Chapter 414 - Tasha's Past
"Alright. We have arrived," said Kai while scanning his surroundings with his ears.
Meanwhile, Sofia grabbed his shoulder and stuttered. "Y-you. D-did you just use the T-teleportation Magic?"
"That\'s not important." Kai shook his head.
"This is very important!" Sofia shouted back. "We need to dis—"
Roar.
Before she finished her words, a series of roars resounded as she quickly took a look at her surroundings, finding at least a hundred people in the area.
"Ah! Annoying. I am going to kill them first." Sofia gritted her teeth and activated her exoskeleton. She jumped toward a pack consisting of thirty magical beasts.
"Pfft. You are making the situation more complicated, Kai." Michelle chuckled while taking out her swords, ready to move out.
"I don\'t need to hide it anymore since even Tasha\'s sealing magic is not that important." Kai shrugged.
Michelle shrugged and leaped forth. "Whatever you say."
"Pfft. Anyway, let\'s clear this area first." Tasha chuckled while taking out her bow. She then turned to the stunned Haruko and made a smug smile. "What? Do you want to go back now?"
Haruko clenched her teeth and shook her head before summoning a magic circle.
Ayaka, on the other hand, patted Evan and Isabelle\'s shoulders while laughing. "Ahaha. You will get used to it in the future. It\'s insane, you know. Anyway, it\'s time for us to work. We shouldn\'t waste too much time unless we want to fight against so many magical beasts before even going to fight the Katsuragi Family."
Kai remained in his position as though he wanted to find something.
"Where are the people from the Katsuragi Family?" Kai muttered. He had perfect trust in his teammates, so all his focus went toward searching the Katsuragi Family.
Unfortunately, after two minutes, he had yet to find them, so he concluded that they were not around here.
When he opened his eyes, he found his teammates had killed every single beast in this area.
Surprisingly, Michelle stared at Haruko with a shocked expression. "You…"
There was no doubt that Haruko could perform like them. The usage of her magic was not that far away from them.
"What? I have been training this whole time, you know." Haruko shrugged. "Do you think I will let you surpass me that easily?"
"…" Michelle had no word to say. "Well, at least, we don\'t need to worry about you too much."
"Haha." Haruko laughed and returned to Kai. "What are we going to do now?"
"Wait a minute. Instead of asking that question, why don\'t we ask about his power? I know that I am rude, but that magic…It\'s supposed to be Tasha\'s…" Sofia stopped her while glaring at Kai.
"I know. That\'s why I have been hiding it this whole time." Kai put on a gentle smile, expecting such a reaction. "This will surely cause another huge eruption in the US Base. Two Elements Magician alone is rare enough, let alone someone who is an S Rank Magician."
"I am afraid that my grandfather will do everything he can to make you stay…" Sofia narrowed her eyes. "Even if it means breaking any contract. You see, we still have the Poison Master with us and a few others that can force you to stay."
"So, you are going to do something to me?" Kai\'s gentle smile hadn\'t changed as his calm expression asked this question to Sofia.
Sofia shook her head. "I can lie for you, but I need to know about this. After all, it\'s better to know everything or nothing at all rather than getting just a piece of information. If I don\'t know anything, they won\'t get any information from me.
"And if I know everything, I will know how to handle the situation, including what I can and cannot say. However, had I only known this level of information, I couldn\'t even lie, even if I wanted to. Talking too much or talking too less will make them misunderstand the entire situation, so it won\'t be good for you and for me.
"That\'s why…I know that this is shameless coming from me who is not even your girlfriend. May I know the power from earlier?" Sofia lowered her head as if pleading to Kai.
Kai gently lifted her head and smiled. "So, you are going to lie for me?"
"I…" Sofia hesitated for a second. "After knowing you for almost a year, I somehow started yearning for such a relationship. When the others have their own dreams, you will support them without hesitation. In exchange, they will also help you in all situations.
