Typer’s room: Hello guys. One day earlier from the original time so we at least have a net gain as of right now!

Anyway, this takes care of the aftermath of the battle and we start trying to understand why they did what they did. I also decided to leave Lia weak-willed in this chapter too seeing how I doubt a person would recover fast enough after seeing someone die in front of them like that. Call her weak all you want, she’s still a normal person.

Next chapter should be the last part of the infancy arc, and then I should do the so waited time skip, where we start seeing some crafting as every good Warhawx’s story does. (The only one to not have crafting yet is probably Project hero, but I doubt it counts... And its also pretty temporary.)

Lastly, since i will start posting as i write, and because i was a lazy bum before, i kinda lost my editor, so if you notice a quality drop, i'm sorry!

*Dogezas*

As I said before, this is VASTLY a work in progress, and wasn’t made to be posted initially, so there might be some inconsistencies. If so, please do tell me, as I want to make it an enjoyable read ^^

May your reading be enjoyable.

----

The following minutes went out on a haze. My mind was unfocused as I tried to understand everything that had happened in these last minutes. I remember seeing the bandit falling over after Dia managed to burn off the remaining of his spirit. For a moment I thought it was a pity that it ended up like that, but my mind went into a blur following that.

I’m not sure why it happened. Maybe I was a lot more affected than what I expected? Well, I didn’t have the chance to find out, as a couple of minutes later I managed to focus myself a little bit more and saw another scene. The remaining guards, all with significant wounds were holding the Spiritualist down, since they didn’t need to worry about him using his chi anymore thanks to Dia’s skill, they quickly subdued him. The remaining guards went on to dispose the body of the other bandits and treat the injured.

My position had also changed. I was now sitting against the fencing, a bit further from where the man had held me and where the scene had occurred. I looked around groggily for a few seconds and saw that the Yulai brat was nearby, watching the bandit be taken away with a scorn look on his face. I didn’t even need to sense his spirit to know that he felt restless. He probably noticed that the original aim was to grab him, not me.

I touched my neck around the place where the man had touched as I reminded myself of the scene, then lowered my eyes towards my hand as a thought crossed me.

He could have killed me then.

No, he would have killed me then. It’s not a matter of could or could not. I just knew that he simply was going to kill me there. Just close his hands and be done with it. If it wasn’t for the moment of surprise because of my aggressivity, he would have killed and discarded me without a second though.

That thought scared me.

I simply kept staring at my hand for what felt a few seconds while the thought crossed over my mind over and over again. When I finally raised my gaze back towards the scene before me, I could see that Dia was questioning the bandit while most of the other bandits had already disappeared. I became surprised.

The amount of bodies was a bit too big to disappear in a few seconds. Had I blanked out again? Thinking about it, the brat had disappeared and one of the aides from our household was now sitting besides me as if trying to calm me. She noticed that I had woken up and brought up something to my mouth.

I unconsciously drank it, a bit surprised after tasting the water going down on my surprisingly dry throat.

“..o muc… ong...” She said something I couldn’t quite understand. She sounded a bit angry. Strange.

I wasn’t in quite the best mental state, so I didn’t manage to understand what was happening, and I simply looked around confused for some time until something caught my attention.

With the corner of my eyes I caught sight of a purple-haired girl leaving the house through a side door. She walked on the garden hesitatingly for a moment before she saw me and made her way in my direction.

I looked at her blankly for a few seconds before feeling my consciousness wane and my stomach churn once again.

This time I didn’t manage to hold back and threw out all my dinner on the ground. Luckily I managed to turn away from the aide in time and didn’t dirty neither hers nor mine clothes.

“Lia! Are you alright?” I heard Miss Tian saying surprised as she approached me.

Huh? Did she call me by name?

I didn’t have the time to worry about that, as my head grew light once again and I could feel my consciousness threatening to slip away from my grasp once again. Noticing this I gritted my teeth and tried to hold myself together

“I… I am...” I said when I felt her holding my hand. “J-Just a bit shocked.” I replied while accepting her help in getting up.

I turned to her and tried smiling so she wouldn’t worry too much about me.

Why did she look so shocked? Why does she look so worried? As these questions ran through my head, she suddenly hugged me tightly. With my already impeded reasoning, I became even more shocked by her reaction.

For a few seconds, I stood stiffly, not really comprehending what was happening. Then, I broke down.

