Chapter 26: The First Disagreement

Kael was checking his work schedule on his laptop when Sera noticed the notebook beside it. She had come into the living room to collect her sketchbook, but the notebook was open, and the list on the page caught her attention.

"What’s this?" she asked, picking it up.

Kael glanced away from his screen. "My training schedule."

Sera looked through the page. It included his morning workout, his afternoon shift at the convenience store, and extra training sessions on selected evenings.

She turned toward him. "I thought we agreed to stick to the routine we made."

"We did."

"Then what’s this?"

Kael looked at the notebook. "I’m just adding a little more training."

"How much more?"

"Twenty or thirty minutes after work. Three or four days a week, depending on how tired I am."

Sera lowered the notebook onto the table. "And when are you supposed to rest?"

"I’ll rest when I need to."

"That’s what worries me, Kael. You keep making plans around what you think you can handle without considering what happens if you can’t."

He closed his laptop and faced her. "I’m not planning to run into a dungeon tomorrow. I just want to make better use of my time."

"I know you want to improve. I’m asking whether you can manage all of this at once."

"I can handle a few extra exercises."

"You haven’t even returned to work yet. How do you know?"

Kael sighed. He knew she had a point, but he was already frustrated by how slowly his training was progressing. The exercises were still basic, and although his body felt a little stronger, he was nowhere near ready to face the monsters hunters fought.

Whenever he thought about how far he still had to go, he wanted to do more.

"I just don’t want to waste time," he said.

Sera pulled out a chair. "And I don’t want you wearing yourself out before you’ve even settled into a proper routine."

"What’s wrong with wanting to improve myself?"

"Nothing! Why do you keep acting as if I’m against that?"

"Because every time I try to do something more, you tell me to slow down."

"Because you already have enough to do!"

Her voice came out louder than she intended. Noah stirred in his crib near the window, and both of them immediately turned toward him.

Sera lowered her voice while Kael went to check on their son. Noah had only moved in his sleep, so Kael adjusted the blanket around him and returned to the living room.

Sera was still sitting beside the table, her sketchbook resting on her lap.

"Do you realize how much you’re taking on?" she asked.

Kael sat opposite her. "I know what I’m doing."

"You’re returning to your afternoon shifts, training in the morning, and now you want to exercise again in the evening. What happens if you start losing sleep? What happens if you’re too exhausted to work properly or you injure yourself?"

"I’ll deal with it."

"That’s exactly what worries me."

Kael rubbed his forehead. "I can’t plan for every possible problem."

"No, you can’t. But you can avoid creating problems for yourself when you don’t need to."

He looked at her, feeling his frustration rise again.

"I don’t know what you expect me to do, Sera. Just keep doing the same exercises forever and hope I’ll somehow become strong enough?"

"That’s not what I said."

"Then what do you want from me?"

"I want you to think before you push yourself into something you haven’t considered properly!"

Kael stood up.

"Because I don’t want to be useless when my family needs me!"

The words came out louder than he intended, and Sera fell silent.

Kael looked away. He hadn’t meant to shout at her, but the frustration he had been carrying for days had finally come out.

He had spent years worrying about money and working whatever jobs he could find, always trying to make his life a little better. Then Sera had returned with Noah, and his responsibilities had changed almost overnight.

He loved his son and wanted to give him a good life. He wanted Sera to feel safe in the home they were building together. But the more he cared about them, the more he worried about what might happen if he couldn’t protect them.

He couldn’t control every danger in the world. He couldn’t guarantee that he would always have enough money or that nothing would ever go wrong.

Training was one of the few things he could do to improve his situation, and he didn’t want to feel as though he was standing still.

Sera placed her sketchbook on the table.

"You think I don’t know what it’s like to be afraid of losing everything?"

Kael turned toward her.

"I know I grew up with money and people who could help whenever something went wrong," she continued. "My situation was different from yours, but that doesn’t mean I never felt helpless."

He remained quiet.

"My family made decisions for me because they believed they knew what was best. They told me what to study, who to meet, and how to live. When I disagreed, they acted as if I didn’t understand what I needed."

She paused, looking down at the sketchbook.

"I don’t want to do that to you. I don’t want to decide whether you should become a hunter or tell you to abandon something that matters to you. That’s your choice, Kael."

"Then why does it feel like you’re trying to stop me?"

"Because I’m scared that you’re going to hurt yourself trying to prove something!"

Her answer caught him off guard.

Sera took a breath before continuing.

"We finally have a place to live. Noah has what he needs, and we’re learning how to manage things together. I’ve even started making plans for myself again." She looked at him. "I know our lives aren’t perfect, but we have something stable now. I’m afraid of losing it."

