Gin's mouth was left agape for what seemed to be the hundredth time. He wanted to have the whole short scene replayed so he could take it in slowly. Although, he now firmly believed that Spear should coach people in acting and be some renowned figure in plays. Silencing his rumblings, Gin refocused on the twos’ interaction. If Spear's pissy attitude for the past weeks was to corner the servant to expose himself, then that meant he had known that a spy was among them for a while. Gin could only guess that the 'who' was what escaped Spear. But, Gin still wondered if it was just the one servant...

In-as-much as the Distant Jade had few workers, the number was still sizable that Spear couldn't easily supervise every single one to a second. Spear's downfall would be his attention to detail. He especially wanted to be aware of all things handled with money, and many things needed money to be managed in a place as big as the Distant Jade; not forgetting the various business ventures that Spear ‘owned’.

So then, what would he need to do? Be around the Distant Jade more often. Gin’s stay at the Distant Jade made him notice that Spear would head to Janln City quite regularly, but since the decline of that particular precious venture of his, he started going out less and less.

Yes, creating trouble with whatever made his income, the reason for a business failure, was rather easy to engineer. It's a common occurrence, and other than eating the losses, it didn't raise many eyebrows. This must have taken some time to fabricate, but Gin could think of two paths, it must have been an impromptu move from Spear, or—giving the benefit of the doubt to dear failure—the business was truly falling and Spear took advantage of it to smoke out the spy. But, how would his pissy attitude be cumbersome to the servant?

Simple. Spear was now around the estate more. Gin knew Spear’s other ventures never needed his direct intervention so it was normal for him to be around the estate. However, the new venture needed not only his time but presence as well. Though, this changed abruptly when it began failing; he didn't need to bother going out to check its progress or redeem it. With enough room to move in the Distant Jade, he was able to keep a tight leash on the servants. He became more meddlesome in the servants' affairs, and they would work with extra diligence and caution.

This easily reduced the spy's chances to move around. He wasn't able to take more of what he could or wanted. With this suppression, maybe the spy got the feeling he would be found out sooner or later. He risked the blunder to talk to Gin, and Spear was finally able to zero in his attention to the servant. And, finally, sniffed him out. The servant emboldened himself, made his presence unobscure by the extra assistance he offered to Gin. He needed to risk it all to get whatever he could about the new variable. He then, maybe, decided to take his chances as the situation went on.

Ha..., Gin narrowed his eyes that held a flicker of comprehension. He felt it was well played from Spear’s part, but his conclusion could be wrong. Spear was a shrewd individual, so many things could be easily missed by looking at surface details. The servant deserved his due praise, their efforts were top notch. He had to wonder how he had succeeded until now. What more could the young man be… If there was one thing he did learn from the knowledge acquired on the Divine Art, it was not drawing conclusions where there weren’t any. Run with what you know, yes, but it shouldn’t be a determining factor.

As Gin mused on this and that, he was forgetting that all this had to do with him from skin to bone.

"What made a faithful servant like you disregard Master and the Distant Jade?"

"This, I cannot say," the servant responded in a sincere but regretful manner.

"How sad… your loyalty was eaten by dogs. All that effort and money I spent on you... wasted!" Spear spat in disdain.

"And for that, I am deeply sorry, truly I am," the servant looked at Spear with an easy smile. To most, his regret may be feigned, but he felt it deep in his heart. Raw and powerful it may be, but it was much too late for lament. The servant raised his sword and made a guarded posture.

Seeing this, Spear snorted but didn't bother with saying anything else. Beyond the grandiose theatrics and well-placed anger, he had more important things to consider. He believed that if the servant was the spy to such powerful people, then he shouldn’t be too easy an opponent. His abilities to disguise himself were on par with Flame's sect, but unlike Flame's subordinates, the cinnamon roll before him was pathetically weak in his Fighting Arts. The exchange he had with him earlier had proven this. Spear had hazard a guess that the child was most definitely a Crafter. And it was this same observation that presented the reason for Spear adding the ‘shouldn't be too easy’ bit in his assessment.

Unlike those in the School of Martial Arts, when Crafters had to fight, they fought with Items. These items presented a challenge of their own, thus it was best to end a fight with a Crafter as soon as an opportunity presented itself. Spear looked at the sword that the servant held. It was another trinket he was sure a descendant in the School of Martial Arts could have brought its potential to the fullest. The Divine Aura from those learning the Fighting Arts was meant for violence. Its application used for destruction and defense. Crafters didn't have this Signature in their Divine Aura. They could bring things alive, yes, but those things either showed low capabilities or didn't last long enough for them to bloom fully.

