Chapter 231: Family reunion

"How are you, mother?" From inside Jake was in extreme pain but he didn't let any of it show up on his face. Considering that Emma might grow concerned he kept up with his brave appearance.

As soon as he had looked back the figure had pulled his face in her breasts. "Do you really need to act so tough in front of mother, child?" Jake was not surprised at all to find a very familiar bosom. Unwilling to drop down his mask he acted confused at her word.

"Ahem.. what are you talking about mother? Why would I act tough? Don't I look fine to you?" Emma cupped the cute face of the boy. She can never get enough of him. Two drops of tears formed in the corner of her eyes, that she hurriedly wiped away.

"Haha.. yeah why not. But what about your hands? Is it time to let them loose?" Only when she mentioned it, did Jake realize that from the starting he had been subconsciously gripping his hands into fists.

A small smile tugged on his face. This woman noticed even such minute details. It was futile to keep up with his acting anymore. "Aahhh.. let's go in mother. Now that you mentioned it, I feel like I pushed myself too hard."

Emma smirked before helping the boy walk with her arms around him. He seems to have thoroughly drained himself. Sun fell over the horizon as the mother-son pair walked inside the house together.

Sometime later in one of the rooms of the same house, a skinny man laid down on his bed. His eyes were closed when the door to his room opened and Emma entered with Jake. The disturbance caused him to open his eyes and stare at the approaching people.

It took his eyes some time to adjust before he could make out the bright red hair of the woman. A small smile spread on his face once he safely recognized the woman.

Watching the man struggle to get up, Emma rushed to his aid, helping him sit up. "Don't push yourself, Silas!" She sat beside him, holding onto his hands. Her eyes were filled with love as she looked at the weak man that she fell in love with.

"How are you, Emma?" The man spoke in a weak voice. Silas had been accustomed to his wife leaving the house regularly for work. Emma caressed the man's sunken cheeks as emotions bubbled in her heart.

"I will bring something to eat." Jake realized the growing sentiments in the air and decided to take his leave.

Once the boy left Emma can't wait anymore and kissed her husband on his lips. "I am doing very good. Please be assured, it won't be long before you can get better. I am trying to accumulate some funds, we will travel to the capital this time, I am sure they must have a way out for our ordeals."

Despite her assurance the man shook his head and retrieved the woman in his chest, rubbing her back. "Jake told me everything." That's the only thing he said and Emma felt her heart go cold in her chest.

He kept holding her in his embrace, unwilling to leave her. This woman truly suffered disastrously because of him. "Can you promise me one thing, Emma?" This was it. His tone was enough to douse the last embers of Emma's hopes. Jake had told 'everything' to him.

The redhead was too stupefied to respond. All along she had kept her occupation a secret from Silas. He would have never agreed to her actions, even if it meant he had to give up on his life. Hence, now when everything had come to light she had no idea how to answer back him.

Thankfully, Silas was aware of her condition and went ahead without waiting for her response. "Please promise me that you would never do such a thing ever again. Even if it meant that we have to part ways in this life."

Tears rolled down Emma's eyes as she held the fragile man in her arms. "I can't even tell how many hardships you must have faced just because of this perilous life of mine. No more. Please don't do it anymore, I can't live a life like this knowing that every minute of my life had been borrowed by my wife, out of her dignity."

Emma can't remain silent anymore. She can feel his wetness seeping through her dress. "Please Silas. Don't say anything. Everything I did, I did it with my own volition." She wiped the traces of tears from his eyes and forced out a smile. "Tell me. Would you have not given everything up just for me, had I been in your place?"

He kept silent, not responding in any manner. "You have your answer then. We are not different Silas. Nothing is more precious than your life. Let me tell you this, I would have made the same decision even if I knew where I will end up."

She hugged him again letting him feel the warmth of her chest. Silas can't control his emotions and broke out in tears once again. "Now.. now.. the worst time has passed already. Ain't I completely fine in front of you? So no need to fuss over it anymore. What happened, happened. Let's not discuss it anymore."

Silas knew that woman was tenacious, she had shown her determination with her earlier argument. "What about your present situation? Aren't you a slave even now? Jake told me a few things but I want to hear it from you."

This time Emma genuinely smiled. "As I told you earlier Silas, I am very good. I was too naive earlier. All those years I hated those commoners but when it mattered the most, my own family abandoned me while a 'peasant' came to the rescue haha.." In the end, her smile had turned to a self-deprecating one.

"Does the boy treat you well? Jake told me that you didn't have a particularly good relationship with his mother?" Emma tried to wash her shame with a shallow laugh. "Well, I am working on that front. But at the very least Mrs. Amelia has not made life difficult for me."

