Chapter 106 - Happy New Year Folks.

"Sir. I assure you that me and my Nagasawa Clan can compensate your herbs two times over!" Amon promises.

"I don't think you can." Red then grabs Amon by the neck and lifts the man up.

"Kkkk…" Amon's eyes widen in fear.

Not only is he scared of Red's vice-like grip, but also by Red's dismissal of his clan's name.

"Boss… Nagasawa Clan…" Fumio says.

"Yes. I know. Nagasawa Clan from Kofu City 50 kilometers away. Kid, after you spent that long in that place, you now have the strength to kill the Nagasawa clan head in a duel as long as you're not being stupid and once you train your elixir control to match the size of your elixir sea. If you can do that, should I be afraid?" Red asks Fumio.

"N-no…" Fumio's is reminded of his new strength.

Amon meanwhile, almost pisses himself that the very young Fumio has that ability.

"Now, young Amon. You can only blame your bad luck that you just happened to land here and saw things you shouldn't have seen." Amon hears Red say before he goes limp and his lights go out.

"Now, that's over. You all go back to your affairs. I'll take care of these two." Red orders his demons and students as he tosses Amon to the ground.

"Sir, can I do the 'taking care of'?" Goichi asks as he eyes the unconscious Amon in excitement.

"Yes. Leave it to us, sir. Things like this shouldn't be handled by you." Nishiki adds.

"Next time. I'll do some questioning first. You two can go." Red refuses.

"Even though you two are weak, you will be rewarded for this." He promises them instead.

With that the demons leave the cultivators alone.

"K-kichirou-san… What do you mean 'take care'?" Kotone asks, getting goosebumps from the words exchanged between the demons and Red.

"Make them disappear, of course." Red says in a casual manner.

"W-why?" Yoshiko asks, her stomach sinking.

"…" Fumio meanwhile, winces bitterly, feeling bad for the two intruders' fates, hoping that Red is really not going to do what he said.

"I'm not really asking for your approval. I'm just letting you know." Red says.

"T-that." "Oh…" Kotone and Yoshiko are stunned.

"But I'll play. Do you have better ideas?" Red asks the group.

"Can't we just… let them go?" Yoshiko asks.

"We can scare them for their silence." Kotone suggests.

"…" Fumio has no answer, and the two ladies look at him in surprise.

"From what I know about you, you seem the type of person who should not approve of this." Kotone tells him.

"I don't approve… but I understand…?" Fumio can only say with uncertainty.

"Understand?" Yoshiko asks in disbelief.

"Yoshiko. I heard that you would have stabbed Fumio to death during your initiation if you had that strength. I thought you'd have no problem with this?" Red asks Yoshiko.

"That's… different." Yoshiko recoils, remembering the night.

"It's not much different." Red tut-tuts.

"They saw our faces. They saw our base of operations. They have seen things they should not have seen. Tell me, what will happen if we let them go?" He asks.

His students go quiet, his question making them ponder.

"That's right…" He nods in approval. He can see the conflicted expressions spreading to the faces of Kotone and Yoshiko, making him know that they are starting to understand.

"…We let them go, they tell others. What do you think will happen next then? This place is very important to us and we can't simply abandon it because of these two." His reasoning is still hard for his students to swallow however.

"This is a rare occurrence. But if in the future, if something like this happens again, something that will threaten to expose us before we get powerful enough to stand proudly on top of this world, then I hope you three are ready to step up. When I said 'protect our secrets', this is a part of what I was asking for." He concludes and he disappears from the area with the two unconscious people.

"Well… I can only hope this doesn't happen again." Yoshiko sighs, her shoulders slumping in pressure.

"I hope so too." Kotone agrees.

"I was only planning on killing one person, and now that I'm close to the strength to do it, I'm not sure if I can really act on it. But those two men… they only trespassed. They don't deserve to die, but…"

"I was too eager. Greedily increasing my strength with boss' resources… I didn't realize… No… I forgot that there is a price for it." Fumio smiles bitterly.

Yoshiko and Kotone, hearing this, become gloomy.

"What do you think we should do?" Yoshiko asks.

"I don't know about you two, but I'll just keep training to grow even stronger. Boss said, we have to be powerful enough to stand on top of this world. I think that if we're that powerful, people will fear us. And fear will prevent them from asking questions, and keep their curiosities to themselves. By then, we will no longer be afraid to show people what we are capable of because people themselves will not dare look into us." Fumio rambles.

"Does that make sense?" He asks, catching himself blabbing his chaotic thoughts on the matter.

"Ugh… I mean, I guess?" Yoshiko groans, finding Fumio's plan the only thing she can follow for now.

"How strong are you two now, by the way? If it's not too rude to ask?" She changes the subject instead. 

"Teacher said you two were on an intense training course. You were gone for more than a week." She is also glad to see the two again.

Kotone and Fumio exchange glances before both sharing knowing, and bitter chuckles.

"A week? More like six months." Fumio scoffs.

"It is six months." Kotone smiles before her face crumples.

"Kotone, are you okay?" Yoshiko gets worried seeing tears starting to pool from Kotone's eyes.

"Y-yeah… she's more than okay." Fumio says.

Yoshiko looks at him and she sees that Fumio's eyes too are tearing up.

"I-it must have been a tough week? Now that I'm looking closer, you two look..." While her two senior students look very healthy, and that she has seen them deal with Amon easily, she notices that their eyes look very exhausted, dull even.

"Tough can't even begin…" Kotone cannot finish her sentence before her voice breaks.