Did this stop Crafters from being evil? No, not at all! Items could be damn useful and deadly. A bomb made from one's Divine Aura can cause more damage than one could imagine. And… the descendants of the School of Crafts in the University of Divinity made this their life's work. Then, of course, there was Mali damned Hanbari! She was a very weird addition to the world of Divine Art Users. Imagine a Crafter that could make the descendants of the School of Martial Arts run for the hills. Heck, Spear bet that if the sword in the servant's hand was in Mali's, he would have had to sacrifice a lot from himself to even begin imagining defeating her.

Tch, Spear's eyebrow twitched at that final thought. He wasn't, however, fighting Mali. And he did consider the young man’s words to be true though; his chances of getting out of this alive were indeed 0.

Spear shifted his weight to the balls of his feet and charged. A quick jab with his weapon was the initiation of the fight. The servant really wasn't bad off when fending off Spear. With every swipe of the sword, he managed to block the blows from the spear. If another hazard guess could be made by the Legend, that sword had a lot more to do with this than the servant himself.

When the fighting resumed, Gin grew terribly anxious. He knew in his heart that even though the fight looked even, his meager experience in combat told him that Spear was going to win. For one, Spear was one of Il San's students--and a legend to boot. For two, he was pissed. These two things made Gin’s anxiety roundup on the outcome of the battle. His feelings on being spied on were not clear, so he couldn’t say he wished to see the servant hurt. He hoped it would end quickly. In fact, if the servant had been generous with his surrender as he had with the confession he gave on his misconduct, it would have been truly great.

The servant seemed to have no issues as he fought, but as the seconds ticked away, he started to succumb to the pressure. As if a rash of water was filling a bucket, Spear's momentum with his attacks increased. He focused on the areas where the servant's swordsmanship started to show weakness. From the shoulders to the sides, then hips, and a swipe at the legs. These attacks came fast and in various sets in an unpredictable manner. Fast and faster Spear's assault became.

Sure enough, the battle started to tilt towards Spear. Even though the movements of the servant's sword were swift, it looked like the sword turned to be a burden in his hands. His defense continued to be utilized far more than his offense. As he continued to defend himself from the heavy blows, it was no surprise that he started to tire.

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This state was maintained for a few more seconds until the servant suddenly shifted towards the trees in the front yard. With the change of position, the servant started to use the environment to his advantage. Since he had a sword, it was easy for him to maneuver around. Instead of his sword, the trees became his shields and his covers for small ambushes.

"Naive," Spear disdained after seeing the servant's move.

°°

Adapting to the change directed by the servant, from a long spear, the weapon compressed itself to a short spear in a blink of an eye as the top was swallowed to the bottom half. It took the size of a lengthy mace, and Spear could use it to beat at and slash at the servant easily in a melee. Being closer to the servant than previously made the blows from Spear mightier and scarily rapid.

The servant looked even more cramped than before. He quickly grasped that the move he made was erroneous. However, some disadvantages come with advantages. Suddenly letting go of his sword, the servant waved his hands towards Spear, and a shine of silver came from underneath the sleeves of the servant's robes. Spear saw what they were: chains and birdies.

Unlike Spear’s view, Gin’s perspective saw long ripples that resembled the three that had flown to the sky earlier. While the ripples were forming, the falling sword was repossessed by the servant. Using a tree as a foothold, the servant closed the distance between him and Spear.

"Hm," Spear frowned slightly, dodged the ripples, and then blocked the servant's sequenced attack.

Only... when the short spear made contact with the sword, the chain that Spear had glimpsed earlier came covering the servant’s hand and a part of the sword’s hilt. A concave shaped Divine Aura expanded fiercely into existence. Not having a firm balance on the ground, Spear found himself being blown away by the blast. Robes flattering, Spear flew back to the starting point of their fight.

When Spear had felt the resistance, he had closed his eyes and let his spear do the heavy lifting of absorbing the Aura’s shock. As he landed, he wasted little time and braced his whole body on the ground. Like a drawn bowstring released with great force, he leaped from the ground at an unprecedented speed.

In a flash, Spear went to face the servant like he hadn’t moved away from him. An intense exchange of blows had the servant repeat his retreat quickly. Spear didn't let up, the absorbed Aura in his spear needed to be released through consistent combos.

Absorption was a feature he enjoyed about his weapon, but one that gave him more worry than anything else. It was a great trinket of his own from Crafter descendants. Unfortunately, like all Crafter gear, they always had a problem with either durability or one disadvantage or another to make its users weary. Sure, he didn’t need to use only his Aura to enhance the properties of the weapon, but what if the servant’s Aura blast had been denser? If the spear ate more than necessary during their combat, it could backfire horribly since the weapon would implode on the user. With his weapon being the only one of its kind, it was safe to say, salt was added to injury for Spear. Indeed, Crafter items could be such fascinating things, but at the same time, they could morph into terrible, terrible creations.

