“Hey, isn’t that the restaurant we visited yesterday?” Hana asked.

“Yea, it seems like wasted no time in adding those truffles into the menu.” Relic replied.

“I wonder what they taste like cooked.” She remembered the heavenly taste of the truffle she had. It had already tasted so good by itself; she couldn’t imagine what it was like with other ingredients.

“Why don’t we take some back tonight and I will cook our family some dinner tonight?”

“Okay!” Hana gave a big smile. She already begun imagining the delicious dishes she would get to eat tonight.

They were just about to leave when Hana happened to get a glance of a little girl waiting in line.

She immediately jumped off Jiro and ran towards that little girl.

“Sophie!”

The little girl turned her head and was also ecstatic to see Hana who was running towards her.

“Hana!”

“(Go hide.)” Relic told Jiro.

Jiro quickly disappeared from the area before Sophie even saw him. Some wounds take longer to heal than others and Relic thought it was better this way.

Behind Sophie was a middle aged women as well as a tall balding man.

“Relic is here too!” The middle aged women waved to him excited. After they last met, she developed quite an impression of this little boy who was capable of downing such a strong spirit beast.

Relic gave an exaggerated grin and waved back as he made his way to them.

“Auntie, Uncle, good morning!” Relic spoke politely. He turned to Sophie and also said, “Good morning, Sophie.”

Sophie nodded with an unusual face. She just couldn’t get over how much Relic had changed. His entire demeanour had changed and his speech was as fluent as someone who had spoken for years.

“Relic…” The bald man suddenly spoke sternly. His face had a natural unfriendly face and when he spoke, people would become intimidated.

“Yes?” Relic asked.

“Thank you for saving my wife and daughter.” He bowed his head.

“Ah, of course, the spirit beast was terrorizing everyone including my sister. It was only natural for me to do such a thing!” Relic assured him.

The man shook his head. “I do not know many who would have done the same as you did. I was on a business trip at that time and I wasn’t here for the whole incident. You have my gratitude.” He lifted his head. “Are you two here alone? Why don’t you join us for breakfast? Apparently, they started to serve truffle seasoning in their meal. It is a once in a life time experience!”

“Yes, it is the least we can do.” The women also agreed.

Relic turned and saw Hana happily chatting with Sophie and nodded.

The two joined this family in the line and began to chat about a various things.

Just then a loud shout sounded which silenced the entire line.

“Get out of my way!” A young man exited out the Moon Lit Dining Hall in a rage.

“P-pleas c-come a-a-again.” A beautiful young lady stuttered behind him.

This young man was young master Yan Mu. His countenance was terrible as he shoved the people in his way on to the floor.

“Young master, we can’t make a scene here. Please calm yourself!” one of his guards whispered to him

Slap!

“Shut up! I know! I need to discuss with uncle…” Yan Mu and the two guards next to him quickly hurried on their way.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Relics witnessed the entire scene. His eyes suddenly turned sharp “(Jiro!)”

“(What is it?)” Jiro was hiding in a dark alley way and responded unhappily.

“(Why did the Yan family come to this remote place anyways?)” He asked.

“(I don’t know, I was within his beast ring most of the time. When he let me out I was already here. )” Jiro spoke solemnly.

“Could it be…” Ever since he first saw the Yan family, he was quite confused why they were even here. Based on what Relic could see, there was no reason for any one from a venerable family to have come to such a place.

Venerable families were traditional households which still practiced the old ways. In particular, they believed in the importance of continuing their blood lines and still referred to the old naming systems. For example, the household of the Yan family still used the last name to first name system. Yan Mu and his uncle, Yan Wen were perfect examples for this. Average families like the Astors seldom use this type of naming system when they decide names for their children.

The roots of Venerable families usually stretched from a few hundred to thousands of years and generally held the same power as top tier sects like the Thunder Storm Sect.

Within this ordinary town filled with regular mortals. Relic could only think of one reason why the Yan family would possibly come here. “The truffles…”

“Brother…”

“Brother….”

