Read Reincarnated as an Energy with a System Chapter 401 - Dinner online for free - AllNovelFull
Chapter 401 – Dinner
"So, that device checks people's ability to passively gather Aether?" Ning asked confusedly after learning what the device did from the system.
According to it, the device was made up of a crystal that was highly concentrated with Aether. The white light was already in the crystal, but it was veiled behind the thick Aether.
Normally, it would remain that way, but when someone that could passively gather Aether placed their hands on it, the Aether in it drifted towards the surface of the crystal and the light would shine, letting the people know.
The device was an ingenious mechanism, but Ning still couldn't see the purpose behind it at all. "Why would it matter if someone can gather Aether passively or not? It's always the absorption skills that will help them the most anyway," he thought.
He thought what the middle-aged man did was useless and left the compound without any more thought.
The day was slowly coming to an end as well, so he decided to go check on the Golden Flour to make sure everything was fine there.
It took him no more than 15 minutes to get there, and when he did, he could see that it was open with few people walking in and out.
The place still seemed lacking in customers compared to the first time he was there, but there were at least people starting to return there.
He walked in and saw only Reever staying by the table at the side.
"Hey, brother Reever. I hope everything has been well?" Ning asked.
Reever looked up with surprise. "Brother Ning? Where were you? I tried to find you so much today," he said.
"I was out wandering the city. Did you need something from me?" he asked.
"I, we wanted to thank you, brother Ning. I don't know how you managed to do it, but thanks to you, this bakery's name has been cleaned again," Reever said.
"Oh, you got things sorted out already huh? That was fast," Ning said. "Also, you don't really need to worry about thanking me. I did it cuz you guys are my friends now."
"No, please let us thank you properly, brother Ning. Tell me if there is anything you want. If I can get it for you, I will," Reever said.
"Hmm, well I don't really need anything… but, if you do want to do something, then treat me to dinner. How about that? You can consider us on equal terms after that if that's what your heart desires," Ning said.
"A dinner, huh? Deal. I will get Lisa to make the best meal she can prepare today," Reever said.
"I will look forward to it then," Ning said with a smile. "Alright, tell me. What happened with the other guys? Did you get money or something?"
"Yes, we got the monetary settlement, and so did the theater group. Both the bakery and the mill had to pay us both," Reever said.
"I hope it's a handsome sum for the trouble you guys went through," Ning said.
"It's alright. I might have asked for more, but Lisa would be mad if she found out how much I took, so I settled for a little less," Reever said.
"Well, as long as it works for you guys," Ning said.
"I mean, we still lose in the end. The theater decided to end their business with us in fear of something like this happening again. The public opinion on the bakery has already shifted and it will be hard to bring it back to the same way it was too. Sigh, we're at a lesser standing than we were at the start," Reever said.
Reever shook his head thinking about the labor his wife would have to go through all over again to improve their bakery's standing again.
"Oh right," Reever said. "Here, I got something for you."
"Hmm, what is it?" Ning asked expectantly.
Reever took out a piece of paper and handed it to Ning. Ning took the piece of paper and read what was written on it.
"Herald Of War; 5th Day of the 14th Week of Year 286. What's this?" Ning asked as he turned the paper around and read something else that clued him in on what it was.
"Is this…?" he asked.
"It's a ticket for the upcoming theater show. The people from the theater gave us free tickets to the show. It's for the seat at the back, but hey, can't complain about something free right?" Reever said.
"Oh, thanks a lot. I was meaning to go get a ticket to see what the hype was all about. It's… what? 4 days later?" Ning asked as he read the date.
"Yes, it's at the end of the week," Reever said.
"Hmm, it should be fine. My suit gets ready a day earlier right? It should be more than fine actually," Ning said.
Ning and Reever talked for a few hours, waiting for the bakery to close. Once it did, Lisa walked out ready to go back home.
She also wanted to thank Ning, so she was more than happy to make dinner for him. Before going back home, she took the two men through the market to pick out the best of the best meat and vegetables to cook tonight.
Looking at the ingredients, Ning too started to feel a little bit of anticipation brewing up inside of him. He was looking forward to this dinner as well.
The couple walked back from the market to their home which was a couple of blocks away from their bakery. Ning looked at the building and didn't see anything different from the other buildings besides them.
They walked up the stairs and went into their apartment and Reever unlocked the door to their room.
"Welcome to our humble abode, brother Ning," Reever said as he welcomed Ning.
"Thank you for having me," Ning said as he walked in, only to be very surprised by what he saw inside.
He really hadn't expected a place like this to be owned by these two.
Report chapter
Chapter 402 – Forgotten Knowledge
Ning walked through the door and saw the inside. Somehow, he felt that the house Reever and Lisa owned was… very rundown. It didn't seem like a house that was owned by someone that had their own business or made a couple of Gols every few weeks.
'What's going on? Are houses just that expensive?' Ning wondered. His hotel room was much better than their home.
"Do you own the place or just rent it?" Ning asked as he looked around the dimly lit room with just a single table at the center and a bed at the other side.
Ning couldn't see any other furniture in the room at all.
"We rent it. We've been renting here for the past 3 years," Reever said.
Ning didn't know how to ask them why they didn't find another place. He didn't feel it right to tell other people that he didn't like their home at all. Maybe they liked it themselves.
"I'll go start cooking," Lisa said and walked away from the room to the other room, which Ning assumed was a kitchen.
Reever brought out cloth seats from under the bed and placed them around the small table. "Come sit, brother Ning. It's not much, but it's what we have," Reever said.
Ning sat down cross-legged and nodded. The two started talking once more. Ning tried his best to keep his information to himself, but he still have to let some information out to keep himself from looking like a fraud.
"Oh right, I saw someone from the Aether Tower today. There were people gathered and one child even got chosen," Ning said as he remembered what had happened earlier today.
"Aether Tower folks? Ah right, today was the day huh? That kid must be lucky," Reever said with a sad sigh. He seemed to still not be over his rejection.
