Chapter 150 - "Listen You Two..."

"Feeling better?" Red asks after having given Gin a disguised therapy session.

"Yeah. I do. Thank you, Kichirou-san." Gin confirms with a smile of gratitude.

"Good." Red nods.

"Now. Knowing the type of person you are, you simply didn't stand by and do nothing no?" He asks Gin.

"What do you mean?" Gin asks.

"Don't tell me you didn't look and listen for any juicy information about some clans? Maybe some potential blackmail material?" Red asks.

"…" Gin is taken aback by Red's accurate guess, but recovers quickly. He is reminded that Red has the ability to see through him.

"I did." He admits with a sigh.

"Ever tempted to blackmail them?" Red asks with a chuckle.

"I almost did. I found out about this one clan heir, let's call him Heir 1, killing the girlfriend of a rival clan's heir, which we'll call Heir 2, out of jealousy. I was about to tell what happened to Heir 2, but someone was even faster than me. In fact, the information was as widespread as I thought." Gin recounts.

"What happened next probably disappointed you, huh." Red chuckles.

"How do you know?" Gin frowns.

"Was that girlfriend someone important to Heir 2's clan, or to another clan?" Red asks.

"No." Gin shakes his head.

"And do you think Heir 2 really is mad because he loved that girl, or was it simply because he was slighted?" Red asks again.

"That, I don't know." Gin is disgusted by the latter half of Red's question.

"Either way, it's nothing serious if you look at it beyond more than just the three people involved." Red shrugs.

"So, how was it settled? A slap on the wrist on Heir 1? Some settlement given by his clan to the girl's family? A simple chat of two clan heads over a nice dinner to quell the tensions among their members?" He asks.

"You've already heard of this…" Gin does not believe that Red is simply guessing.

The guess after all is entirely accurate save from the chronological order of what exactly happened.

"I have not. This is just more common than you think. I know too many precedents of it." Red says.

"…" Gin feels that Red's words are reasonable.

"So. You must have also realized that blackmailing them wouldn't work?" Red asks.

"That's right." Gin rubs his eyebrows in frustration.

"I've already guessed that they will simply ignore blackmail. I did not expect to find out that they're already blackmailing each other as a method to keep each other in line." Gin says bitterly.

"But… Did it ever cross your mind? You simply spread what you know to other clans, causing various accusation of betrayal, making all hell break loose?" Red asks.

"Heh…" Gin chuckles.

"I have to admit. I felt a power trip with all the stuff I know, and I was tempted. But I was not stupid to be carried away. Especially when I know that such power was due to your invisibility toys."

"A shame. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened." Red chuckles.

"You…" Gin cannot believe what he just heard.

"The deplorable ones, despite the power they hold, and the innocent blood on their hands, are a minority. A vast majority of their clan members are innocent. Just as innocent as the clans that are subservient to them.

"'Hell breaking loose' will put even more lives at risk." He reasons.

"Oh, relax. I wasn't being serious. At most, it's just something I think about in amusement. You've read my manga." Red scoffs.

"… Ah…" Gin realizes that Red having such thoughts is exactly what produced the most compelling manga he has ever read.

"Anyways. Give me a copy of all the things you've gathered." Red changes the subject.

"Right now?" Gin asks, caught off-guard.

"Once you've done organizing them." Red says. 

"Expect to have them by tonight." Gin promises in relief. 

Red then stretches his arm out and opens his palm facing up.

"…" Gin's left brow raises in interest.

Soon, he sees a shotput sized water ball materialize just a few inches above Red's palm. In addition, strong blue flames materialize under that water ball. It does not take long before he sees the water come to a boil.

Before he can ask what Red is doing, Red pours the boiling water ball on his teapot.

"You know…" Gin shakes his head in realization.

"To use your powers for such mundane things does not make me feel good."

"Oh, boohoo." Red mocks in dismissal.

Gin is stunned by such blatantly disrespectful dismissal but realizing the privilege of an S-Class superioris brewing him tea, "HAH!" he can only laugh out loud at the ridiculousness of the scene.

"By the way… Your adult… students are not the only ones who grew in strength." Gin looks at the training yard where the children are still vigorously dancing non-stop for more than an hour now.

"I feel like one of them can kill me with a single punch." He says with a nervous chuckle.

"How do you figure?" Red is amused at Gin's joke being actually close to reality.

"Well, I witnessed the most intense game of tag and snow fight this morning. A non-superioris has a death wish by getting in between those." Gin shrugs, remembering the scene.

"Also, after breakfast, Ran was so excited to see me that she rushed towards me with a hug. With how fast she ran, I thought she could outrun me even when I'm in full sprint in my cat form.

"I also thought my organs will be crushed with how hard she squeezed me. I almost puked my guts out on the girl." He chuckles.

He then unzips his thick jacket, lifts his shirt and shows Red his lower torso.

"My word… HAH!" Red guffaws, seeing the bruise that formed on Gin's left side.

