Alfred was already in a realm of his own in the Circulation stage. He pushed a small amount of qi out of his body and made it revolve around him rapidly.

Most cultivators qi looked like solid, cold air. But Alfred's qi spun around him like threads. He didn't have qi to waste, so he used every bit as efficiently as possible. Each thread accurately hit a shard of glass, either deflecting or breaking it, but not a single one went untouched. If he had more qi to fed into his body, he would have been able to break each shard, but he had given most if his qi to Alexia's body, leaving less for him to absorb.

As the dust from the thrashed room settled, Alexia slowly held her head up.

"The paintings…"

"Alexia, I have to protect this place."

"?"

"If you don't want to leave in fear of infecting others, where are we going to sleep?"

"We can-"

"I won't allow you to sleep in the forest."

"…"

Alfred was deep in thought! If he tried to convince the imperial guards to not burn their home, they might attack and he won't be able to keep Alexia safe. But if he were to go alone, who would protect Alexia?

Since their home is at the outer edge of town itself, there was no possibility of enemies approaching from behind. As long as he could get Alexia to the cottage safely, he was confident in his ability to protect the front, but Alexia would witness him slaughtering countless people! This situation was giving him a headache!

Alfred heard two figures approaching nonchalantly through the front entrance. His senses were heightened considerably.

"Alexia, don't make a sound."

"What are you going to do?"

"…"

"You can't possibly be thinking of-"

"I have no choice but to-"

"You can't! I won't allow it! What if you get hurt?" In Alexia's mind, Alfred was still a weak person!

"I'll be fine, butI need you to stay in the mayor's basement. You'll be safe there." Against her futile struggle, Alfred roughly pushed her in and locked the basement door. Her moistened eyes almost made him lose his willpower to do! But he slowly pulled the door.

"I'm sorry." Alfred cold glare before he completely shut the door sent chills down her spine and made her uneasy.

****

"You really think the mayor wouldn't take all his art pieces with him?" Marv said with a sneer. He had black hair and looked to be a child, but his eyes held a hint of maturity that could only be gained by experiencing the world..

"Trust me, brother. Have I ever been wrong?" Joseph said with a confident smile.

"Plenty of times."

"Ugh…" Joseph's  blonde hair and blue eyes were a common combination. He looked to be a little older than Marv, but his facial features were still childish. His eyes were clear like an ocean, but held a deep excitement!

"Hurry up. Your friend told us the captain of the squad might come here to get his father's possessions. Remember?"

"That's the spirit! Us brothers have to stick together!" Joseph strongly hit Marv's back with a conniving smile, continuing forward.

"What a pain." Marv said, exhaling a deep breath.

As they marched ahead, through the halls of the mayor's halls, they felt an ominous presence.

"Doesn't it feel like we're being… watched?" Marv said cautiously, looking for any sudden movements. 'But it's still light out, there aren't any shadows to blend in...' He thought.

"You're thinking too much. Big bro will buy you a candied apple before we go back to the Renbach House." He whispered. Even he felt off, but if he didn't want his little brother to panic.

"What are you kids doing here?" Alfred said, taking a quick glance at Marv. 'This kid is not ordinary. To vaguely sense my presence at a such a young age…the other one as well... Early Materialization Stage maybe?'

"Honorable expert, we just want a few paintings to sell for money." Joseph hurriedly said, bowing deeply. He motioned towards Marv to bow as well, but he ended up crossing his arms!

Alfred was amused by these youngsters and advised them. They didn't seem to know what they we're getting into and they resembled him and his brother when they were children. 'Ugh. We're we this much trouble when we were children as well?' Alfred took a deep breath and warned them extensively.

"These artworks belong to mayor Hamon. If you plan to sell them on the black market unnoticed, you'll regret it. Leave and don't come back." Alfred tossed them a bag of gold coins, giving them a death glare before the bag covered their field of vision.

By the time the young boys had returned their gaze from the coins to Alfred, he was already gone.

"Big bro, that guy is strong… I heard the guy that got disowned by the Renbach house years ago had red hair and that he lived in this town."