"You said you tried to go there at 18 years of age right? Why were they here for such young children then?" Ning asked.
"They try to nurture young geniuses from an early age. That way, by the time they are an adult, those kids will be a great asset to the Aether tower," Reever said.
"And you weren't chosen back then, so you tried once more?" Ning asked.
"Oh, no. The folks from Aether Tower never visited my village when I was a child. So, I stupidly believed that I had what it took to enter the tower. However, when I got there, I finally realized what true talent was."
"You wouldn't believe me brother Ning, but I saw an 18-year-old kid at the time that was already Aether Master and on his way to becoming an Aether Grandmaster. That shocked poor old Aether Student like me," Reever said.
Ning nodded his head as he heard that. He then thought of something and asked, "I saw the man from Aether Tower use that crystal ball to choose a kid to take. Can you explain why?"
Reever looked very confused at the question. "Uhh… What do you mean 'why', brother Ning? What am I supposed to say?" he asked.
"I was just wondering why they used the crystal ball," Ning said.
"You know what it does right?" Reever asked.
"Yes. It checks how much a person can passively take in Aether, right?" Ning asked.
"Yes. So, that's your answer right there," Reever said.
"But why focus on only those who can passively take in Aether? That is something that can be easily given to someone," Ning said. "Just hand them a simple absorption technique. Those work way better than passively taking in Aether."
Reever cocked his head to the side in confusion as he asked, "Absorption technique? What's that?" he asked.
"What? You don't know what absorption techniques are?" Ning asked.
"No. This is the first time I'm hearing this," Reever said. "Is this something you guys use down in the south?"
Ning got confused. 'How could he not know about absorption technique?' he wondered. 'Does no one in this world know about absorption techniques?'
"How would you say one can increase their Aether rank? Without having to wait years passively collecting Aether, that is," Ning asked.
"Oh, that's pretty simple. You use the Aether ores. You can buy some and use them to improve yourself," Reever said.
"No other way? No wonder you were rejected from the tower despite having a quite amazing talent for it all," Ning said.
'System, are absorption techniques gone from this world?' he asked.
No. Few Aether users still own it. However, they are heavily kept secret everywhere so not many know about them
'I see,' Ning thought. 'It might not be a good idea to give him one then. If he improves and people get suspicious, he will get into trouble when I'm not around.'
"Brother Ning?" Reever called after seeing him fall into a daze.
"Sorry, I was thinking about something. Let's change topics. Is there anything else you want to talk about?" Ning asked.
"Something else? Not really, I suppose," Reever said. "Ah, right. There is one thing. I heard that a young mistress from a noble family is here in the town. The bakery took their chance with ruining our name in hope that they could piggyback upon the young mistress' anger towards us to ruin us."
"Fortunately, this so-called young mistress never spoke up at all, or we would have been screwed," Reever said.
"A young mistress?" Ning asked. Those words reminded him of the bratty girl that he had now seen twice in the hotel.
"I might have actually seen this girl. There's one in my hotel that always walks around with a butler of sorts. Maybe that's her?" Ning said.
"Woah, you've seen her, brother Ning? Is she noble-looking?" Reever asked.
"I would say so," Ning said.
"And pretty too?" Reever asked.
Ning was about to answer when Lisa stuck her head out from the doorway to the kitchen and said, "Hey! Why are you suddenly talking about girls when I'm away? You better not be having any other thoughts.. Just sit tight, the dinner will be ready any minute now."
Report chapter
Chapter 403 – Talking About The Past
Reever helped Lisa bring out the most beautiful-looking spread of food Ning had seen in a long while.
The servings of meat and vegetables looked scrumptious and highly appetizing, so Ning started eating as soon as it was served.
"Oh my god! This is so delicious. I haven't eaten something this tasty in a really long time," Ning said.
"Haha, thank you," Lisa said meekly with a bashful face.
"My wife is great, isn't she? I can cook if I need to, but her cooking is on a different level from mine. There is nothing she can make that won't taste good," Reever said.
"Aii, stop saying that. You're embarrassing me," Lisa said.
"Don't be. There is no shame in truth," Reever said.
Ning took another bite of the meat and said, "The flavor in these is so rich. Where did you learn to cook like this?"
"Oh, it was uh… back home. I was always interested in cooking, so I would sneak into the kitchen throughout the day and learn to cook," Lisa said. "My mother didn't like that I did that. She even scolded me multiple times, but… my passion for cooking made me keep sneaking back into that kitchen."
Lisa's face had turned melancholic when she remembered about her home.
"What about your father? Did he approve of your cooking or did he scold you too?" Ning asked.
"Sigh, his… father never cared about me enough to approve or disapprove of anything I did. Sometimes I doubted that he even knew I existed," Lisa said.
Reever grabbed her hands. "Forget about them, Lisa. You don't need a family that doesn't care about you or your passion. I'm here now, and you can always rely on me," he said.
"I know, dear," Lisa said.
"You two are really close, aren't you?" Ning asked. He never got to see himself do the same with Ely. They were separated just too soon. He shook his head free of the unnecessary thoughts.
"Ah right, speaking of which, when did you guys meet? And how?" Ning asked.
"Oh, when I met her, she was working as a store clerk in Boss's store," Reever said.
"Boss? Ah, the tailor. You guys met there?" Ning asked.
"Yes, the boss found me when I was down on my luck right, struggling after I was rejected from the tower. He gave me a job, put food in my mouth, and gave me a place to stay." Reever said.
"I met her when she worked there too, and slowly we fell in love. How long has it been again? About 7 years since we met, I think. Although, we got married 2 years ago only," Reever said.
"I was in a similar situation too. I had just run away from home and desperately needed help to survive. Uncle helped me a lot," Lisa said.
"He sounds like a great guy," Ning said.
He talked for a bit longer as he finished the meal. After talking for a little longer, he said his farewell and left the place.
He thought about the things he had talked about and found it inspiring that the young couple was suffering hardships together.