“Brother!” Hana shouted in Relic’s ear.

Relic immediately snapped out of his contemplation and looked at Hana. “What is it?”

“You suddenly stopped moving and looked all serious. Are you okay?” She asked.

“Mn, no problem, I was just thinking of something.” He gave a smile.

“So that’s the man who harmed my family.” The bald man gritted his teeth and a grinding noise could be heard coming from his mouth. His entire countenance was red with rage as he looked at Yan Mu’s fleeting figure.

“Dear, it is already over. Mr Mayor already healed us both and even made him apologise. We should truly be counting our blessings nothing more had happened.” The middle aged woman embraced her husband and said.

The embrace was effective and the man immediately calmed down. One could easily see the love this man had for his wife.

“Mn” he nodded.

“ah, that reminds me, Hana, Relic, you two should come visit us soon. Some of the children are still recovering from yesterday’s incident and so Sophie has been quite lonely. ” The woman said. She then proceeded to turn to Relic. “Actually, ever since that incident, Sophie has been quite interested in you and seems to spend her time staring out the window as she spoke your name.”

“Mother!” Sophie cried and blushed red. “I was just thinking about how different you are compared to before. Don’t think I feel anything for you!” She squealed at Relic.

“Y-yea.” Relic stuttered. He then looked at the mother. “We would be happy to come for a visit. I’m sure my sister and Sophie have a lot to catch up on. We currently have a few errands to run, but we will definitely come over soon.” He said. Relic was like a parent, setting play dates for his daughter. There were still a lot Relic wanted to do in order to repay Hana for taking care of him in his younger years. One such thing was definitely to reconnect her with her friends.

.“Mn, I’ll hold you to that.” She smiled.

The line slowly moved and they eventually got a seat within the packed restaurant. A delightful mood could be seen as everyone was salivating waiting for the dishes to arrive to their tables. Relic and their group ordered as soon as they sat down.

At the same time this was happening, a more sinister conversation was currently being held in one of the mayor’s guest houses.

….

“Uncle, what are we going to do? That restaurant selling those truffles means that someone has discovered where they are grown! If this information is leaked, we will completely lose our monopoly and the organization may even blame it on us!” Yan Mu began biting his nails. The Sun and Moon trading group was the sole distributors of truffles and only those with direct connections with them understood how terrifying their foundation was. Even a prestigious family like the Yan family was merely an ant in front of them.

Yan Wen remained silent. His face was hardened in thought.

“It is likely the owner of the restaurant bought the truffles from someone else, otherwise they would have men scavenge through the forest in search of these truffles. Also it doesn’t seem whoever is supplying these truffles want to let others know where to find these truffles either.” He spoke solemnly.

“Should we threaten her to release the information of who sold her the truffles?” Yan Mu asked

“No, ever since that incident, the mayor has been sending out his divine sense periodically. He is too darn precautious. If we do anything suspicious he will find out and we may end up actually being the one revealing the secret.

“Then what…”

“For now, we should have some of our men stationed outside several restaurants and see if anyone is bringing in anything suspicious into the restaurants. As for the mayor, we will continue with our plan!” A sinister smile appeared of Yan Wen’s face.

…..

Back at the Moon Lit Dining Hall, Relic and Hana were saying good bye to Sophie and her family.

“Remember to come visit us soon!” The mother waved the kids good bye and the family departed.

Hana and Relic had a smile as they waved good bye.

As they left, Relic’s expression turned solemn.

“Let’s go, Hana, we are in a hurry.”

Hana saw the serious expression on Relic’s face and was immediately surprised. It was the same face he made when he had killed those men.

She tried to speak up but ended up nodding and following him towards the market place to buy several large bags. They met back with Jiro and the trio quickly took off and headed down to the base of the mountain to once more collect truffles.

As they glided down, Relic countenance turned worse and worse. The appearance of the Yan family and the gold mine of truffles, brought forth images of Heaven’s Peak destruction within Relic’s mind. “I have to hurry!”