"Thank goddess. I don't even know what to say about Rubin. That bastard! After all, you did for me, the fucker cheated you *cough* *cough*" Emma hurriedly massaged his chest to ease out his pain. "Please don't waste your energy on him. I was the foolish one, going in trusting people like that. It was bound to happen one day, if not Rubin then someone else."

Emma had an enormous hatred for that man but she kept it all bottled up in her heart. "Still, I never treated him badly. How can he do something like this.." Emma saw the man's eyes filled with pain and misery. Those were the expression of extreme betrayal. This was the reason she had avoided mentioning that guy.

"Ignore it, Silas. Let's not talk about him. By the goddess's grace, he will certainly face the retribution for his misdeeds." Silas knew the woman was concerned about him and hence gave up. They chatted on different topics and later Jake brought them their food and after a very long time, their family reunited.

**Present day**

"I can see a lot of you guys have improved haha... Keep going like this and a few of you might break away from your destiny." A loud voice boomed over the disciples and shook them awake from their cultivation state.

"Today's training is complete. You can disperse!" Everyone got up and left the training grounds, leaving only Ryu and Kira behind with Lyod. The old grew concerned watching the boy approaching him.

He never liked lying, that too to such a small kid. His deadline of two weeks was already over and in all possibilities, he must be here to enquire about his uncle. Should he lie again? Or should he tell the truth? Over the months he had seen that the boy acted more mature than his peers. Maybe revealing the truth was not such a bad idea.

"Master Lyod, I have some doubts related to my cultivation. Can you be kind enough to guide me?" The uneasiness displayed by the old man can't escape his notice. Now he himself was more or less certain that bad foreboding had befallen on his uncle.

He didn't have much relation with the man, do the fact didn't hurt him much but recalling how devastating it can be for Ruby he can only let out a small sigh. Strangely enough, despite the passing of two weeks deadline Ruby had not discussed anything about James with him.

"Yes, why not. That's why I am here. Go on, tell me." Lyod felt energy returning to his limbs. Thank the stars, the boy had instead brought a different topic to discuss.

"Thank you master Lyod. It's related to my clones. They are.. ahem.. acting a bit strange." "Strange? Can you explain?" Ryu gave a nod and narrated the sequence of events that took place and how his clones began learning midway through their practice match.

With each sentence, Lyod's eyes kept widening until his eyelids can't expand anymore. "Are you telling the truth?" Ryu didn't hesitate to shake his head. "Why would I? If you want I can demonstrate."

"Show me then." He turned to Kira, beckoning her to his hut. "Little girl, please move away from here." Ryu had asked her earlier but she had refused to leave without him. She was very excited to watch everything with her own eyes.

"Wooden clones." Ryu cast his spell once the ground around him had cleared. The two wooden mannequins familiarly emerged from the ground. Lyod surveyed the wooden clones with renewed curiosity. But apart from a few minor physical changes, he can't tell much difference from last time. "Let's begin!!" With a shout, Ryu clashed with the clones under the watchful eyes of Lyod.

Not long after Ryu began, Lyod was elated in his heart to observe him perform the martial arts in the combination of his magical abilities. Sophia had told him that she was teaching this to the boy but he had been very skeptical of his ability to hand-to-hand combat. Nevertheless, looking at the boy moving with such nimbleness there was no scope of doubt.

Within the second round the clones had figured out what was going on and they were ready with a makeshift shield to accompany their spikes. Ryu made them halt in their positions, shrugging his shoulders to Lyod.

"Are you absolutely sure, you didn't command them to come up with this solution? Not even unintentionally?" If this was the case, then this guy was a monster in human form. At such a young age his clones were already showing signs of consciousness developing.

It was not something out of this world. Rather most of the powerful grand mages had their clones take on personality traits but this thing happening to a kid who had just started his cultivation journey was too miraculous. So much so that he was still not convinced of it.

"Well, I can't exactly show you but as far as I know, I didn't command them to do this." He must be speaking the truth. "Okay. Then let's do something that will allow us to discern it completely."

"Make this one stay there in its place. Make sure it doesn't move at all." Ryu had no idea what the old guy was planning but he did as told, sending a mental note to one of the clones to stand ground no matter what.

Lyod stood calmly, waiting for Ryu's signal, after which he strolled towards the clone. Standing half a meter from him, he pulled his hand back and the stupefied audience can see his hand glow red. *Boom* Next moment, his punch hand blasted through the head of the clone.

The force behind the punch was enough to thoroughly disintegrate the wooden warrior, leaving behind only dust. "Nope." He rubbed his hands together before turning back to a much too stunned Ryu. "It is a misconception after all."

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