'Although, Reever should earn a lot. Why are they staying in such a rundown place? Should I even ask that question?' Ning thought.
He made his way back to the hotel using the evening street lamps to make way for himself. He went directly to his room and decided to practice for a bit.
He made a few rocks once again and tried to move them around using Aether only. After a few minutes, he stopped and went back to sleep.
Waking up for nearly 24 hours every single day, it wasn't surprising at all that he could sleep for 12 hours during the night.
When he woke up, another day with nothing to do started once again. The next two days went by doing the same thing. He wasted some time here and other time there. He ate when he was hungry, and finally, when he was bored, he went to the Bakery to spend some time there with Reever who would also be bored.
Sometimes, Reever would take him to different establishments to have fun. One of those days, he even took him to a gambling parlor where Ning nearly lost everything he had on the cards he played.
If it wasn't for being lucky one time, he would've lost it all for sure. Reever didn't like gambling at all, so he only bet a very tiny amount. Thus, when he lost it, he didn't meet any strong emotions at all.
At the end of the 2nd day, Ning finally went back to the tailor to get his clothes. He made his way into the building and entered the store.
There were many workers in the store, but Ning wanted to speak with the boss, so he looked around.
He finally found the boss behind a black-suited person. When he walked closer, he could see something weird going on.
Ning actually recognized the black-suited man. He was the butler of the girl that he assumed was from a noble family. For some reason, the butler was bowing towards the boss with the boss seemingly annoyed about it.
The boss waved his hands around as he spoke inaudibly, and the butler who could hear it all quickly bowed again and walked away.
As his eyes followed him, Ning could see that the butler had gone back to the girl who was choosing fabrics over to his left at the corner of the shop.
Ning then made his way to the now free boss and said, "Hello sir, I'm here to get my clothes. I hope they are ready."
"Hmm, you are… " the boss looked at Ning's clothes. "Ah right, let me get your clothes."
The boss went and got Ning's clothes. "Here you go," he said. "Try it on."
"Okay," Ning said and went behind a curtain to get changed. It didn't take him long to finish wearing the clothes, and when he did, he walked out of the curtains.
The boss looked up and down at Ning and the clothes, and only uttered a single word.. "Perfect."
Report chapter
Chapter 404 – The Play
Ning dressed up in his new suit and walked out of his room. He felt weird wearing something so tight that he felt like his whole body was being constrained from the outside, but he had to go with what the society wore if he wanted to fit in.
Although, He didn't like the idea of wearing a hat, so he wore nothing on his head. Once he was ready, he went down the elevator and exited the hotel.
Today was the day for the theater play that he was looking forward to for 3 days now.
The theater wasn't that far away, so Ning reached the place in under 5 minutes. He met Reever and Lisa outside the theatre and went in together.
The inside of the theater looked magnificent. Multiple bulbs lit up the inside while a cool breeze circulated throughout the hall prior to even entering the theater room.
"Let's go find out seats," Reever said and walked in with Lisa. Ning followed behind and walked with them as well.
Their seats turned out to be at the very end of the hall, from where they could barely see.
"It's free, so you can't complain, can you?" Reever said.
Ning didn't really mind sitting at the back since he had the magnification skill. But he worried that Reever and Lisa wouldn't have as fun of a time.
The place started to get more and more filled and soon the lights dimmed as only the light on the stage shined.
A half-naked man walked onto the set, and with him, music followed. A low hum could be heard in the background as the man brought out a sword and started swinging it around.
The narrator started speaking. "Ever since his young age, Emperor Kron never had the talent for Aether. So, he spent all of his time focusing on swordsmanship and education."
"By the age of 20, he was a master at the sword. By 30, his understanding of politics surpassed even the best amongst the best. When he was 37, he defeated his brothers and became the Emperor of Xandria."
A girl in a maid costume walked from behind the curtains. "Your highness, the general is here to meet you," she said.
"Send him in," the Emperor said as he continued flexing his muscles while training with the sword.
The girls in the audience really seemed to like the handsome actor who played the emperor and his bare-chested body.
"Your majesty, I have come with bad news," the general said.
"You have come with news, General. Whether it is bad or good is something for me to decide," the emperor said.
"Your highness, the beasts are getting more and more restless. They attack the border cities and villages more and more frequently. If we don't do something soon, we will have to hear the sad news of these places being decimated someday soon," the General said.
"Hmm… that is bad news," the Emperor said. The Emperor thought for a second and called the minister.
"Yes, your highness," a bald man with a book walked out from behind the curtains.
"Send a letter to the Tower. I request as many men as they can give me," the Emperor said while facing the audience.
"Men, milord? What reason shall I tell them?" the minister asked.
"Tell them… we are going to war."
The rest of the play was about the emperor finding troops and fighting the beasts. There were some interesting costume designs that Ning found quite fun at the place.
What Ning found the most interesting was in particular the effects used by the theater. There were floating fire and water to give different effects, and Ning could only imagine how talented the person carrying out these effects must've been.
The war against the beasts ended and the narrator told them how the beasts never dared show themselves after the war.
The emperor then had a son, who would then come to be the current emperor of Xandria, Emperor Kain.
The final act of the play was the Emperor on his death bed. It turned out that all this time, he had been hiding a wound he acquired during the war against the beast, but he never let it hinder his will to help the masses.
There were sounds of sobbing from the audience as they witness the top-tier performance of the actor.
Ning didn't feel any emotion in particular, but that was likely because he wasn't part of this empire. He turned around to look at the husband and wife couple to see if they were emoting at all.
Lisa didn't seem to hold much emotion in her eyes, but Reever was definitely feeling the emotions. There were tears in his eyes as he was fully invested in the story.
The Emperor died on the stage and the curtain closed. The crowd stood up and gave a standing ovation at the fantastic play.
Reever was one of the most enthusiastic applauders amongst them. Lisa shook her head when she saw this and snickered a little.
Then, she saw something a little further away and her eyes changed. They went from entertained, to scared.