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"Shh. We're not supposed to speak his name. Remember?" Joseph whispered. He recently became a servant of the Renbach house along with his sworn brother, and quickly became informed of the family's situation, especially Alfred as he was the topic of most gossip between the female servants.

With the Ash Death outbreak in Renlo, his death by an imperial guard was known by the heads of the Renbach house! But how could this information escape Joseph? He and his sworn brother had infiltrated the Renbach house to gather information! But they wouldn't waste an opportunity to make extra money, especially Joseph, which led them to Renlo.

'Not many people have red hair... But wasn't he killed by a guard because he was infected? More importantly, wasn't he a spineless weakling?' Joseph thought. Thinking of the stare Alfred had given him, he broke into a cold sweat.

"Let's go. That guy's dangerous." Marv said with a cold glint in his eyes.

"Nn."

Joseph and Marv ran out the building and saw the guards coming towards the mayor's home.

"Quick, hide!" Joseph instructed Marv, following closely behind.

*****

"What do we do about those little rats, Lobo?"

"Let them go. However, if any of my father's pieces are missing, make sure to cut off each of their hands."

"Yes, sir!" Uro said, licking his lips. 'Its been a long time since I've heard a child's curdling scream… Keke. I'll steal one of the pieces myself!' Uro thought.

They didn't bother to lower their voices, and the boys clearly heard what they said!

Lobo and over fifty imperial guards approached the front entrance, but unexpectedly a lean figure came out the extravagant door.

Alfred was shocked to see the devastation of the town. The flames were fanned to the east and bellowed violently, causing the fire to spread even further. His eyebrows furrowed as he could see smoke coming from the direction of his desolate home.

"Who the fuck do you think you are to enter-" A guard began, raising his voice at the mysterious man.

"Silence." Lobo raised his hand and the guard immediately shut his mouth in fear. "How did you survive? I clearly saw your lifeless body."

"My wife and I will be living here from now on. Leave." Alfred said ignoring his question and putting his hand over the hilt of a sword he pillaged from the mayor's private collection. Alfred decided that with the destruction of their cottage, he would make the mayor's home their permanent residence.

"Hoh. It seems escaping death has given you baseless courage. Uro, take care of him." Lobo said, snapping his fingers.

"I'll take care of your wife. Keke." Uro swung his spear around and stamped it onto the ground in a show of force, but Alfred was unaffected. "This time, I'll make sure you drop dead." He cursed.

Alfred recognized this guards as one of the two that impaled him, but he wouldn't put them in his eyes.

"Hmph. She's not interested in murderers." Alfred said pulling the sword from its sheath.

"Then why do you draw your sword? Are you gonna kill me? Won't your wife be unhappy when she hears of this? Haha!" The remaining guards also joined in on the laughter, mocking the man with red hair.

"There won't be any living witnesses to tell the tale."

"Huh?" A flash of light entered his field of vision and Uro stared at the sky, feeling great weight lifted off his shoulders.

His head fell to the ground and rolled towards Lobo as his body kneeled before Alfred.

One swing!

Dark lines filled Lobo's face. He turned to Alfred, his anger past its boiling point, but Alfred didn't even return his gaze. He was inspecting the quality of the blade!

Uro was the vice captain of his squad! For him to be killed by the useless trash of the Renbach house, his squad would lose face and become a laughing stock!

"Kill him!"

The previously shaken guards regained their confidence. If they couldn't overwhelm him with individual strength, they would overwhelm him with numbers.

Alfred swiftly ran away from the mayor's house before giving them the chance to surround him.

His first priority was Alexia's safety and he didn't want dead bodies to litter the ground of their new home.

*****

"Brother, what should we do?" Marv asked worryingly.

"I'm… I'm going to help him!" Joseph passed the bag of coins to Marv and rushed in their direction.

"Brother, don't!"

"A man always repays his favors! Don't worry about me, just stay here until I come back."

"…" As Marv saw Joseph's back disappear into the distance, he clutched the bag and grit his teeth, secretly following his brother with silent steps.

'What type of man leaves his brother behind!?'