Chapter 90: Milo Faust

Imagine the biggest eye roll Kai gave subconsciously when he saw that the man who had just pulled a child out of the sky was now walking toward them like the entire terrace had become his stage.

The ash-haired stranger stopped a polite distance away and smiled first at the twins.

"Hi, ladies."

Claire and Cassandra answered at the same time, suddenly a little too bright.

"Hiii."

He took each of their hands in turn and brushed a light kiss across their knuckles with practiced ease.

"What are two beautiful creatures like you doing outside in a place like this?"

Both girls flushed despite themselves. Claire recovered faster and lifted her chin, but Cassandra’s smile had already gone a little shy around the edges. The stranger’s gaze shifted, landed on Kai, and something unmistakably interested glinted in his eyes.

"And hello, gorgeous."

The delivery was shameless. Not quite Elias in his worst form, but close enough that Kai felt the same familiar mix of irritation and reluctant amusement rise in his chest.

Kai stiffened a smile and wore a poker face refusing to acknowledge him with even a glance but the figure wasn’t taking notes.

"Hi beautiful" he said in a surprisingly non awkward manner

Claire cleared her throat in a way that was not subtle at all. Cassandra glanced at her sister, then at Kai, then at the handsome man who still had not looked away from him. The two of them exchanged a quick look full of silent understanding, giggled under their breath, and stepped back almost in unison.

"We should buy a few things before the stalls close," Claire said.

"Yes," Cassandra added. "Supplies. Very important supplies."

"You do not need supplies," Kai muttered.

"We might," Claire replied serenely, and then both princesses were already retreating toward a nearby row of vendors with suspiciously perfect timing, leaving Kai alone with the stranger and the fading gold of the evening light.

The man turned fully toward him.

"I have not seen you around here. Are you new to the city?"

Kai’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"How much do you know everyone in the city to know I have not been here before?"

"You can call it intuition."

"Well, you are wrong. This is my third time visiting the city." he lied

The stranger shook his head with exaggerated disappointment.

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk."

"That is a lie."

"It is not."

"Well, it is," the man said, completely unbothered by Kai’s tone. "You see, after being a tour guide for so many years—"

Kai cut in.

"You are a tour guide?"

"Yes. The finest in the city. But that is beside the point." He lifted a finger as if delivering a lesson.

Well that explains the noseyness Kai thought.

"As I was saying, as a tour guide I have seen the glint in your eyes. Tourists usually have that same look when the city is still new to them"

"What look"

"The look of wonder"

Kai folded his arms.

"Maybe I am a local who enjoys waterfalls."

"You are not."

"You sound very sure of yourself."

"I am very good at my job."

"And annoying"

"I get that a lot," the stranger said, and his smile widened.

Kai glanced toward the stalls where Claire and Cassandra were pretending to examine a tray of polished stones neither of them needed. and then gave the boy before him a longer look. Up close the faint shimmer around him was harder to ignore, a soft distortion in the air like a heat mirage. And his face...Handsome did not quite cover it. There was something polished and slightly unreal about his features, the kind of face that belonged on a festival poster or a storybook page.

"You always talk this much to people you just met?"

"Only the interesting ones."

"And I am interesting because.....?"

"You are interesting because you looked ready to jump a rail for a child you did not know, and because you are currently trying very hard not to ask what I am."

Kai hated that he was right. He was indeed trying to know what he was, the system flagged him as a Fairy but he wanted to hear it from the horses mouth.

"Fine. What are you?"

The stranger placed a hand over his chest with theatrical seriousness.

"Milo Faust. Half fairy. Half elf. Full-time problem for people who enjoy boring conversations."

The System stirred at once.

[Identity partially confirmed.]

[Name: Milo Faust.]

[Race: Half-fairy, half-elf.]

[Mana signature: Above S-rank.]

[Affinity: 12% and rising.]

Kai kept his expression neutral even as the information settled.

"Kai," he said after a beat. "Just Kai."

"Just Kai," Milo repeated, as if testing the shape of it. "That is either very humble or very suspicious."

"Any of the above" Kai said lightly.