"Can we leave?" she asked. Ning hadn't noticed the change, so he was a little confused as to why she would suddenly ask that.
"Let's wait a couple of minutes. Let's thank the actors before we go," Reever said, but Lisa wasn't having it.
"I'm… feeling a little lightheaded. Can we go back to the shop please," she asked.
"Oh, if you're not feeling well, then you should have told me earlier. Alright, let's go," Reever said and started walking out.
Ning didn't have anything else to do, so he too walked out. As he left, he saw Lisa look towards the stage once more and leave in a hurry.
Ning turned around and looked towards where she did and saw someone there. 'Oh, she was here too, huh?' he thought.
"Brother Ning, you coming?" Reever asked.
"Ah, yes.. Let's leave," Ning said and walked out of the theater with Reever and Lisa.
Report chapter
Chapter 405 – Is The Emperor's Job Easy?
"Are you feeling okay now?" Reever asked as he entered the bakery with Lisa.
"Yes, I'm feeling better," Lisa said. "I'm thirsty now. Wait here, I will bring you guys some water too."
Ning went and sat at a free table, and Reever came to sit with him. "So, how did you like it, brother Ning? It was good right?" Reever asked.
"Yeah, it was pretty good," Ning said. "By the way, that story… it was the same one you told the villagers in the desert right?"
"Oh, yeah. It's the story of Emperor Kron. Everyone basically knows the story already," Reever said.
"Oh, and people still go watch the theater?" Ning asked.
"Of course. Just because they know the story doesn't mean that they don't want to see it play out in front of them. Seeing how much the Emperor gave up for our sake, it's quite heartbreaking to see. He's not considered the best emperor yet for no reason," Reever said.
"Oh. I thought you watched the Theater play already. So we were just supposed to know this, huh?" Ning said.
"Well, I wouldn't have expected you to know that. It's only the Xandrians who are proud of our emperor, so," Reever said.
"So, Emperor Kron died of the injury, and his son, Kain took over. Is that it?" Ning asked, trying to make sense of the royal lineage.
"Yes," Reever said. "If not for his injury, Emperor Kron would've ruled for quite a long time. I suppose his son, Emperor Kain is going to rule for a long time now."
"So that's what you tell those poor villagers. They must take it as fact," Ning said.
"It is fact though, no? I mean, I don't see why the emperor would give up on his position at all," Reever said.
"What if he just wants to relax for once?" Ning asked.
"He's the Emperor. He must be the most relaxed person of us all," Reever said.
"Haha, you'd be surprised how much stress the people at high places go through on a daily basis," Ning said.
"What are you boys talking about?" Lisa walked out with the water.
"Oh, honey. What do you think? Is the Emperor's job hard or easy? I say that he is very relaxed, but brother Ning thinks that is not the case," Reever asked.
"Why would the emperor's job be relaxing? He has to look after the entire Empire," Lisa said.
"Eh? But he has people he can order to do it for him," Reever said.
"Yes, but he still needs to make the decisions. If he approves of something, and it turns out to be bad, he is the one everyone would blame. So, he would have to think about every decision properly," Lisa said.
"Uhh… damn, is it actually not as easy as I thought it was?" Reever asked.
"I mean, it's definitely easier than ours, but perhaps not as easy as you might've expected it to be," Lisa said.
"Damn," Reever said. "So, he might not want to stay an emperor forever then."
"Eh? Stay emperor forever?" Lisa asked.
"Ah right. Brother Ning doesn't think that Emperor Kain will stay as an emperor for as long as he could," Reever said.
"No he won't," Lisa said. "It's already been 20-some years since his coronation. He should be giving up sometime soon."
"Wow, am I just that wrong at understanding the Emperor? I feel like I've been lying to those poor folks at the desert," Reever said.
"Haha, you don't have to worry, dear. No one really knows anything. Everything will depend on the emperor in the end," Lisa said. "Alright, I'll go help them make bread. Keep talking you two."
Lisa left and went to the kitchen. Reever stayed there trying to understand just why he thought being an Emperor was easy at all.
Ning chuckled quite a few times seeing Reever go through revelations that had no business being one.
An hour or two passed by and the flow of customers increased by a lot. It was the breaktime for everyone, everywhere and so everyone was coming to eat at the bakery.
Reever and Ning also got themselves some food and ate as they watched the staff maintain store business in this rush hour.
Towards the end just as the number of customers was getting really low, the door opened and two figures walked in.
Ning looked up and didn't divert his attention when he saw them. "Oh, it's them," he said.
Reever looked up and Ning and followed his gaze towards the door to see a young, beautiful lady, followed by a middle-aged man in a suit and tie.
"Who are they, Brother Ning?" he asked.
"That's the noble lady I told you about. She might be the one you heard about," Ning said.
"Ah, her huh," Reever said and looked at her.
The girl waved her paper fan around as she looked at the store. "Mmm, it's not bad for a place at the edge of nowhere," she said.
She then walked up to the counter and spoke to the girl," This is the store that delivers food to the theater, right?"
"Uh, yes miss," the girl said.
"Mmm, and this is the same place that got them sick?" she then asked.
"We did not get the theater sick. It was—" the noble lady brought up her hands to stop the girl from talking any further.
"Yeah, I heard. It was a ploy by another bakery. Something must be good about this place to go that far, huh?" she asked. "Alright, bring me your best meal then."
The lady then went and sat at a free seat with her butler right by her. It only took a moment before Lisa walked out of the kitchen with food for her.
She walked up directly to the noble lady and said, "here's your butter coated bread and—" Lisa stopped speaking. Her eyes looked like they had seen ghosts.
The noble lady noticed that Lisa had stopped speaking and looked up when she too had a curious look on her face.
She cocked her head a little and asked, "Do I know you?"
Report chapter
Chapter 406 – Ely
"I-I don't think so," Lisa said and quickly put down the meal before turning around to walk away.
"Stop!" the noble lady ordered. "Turn around. I wish to see you once more."
"What's the matter, young lady? Do you know my wife?" Reever asked as he walked forward.
