Back to the present...
=In simple terms milord, aether armor is the embodiment of one’s "creed", which mortal cultivators like you can condense because it’s not normally present, but the kaijin can’t do that because...=
’Huh...okay...that explains some things.’
For the first time in a while, Zhen Liu actually accepted an explanation without thinking about it further...well, not think about it too much.
The kaijin were technically made of stuff that made up the heart and aether cultivation seemed to be about taking facets of the heart and giving them shape...huh...
’Wait, does that mean the forms of the kaijin...are what their source people would look like if they reached the Grand Master stage?’
With that information dump given, Zhen Liu was now ready to go back to the situation at hand, namely dealing with a family wide hit squad.
Before he could get some concrete planning done however...
"Master Zhen Liu? You have some guests here to see you," he heard Jin Fang say through his door...in an uncharacteristically formal tone.
’Huh? Why is she sounding so formal?’
Intrigued and wary of the formality being used, Zhen Liu walked over to the door to see what was causing her to talk like so.
When he opened the door, all he saw was Jin Fang looking and acting like a proper maid of the house...which was weird... unless...
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’Real fast, is this-.’
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"Hey Jin Fang...where are the guests?"
"They have requested to meet you at our usual meeting spot. Please come as soon as you can," Jin Fang said with a bow before walking away from the door. If the "usual meeting spot" was the place he thinks it was, then Jin Fang was headed the wrong way.
"I need to prepare some things before heading over, I will join you shortly."
"Okay... I’ll be on my way."
With the message received, Zhen Liu proceeded to leave in the opposite direction.
’Hmmm. Why do I feel like whoever these guests are, I’m gonna be mildly annoyed and/or about it?’
[To be fair maestro, you do have a low tolerance for "annoyances",] Hurricroak answered, [you gotta learn how to go with the flow of things~.]
[Well...I think our lord’s justified with his "annoyance tolerance" what with everything up till now,] Nepherage pointed out, [he did come from a much more peaceful world.]
[Is that why we’re "anachronistic"?,] Razor Maiden added.
[Anachro-what?,] Spring Brawler added.
’Debatable, also when did Razor Maiden start to speak more coherently?’
As Zhen Liu digested this latest update from the kaijin, he mentally prepared himself with whatever was about to surprise him at his "usual meeting spot": his training quarry.
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He was not mentally prepared for any of this.
"Good evening, Zhen Liu."
"Silence, or you’re getting shocked again."
=Not the time, Pathos.=
When Zhen Liu arrived at the quarry, he was greeted by the sight of Bellona, Alicia and Matilda...and apparently two people they had both independently gagged, blindfolded and tied up...and for some reason, brought to him.
While they did explain a bit about how these two were stalking them and were showing ill-intent, that didn’t stop him from asking an important question, to him at least.
"Why did you bring them to me exactly?"
Surprisingly, Alicia was the first to answer.
"Well...for starters, these two are from Roaring Tide and bear an emblem that looks surprisingly similar to your own clan’s emblem, so we figured it was related to you."
"Even read this one’s mind," Bellona followed up while pointing towards the tied up dude, "mentioned about how a dude named Zhen Wang was going to kill him for this. You are the only family around here with the surname of ’Zhen’...’dude’ rolls off the tongue, I am going to use that one more."
"The two of us figured that since you also seem to have a more experience dealing with... clandestine activities, we should bring them to you," Alicia finished.
"That’s...okay, that actually makes sense," Zhen Liu relented.
He was initially tempted to argue that was a big assumption to make and that it was mildly racist, but it’s kinda hard to argue against a mind reading sheep girl and a pair of spies with obvious emblems on their weapons.
Wasn’t it like rule one of spycraft, leave no identifiers?
Granted, this was a frontier town and was thoroughly disconnected from foreign politics, but still.
As for the clandestine activities thing...yeah, there was no arguing against that. The kaijin were his subordinates...familiars...things...and so he was responsible for their activities. Plus, he had been cultivating this image as some kind of enigmatic dealmaker devil thing, so he might as well get used to this.
"Alright...so I guess the next course of action is to get these two to talk...but judging from their gags and binds..."
"See I would agree on that, but...Matilda?"
The bodyguard maid double checked the knots on their captives before answering her mistress’s call, ready to supply an answer for the bridegroom to be.
"When we apprehended these two, they had these in their teeth," Matilda said as she presented a pair of white pills before Zhen Liu, "these are poison pills that explicitly designed to kill the consumer and destroy their body in a matter of seconds."
At this presentation, Zhen Liu was very tempted to back away and possibly freak out, but he had an image to maintain.
"So we’re dealing with the ’death for the sake of loyalty and secrets’ types. Well that’s gonna be difficult to get them to talk then."
"No worries Xiao Liu, that’s where this little case comes in," Jin Fang voice suddenly called out.
Coming down from the top of the quarry, Jin Fang arrived with a sizable looking carrying case that was about as big as large dog.
"Miss Ecaredies, Miss Goldshire. Good evening."
"Good evening to you too, Jin Fang."
"What’s with the case?," Alicia asked.
It was good thing she asked, but not even Zhen Liu knew, not even the previous guy.
"This my friends, is Lady Daria’s truth extraction kit," Jin Fang said as she opened the case to reveal an absurd amount of sharp implements and other, legally questionable in Zhen Liu’s old world, items, "although I think it’s more accurate to say it’s a torture kit?"
Alicia and Bellona we’re understandably shocked at the sight, Matilda looked fascinated by the stuff and Zhen Liu was...well...
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=How...did your parents meet exactly?=
’I’m...honestly not sure. I just remember being told it involved him coming to her rescue from some unscrupulous characters...which I think at this point might have been this world’s version of the mafia...dark sect, there we go.’
[Ya sure it’s not a kink kit?]
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"So," Jin Fang began to say as she pulled out a whip-like tool that she held with unusual familiarity "who we making talk first?"