"I feel that it\'s nice too. I have a dream which is to surpass my grandfather, who is the strongest in EU Base, but recently, the dream became two. I feel like I can aim at the sky as long as I\'m with you, but it also means that I am prepared to do everything in the process for both of us. That\'s why I will help you conceal this secret…"
Kai smiled and stroked her hair while saying, "If you think that you don\'t want to lie, it\'s fine for me. But I really appreciate your honest opinion. Life is more important than a secret. The reason why I don\'t really like the military is due to them having the need to keep something a secret for someone else instead of their own family.
"For me, family is number one. Maybe, it\'s because of my childhood, but my belief remains the same until now. For me, a base can\'t be compared to a family. That\'s why… I will trust you."
Kai then looked at Isabelle, Evan, and Haruko. "I think you three should listen to it as well. Different from Sofia, you three have enough integrity to keep this a secret, right?"
"Of course. Though I prefer not to hear it…" Evan scratched the back of his head.
"You are just going to have a hard time if you don\'t hear it." Isabelle elbowed his chest gently. "But don\'t worry, Captain. We will keep this a secret."
Haruko also nodded her head since she had a suspicion. From what she knew, Tasha couldn\'t teleport in a long-distance despite having so much magic power. So, there must be something she hid from her, albeit she herself had no interest in getting Tasha\'s secret.
Kai then looked at Tasha to see her opinion.
His answer came in the form of a story-telling from Tasha herself. "Back when I was ten years old, I met Kai along with his parents. My talent as a dual magic user raised the bar to a very high level. Unfortunately, my magic power wasn\'t enough to wield Space Magic, so most people gave up on me.
"After that, there was someone interested in grooming as his bride, thinking that he would have an heir that would wield two magic like me but with more magic power because of his gene.
"Not wanting to resign to my fate, I ran away from home and kept hiding from my own family. After almost a month, I was in a bind because I had used everything I brought from home. My clothes had become rugged and my stomach was empty.
"Wandering in the street like a beggar, a miracle happened. That was the first time I met Kai who happened to be on vacation.
"After knowing that my Space Magic was actually a Sealing Magic, he asked me whether I could seal his magic power inside of me or not. We kept meeting for a few days until one point, the experiment succeeded and all his ridiculous amount of magic power was sealed within me, allowing me to wield both of my magic power.
"When I was about to return it to him, he declined and told me to keep it. His only payment was me becoming his friend as he told me, "I can go back to my family, proving that they are wrong."
"However, I had a different idea back then. I told him that I wanted to become his supporter or whatever as long as I could keep meeting him. Although my appearance was a mess, I still had confidence that my appearance was pretty enough, so I didn\'t even mind becoming his "Maid."
"No need to pay as long as I can just meet him and fill my stomach." That\'s what I said to him. Surprisingly, he asked me to become his sister instead and introduced me to his parents.
"Kai had suffered so much during his childhood, so Mother and Father agreed to adopt me from his request. However, everything happened so fast and my previous family was still searching for me because they wanted to take advantage of my body to get a genius heir.
"After telling him everything, I was about to escape from home because I didn\'t want to endanger the family. Of course, I would have returned his magic if he didn\'t notice my intention.
"I told him everything about my situation. And to think that I would have seen Kai be that decisive to protect me after that. Because the situation would become even more dangerous after that point, Kai decided to teach me how to use my power and became an elite during my childhood.
"Although I was a mess at the start, I began to kill every single pursuer and those who tried to bring me back to the family. After all, my name was and will always be Tasha Carter.
"All in all, we fought very hard until one point where we managed to take down the whole family. Reluctant as I was back then, I joined the government to protect the family and hid everything. And the time passed by and you all see me right now. That\'s how my love story with Kai and the reason why Kai could use my magic.
"To put it simply, what I have right now is Kai\'s magic power and everything is possible due to my Sealing Magic since I sealed my own magic inside Kai\'s body. Only Space Magic though."