The noble lady looked at Reever for just a split second before saying, "this has nothing to do with you. Step aside, I just want to speak to the girl."
"Honey, what's going on? Just turn around for her to see," Reever said.
"I-I can't do that," Lisa said, refusing to turn around to show her face.
Ning looked at them from the side with a confused look. 'Is she someone Lisa knows? Perhaps from her home where she ran away from?' he wondered.
"I'm sorry, young miss. But my wife says she doesn't want to turn around, so you shouldn't force her. Please enjoy your meal," Reever said and turned to escort Lisa back to the kitchen area.
"Hey! You can't leave like that. Don't make me use my authority here," the girl cried out.
"Miss, you shouldn't abuse yo—"
"Shut up," the girl ordered her butler. "Make that girl turn around. I know I've seen her somewhere before."
The butler was troubled. He didn't want to do what she said at all, but he was supposed to follow all of her orders.
"Miss, we shouldn't force people to—"
"Do you want me to report to my father that you couldn't even follow my orders?" she asked the butler.
The butler's face was even more troubled now as he was starting to panic. He did not want the complaint to reach her father's ear. Offending her father would mean an end to his career.
"Young lady, I'm afraid I will have to ask you to turn around and show yourself. Please don't make me do it if possible," the butler said.
"What? My wife doesn't need to follow your order," Reever started to get angry. "Let's go in, honey. We don't need to deal with these two."
"I wish you didn't make me do this," the butler said as he shook his head. Suddenly he brought up his hand and stopped both Reever and Lisa from moving.
He then started putting in the effort to turn them both around. Reever tried to put all of his Aether to stop himself from turning around, but the opponent was just too strong. Before he knew it, he was half-turned and could see the man from the corner of his eyes.
"That's enough," Ning's voice came from the side. It was a calm voice in a calm tone, but it rang like thunder in the butler's ear.
"Let go and sit down," Ning said.
"Sir, please don't interfe—"
"SIT DOWN!"
The butler lost all control of his body and suddenly felt himself drop down on his seat. His hands he had stretched out wide were now tucked away at his side.
He tried to stop it, but Ning's ability was too strong. The butler found himself unable to move even a single finger without Ning's approval. Beads of sweat started rolling from his forehead.
Suddenly, the force keeping him constrained disappeared and Ning walked up to them.
"What's wrong? Why did you stop?" the girl asked her butler. She didn't seem to have realized that Ning had done something to him.
"Miss, there are experts here. I can't do what you say," the butler said.
"What? I thought you were an expert too. Didn't you boast to my father that you fought in the war against the beasts? Where is that pride now?" she asked.
"There are places where we have to give up, miss. This seems to be one such place. Please forget about the girl," the butler said.
"But…" the girl turned around towards Lisa who still didn't turn around. "I am so close to remembering her…"
Reever turned around to take Lisa back. They were about to enter the door when suddenly, a shocked sound came from the girl.
"AH! I remember now," the girl said. Reever immediately turned around to look at what the girl was talking about.
Ning looked curiously as well.
"It can't be though… I thought you were dead," the girl said as her eyes darted around trying to find a meaning for this. "Is it really you, Ely?"
Ning's heart skipped a beat when he heard that. 'Huh? Ely?' he thought and looked around. But of course, it wasn't his Ely. She was still back in Kumia.
Lisa stopped by the door and turned around. "So you figured it out in the end, huh?" he asked. "You're not as slow as you used to be."
"I—" the girl didn't speak anything.
"Camie!" Lisa said in an authoritative voice.
"Y-Yes?" the girl asked.
"Eat and Leave. I do not wish to speak to you," Lisa said. "Understood."
"Y-Yes." The girl named Camie nodded like a dumb girl.
Ning looked in surprise as the dynamic between the two girls had suddenly changed.
"Also," Lisa continued. "Tell no one about me. If someone comes here looking for me, the first thing I will do is go looking for you."
"N-n-no, I won't tell anyone," the girl said in a scared tone.
"Good!" Lisa said and finally turned around to go back to the kitchen with Reever following behind her.
Ning wanted to go and ask questions, but it seemed like a moment when he should let the two of them be alone.
"Who is that, miss?" the butler asked in a low voice, but the girl kept shaking her voice.
"I can't tell you, but you will know soon. Can we leave today?" the girl asked.
"Today? But we have the hotel booked for another week until the next theater play," the butler said.
"Doesn't matter. This is far more important. We need to let her family know as soon as possible that she is actually alive," the girl said.
"But, didn't she just threaten you to not say anything, miss?" the butler asked.
"Yes, but she will be too caught up in her own events to even worry about me," the girl said. "Let's leave."
The girl didn't even touch her food and left the bakery. Ning sighed after hearing everything the girl said.
'Should I do something?'
Chapter 407 – Too Late
"Honey, what's going on? Why did that girl call you 'Ely'?" Reever asked as soon as he walked into the kitchen.
"Argghh!" Lisa started pacing back and forth with a lot of worries written on her face.
"Honey, can you answer me please," Reever asked.
"This is troublesome. Very troublesome," Lisa said. "If my family find out I'm alive, they will come back for me. No, I don't want to go back there. I left everything behind already."
"Are you… from a noble family?" Reever asked. "Did I marry a noble girl?"
"What? There's no time to be thinking about that. You have bigger problems now," the girl said.
Reever took that as a 'yes'. "Oh lord, I married into a noble family," he said with a stunned expression. "Haha, Father, Mother! Look at how well your child is doing."
Lisa looked back with an annoyed expression.
"Lisa, tell me. Which family are you from? Howard? Manners? Russels?" Reever asked. "What's your surname?"
"It's Skulls," Lisa said with an annoyed face.
Reever nodded his head when he got the answer, but when he thought about it, he stopped. "Wait, no that's my surname."
"And I married you. What else do you want me to say?" Lisa asked.
"Your family name. The noble family's name," he asked.
"Did you not listen to me? I left my family. I no longer consider them as my family," Lisa said.
