Conflict

More than 20 minutes had passed when Nana noticed the boy move. "Haaahh..!! It feels better." Ryu stretched his limbs while keeping the woman seated in his lap. Nana had rained down on her embarrassment, allowing her to face the boy with relative confidence.

"Thanks, Nana!" He brought his head closer to her face and pecked on her cheeks. "Who is Nana, you brat? Call me mistress!" Ryu's hands circled and locked themselves around her belly while he kissed all over her fair shoulders.

"Chief really lucked out with you, Nana. I am sure there might only be a handful of women more beautiful in even the capital." She was constantly annoyed by his reference to her name. "Huh.. what do you know, kid? I am the best out there hmph..!!"

"Haha.. isn't that too narcissistic to believe that?" "And who decides that? A frog in well?" Ryu didn't know it, but she wasn't far off from the truth. There were not many ladies who could trump Nana in beauty.

"Well then? If you are feeling better then why not tell me what caused you to be so out of touch?" Ryu chuckled. He truly had too much going on right now. In all fairness he didn't have many interactions with James, so he didn't feel any sense of loss, whereas Ruby was a different matter altogether. He barely slept last night because the girl would break into fits of sobs in the middle of the night, multiple times.

What sobered his mood even further was the deaths that took place with his very hands. Each one of them was gruesome, to say the least. Humans were not supposed to kill like that, not even their worst enemies. The demon might have his fun with the unfortunate souls, but the process left his mind scarred.

"There is nothing wrong with me. I was just worried about my sis, that's all." Nana kept staring in his eyes, unblinking. "You are still keeping something from me." The boy cracked up, not understanding where she was coming from at all. "Huh.. don't underestimate a woman's intuition. Go on, speak up. You are a decade too young to hold important matters in your heart."

The genuine concern in her eyes warmed his heart. "Tell me, Nana. How many people did you kill up until now?" She was taken aback by this strange question, regardless she answered truthfully. "A bunch, in my younger years. Didn't see any action, since I married Eric."

"Then how did you cope with that?" Nana had a befuddled expression like he asked something stupid. "What's there to cope with? I never killed an innocent guy. Those who died under my palm always deserved to die."

For a moment, Ryu was left speechless by the spontaneity of her answer. There was no hesitation in her mind. But thinking about it more, both of them had a very different upbringing with different fundamentals. As Emily said, this was his way of life now. "You only need to make sure, that your hands don't snuff out an innocent life. Apart from that in most of those situations it was killed or be killed for me. Hence it was simply a no-brainer what I would choose."

She was right in all aspects. It might take him some time to come out of this gloominess, but the fact of the matter and was he needs to be ready to kill. Others might not hesitate to do the same.

Nana was not so naive to not discern his circumstances even after all this. "Haha.. what a crybaby. One kill made you this disturbed? Let me tell you, kid. The path to your greatness will be marked by the graves of your enemies. You can choose to walk that path or live the rest of your life in mediocrity, there is no third option."

Her words were as blunt as they can get. Confident in the boy that he would never harm a righteous person, she didn't even bother to ask about who he killed. "Despite your large chest, you too can speak some sense at times." His words got himself a ruthless bite on his neck.

"Aghhhh..!!" Both of them fell back in the bed, rolling over each other. It took them some time to settle in each other's arms. "Huh.. these days it feels like I got four kids to take care of." Nana retorted in fake exasperation.

Ryu played with her boobs, fondling them in shapes. Pulling her nipples up, he took them in his mouth, gently chewing the beads. "Mhhh..!" Nana didn't put up any resistance, as thick milk flowed through her sensitive nipples right in the boy's mouth.

***

Many miles away from Korua, around 20 steeds darted through the rough terrain, carrying men and women on their backs. The man in the front had a frustrated expression. "I can't believe it. At least Greg should have been responsible enough to inform us." He gritted his teeth, speaking to no one in particular.

Right next to him a lady urged her mount to travel at the same speed as the man. "Don't worry brother, Zeke. I am sure the young master must have forced his hands. He is just a kid, we can't expect him to play by the rules each time hehe... Also, you can rest easy, brother Greg is practically unbeatable, if anyone can keep little Stein safe apart from master, then it's definitely him."

She saw the expression on the man's face ease up and continued. "Like we picked up from those bar owners, he must have grown curious about the grand mages. It's only a day-long ride from here to the town of Korua. If the young master didn't leave that town already, then we can surely catch up to him before the break of the next dawn."

Her brother Zeke nodded in response, not saying anything. However, all this while his gaze never left the bouncing jug on her chest. Once he tracked that brat, he was totally going to enjoy this younger sister of his. His gaze was unrestrained and the woman too seductive pulled her tits together, displaying her curves.

