Alicia stared at the offered hand for a moment before taking Zhen Liu up on the proposed handshake.
"Alicia. Alicia Seanno Goldshire," she said in a polite yet slightly tired tone. Vomiting takes a lot out of a person.
"Nice to meet you Ali-wait...Goldshire...Are you related to Alexander Goldshire? The auction master?," Zhen Liu asked after breaking off the handshake.
Back when Thomas was readjusting to being the new Zhen Liu, he took it upon himself to memorize the names and details of the people that made up his new life's social circle.
It didn't take too long though; Zhen Liu's social circle was kinda small.
Aside from his clansmen, parents and two younger siblings, Zhen Liu didn't know many other people on a personal level.
In terms of people around his age, there was a childhood friend of his because of course there was a childhood friend, but other than that...nada.
However, there was one figure that stood out in his memories: a friend of his father's, Alexander Dominick Goldshire.
Back when Zhen Liu's father, Zhen Yan, was a young master and was making his own way in the path of cultivation, he and Alexander ran into each other when they were both hunting the same aether beast. The two of them initially butted heads over who would claim the right over the beast, but quickly called that off once they learned they wanted completely different parts from it.
The two of them proceeded to set aside their differences and agreed to hunt the beast down together. While there was some issues involving some opportunistic bandits and an uppity young master from another clan, needless to say they lived to tell the tale and got some trophies for their troubles.
Alexander and Zhen Yan continued to have a couple more adventures together until eventually having to split off on their own paths of life. Zhen Liu's father had to take up his duty as one of the elders of the Zhen Clan proper, while Alexander ended up establishing the Golden Clover Auction House and Goldshire Family.
This bond between Zhen Yan and Alexander would prove useful to the Zhen Clan, with them getting sweetheart deals and first dibs on any rare goods that would come through the auction house.
"Yes," Alicia nodded hesitantly, "He's my father. Why?"
Alicia was a bit suspicious of Zhen Liu's sudden question, but decided to write it off on the account of him saving her from the Bloody Boilers. The demonic warrior being attached to his wrist also helped.
"Oh crap, small world," Zhen Liu said in surprise, "Uh, my dad is friends with yours."
"He is?"
"Yeah, ever heard of the Zhen Clan? Zhen Yan?"
"Zhen Clan? Uncle Yan?," Alicia said in a shocked tone.The gears in her head began to turn as she began to connect the dots on the relation between Zhen Liu and Zhen Yan.
"Wait...then that means you...you're the fourth young master?," Alicia asked in a mildly strained yet surprised tone.
"Yeah! ...why do you look so shocked?"
Zhen Liu expected Alicia not knowing how he looked, his dad and her dad may have occasionally hung out in the past and have dealings with one another every now and then in relation to Clan-Auction business, but neither Zhen Liu nor Alicia were a part of those interactions.
Up until his recent death and "rebirth", Zhen Liu was preoccupied with his handicapped status. Alicia on the other hand was the young mistress for a mid-tier family. Zhen Liu wasn't sure what her responsibilities were exactly, but he could make a few guesses based on his own family.
Alicia went silent as she began to move her head side to side. Zhen Liu picked up the feeling that she was mulling over something that was rather uncomfortable for her to explain.
Moments later, Alicia made a decisive nod and proceeded to pull out a scroll tied with a twine string that was on her person. She handed the scroll to Zhen Liu.
"What's this?"
"Just...read it."
"Okay..."
Zhen Liu took the scroll, undid the little binding and unfurled it. The first thing he noticed was the Zhen Clan seal in the upper left hand corner of the scroll.
"A message from my clan? That's odd...," Zhen Liu commented before reading the message. As he read the message, the look on his face went from surprise to shock to anger in rapid succession.
What he read was a bit more flowery and poetic, but the following is a summary of it:
_________________________________________________
It is with sadness in our hearts that we, the Zhen Clan, cordially invite the Goldshire Family to attend the funeral of Zhen Liu, the Fourth Young Master of the Zhen Clan.
Come and join us as we celebrate his life and mourn his passing.
Date: XXXX
_________________________________________________
Zhen Liu read over the message scroll a few more times, unbelieving of what he was actually reading.
"This is an invitation...to my funeral?!," he exclaimed.
Alicia just awkwardly nodded at Zhen Liu's outburst. She couldn't imagine the emotional turmoil that one would undergo when they see an invitation to their own funeral.
"This is crap! I am clearly not dead and I've only been out here for about a-wait a minute."
Zhen Liu was about to go on an angry rant about how his Clan sucked and that they were totally unjustified in writing him off as dead, until he remembered one very important detail.
"I have been missing for about a month, and the last anyone heard of me was going out to explore a wandering ruins...no wonder they think I'm dead," Zhen Liu muttered and hissed.
Remembering his manners, Zhen Liu rolled the scroll back up and handed it back to Alicia. He still looked pretty upset though.
"You okay?"
"Well my family thinks I'm dead," Zhen Liu said in exasperation, "So I'm mildly pissed at that."
He began to pace about the area, trying to think of his next move. Once he came to a decision, he immediately stopped pacing and let out a breath he had been holding this whole time.
"Okay, guess it's time for me to head home. But first..."
Zhen Liu made his way over to one of the Bloody Boilers he had defeated earlier and began rummaging through his body until he found an empty, somewhat bloodstained bag.
"Of course the creepy murder rape bandits have bloodied bags," Zhen Liu muttered to himself. Bag in hand, Zhen Liu made his way over to Fergus' severed head.