"But you said they would come back for you, right? Isn't that why you don't want to let them know?" he asked.
"Yes, and that's a big problem," Lisa said.
"Do you have bad blood with your family?" Reever asked in a serious voice.
"I… kind of. I have bad blood with 2 people, but my relationship wasn't that bad with the others," Lisa said. "But that was then. I don't know how many people would hate me now and they will rejoice to see me in pain."
"What sort of family is that?" Reever asked.
Just then, Ning walked in through the door. "I came to inform that the girl is leaving the city today and says she is going to go report you to your family," Ning said.
"Dammit, I knew it," Lisa said.
"Honey, it doesn't matter. Anything that comes at us, we two can handle it together," Reever said.
"Don't you see, dear?" Lisa said. "The first thing they do after they find me is separate us. They won't be able to tolerate me being married to you."
"What? They can't do that. What will they do? Make us divorce each other?" Reever asked with a scoff in his voice.
"No," Lisa said. "They will kill you. They will kill you and hide all existence of our marriage. I am just a tool to make connections for them. I… oh god, we need help."
"Do you want to deal with the girl?" Ning asked. "If she forgets this ever happened, then you will be safe."
"What? Can that be done?" Lisa asked suspiciously.
"I know how," Ning said. "And don't worry, the girl won't have any problems afterward."
"If you can, then please do so," Lisa said. "In the meanwhile, let's go find Uncle. He is the only one who would know what to do in this situation."
Ning nodded and left the place. He quickly made his way back to the hotel to find the girl.
'What room is she in?' he thought and tried to find a number. Just then, he saw her in the lobby, seemingly doing nothing there.
'That was easy,' he thought and walked up to her.
The butler saw Ning coming towards her and immediately got in front of protecting her. However, before he could even do anything, the butler felt unable to move or even speak.
His eyes showed full worry as the girl hadn't even realized what was happening.
"Relax, I'm not going to hurt her," Ning said when he got close. He placed his hands on her head, and only then did she realize someone was there.
"What the—" before she could even finish sentence, she was dominated. Just to be safe, Ning dominated the butler too and let him free.
"Master!" they both called him.
"Listen up, forget that you ever met Lisa, or as you call her Ely. Do not reveal this information to anyone else," he ordered them.
"Yes master," they said.
"Good," Ning said and was about to turn around when the girl spoke.
"But master, I have already told people about it," she said.
"What?" Ning asked in surprise. He looked around to see if someone was there in the lobby and asked, "Who?"
"My father, master," she said.
"Your… father? Is he here too?" Ning asked.
"No, I messaged him through the telephone in the hotel lobby," she said.
"You te— shit! There are telephones here?" Ning asked and turned around to find one in the hotel lobby.
'Dammit, I can't do anything about that,' he thought. There was no point in making the two do anything anymore, so he let them go, but kept the domination.
He turned around and walked away from the hotel lobby. He made his way to the tailor where Lisa and Reever should've gone to right now.
He saw them talking with the boss and walked up to them. "I'm sorry guys, but she already called back home and told her father about you," Ning said.
Lisa saw the world leave her for a moment. "No, this can't be happening," she said.
"It seems you have no choice but to embrace it now. Your family will come sooner or later to find you. It's better if you go to them first," the boss said.
"But what about him? They will kill him, won't they? The girl asked.
"Do you have that little faith in your own family?" the boss asked, but then suddenly remembered something and said, "Sorry, I forgot."
"Anyway, he is why you should go back yourself. Make a public return with this young man so that they have no way of hiding his existence after you return," the boss said.
Lisa thought about it for a moment and asked," Is that really the only way?"
Reever had nothing to say in what she was thinking as he had no understanding of the gravity of the situation.
"I'm afraid so, my child," the boss said with a heavy sigh.
Report chapter
Chapter 408 – Leaving
Ning woke up early in the morning. Reever and Lisa had planned to leave back to her home early this morning, so he wanted to make sure they made it safely there.
At the same time, he would be leaving this place and continuing his adventure.
He canceled his hotel room and left the place. He walked through the morning crowd and made his way to the train station.
"Oh, you guys are already here," Ning said as he saw the husband-wife pair waiting on the train platform with a few suitcases around them.
Reever was wearing the same dress as he did when Ning first met him in the desert, and Lisa wore a flower pattern pink gown with a blue flowery hat on her head.
"Oh, brother Ning, you're here. Thank you so much for doing this. My fear of what's going to happen keeps increasing more and more every hour. She won't even tell me anything either," Reever said.
"Don't worry, I will help you get there safely," Ning said.
"Thank you so much, Ning," Lisa said. "I will help you as much as I can assuming I still hold any authority back at home."
"It's fine. I'm just doing this because you are my friends. Besides, I was getting bored with this place anyway and it was time for me to leave soon," he said.
"Thank you," Lisa said once more. The train came to the station, pupping a plume of white smoke above it. Steam was released from multiple instances around the train and made the place look more crowded than it actually was.
The three boarded the train and went to find themselves a seat. The couple sat on two empty seats on one side, and Ning sat on the opposite side.
It was slowly starting to get hot on the train, so Reever took off his hat and so did Lisa. She removed her hairpin, and her beautiful black hair fell down onto her shoulders.
Reever looked at her and immediately his eyes went wide. "Honey!" he called out and whispered something into her ears.
Ning got curious and used his enhanced hearing to listen to what he had to say.
"Did you forget to dye your hair last night?" he asked. Lisa's eyes went wide when she heard that and immediately tried to put on her hat. But then, she stopped and her expression returned to normal.
"It's fine. I don't need to dye it anymore," she said.
"Huh?" Reever looked at her with a confused expression.
"What's going on?" Ning asked.
"It's… nothing, brother Ning," Reever said.
"Does it have something to do with her blonde hair?" Ning asked.
"Sshh! Don't say that out loud, brother Ning," Reever said with his finger to his lips.
"Oh sorry. Why not?" he asked.
