Zareth was slightly confused, but quickly made sense of the situation.
It seemed that the young man was spying on him from one of the rooftops.
Unfortunately for him, he was also a victim of Zareth's bloodlust and looked to have fallen from the roof.
Somehow, Zareth had failed to notice him. The young man must have known how to conceal his presence as well.
Still, that didn't matter, because he was visible now. Zareth slowly walked over to the young man with a heavy concentration of mana infused in his palm, enough mana to kill a man.
Zareth now had no other choice. The young man had seen his abilities. This information was too much for someone to live with, Zareth wasn't going to risk his chances of being caught.
As Zareth arrived just a couple of feet away from the young man's unconscious body, he slowly began to wake.
After scratching his eyes and blinking a couple of times to clear his vision, he saw Zareth standing above him.
Immediately, he pushed himself back with his feet.
"Wait! Wait! Stop! Please! I didn't mean anything by it! I'm just a huge fan of your par--" His frantic pleas were abruptly interrupted.
"If you're a fan of my parents, why are you spying on me?" Zareth said in a slightly raised voice with a hint of demanding anger.
"I-- I- I was just interested in the child of the Duo of Twisting Love! Please! Hear me out! I beg you!" The young man said as he flailed his hands up in the air, hoping to somehow block an inevitable attack.
Zareth didn't say any more. He clenched his teeth before throwing a powerful mana-infused palm toward the young man's chest.
"Stop!" A loud and powerful voice suddenly sounded from behind Zareth just before his palm reached the young man's chest, making his head ring slightly.
It seemed that the voice was somehow infused with mana.
Zareth immediately turned around once again to face the robed man, who was with this young man earlier, standing at the end of the alley.
'Damn! Now two people have seen my strength.' Zareth began to get slightly irritated.
'Scan.'
He used Scan on the robed man to see what he was going to have to deal with.
[Status]
Name: Yan Kaien
Species: Human
Bloodline: Kaien Family
Age: 33 Years
Combat Power: 22
Vitality: 100 Years
Health: 59.0/59.0
Stamina: 54.0/54.0
Strength: 47.0
Agility: 52.0
Defense: 43.0
Body: Maiden Steel Body
Rank: Earth Formation (60.23%)
MP: 45/45
-
'F*ck... this fight is going to be hard to keep hidden."
As Zareth thought of what to do next, the robed man suddenly fell to his knees before bowing down before him.
"Anything I or my disciple have done wrong, please find the heart to forgive us!" He loudly yelled.
Seeing this, Zareth decided to undo his mana palm. Thinking logically, this man was a merchant, not only that, he had an okay amount of cultivation without even being a cultivator.
This meant that he was most likely from the inner cities of the kingdom where cultivation, mana, and other such luxuries were more prominent.
Making a connection with him could only prove to be a benefit.
Still, the fact that he had seen Zareth's power was a large problem.
"I wish to hide my power from my parents, but your disciple here was spying on me, so he saw my power as well, and now, so have you."
Zareth plainly stated the current situation he was in. There was no point in hiding anything.
If both he and the merchant knew what situation Zareth was in, solving the problem would be much easier.
"I see, I greatly apologize on behalf of my disciple. However, I know of a solution." Yan said as he slowly stood back up.
He reached into his inner robe and grabbed a scroll-like thing.
"This here is a soul contract!" Yan shouted from the opposite side of the alley.
"If both Silio and I promise to never tell anyone of your secret, then this contract will make that to be so. If we were to ever try to break this contract, our souls would be destroyed instantly."
Upon hearing this, Zareth was slightly taken aback. To think that such a powerful item existed in this world was baffling.
"How do I know I can trust you?"
Yan paused for a moment before speaking.
"You have no way of truly knowing whether I am trustworthy... however, I can assure you that you have my word!"
After waiting a couple of seconds, Zareth nodded lightly, indicating for the man to slowly approach.
After getting close enough, Yan handed the soul contract to Zareth.
The scroll looked old and dirty, having unknown runes all over with a ritual circle drawn in the middle of it.
"So, how does it work?" Zareth questioned.
"It needs the blood of the users to bond the souls to the contract," Yan said before biting the tip of his thumb, allowing a single drop of blood to drop down onto the scroll.
Zareth did the same and then allowed the young man, Silio, to do so as well.
Finally, Zareth spoke the contract.
"The two of you will never speak of anything you saw, heard, or even imagined in the last hour."
On saying this, the scroll began to glow red, before slowly dissolving into mana in Zareth's hands as it was carried away into the atmosphere by the wind.
Silio let out a heavy sigh of relief as he stood back up.
"Thank you, sir," Yan said once more, slightly bowing, before going back to Silio and picking him up by the collar once again.
"You littl-- you will learn this time," Yan said, anger seemingly spewing through his clenched teeth as he began dragging Silio away.
"What do you mean by that!? Wait! An autograp--" Silio couldn't finish his sentence, as he suffered a quick chop to the back of the neck by Yan, knocking him unconscious once again.
As Yan turned the corner to leave, he spoke.
"Please, if you can, I would like for you to follow me."