Chapter 416: Have To Get Sneakier!
"Huh? Uh... You’re welcome?" Eris was thoroughly dumbfounded by this response, as in her mind, she hadn’t been ’teaching’, so much as just repeating what she had been taught.
She might have mixed in a few of the more interesting insights Lucas had shared with her over the past year-and-a-half as well, but nothing that was a big, profound secret.
To be fair, Eris had never really tried teaching others before today, so she wasn’t certain whether what she had done was considered teaching or not.
She was always surrounded by people who were much, much stronger or more knowledgeable than her, so this was a brand-new experience, one that, to her surprise, she actually found quite enjoyable.
The look of awe on Becky’s face when she completed her first cultivation session, the curiosity in her eyes as she looked up at her, hoping to learn more, the joy of sharing her own experiences and knowledge with others, it all filled Eris’ heart with warmth as well as a sense of accomplishment she had never felt before.
This must be why Master enjoys teaching so much, Eris couldn’t help thinking to herself, the uplifting atmosphere helping to dissipate all the gloom and frustration she had been carrying around since earlier.
That didn’t mean the situation had slipped her mind, however. Eris was still deeply concerned about the mysterious man named Bellamy, and about the situation of the orphanages all across Misty City.
She understood that what Director Tilly had done wasn’t illegal, or even immoral from the broad perspective of society, but Eris couldn’t accept it as ’right’ either.
What’s more, now that she knew such things were happening basically right next-door to where she live, Eris had no intention of just allowing the matter to fester. However, for a brief moment, Eris allowed herself to completely relax and enjoy the warm, happy atmosphere around her.
As for all the requests she was getting for a follow-up lesson, that actually gave Eris an idea, one she would need a lot of time to flesh out and a lot of help to implement, but the more she thought about it, the more determined she became to follow through...
.....
It was only early March right now, which meant that the days were fairly short. As such, despite having had dinner fairly early in the day, the sun had long set and the moon was now up.
Eris’ impromptu lecture on the proper way to cultivate was certainly a factor in it being so late by the time she and her little siblings decided to head home, but even if she hadn’t engaged in that teaching session, it would still have been dark outside.
With night having completely fallen, even the normally fearless Eris was a little worried about how they were going to make it back to the Manor.
Public order in Misty City was generally quite good as the City Guard was extremely well trained and disciplined, making their patrols both frequent and effective.
On top of that, as the home Marquess Celestina Balfour spent much of her time in and the base for the Raging River Legion, the number of soldiers and strong Cultivators who just happened to be nearby at any given moment was much higher compared to your average city in the Rockwell Kingdom.
What this meant was that, as long as you stuck to the more populated areas, it was pretty safe to wander around even if it was late at night.
Unfortunately, the orphanage was located in a rather out-of-the way spot in the southern residential district, so they would need to navigate through several narrow streets or dark alleyways to get to a main road.
It would probably be fine, and if Eris was all by herself, she was confident she could make it even if she ran into a few unruly fellows along the way as she was much stronger than your average street thugs, but with Toby and Mabel in tow...
Eris thought about it for a bit and decided her best option would be to ask a couple of the workers at the orphanage to help walk them back. These workers weren’t very strong; in fact, Eris was probably stronger than most of them, but a group of 5 with a couple of adults in it was far less likely to be targeted than one composed of just 3 young children.
Before she could make her request, though, there was a knock at the orphanage’s door.
When Director Tilly went to see who it was, she was greeted by an older gentleman dressed in light leather armour bearing the crest of the Balfour Family.
A carriage was also parked outside, also marked with the familiar burning flame crest.
"I’ve come to escort Young Lady Eris, Young Master Toby, and Young Lady Mabel back to the Manor," the man promptly explained.
Hearing this, Eris breathed a sigh of relief.
Given how perfect the timing was, she realized that she hadn’t really ’snuck out’ today; clearly, she was being monitored and protected by someone powerful enough for her to not have even noticed their presence.
In other words, there was at least one Initiate-Realm master nearby, probably accompanied by a team of strong Mortal Realm Practitioners from the Balfour Family Guard.
Thinking so, Eris made a note to herself that if she ever really wanted to slip out in secret in the future, she would have to get sneakier!
That said, given the circumstances, Eris was actually quite thankful she had been followed today. Not only did this mean it be much quicker, safer, and easier for her, Toby, and Mabel to get home, if a Spirit Initiate had really been watching her this whole time, it would probably make it easier to investigate that Bellamy fellow.
It was even possible that someone from her invisible protective detail had already gone after Bellamy to monitor or even question him.
With their ride home secured, Eris, Toby, and Mabel all relaxed completely and said goodbye to their friends at the orphanage, many of whom were rubbing their eyes tiredly but had stubbornly insisted on staying up to see the trio off.
It had been a fun and eventful day, but it seemed like it was over coming to an end.
Yes, it seemed that way...