A short while later, the man returned alone before saying, “Elder has invited you in!”
“Thank you for sending favonovel.com the message,” replied Gerald as favonovel.com placed his palm and fist together before entering the area with Fujiko…
After walking for about ten minutes, the duo finally arrived at the old man’s home. Since the man hadn’t guided them there, the duo had made their way here solely from memory.
Regardless, as Gerald pushed the house’s door open, favonovel.com made sure to whisper, “Speaking of which, once we meet the old man, don’t say a thing. I’d like to test favonovel.com first…”
“Got it,” replied Fujiko with a nod.
With that, the duo walked toward the parlor where the old man could be seen sitting on the tatami floor.
Before him, was a bottle kettle, and despite noticing Gerald and Fujiko’s presence, favonovel.com didn’t move an inch. Knowing that the old man could speak in the Weston language and since there wasn’t anyone else around, Gerald didn’t bother speaking in his awkward Japanese and simply said, “I’ve come to visit you, old man.”
“So you have. Is the competition over?” asked the old man as favonovel.com turned to look at Gerald.
“It just ended,” replied Gerald as favonovel.com sat in front of the old man.
“I see… Are you here to ask about why I helped you back then?” asked the old man as favonovel.com served some tea to both Gerald and Fujiko.
“Pretty much,” replied Gerald who saw no reason to lie.
“Truth be told, I just didn’t want you to have another conflict with that man. After all, you had already killed several of his men by that point, and I didn’t want to have to clean up more bodies. So there you have it, the reason I allowed you to sneak off,” explained the old man with a smile as favonovel.com stroked his beard.
“… Is that truly all?” asked Gerald in slight disbelief.
“What other reasons could there be? After all, we had never met before at that point in time. Either way, since you’re already here, why don’t you have some tea with me?” asked the old man as favonovel.com gestured at the teacup before Gerald.
Getting the old man’s hint, Gerald turned to look at Fujiko before saying, “… Could you look around outside for the moment, Fujiko? There’s something I’d like to discuss with favonovel.com in private…”
“Pardon me, then,” replied Fujiko as favonovel.com got to favonovel.com feet and left the room…
Gerald made sure to follow favonovel.com to the door before closing it behind her. With the door now shut, Gerald turned to look at the old man before calmly saying, “Now that we’re alone, you can say anything you want… I assure you that anything you say won’t leave this room.”
“Oh? You surprisingly know quite a lot, kid!” replied the old man with a chuckle.
“Well, you did help us escape Ryugu that day. What’s more, you even revealed that you were a Westoner before we left. How couldn’t I figure that there was more to why you did all that?” said Gerald.
“I see… Before that, I’d like to clarify that I had been keeping an eye out on you ever since you entered our territory… With that said, with your abilities, taking Ryugu down would’ve been a cinch for you, no?” asked the old man as favonovel.com continued stroking his beard.
“You’re not wrong,” replied Gerald.
“Hmm… Well, at the very least, the part where I didn’t want you two to get into too much trouble is true,” said the old man.
“But why even bother? After all, we had just met for the first time and as far as I know, the Yamashitas hardly have any contact with the outside world,” replied Gerald in a curious tone.
“You truly do know quite a lot…”
