Chapter 2: Xiu Kaslana

Xiu didn't know what the meaning of his birth was.

Endless training, perhaps? Maybe it's the father's endless scolding? Maybe it's the endless ridicule of the family? Or the never-ending darkness of the castle.

His grandfather told him many times that he was not to blame, that his conception was a decision of the council. His birth was a mother's decision. What inadvertently ruined his talent was his father's inability to accept the blow of his mother's death, and his mother's death was not intentional on his part.

That is, should I still not be born?

The pride of the Kaslana family is her sister, whom she has never met. She is now a rising star active on the front lines of the fight against Honkai. She even captured a chariot-class Honkai on her own.

I am now 7 years old, and the people in the castle say that my sister was able to use very difficult gun fighting skills when she was 7 years old, but she couldn't even do it continuously.

Grandpa Arthur has given up on guiding himself.

Everyone said that he had a very smart brain, but he didn't have a body that matched the Kaslana family, so he had no way to continue to contact the Kaslana family's gunfighting skills.

However, Kexiu was not reconciled.

He really wanted to be affirmed by his father, even if one day, his father didn't scold him.

"Father, please drink some water." He placed a delicate cup on the table next to the bed, quietly waiting for his father's orders. The man in the bed was holding his head, enduring the pain of a hangover. The room was full of alcohol, and the man's unshaven beard covered his chin.

"Pour out the water and bring me wine."

"But father..."

"Pour the water, bring me the wine, do you want me to say it a third time?"

The boy didn't say a word, just stood quietly by the bed, his head bowed.

The atmosphere was so dreary that the two didn't speak again. The man endured the headache, and the boy stood quietly with his head down.

Suddenly, the man on the bed jumped up and grabbed the cup and drank the water inside, smashing the quilt heavily on the table. Raised his head and glared at him. The eyes that were as white as his own and purple as his mother's. There is a little calmness in his appearance that is somewhat similar to himself, and there is a soft elegance in his eyebrows that are somewhat similar to his mother. The characteristics of both men were already present in him. He's a jumble like a patchwork of broken dolls.

"Why not wine?" The man asked, "Why are you still standing here, why don't you give your damn body a workout!" Ten laps around the outer wall of Caslana's manor, don't let me see you in the castle until you finish running, get out! ”

The boy silently finished cleaning up the broken cup and left the room with the tray.

Francis threw himself into the bed again.

It's been seven years.

He survived without Vera for seven years. He used to think that he couldn't live without Vera, but the truth is that he is alive and well. I drink heavily every day, and every day I struggle with something that doesn't have a full name.

"I just, I don't want to forget about you. But I'm starting to let go of you, Vera ... ”

Xiu looked at the sky. It's been a really nice day.

The sun is shining and the sky is cloudless. The leaves of the trees were sunburned and reflected a blinding white light, and Kaslana's manor castle was five kilometers outside the walls, and he had to run ten laps. If he hadn't guessed wrong, he would have spent all ten laps today.

He hadn't eaten breakfast yet, and he hadn't drunk a little water. But... At least his father had a request for him. Although, this request will most likely kill him. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and dragged his feet and continued to run slowly.

Kaslana's knights, who were patrolling the perimeter of the wall, saw him and quickly saluted, then ignored him. They only maintained basic respect for Xiu, and showed no more. Xiu didn't care, he politely returned the salute and continued running.

Although he had been training under Arthur since he was a child, he was only seven years old, and it was an impossible task. But Xiu didn't care. All he knew was that he had to complete the task given by his father.

Such... At least today, my father will stop scolding him. Already scolded? Then, at least for the rest of the day, my father won't scold anymore.

The road around the manor was uneven, and the potholed ground made Xiu's long-distance running more physically strong, and after a lap, Xiu was already panting heavily. His physical strength is not at all, and at the age of 7, being able to run 5 kilometers is no longer something that ordinary children can do. But his father's request was ten laps. He endured the discomfort in his eyes caused by the lack of oxygen in his chest, the pain in his chest and throat caused by the rapid panting, and the dry saliva in his mouth that was almost congealed, and continued to drag his sore body along the mountain road. Maybe at this time, someone who can catch up with him for a walk and leave him far away, but now, Xiu is still holding on.

Because, his father finally had an order for him, and finally had a request for him.

He managed to get past the second lap. On lap three, he didn't have any strength left and he had to rest for a while.

"My father didn't say that I couldn't rest, I couldn't stop...

He put his hands on his knees, panting desperately. He didn't sweat anymore because his body didn't have extra moisture for him to sweat. He glanced at the castle of the Caslana family. It was the first time he felt that his home was hopeless.

There are still eight laps to go, and he still needs to run. When he calmed his breath, he continued to run. But when he took the first step, he fell to the ground uncontrollably.

Only then did he realize that after stopping to rest, his body had completely softened. Every step requires more effort. He needs to forcibly control his body, he has to deliberately make his feet hard, he has to work hard to support his body from falling...

All this was mentioned in Arthur's training for Xiu, but Xiu didn't think about it.

However, even if he remembered it, Xiu had to rest, otherwise he would really die on the road. The short rest didn't give Xiu much physical strength, but his muscles began to ache and ache, making his journey even more difficult.

I don't want to, I don't want to be looked at by my father like that anymore, I don't want to be the laughing stock of the Caslana family anymore... I...

Touch!

Xiu fell to the ground weakly, and his sweat-soaked clothes were immediately covered with mud, and Xiu looked embarrassed at this time.

He struggled to get up, but he didn't have any more strength. He just lay on his stomach. Lying on the mountain path of Kaslana Manor, looking at the loess in front of you, the mixed sand, and the shadows in the sun.

After climbing for a long time, he rolled over and lay on his back in the shade of a tree.

The sun was above his head, and the sun was so violent that people couldn't look at it directly, but he just looked at the sun so directly.

He suddenly felt chills all over his body.

It's such a big sun, it's such a hot day. But why do you feel cold?

It's as cold as a winter with snow dancing in the sky. It's like that Christmas that I don't remember at all, that Christmas Eve.

Xiu slowly closed his eyes.

I want to... Sleep for a while...