With an audible snort and added heat from Spear, the servant was suppressed. To the Legend, the young man had been given more than enough chances to play his childish games, and he believed to have seen enough. Positioning himself two steps before the servant in a blink, Spear extended his weapon's length again and watched it pierce the servant's chest. The blow went right through the heart, and there had been no constraints as a part of the spear revealed itself from the servant's back. It was now dyed a dark shade of red from the faint moonlight.

Gin's heart skipped a beat. His body became a solid block as it froze over. The fight was deadly, and that was in more ways than one as he stared at the spear protruding from the servant. He had taken the servant's request of a painless death as a joke. He had thought of apprehending the criminal as the fitting conclusion. His thoughts were a comfort, he realized. A comfort that wasn't meant to be his companion that night.

With a painful thud, the servant fell to his knees. Blood started to trickle from the corners of his mouth as slowly as the cruel realization of death crept on his face.

A bitter smile formed and a gasping complaint was uttered as the servant looked up at Spear with the last vestige of his strength, "... my... Sir... you forgot... this... painful..."

Pulling the weapon out ruthlessly, splashing more blood before and around him, Spear sneered at the servant, "You know me well enough, or did your disloyalty make your brain muddled. I changed my mind, that price is too expensive and I'm not interested."

A gurgled but found chuckle left the servant's bloody mouth. "Indeed..."

The servant's voice faded and his figure fell forward. As seconds ticked by, so did the blood from the gaping hole that was his wound, but it didn't take long before he breathed his last.

Spear threw another contempt filled gaze at the servant's dead body and flicked his weapon in a half arch. The blood on it was quickly cleared off, and like previously, the weapon transformed, but this time, it went back to the form of a brace. While he busied himself with fastening it and then straightening his sleeves, Spear made his way to the Master and bowed deeply. "Master, this is my mistake. I take full responsibility and will ensure this doesn't happen again."

Grunting, Il San spoke, "I see you still like to waste time when fighting..."

A strong yet familiar cold pressure floated from Il San and pressed on Spear. Gin, being beside his Master, suffered from the pressure far more than Spear who kept a healthy distance. Shaken, Gin tried to sidestep, but his Master's hand was still clamped on his shoulder so he couldn't move an inch.

As the pressure thrashing from his Master to Spear went on, Gin did his best to calm his chaotic mind. He also did his utmost to not look away from the dead figure of the servant. The spy. He wasn’t sure if that distinction was of any help, but he placed his efforts to erase his lighthearted enlightenment from earlier. He focused on something else that weighed more than those daggers that his Master had tested him with. Weighed far more than what the heavens could have prepared him for.

He wasn't at the farm. He wasn't in the safety cocoon of his parents.

He was with a group of people that probably—if not ‘most definitely’—saw death as just another part of their lives. He didn't know if seeing these people in a familiar setting of a home and living merrily away made him forget who they were. Their actual selves. A previous Chief of Palace's Defence and one of the 5 Legend weren't to be disregarded like so.

It's alright, this is the slap from reality. Let’s thank the gods for that much, Gin took in a deep breath as he stared at the nonchalant individuals beside and in front of him. As a cool breeze from the cold night air blew by, Gin's mind also cooled down. To his surprise, all the tension gradually left his body. Well, that's a good sign, yes?

"If that's the case... It's best to resume training alongside young Gin. We will start where we left off," Il San's voice was a degree colder as his berating continued.

This managed to wake Gin from his stupor. Even though Spear's face was not seen since he was bowing at a ninety-degree angle, his action of tensing up was not hard to miss. Spear quickly raised himself and made an excuse about 'cleaning up' and apologized as he shuffled away. Gin watched Spear with a slightly amused glint in his eyes. While Spear walked away, Gin saw him raise his hand and made a signal. Suddenly, a small servant appeared from the entrance towards the main living quarters.

Gin found the servant familiar, especially their stature. He immediately realized that it was the servant that Spear had slapped for accidentally pouring tea on him some time back. He tried to recall ever seeing them again, but he came out blank. It wasn't entirely strange though, his training had taken most of his time and focus. With quick instructions and bows, the servant raised the dead servant's body with as much ease as raising a weightless sack and not someone twice, if not thrice, their height and weight.

This made Gin feel incredulous, his earlier hypothesis on Spear thrown into disarray. The servant either became amazingly good after the additional training necessitated from that mistake, or it was just an act alongside Spear. He really had a lot to speak with Spear. He especially wanted to know about the relations between the Distant Jade's servants and Divine Art. Tutting, Gin shook his head at his cluelessness and naivety.

Only, he didn't know how deep the depth of those two elements actually went.