Somewhere deep in a mountain cave…
"Hahaha!"
Azazel stood up abruptly.
"Brat, the day I saved your sorry self, you kept blabbering about your family, Caterina, Grandpa Zu, so many names."
"I guess that's what people do when they're near death." Azazel added.
"Huh? If that's the case, then why did you sacrifice your two aides for me?" Edwin didn't buy the old man's explanation.
"Filthy human, just be glad my brothers died for you," Kelo snapped. "What's the point of even asking?"
"Brat, I only thought it would be fun to save a poor little soul. Nothing more." Azazel chuckled.
"..." Kelo opened her mouth to retort but held herself back. Her brothers had died saving Edwin. She was still hurting.
"Master!" Azazel suddenly coughed violently. Blood stained his hand.
"I just need a little rest," he said, moving past the logs.
"Huh?" He staggered. "Brat!"
"Human, you're so weak. You can't even control your own power," Kelo scolded.
"What are you waiting for? Help Master to his room." Edwin stepped forward and supported Azazel.
After they reached the bed, Edwin asked Kelo, "What's wrong with him?"
"It's nothing of your concern, human. Master is just old."
"Fifthy human, In that basket, check for the bottle with green liquid," Kelo guided.
Edwin knelt beside the woven bamboo basket and found several of them.
"Master wasted his higher-level potion on a human. Now he has to take this low-level medicine." Kelo scolded Edwin.
---
At the shrine…
Shaman Zu sat on a bamboo chair, basking in the setting sun.
"Old man, I already told you, I will take care of things here." A middle-aged man emerged from the shrine with Mama Valentina.
"Look at you. Your health is not good. You must go and rest."
"Owa, it isn't that I don't trust your care. How could I not? The shrine was well looked after when I was away for several years. How can I not trust it in your hands again?" He coughed. "It's just…"
"It has already been two days since my great-grandson went missing."
"I'm just waiting for my great-grandson. You know he is the only…" He coughed again. "I'm sure he is not dead. I believe in the Venerable's protection." Regretful words spilled from Shaman Zu's mouth. Tears burned behind his eyes as old memories flashed before him.
"Father, as a child I worked hard to prove myself to you. I did everything a son would do to please his father. I worked hard to better myself."
A young man moved into the corner, carrying his crying baby.
"You refused to recognize my hard work. You refused to recognize my ambitions. I had done everything I could."
"What hurts me the most is that you denied me the support I needed with your ugly old mindset. From that day, Father, you took the opportunity to succeed in life from me. I wouldn't be in the slums."
"I don't want you near my family from here on. I will be the father you never were to my child." The young man pointed at the middle-aged Zu, ordering him to leave.
"Grandpa!" Shaman Zu was snapped back to reality by Mama Valentina. The title of "master" was reserved for only one person: Edwin. He was the one with the right to it after his father's death.
A young guard from the trading post climbed the stone staircase.
"Young man, how can I help you? What news does Elder Routh have for me?" Shaman Zu asked. Elder Routh was the head of Amala Trading Post. He was the one who had commissioned Rafael for the search and rescue mission. Rafael worked at the trading post under the Seeker Commission Board. If current Edwin were here, he would have called it an adventurer's guild, a popular anime set-up.
"Greetings, Shaman Zu." The guard bowed.
"Three pieces of news exactly." He straightened. "We managed to find traces of Edwin and the other person we believe to be the assassin."
Mama Valentina and Owa looked, their eyes widened with anticipation.
"Then where is my great-grandson?" His voice was calm. He was masking his anxiety well.
"The second news: the traces seem to vanish." The guard's eyes were on the old shaman.
"What do you mean?" Mama Valentina asked.
"Tell me the last news already." Shaman Zu quickly asked, ignoring the second news.
"One of the seekers sent to trace Edwin was killed in the operation."
"What?" Owa was shaken.
"They were attacked by a maledict, a fish-otter, to be specific," the guard continued.
"What about Zara? Tell me?" Everyone was selfish in this matter. Shaman Zu cared most about his own. Zara was his official disciple; he treated him as he did Edwin.
"He is receiving treatment at the medical post. He should be grateful; the fish-otter had already made its kill before attacking the rest of the crew."
"Praise the Venerable," Mama Valentina muttered.
"By the way, it looks like the fish-otter was just toying with them after it made its kill. They were too foolish to attack."
There was an unspoken rule: fish-otters only made a single kill for their meal. If a crew of weaker seekers or commoners faced one, they would either sacrifice a member or let it choose.
"Which crew member is dead? Don't tell me it's the newly awakened?" Owa inquired.
"It's the old lady from Kona, Lady Falo."
She had been sent with Molai and Galor to help in the search-and-rescue operation.
This was also Kona's leader showing his side in the internal conflict among elders. Edwin was affiliated with Shaman Zu, Thaine's old teacher, and soon to be in-law.
It was a huge blow to Kona. They had just lost a Kindled Seeker, an asset acquired only after many sacrifices.
---
Inside a residence located at the Luba Settlements…
A whip cracked across the back of a fourty-year-old. He coughed blood, spitting sticky red saliva onto the floor. The metallic smell lingered.
"What an embarrassment of a child." A gray-haired old man with a matching trimmed beard and huge build stood shirtless, muscles bulging as he whipped his son.
"You dared let those snakes of elders manipulate you into using my grandson to murder a fellow citizen of Amala!" The old fifty-eight-year old man was furious.
Another lash landed. The man's clothes tore, his flesh fusing with the ripped silk. He dared not utter a word. He groaned, enduring the pain.
"What wrong did I do to deserve a useless dog like you as a child?" The towering old man whipped again. Fresh blood sprayed.
"If you were a woman, I would have married you off to the ruling family or a noble family from another village. At least you would have been useful."
He whipped again and again. "The only important thing you have done is bringing my grandson into this world."
"It would have been better if you were the last born. Look at your sister. She has done nothing but bring me honor. I wish she were a male."
"Sometimes I wonder if a dog like you is really my child."
"Grandpa! Please stop!" William crawled in and bowed his head to the floor. "Let Father off. It was not his fault."
"You…" The old man's voice softened. "Oh, my lovely grandson." Another lash sank into the man's back, knocking him unconscious.
"If Grandpa doesn't discipline this idiot, Grandpa will be a laughing stock among the elders. How can I let my own child bring ruin to the Holswell family?"
Old Man Holswell had become the village elder at age twelve after the sudden death of his father. The council of elders had people in their sixties and seventies, but Old Man Holswell had been there with their grandfathers and fathers.
He was the second most powerful man in the village after Thaine.