Unexpected side
"Where's mom?" I ask my father.
"Sleeping, in the office. I will call you when she wakes up."
...
We walk into the dining room. "Lunch is almost ready. The maids will call for you when it is ready, for now... Do whatever you want. I need to go check up on the knights." Says my father.
"Knights?"
"I know you are astonished by the sudden change, your mother will explain everything later on."
And my father quickly left the mansion.
I was left in an awkward atmosphere with a maid sweeping.
"Uh...Hi, I'm Loi." I say.
"H-Hello, I am Nina. U-Uhm..."
...
"Is it true that you got rid of that fat pervert?" Says Nina.
"Yes, he won't bother any of you anymore. Don't worry."
Nina smiles. "T-Thank you."
She immediately walks out of the room...
Now that her back is facing me, I can see her features clearer. Brown braided hair over her shoulder with emerald eyes and quite a chubby physique.
...
I sat down on the chair in the dining room, alone.
I notice that there's something wrong with my body. I can't seem to control my power when I fight. For example, I frequently obliterate monsters into pieces when I use mana. In the end, I have to rely on pure swordsmanship.
And I think I know why.
My cultivation base has exponentially increased and my body isn't able to keep up. I will need some physical cultivation myself to help my body.
Not to mention, Akira's sudden commencement of a future event. Why did he do that? He was supposed to be keeping a low profile for 5 more years before taking any action.
Is it me?
...
I got up and walk to the garden at the back of the mansion. A maid is playing with Christina.
Christina waves at me when she sees me.
!
The maid got up and bowed to me.
"Eh? Sister, are you leaving?" Says Christina.
"Sorry, your brother is here." The maid says.
"Do brother not allow you to be here!? Why?"
"What? Who said I don't allow her to be here." I can hear it even though I am far away.
The maid glares at me.
"... Alright I will stay."
An extraordinary amount of hatred for me. No, probably for every man. What she has gone through is inhumane after all.
"Christina, do you want to cultivate? I have a new technique to teach you." I say.
"Eh?! Really? Will it make me feel smooth and calm?"
"Maybe? Want to give it a try?" I say.
"Okay!"
...
"Uhm, want to join us?" I say to the maid.
"Your sister asked me to join, I don't have a choice."
Sure...
I don't sense any mana in her. She's someone who has never cultivated in her life.
I teach Christina the Hand of Divinity and the maid how to feel mana in the air.
After a while, both of them are sent into a meditative state. I sigh. I write a note and place it beside the maid, telling her I am going out to practise. Come to think of it, I don't know her name. She has a unique hair colour, Pink, with red eyes.
...
I left the mansion to go to a nearby mountain behind the mansion. This area has a mini waterfall from a stream of rivers.
One way to cultivate physically is by enduring excruciating pain from extreme conditions such that the body becomes reformed using Life Essence.
The first stage of physical cultivation is reforming the muscles, the outer layer and one of the most important things of our body.
I take a deep breath and take off my top before entering the waterfall.
!!
This... I'm having trouble even standing up. I attempt to sit down but the weight of the water forces me to lay on the rocks.
Argh!! Fuck!!
I circulate the qi inside my body to help me resist the force and get into the lotus position.
It's cold and harsh. Every bit of water feels like a metal ball crashing into my body. I grit my teeth.
I need to endure this...
I stabilise my breathing and focus on using the impact to refine my muscle tissues. The impact can integrate the life essence into my muscles if I circulate it around the tissues. Life essence is the source of your soul, the source of your lifespan.
Although it may seem to be counterintuitive as enhancing your body can reduce your lifespan, however, the stronger you are, the more lifespan you get so it's a trade-off.
After around 1 hour. My body starts to glow as I open my eyes. The onslaught of water felt like three hammers slamming down on me.
"ARGH!"
I quickly get out of the waterfall.
Huff huff...
This...
My body feels relaxed despite the soreness and injury, I managed to refine a small part of the muscles.
Let's return. If I continue any further, I will put myself in danger.
-----------------
I return to find Christina playing by herself in the garden, the maid has disappeared.
"Ah, brother! Jinie said that your portion of lunch is under uhh... something." My sister closes her eyes and tries her best to rack her brain for the answer.
Is Jinie her name?
"Ah, it's okay I get it. So how was it? The technique."
"Amazing! It feels much better than just absorbing all the tingling balls from all corners of my body, I can't concentrate when I do that..." Says Christina.
"I see, I'm glad to hear that."
"Brother, also I heard something happened in the city so Jinie went out to scout for information."
"Something happened?"
-----------------------
One vendor is packing up and preparing to leave the town. It looks like he is never coming back with that anger on his face.
I walk to him. "Sir? What's wrong?"
"Hmm? How do you expect me to sell here? With all the rumours and restrictions, my business will fail!" He says.
"Rumours and restrictions?"
"Are you a traveller? The Azure family have released a rumour of merchants in Albion selling defective products that spread a virus around the world. Although they do not have any proof, their influence did their work for them. They are even preventing most travellers from entering Albion." The vendor says.
...
Lupus that bitch...
I went back home to see my mother walking into the kitchen.
"Mom!" I say.
She looks at me with the dark circles under her eyes. "Oh, Loi, you are back. Haha..."
I support her back to her office. She sighs as she takes a seat down.
"Mom, you are impressive, I didn't think you would have the capability to govern this well!" I say.
"... You are not questioning why?" She asks.
"If you do not want to share, I will not pry into it."
I only know about my mother's life after she married my father. Her life before that is a total mystery to me, even my father wouldn't say a single thing.
...
"When you are strong enough to protect yourself, I will tell you. For now, someone is trying to sabotage our economy."
I nod.
My mother clicks her tongue
"The Azure family... They have gone too far."
My mother stands up as she attempts to grab something from the shelf.
"Oh, I can help you, you can rest for now. You already did a very good job." I say.
"Sure... Your father has zero talent in governing so the only thing he can achieve is to help train the knights and improve our defence." My mother says as she ends with a yawn.
...
"Mom?"
"Hm?"
"Are you aware of that person?" I say. I throw my glance in the direction of a shadow beside the bookshelf. There's an expert hidden.
"Of course, don't worry about her." She says. "Help me send out an order of arrest: The azure family have tried to slander our reputation and we will be sending personnel to arrest and confiscate their properties."
My mother writes something and places it in a letter.
A woman completed masked and wrapped in a black cloth and robe, only exposing her eyes, walks out of the shadow and takes the letter.
My mother then smirks as she looks at me.
?
"Loi, for all those sneaking out and doing whatever you want, I can overlook your punishment if you help me with one thing." She says.
I gulp. "Yes?"
"Her name is Mi. Get along with her and go help me wreak havoc on the Azure family okay? Don't worry, I will take care of the aftermath, squeeze as much as possible you can from the Azure family. Preferably, resort to violence and take all of their treasure and money. We need those the most and it's giving me nights after nights of headache."
...
I throw a glance at the mysterious ninja. Her eyes exchange contact with me and stare at me, this is awkward.
"Alright..." I say in defeat. "So cost as much damage as possible to Azure and take all their money. But we will receive a backlash, do you have proof and evidence?" I say.
"Proof? Don't worry, I have 7 accounts of corruption in the Azure family in my possession. I can also forge evidence, leave everything to me and go wild." My mother says.
I nod. This side of mother...is cool.