Dreadwolf, Lord of Runes

“I’m happy to see you, too, Nina,” Kane chuckled. “But don’t get too excited, alright? I have to leave again soon, so I’m only here for a quick breakfast.”

“Wuuuuu, do you have to?” Nina pouted and looked at him with her big blue, pleading eyes full of innocence and happiness.

Luna and Cedric looked at the scene with varying expressions; Luna was impatient, and Cedric looked at them with fondness. Finally, Luna couldn’t stand it anymore, and poked the old man’s side with narrowed eyes. “Don’t get distracted, old man! I’m hungry!”

Cedric chuckled at Luna’s one-track mind and relented by heading to the kitchen. Meanwhile, Kane answered Nina with a small smile. “I’m afraid so, little Nina.”

Nina narrowed her eyes in an attempt to intimidate and stared at him for a few moments, before finally separating from Kane and pouting a little, “Are you… angry at me, Big Brother Kane?”

Kane sighed and shook his head. “No, little Nina, of course not.” Then he smiled again, “But I am a little angry I suppose, your intuition is spot on like always.” Anger about Father’s wake-up call still boiled inside him, but he was used to it, just as he was used to Nina’s surprising intuition about these things.

“Oh…” Nina mumbled, a little sad, before frowning and saying something that would likely surprise most people. “But… you’ll make them pay right?”

Her vicious response made Kane laugh a little. This was another reason why he liked this kid so much. Beneath her young age, bubbly attitude, and joyous spirit… she was ruthless. “Absolutely I will,” he nodded.

“Good!” Nina exclaimed happily. “They deserve it for messing with my Big Brother Kane!” Then, she frowned and looked serious, or at least as serious as a cute nine-year-old could look. “But that means it's time for another sticker!”

At the same time, she took out what looked like an old-fashioned sticker book, and looked at Kane sternly, as if waiting for him to act.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” Kane chuckled, before removing the CyberStrap from his lower arm, turning it upside down, and revealing a number of small stickers in various forms and sizes. These stickers looked old-fashioned, but they used a special type of glue that only came loose upon reaching freezing temperatures.

Thus, they were easy to remove with a little ice, but would generally easily stick to anything no matter what. Plus, the CyberStrap also helped to keep them in place.

Nina took out a sticker, and solemnly placed it next to one of the others. When it was done, she smiled brightly again and looked back up at Kane. “There! A sticker placed is a promise made. You can only remove it when you’ve gotten your revenge!”

“Agreed,” Kane nodded with a smile as he rubbed her head for a moment, noticing the small sticker that was placed behind Nina’s ear, but choosing not to comment on it. It wasn’t the first time he had seen that, but he had decided to wait until either Nina or Cedric told him about it.

He put the CyberStrap back on his arm, and thanked her, “Thank you, Nina. I’ll come by again in a few days, and then I’ll stay longer, alright?”

“Fine!” Nina nodded and narrowed her eyes again. “But you’d better be telling the truth! A future husband shouldn’t lie to his fiancé!”

Immediately, two green, cat-like eyes swivelled in her direction and glared at her. Having expected that, Nina turned in Luna’s direction, and stuck out her tongue, before giggling and quickly disappearing into the restaurant’s bowels.

“Crappy little kid…” Luna grumbled unhappily, while Kane wryly shook his head and thought back to the time he and Nina had gotten ‘engaged’.

It happened about a year and a half ago, a few months after they first met. Back then, Nina used her big doe eyes to get Kane to participate in some ritual she said stemmed from her ancestors. Kane didn’t see the harm in it. He really liked Nina, and it would likely improve his relationship with old man Cedric.

That said, the so-called ritual they performed did have a lasting effect on Kane, in a way. Nina had told him that it was supposed to be a symbolic exchanging of gifts, where each of them gives the other something important to them, while also offering a prayer to the other’s wellbeing.

Since Kane had already decided to indulge this little ray of sunshine in the form of a small girl, he naturally had to think of something. The problem was, he didn’t really have anything important to him. After all, things like that were just weaknesses that Father could exploit.

In the end, however, he did think of something. The most important things to him at the time were Luna, and memories of his mother.

Having died when Kane was ten, his memories of his mother were surprisingly vague and fragmented.

In fact, his entire life before the age of ten was like that. All he had were flashes of his mother’s face, the love he knew he felt for her, and the memory of her death. He didn’t even remember her name, and Father always refused to tell him anything.

Thus, a third desire was created. Aside from getting free of Father, and ruling this city, his third goal was to find out more about the woman that gave birth to him.

Regardless, while he couldn’t, and wouldn’t, give Luna away, he could share his memories with Nina. It wasn’t exactly a gift, but it was important to him, and Kane figured that was enough.

Luckily, there was technology for this. Thus, his gift to Nina was a data-chip with whatever fragmented recollections he had of his mother.

Perhaps it was a strange gift to give a seven-year-old girl he had only known a few months, but Kane found the entire thing to be oddly therapeutic.

Reliving the memories of his mother, however fragmented and vague, and sharing them with this little girl who had lost both her parents in the past had given him a strange sense of peace.

Meanwhile, Nina’s gift to him was perhaps even stranger and more unexpected: it was the sword currently resting on Kane’s back.

“This once belonged to my father,” the young girl had told him with all the seriousness her young, seven-year-old voice could muster. “He can’t use it anymore, and I’m still too young. So, I want you to take it, and— and accomplish your dreams!”

By the end, she was suddenly smiling in a way that could blind the sun, “And perhaps, if I ever need it, you can use that sword to protect me!”

Naturally, Kane was floored. Especially after he realized this sword was of far higher quality than the one he had been using so far; a revelation that confused him even more.

He couldn’t figure out where her father had gotten a weapon like that. Yet, when he tried to ask Cedric about it, the old man had been surprisingly tight-lipped about the whole thing, causing Kane to have little other choice but to simply accept.

He could hardly refuse a gift that would increase his chances of survival, after all.

Unexpectedly, however, by the end of it, Nina shamelessly informed Kane about something. “There! With the gifts exchanged, we are now engaged to be wed!” she had said, a bright smile filling her young face. “I hope you’ll treat me well in the future, husband!”

Naturally, Kane had nearly done a spit take, and assumed it was just a child’s fantasy, but so far, he had been surprised with Nina’s persistence on the matter.

When he asked Cedric about it, he simply laughed and had this to say: "So she wants to marry you, what's the problem? Just wait ten years, marry her, be happy, have several children and make sure they come here to buy my food, eh? Hahaha!"

While Kane appreciated the old man's support, it didn't really help him.

Whatever the case, Luna had considered Nina as a rival ever since.

Not that Kane and Luna had ever discussed their relationship status in any detail. They may be having sex, and Kane may treat Luna more like a partner and confidant than a servant, but a servant she remained.

Then again, even Luna wasn’t sure if she wanted their relationship to change. She actually quite enjoyed her current relationship with him. Still, that didn’t mean she wasn’t annoyed by Nina’s encroachment on what she considered her turf.

Regardless, half an hour later, they had eaten breakfast, and had once again stepped on their bikes.

Next stop, the Outer Ring district.