"Lisa has… um, an inferiority complex about her hair. She feels out of place with her blonde hair, so he has to keep dying it every day," Reever said.
"Oh," Ning said. "That can happen."
Suddenly, he heard a sigh coming from next to Reever. "That's not it, honey," she said.
"What do you mean?" Reever turned around to ask her.
"I don't have any complex. It's just… Blonde hair gives me away whenever I am out since no one else has it. So, I have to dye it. I couldn't really explain it to other people, so Uncle had the idea to tell people that I had a complex about it," Lisa said.
Reever looked dumbfounded. "Wait, so all the time we bought the expensive dyes for your hair, you didn't need it?" Reever asked, with a face that said he was betrayed right now.
"No!" Lisa exclaimed. "It was necessary. If I didn't have dyes, I would've been found out long ago."
"How?" Reever asked.
"Because only my family members can have blonde hair. That is where the name blonde started too," Lisa said.
"What?" Reever looked confused. "I have never heard of blonde hair belonging to a specific family."
"It's not a very well-known information amongst the commoners, but amongst the nobles, everyone knows this. That's why I had to do what I did," she said.
The train conductor came at that moment and asked for their tickets. Ning bought himself one and looked at Reever who was too confused and stunned to do anything.
Lisa brought out a few coins and paid for herself.
"You're still not telling me about your family, honey. How are you? A Baron? A Viscount? An Earl? A Marquees?" Reever asked.
Lisa just shook her head. "You'll find soon enough," she said.
Suddenly a card rolled up next to them. A middle-aged woman was selling food on the cart.
"You dears need anything?" she asked. "I have food and drinks."
"Do you have anything cold to drink?" Reever asked.
"Let's see… I have chilled water, fruit juice, or tea. What do you want?" she asked.
Reever thought for a moment and said, "Give us 3 glasses of juices then."
"Okay," the lady poured 3 glasses of juices and handed them to the three. "That would be 3 coins," she said.
"Oh, that's quite cheap," Reever said as he paid her.
The lady took the coins and moved on. "Hey what do we do with these glas— and she's gone. We should probably just keep it here at the side after we are done," Reever said and handed the juices to Lisa and Ning.
"Alright, let's just drink up and forget about this depressive talk," he said and started drinking.
Lisa shook her head and also drank her juice.
Ning chuckled a little and looked at the orange juice in his glass. "Hmm?" he thought when he smelled something. He smelled once more and the orange juice definitely had something in it.
His eyes widened and he immediately gulped it down. Suddenly, he could feel something happening in his stomach, a low rumbling as it threatened to hurt him.
"Oh no," Ning thought when he realized what was happening.
He was poisoned.
Chapter 409 – Don't Shoot
Ning didn't have to worry about being poisoned as his body could handle it without needing his intervention much. However, he couldn't say the same about the other two in front of him.
He looked up front and suddenly saw Lisa vomit out a whole bunch of juice onto the ground. He breathed heavily as she spat out what little juice there was in her mouth.
"Oh no, honey," she cried out and immediately turned around towards Reever. Ning turned as well and was shocked.
Reever was starting to foam at the mouth as his whole body spasmed uncontrollably.
"No!" Lisa cried out. She put her hands on his chest and all she could do was watch them shake in fear. She was trying to do something, but she herself didn't know what she could even do in this situation.
Her husband was dying of poison and the only thing she could do was watch him die.
"Move," Ning stood up and immediately touched Reever's chest.
'System, heal him,' he ordered without wasting a single moment. A low light shined from underneath his hands as the spasming body stopped moving and Reever finally coughed out the foam in his mouth.
He felt his body go weak and fell unconscious.
"What did you do?" Lisa cried out when she saw him faint.
"Don't worry. I healed him. His body is weak so he fell unconscious. He will wake up soon," Ning said. "Are you okay though? You didn't seem to have any problem."
"I'm fine. I can take care of myself," Lisa said as she checked up on Reever.
"Did you know it was poison?" Ning asked
"Not until it was too late," Lisa said. "How are you okay? I saw you drink it too."
"Don't worry about me. My body can handle many types of poison without much trouble. I am a medical professional, remember?" Ning said. "What about you? Where did you learn to deal with poisons in your drink?"
"We're taught from a young age to deal with any situations. This was just one of those," Lisa said.
Ning looked at her with scrutiny and shook his head. "I'll go find that old lady. She has some explaining to do," Ning said.
"Don't," Lisa said. "That's only the start. More attacks will be happening soon. You need to find a place and hide for now."
Ning looked at her and asked, "Are you serious? How do you know that?"
"Because they want to make sure I never return back there. They are trying to get rid of me right here, and that was only the start. That old lady was likely never old or a lady. You won't find her on the train anymore."
"Also, she messed up the easy kill, so we will have to go through the much more direct attack very soon," Lisa said.
Ning's eyes went wide at the girl's deduction. "Who hates you so much that they would rather kill you than watch you return?" Ning asked.
"It's… likely my 2nd brother. He is the only one I know who can do this," Lisa said.
"Your family has internal struggling?" Ning asked.
"Yes," Lisa said. "it's never direct, but they still do it since it's impossible to point fingers without any evidence. They learned that I was coming back and likely plotted this attack."
"I see," Ning said. "So we still have enemies on this train."
"Yes," Lisa said as she looked at the empty seats around her with only a few people still there minding their own business. "It's very likely that we have enemies on this very cart."
Suddenly, a man about a few seats down who was reading his newspaper put down the paper and stood up. He reached behind him and brought out a gun before pointing it towards them.
"You are way too smart for a young lady that does nothing but sell bread," he said. "Although, all that brain isn't going to help you right now."
Ning looked at the man with a shocked expression. He wasn't shocked that the man turned out to be an enemy. He was shocked that there were guns in this world now.
'It's certainly developed to this point, huh?' he thought.
"Now, hands where I can see them, young miss," the man said.
"You don't have to do this. Just go away," Ning said from the side.
