The clocks in Shaan's room showed almost 6 a.m., and he was already awake. He wasn't sure why he had woken up so suddenly, but it felt like his body was getting used to waking up at that hour. And yet, today was a rest day—meaning there was no training scheduled for him.
"Ah, at least today I can relax for a while." Shaan leaned back against the pillow behind him. "Rest day is always a nice day."
Just a few minutes later, there was a knocking sound outside Shaan's room. He walked over to the door and saw a white uniformed officer appear in front of him, holding a small black cloth pouch in his hand.
"Inside this pouch is your cellphone, which was kept by the staff during the training period." The officer handed the pouch to Shaan. "Since you already completed the training session, all amateur daemonists are now permitted to use their cellphones again," he stated and walked away from Shaan's room.
When Shaan held the brown cloth, his smile did not fade at all. He had not expected that he would finally be able to hold his cell phone again, and without waiting long, he immediately turned it on.
"Good, I can finally contact grandma now. I'm sure she must have been very worried about not hearing any news from me for a few days."
'Ring...Ring....'
"Hello? Who is this?"
"Grandma Isabel, it's me. Shaan"
"...."
"Grandma, is everything okay?"
"Oh, yes, yes, everything is fine." Grandma Isabel's voice was sobbing. "I'm sorry, I'm just... Thank God, Shaan, you're okay. How are you doing over there? Is everything okay? How about your food? Do you like it?'
" Yes, Grandma, I'm fine," Shaan nodded his head. "The food tastes great, and there's also a vegetable soup here that's very similar to Grandmother's. But grandma's soup is always the best."
"Hahaha, I'm glad you feel at home there," Grandma Mabel told him. "Shaan, I have something to say. Happy birthday, Shaan."
'Gosh, I completely forgot that it's my birthday today, which means I'm now 18 years old.'
"Grand-grandma Isabel, but how could you remember?"
"Of course. You are my beloved grandchild, and I will always mark your birthday on my desk calendar. So, whenever I look at the calendar, I will always remember your birthday. Always."
Hearing these words, Shaan was silent for a moment. He was speechless, and tears began to well up in his eyes. Grandma Isabel seemed to love him so very much and had come to think of him as her son.
"Grandma Isabel, thank you. I promise, if I have some free time, I will come home and see you." Shaan wiped away the tears that were slowly running down his face. "I-I want to eat your vegetable soup again."
Grandma Isabel laughed. "I'll wait for that day, Shaan. I'll wait for you until we can eat together again."
"Yes, Grandma. I'm looking forward to that too."
"Bye, Shaan. Be careful there."
"Yes, Grandma. Goodbye."
Shaan could only sigh once the phone call with Grandma Isabel ended. He felt somewhat happy because he got to hear her voice, and she sounded just fine. But at the same time, there was also a deep sadness within him. This was the first time he had celebrated his birthday alone, without Grandma Isabel by his side.
"Never mind, instead of me thinking about it. I should take a walk outside and get some fresh air."
However, just as Shaan was about to leave his room, he suddenly remembered the box which Grandma Isabel had given him. He immediately rushed to pick up the small, long box that he placed beside his bed.
"I'm just curious. What exactly is in this box?"
Shaan slowly unwrapped the package and opened the box. He was quite surprised to find out that the thing inside the box was a short sword, but it already looked quite old and rusty. The edge was also blunted, and it was difficult to cut anything.
'Why didn't grandmother Isabel tell me before that...that my parents were Daemonists?' Shaan furrowed his brow. "Hmm... maybe this sword needs some repair and polish first. Then I'll ask grandmother Isabel about it." Shaan looked at the short sword in detail. "I'll ask Miss Briana to help fix it in a little while. I'm sure she can restore it easily and make it look brand new again — I just hope she's not busy today."
Shaan put the thing back into the box, then placed it on his desk. He then walked out of his room and quickly walked to an open area to breathe in the morning air.
"Ah, the morning air is indeed very good." Shaan stretched his body. "Jogging is the right choice for me."
As Shaan was running around the field, he suddenly overheard a small howl amongst the bushes not far from his position. He slowly approached the bushes and found that the sound was coming from a puppy trapped inside.
"Calm down, buddy, I'll get you out of there." Shaan slowly reached out his hand and pulled the puppy out. "Thankfully, at least you're free now. I'll tend to your wounds first, then we'll find your family."
He decided to stop exercising and took the brown puppy to his room. He slowly cleaned the wounds on the puppy's body using running water first, before giving the little dog some wound medicine.
"Okay, all done. Time to take you back to meet your family."
Shaan walked the puppy to the field area. He slowly cast his eyes around, but strangely, he did not find any other dogs. He just kept walking around the field area until he saw a small building located at the far right of the field area.
"Maybe, I can find the whereabouts of- Hey, where are you going?"
The puppy suddenly jumped out of Shaan's grasp and ran quickly towards the small building Shaan was looking at. Seeing that, he immediately started chasing after the puppy to make sure it wouldn't get stuck in the mass of bushes around the building a second time.
"Ah, good thing. It turns out you finally met up with ...." Shaan's face instantly tightened as he saw a yellow-haired woman squatting with her back to him. 'Who is she? What is she doing here?'