Kael slowly sat down.

"If you become a hunter, I’ll have to accept that there are risks," Sera continued. "I know that. But I don’t want you taking unnecessary risks because you’re afraid that you’re not doing enough for us."

Kael looked at her for a moment. He had been so focused on his own fear of failing his family that he hadn’t fully considered hers.

To him, training was a way to prepare for the future. To Sera, his sudden desire to do more looked like a threat to the life they had only recently begun to build.

Neither of them wanted to lose what they had. They had simply been looking at the problem from different sides.

After a while, Kael rested his hands on his knees.

"I’m not trying to prove that I’m better than anyone," he said.

"I know."

"I just remember what it was like when I couldn’t do much for myself. I don’t want to feel that way again, especially now that I have you and Noah to think about."

Sera listened without interrupting.

"When I read about hunters, I keep thinking that if something dangerous happened near us, I wouldn’t know what to do. I don’t want to stand there hoping someone else will handle it."

"I understand that," she replied.

Kael glanced at her. "But I also know I’m nowhere near ready. I’m not pretending I can fight monsters just because I’ve been doing squats in the living room."

Despite the tension, Sera let out a small laugh.

Kael smiled faintly. "I’m serious. I know I have a long way to go. I just want to make sure I’m moving forward."

"Then move forward," she said. "Just don’t make it a race."

He looked at the notebook on the table.

"Maybe I got carried away with the extra training."

"Maybe?"

"All right, I got carried away."

Sera shook her head, but her expression softened.

Kael leaned forward. "I’m sorry I said you didn’t understand. That wasn’t fair."

"It wasn’t," she admitted. "But I’m sorry too. I should have asked why you wanted to change the schedule instead of assuming you were pushing yourself too hard."

"You had a reason to worry."

"That doesn’t mean I should decide everything for you."

They sat quietly for a moment. Neither seemed eager to continue the argument.

Noah stirred in his crib again, making a few small sounds. Kael stood up and went to pick him up while Sera moved the notebook out of the way.

After checking that Noah didn’t need changing, Kael settled him against his chest and returned to the sofa.

Sera watched them for a moment before speaking.

"Can we agree on something?"

"Of course."

"Keep the training routine we already made. Return to your afternoon shifts and see how your body handles the schedule. If everything works well, we can discuss increasing your training later."

Kael considered her suggestion. He wanted to do more, but he hadn’t yet tested how his regular shifts would affect his energy. Adding extra exercise before understanding what he could manage didn’t make much sense.

"All right," he said. "I’ll stick to the current routine while I get used to working again."

"And if you’re exhausted, tell me. Don’t pretend everything is fine just because you think you should be able to handle it."

"I’ll try."

Sera gave him a doubtful look.

Kael sighed. "I will."

"Good. And I’ll try not to treat every change you suggest as a disaster waiting to happen."

He smiled. "That sounds fair."

They sat together, watching Noah move his hands near his face. The argument hadn’t made all their worries disappear, but they had at least managed to explain what was bothering them.

After a few minutes, Sera glanced at the notebook.

"Can I see your training plan?"

Kael looked at her suspiciously. "Why?"

"Because I want to understand what you’re doing."

"You’re not going to ban squats from the apartment, are you?"

"Only if you start doing them in the kitchen again."

"That happened once."

"Yesterday, Kael."

He laughed and handed her the notebook.

Sera read through the routine, asking a few questions about the exercises and how often he planned to do them. Kael explained what he had learned so far and admitted that he still wasn’t sure how much progress he should expect.

When she finished reading, she returned the notebook.

"I hope you succeed," she said.

Kael looked at her, slightly surprised.

"I mean it. I want you to achieve the things you’re working toward. I just don’t want you to destroy yourself trying to get there."

He held Noah a little closer and nodded.

"I’ll remember."

Sera picked up her sketchbook again, but before she returned to her drawing, she looked at him.

"And when you do become a hunter, don’t expect me to stop worrying."

Kael chuckled. "I wouldn’t dream of it."

"Good, because I won’t."

He watched her settle into her seat and open her sketchbook. Noah was quiet against his chest, and for the first time since the argument began, Kael felt the tension leave his shoulders.

He still wanted to become stronger. He still worried about what the future might bring, and he knew that patience wouldn’t make those concerns disappear overnight.

But he no longer felt that he had to prove his commitment to his family by taking on more than he could manage.

For now, he would return to work, follow his existing training routine, and see how things went.

It wasn’t the fastest way forward, but it was a plan he and Sera could both live with.