Great Families

Ki had a look of confusion on her face. 'When did I have a godfather? And an Estrella too? It seems I need to ask my grandmother about this.'

Soon she looked at the booklet of the families qi art and books on the old mans experiences and his research on karma, fate concealment, martial arts and medicine. "Take these and study them, make a copy for yourself and give the originals back to me, if you wish to make copies of the medicinal documents come to me first so I can look over them and see if I can learn anything or add anything to them. We can use some of this to train some people for the clinics, medicine or herb stores. If the locations are ideal we can connect the medicine shops with my medicinal wine sales and open restaurants or tea pavilions in the same locations because the herb stores would be able to offer assistance and trade for ingredients on certain recipes if we begin to include medicinal dishes in the larger cities."

She put away the star maps and other astrology or fate based documents and began to box them up to be sent for safe keeping in the families inheritance.

As the head strategist Isaac would benefit from learning about these things and it would provide him with an additional bit of help towards his own skillset for to be able to survive.

If he did learn the astrology and fate part of the documents then instead of relying on his judgement and the information given he would often be distracted by the information provided by the stars and would come to rely on that information rather than himself, then his decisions would become influenced by the heavens as a result.

If he does become an observer then his ability to make decisions and influence certain events would be somewhat restricted because he cannot act upon or say how to overcome a crisis without revealing the heavens secrets and suffer the punishments.

It was better to live as a normal human and overcome the struggles with his intelligence and his own foresight, as for the karma research and the qi art they would help him to gather more good karma toward the family and himself to increase their luck for future difficulties or to help keep up the concealment.

Isaacs eyes lit up upon receiving the books. "It seems you wish for me to learn some extra knowledge to be helpful for you."

Ki shrugged and let out a sigh. "I just felt that these would be best used in your hands. With your genius I am sure you will be able to master it all and put it to use within a shorter time than most people."

Isaac held the books and left the room to go back to his room to study before leaving a final word. "Thanks."

Ki went back to her documents and began to draw up an initial plan for the coming days forward.

She then went to her grandmothers room to ask her while handing over the letter and documents. "Grandmother who is this person?"

Agnes read the letter and her face became a shade of white the further she read. "According to our families records from the capital one of the great families specialties are their abilities to make predictions from the stars and even predict great calamities or the rise of a saviour. The Estrella family are that very family, in the past there were five great families that held the greatest power within the martial alliance along with the four great sects and the royal family. There is the Estrella family who had the power of starlight and prediction, the Lenus family who specialise in medicine, the Laurent family who specialise in business and politics, finally the Baer family who are known for their intelligence and strategy. The royal family have the control of the lands, the laws and the common people while the sects hold the most strength within the alliance. The remaining family was known for its poisons, assassination and interrogation but they disappeared and its rumoured they had set up the remnants of their family in the east but that's just a rumour after all."

She fell deep into thought and turned to Ki. "If my guess is correct the man who arrived at our village many years ago and helped your mother give birth to you is this person. According to the records of the family the members of the Estrella family who wander alone without the families protection are expelled from the family and soon after they will be fated to die alone. Bernard Estrella however seems to be alive and well at least until now and made a living with his medicine while travelling the world helping people. If my guess is correct he arrived at our village and helped so that you and your mother could survive a difficulty birth. He then named you and left behind a warning saying that the families future is tied to you so it would be best that if we encounter a calamity we should ensure your survival."

Ki listened calmly and finally spoke up after listening to the explanation. "So that's how it is… it seems I unknowingly had a godfather and they were from the Estrella family… so which family did our family have conflicts with during our time in the capital?"

Agnes frowned and revealed a look of hatred. "Of course it was the Laurent family, as they are one of the most wealthy within the great families of course they would hate others who had the right to compete with them. Our family was in fact rising in a fast speed and becoming recognised as the second coming of a family like the Laurent family but unlike the Laurent family we did not have enough political strength or the sufficient martial strength to be able to survive when they began to put pressure on us so we had no choice but to retreat. Remember this… do not do any business within the capital that directly clashes with the Laurent family because they are incredibly petty and hate competition."

Ki frowned but then nodded agreeing with her words. "I only ever intended to open small businesses within the capital anyways, everything else would be opened in the cities outside of the capital."

In a dark and deserted mountain area an old man sat as he awaited his final moments.

He peered at the night sky once more with an unconcealed look of hatred. "I was wondering how my end would be… after all I can not see my own fate but even I can figure out this is not a good sign. One of the family have locked onto me and are only getting closer, there aren't many good outcomes for me