Before I knew I couldn’t hold back my tears and hugged Lady Tian while weeping. Forget the fact that I should be more mature mentally or not. Facing something like what I just had to face was too much for me. No, most people would probably go through the same, I think. Doesn’t matter if they are more or less mature. I should be glad that I managed to keep my cry to but an inaudible weep.

I felt as Lady Tian gently started to caress my head, comforting me as time went on. I don’t know when, but she had kneeled on the ground near me and held my head gently in her arms.

I didn’t move. Nor had I the energy to.

However, I could at least feel as Dia seemingly gave up on trying to question the bandit and turned towards us. She stopped a couple of steps away from the two of us, seemingly waiting for us to finish.

“Is there something I can help you with?” I heard lady Tian ask while she turned her head around.

“...No. I just wanted to give my thanks to the young aide.” The spiritualist said with her serious tone. For a moment I felt confused, and although I knew the answer, I didn’t exactly was in the right mind to understand it. “She not only found out about the attack, she also helped in the battle and risked her own life in the end. If it wasn’t for her, the thief would have killed the Heir of the Sol household.”

“Ris… risked her life?” Lady Tian asked surprised, her voice becoming hollow for a moment as she held me a bit tighter. Her spirit became unruly as she turned to me worried. “Is this why she’s like this…?” She asked.

“Yes. It was none other than my own lack of judgement that ended up making her risk her own life like that.” The woman replied with an apologetic tone. I heard a sound of cloth moving and I think she might have bowed, but I couldn’t be so sure.

However, I clearly felt as Lady Tian breathing stopped for a moment and her spirit seemingly agitated itself. She was angry. Very angry. Noticing this, I tightened my hold on her and shook my head ever so slightly.

It wasn’t her fault what happened. I was the one who decided to go to that place, and I was the one who stepped in for the brat. It was no one else fault.

For a brief moment there was an hostile silence around the two of them, but luckily, Lady Tian decided to hear my plea and calm down, letting things end with a simple ‘I see’.

“Still, we are indebted to her.” Dia went on after a few seconds. “The Song household would lose its footing if the assassin managed to kill Young Master Yulai.” Huh? Kill the brat? Her words made me frown for a moment. “While I may not be part of the household per se, I still hold responsibility, so if there is something I can...”

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

“...No...” I said, noticing how low and weak my voice sounded. I cleared my throat to solve that while the two looked at me confused. “He… Didn’t want to kill… Him.” I said, my voice not sounding much better.

“What do you mean?” Dia asked seriously.

“If he wanted to kill him… I wouldn’t be alive.” I said briefly while feeling another wave of nausea at the idea.

While Lady Tian only became even more worried and confused, at least Dia caught my intention with the words, as she widened her eyes in shock and turned back to the man. While he tried to keep a deadpan face, it was clear that he became a bit worried after my words.

“I see. If he truly wanted to kill him, he wouldn’t have caught you at the moment.” The spiritualist said while taking her hand to her chin and thinking. “Did he want to take the ransom for kidnapping the son of the Sol family?”

“No.” Lady Tian shot the idea down immediately. “I doubt anyone would assault the Sol Household without some kind of reason like that. Not even spiritualist would risk something of that degree, as they would get a fairly powerful enemy for little to no reason.”

I nodded at her words while resting my head against her chest. It just didn’t feel like a random rag-tag group.

“Then, if that isn’t the reason...” Dia said with frown and a clearly annoyed face. “The only other reason I can think of is politics. But I’m not very good when it comes to that.”

“Then it would be best to report this to the Song and let them handle it.” Lady Tian said coldly.

“Indeed.” Dia said with a nod before turning towards me directly. “Still, I owe you a great debt, so if there’s anything that I can do to repay you, please do tell me so.”

I took a moment to process her words as I still hadn’t collected myself yet. After a couple of seconds staring blankly at her I finally nodded and said.

“Don’t ask… And don’t tell.” I said briefly. For a moment the two looked at me confused, but Dia widened her eyes for a moment before making a complex expression and nodding.

“I understand. I shall not inquire about it then.” She said with a bow before turning back to the man and ordering the guards to take him away.

For the following minutes I simply stayed there quietly while being comforted by milady. With the aide already gone back to report to lord Bo. After recovering enough so that I could at least walk without falling, we made our way back to the house slowly while she held my hand so that I wouldn’t fall over.

