Chapter 61: Homeschooling The Children

  Seeing that his student could weigh the gravity of the situation turned the old man's face red in anger, but he quickly shook his head and sighed, "Silly girl. You only read the contents of contract but not the type of beast and creatures. Now that you're back, make sure to read the second volume of the ancient creatures and monsters."

  "Got it..." Willow responded while hiding the fact that she had already finished a quarter of it.

  Seeing her dull reaction, the old man sighed again, "In this world, there are many fox creatures. The strongest being the nine-tail fox and the weakest being only one tail. However, there are more devious fox monsters in this world than there are those that serving serving celestials. What you have here are one of those that serve a celestials. They're very rare to come by, much less to form a contract with. So, hurry. Tell me how you were able to get one contracted under you."

  Willow thought for a bit before responding curiously, "A fruit sandwich?"

  A fruit sandwich? The old man stared coldly upon his student with a whack on the leg as she groaned with irritation, "It's really a fruit sandwich, Teacher."

  Seeing her like this, Akira was slightly pleased as he recalled the torturous times of running errands for her.

  Willow, knowing Aki's thoughts too well at this point, just sighed and responded, "Anyway, Teacher, is it possible for me to try and make an enchanted object like my gloves?"

  She was fairly proficient with arts and crafts, but it was nothing compared to the experts. Compared to them who've relied on this as their living, Willow only did so on occasions. Hence, she needed her teacher's take on it.

  Having heard her question, the old man sitting on the chair in the guest hall nodded with a sigh, "An object for the child?"

  Willow responded with a nod. The man grumbled in deep thought before tapping his cane. This time, Willow noticed something appeared into the palm of her teacher's outstretched palm. It was a thin gold bracelet. He tossed it into her hands without a warning as Willow struggled not to drop it. He could've given her a heads up!

  Curiously, Willow examined the plain old bracelet and saw that there was inscriptions on the interior side of it. She looked to her teacher with the cold bracelet in her hands. The teacher grumbled, "This is one of the trinkets my father made during his prime. Go ahead and use it for the child. My family have no use for it right now, anyway. It'll also be a while before my son needs it."

  "I see." Willow stared at it in thought before stuffing it into her pocket.

.....

  As it was early afternoon, Willow went ahead and made lunch. It hadn't been long before she returned to the apartment. She found Li Yan and Yang Wei studying from the workbooks she had bought from the book store in the market place. With the money she had looted from the dead in Beijing, she could help manage the place and their studies for a bit while the other half of the money was given to that group. As for the other things, Willow either sold them or sent them anonymously back to the family of the deceased.

  After having gone through all the things she needed to do, Willow went ahead and tried to teach the kids the other general education. With school currently put on hold, Willow sent Aki to help register the two back to school with little problems at first, till she realized that it wasn't as simple with school being out and everyone learning from online. So, Willow went ahead and homeschooled the kids.

  Teaching them math and English, it had all been fairly simple and easy for her, especially science. Their mother told her that she'll take over the history portion after she is well enough to leave her bed. The furnishing of the home was fairly simple as Willow's idea was just as long as they fulfill the simple needs. There weren't a lot of toys for the kids and she couldn't randomly use the money on other wants more than needs.

  As for Li Yan's first lesson, Willow had taught her and shown her brother how an array is formed and what activates it. It would be the first thing she can use to protect herself if Willow was not around with her. However, what troubled Willow the most is Li Yan's wide smile over her first array.

  It was almost as though she was possessed by the knowledge she obtained. With a frown, Willow knew that something had to be done for that. With this in mind, Willow brought out the bracelet entwined with silver and put it on the child's wrist as it shrank till it couldn't be pulled out easily over her hand.

  "What's this?" Li Yan asked curiously with great interest.

  "It's a bracelet to protect you." Willow responded, "When you're older and stronger, you can take it off. Not right now. No matter the reason, you can't take it off without my word. Do you hear me?"

