Logan and Claire too simultaneously realized that the teenage girl had stopped to look at them and without any fear, she approached them while hopping like a rabbit.
She was gaining rapid distance from her father, but that didn"t seem to faze her even a bit. It was as if she didn"t worry that someone would attack her.
Her smiling expression also indicated that she wasn"t worried about being attacked suddenly.
Davis then noticed that she wore an accessory over her neck, "A protective artifact?"
The teenage girl neared them and curiously looked at them with a scrutinizing expression. Behind her, Edgar Alstreim rather quickly arrived seeing that his daughter had suspected these three people to be the source of the change that would happen to her.
The Whisper of Fate phenomenon...
"A group of masked people? They have the element of mysteriousness... This... is going to get difficult since they obviously don"t want to be probed..." He inwardly mused.
Davis pursed his lips and a difficult expression appeared on his face.
"Could it be that we were found out?"
This sentence echoed in their minds but if it wasn"t the case and they were to back out now, they felt that they would just become even more suspicious.
Their eyes imperceptibly twitched as they knew that they were admittedly placed in a difficult position.
The two groups that were already just an arm"s length away were looking at each other but none of them spoke, leading to an awkward situation.
Davis felt that he had to break this atmosphere and cast any suspicion towards something else. He bowed deeply as a commoner would do and spoke.
"We greet the Alstreim Family!"
The "we" in his words prompted Logan and Claire to follow his example. They too bowed and greeted.
"We greet the Alstreim Family!"
But Claire didn"t speak, afraid that her voice would be found out. She had also completely withdrawn her undulations the moment she had spotted them on the flight of stairs, plus the mask she wore had the "Blur" Symbol, so her father wasn"t able to tell at all.
Edgar Alstreim saw that these masked people recognized their ident.i.ty. There was also the projections that displayed their figures before, so he automatically considered that they would know about them. In fact, if they had claimed to not know them, he would"ve become more suspicious of their origin.
"Is there something wrong?" Davis probed.
This gave Edgar Alstreim, who usually didn"t like to fight without a reason, automatically say, "No, no..."
He suddenly stopped, realizing that he had lost the initiative to question them by saying this, but even then, he uttered forcefully.
"It seems like my daughter is interested in knowing what kind of faces are behind these masks..."
Davis"s heart delayed a beat.
For whatever reasons he couldn"t tell, he smiled with difficulty and uttered,
"That"s not appropriate, no?"
Claire who was on Davis"s side, looked at her father and son talk as if they were probing each other. This sight somehow made her feel as if she were really back home.
Even then, she couldn"t help but intently look at her father whom she had missed for so many years.
"Since you are all masked, I am well aware that you don"t want to show your faces for some reason but I can pay anything to make my daughter happy."
Edgar Alstreim shook his head.
"How about this?" He flicked his sleeves and said with the aura of a tyc.o.o.n, "Will a High-Level Spirit Stone suffice for each of your faces?"
Davis"s lips twitched behind the mask.
He didn"t think his grandfather would be thoroughly the Young Master type!
Well, in the past, it seemed that his maternal grandfather was the Young Master of the Alstreim Family, so he wasn"t deeply shocked by his wealthy and rich att.i.tude.
Davis shook his head, indicating that it wasn"t enough but then uttered a sentence that told Edgar that they have difficulties in removing the mask.
"Esteemed person from the Alstreim Family, we can"t afford to remove our masks since our lives will invite danger."
Davis sent a Soul Transmission to Edgar Alstreim and that instantly froze him! Because the latter realized that he was talking to a Mature Soul Stage Expert! A High-Level one at that!
He became cautious and moved his daughter behind him.
"We don"t mean any harm..." Davis suddenly said, causing Edgar Alstreim to once again consider who he was talking too.
"As expected, Tia"s Whispers of Fate didn"t lead to any normal people. Perhaps, I should take a soft approach, no?"
Edgar inwardly mused and decided to adopt a soft approach.
"Then let us move to an inconspicuous place..." He sent a Soul Transmission to Davis and laughed openly as a guise to the public, "Is that so? We"re leaving then..."
He widened his eyes and viewed Davis with a threatening glint. His intent was clear as it said that he will continue to annoy them if they don"t appear.
He then left along with his daughter as if he wasn"t bothered about them.
Davis"s lips twitched as he turned to look at this mother, who looked back at him guiltily before averting her gaze. He let out an exasperated sigh and sent them a Soul Transmission, "What else could we do other than follow? Let"s go..."
Claire obediently nodded her head as she didn"t even dare to speak.
======
In a room of a certain Inn, Edgar Alstreim and Tia Alstreim sat on the table. He wasn"t worried that they wouldn"t be able to follow them to this room later because the other party was a Mature Soul Stage Cultivator.
However, Edgar"s expression became a little bit ugly.
He realized that he didn"t take a soft approach at all!
What if those people disappeared because of his threatening gaze?
"Did I ruin my daughter"s chance?" He couldn"t help but berate himself.
Sometimes, habits die hard...
Quite some time had pa.s.sed, more than ten minutes but they didn"t still appear. Just when he thought of going outside to look for them, he heard a knock.
"It"s open..." He answered.
Reacting to his words, the door opened and three masked people entered.
Davis, Logan, and Claire stood beside the door but Davis took a few steps forward and sat on one of the three chairs that were readied for them. He even crossed his legs and sat like a big shot.
Claire and Logan wondered why their son suddenly decided to act like this but they inwardly shrugged and sat beside him.
"Oh?" Edgar Alstreim saw that the man who spoke rather timidly now reveal his fangs. This told him that the other party realized something, perhaps, a weakness that would make him unable to berate or threaten the other party?
Without any prompt, Davis uttered, "High-Level Spirit Stone Vein Fragments..."
"What?" Edgar Alstreim became confused.
Davis chuckled, "The price for revealing our faces..."
Edgar Alstreim widened his eyes and asked with an amused expression on his face, "Are you not afraid of my Alstreim Family?"
Davis extended his hand and tapped the table twice, "I am afraid of Alstreim Family but not of you..."
Edgar Alstreim lifted his brows, "Do you think I"m an impostor?"
"No, no it"s just the opposite. From the projection, I know that you belong to the Alstreim Family but I also know of your personal history with the Alstreim Family, Edgar Alstreim..."
"So I also know that you wouldn"t rely on the family which backstabbed you in the past..."
Edgar Alstreim widened his eyes even more in shock. His curiosity peaked as he tried to guess who this person in front of him was!
"You"ve successfully convinced me. One High-Level Spirit Stone Vein Fragment it is..."
His lips subconsciously curved into a grin.
"Show me your face..."