Realizer of Death : The Reaper

Chapter 42 42

?Tenku fell silent after he heard Wang Haotian's goal of making him a disciple. At first, he thought that the old man would ask him to do something dangerous, and he intended to refuse. But if Wang Haotian wanted him to fight as a participant representing the Wang family in the martial arts competition, then Tenku wouldn't mind.

"Hmm… you want me to represent the Wang family in a martial arts competition, master? I don't mind doing that. But may I know your reason?" Tenku was curious about why Wang Haotian wanted him to participate in the competition.

Tenku felt it wasn't as simple as being the winner or the prize in the competition. He was sure that another matter made Wang Haotian want him to participate in the event.

"Of course, you should know about it. This matter happened because of the rash decision of the Wang family's predecessors; one of them was my grandfather. In the past, the Gu family saved them from assassins and poison from those people's weapons. Therefore, the predecessor of the Wang family promised to fulfill the Gu family's request in return.

Then the Gu Family stated their request without hesitation and proposed a marriage agreement for the daughter of the Wang family at the age of fifteen. Unfortunately, the Wang family only had male descendants over the past few generations. But in this generation, we have two daughters. Because of that, we had to abide by the marriage agreement, and that's where the problem lies." Wang Haotian explained.

"I don't understand your explanation because I don't think it's a problem. Shouldn't you return the favor since the Gu family saved your predecessor? Then why did you make it a problem when the Wang family already had a daughter? Isn't it good that you can finally keep the marriage agreement that your predecessors made?" Tenku looked at Wang Haotian in confusion.

"If there is no hidden purpose behind it, then we will happily marry off the daughter of our family to the Gu family. But it's not as simple as it seems on the surface. Our predecessors made the agreement unilaterally without asking the other main family members' opinions.

Our predecessors didn't know why people from the Gu family made such a request after helping them. But we in this generation know their true purpose." Wang Haotian said in a deep voice.

"The Gu family has another purpose behind the marriage agreement?" Tenku frowned, and he began to understand Wang Haotian's problem.

"Yes. Their real goal was to devour the Wang family by merging the two families through marriage. But we still don't know why they chose female descendants from our family, and maybe it's just a preference of the Gu family because their descendants are mostly male." Wang Haotian clenched his fists tightly and said angrily.

"Moreover, we also learned that the assassin who targeted our predecessors in the past was someone from the Gu family. We were angry when we found out about it and had fallen into the Gu family's evil scheme but couldn't do anything because we didn't have solid evidence. what's more, that incident happened a very long time ago." Wang Haotian added. His voice was so cold that it would make anyone who heard it shudder. He subconsciously released his killing intent in the room.

Tenku was surprised because it was the first time he had seen Wang Haotian show his emotions. He didn't think that the old man's matter was so complicated. But Tenku quickly regained his composure and then opened his mouth.

"I see. Then what does the matter of the Wang and the Gu family have to do with the martial arts competition?" Tenku still didn't understand why Wang Haotian wanted him to participate in the competition.

"The Wang family had asked the Gu family for an annulment of the marriage agreement and provided them appropriate compensation, but they firmly refused. We argued about it and agreed that the matter would be decided by whichever of the two families could get the highest ranking in the martial arts competition when the Wang family's daughter was fifteen.

Each of us is allowed to bring three participants from outsiders." Wang Haotian felt like exploding with anger when he remembered about it. He was one of the people who had come to the Gu family residence to request the cancellation of the marriage agreement. If it weren't for the other Wang family members holding him back, he would have gone berserk in that place.

"If you're angry, why don't you settle it directly with the Gu family when they refuse to annul the marriage agreement?" Tenku could feel Wang Haotian's anger and how much he hated the Gu family.

"We can't have a war between families because it would be bad for us and hurt the foundations of the Gu family and the Wang family. You must know that war will only bring casualties and damage. Therefore, our Wang family doesn't want it, and the same goes for the Gu family." Wang Haotian sighed and tried to suppress the anger in his heart.

"I understand. Then, I will participate in that martial art competition. When and where will the event be held?" Tenku nodded and fully understood the matter of the Wang family.