  Li Yan nodded slowly, "I heard you, Big Sister."

  Willow smiled and patted her head, "Good girl."

  She then turned to the brother, "You need to watch over your sister too, you hear me, Yang Wei?"

  "I'll obviously do just that." The young boy responded with a laugh of confidence.

  Willow smirked and flicked his head, "Little show-off."

  She then watched the kids return to their math practice after that little break. With this, Willow returned to the small sofa where Belen was busy going through the map and some papers. He frowned after seeing what she'd shown the kids, "What was that bracelet? It felt a little off."

  Willow yawned, "Something I'm borrowing from my teacher. It'll keep her from using her ability till she's a little older. Otherwise, Serah and the others will come straight her sooner rather than later."

  "Then, what are you going to do now?" Belen asked, "You have to save those people."

  Willow nodded, "First, I'll have to stop the source of the problem. I've already placed a little barrier into the city on certain parts. They'll probably start fighting for it over time, but that doesn't matter. It probably won't be long before Serah finds out, but I have some stuff to play with her for a bit while I go back studying."

  "What exactly do you study and who taught you?" Belen responded with a raised brow as he studied her expression.

  Willow smirked, "Is that something I have to answer?"

  "Your bird told us that a demigod has been teaching you." Belen pointed out.

  Willow shrugged, "And for this reason, I have to tell you everything?"

  Belen was at a lose for words when he heard her blunt words. After a while, he frowned, "In this short time since we've met, I know you don't trust others easily. Which is why I want to know how you came to know this demigod enough to trust them."

  Not to mention, according to Harper, it hadn't been long before she started learning from them.

  Willow waved her hand lightly, "If I decided to learn from them, then it's my choice. Do you believe all demigods will just let their whereabouts be known to others?"

  The other demigod didn't respond. Instead, he thought quietly to himself. To him, Willow was a very wary demigod and is always cautious of everything around her. To him, the reason she was able to deduce the poisonous worm in the bodies of the victims was proof of how careful she was. How many would question what they consumed when they were always on the move?

  Only those who were rich enough could consume carefreely or those who are naive would consume recklessly.

  With this in thought, Belen knew Willow was neither. Despite telling him that she was up and about only a few months ago, she acted as though she had always been on the run for a very long time. He knew that it would be difficult for anyone to come to fool her.

  However, if she had only realized her bloodline a few months ago, how could she have known so much about medicine and such? Could it be this teacher of hers?

  Yet, he couldn't rebuke her words at all. With the current situation, more people will want to hide from Hade's faction. It was also unknown if the other gods have sided with the lord of the Underworld over the rest of the Heavens. Without being able to gain anything from her, Belen shook his head in defeat, "Then, do you know where we can get items to hide our abilities, like your gloves?"

  Willow raised a brow, "The gloves I wear are given to me by another source. It'd be best for you to find one yourself, but I'll tell you this. Don't go stealing from places you can't escape from. At best, you should go find another source like I did."

  "Another source?" Belen furrowed his brow as he placed his map back down, "So, find the person who made it?"

  Willow shrugged, "If you're lucky."

  Listening to her words, Belen nodded in understanding. After much thought, he finally began piecing together the information he got from her and opened his mouth, "Could the source you got your gloves from also be your teacher?"

  Despite hitting the nail on the head, Willow smirked, "Is it?"

  Belen sighed. He was growing weary of always beating around the bush and having heard her answer only drew much questions than answers. At least, he now know how she came across her teacher.

  "How long has it been since you've started living as a demigod?" He looked to her in confusion as another question came to his mind. He must've reconfirm this.

  "A few months ago." Willow responded, "Shortly after the new years."

  "After new years was around the time after Elijah was brought down." Belen frowned. Meaning this girl has been living like this for a very long time.

  Thinking this, Belen wanted to ask more but got interrupted by Yang Wei who came to ask him for help with English.

  Taking advantage of this chance, Willow got up and left the place after having finished lunch with them on the coffee table.