"I see the humor in it, but I don't find it as funny as you do." Gin returns a bitter smile.

"I'll have Akane, or maybe Yori treat you to a nice massage and an herbal bath." Red appeases the man.

"Thank you." Gin nods.

Then he realizes something.

"He as good as Fumio? Or Kotone?" He asks.

He was after all, for a short time, has been Fumio's massage practice dummy, and Kotone's after Kotone moved in the hill.

"They are." Red nods.

"Huh…" Gin cannot wait.

<>

Taishiro feels his lungs and guts twitch. He then bends over, holds his knees tightly, and "UEEEKKK...", dry heaves a few consecutive times before finally feeling better.

The child's actions stop the music immediately, resulting to the other children stop their dance workout. too

"Alright. I think we've had enough for the morning." Akane claps her hands.

"Yes…" Taishiro collapses to his knees in relief.

"Oohh… Thank you!" Chihiro sits on the ground.

"Ahhh… I'm so tired." Ran quickly follows.

"…" Osamu meanwhile, is trying to keep himself standing. His knees are shaking and his entire body hurting, but seeing Kanon still on her feet, only heavily breathing, he is not willing to rest yet. 

The next moment however, to his surprise, Kanon slowly crouches down before carefully seating on the ground with legs crossed.

"Haaa…" He then quickly falls to his buttocks in relief.

"…" Akane and Yori, seeing Osamu's quiet but petty competitiveness showing, smile in amusement.

"Alright. You all can deactivate your weight and resistance seals." Yori orders the children.

After letting the children take a breather, Akane and Yori divide the children into gender and guides them to the massage rooms just ahead the training yard.

An hour later, "Thank you, Yori-sensei." Osamu thanks Yori.

Him, Chihiro, and Taishiro were just finished with their massage under their teacher.

"Here's for your medicinal bath." Yori hands Osamu a glass tube of emerald colored, and crystal clear solution.

"What do you do?" He asks.

"Pour every last drop." Osamu replies.

"Good." Yori nods and lets the kid leave the room.

The next moment, "Yori-san." Roku enters the room and starts cleaning up.

"Roku-san." Yori nods at the demon housekeeper before proceeding to document something on his clipboard.

Done documenting, he leaves the massage room and outside, is Red and Akane waiting for him.

"Sir." Yori greets Red.

"Good job today." Red nods before leading the two to the couple's house.

"…" The couple is mentally preparing for the second weekly meeting.

"Thank you, Gin-san." Akane thanks Gin after the man is done serving her, Yori, and Red cups of tea.

"You're welcome." Gin nods before proceeding to get out of the house, feeling that the three cultivators are about to talk about something he should not be involved in.

"So. Surprise me. Let's do the body refining solution first." Red begins the meeting.

"I'll go first." Akane starts.

"Kanon is now at 15% concentration while Ran is still at 9% concentration."

"Taishiro is at 8%, Chihiro is at 9%, and Osamu at 13%" Yori reports.

"Good." Red nods.

"Alright. Note this." He prefaces.

The couple perk up to focus more.

"Starting this Monday, let's jump up the concentration." Red says, surprising the two.

"First. Ran's will be upped to 12%. Kanon's will be upped to 19%. Taishiro's will be increased to 11%..." He is about to continue with his directions when he notices the couple's expressions.

"What's wrong?" He asks them.

"Sir…" "Are you sure..?" Yori and Akane protest simultaneously.

The two, after Dominic's fake attack on the hill, underwent Red's hell training in the treasure fragment dimension.

As for why the two subjected themselves to such a long and painful experience, there are a few factors.

First was Red's injury and Red's coaxing of the two. It gave them an illusion that the man needed their help.

Second, the two received advice from Kotone and Yoshiko about what they would expect in the training.

Third, they wanted to grow strong enough to flee with the children easily at times of crisis.

And finally, they were promised by Red that if they endure the entirety of the training, they will become as strong as A-Class Superioris. Kotone's, Yoshiko's, and Fumio's testimonies about the training's benefit, also helped with their decision.

Throughout the hell training, they have learned all sorts of pain and that included the excruciating pain that the body refining solution brings.

Even though they have stayed inside the treasure dimension for a total of one year, twice as long as the other disciples', they have not gotten used to the pain of the body refining solution and its upgraded versions.

Knowing the pain well is what makes them hesitant in administering them to the young children.

So, they were unpleasantly surprised when two and a half weeks ago, when the children started their own drastically intensified training, they found out that Kotone and Yoshiko started mixing the diluted form of the solution to the children's bath water.

The two wanted to protest with the decision, but they changed their minds when they further found out that the body refining solutions were started at 1% concentration, and is incrementally increased in accordance to the children's speed in improving their physique.

"Isn't this too much?" Akane asks.

Their problem with Red's current order however, is that the children's bodies might get shocked due to the drastic increase in the concentration of the solutions. 

"Listen you two...."