Interlude - Edison and Marin (Patreon)

'Tundra Fox is named as a wanted criminal by Prince Kaorl of Kaorlian Region.'

Edison blinked as he barely made out the words written on the large, gigantic announcement board. There were many such announcements stuck on the boards along the street, right outside the administrative office of the local magistrate of Brownhill Fortress. They were far south, at the edges of the continent, along the shores of the great southern ocean that separated their continent with the Southern continent. 

There were hundreds of others crowding around the board, eager to get a read of who was named. 

A bounty was attached by each of the names.

It was his first time seeing his own father's name on the board as a criminal, that he rubbed his own eyes, and blinked a few times just to be sure. But the name was clear, and there looked to be many others. He looked around, and asked.

"What's happening?" Edison asked the man beside him.

"Have you not heard? Prince Kaorl declared a bunch of alchemists as criminals! They poisoned the Prince!" The beggar answered.

Father? Poisoning a prince? His father was absolutely negligent towards him and the family, absolutely ruthless when the opportunities presented themselves, but in Edison's mind, father was never that insane. Especially not against the royal family. This had to be a propaganda piece, or some controversy, or someone had framed him.

He glanced at the bounty, and frowned. It was a hefty amount. Enough to tempt even sixth and seventh realm cultivators. The amount was enough to buy a small flying ship!

"That's a lot of money." Edison said, his mind still processing the entire thing. 

"Of course it is! This is the Royal Family!" The beggar laughed. "These alchemists must have thought that they are so smart, that they can just drug the Prince of Kaorlia!"

Edison frowned, but he was the only one amongst many who seem to agree. "Yeah. These alchemists had it coming. For years they charged exorbitant prices when people needed their pills and elixirs, even if they didn't poison the Prince, they should be punished for their extreme profiteering!" One of the other onlookers lamented as they read.

Another onlooker just fanned the flames. "Yeah! These alchemists and doctors claim that they are so smart. You know my Aunt Ju, she paid so much money to a doctor to heal her son, and you know after losing her house and her heirlooms, her son still died! The doctors and alchemists even had the gall to say it is the will of heaven!"

He didn't know that the general public looked at alchemists in that manner. 

"They had it coming." 

A part of him felt indignant. A part of him wanted to stand up for Tundra. 

But a part of him also felt a strange, twisted kind of joy. No. Joy was a little strong of a word. Maybe, a part of him felt his father deserved some comeuppance. 

It was the nature of crowds, the more they talked, the more they remembered how some bad actors, bad alchemists and fraudulent doctors cheated them of their hard earned money. 

The assistance of the good doctors are often forgotten. The voices of those who were genuinely aided by the right pill, at the right time, drowned out by the anger of the masses. 

The crowd turned noisy, and some even said that a similar policy should be implemented here in the far south.

The crowd was possessed, almost by madness, until a cultivator in the high fifth realm emerged. One of the cultivators from an upper-mid tier sect roared. "Mortals, calm. This matter is for information, and will not be replicated here."

He ordered, and his pressure snuffed out all the anger in the crowd. Their anger was nothing more than little candleflames, and the cultivator's presence was the hurricane. 

There was nothing these mortals could do to harm alchemists like his father. A twisted pride, his father is superior to all of these petty folk. Even if these mortals suffered, so what they are but mortals, insignificant in the eyes of greater cultivators!

He lingered a little more, just to make sense of the gossip. Once the crowd started to disperse, he followed and left the crowd of mortals to return to his guesthouse, and found Marin relaxing on the daybed. Well, she didn't look all that relaxed, but at least she was trying.

"You look bothered. Has anything happened?" She turned and looked at him with a scowl. It annoyed him, and Edison briefly wondered how a beautiful woman managed to make herself look so unappealing and irritating. 

Briefly, he understood why father treated Marin that way. Unlike Lady Gale, she really wasn't making herself easy to love. He wondered how his father even found the desire to make children with her. But he kept these thoughts to himself. Marin most likely had a thousand retorts if he ever verbalized them.

