A Father's Duty

On the other side, Kia is acting as the tour guide of the group. Kia led them to a tall tree where two carriages were waiting. The driver then saw Kia and respectfully bowed.

"Greetings, master Kia." The driver said greeted and flinched when he saw Irene.

"Calm down, Roberto. Just bring us back to the capital. As you can see, we're going to play." Kia might seem m.a.t.u.r.e but inside she was happy. A day full of playing around with no training, and her not studying, is considered heaven for someone like her.

She was also glad that she was able to talk to someone of her age group.

"So, Kia, how old are you right now?" Irene asked. She knows that when a genius in a noble family was born, he/she would immediately be put in special treatment list but that's not the case with Kia. She's easy-going and really casual. There's no arrogance in her eyes like a lot of nobles do.

"I just turned four... um..." Kia answered but didn't know how to address Irene.

"Just call me Aunt, little girl." Kia nodded and Irene chuckled.

"So Kia, why did you come with your father and your grandpa? I'm sure that you only tagged along. You're not bored are you?" Irene asked which made Kia redden her face in embarrassment.

She pestered her father to bring her with them or she would hate them for the rest of her life. Left with no choice, the father and son duo decided to bring Kia with them. When Kian picked up Kia and carried her, Kia hugged her father. When she was sure that the duo wasn't able to see her face, she smirked as she thought of ways to escape studying and magic practice.

She hated practice very much. All she was constantly doing was create a sword, destroy it, then repeat. Her instructor said that she can increase her capacity and stamina as well as conjure weapons faster but Kia doesn't feel the result. As a child, when they do something over and over and over again without them experiencing that they are getting better, they would get bored.

That's what happened to Kia. Due to the impatience of a child, she didn't take training seriously, but who could blame her? She's just a child. She wouldn't be able understand a lot of things from an a.d.u.l.ts' perspective because she's just a child. A child should be mostly having fun, while teaching them something in between.

When they arrived at the house of her family's saviour, she was curious as to who managed to save her family from danger when her family is strong and all.

Her perception changed when she saw Noctis. Although he had a smile on his face, Kia could feel that her feet is submerged in a dark, never-ending abyss. She felt threatened and suffocated, its like their lives are in his hand, if he decides to kill them, no one would be able to stop him.

When Noctis finished inspecting his guest and found out that he knew Andrew and Kian, the pressure was let go and Kia breathe a sigh of relief.

They were then invited to come inside and had breakfast which made her change her perception of Noctis once again. She was captured by the food that Noctis made and she swear that it was the best food she had eaten in her life.

After eating, Andrew offered her to guide Irene and kids that were in her age range. She was also excited because she was not going to practice and shouted 'hooray' in her mind in repeat.

On the way to their carriage, she was able to learn more about the three. She learned that Erza was the oldest followed Kagura who is only months older than Pitou.

She have learned about Erza being the big sister of the group while Kagura is a bundle of energy, and lastly, Pitou, she's different from her sisters but she could feel that they love each other as sisters. Pitou's the most curious person of the group, always looking out of the window as if waiting for something new to satiate her curiosity.

Erza is quiet and would listen to Kagura's chatter and would nod her head sometimes while also pitching in between the conversation every now and then.

Overall, Kia is having a good time with the chipmunks. She was slowly breaking out of her shell and would giggle at their chatters.

Irene looked at the children who were having fun with themselves with a smile on her face. The chipmunks are developing into something she didn't expect at all. The trio's personality meshed well with each other and can unconsciously bring a smile on your face or be swept up in their fun, be it a child, or an a.d.u.l.t, they could capture the hearts of people around them and break their shells, letting them be themselves when they're with the chipmunks.

She thought of her husband who took care of Erza in her absence. She knew that Noctis' guidance and teaching was the one that pushed the girls to develop into something heartwarming.

She is now curious as to how they would develop more in the future.

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Back in the forest, Noctis is having a face-off with Kian. Kian was feeling the pressure of being stared at by the one he looked up to.

"Come. Dimaria, watch carefully." Noctis motioned for Kian to come to him as he positioned himself in a defensive posture.

Kian then went forward and immediately sent a full powered punch, he didn't want to go easy on his opponent considering that he's way stronger than him.

Noctis used the basic breathing technique he taught Dimaria and inhaled a massive amounts of oxygen. The oxygen then started circulating all over Noctis' body, sharpening his senses, the explosion of his strength, and his raw power.

Noctis entered the state he was telling Dimaria about.

'Total Concentration Breathing.'

He knew that Total concentration breathing is not enough to match the full and raw power of Kian's punch so he augmented his fists with a frying pan.

'FRY PANCH!'

He met Kian's fist head on without backing down. He manipulated the gravity around him, making him heavier, so that he won't be pushed back. Noctis' simple punch contained a lot of techniques while Kian only had raw power.

As expected, Kian flew 10m away from Noctis after meeting his punch head on. Kian didn't have time to mull over about how Noctis managed to meet his punch and managed to repulse him.

He rushed towards Noctis and sent him with a barrage of punches. Due to Total Concentration Breathing, Noctis' senses was enhanced and Kian's punches were in slow motion in front of him. He didn't want to break the kid's confidence so he parried all of them while weaving in between punches, dodging them.

Seeing his barrage not working, Kian started mixing kicks in between which slightly caught Noctis off guard but with his physique he managed parry the kick before it hit him cleanly by using one of his foot to block Kian's knee from advancing, thus killing the momentum.

Dimaria who is on the sidelines were amazed with her master. She could tell that they were using the same breathing technique since the rhythm is pretty much the same as hers. A high-level exchange of blows were happening in front of her and even though she was just a spectator, she was learning a lot from the high-class exchange of blows in front of her.

Andrew on the other hand was surprised. He knew that his son is strong that's why he's a hot commodity in the mercenary business. Although he knew that his son is strong, he never thought that his son is still hiding a massive chunk of his strength and is going all out against the person who became his reason to become strong and enter the world of Mercenaries.

Alas, although Kian was improving at a fast pace just by fighting Noctis, they had to end the fight. Noctis wants to go on a shopping too. Who knows, maybe he could find something interesting in the humongous market of the Merchant Capital.

Noctis sent a punch to Kian's c.h.e.s.t that pushed him again. It was the first time that Noctis fought back.

Kian also knew that their fight is finished. He was about to come up to Noctis and bow towards him but he can't move his body. Whatever he do, he can't move at all. He used every ounce of his strength to move and veins were popping all over his body, ripping his shirt off.

Andrew saw that Kian is having a problem so he rushed towards his son. He saw the veins popping from his son's body and looked at Noctis with pleading eyes.

Noctis then walked towards Kian and undid the knocking. Kian suddenly felt his body loosen up and Andrew gave a sigh of relief.

Kian then kneeled down in front of Noctis and thanked him.

"Thank you for going easy on me!" Kian said while Noctis just chuckled.

"You're still young. You haven't reached your peak yet. For someone who relies on his body on the battlefield, you have my respect." Noctis said and Kian was all smiles after hearing his idol complimenting him.

"Now then, how about we go now? We have to catch up with my wife after all fast or she's going to be mad. I don't want Irene getting mad or I'll be sleeping on the couch tonight." Noctis said as they chuckled.

Dimaria on the other hand has question marks all over her face.

"You wouldn't be able to understand yet, little girl." Kian said as he patted Dimaria's shoulders as they rode the remaining carriage to catch up with Irene and the chipmunks.