"Was it worth it then?" Yoshiko asks them.

"It was to me, that's why I didn't quit. But it doesn't mean that it was easy. We're just glad it's over... Well, at least for now." Fumio sighs.

"Immense, pain was inflicted on us. Skin, muscles, bones, our bowels, they hurt. We were even lied to, just to keep us going. I might have hated Kichirou-san for the things he did, but they were all to my benefit …" Kotone recounts while not disclosing the treasure fragment.

"I…" Yoshiko gets scared imagining what the training the two must have done.

"Can I do it too? Will I be able to?" She asks herself aloud.

"Can you go through literal hell to grow more powerful? Maybe you can." Fumio shrugs.

"I don't know..." Yoshiko does not want to consider it for the moment.

Looking at Yoshiko, something suddenly crosses Fumio's mind.

"I don't know if you're willing to go through that hell again, Kotone, but I am." He says.

"You will?" Kotone asks in surprise.

"Yes. The kids, man. Look. I'm not good with them. I also haven't spent as much time with them as you two did, but I care about them." Fumio starts.

"They're living a really peaceful life. I want them to keep that peace for as long as possible. But what if one day, something bad happens? And at a time when Boss is not around? Something that will force them to protect themselves before they're ready? I would rather be the one to deal with that so that they won't be forced to grow strong fast by going through the hell that Kotone and I went through." He concludes.

"…"

"…"

Kotone and Yoshiko have a new impression of Fumio.

<>

It has been 8 real world days, or 192 days in the treasure fragment dimension, since Red introduced Kotone and Fumio to the place.

Since then, the dimension now not only contains farms and crops, it also has its own water cycle. A water evaporation seal on the land sends humidity to the cold air seal on the sky, which in turn forms clouds. This allows the farms to be watered regularly by artificial rain.

There are also three log cabins in the dimension which are the living abodes of Fumio, Kotone, and Red.

At Red's cabin.

Unlike what he told his disciples of what he was going to do, Red is currently having beverages with Ippei and Amon on the cabin's dining table. The two intruders are also safe and sound, and all healed up.

Red just made Amon realize that he was played by a gold digger making Amon and Ippei sit amicable together at the table, as if Amon did not just try to mess Ippei up.

"You two must be curious about who I am." Red tells the two.

Ippei simply nods.

"Sir, are you a member of those mysterious untouchable clans?" Amon asks in caution.

"You can say that." Red nods before transforming to Mr. Fool.

"!" "Y-you!" Ippei and Amon both get up in panic, knocking their chairs down.

"Oh. Sit your asses down. It's not like you can run away from me." Red tells them while sending mental compulsion attacks with his spirit sense.

"Y-yes, M-mr. Fool." The two superiori grab their chairs and they sit down.

"Now. Fate must have brought us together. It's the first time that my place was disturbed." Red starts.

Ippei and Amon are relieved by Red's words and non-threatening actions.

"How about you two serve me?" Red asks them.

"Serve how?" Ippei asks, interested serving under a superioris that the public has deemed 'S-Class'.

"I already have a clan, sir." Amon meanwhile, is hesitant.

"You, Ippei. You'll still be a courier, but for my people. I'll double your salary and you will be working less hours than in your current job. But I also want your silence." Red says.

"I won't be carrying illegal things?" Ippei asks warily.

"No. Of course not." Red assures him.

"Then… I'll quit my job right now if I can, sir." Ippei excitedly accepts.

Red then snaps his fingers and Ippei feels something weird happen deep within himself, but he does not know what. He knows however what to say.

"T-thank you."

"Good." Red smirks.

"And you, Amon. Your case is a bit different because of your clan. Are you the heir?" He asks Amon.

"No, sir. But I have good chances of becoming a respected senior member." Amon says.

"Okay. How many demons have your clan captured over the years?" Red asks.

"H-how…" Amon's eyes widen in disbelief.

Red with his spirit sense, sees in Amon's thoughts, Nagasawa Clan's demon prison. The prison is not as big as the Oonishi's or the Nagano's, and only contains three demons.

"Oh please. Look at my bracelet." Red says. Amon looks and his jaw drops.

"S-soldier Rank demon cores." He utters in shock looking at what Red's bead bracelet is made of.

"My clan only killed five." He adds in envy.

"Work for me. Be my liaison. Would you want to stay subservient to the Nagasawa main family? Or would you want to work for me, and start something that will become bigger than JUST the Nagasawa Clan?" Red asks.

"I-I…" Before Amon can answer, Red already knows what he feels.

*click* Red snaps his fingers again.

"I will serve you." Amon bows his head.

"Very good." Red nods.

Just like that, he now has his first human sl*ves.

"Had enough tea?" He then asks the two.

"Yes. It was nice. Thank you, sir." Ippei says, burdened to drink more of the delicious tea.

"I would love to take some home. It must be the best tea I've ever tasted." Amon cannot help but appreciate the tea he just drank.

"Good. Let's go to the yard for your first tasks." Red gets up and leads the way out while removing his Mr. Fool disguise.

Arriving at the yard, Red gets down to the ground and slowly assumes pose 1 of the 16 meridian unlocking poses.

"You two. Copy me." He orders Ippei and Amon.

The two superiori immediately sit on the ground, and attempt to copy Red.

While Red knows that the two cannot cultivate, he is hoping to see if his poses can widen the meridians of the two superiori, which in turn, will improve their superioris abilities.

"If this experiment fails, and you two die.. I can only say sorry in advance."