"Father is a wanted criminal, by the order of Prince Kaorl." He said, repeating the announcement.

"Criminal?" That surprised Marin just as much as Edison, her words were loud. "By the Prince?"

Edison looked around, and hoped no one around listened in. Their guesthouse was simple, and didn't have the kinds of sound protections more advanced homes did. Brownhill Fortress was also not really that safe. Here down south, Brownhill Fortress was frequently visited by bounty hunters and bandits who were generally tolerated by the local authorities as long as they didn't kick up a fuss. 

"Why was he here?" Marin asked. "An Imperial Summons?"

"Apparently so." Edison said. He had to ask around the crowd what event triggered it, and that was how he made out that there was an Imperial Summons. Brownhill Fortress was far from Kaorlian territory, but imperial announcements and edicts made their way through the imperial bureaucracy such that almost everyone could see it. 

They were still one Empire, even if they were ruled more like a federation of states, each with their own Prince or Sect Leaders as their head.

Marin paused for a while, and Edison noticed a complicated mix of emotions in her face. It was as if it was a twisted blend of joy, worry and pain. 

Was he like that too? 

He remembered his own mother, Elly, saying very clearly, many many years ago. "Family sticks together, son. It is why even though I've married your father, I still do so much for my own. In the end, only my family has my back."

Now that some incident has affected his father, should he feel happy?

Or should he feel sad, worried?

Clearly, they both were dealing with it, unsure exactly how to feel. 

They nursed the thought for a moment, but then, the woman suddenly jumped out of the daybed. Marin asked, suddenly. "When we paid for this guesthouse, what name did you use?"

"Edison Fox." Edison answered, and quickly realized what in the world she meant. "We have to go."

It won't be long before the news spreads, and they might target them, as a relative of one of the wanted criminals. 

"Let's get out of town. Quickly. We need to find somewhere to hide, and use a different name." Edison said. If it came to a fight, he wasn't too worried. Both of them were fourth realm, and fourth realms were rare!

But once a fight broke out, many more would be sucked in, and then stronger enemies and foes would sweep in. Even though Brownhill Fortress only has one sixth realm cultivator who served as the town's ruler, there were multiple fifth realm elders. 

A few may want to capture them to curry favor with Prince Kaorl. 

Sadly, they both were too slow.

Then, as it turned out, an elder of the local Brownhill Fortress walked through the door. The very same elder that silenced the crowd, when the announcement was plastered all over the board.

"There's no need to pack, Lord Edison Fox and Lady Marin Eastheart." The elder of the Brownhill Fist Sect said, his face was a mix of cunning and joy. "My Sect Master would like to invite you for some tea."

Edison looked at Marin, and they both gulped. 

Marin quickly said. "We have been courteous, well behaving guests in your city, Elder. May we inquire what exactly the Sect Master wants to discuss?"

"It is as young master Edison Fox has said. It is about the criminal charges on your husband."

"My husband is my husband, his criminal charges are not mine."

"Even if you are not, there are places where you can be useful." The elder declared, as two more fourth realm Core disciples of the Brownhill Sect emerged around them. "Let us not make this a fight, we can discuss this over tea." 

Edison frowned. In his mind, he suspected that they intended to make them bait. "My father does not care for us. I believe he would rather see us dead." 

"That may be so, but I must insist, young master. Join us for tea and maybe we can come to a mutually convenient solution."

Edison looked at Marin, and the fifth realm elder felt strong. Well, relatively. He felt weaker than Yavin, but still, two against three were not good odds, and Edison didn't have a good measure of Marin's strength. "Very well. May we send word out to our families?"

"Oh certainly. It would help us if Lord Fox himself comes and visits!" The elder smiled.

He cursed internally.

[ Author Note : Sorry for the delay. Burnout and exhaustion is kicking my butt ]