could bring Martin a fortune at the black market. This business was illegal, though. Black markets were considered out of law by most decent families and schools. The policy of the Stones was no exception: the dark deeds, to put it mildly, were not welcome in their circle. Therefore, Martin was very secretive in his plans and excluded any chance of leaking information. He had immediately removed the boy from the formation base. When it was time to take him from the mine, no one would notice anything, and he wouldn’t have to share his earnings.

Kyon’s instincts were right: he was in for no good.

…

Martha came to the hospital just in time for the beginning of the working day.

Kyon stretched, pretending he was sleepy and greeted her.

The day promised to be boring because, at Kyon’s rough estimate, Martin was going to get his tools in 1-3 days.

After a bad breakfast, Martha got a call from Bob. He said he would come for the boy soon.

Kyon’s heart skipped a beat. {1000 miles in 18 hours?! Little I know about this world…}

Martha looked out of the office and anxiously looked at Kyon. His yesterday’s words had an effect on her. Now she was worried about Kyon.

«Bob is coming for you soon. How are you feeling?»

«Terrible! The bad feeling, the one I had before my grandmother’s death, has increased several times!» – The boy groaned. He had to look as miserable as could be. It was vital to him that Martha make a call: the sound transmitter would distract Martin. It would give him some time to add the sedative to his drink.

«Is it really that bad?» – The doctor stroked his hair reassuringly.

Kyon mumbled something inarticulate and buried his head into the blanket.

Martha tried to cheer him up:

«Don’t worry. Nothing bad will happen today! Everything’s going to be alright.»

«We shall live and see. Just don’t forget your promise.»

«I won’t!» – At that moment, she was willing to agree on everything to make the overwhelming fear disappear from the boy’s eyes.

Soon Bob came and took Kyon away.

It took them a quarter of an hour to get to Martin’s office. Bob would say something every now and then, but on the whole, he was silent and thoughtful as if something was bothering him. Only Rogash did not worry about anything. He was cheerful as always.

Nothing had changed in Martin’s room, but this time, there was no usual aroma of baking for some reason.

«Hi, Bob! You’re finally here!» – Martin stretched out his hand to greet him.

«Um, yeah… Did the tools arrive so fast?» – Bob sounded surprised.

«They did. Express delivery, so to speak. Haha!» – Martin seemed to be in an excellent mood.

«May I watch what you’re doing here?»

Kyon held his breath. If Bob stayed, the plan was doomed to fail. He couldn’t possibly put them both to sleep… However, he was almost certain that Martin wouldn’t welcome any strangers during the “procedure.”

«Come on, buddy. Believe me, there’s nothing interesting. It’s going to take a too long time, anyway. You are free to go. I’ll have a guard walk the boy back to the hospital.» – With a peaceful smile on his face, Martin tried to get rid of the extra witness as soon as possible just as Kyon expected of him.

«Okay, I got it.» – Bob sighed sadly. He was finally convinced that Martin didn’t trust him in spite of being friends. At least, Bob thought so.

The fat supervisor left the office, depressed. Kyon smiled to himself: Martin only made everyone believe he was a friendly, good-natured man with a sweet tooth but, in fact, he always treated everyone with suspicion, especially under the circumstances. Neither his personal servant nor the supervisor had been honored and privileged to be present at Kyon’s check-up.

Martin turned to the boy, rubbing his hands in anticipation:

«Alright then, let’s get started!»

He walked over to the table and opened the box with various devices and tools. One look at them could tell that they cost obscene amounts of money. Some of them radiated a faint aura-like glow, shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow. It looked like northern lights, frozen over the lid of the box like a bright cloud.

«Don’t stand still. Come on, grab a chair over there.» – Martin hurried Kyon up, pointing to the common chair.

«I have some helpful information for you. I remembered my past tonight. Now I have lots of answers to your questions. Some of them, you will never figure out by yourself.» – Kyon said slowly, carefully choosing his words, trying to get Martin to jump at the bait.

Martin recalled the last night. Indeed, the boy had fallen asleep only in the morning. It means he could remember something.

