Chapter 62: Attempted Assassination

 That day Willow had been experimenting with her magic circles this time after having learned the majority of arrays when she heard the knock on the wooden door. Raising a brow, Willow turned to the house and heard her teacher's cane against the floor. The sound this time echoed loudly in the residence before louder knocks were heard from the door. Willow frowned when she noticed the strange rhythm to it.

 "Willow, get the door." The old man called out.

 Willow raised a brow but nodded and opened the door. In front of the door was a tall man in a suit and hair pushed back with gel showing the widow's peak. Willow raised a brow in confusion as the man looked down on her in surprise making Willow rather annoyed. It wasn't the man with the green eyes whom Willow thought of when she saw him, but this guy had already began to annoy her just by looking down on her.

 The man had never seen this girl before. Wearing a t-shirt and black leggings, the woman before him stared at him with a raised brow before quickly letting him in. The guy looked to her again in confusion before taking a step inside and looking for the elderly man.

 To Willow, she knew that this man was no stranger to her teacher after hearing the knocking. Her teacher had never taught her the knocks, which probably means that this guy was close to the old man. With a curious glance, Willow could tell by his silent expressions that this man seemed to have been very aware of his surroundings, so it didn't take long for her to deduce who this person was.

 When the old man walked out with the cane, Willow had already gone to prepare snacks for the two. The man, on the other hand, was still distracted the by chalk marks around the yard which her teacher avoided around. The man looked to him, "Father. This..."

 The man narrowed his eyes and continued when he noticed one of the diagrams, "You mentioned that there was a student at your place..."

 "That's right." The old man heaved a sigh, "She's been studying under me for a while now."

 "Tuition fee?" The man joked.

 The man smiled, "In the kitchen."

 Hearing this, the man rolled his eyes, "You could just tell us that you don't want a caretaker, Father."

 The old man waved a hand leisurely, "I can still afford my taxes and maintain the house. I have no need for a caretaker."

 His son shook his head and glanced amongst the diagrams and white marbles. He raised a brow, "Is that the Interlocking Space array? Why does it look off?"

  "So, you noticed." The old man responded as he carefully made his way back to the guest hall, "The gal is clever. She's modified the diagram of the array to maximize it's full potential ability."

 The son raised a brow and reached out his hand to feel an invisible wall without needing to take a step closer. He was only five feet away from the small diagram and he couldn't get closer to it!

 The son breathed in and said a small phrase at it. Warmth entered his finger tips before he was quickly attacked by a scorching flame that nearly burned the tips of his finger!

 He quickly back off and looked to his father in a harsh whisper, "A Fire diety!"

 The old man laughed, "Yes. She is the demigod of a fire diety."

 Hearing his words, the man pursed his lips nervously looking to the old man who waved off his concerns, "She has no need to harm anyone."

 "But, how do you know that, Father?" The son responded slightly agitated, "We aren't descended from a fire diety or a water diety. If she attacks us..."

  "She's a hot-tempered woman, but she's not a fool." The old man replied as he opened the door, "Stop dawdling like a fool and get in here."

 "Right. The report." The man sighed and sulkily followed after his father before stopping once more taking a swift glance back at the array.

.....

 After preparing snacks for her teacher and his guest, Willow returned to her room where she found Harper trying to fire an arrow using his feet pulling back the string with one of them.

 "Did you get it down yet?" She started.

 The silly black bird cawed in shock and accidentally let lose the string with shot the arrow that deflected off of the cement walls. Willow frowned and quickly crushed a white marble in her hands revealing it to be a ball of dirt. in a blink of an eye, a large formation appeared under her feet and the arrow stopped in midair next to her before it could hit her arm. She glared at the bird, "You seriously..."

 "O-Oops?" Harper managed nervously.

 Willow scowled but shook her head with an exasperated sigh, "And, here I'm giving you fruits for free. Didn't think you'd ignore my efforts and try to kill me..."

 "It wasn't on purpose!" The bird shook nervously.

 Aki, who was on the bed, had looked away from them after having heard of Willow's little trick. He was still very displeased with it but had little to say about it really.

 Despite his thoughts, Willow saw the little guy no different from a real child. Very picky and quick to kick up a tantrum.

 "So what are you going to do now?" Harper started seeing Willow have tossed him back his arrow, "You're not going to make me do more ridiculous things, right?"

 "Of course not." Willow responded with a sigh, "As long as you don't aim for cats without my permission."

 "Fine..." Harper shook his head in exasperation.

 "Have you thought about your next move?" Aki questioned her looking up in his cat form.

 Willow nodded, "I've learned enough here for a while, so the teacher should be fine with me leaving for a while."

 "So, where do you plan to go?" Harper asked curiously eyeing her with beady eyes.

 "I've been thinking about it. Maybe South." Willow responded.

 "South?" Aki raised a brow.

 "But, you haven't checked out the situation with Hong Kong. Do you plan to go there while heading South?" Harper chirped in confusion.

 "If I got there now, those guys will still be on their guards." Willow responded with a simple shrug, "We'll wait for a little longer. Right now, we should head South."

 "What do you plan to do?" Harper asked in confusion.

 "Does it matter what she plans to do?" Akira grumbled in annoyance.

 Willow shrugged and explained, "I've read up some stuff and wanted to go and check the place out for a bit. That's why Harper will stay here and watch over Li Yun and the kids."

 Once the words left her lips, Akira's ears instantly perked up and he turned to her with wide eyes almost too bright, "No more babysitting?"

 "Not for a while." Willow responded, "Harper will be doing that instead."

 "You're kidding me!" The bird squaked in bewilderment.

 "Nope." Willow quickly denied his words, "You should probably also practice that bow for a bit too."

 After hearing her words, Harper slumped his shoulders before glaring at the snickering cat, "What are you laughing at?!"

 "At a weak fowl." Akira responded.

 "Who are you calling a fowl?!"

 Once again, the two continued to argue as Willow went ahead to the yard again. For the next few hours, she had preped dinner and continued her studies before returning to the apartment for an early dinner leaving the kitchen to Akira. When she returned, she saw that the two men had just finished eating. She quickly cleared the table and did a little more chores before resumed her studies.

.....

 Having seen her leave at night and return in the morning, Belen and the group had often tried to follow her but always fell short of catching her aside from shopping at the markets. Unbeknowst to them, she had already placed a new array over her teacher's. To her, their curiosity were rather annoying while it was interesting to see how they were going about searching for work. Willow was already supported more than she had agreed on with her teacher.

 Every week, she was given a certain amount of cash to make the teacher his daily meals, while the remainder of which would be given to her as her allowance. Hence, she decided to help the old man out. She just never thought that the old man would one day bring his son over.

 As she was about to go in search of her teacher for clarification over a piece of information of a book, she ran into his son walking out of the guest room where Teacher Xia usually sips tea despite having complained of never being able to get enough sleep the next morning.

 Seeing her, the tall man smiled in a warm greeting, "You must be Miss Willow?"

 "That's right." Willow responded with a smile back, "Hello. You must be Mister Xia's son."

 Surprised, the son looked to her with wide eyes before he smiled apologetically, "Ah, yes. My father must've mentioned me to you."

 "He told me that he had a son and I've heard that you've left after starting your own business or so they said."

 Hearing this, the man laughed, "Ah, was it the gossips of the market ladies again?"

 "Mostly." Willow responded truthfully.

 The man sighed in exasperation, "It feels as though that's all they'd ever do. Haha..."