[Huh...I’m not gonna lie, I’m surprised that actually worked,] Razorstella commented as she watched the director manage to walk away from his extended family without causing further conflict, [I honestly figured that Zhen Ba Yin guy would’ve tried to detain them because of public disturbances or something like that.]
[I didn’t,] Hurricroak refuted, [he’s a law man, of course he didn’t do anything further.]
[Huh? What does that have to do with anything?]
[Above...law...is...power...,] Frosttusk answered.
[What the big guy said. Despite popular belief that the law affects everyone equally, power tends to trump it. That guy thinks our lord is way more powerful than what he can detect, so even if it’s his job to maintain the law of society, he’ll defer to the greater one. That of the jungle.]
[Big sis Hurricroak...why did that sound like the voice of experience?,] Spring Brawler asked.
A short yet awkward silence befell the group before Hurricroak suggested something to change the topic.
[Now come on guys, we should probably catch up with the maestro and Nepherage before we lose track of them...or we stalk the captain and/or young lady over there and see where that leads us. What do y’all think?]
[I...mean...we’re...probably...be...visiting...their...estates...soon...anyways...]
[Divide and conquer it is.]
_____________________________________________
’Fuck...now what do I do?,’ Zhen Liu thought to himself as he continued to lead his cousins away from the plaza, while still under the disguise of being his own "mysterious master".
A bit after managing to get away from the city guard, Zhen Liu had his cousins tell him where they were staying at so that he could escort the lot of them back there.
Zhen Liu knew where they were staying at, but not the "old master", so he had no choice but to play that bit up.
They had wandered far enough away from the plaza that none of the guards or that crazy Zhen Clan girl could hear them if they wanted to discuss about anything, but the problem was that everyone currently present was as silent as corpses.
Whether this was due to them finding the situation awkward or not knowing what words to say was up for debate.
’Then again, I did kind of drop this whole master thing on them as a spur of the moment...’
The last time he did this schtick in front of his family, he was disguised as a seven foot tall demonic warrior accompanied by most of his kaijin acting as his "disciples".
He didn’t even interact with any of them in that particular disguise, he just rolled up, fought the rogue kaijin and left like the wind.
Now, he was disguised as an old man, with his "disciples" consisting of three Amazonian women, two of which were technically romantically connected to him, and he just had to bail out his cousins out of a confrontation with local law enforcement via bribery.
Zhen Liu had no idea what the value of a slave was in the Empire, but he was damn sure that two vials of Sacred Beast Essence was more than enough to purchase one and then some...probably.
He was fairly certain Logos and Pathos knew the answer to that question, but at the same time, he didn’t want to open that Pandora’s box anytime soon.
’Granted, that doesn’t change the fact that this silence is awkward as fuck and needs to end at some point.’
At this point in time, the group had been silent for a rather long time, with the only sound breaking it being the ambient civilians around them doing their own thing, their footsteps and the quiet breathing of the slave girl.
’Fuck it,’ Zhen Liu finally concluded, ’I’m just going to-’
"Why’d you help us out?"
’Or just play off of my cousins’ dialogue, that works too.’
[Did you want me or Mistress Jin Fang takeover?]
’Nah, I’m good...I think.]
_____________________________________________
"Hmmm? Come again?," the old master said with a raised eyebrow.
The moment Zhen Yue asked her question, the entire group stopped in their track. Thankfully, they were about a block away from their hotel, so even if the old master decided to faff off because he was offended by her line of questioning, they could at least walk back in a relatively short timeframe.
Assuming he didn’t decide to turn them into paste that is.
"Oh...okay this is happening...," Zhen Hai muttered, "I’m...gonna go make sure the girl is okay."
"Hold up, I think I have some medicine for this."
Zhen Hai and the others had also wanted to also ask why this mysterious old master of their cousin’s decided to intervene like he did, but stopped themselves once they heard Zhen Yue ask what they were all thinking. They decided then and there to just let Zhen Yue do the talking, since it was easier for a question and answer dialogue to take place between two people as opposed to...seven. Either way, they decided it was smarter for them to back off and let the most articulate among them do the talking, that way they could just listen in.
Even the three female disciples of the old guy decided to step away in order to give the conversationalists some privacy.
’Gee, thanks for leaving me out to hang here guys,’ Zhen Yue mentally cursed as she noticed exactly what her cousins were doing. She may have been the one seeking answers, but the others could’ve helped!
Zhen Yue paused for a second, as she tried to formulate what exactly she wanted to say, until finally settling on...something.
"Well...Master...I don’t think Xiao Liu actually gave us your name."
The old man shrugged.
"Part of our deal as master and disciple. I told him my name, but he’s not allowed to share it. I got enemies from all over the world, and even more people that want to know my secrets."
"Ah...I can understand that."
If her cousin’s insane aether puppets were anything to go off of, then of course the master would be sought out by powers of all sorts looking to make use of his abilities. That was a question for another time though, right now she had other concerns.
"Uh, back to my original question...why did you help us? I mean, I know we’re Zhen Liu’s cousins, but is that really enough of a reason for you two show up and bail us out of nowhere?," Zhen Yue asked, completely understanding that her line of questioning didn’t really make much sense.
Then again, the fact that this old man showed up out of nowhere and helped them also didn’t make sense either. It was all nonsense.
"Hmm," the old man hummed as he scratched his chin.
As he did though, Zhen Yue couldn’t help but notice that something about the man’s face didn’t look right...not that she would bring this up to a guy who was at least stronger than a Grandmaster.
"Your question is a simple one, but it has multiple ways for me to answer. All of them are true, but whether or not you believe it is another thing altogether."
"O...kay," Zhen Yue nodded in confusion.
"Which is why I am gonna tell you all three of them and you can determine which one you think is the most believable."
"I...okay," Zhen Yue nodded again, only this time now understanding something.
If Zhen Liu’s master was this weird in answering a single question, it now made a lot more sense why Zhen Liu acted weird when he trained in the abandoned quarry.
Regardless, if he wanted to give his answers as a riddle...so be it.
"Very well," the old man said as he held up three fingers.
"My first answer for helping you is very simple...because I could."
"You heard me, moon child. I helped you lot simply because I could. No deeper meaning, no deeper reason. I was just in the area."
Refusing to elaborate any further, the old man simply folded one of his fingers until he was only two up.
"My second answer could be because I liked the moxie you guys showed when in the face of injustice. The fox-faced git over there saw someone that girl getting hurt, and despite such strictures such as social class, he went over there and did what he knew was right. And before any of you ask, no I am not going to take any of you on as additional disciples, you do not have the right bodily constitution for my teaching."
"Dammit!," Zhen Xing cursed in the distance as he overheard this answer.
At this point, the old man held up a single finger and a surprisingly serious expression.
"Now for my last answer...let me turn this into a question for you. Did you all...enjoy being bailed out ?"