Familiar faces.

It was only for a brief moment, but Collin could have sworn that he saw Gergory Tyler in the group of Demars clan youth. Gergory Tyler, who was supposed to have killed himself after being thrown away by his family after failing to become a talent. And whose brother became a devil worshiper and massacred his entire family after he was thrown away by his family after also failing to become a talent.

As he stared at the Demars clan youths getting further and further away he had the urge to run after them and confirm what he saw but couldn't. If he tried, he would most likely be considered a threat to the Demars clan and killed by their guards.

As the group disappeared from the market, Collins mind was still racing as it was trying to piece together the clues it had about the odd things that Collin had noticed. The books in the library of the Tyler family villa, it would make sense for them to be there if the Tyler family was working for the Demars clan. It would also make sense to him why the Tyler family was trying to become a cultivator clan, but he felt there was still something missing.

The only thing that was still puzzling him was why the Demars clan would bother to help raise the Tyler family to the level of a cultivation clan. There was a vast difference in the social status of the two, with the Demars clan standing far above the Tyler family in all but one regard. The Tyler family was Imperially recognized and the Demars clan was not.

The Demars clan started as a normal family in a foreign empire before, finally becoming a cultivator clan after many years. At the height of their power, they started a conflict with another cultivator clan for control of certain resources, only to find that clan was allied with several other clans. Under the attacks of the combined clans the Demars clan quickly reached a point where they had to make a choice: abandon their territories and holdings to survive or be annihilated.

After a decade of wondering around the Ormsa Empire, they settled in Camis city and became a slight annoyance to the Monten clan. Around three hundred years later they are still an annoyance but have grown to the point that they could be considered a rival clan.

Every child of the Monten clan hears this story growing up, as a once proud member of the Monten clan Collin enjoyed listening about the Demars clan's miserable experiences. He also enjoyed the fact that as a clan that wasn't imperially recognized, the Demars clan had limits to how powerful they could grow and what businesses and resources they could control.

The limits placed on the Demars clan would eventually be removed with time, but unfortunately for the Demars clan the Brune Empire they originally came from, and the Ormsa Empire have had very strained relations for the past hundred years or so, making it unlikely those limits would be ending anytime soon.

The only way to change their circumstances would be a personal recommendation from the territorial lord, but that wasn't going to happen given the current relationship between the two clans.

'It would be easier to change the territorial lord than to get the Monten clan to recommend the Demars clan.'

It was a sarcastic thought popped into Collin's mind, but the more he thought about it, the more it made some sense. But there were still things that didn't make sense, like if they were trying to replace his father as the territorial lord, they would need to make sure both he and his younger brother were talentless and kill his father.

Since Collin had been deemed talentless, his brother still had a good chance to succeed in being a talent, adding to the fact that his parents still had several hundred years to produce an heir that would be a talent. The only way around that would be to make sure that both current children couldn't inherit the title and assassinate his father, a powerful Nascent Soul rank cultivator.

It wasn't easy to kill Nascent Soul cultivators, and as a territorial lord Collins father never went anywhere outside the clan compound without a large contingent of guards.

Collin decided to give up on thinking about this, he was sure that he was still missing clues that would make everything clear, and the frustrating feeling of being so close to the truth but still not getting it wasn't something he liked.

Collin decided to begin shopping again, but as he made his way through the crowd, he would look around for anyone that looked familiar or anything that seemed odd. Soon he made his way to a stall that sold flying treasures, after looking at all the treasures they had available, he decided to buy one.

It was a twenty-foot-long Jon boat style flying treasure. Collin got a discount on the treasure because it was meant to be a troop transport flying treasure with a dozen seats along the outer hull of each side of the boat. He was looking forward to flying his new treasure around the buildings of his villa, even if it would only be several feet off the ground and nowhere near its full speed.

Collin had just bought several pieces of spirit ore and several other items from a stall, when, for the second in a day he spotted someone he knew in the crowd. It was one of his cousins, Julie Monten. The last time he saw her was just days before his talent test, instead of the fancy dresses that he was used to seeing her in, she was wearing course linen sleeveless shirt and pants just like Collin wore after he was living in that drafty shack at the back of the clan compound.

She wasn't hard for Collin to spot, everyone around her distanced themselves from her. She seemed to be trying to haggle with a stall vendor, but he was ignoring her. Collin couldn't blame the vendor for his actions, Julie looked like a dirty homeless person that didn't have any money. It didn't take long for her to become frustrated with being ignored and left the stall and head back to the clan compound.

Seeing her leave Collin decided to go after her, as soon as he got past the crowds, he used his movement technique to appear a dozen feet in front of her.

"Hello Jules, it's been a while since I last saw you, let's have a talk down that alley." Nodding his head to the alley to his right before he started walking there.

When Collin appeared in front of her, she was confused about why a faceless servant had just appeared, but when she heard Collins voice, she was shocked. He had disappeared from the clan compound a couple of months before she was tested and cast out, and now he had showed up in front of her wanting to talk.

When she caught up to Collin in the alley, he removed his mask for the first time since he moved into his villa. Collin smiled at the look of disbelief on her face.

"It's nice to see you cousin, although the last time we saw each other was under far better circumstances." He could see the look of disbelief on her face had changed to one of disgust at his mocking tone, he continued to speak before she could yell at him.

"I want to know how many of our cousins are still living in those shacks with you."

"Two, the twins Valter and Viktor. They didn't come to the trade because they didn't think anyone would sell us anything." She said with a tinge of disappointment in her voice.

"What about the others?"

"They left to work on a farm. The devil worshipers killed a bunch of farmers, and the clan ordered them to fill in till the end of the summer harvest. They won't be back for at least two months." She said

"Return to the compound and come here tomorrow with them. I'll make you three an offer, even if you say no to my offer, I'll make sure you three have a good meal."

After saying "Okay, I will.", she left the alley and headed towards the clan compound. After a minute of standing in the alley Collin put his mask on and headed back to the trade fair.