In a dimly lit room, Eira could be seen holding her sword, and it appeared she was in the middle of something.
Her sword, which usually emits shimmering sword qi, now has a faint greyish energy enveloping it as she continuously swings her sword.
'Done.' Eira thought with a small smile as she finally stopped swinging her sword.
She then put it down next to her, sat cross-legged, and meditated for a few minutes.
Soon, the dimly lit room became covered with a bright, blinding light that lit the entire room.
The light came from the ball of light floating in her hand.
'Finally, at the fifth level of elementary intent.' She had already learned light laws for quite a while and was making steady progress with all her laws.
And she had a lot of them—shadow, ice, sword, wind, mind, and now light.
Yes, Jarek has made another monster.
And now that Jarek wouldn't be coming over for the next two days, she would have more time to focus on her cultivation.
---
Meanwhile, inside what appeared to be an inn, Thrain was giving out instructions to his close subordinate, Luneth. "By tomorrow night, we need all the information we can get about that kid to prevent any accidents."
He then handed Lunelf a storage bag and said, "Ask Leif to head to the Town Mayor's mansion and inform him of Jarek being a potential threat, if our past dealings were ever to reach his ears."
"If he has any intention of taking direct action himself, then Leif can just leave. He was always a reckless person in the past, so this is more than likely to happen. But in the case, it doesn't, request all the information he can gather about Jarek and offer the bag as a thank you for his troubles, and he will not refuse."
Thrain said so with certainty.
If possible, he didn't want to take action himself and was hoping to use the mayor as a borrowed knife against Jarek.
After all, to the Mayor, Jarek was like a stationary ticking time bomb for now.
Who knows when it will roll his way and explode?
Such a threat will most likely lead him to the same conclusion he had reached—Jarek needs to die before he becomes a problem.
And in the case where the mayor would be able to see through this plan, he will still get what he wants, in the form of information.
It was a win-win scenario.
As for why he decided not to go himself, there was a possibility he wanted to avoid.
When the sun rose, a man who looked like a man in his forties was sleeping in bed next to a beautiful young woman.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The man was woken up from his slumber and asked groggily, "What is it?"
The door opened to reveal a maid with black hair, who spoke with a bright smile, "Sir, there is a guest here to see you personally, and he says he comes with urgent news."
Seeing his once-favorite lover, he then asked, "Who is this guest?"
"He said that he was sent by his master, Sir Thrain from Belmora." The maid replied.
When he had that name, he raised an eyebrow and wondered, 'Urgent news?'
After he made sure he was fully dressed, the man who is the Town's Mayor, Jurgen, instructed the maid, "Guide him to my study. I'll meet him there."
The maid left, and three minutes later, Leif was at the door of Jurgen's study.
The maid knocked on the door, and after a reply from the other side, "You can enter," she opened the door to reveal Jarek seated in a chair waiting for Leif.
Once the maid had fulfilled her task, she left with a gloomy, expressionless face that didn't resemble the smile she showed Jurgen earlier.
The emotions that she had kept inside all these years were threatening to spill out.
'How did things turn out like this? If I had known better, I wouldn't have come here all those years ago.'
However, those inside the study remained unaware of the currents raging in her heart.
"So, what is this urgent news?" Jürgen asked as he faced Thrain's messenger, Leif.
"Sir Jurgen, my master sent me to inform you of a significant threat to both sides. A few years ago, one of the children we abducted managed to escape from our grasp. He managed to escape back to this town..."
Jürgen grew impatient and asked, "Is the threat a kid?"
"Sir, the kid is not that simple. When one of our people discovered him three months ago, he was able to escape our grasp yet again and somehow found refuge in the Myriad Dao Academy and is now a student there."
When Jurgen heard this, he was shocked at the kid's fortune. 'What kind of luck is this?'
Leif then continued, "We, of course, couldn't do anything to him right then and there, but three weeks later we sent a Master from our side, instructing him to find an opportunity to end the boy, Jarek Jensson's life, but he never returned. He presumably died at his hands."
"Wait, a minute. Did you say three weeks?! Are you suggesting that he went from a mortal to a Master in only three weeks?" Jürgen found this line of reasoning to be utter nonsense.
He was willing to bet that no one in this world could cultivate that quickly.
"In the academy's tournament, we confirmed that he is already a peak Master, on the verge of breaking through to the Grandmaster stage." When Jurgen heard this, his heart began to skip a beat.
Just like Thrain had predicted, Jurgen felt threatened by Jarek's progress and rise in strength.
And so...
'I need to get rid of him.' This was the first thought that came into his mind, and he was about to act impulsively to get rid of this ticking time bomb.
'But how?' He soon realized how difficult it would be to do so.
Even if Jarek was a bomb, he was a heavily guarded one.
Taking any direct actions against him is like slapping the academy's face. They wouldn't tolerate it.
He could even lose his life.
Thinking this far, he restrained his murderous intent as he continued to think of his next actions.
Leif, seeing that the man had no intention of taking any direct action at this point, sighed, realizing they wouldn't be able to make use of him to take Jarek out.
But before he could speak, Jurgen, having realized something, then asked, "Does the boy know about my involvement?"
The mayor looked at Leif with keen, piercing eyes, waiting for his response.
Knowing that he couldn't lie, Leif answered honestly, "W-we don't know."
Hearing this, thoughts filled his mind on what his next action should be, and he looked at Leif with a not-so-friendly gaze and sighed inwardly. 'Too bad he is not here.'
And just like that, Thrain was able to save his life.
This was what Thrain had pictured might happen in this scenario.
If Jurgen realized that Jarek had no clue about his involvement, he might try to silence the only witnesses, Thrain and his subordinates.
But Thrain had taken multiple steps to ensure that would happen.
And unlike the previous times they had met, he didn't show himself this time around.
Jürgen had also understood Thrain's intention by sending Leif on his behalf.
And he also noticed something. 'These guys wanted to use me to get rid of the boy. That's right, they are even more desperate than I to get rid of him.'
His thoughts were interrupted when Leif spoke about Thrain's intentions. "Sir, aside from informing you of this future threat, I have also been tasked with requesting any information you might have on Jarek Jensson so that we can take action with peace of mind and some assurance."
He then took out a storage bag from his pocket and presented it to Jurgen.
"Please accept this as a sign of gratitude for your efforts."
Jürgen didn't say anything and opened the bag, looking inside to see hundreds of low-grade spirit stones, and was surprised. 'It seems he is wealthier than I thought he was.'
But that's not the only thing he realized, 'I can use them to get rid of Jarek without implicating myself if they succeed, and if they don't, I can deny any involvement.' The more Jurgen thought about it, the more he felt that his idea was perfect.
He then looked at Leif and said, "I will make sure to gather all information related to Jarek by evening. You can come for it by then."
Leif soon left and was escorted outside the mansion, ready to inform his boss of his success.
Everything had gone the way Thrain wanted.
Even if he didn't get the best outcome he had expected, it was still better than the worst outcome, his death.
So, he would take what he could get.