«You remembered your past, did you? Do you know what happened to the tracking formation?»

«Yeah, I know what the matter is.» – Kyon sighed as if he wasn’t sure if he should continue. «Let me tell you all about it over a cup of tea.» – He went to the table, implying that the conversation would be important and long.

Martin couldn’t wait to start the inspection, but the boy seemed to be willing to tell him everything himself. If the devices confirmed his words later, there would be fewer questions and problems.

«Oh, it’s good to know you remember everything now. It will make things easy.» – Martin decided to wait with the check-up and went to the teapot. However, before he could touch the handle, the sound transmitter buzzed.

{I can’t believe I have miscalculated the time.} – Kyon moaned. Martha called 18 minutes later, not 20, as he had planned. It was stupid of him not to take into account the human factor! If the hot tea was on the table when Martin went to answer the call, he could add the sedative in the cup…

«Martha speaking. Is everything alright?»

«Why are you asking? I’m in the process of an important conversation and you’re calling to ask how I’m doing?»

«I’m… Just… I was worried.» – Her confusion could be heard even through the transmitter.

«No need to worry. Next time, think ten times before making a call.» – Martin muttered acidly and dropped the connection.

Martha wished she hadn’t called at once.

{She was trying… It’s all my fault.} – Kyon felt sorry for her. What a perfect plan it was: he had the vial with sedative within easy reach, even the cap unscrewed! How was he supposed to use it now?

Martin took the kettle. Before he brought it to the table, the water had already boiled.

«Sometimes people distract me at the wrong time… So, what were you going to tell me? What information will I never find out by myself?» – Martin poured tea into two cups, one for Kyon and one for himself. Then he expectantly stared at the boy.

Kyon instantly stimulated his stomach, making it rumble and said in a mournful voice as if he hadn’t eaten for two weeks:

«Do you still have some of those delicious buns?»

«You must have had breakfast! Don’t they feed you enough there?» – The question was a rhetorical one (not that Martin was much interested in the diet of the slaves). He didn’t wait for an answer but impatiently continued: – «No buns this time… I didn’t have time to place an order. Put up with it.»

One more attempt to distract Martin failed.

«Have you ever heard of legendary unique bodies?» – Kyon made his voice sound as intriguing as could be. He didn’t have any idea about the legendary bodies or any other classifications.

«You… Are you speaking of those mentioned in the annals!? Are you implying that you have a legendary body?! What is its rank?!» – Martin had never met people with bodies of an «A» rank or higher, and the boy was talking about a legendary one.

Kyon smiled mysteriously, cursing himself for ignorance at the same time: «How would you draw the line between an ordinary and a legendary body?»

Martin snorted incredulously:

«I would just compare their features. There is no clear line between them. Everything would be clear after I figure out their features… Do you have a legendary body? What rank is it? Don’t keep me waiting!»

Kyon was getting nervous. «We still have time… There’s no need to rush things. Do you know how I got here?» – He had changed the subject and dropped another hint to avoid getting busted. Last time, when Bob was talking to the boss, Kyon figured out that the conditions of his delivery to the mine were non-standard, to put it mildly. Kyon did not get it then. Later, when he learned the language, he could understand everything. He had recorded the sound and then translated everything in his head.

Martin knew at once what Kyon was getting at:

«No, I don’t. No one knows. This information is secret for some reason… Even I wasn’t able to find it out.» – The mysterious one-of-a-kind delivery gave the boy a veil of mystery.

«Exactly. No one knows. I have a very interesting past, but it’s irrelevant now. Show me your tools, and I’ll tell you if they can reveal at least some of my talents.» – Kyon casually pointed to the tools on a separate table. His eyes glowed with contempt as if saying “well, let’s see what kind of stuff you keep there.” It was impossible to suspect he was just pretending.

Martin did not like his attitude, but he had to swallow his pride: {Does the boy come from a super-rich family where my precious tools are nothing but trash? Then what is he doing here? What’s his story? And what happened to his keys? Why are they out of order?}

Martin stood up and obediently went to the box. Was it a window of opportunity?