Who's the child?!

Lina then said, "Not you, Briny. You're going to say the wrong thing and scare him off."

And Briny said, "And what's the big deal? You have to stop thinking that everything is solved by violence."

"What a drag."

Briny then ignored her and said to the man, "Good afternoon. I'm sorry, we're not going to give you our orbs, and if possible, we would like to take the silver orb that is here now."

And the man said, "Since when are children allowed to participate in the water temple event? Little girl, why don't you be quiet and let the adults do the talking."

Hearing this, Briny began to tremble a little and said, "Little girl? Do you know who my mother is?"

The man then said, "No, why should I? Are you going to call her to defend you? Hahaha.", and the man's group started laughing along with him.

Briny then began to tremble more, and then a blue mist began to rise from her.

Gen then stepped back and said, "Stay close to me if you don't want to get wet."

And Lina said, "huh? What are you talking about?"

Raja then stepped up to Gen and said, "Briny is about to use her essence."

Lina then stepped up to Gen and said, "I didn't know that Briny had an essence. Do you know what it is?"

And Gen said, "She has some essence that allows her to generate and control water. I don't know if it's the water essence itself or some derivation."

"Got it. Do you know how strong her essence is?"

"I've never asked her, but she's at least at the level of influence."

"That high?"

"Yes, at least that's what I think."

"Interesting. Now I want to see her fight that group."

Briny was about to use her essence against the group of the man who was calling her a child, but she then calmed down, retreated her essence into her body, and thought, 'No need for that, Briny. They can be rude and idiotic, but violence is never the answer.'

She then looked at the man and said, "Let's try again. Let me introduce myself to you. My name is Briny, I'm the daughter-", but was interrupted by the man who said, "I already told you that we don't give a damn about who your mother is. Now give me the orbs you have, and get out of here."

Briny then said, "Well, I tried."

And the man said, "Tried what?"

Briny just smiled at this, and then suddenly, her surroundings began to fill with water. The water then went towards the man's group, and seeing this, the man said, "Damn. You are an awakened one. But don't think you're the only one. Everyone in my group is awakened."

The man then put his hand on the ground, and a stone wall went up, blocking Briny's water. The rest of his group then went toward Briny, and the man said, "Hahaha, is that all you got, little girl?"

Briny then smiled and said, "I'll show you what I got.", and then water began pouring out of Briny's surroundings in great quantities.

The man then said, "Haven't you seen that there's no use in using water?", and then he put up another stone wall.

And Briny said, "Let's see if it's really no use.", and then more water began to pour out of her surroundings.

The water began to take over the room and quickly went through the man's wall. After a while, the whole room was underwater, except for a small circle around Gen, Lina, and Raja.

Seeing the whole room submerged, Raja said, "You're right, Gen. To be able to do something like this, she must be at least at the level of influence."

And Lina said, "Gee, I didn't expect Briny to be this strong."

Gen then said, "Well, she's the daughter of the Queen of Tólis. And the royal family of Tólis has a long line of people with essences related to water. So what she must not have lacked are teachers."

Briny then went toward the man and saw that he was trying to swim down, trying to reach the ground.

She then said, "Don't even think about it.", and then moved the water to pull him and the rest of his group closer. They then became desperate and began to make signs as if they were begging her for something.

Briny then said, "I'll give you a chance.", and then led them toward Gen. She then put their heads inside the waterless circle that Gen had made, which made them relieved.

The man then coughed and said, "Sorry about that. We didn't know you were this strong."

And Briny said, "If you hadn't interrupted me so many times, you would have known."

"You are right. Please forgive us."

"Only after you apologize for what you did."

"I'm sorry for threatening you and trying to steal your orbs."

"Huh? That's not what I'm talking about. Apologize for calling me a child!"

"Oh, is that all?"

"What do you mean that's all?!"

"It's nothing! Forgive me, miss. I shouldn't have called you a child."

"Good. I'll release you then, but we want the silver orb from this room. Do you have a problem with that?"

"No. Of course not. The orb is all yours."

"Very well."

Briny then turned to Gen and said, "Gen, do you mind doing the same as before?"

Gen then looked at all the water around and said, "Don't you have a way to get rid of all that water?"

And Briny said, "I do, but it costs me a lot of energy, and yours doesn't seem to consume you that much."

"Okay. I'll get rid of this water, but next time, think twice before you flood a room. I'm not your private drain."

"Got it."

"Okay. Do you have a container?"

"Yes. I have a glass with me.", and then she took the glass out of a bag she was carrying.

Gen then picked it up and said, "Looks like you were already planning on doing something like this."

And Briny said, "No, I wasn't planning on it, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared in case I needed to do it."

"That's true."

Black mist then came out of Gen's body and went into the glass for a while until he said, "I think that's enough."

He then held the mouth of the glass against the water and said, "Help me bring the water into the glass, Briny."

And Briny said, "I'm on it."

The water then began to flow into the glass quickly, and after a few minutes, the room was dry again.

Gen handed the glass to Briny and said, "Let's go to the orb.", and then they went towards the orb.

They then passed the men in the other group, who were still on the floor panting, and as Raja was passing them, one of the men got up and quickly went towards him.

They then put a sword over his neck, covered his mouth, and then, the man who appeared to be the leader said, as he held Raja, "Hahaha, you are very innocent. Who told you to let your guard down? Now, leave your orbs on the floor and get out of here. Your friend is going to walk with me. I'll release him at the end of the event."

Briny then said, "You don't know when to quit, do you?"

And the man said, "No, we don't. Now do as I ask before my hand slips, and I do something I didn't mean to do."

Gen then said, "Don't even waste your time. We're not handing anything over to you."

And the man said, "Are you crazy?! I'm with your friend here! If you don't do what I say, he dies!"

"What? You're going to kill him? You can't be serious."

"I am serious! If you don't do what I tell you, I will kill him!"

Gen then turned to Lina and said, "What do you think, Lina? Is it worth it?"

And Lina said, "I don't think so. We'd better leave it alone."

The man then said, "What are you whispering about?!"

And Gen said, "We were thinking, and we'd rather have the orbs. You can kill him."

The man then said, "What?! Are you guys crazy?! I'm not kidding! I'm really going to kill him!"

And Gen said, "Be my guest. In fact, by doing this, you're doing us a favor."

Briny was shocked to hear that but didn't say anything because she knew they would never do that. So there must have been something she wasn't realizing.

The man was at a loss, and then he uncapped Raja's mouth.

Raja then said, "Hey, Gen! Don't let me die! Am I worthless to you?!"

Gen then turned to Raja and said, "Yes."