'Damn you brat..!' Had it not been for the missing puppy of his master, he would have been enjoying his day in the arms of this enchanting woman. "Hmm?" He observed a frown on the lady's face at once. Following her sight, he surveyed the reason for her surprise.

A few miles ahead of them, there was another cavalry marching in the same direction, albeit at a relatively slow speed. As they approached the marching contingent, Zeke can tell that this formation didn't belong to an ordinary house of their Empire.

The steeds in their formation were each more than 7 feet tall with muscular builds. This breed of horses boasted great stamina and was usually only used for long-distance travels. What attracted their attention was a large cart being drawn by four horses together, surrounded by guards from all sides.

Zeke can speculate that this group probably belonged to a prominent noble family from the capital. "Who are these guys, big brother?" The man shook his head, responding in negative. "Can't tell, but they sure look suspicious! Slow down."

At his command the horses behind him slowed down, carefully approaching the cavalry formation ahead. Zeke had a gut feeling that these people didn't belong to their country. Firstly, the direction from which they were approaching was quite odd. The capital was at a right angle from their path. Secondly, the group might try to hide it, but with how sophisticatedly their horses moved all in synchronization, he can tell that they did not belong to a noble family. Only royalty reared such high breeds.

'Huh.. you could have fooled any normal person. Too bad you crossed paths with this sire!' In the front of the carriage, Zeke found a large man leading the charge. Rocking his ride closer, his voice echoed out loud. "Halt!!" The lady beside him had directed the men behind them to completely surround the group.

In a matter of few minutes, the carriage as well as the guards surrounding it had come to a stop. Zeke's horse brought him to the leading man who had his face covered behind a full headgear. "You guys don't look to be from this place. Can you introduce yourselves?"

In response to his question, the man shifted his headgear to reveal a visage with thick facial hair. "Morning, mister. You must be kidding. We are just bringing our young master out for a hunting trip in the northwestern woods."

Zeke's made his steed circle around the man, surveying his extraordinary armor. "I think you didn't hear me correctly. Let me say it again then. Please introduce yourself, which family do you belong to."

Graham remained composed, they had done their homework on this matter. "Haha.. my bad. We are the elite guards of the Reiss family. The one inside the carriage is the heir of our family, Tristan Reiss." The identity they had assumed was not a fake one. They had this story ready just in case they were questioned by any patrol guards in this foreign land.

"Ohh... So it's young master Tristan. My bad then, anyhow how come you guys are approaching the forest from such a strange angle?" Graham was an experienced man, he answered every question without even a slight frown on his face. Zeke's questions kept coming and so did his answers.

Inside the carriage, there was a partitioned bath area included. Behind the wall, there was a full-size tub with a man in it. The serene environment inside would have caused even the most veterans to vomit their guts out. The reason being the content of the bathing tub. There was no water in it. Rather it was filled with a red liquid, very similar to blood.

The man had his eyes closed, soaking inside the liquid when his ears picked up the conversation between Graham and Zeke. It's been more than 5 minutes since they had come to a stop and Dennis can make out some frustration in his lead guard's voice, after being continuously nagged by the man. He nonchalantly got up from this tub, rising to his feet. Picking up the towel he dried himself before stepping out.

"You are making things difficult for us, mister. I told you already, young master Tristan is resting. We can't disturb him, just because you have some 'suspicions' about our identity." "Come on, I just want to meet the young master once. Who in the entire capital has not heard of the child prodigy? You can fulfill such a small request now, can you?"

Graham shook his head as he picked up the golden seal from Zeke's hands. "Pardon me, mister but I have a hunch that you are just messing with us. If our family seal can't garner your confidence in us then I don't think coming face to face with our young master, will either. Now if you can excuse us, we need to be on our way."

Graham tried to urge his horse forward, only to be blocked by Zeke's rode once again. "Hehe.. don't be so harsh. It will be hard for you to leave from here unless we get to see the young master today." He had a cunning smile on his face as his gaze swept over his riders.

"If you remain overly stubborn, then... please don't blame us..." Zeke's smile grew as he watched Graham's hands reach out to his sword. He knew these guys were faking it from the start. There was no loophole in their story. Yet, that was the issue. They were too perfect. Like he knew what he had to answer at each juncture of his questioning.

His hands too reached out to his belt when the door to the carriage opened suddenly, surprising both opponents. "Haha... there is no need to resort to violence. I am here, ain't I?" Zeke found a man in his early twenties stepping down from the steps of his carriage. As expected, this was no young master Tristan. Who didn't know that the young prodigy was barely 17 years old?