Chapter 30 Family

Morning came and the city was filled with mist that blocked the sun’s rays. Due to the urging of Budoy, Eznho and him departed early and went to the establishment where his sister was working. Eznho paid a maid to take care of his aunt for the day. The establishment was called Hundred Dishes Restaurant and was located near a river a kilometer away from the city walls, the staff were starting to prepare for the day.

Eznho and Budoy entered and asked for the owner but the one who met with them was an old manager in plain white robes.

“What do you want kids? Stop wasting our time or else...” the manager spoke with a cold and irritated tone.

“We have business with the owner old man, go tell him that I am here for my sister. If I were you I’d run or else you’d face the consequences if your boss will lose a ton of money.” Budoy retorded without respect.

“You! Disrespectful bastard!” The old man was furious and pointed his finger to Budoy.

“Mister, I assure you we are here for business. Now could you please go inform your boss.” Before things got out of hand, Eznho butted in and went straight to the point.

“Hmph! As if you kids have a lot of money,” the old man was angry but he did not want to risk it and went upstairs to inform his boss.

Ten minutes later the old manager was back with a short middle-aged man with a round protruding belly wearing a loose blue robe with golden patterns.

“Haha, so it is you Budoy, here to pick up your sister?”

He was enthusiastic and did not mind who was he talking to as long as it brings him good money.

“May I know the name of this young sir?”

He did not believe Budoy had the sum he needed so he looked curiously at Eznho who wore simple garments that didn’t seem to be a young master with a rich background. With his dealings from the past, he could gauge a man’s background from his demeanor and bearing, no matter how he looked at it, Eznho seemed to be from a common background.

“You can call me Eznho senior, I am here to pay for Budoy’s sister.” He did not want to prolong the conversation and wanted to get the business done as soon as possible.

“Straightforward attitude is it? I like that, go bring her out.” He did not mind and ordered the old manager to go fetch the girl.

Awhile later the manager came back with a little girl who looked like a seven-year-old. She somewhat resembled her brother, she had a wavy blonde hair that hung down on her shoulders. Her eyes were also blue that resembled a clear blue sky, it made her look adorable and cute but you could see stubbornness on her face.

“Big brother!” She could not contain her excitement and wanted to go hug her brother but she was held back by the old manager.

“Let her go!” Budoy was agitated and blurted out and shot a hateful glance at the old man.

“Payment first,” The owner spoke with a beaming smile.

“Will this do?”

Eznho brought out the bank card which surprised the owner, the old manager and Budoy. This made the owner’s face bloom like a flower and brought out a thin rectangular object engraved with formations which is used to deduct money from bank cards.

“Let her go,”

“Big brother! I thought you forgot me already,” The little girl started to sob while hugging Budoy who also hugged her back tightly.

“Silly girl, how could big brother forget you. I will never do that, I promise this will not happen again.” Budoy was obviously full of joy right now but tried his best to hold back his tears.

“Nice dealing business with you young sir, I hope to have more with you in the future. You can call me Crispin and you are welcome to my humble restaurant anytime. I hope you have no ill feelings towards me, business is business after all and you see I never mistreated the young lady.” The owner tried to smoothen things out as he had an inkling feeling that there was more to this boy in front of him.

“Thank you for that,”

Eznho expressed his thanks and did not deny nor accept the owner's invitation but the owner did not mind it as long as he was not on Eznho’s bad side.

“Let’s go,” He bowed in respect and urged the siblings who were still hugging.

Looking at the trio’s back, the manager spoke.

“What about Judas?”

“That lowly scum? I already paid him for the girl, if he wants her back, it is his own problem.”

The owner spoke in disdain and went back inside, he was satisfied with this morning’s event.

.....

Eznho and the two siblings did not go on detours and went straight back to the inn. After that, he told them to take a bath first as they really looked dirty and messy. After taking a bath, the siblings wore simple garments and went to see Eznho. To his surprise, after being cleaned thoroughly, the sibling’s look was a far cry from before when he first met them.

They were truly both good looking and will surely grow into a pair of beautiful people that would make others go wild. He was truly shocked by this outcome but what was out of context was Budoy’s hair that was cut unevenly which would have to be cut properly later on.

Aside from that, there was an aura that the siblings emitted that he could not pinpoint exactly as it was his first time sensing it. If he would describe it, it was an aura of elegance and gracefulness.

“Okay, my name is Eznho, how may I call you young lady?” Eznho put on an amicable smile and looked at the girl.

“Benefactor, my name is Aizarel but you can call me Aiza. I would like to thank you sincerely from the bottom of my heart.” The little girl put on an adorable smile and bowed.

“You don’t have to call me benefactor, you can call just call me by my name.” Eznho smiled in response, he was starting to get fond of the little girl.

“Ah? No, that won’t do, what about big brother?” Aizarel got confused and looked at Eznho then refused.

“What? No! Little Aiza, I alone, am your big brother. Only me!” Budoy panicked a bit and shot a sharp look at Eznho.

“Are you trying to steal her from me?”

Eznho had a wry smile on his face and waved his hand in denial.

“It’s okay Aizarel, just call me by my name, okay?”

“Hmm, that won’t do,” Aizarel pouted that only made her look cuter.

“How about I call benefactor eldest brother?”

“Eh? What? No! Then should I call him big brother?” Budoy protested back.

“Hmph! Big brother, he is clearly older than you.”

“Well, yeah but he clearly thinks like an idiot and he is naive on worldly affairs,”

“Big brother! Don’t say mean things, if you keep belittling eldest brother I will call him big brother instead.”

“Ahhhhh!” Budoy felt defeated and pulled down his hair with his hands.

