Without a moment's notice, a week passed by.
For Solace, these seven days were a frantic balancing act between the mechanical violence of the firing range and the delicate domesticity of his home life.
The cohort's training sessions had shifted from clumsy curiosity to a grim, professional rhythm. Lex had practically moved into the basement range, his enthusiasm for firearms reaching a fever pitch that even Solace found slightly unsettling. The boy had an intuitive grasp of the machinery, his hands moving with a speed that mirrored his obsession.
Solace himself had reached a point of steady competence. He no longer flinched at the roar of the discharge, and his grouping on the paper targets had tightened significantly. He was learning to treat the pistol not as an extension but as a cold, reliable tool of the physical world. Nolan and Vivi were still struggling.
Solace found himself constantly glancing toward the far end of the range, searching for even a flicker of acknowledgment from Phoebe. But she remained a statue of ice. Every time his eyes wandered her way, she would methodically eject a magazine or reset her stance, her gaze fixed strictly on the paper target ahead. The silence between them wasn't just a lack of words; it was a wall he didn't know how to climb. The sting of her avoidance hurt more than the recoil of the gun.
While their training continued, Solace also had other matters to tend to.
Solace started looking to rent a modest home that he could turn into a temporary kids' care facility. He didn't actually want to adopt Verya's daughter into the home... And quite honestly, he couldn't even if he wanted to.
Seriously, What kinda excuses would he give his family?
The thing was, instead of building a full-blown care facility, maybe Solace could rent a modest home and invite Elira a couple of times every week to give her a different and fresh environment as opposed to the sterile hospital. He also checked with the receptionist for other children who may need this kind of fresh environment.
But as the reality remained, he couldn't directly adopt these children into his house as he was still very young, and he didn't have enough money to buy the property entirely by himself.
He visited dozens of properties, his eyes scanning for more than just floor space:
By the end of the week, he found it—a sturdy, two-story house on the edge of the residential district. It was located quite far from the heart of Theron City, nearly at the outskirts. It had a high stone wall and a small, overgrown garden in the back. But regardless, he still needed some time to think.
During this, Solace often visited Elira, which was the most sobering part of his week.
Among the domestic chaos of dinners with Luna and Noah, a letter arrived bearing the seal of Principal Richards.
It was a formal invitation to an expedition in the frozen North—the Catacombs of Winterfell. The offer was tempting; it was exactly what Nicole promised him, to help her in foreign kingdoms in exchange for keeping his family safe. The expedition was set to start in the second week of Prima.
But Prima was still far away.
"I have a mission here first," Solace thought, folding the letter and tucking it into a drawer.
Winterfell, a major city of the Kingdom of Nuan, was quite different from Theon because it was so far up north. The winter was almost a compulsion. But the interesting part was that the novel hadn't talked much about Nuan and Kirola at all. There were brief mentions here and there, like the death of the Princess of Nuan and the king blaming the death on some kind of cult.
It was...messy. Solace didn't clearly remember what the novel said due to his fading memories.
There was also mention of the Nuan king's mysterious death during the next great war of the Kingdoms, which will be the sixth continental Great War.
Yes! There were five! freaking continental wars between the four kingdoms.
It was almost as if the kingdoms never learned from their mistakes. Theon, which was a powerhouse in the early days, would frequently run around commissioning campaigns to conquer every piece of land on this planet. The conquest of Ulma. Conquest of United Amasia. Campaigning of Aurica and so on, they never stopped, and because of their stupidity, they fought nearly a hundred wars and five with all four Kindoms involved.
This does not even consider the civil wars they fought to become a monarchy and adopt a Royal family.
Exhaling a long breath, he thought about how stupid the Kings have to be to start this many wars. Clearly, he didn't understand the politics. Not to mention the current King of Theon is no wiser. The fool is using the church to expand his influence in other kingdoms. But he doesn't realise that the church is merely exploiting Theon. The only valuable thing Theon has is the Ishtara mountain ranges, and once the first seal is broken, the war between Hera and Theon will officially begin.
It was mental.
As for the topics of Seals Solace, only knew two exact locations. The first seal was located at the peak of the Ishtara Mountain Range, and the second was beneath the Royal Palace of Hera. The rest he didn't know much about. He knew that every kindom had at least 1 seal, along with Aurica, the sole exception would be Ulma, which would have two seals.
He had an idea that the second seal of Netharis in Nuan was near some kind of glacier, but further than that, his knowledge was limited.
Getting back to the topic, Solace and others also researched what the base in the western jungles was about.
Western jungles were relatively abandoned. Not because of some kind of Threaded Beasts, but they were unwilling to cut natural forest and endanger that already endangered wildlife.
At least that's what they said. But looking closely, deep inside the jungle was an abandoned orphanage. This is where Phoebe and Lily linked the gangs that delivered the kidnapped kids.
The orpahange was still active, probably used by the church for something morbid.
After the hectic, finally Monday arrived. And with it some peculiar news about his family.