The Purple Scale Teahouse was often frequented by the young nobles of Thistle Brook. It could be said that it was popular even across the empire.
The waitresses were beautiful, the food was of the highest quality, and the tea, especially, was well known for its positive effects on cultivation.
Theron had never been before. If not for his curiosity about the mission Thessa, Soren, and Teagan were on, he would have never come. It was impossible to enter this establishment and not spend several thousand bronzes, and that was if you were being frugal. The top floors certainly had customers spending exorbitant amounts of silver.
Luckily, the group gathered together on the first floor. Soren was already waving around a leg of meat and telling a tale about how he valiantly defeated a Fiend Beast.
“… and then I slid under its enormous body and ran my blade down its gut. You should have seen it, blood and intestines were flying everywhere. I thought I was going to drown down there!”
Thessa rolled her eyes. “Oh, yeah? You cut the belly of a grey rhino that easily?”
Soren flexed his free arm. “Haven’t you seen these muscles? Are you doubting my prowess?”
Theron smiled, sipping at his tea. A warmth spread through him that made the obscene price tag worthwhile. His cultivation had stabilized at the Fourth Resonance, but it was showing signs of increasing already.
The process was also gentle and soothing, nothing like the pain he had endured consuming those mid-tier pills.
“We have a real hero here, but you’re taking up the air space with your nonsense. Sadie told me that you won three credits in an exchange today, Theron. How’d you manage it?”
Teagan looked over with a hint of surprise in his eyes as well, though Soren looked lost.
“They just happened to bring up a topic I was familiar with. I don’t think I did anything special.”
“Don’t listen to him!” Sadie chimed in. “You should have seen the teachers’ faces. They were practically latching onto his every word, just like the students! Teacher Fern was so confident in Theron that she chose him over all the seniors.”
Theron gave everyone a bitter smile, handing Sadie a handkerchief to wipe her mouth with.
Before the little girl could be embarrassed, a snort came.
The group was in a booth, not a private room. Anyone could overhear their conversation. It was just that Sadie wasn’t expecting one of them to be Sawyer Thistle.
Sawyer was still brooding over the missed opportunity and had come here to relax. He didn’t expect that he would run into the very thing he had been trying to avoid all the while.
If Sadie had just been praising Theron, that was fine. But what were the odds of him walking by just as she mentioned the seniors?
Sawyer was followed by two others, and to Theron’s surprise, they too wore Sect garbs.
Since when did so many Sect members frequent the city…
“Watch your mouth, brat,” Sawyer snarled.
The happy atmosphere deflated like a balloon.
“Hey—!”
Teagan pulled Soren back before his mouth got him into trouble. Soren wasn’t one to pay attention to details, but Teagan and Thessa both had already noticed that while the academy’s insignia was on Sawyer’s right hip, on his left there was the emblem of the Thistle marquisate.
It was a hint of green and brown that stood in stark contrast to the white and violet. The image of a vine of thorns restraining a heart was as clear as day.
Branch bloodline or not, the influence the Thistle Clan had in their marquisate was too high.
Sadie shrank back, hiding behind Thessa’s shoulder.
Sawyer snorted again, about to walk away when he caught a glimpse of Theron. There was something about the young boy’s calmness that truly pissed him off.
He flicked a finger, and a brownish energy cracked against Theron’s cup, sending the expensive tea flying everywhere.
The green-tinted liquid dripped down onto Theron’s lap, soaking his robes through. He looked down at himself, his expression unreadable.
Slowly, he closed his eyes. A familiar cycle of remembrance ran through his mind. He focused his intention and will, soothing himself.
Seeing that he wasn’t going to get another reaction, Sawyer finally swaggered off. Most wouldn’t dare to attack at all in the teahouse, but most weren’t Thistles.
“Are you alright, Theron?” Thessa asked with concern. “I’m sorry that happened.”
Theron opened his eyes and smiled. “No, it’s fine. Not a big deal.”
His Mana circulated, and the tea that soaked his lap was pulled up, streaming into his mouth. It was a nice party trick that lightened the mood, but Thessa’s eyes couldn’t help but light up.
“Your cultivation is low, but your Mana control is so impressive!”
“It’s the best path for me,” Theron explained. “Water Mancers aren’t very powerful in combat, so I’ve always focused on other things.”
Thessa nodded. “I try to tell this one all the time,” she pinched at Sadie’s cheeks, “power isn’t everything. Maybe she’ll take it better hearing it from you.”
“Bleh!” Soren scoffed. “If it’s not related to power, it’s boring. I can’t believe this — days and no action at all. I’d rather return to the Sect. I’m sorry, Theron, but I think I’d rather die than be a Water Mancer. How would I have defeated the grey rhino otherwise?!”
“Days and no action?” Theron probed instead of refuting.
“Yeah, we told you we were on this super annoying mission, right? But it doesn’t feel like that at all. We’re just lounging around all day.”
“I did think that was a bit weird.” Theron nodded. “I thought that Sect disciples couldn’t leave.”
This was common knowledge, so Theron wasn’t afraid to mention it. In fact, doing so would help him steer the conversation a bit better.
“Normally that’s true,” Soren confirmed, “but this time there were a bunch of weird missions the Sect handed out. We’re not even the only ones.”
“Weird missions?” Theron smiled. “Like saving cats from trees?”
Thessa laughed. “The mighty rhino slayer reduced to catching house pets. Now that would be a grand tale.”
Soren seemed to realize that Theron was making fun of him, and he looked at the young boy in shock.
“No way. You’re not allowed to make fun of me too, Theron. I thought we were on the same side! Am I safe from no one?!”
“You’re an easy target,” Sadie chimed in, finally recovering from the earlier conflict.
“Oh Gods, even the little girl is getting involved. Save me some face, will you? We aren’t saving cats from trees, dammit. This is real, official business.”
The conversation continued, and Theron didn’t manage to steer it back toward the topic of missions. That said, he still had come up with a faint inkling now.
If he was correct, the mission itself wasn’t important at all. Rather, for some reason, the Sect wanted a large number of its disciples stationed in the city for the time being.
The real question was: why?