It was unknown whether it was the crowing of their neighbor, Mrs. Alma's chickens, or the intense hunger Kael had gone to sleep with that had woken him.
He just found himself staring at the ceiling very early in the morning. The sun had yet to peek through the horizon, although the night had long left its prime. The animals were up, making any thought of returning to sleep impossible.
The sacs under Kael's eyes were visible, and his complexion didn't look so healthy. His mind was completely empty, a serene mix of conscious and unconscious.
He had no plans of even lifting a finger. That was until he heard a slight moan from the bedroom. He had left a small gap in the door so he could monitor Lilly, and when he looked through it he saw her shifting uncomfortably in her bed.
With great difficulty, he got up, put on his slippers, and went to check up on her.
He entered the room and squatted beside her, she looked to be in distress. Her eyes were still closed but Kael doubted the dream realm could hold her for much longer.
He placed his hand on her forehead to check her temperature. It only made him more anxious, her temperature was so high that a dreadful thought passed through his mind.
What if she doesn't survive?
He shook his head rejecting such a thing.
"I'm hungry," she whispered, then opened her eyes. She looked at Kael and smiled.
"Thank God you came back." Her eyelids fell once more.
The previous Kael didn't know a thing about cooking, that had been Lilly's job. But now that she was sick he had to go to Iris's house every morning to get some soup for Lilly.
The previous Kael hardly ate.
This further surprised Kael as to how he was able to maintain such a good physique.
He headed to the kitchen and after putting some coal in the stove, he lit it and put a kettle on the stove. After that, he headed to Iris's place to get some soup for Lilly.
It was a ten-minute walk. When he got there he didn't find her, but just in front of her door was a sealed bowl of soup.
Kael let out a sigh of relief, thanking the heavens that she had not forgotten.
He took the bowl and headed back home. Another ten-minute walk.
Kael's hand rested on the doorknob to their cottage as he paused. This was the previous Kael's routine and he was doing it like he had done it numerous times before.
It won't be long before I turn into the previous Kael.
But he didn't see anything wrong with that. He liked his current simple life, at least he had people who cared for him. That was enough.
He entered the cottage, and as expected, the water was boiling.
He filled the bathtub with warm water.
Entering the room, he found Lilly already awake; she was seated upright with her back against the headboard.
Kael then gently removed her clothes and carried her to the bathroom where he helped her to wash up. This was perhaps the first time in his life he laid eyes on a woman's naked body, but he felt nothing looking at her.
After getting her dressed, he fed her the soup from Iris's place and tucked her back into bed.
"I'm going to hunt; I'll be back before sunset. I'll bring some meat for you, it'll help you get well faster."
He turned, about to leave, but her light grip on his hand stopped him.
He turned to look at her.
"You'll come back, right?"
"Yeah," he replied.
She let go of his hand. Kael then left the house and headed to the forest.
_____
Kael played with his dagger as he walked the path to the town's exit.
A swishing sound passed his ear as a stone flew extremely close to his head, missing the target by a few centimeters.
He could immediately guess who had thrown the stone. The previous Kael had experienced this scene numerous times.
If he were still the one in control, then he would be on the verge of crashing out right now. He had always gotten in trouble because of these bullies.
Kael, however, thought they were just immature so he decided to keep on moving, hoping they'd leave him alone.
"Is your sister dead yet?" One of them asked as they laughed.
His eyes twitched but he didn't turn back. He didn't even pause, just acted like they didn't exist.
And surely after taunting him for a while they left him alone. They were in the middle of town after all, so they couldn't really assault him here.
Tooka, their ringleader, was a very persistent person. And Kael knew that, whether it was tomorrow or the day after that, he would always be there to harass him.
Although they used the guise of him being an outsider to bully him, Kael knew why Tooka really hated him.
He had previously had feelings for Lilly and confessed to her in public. As one would expect he got turned down—he wasn't a gentleman. This made him start targeting Kael, perhaps out of jealousy.
He would get over it, Kael thought as he passed through the town's back gate.
"Heading out again?" Simon asked. He was one of the town's oldest guards. When Kael had started hunting, he had taught him a thing or two.
"Yeah, I gotta work," Kael replied.
Simon nodded and said, "How was yesterday's hunt? I didn't notice when you came back."
Of course you didn't, sleepyhead.
"I didn't get anything."
"Well that's normal, just keep trying, maybe one day the hunter's guild might come looking for you."
They both laughed. If the Hunter's guild actually came looking for Kael, then he would automatically become the village head. That was a pipe dream. For the previous Kael at least, things had changed now.
He left Simon at his post and headed towards the forest.
The road he was walking on was divided into two paths, each leading to a separate forest. The road on the left had a sign that read, "Danger!!! Demonic Beasts here. Turn Back!!!"
The other path led to a normal forest filled with normal animals. He didn't plan to go there; there was hardly any game there, considering the townsmen cleared it out every three months.
The other path, though, was filled with more game than he needed and that was naturally the path he chose.
Kael didn't think that the low-rank creatures here could make him break a sweat, but just in case this body turned out too weak for him to properly use he had a plan