Ning felt as if his heart had been ripped out of his chest by pliers watching the unfortunate event fold out in front of him.
What had he done to deserve this? What had he done to have this tragedy befall him? This was not what he wanted to have happened from the decision he had made. The outcome was supposed to be a good one, and yet… why had life treated him this badly? He could feel the tears threatening to leave his eyes, and today he wanted to let it flow.
He wanted to let such incredible sadness flow out of him, let it devour the others who saw it as well.
Emma saw him in pain, saw him holding back the tears, and could only sigh in disbelief.
"It's just a bunch of money. So what if you lost the bets?" she asked him.
Not a single one of the bets Ning had made on the upcoming matches panned out at all. He lost every single one of them.
"Maybe next time, don't bet everything on underdogs," Emma said. "There's a reason why they were called the underdogs, you know. It's because everyone recognized they were the inferior in the match-ups."
Ning's head drooped still. Emma took the lead, dragging him out of the arena. It was about time for the sun to start setting, so they went back. There weren't many more interesting fights until later that night and they didn't feel like staying until then.
"Where's our new home? I was hoping to see," Emma said.
"It's on the northern side of the town. Will take us half an hour more to get back to the tavern if we decide to go that route," Ning said.
"Oh." Emma placed her hands on her chin. "We can go tomorrow morning then."
"After I'm done with Hadden," Ning said. "Don't torture the young man so much," Emma said, rubbing Lory's back. Lory purred at the light scratches. "I'm just giving him what he needs," Ning said while planning internally on how to torture the kid tomorrow so that he becomes more resistant to pain.
"Oh right," Emma remembered her talk with the girl. "I need some books. Make me some."
"What sort?" Ning asked.
"Everything about the beasts of this world," Emma said. "Apparently that is what is required to get into this school. I plan on learning that tonight. I might have to go learn what else we need before the exam."
Ning nodded and spoke to his system. 3 seconds later, books appeared in front of him, which he was surprised to see the sizes of.
"I'm so used to just getting all the information into my head directly," he said flipping through the pages. The colorful images of the beasts were impressive, and the text was clear. And weirdly enough, he could smell that one smell that only came with new books.
"A book on beasts names, another on their descriptions and habitats, and finally one on the history of how beasts are dealt with in Astoria. That should be enough, right?" he asked his daughter.
Emma placed Lory on her father's shoulders and took the book, looking through them. "Ooh, there's a lot to learn it seems," she said. "Yeah, this should be enough for now. Thanks, papa."
Ning smiled and took Lory into his embrace. "Let's return."
Once they returned, Emma started studying her books and Ning forced Hadden to study a few hours before going to sleep. Then, after 6 hours, it was time to bring madness to Hadden's life before morning hit.
He dropped the poor guy into the ocean just as the last time, at the same place as last time as well. However, this time Hadden was prepared.
He was caught off guard the first time around, but he wasn't going to let that happen this time around at all. The first moment he was pulled out, he laid out all the alphabets one by one.
Ning smiled at the answer, and Hadden even thought he could see a hint of pride on his teacher's face and was expecting praise the next time he spoke.
However, instead of praise, he got only a single question.
"Tell me the alphabet backwards now."
Hadden was stunned for the briefest second before realizing what was being asked of him. "What?" he asked unintentionally as a shout. "Backwards? Uh… its…"
It was clear he couldn't say it in time and even as he mumbled various letters, his inability to follow what he was told to do was apparent. And Ning didn't let that go. He did let go of something else.
Hadden.
Hadden fell into the ocean, the waves crashing on him once again.
3 hours later, he was bruised to his private region, which he could see while he stood naked next to the river, getting ready to change. The pain all over his body was incredible, but he didn't let that make him cry today.
He wouldn't. He had to become stronger, or else… He cried once again, remembering his family. This one was okay. He wasn't crying because of the physical pain.
He went back to Ning after getting dressed and they teleported back to the tavern where Emma was still reading up on the books Ning had given her yesterday.
"Ughh! You hurt him more today than yesterday," she said, standing up to look over the young man. Hadden felt his face hit up as Emma moved his face side to side, but there was no way for anyone to tell that with his current physical condition. "Don't worry, he will be healed in a few hours," Ning said, giving Hadden the pill that would heal him. Emma was duped as well since Ning put on an illusion around Hadden that made everyone else see him as healed.
"Alright, let's go out to get something to eat," he said with a loud clap to gather their attention. "After that, I will take the both of you to our new place."