We made our way back to the party and received some curious glances from the other houses, but after faking a yawn, they decided that it was just me being sleepy so there was nothing strange at how I was looking.

While I didn’t exactly see it, I could at least hear that some music was playing in the hall meanwhile. Probably some artists that the Sol hired. Since the music echoed throughout the entire hall, it was no wonder that the sounds of the battle outside escaped their ears.

“Mother, father.” Tian said while we approached the table where the couple were.

“Ah, Tian, young Li...” Master Bo greeted us cheerfully, but he quickly stopped when he saw me, and a conflicted expression crossed his face. “Ah… I see.” He made a motion for us to sit on the chairs besides him.

I tried to let go and pull the chair for milady, but she quickly stopped me and did the job herself while making sure to put the two close together.

“I take it that it really was an attack?” Lady Sui said while also approaching us with a worried face. I nodded weakly. “... It really was too early after all.” She said with a sigh.

“Too early?” Tian and me asked confused.

“Too early to send you to the frontlines.” Master Bo said with a slightly guilty tone. I blinked surprised while looking at him. “I thought that, seeing how mature you can actually be, it wouldn’t be a problem sending you despite only being a child, but… Perhaps it was a bit too much after all.”

Ah… I see. So he feels guilty that he should have stopped me.

“It should be our duty as a noble to make sure young plebeians like you never get to suffer something like that, yet we were the ones who sent you. I’m so sorry.” Tian’s mother said her apology. I simply stared at her blankly for some time, however Bo quickly took over again.

“I’m sorry for doing this, but I need to know the aftermath from you two.” He said suddenly, his imposing aura surrounding the large man as he went back in politics mode. “Is there any piece of information you got from that ordeal?”

“That’s...” Lady Tian flinched for a moment and looked towards me. However she quickly shook her head and made a serious expression once again, turning back towards Master Bo. “Well, it seems that the bandits wanted to kidnap the heir of the Sols. According to Cute Plebeian, he didn’t go for the kill even though he had the chance to do so.” She said briefly.

“So, it was a kidnapping attempt?” Bo said slightly surprised. “And that boy of all people...” He said with a frown. “That clear up a lot of doubts.” He nodded.

“...It was the Hons, right?” Tian said with a frown, to which Bo nodded.

“Probably.” Bo replied with a nod, but Tian’s mother simply looked at them curious. “With their recent loss of territory to the Nichi country, they are exhausted with their armies right now. If they also got a hold of the rumor of the Sol gathering weapons and supplies, it wouldn’t be strange for them to worry about being invaded by the Sol while their troops are exhausted as they are right now.”

“Then, they tried to kidnap Yulai so that they could hinder the preparations, right?” Tian asked, to which Bo nodded once again.

“This should give them enough time to rest the troops, repair gear and prepare for any possible assault.” He said.

“But… Didn’t you say that… They might not attack the Hon?” I asked confused as the memories from earlier came to me. “And might aim for Nichi?”

“Yes. However, the Hon can’t be sure of that. Neither can they take the risk.” Master Bo said. “So it’s not strange that they would take such action in such times.” I nodded weakly before leaning my head against the chair’s rest.

So, this all happened because of the feud between the Sol and the Hon. While heaving a sigh at the thought, I noticed how Tian kept eyeing me worried for some time.

“Well, even with that said, we can’t be sure whether that’s the truth or not.” Lady Sui said sternly, to which master Bo nodded heavily.

“Indeed.” He said heavily while contemplating for some time. “I can think of a few other possibilities, but they are too unlikely to be taken seriously.” He said before shaking his head.

“Dear...” Sui said with a heavy tone.

“What?”

“Isn’t that enough for now?” She said while giving a glance at me. I replied with a confused expression.

“Yes. Sorry.” Bo said with a nod before raising himself from the table. Sui smiled gently and followed him while making a motion for Tian and me to raise. “It’s good enough for now. Young Lia needs to rest for now, so it’s better we retire for now.”

I became surprised and tried to say that there was no need for that, but not only Master Bo, but also Tian and Lady Sui refused my words at once. After talking briefly with the head of the Song clan, we retired to a guest room on the other side of the mansion.

It was something we had planned already, since it would take too long to return by carriage and it was late, so we didn’t have any trouble.

Surprisingly enough, I passed out immediately while sleeping besides Milady who refused to let go of me.

That said, it was a restless sleep, and soon, morning came.