Eznho was holding back his laughter while watching the comical debate between the two. Budoy’s attitude today was more amiable and he could not even win an argument with his little sister. The debate lasted for ten minutes before Budoy helplessly admitted defeat.

“Okay, okay, little Aiza, please don’t get mad I will call him big brother from now on.”

“Yay! You’re the best big brother,” She jumped out in happiness hugged Budoy.

“You heard that eldest brother? Now we have an addition to our family.” She winked at Eznho and showed a thumbs up.

“I’ll just call him big brother when little Aiza is around,” Budoy mumbled to himself.

“Did you say something big brother?” Aizarel glared at him.

“No-nothing,” Budoy immediately waved his hands trying to feign innocence.

“Okay, call eldest brother big brother,” Aizarel crossed her hands over her chest and commanded Budoy.

Budoy was grumbling inside but had no choice at the moment.

“Bi-bi-big brother,” His voice was forced but he did his best and then bowed.

Eznho was forced into the matter and did not know what to say, it was his first time being in such a situation. The only people he considered family was his big brother and his aunt. But looking at Aizarel’s face, he could not bear to disappoint her, and perhaps it was not a bad thing to befriend such people and he could feel this two were good people and had no ill intentions.

“Alright then, I’ll call you little sister and little brother,”

He spoke and looked at Budoy in a teasing manner. But deep inside he felt a strange feeling, after all it was his first time calling someone his younger sibling.

Veins were popping on Budoy’s temple but he endured it when he looked at his sister jumping around in excitement.

“Yay! I have a new big brother,”

.....

After all that commotion, they ate lunch and Aizarel was dead tired so she went to sleep in one of the rooms. Eznho and Budoy spoke in private to talk about how to arrange things.

“What do you plan to do now?” Eznho spoke in a somber manner, after meeting Aizarel he did not want the little girl to suffer and experience any more hardships.

“That’s none of your business,” Budoy answered dismissively.

“Have you thought about your little sister? Are you certain that the same situation will not happen again? What if something worse will happen next time? Are you sure you can protect her?” Eznho barraged him with questions, he was truly worried about the little girl.

Budoy became speechless and did not know how to answer, it was true after all. He did not have confidence in making sure that his little sister will be safe. Before he could answer back Eznho continued to speak.

“To be honest, I don’t want your sister to suffer so I have a suggestion. As you know my aunt is sick and needs someone to take care and accompany her. It’s just a menial task so I believe your sister can do it, besides I cannot be with my aunt all the time. As for you, you can pay your debt by working for me, all I need is information, all you have to do is scout things for me. What do you think?”

Budoy pondered for a moment, it was a good deal, after all, her sister is safe and obtaining information is just an easy job for him.

“Fine, what do you need?”

“Okay, your priority is to find a place called Batawa restaurant, give me information about the city, as accurate as possible and how to acquire residency inside the city. I need that information within fifteen days, can you do it?”

Eznho did not hold back, he really needed someone to gather information right now as he did not have time to do it. Budoy did not think twice and immediately agreed.

“And one last thing, there are five rooms here so you can use one of the rooms. You can also let little Aiza choose her own,”

“Thank you,”

Budoy was somewhat overwhelmed but expressed his gratitude in a sincere manner, they had a safe place to stay now and need not to worry about the biting cold of the winter. A day after, Minchin fully regained her consciousness but she was still weak and could only lay down and sit on her bed.

Eznho made the introductions and Minchin was more than happy to have Aizarel accompany her, deep inside, it was a womans happiness to have a child. Seeing that everything is playing smoothly, Eznho could now concentrate on his cultivation.

.....

Smoke was rising from different places from inside and outside Sin city, the battle was still ongoing. Corpses were scattered everywhere but shouts and weapons colliding could still be heard. The defenders were starting to lose morale as their number dwindled down to only a third from the original. Their enemies started to gain momentum and continued to push until they were slowly cornered. Some even started making preparations to abandon the fight and run.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Despite the passage of time, Batista and Randolph continued to fight Floyd despite the increasing disadvantage.

“Haaaa, haaaa,”

The duo were both in a ragged state making them breathe heavily while vapor came out of their mouth, their wounds worsened and their armors already broke exposing their inner leather armor. Both of their faces were pale, fresh and dried blood mixed together making their appearance pitiful.

Floyd on the other was far better, there were only minor wounds and small cuts on his armor. His face was a bit pale from energy consumption but overall, he was in good condition.

“Come on Batista, let’s have some more fun! Haha!” He was about to attack when his message talisman lit up.

“Good, time to call back Jack,” He showed a sinister smile and muttered to himself then sent a message to Jack.

Ice Mist!

After that, he inhaled a mouthful of air and exhaled large amounts of mist that spread out on the surrounding one hundred meters. Batista and Randolph were engulfed within it but they were not afraid and raised their guard to the maximum.

A minute later, a shadow landed five meters away from them.

“It’s me brother,”

Wilfred spoke and slowly walked towards them. He was in a far better condition than the duo, it was obvious that he and Jack did not fight an all out life and death battle.

“Are you both okay?” He asked in a worried tone when he saw there sorry state.

“We’re fine, we can still fight,” Batista answered and swallowed a pellet with Randolph.

“Hmmmmm! Hmmmmm!”

Wilfred was about to speak when a moaning sounded out. It seemed like a person who had his mouth covered with something and was trying to speak.

“Haa!”

Wilfred shouted and released an energy wave that dispersed the mist. When the mist evaporated, Batista’s eyes instantly exploded with fury when he looked at Floyd’s direction.

“You fucking bastard!”

He shouted at the top of his lungs that echoed throughout the battlefield startling everyone.