Free Web NovelChapter 277: Kaden
1.8 metres tall, a chest like a barrel, arms as thick as logs, long wild hair, a rugged yet handsome face; if anyone was meeting this ’man’ for the first time, they would have sworn he was a barbarian warrior who reveled in slaughter, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
When Lucas first met Kaden, he too was taken aback by the latter’s appearance as it was very different from what Audrey had described to him.
During their various conversations, Audrey had often said that Kaden was cute and reserved; a shy 15-year-old boy who was soft spoken and loved taking care of plants.
Needless to say, Lucas had not been expecting Kaden to be so... buff.
It seemed Audrey’s definition of ’cute’ was quite a bit different from Lucas’.
Perhaps even more surprising, however, was Kaden’s background.
The youth’s full name, which Lucas had never heard until the latter formally introduced himself, was Kaden Patterson, third son of Viscount Lewis Patterson and his Second Wife. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
Far from being a gardener or a wealthy farmer’s boy, Kaden was actually a Direct Descendant of a powerful noble house, his status technically even higher than that of Audrey’s.
All this unexpected information hit Lucas like a Sixth Order Beast, flooring him to the point where he just stared dumbly at the giant ’boy’ who was politely holding out his hand to him in greeting.
Still, Lucas had experienced much over the past month, so he didn’t remain dazed for long. He also wasn’t one to pre-judge others by their appearance or background, so he took Kaden’s large, rough hand and shook it firmly, introducing himself as he did so.
It didn’t take long after that for Lucas to realize that there was one thing Audrey hadn’t gotten wrong when she was describing her friend; Kaden Patterson really was shy and soft spoken, which was a huge contrast to his fierce and burly appearance.
Unlike Lucas, who had a great degree of confidence in himself and was able to express his opinions without hesitation, Kaden seemed to suffer from a severe inferiority complex that resulted in him mostly staying quiet and keeping to himself.
As for why this was, it all seemed to stem from the boy’s incredibly low Innate Talent.
.....
Officially, Kaden had Mid-Rank Mortal Grade Talent, but in reality, he probably landed closer to Low-Rank Mortal Grade.
For an ordinary commoner, there would be nothing embarrassing about having Mid-Rank Mortal Grade Innate Talent, as that would still leave one better off than 90% of people on the Blue Sky Continent.
However, for the son of the richest, most powerful Viscount Family in the South-West Province, a noble house which governed Yarrel on behalf of Earl Drax, it was nothing less than a disgrace.
According to what Lucas had heard, Viscount Lewis, despite nominally being a farm manager, was a rather impressive warrior with a robust physique. It seemed that Kaden had inherited his father’s physical features, but none of his cultivation talent, leading to him being ostracized within his own family.
It wasn’t to the point where Kaden was outright disdained, but while his mother seemed to care for him still, all his other relatives, including his father, held no expectations of him.
Even the Patterson Family’s retainers and servants only respected Kaden for his surname, caring nothing for the boy himself.
Years of quiet indifference from everyone around him had caused Kaden to withdraw into himself and seek comfort in the company of plants.
At 15-years-old, and having only just recently broken through to the Seventh Step Body Tempering Realm, Kaden had come to accept that he would never amount to much when it came to cultivation, but that didn’t mean he wanted to just sit around and wallow in self-pity.
Since the Patterson Viscounty was the biggest breadbasket in the entire south of the Rockwell Kingdom, Kaden figured he could earn some respect from both his family and the public if he could make some kind of significant contribution in the agricultural industry.
Like any other noble youth, Kaden was given a strict education befitting his status, but once his lessons and training were over for the day, he would quickly disappear from home and venture out into the fields, overcoming his shyness to talk to the farmers, tending to crops, and researching ways to improve harvest yields.
His passion for this pursuit was commendable, yet for all Kaden’s efforts, he had failed to make any kind of real progress towards his goal so far.
The boy had made some minor discoveries here and there, including a method to deal with a type of insect which damaged certain vegetables, but none of that had any major impact on the territory’s farming productivity as a whole.
Kaden was beginning to lose hope that he would ever achieve anything of real importance; that is, until he received a letter from his best friend in Iron Rock, Audrey Carlson, claiming she had met an incredibly wise and talented friend who had profound knowledge of plants and farming.
Audrey also mentioned that this new friend of hers was interested in meeting him and was even willing to share his knowledge in exchange.
Young Lord Patterson, who had very few people he could call friends, had unconditional trust in Audrey and immediately began lobbying his parents to let him travel to Iron Rock.
In normal times, it would not have been an issue for Kaden to visit Iron Rock; in fact, the young lad had done so at least 5 or 6 times a year for the past 3 years.
However, these were not normal times.
It took quite a bit of time and effort on Kaden’s part, as well as his mother’s, but they eventually managed to convince Viscount Lewis to let his second youngest son join one of the grain transport convoys heading south.
Whether this was because he pitied the boy, or he simply didn’t care where Kaden went, only Lewis Patterson knew for sure.
Whatever the case, Kaden Patterson packed up his things, bid farewell to his mother, hopped aboard a large cargo ship, and set off for Iron Rock one early morning.
That same day, while Lucas was sizing up Young Master Patterson, Kaden was also carefully observing the ’wise master’ his best friend was so enthusiastically introducing him to.
Although Kaden did his best to maintain his calm; internally, he was actually panicking the more Audrey spoke about Lucas. Kaden’s figure might have been solid, but his heart wasn’t so sturdy, so hearing the girl he ’secretly’ harboured feeling for heaping so much praise onto another boy around their age was worrying, to say the least.
What made things worse, was despite how outrageous all the things Audrey was saying sounded, Kaden noticed that all the adults around them, some of whom he could tell from the markings and crests on their armour were powerful Spirit Initiates, were actually all nodding along.
Kaden, having known Audrey for several years now, knew that she had a bad habit of exaggerating things while also forgetting rather important details in her stories. None of this was done maliciously, of course, and Kaden even found it to be quite endearing, but it seemed that this was not one of those times.
Lucas spoke rather humbly, and tried to tamp down on Audrey’s enthusiasm, but that only unnerved Kaden even more.
Extremely intelligent, extremely diligent, extremely well respected, but still humble, friendly, and polite.
That was Kaden’s first impression of Lucas.
Even if this younger boy’s cultivation wasn’t very high, that was easily explained away by the fact that Lucas seemed to have been nothing more than a commoner up until a month or so ago. Now that he was the True Disciple of Marquess Celestina Balfour, Kaden had no doubt that Lucas’ strength would begin to rise rapidly soon, overtaking his own in short order.
Fear and anxiety began filling Kaden’s head with all kinds of terrifying thoughts.
What if Lucas had taken a liking to Audrey and the Carlson Family decided to try to get the two of them engaged?
Or worse, what if Audrey had actually fallen for Lucas!?
Kaden knew he wasn’t qualified to become Audrey’s partner, but he still held out some hope that one day he would be. freewebnovel.cσ๓
Audrey had always been good and kind to him, even going so far as to help him look for ways to improve the crop yields in the Patterson Viscounty. The thought that she might be snatched up by someone else was unbearable to the boy.
From their first meeting on the docks, all the way back to the Carlson Family Manor, Kaden was filled with anxiety and barely even heard any of the conversation going on around himself.
That evening, Kaden somehow ate dinner, then found his way to his accommodations where he spent the rest of the night tossing and turning, plagued by all kinds of concerns and doubts.