Faust gave him a long look and whistled "for a human you really are beautiful, are you sure you aren’t mixed with something? You should get your lineage checked"

Before Kai could answer, Claire and Cassandra returned with perfect timing and zero shame. They swept back into the space as if they had been waiting for a cue, linked arms, and presented themselves with exaggerated brightness.

"And we are," Claire began.

"Claire!" Cassandra announced, pointing at her sister.

"And Cassandra!" Claire finished, pointing back.

They held the pose for a full second, leaning into each other like the final page of a stage act, and then both of them dissolved into laughter. Kai could not help it. A real laugh slipped out of him before he could stop it.

Milo looked between the three of them with open amusement.

"Delightful. Absolutely no subtlety left in this terrace at all."

Claire recovered first and arched a brow at him.

"You are still here."

"I am difficult to get rid of."

"That tracks," Cassandra said.

Milo floated a few inches off the ground without warning, coat lifting slightly in a current of unseen air, and called out as if the whole terrace were his audience.

"When do you leave the city?"

Kai blinked up at him.

"Huh?"

"I said, when do you leave the city?"

They were both speaking louder than necessary now, enough that several passersby should have stared, but the people of Eldoria continued past them with the mild disinterest of citizens used to stranger sights than two men yelling across a terrace.

"In days, maybe!" Kai shouted back.

Milo pointed past the rooftops toward the far side of the city, where one tree rose higher than everything around it, vast and ancient and clearly older than the floating stone that held the rest of Eldoria aloft.

"If you ever need a real showcasing of Eldoria, I am always at the Elder Tree. You can come find me there."

Kai followed the line of his hand and immediately decided the distance alone was offensive.

"No thanks. I have my friends to guide me."

He nudged his head toward Claire and Cassandra, who both giggled as if the entire exchange had been arranged for their entertainment.

Milo rolled his eyes and drifted back down until he was close enough that only Kai could hear the next part. His voice dropped into something softer and far more precise.

"Those girls have not been anywhere past the eastern district."

Kai frowned.

"And how do you know that?"

Milo leaned in until his mouth was near Kai’s ear.

"Because they are the princesses."

Kai went still. He had never said that. He had not even implied it. Milo pulled back just enough to watch the realization land, then turned and offered the twins a neat, graceful bow.

"Your Highnesses."

Claire and Cassandra both smiled, clearly impressed despite themselves.

Milo looked at Kai one last time.

"Think about it."

He winked, rose into the air again, and floated away across the terrace with the easy confidence of someone who fully expected to be watched as he left. Claire and Cassandra made the same soft sound at the same time.

"Awwwnnn."

Kai stared after the empty air Milo had occupied.

"Now that was a first impression," Claire said.

"Yeah right," Kai muttered.

Cassandra bumped his shoulder with hers.

"You say that like you are not going to think about the Elder Tree later."

"I am not."

"You are," Claire said. "You have the face of someone who is already arguing with himself."

Before Kai could deny it, the System chimed in his mind and then hesitated in a way that immediately put him on edge.

[...]

The pause lasted long enough to feel intentional.

"System," Kai thought sharply. "What is wrong?"

[There is nothing immediately wrong.]

That was not comforting.

[However, during close proximity a secondary energy signature was detected beneath Candidate 006’s primary mana flow. The residual pattern shares partial similarity with Candidate 005: Aster Ludacris.]

Kai’s blood ran colder.

Aster.

The Chairman.

Similarity did not mean identity. He knew that. But the System did not mention things like that for decoration. If it had sensed even a partial echo of that presence, then ignoring it would be stupid.

He looked around the terrace with new attention, scanning balconies and walkways and the deeper shadows near the outer falls. Nothing stood out. No yellow-and-silver hair. No oppressive sense of being measured. Only the afternoon life of Eldoria continuing as if his nerves had not just drawn tight.

Still.

"Hey, girls," Kai said. "Let us go back home. I am starving."

Claire studied his face for a second and seemed to hear the part he was not saying.

"Yeah," she answered. "Us too."

"Us too," Cassandra echoed, falling into step on his other side.

The three of them turned away from the terrace and started back toward the palace route. Kai kept his expression light enough not to worry them and his attention sharp enough to check every corner they passed.

He did not look back.

But he also did not stop listening for footsteps that did not belong to the twins.