The Doubt!

Mackenzie yelled so loud that almost everyone in the store heard her. She quickly realized the commotion she had made because Leon's words totally surprised her, and immediately shoved him in a less cramped aisle making him drop the bags of clothes he was carrying to the cashier.

"What do you mean you have a lot of karmic points?" She grunted at him trying to lower her voice; her usually straight black hair started to flutter up above her head unrestrainedly as if she was electrocuted.

By the look of her, Leon knew he stepped on the cat's tail, so he had to choose his next words carefully.

"Sorry, I forgot to mention it, but I came to Soul war realm with them." He responded as calmly as he could, since he hated drawing attention to himself.

"Oh, really!? Anything else you so conveniently forgot to mention!?" Unfortunately for Leon, Mackenzie didn't find his answer convincing.

'Was he lying to me the whole time? No, he wouldn't do that, and I would have spotted any signs of deception, plus there is nothing to gain from that, so I doubt it. He is not like those two... something else is going on, I just need to find out what.' Her mind was working incredibly fast trying to connect the dots.

She felt a little conflicted. Even though she told Lesedi that she trusted her gut when it came to Leon, she knew that she needed to find out more about him and his secrets.

Leon on the other hand felt like he was being scolded by his mother in a toy store. It was almost as if he was transported back to his childhood. The situation was weird and embarrassing for him.

He felt that he made a mistake by being careless, and judging by Mackenzie's appearance and aggressive questioning, it was no small matter. He had to fix this 'misunderstanding' immediately. He didn't know much about her past circumstances, so he focused on their previous conversations in order to remember whether he forgot something important.

He was a problem solver all of his life, even more so after Irene's passing. And here that characteristic of his came to fruition when he quickly found something worth 'mentioning':

"Well, I might have forgotten to mention that I possess other skills and proficiencies, not related to cooking." He added calmly, with a serious and apologetic look on his face.

Mackenzie could only gawk at him blankly.

She expected a defensive attitude, excuses, or even a tantrum but not another 'confession'. It threw her off a little. She was prepared to argue and maybe even accuse him of lying in order to fish-out his secrets but Leon's behavior was completely different from those master manipulators she had encountered before. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do now.

In order to calm her weary heart she had to seek more information from him:

"And where did you get those skills and proficiencies? " She asked, less threateningly than a few seconds ago.

"It is the same as with the Karmic points. I had them the moment I entered the Soul war realm, but I believe I carried them over from the mortal world" He replied.

In fact Leon wasn't sure either, and could only make a guess, but he told her what he believed to be the truth, because he had no incentive to lie and potentially harm his newfound friendship with Mackenzie.

She on the other hand could only lament in her heart.

'Everyone starts from scratch when they get into the Soul war realm. The only thing they get to keep are some memories, most of them regarding their mortal identity, general information about their life, and everything endured during the 'cleansing'. Everything else needs to be relearned or retrained. Just what makes him so special? Why was he granted all these privileges?' Mackenzie wondered.

At this point she was more or less sure that Leon was speaking the truth and only pretended to be upset in order to find out more about him.

Regrettably, before she could apologize for doubting him, as well as her behavior, and continue from there, a man dressed in the Auxiliary Association's uniform, the same one Mackenzie hated wearing, walked up to them. He had one of those cheeky smiles plastered all over his face, as if he publicly declared that he was up to no good.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Miss Mortimer, causing public unrest with her trainees once again. This is the third time this month. I'm sure that you are aware that Association frowns upon that sort of behavior MISS Mortimer." He deliberately screeched, making his voice as irritating as possible.

"So you are even following me now Baxter? Just go away, this doesn't concern you whatsoever!" She grunted back at him.