"Who the hell are you? I said hands up," the man shouted as he cocked his gun.
Ning however didn't put his hands up at all. "Don't shoot, or you will—"
BANG
The man shot Ning directly in the forehead. The bullet entered Ning's head and came out on the other side.
"AAAHH!" Lisa cried out.
"Uh-Uh! No shouting or moving, missy," the man said as he cocked his gun once more. "What happened to him is going to happen to you as well," he said.
"YOU!! Do you even know who I am? Are you aware of what you are doing?" Lisa asked.
"Nope, who are you, missy? You are certainly important for someone to pay 50 Gols just to kill you," The man said. Suddenly the man caught Lisa moving her hands and immediately shot her on her leg.
"You can't try that against me, missy. I've killed far too many people to be distracted from simple words," the man said and cocked his gun again.
"Now you die. Any last words?" the man asked.
"Yes, just one," Ning's voice came from the side as the man lost all control of his body. He moved the only thing he could move right now, his eyes, and looked to the side to see Ning get up with not a single wound on him.
He was miraculously resurrected somehow. The man's eyes went wide in fear at not being able to understand what had just happened.
Suddenly, he felt his hands move as his elbows slowly bent towards himself and the gun was directly pointed to his own temple.
His eyes were begging Ning not to do it, but he couldn't speak at all.
"DIE!"
BANG
The man sprayed his own brain all over the train floor and fell to the ground.
Ning looked at the dead man and shook his head.
Lisa looked at it and then immediately towards the others in the same cart.. "Careful, we have more trouble incoming."
Report chapter
Chapter 410 – More Assassins
Ning immediately stood up and looked at the two men towards the front of the cart that had stood up after hearing the sound of the gun shot.
They too brought out a gun and cocked it.
"Argh!" Lisa cried out. Ning turned around to see that she was bleeding from the gun shot to the leg she had suffered.
"Are you hurt bad?" he asked.
"I can manage," she said and brought her hands towards her leg. Before Ning could even say something, he heard the bullet drop onto the floor and could see the blood stop flowing from her wound.
She had somehow managed to fix her wound by herself.
"You are an Enchanter?" he asked.
"Yes, same as you," she said.
The door to that train cart opened and 3 more people entered. 2 of them were men and one of them was a woman that had features resembling that of the old lady that served them the juices.
All of them brought out their guns to target them.
"Shit!" Lisa said as she felt overwhelmed by the number of people in the cart. 5 people at once was not something she was proficient at handling.
Ning looked back and saw that Reever was still unconscious. The men were closing up on them and Ning got more alert.
His body wasn't strong enough to survive the bullets, so if he was hit at all, it would decommission him out of the fight for a second or two. That was long enough for the assassins to kill Lisa and Reever.
"I didn't expect you to last this long, little girl," A man spoke from the front. He looked down on the floor at the blood puddle with the dead person next to it.
He then looked at Ning and said, "I wasn't aware that you would have an expert protecting you. The price on your head should have been worth more."
"If the price is not worth it, then leave. Go tell your client that you need more money," Lisa said.
"Unfortunately, I can't do that, young miss. We already took the bounty, now all we can do is fulfill it. Our reputation is on the line," the man said.
"Reputation? Who are you?" Lisa asked the man.
"You might have heard of us. We are the Shadow Pavillion."
Lisa's eyes went wide in fear. "No, not even he would be stupid enough to employ you guys," she said.
"I don't know who you are talking about, but we were assigned with the task to kill you. Now it's time we finish it," the man pointed his gun towards Lisa and pulled the trigger.
BANG
"AARGH!" Lisa cried out in shock as she brought her hands up in a futile attempt to protect herself.
However, the bullet never hit her or any other part of the train. It was like it had magically disappeared.
She slowly opened her eyes to see the look of shock and surprise on her attacker's face. She wondered what had happened when her eyes slowly focused onto what was in front of her.
The bullet was spinning in midair right in front of her without moving a single inch forward. The bullet then fell to the ground as a subtle yellow light shimmered in front of Lisa.
"What did you do?" the man asked in surprise.
"W-What's going on?" Lisa herself didn't know what was happening.
"You!…. Shoot them!" the man ordered.
All 5 of the assassins in the room cocked their gun and started shooting.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Multiple gunshots could be heard all around them as the shooting persisted for a few moments.
However, the assassins didn't see what they were hoping to see at all. Instead of blood pouring out of the bullet wounds, all they could see was a yellow shimmer in front of Lisa and Ning that had blocked every single bullet that was shot at them.
"What?" the man screamed out in shock. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. The spinning bullets fell to the ground, clanking on the metal floor.
While Lisa was stunned, Ning got to work. He put his hands forward and a bunch of rocks formed in mid-air. Ning put in Aether onto it and soon the rocks started burning.
With a simple push, the rocks flew through the air at a very fast speed and went towards the two men at the front.
The first man put his hands up front and used his enchanting powers to push the rocks a little to the side so that they missed him.
The other man however didn't seem to be an Enchanter, and instead an Invoker. He tried to create a layer of water to drown out the rock's flames, but he couldn't finish creating the water fast enough.
The rock hit in right in the chest and very quickly his shirt caught on fire. The man immediately dropped on the ground and started patting on his chest to put out the fire.
The other man walked up to him and tried to put out the fire using his enchanting skills.
During that time, Ning put forth his hands and the gun by his side flew up to him. He opened the chamber and saw that there were still 3 bullets left in it.
He immediately turned around and looked at the 3 assassins behind him who were trying to reload their gun.
"Stay in the barrier," Ning ordered Lisa and walked out. He wasn't confident on his aim at all, so he decided to get closer.
Once he was close enough, he pointed at the man in the middle. The 3 of them had just finished filling their chamber with new bullets and pointed at Ning.
However, slowly, their aim started to change.
The men and woman grunted, but they couldn't stop their hands from changing. They were now pointing directly at the two men that were trying to put out the fire.
Ning calmly aimed at the man in the center and pulled the trigger.
BANG