Kate's Birthday

The three of them made it back before nightfall and went to their own houses to bathe. Though they managed to wipe off their bodies during their time in Cyrus, a good bath was more than simply cleaning the body. As he sat within a barrel of warm water, Shui closed off his vision and reminisced over the events of the past two days.

His preparations were now in place and his future schedule was arranged. He would continue to sharpen his blacksmith skills, but he also had to set aside more time to train his body. As for his session in the Library, he would focus on books about the human body and the uses of plants and alchemy. Additionally, he planned on perfecting his control over his third level in the Mortal Realm power before getting ready to enter the fourth level. He would obviously be very busy but to him, that was the fun part.

However, before he could fully invest in his training, there was another event that needed to be taken care of.

Meanwhile, Bartos was in a rough situation. Since he knew he would be in trouble when Lilia and Kate found out about Alice, he was conflicted over whether or not he should tell them. On one side, if he told them earlier he would be forgiven earlier, furthermore, if he didn't tell them and they found out from Shui he would be in a worse position. However, it was hard to prepare himself to accept this punishment in advance.

While comtemplating this, he sat in living room, unaware of Lilia staring at him from the kitchen.

"Barry, is something on your mind?"

"Uh, no."

If anyone else received this response from Bartos, they would shrug internally and leave the matter alone, but not Lilia. She didn't manage him for so many years without having a good idea about his personality. Bartos was a person who rarely stressed over things and so anything that could make him take a pensive look was definitely important. Even more so if he wouldn't tell her.

"Barry, I'm probably wrong but, you're not cheating on me are you?"

"What! Of course not! I'm just thinking about Shui, uh, nothing."

'Damn it!'

This wasn't the first time Lilia released such a false alarm, but it always got him agitated. Naturally, Lilia knew this as well. She was sure no one else would be able to handle the metal-obsessed brute in front of her. Even so, it was the most effective way of breaking his guard.

"Sorry, sorry. That was my bad."

Lilia walked from the kitchen, planted her perky butt on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. Bartos was already nervous, and her aggressive actions along with the sensation of her plump bottom and the sight of the closed valley between the mountains on her chest left him speechless.

Then, she landed a kiss on his cheek and asked coquettishly, "Will you forgive me daddy?"

He had no way of escaping; he knew that. Bartos' mind was in the midst of waving the white flag when help arrived from another room.

"Um, mommy, daddy, what are you doing?"

Exiting from her bedroom, Kate spotted her parents in a shameless position and instantly regretted her decision to come out from her safe space.

"Uh, this, anyways,"

Bartos hurriedly lifted Lilia off him and went to his daughter.

"How was training?"

As a father, it embarrassed him to have to resort to such a topic to speak with his daughter but he was still grateful she wasn't in her rebellious period yet.

"It was the same as usual. I think I can make a breakthrough soon so I'll be going into seclusion until my birthday."

"Wow! That's good, good. We'll send some fasting pills to your room later."

"Thanks."

Kate retreated to her room and closed the door. Instead of the anxiety he had before, Bartos was now happy and proud of his daughter. Similarly, Lilia was also proud of Kate and decided to put Bartos' interrogation on hold.

When it was dinnertime, Shui arrived at the house and asked where Kate was.

"She said she's secluding herself until she reaches the fourth level in the Mortal Realm. She should be out by her birthday."

Shui wasn't shocked by this news since he already expected Kate to breakthrough to middle Mortal Realm. He was more impressed by her diligence. Most of the younger generation in the clan would find seclusion and fasting very hard, but Kate was different. Once she felt close to the next level, she would always seclude herself until she broke through. Though breaking through to middle Mortal Realm would be harder than her previous breakthroughs, he was sure she would do it in the time she said.

During dinner, Lilia asked Shui about his trip to Cyrus. At first, Shui was planning on giving her the full story, but once he saw Bartos' panicked expression he changed it up a bit.

"It was really fun! The artifact I made sold for the highest amount and we even got a bonus for it!"

"That's impressive! Did anything else happen?"

"Not really, but Uncle Bartos wouldn't let me drink beer."

"That's because he cares for you. You have to grow older before you can drink alcohol."

Shui innocently nodded his head to Lilia's words before glimpsing at Bartos who gave him a thumbs-up. Shui thought he didn't want to worry Lilia about the little incident they went through so he didn't mention anything regarding Alice. Both of them thought the matter would end there but they forgot that there was another mouth that had to be sealed.

The next day, Shui was back to working at the forge. Since he had finally completed his first creation, he was allowed less time to craft his own stuff. Shui was naturally disappointed by this, but he wouldn't use it as an excuse to be lazy. Still, he thought it would be nice to have his own forge.

Right before he was about to go to Lilia for lunch, she came with a basket with sandwiches.

"Here, I made your favourites. It's your reward for doing so well at the auction."

"Really, thanks!"

Shui excitedly took the basket and began eating an egg and cheese sandwich. Suddenly, a rough hand took one of the sandwiches from the basket.

"Thanks Miss Lilia."

Yur jammed the sandwich into his mouth and smiled. Since Yur had helped with the auction, Shui wasn't too upset about him taking one, but then it was two and he soon went to three.

"Hey! Don't you have your own food?"

"Tsk, tsk. Don't you know a woman's food is always better than a man's?"

"Huh? How does that work?"

"It's a matter of feelings. I bet if Alice cooked you something you would understand."

"You!"

With his embarrassment rising, Shui looked angrily at Yur, before freezing when he felt the air turn cold.

"Alice?"

"Oh Miss Lilia, you haven't heard? This kid picked up this really cute girl in Cyrus. She's got some real status and money too. It looks like Kate has some big competition now."

"Ohh, is that so?"

"What's with all the noise here?"

With horribly bad timing, Bartos came to the three of them and was immediately confronted by Lilia's chilling glare.

"Honey, it seems there's something you forgot to tell me."

Once Bartos noticed Shui's blatant panic and shame as well as Yur's smiling face, he had a good guess as to what transpired. The snitch talked.

Up until Kate's birthday which was two days later, Bartos suffered. After hearing the full story from him, Lilia didn't even look at him anymore. No joke, she literally averted her eyes every time they talked. For breakfast, lunch and dinner, Bartos was given a slice of bread and chicken along with a cup of water. It was terribly smaller compared to what he was used to but he couldn't complain. Only by agreeing that he deserved it would he have hope of it ending this nightmare. He could only relieve some stress by harshly punishing Yur.

Shui on the other hand, felt sorry for Bartos. Since he was just a little boy, Lilia wouldn't punish him, especially since he didn't do anything wrong. She even seemed to treat him better than before! In Lilia's mind, she had to do everything she could to keep her future son-in-law happy until Kate came out of seclusion. Who knows, he might elope with the homewrecker he met in town otherwise.

On her birthday, Kate would have to greet the elders and such figures in the clan in the morning and they would have a private family get-together in the evening. With this in mind, Shui planned to go to their house in the afternoon, but his plans were ruined by Kate's appearance at his front door.

She was in a simple yellow dress and had her silky black hair let loose to her back. Half cute and half graceful, she stood there until he opened the door.

"Uh, why are you here so early?"

"I want you to be with me for the entire day."

"But,"

"No buts."