Rinto City (2)

It was early enough in the day that it wasn't strange to be eating breakfast, but later than what most farmhands would be used to. At such a time in Rinto City, Shui was trying to find Yur's little sister. He didn't have much information to go on since he hadn't asked Yur for her address, but after spreading his perception he had managed to detect the aura of someone that seemed to be her, so he was following that trail.

Along the way, he noticed a commotion that was being ignored by the people around him, and it only took him a short moment to figure out why. He was no knight so he planned on doing the same as passers-by, but then he took a second look at the girl who was being restrained by a tall man. He knew she wasn't his target, but he also felt that it would be in his best interest to investigate further. While holding back a sigh at the thought of having to get involved, he approached them.

"Excuse me, do you mind if I have a talk with this young lady for a moment?"

"Huh? Mind your own business."

The men watching the young man kicking a boy on the ground, didn't know where Shui came from, but they brushed him off as he didn't seem like a threat.

"Please, just let me talk to her. It shouldn't take long."

"Get lost already!"

One man quickly became fed up with Shui and swung his arm at him. Shui could have dodged it, but since the man chose to be violent, he decided to do the same. Before the man's arm made contact, Shui's foot landed on his face. The man staggered before falling to the ground on his back. The sound of his plummet alerted the other men who grew wary of Shui.

"Ahh!"

Yumi took advantage of this moment to bite the finger of the man holding her and then dashed to Shui's back once she broke free of his grasp.

"Thank you so much. Can you stop them while I help my brother?"

"Sure."

Since he chose to get involved, Shui easily agreed to her request. The young man bullying the boy on the ground was only in the Mortal Realm, so he believed she would be fine since she had a similar cultivation. The three men that were left standing were in the late Mortal Realm, but they were weaker than children to Shui. One of them threw a punch at his face, but a tap on his chest was all it took for Shui to send him flying. Shui was concealing his cultivation, so they couldn't sense his strength, but the last two figured that his strength was above theirs. Shui was prepared for them to pull out their last resorts, but instead, the two shared a glance and then ran away.

"..."

He had no reason to chase after them, so Shui stared at their fading figures blankly for a couple moments before turning to the girl, Yumi, the boy, Wince and the young man, Cris. Yumi had already pushed Cris away and was helping the disheveled boy over to the bench while hatefully glaring at him. Cris had been waiting on the men to step in and grab her again, but he was now watching Shui with wide eyes. When Shui took a step towards them, Cris took a step back and stuttered in a panic.

"W-who are you?"

"Hmm, why do I have to answer you?"

"You arrogant fool! Do you know who my uncle is?!"

Once he heard that Shui couldn't help letting out a chuckle.

"That's a new one. Fine, tell me."

"My uncle is a core disciple of the Blue Waves Sect! If you touch me, he'll slaughter your entire family!"

"Huh?"

Shui believed that no matter who his uncle was, he wasn't strong enough to make that threat, but it still provoked a bit of anger in Shui. That anger struck Cris at full force and broke all control he had over his bladder. He felt ashamed at the sensation of his wet underwear and the emerging stain on his pants, but all he could do was shake in terror as he looked up at Shui.

"Blue Waves Sect... Get out of here, and tell your dear uncle that Shui will be paying a visit soon."

After getting that pardon, Cris hastily crawled away and only remembered that he could run after a minute had passed. Shui hadn't planned on causing any trouble, but he didn't think this would take more than a few hours to resolve.

Once Cris was gone, Shui landed his gaze on the two still here. Noticing his gaze, Wince tried to thank him with a bow, but Yumi restrained him so he could only lower his head.

"Thank you so much for your help."

"It's fine. I just wanted to ask your sister something."

"Huh?! How did you know I'm his sister?" Yumi asked in surprise.

Wince was similarly shocked with a hint of caution as he observed Shui. While it was true that the two didn't resemble each other, Shui could sense that they were blood-related, and the answer was clear even without that.

"When you asked me to save him, you called him your brother."

"Oh..."

Embarrassed by her blunder, Yumi turned away and focused on Wince's injuries. She didn't know any healing spells, but she could still alleviate his pain. Shui guessed that there was a reason behind her wanting to hide their relationship, but that wasn't his concern.

To get the conversation back on track, Wince cleared his throat with a shy expression.

"Anyways, you said you wanted to ask Yumi something."

"That's right. Do either of you know a Miur? She should be living with a woman named Margaret and..."

Shui was going to add more details, but it seemed that what he said was enough. Wince and Yumi looked at each other before returning two curious gazes at Shui.

"You know Miss Miur?"

"Yes, I'm a friend of her elder brother, Yur."

While Wince continued looking at Shui, Yumi had a pensive expression for a couple seconds before exclaiming in realization.

"Ah! You're the genius, Shui!"

"It seems you've heard of me."

"Yes, Mr. Yur always talks about you with Mimi. But, you look..."

"Oh, give me a moment."

As he figured that he looked different than he would have been described, Shui returned to his original appearance. Seeing such a charming young man pop out of nowhere resulted in many gasps of awe from their surroundings, with the two siblings being no different. In fact, Yumi became befuddled for so long that Wince had to start calling out to her.

"Yumi. Yumi. Yumi!"

"Ah!"

Awoken from her stupor, she took a few moments to reorient herself before keeping her gaze down on Wince. Unlike her, Wince could still face Shui, but there was an obvious sparkle of admiration in his eyes. Shui had little experience with this direct exposure to his pure admiration, so he mentally sighed.