"Oh, that is where you are wrong Miss Mortimer. As a senior executive in the Auxiliary Association that oversees all trainers in our employment, this sort of situation concerns me the most. We can't have you losing any more newcomers to other associations, it is bad for business. Haven't you lost a bunch of trainees just yesterday? "He added while turning his head towards Leon,

"Sir, if you are unsatisfied with Miss Mortimer here, we can provide you with a new trainer that will suit you better. We will even increase your benefits as a compensation for the harsh treatment you might have received so if you could follow me back to the Auxiliary Association we could sort it out momentarily."

It was obvious, even to Leon, that this Baxter person didn't really care about him, nor any other trainees for that matter, and that he was acting on some personal grudge he had against Mackenzie. Unfortunately Leon didn't know what that grudge was but that didn't really matter to him. He wanted to make amends with Mackenzie, so he tried to scoop up any clues about Baxter from her face, but all he could see was a fiery look in her eyes.

'One problem at a time' He sighed and first addressed Baxter:

"Mr. Baxter, I presume, thank you for your kind offer. I consider myself a generous person therefore I feel inclined to give Miss Mortimer another chance to do her job according to regulations. If things really don't work out with her, I will immediately seek you out at the Association."

Leon treated him as he would a nit-picky health inspector in a restaurant. He had a lot of experience with those kinds of people before his retirement.

Baxter who considered himself above others due to his position at the Association, felt pleased with the way Leon addressed him. Feeling that his mission was accomplished, he reminded Leon to reach out to him if there were any problems and promptly excused himself.

Mackenzie on the other hand was fuming, what stopped her from breaking Baxter's neck was nothing short of a miracle. She was in fact a stickler for the rules and regulations, and all those incidents occurred when her trainees didn't abide by them. That's when her aggressive personality would kick in, and all hell would break loose. Trainees would then leave for a different position or Association altogether, which brought Baxter's nagging on her back.

But Leon was different. He kept calm no matter how much she lashed out. It seemed as if nothing could anger him whatsoever.

He wasn't the same as her previous trainees, who were just assigned to her by the Association. She formed some connections with them, sure, but none of those were based on someone's trust in her and a plea for help. Not to mention Leon's unusual circumstances with Karmic points, skills and 'cleansing'. She genuinely wanted to help him, for him, not just for the greater good of the Earth realm.

Finally, she turned her angry gaze from Baxter's back towards Leon who was just waiting for the opportunity:

"Mackenzie, sorry for what I just said, I just thought that Baxter bothered you and wanted to get rid of him, I have no desire to find a new trainer or anything like that..." He began, but she stopped him right away:

"It is fine, really, you have nothing to worry about. This is one of those things that concerns me, and me alone. In fact, I should be the one apologizing to you for the way I interrogated you earlier. I was wrong to pry about your system information no matter how unusual it is."

Leon finally felt like the tension had diminished and that they sorted the 'small misunderstanding' when another familiar voice came from behind him:

"Mack, and you, keep it quiet, and finish this talk later at your discretion, when there are no hundreds of people listening to you."

Lesedi was the one that showed up, picking up the clothes Leon dropped on the floor when Mackenzie pushed him. She pulled Leon aside, and gave him the clothes telling him to return to the Auxiliary Association after he's done with the shopping. Then she grabbed Mackenzie's hand, and with a serious face whispered something in her ear, then stormed out of the shop pulling her away, leaving Leon alone.

It was then that the consequences of their previous actions kicked Leon. He just became aware of all the people, staring at him. Most of them did not look favorably upon him because of all the commotion Baxter, Mackenzie and him caused.

He scratched his head, and returned to the line in front of the cashier. It was time to figure out how the 'trade' function of the system worked, which was not easy under scrutiny.

When it was his turn, the cashier that was kind towards the previous customers only blankly told him:

"Your bill is 482 karmic points."

The system screen popped out in front of Leon where he entered the correct amount and agreed to the trade. In just a few seconds the clothes appeared in his inventory, with system confirming the trade and logging it in.

After he was done, he left the shop, heading straight back.

The entire time, despite all the stares, nobody said a word to him.