Under the splendid sunlight, an old man sipped tea while overlooking the city. The room he was in had no walls, only pillars to hold up the ceiling. It was a good spot to catch a nice view and with his power, rain and snow could provide no trouble to him.
"Master, he's arrived."
Out of nowhere, a middle-aged man appeared from behind and bowed to him. This was the same man who gave Shui a letter on the night of the auction.
Once he heard the man's announcement, the old man, the mayor of Cyrus, laid down his tea.
"Allow him up."
Soon after, Shui, dressed like a carefree scholar, walked up the stairs and faced the old man.
"Pardon me for staying seated, I can't be up on these old knees too much."
"It's fine. I know how to be kind to my elders."
Shui sat down across from the old man and picked up a different cup that happened to be filled with warm tea. After one sip, Shui said, "Hmm, I like it."
"I'm glad." replied the old man.
Once he finished the cup, Shui put it down and looked at the mayor. Although he didn't give off an oppressing aura, Shui knew not to underestimate him.
"So, are planning on blaming me for killing the envoy from Silver City?"
The old man didn't respond immediately. Instead, he stared at Shui's face.
"Are you willing to surrender yourself?"
"No."
"Then, I didn't see anything."
"What about those that did?"
"I can't do anything to them. But I won't allow them to attack any innocents in my city."
The old man's words seemed to be too good to be true, but Shui could trust them.
"Why do you support me?"
"When you've lived for as long I have, you learn how to avoid trouble by knowing which side to stand on. I can tell that you're a man of virtue, and powerful as well. So I see no problem with befriending you."
"Hmm, as expected of the mayor of Cyrus."
"You may treat me as a friend and call me Henry."
"Well then, Henry. Since you've been so kind, why don't I give you some appreciation?"
Sensing that Shui had something special in mind, Henry raised an eyebrow.
Meanwhile, the younger siblings were in trouble again.
"You little brats! How dare you do this to my son when this young master and I are present! I must teach you three a lesson!"
With an aloof young man in colourful robes by his side, an older, sterner man was shouting at the three. Jacob, the stern man, had brought a famous disciple from a sect in Pemacreba and was showing him around the campus with his son. Shane said he needed to take a bathroom break and parted from them, but soon after his scream reached their ears.
Him actually being hurt wasn't part of the plan, but that didn't stop Jacob from rushing to the scene with the young man. There, he found his son with both legs broken and the three siblings standing over him. Sia thought it was odd when Shane came over and provoked them by himself, but with his father here she understood their plan. They were likely trying to kill them with the backing of this foreign person.
Putting aside the fact that both Jacob and the young man were stronger than them, there was also a party of men who wore colourful robes similar to the young man. Sia knew that this was their loss so she immediately took out an 'Alarm' talisman as well as a 'Protect' talisman. Jacob didn't recognize the talismans so he was late in stopping her. He didn't know that Shui had been alerted, so the only problem that he noticed was the barrier that appeared and protected them.
However, all Jacob had to do was take out a hammer from his storage ring and tap the barrier. That was all it took to shatter it.
"What?!" Sia exclaimed while her two big brothers went wide-eyed.
Jacob didn't expect her to have a barrier, but with his wealth of artifacts and peak Soul Realm power, it was easy to break this sort of barrier. Sia thought they would at least be able to hold out in this situation with what she had on hand, but that was easily proven wrong.
"It seems that was your only hope. Now then, hurry up and kneel and beg for forgiveness before we decide what to do with you." said Jacob.
He knew that the siblings wouldn't obediently listen to him, but he didn't care. No matter what secret plan he came up with to kill the siblings, there was always a chance that their secret knight would think he did something and harm his son. Even if he didn't do anything and they got hurt, that chance would still exist. Therefore, he planned on forcing him out and using the help of outside influences to deal with him in the academy. Though he might figure out that this was a trap, as long as Jacob captured the children to use as hostages, he was sure he wouldn't do anything drastic to Shane if he wanted to protect them.
'Now then, what will that knight do?'
As Jacob waited for Shui to appear, he was still sitting with the mayor while having a telepathic conversation with Lily. Now that they had undergone Alaste Percus, the bond between them was stronger than his bond with Cin, so they could also converse with each other like this.
Lily was the one who initiated this conversation because at the same time that Shui saw the line of energy from the academy, the receiver artifact that he left with her vibrated.
"Something's happening in the academy. I'll go over and deal with it," said Shui.
He thought that this was the obvious action to take, but Lily disagreed.
"No Master, you have too many enemies who know that you care about them, so it's likely a trap. Although I think you'll be fine, let me handle this. It is my family after all."
"But if they're really my enemies then they'll be strong. You might not be able to handle them."
"Indeed, with my personal strength it probably won't be enough. However, it would be my disgrace to let you take action first, especially with this new power that you've given me."
"Hmm, very well. I'll step in if it gets dangerous, so teach them what it means to mess with my people."
"Of course, Master."
Shui was still worried about Lily, but he decided to respect her wishes. He had no intention of being weak enough to need her protection, but he trusted her to protect those he would leave behind. Therefore, it was time to show off his most loyal vassal.