"End of this month in Beijing, China." Wang Haotian replied and had a big smile on his face.

"Alright. I could go with you to Beijing at the end of this month." Tenku quickly agreed. Then he chatted for a while with Wang Haotian and returned to his apartment.

After returning to his apartment, Tenku quickly prepared his dinner because he was already feeling hungry. He doesn't take long to cook because he buys fast food at the supermarket.

"Haa..." Tenku sighed and leaned back in his chair after he finished his dinner. He thought about Wang Haotian's matter and his decision to participate in the martial arts competition.

"I didn't expect that old man to ask me to participate in the competition for his family." Tenku looks at the bracelet on his left hand and recalls his family. As he was lost in his nostalgia, the ringing of his smartphone disturbed him.

"Hmm? Who is calling me at this hour? Master won't do it because we just met half an hour ago. Is it Akina or Aunt Misora?" Tenku took out his smartphone from his pocket and saw who had sent him the message.

When Tenku looked at his smartphone, he was confused because the message was sent by an unknown number. He opened the message and frowned as he read the contents inside and the sender. The person who sent it was Setsuka Fuyushima, and she asked about the situation in Tenku's apartment.

"Why does this girl feel more troublesome than a fourth-level monster." Tenku massaged his forehead and had a headache with Setsuka's attitude.

Tenku tries to stay away from Setsuka but keeps running into the girl by chance. In addition, Setsuka now had his contacts and could message her anytime. Tenku felt a bit overwhelmed in handling it.

He couldn't change his number because it would be troublesome for him. Tenku also couldn't ignore Setsuka's message, which might affect his organizational and school life since she was his senior at both institutions. Tenku felt that fighting against a horde of fourth-level monsters was much easier than facing Setsuka.

"Okay. All I have to do is reply to her message." Tenku sighed and typed his message to Setsuka. He replied with the words, 'the situation here is fine. So you don't have to worry. Afterward, he left his smartphone on the table and took a shower because he felt his body was sticky from sweating.

***

After parting ways with Tenku, Setsuka and Kaede walked through the area around Tenku's apartment but still didn't find a single goblin in that place. They even thought that the monster detectors installed in several spots on the streets had been damaged and mistakenly identified humans as goblins. Along the way, Setsuka occasionally looked at her smartphone and seemed hesitant to type her finger on the screen.

(Should I text him now? Isn't that too rushed? No. I have to do it to find out the situation around that apartment from him. Yes, I have no other intentions for him. Why should I be nervous?)

Setsuka pressed the send button on her smartphone, delivering the message to Tenku. Not long after, her smartphone rang, and she got a reply. Setsuka quickly opened the message and smiled. She kept her smartphone in her pocket and raised her eyebrows as she felt Kaede's gaze.

"Hmm? What's wrong, Kaede? Why are you looking at me like that?" Setsuka tilted her head and asked in confusion.

"It's nothing. I feel you are in a very good mood today." Kaede shook her head and smiled. She felt Setsuka was acting strange after meeting Tenku, but she didn't dare to ask if her friend didn't want to tell her.

"Is that so?" Setsuka shrugged her shoulders and didn't answer any further. She didn't expect Kaede to keep watching her when she focused on her smartphone. Setsuka noticed that she was acting a bit strange today, but that wasn't bad, in her opinion.

(Did something happen between them? No way. They just got to know each other, so it doesn't make sense. Could it be just my feelings?)

Kaede sighed and stopped thinking about it. Then she checked the report on her dimension watch and frowned.

"What happened, Kaede? Why are you making such an expression?" Setsuka quickly noticed the change in Kaede's face.

"I received a report that one of the Realizers on this mission found a corpse in a terrible condition not far from this place. They suspect that a goblin has killed that person." Kaede explained and showed Setsuka the contents of the report in three-dimensional mode. Setsuka's face sank as she read the report.

"This problem is getting more serious and dangerous. Let's go to the scene immediately." Setsuka said coldly.

"Yes." Kaede nodded with a serious face, and the two girls quickened their footsteps toward where the black-robed person's corpse was found.