Hours later...
As the first rays of daylight slowly appeared on the horizon of the Peters City area, the carriage driven by Lothur passed one of the entrances to this city.
However, unlike most of the way there, Elke was not sitting on his lap. Right now, she was hugging his left arm; her eyes closed while her head was leaning on one of her man's shoulders.
They were already arriving at their destination, so they would not show that much intimacy. For this reason, a few moments ago, she had changed position and sat down next to him.
Anyway, while Elke got some sleep, something she had done most of the way here, Lothur drove that carriage to the Becker estate, seeing on his way the deserted streets at this time of day.
...
"Patriarch, madam, we just spotted the young lady arriving at the beginning of the street!" A servant said this as he entered the patriarch Becker's workroom, where this man and his wife were.
After a whole night of waiting, the two became increasingly worried about Elke's tardiness. They had even sent people to look for her, fearful that something had happened.
So, upon hearing that, the two got up from their seats and ran out of that estate with expressions of relief and disturbance.
'That brat! If he's the one who made her late, I'll have to teach him a lesson!' So, Gomeric thought to himself as he ran ahead of his wife.
And when they finally left their residence, the most important couple of this family soon came across Lothur driving Elke's carriage, with this young woman at his side.
Seeing that situation, the two frowned, not understanding the reason for this unusual situation.
'Where is old Feller?' Elke's mother wondered as she looked at the carriage slowly stopping beside the sidewalk they were standing on.
"Lothur, what happened? Why are you only arriving now?" She asked in doubt as she watched her daughter wake up.
"Madam, many things have happened. But to make a long story short, our mission was delayed by a setback, and then we were attacked." So Lothur said, looking at them as he prepared to help Elke down from where they were standing.
"You were attacked?" Gomeric exclaimed in concern as he ignored the guards standing on the outskirts, glaring at Lothur and Elke.
By now, Elke had noticed their surroundings' situation and told her parents. "As we returned, someone attacked us and killed old Feller!"
"What?" Several voices arose from the surroundings of the entrance to the Becker estate, with the people there beginning to make ugly expressions.
"Someone attacked you and killed old Feller?" Hilda asked, already feeling angry at the thought that someone had dared such a thing.
But as she thought about how Feller was a 4th Transformation cultivator, she could not help but question. "What happened? Are you okay?"
Feeling her mother's hands touching her wrist, Elke jumped back and said. "We are fine. Luckily we were able to deal with the enemy when he underestimated us..."
Lothur then gestured with his hand, and two bodies appeared on the sidewalk. "That was the man who attacked us, killed our coachman, and tried to capture us, patriarch, madam."
At this moment, seeing the body of old Feller, who had served this family for over a century, Gomeric's face darkened, and he exclaimed in anger. "Unacceptable!"
"How can a measly 5th Transformation cultivator challenge us like that? That is simply unforgivable!"
"Heinz!" He shouted, causing one of the several men in the surrounding area to come forward in a flash.
Gomeric looked at that person and said. "Take some men and start investigating this bastard who dared to attack us. Let's make the people behind him pay for the death of old Feller!"
"Yes, patriarch!"
As Heinz left, Gomeric looked at Lothur and asked. "What happened? How did you get attacked? And more importantly, how did you defeat this person?"
Lothur looked at that man and saw no way to escape this place without telling the truth. He then gestured with one of his hands in the direction of the house, indicating for them to talk somewhere more private.
Gomeric and Hilda understood this very well and saw no problem going along with what Lothur wanted.
"Patriarch, I don't know who this man is or why he attacked us. It all happened after we left Lewerenz, coming towards Peters City..." He explained how that person had stopped them near a canyon.
Then, when they finally entered the patriarch's residence and sat around a living room, Lothur said the most important thing. "... When he tried to enter the carriage cabin, I attacked him by surprise and killed him."
"Uh?" Hilda exclaimed in surprise.
Gomeric also found this strange and opened his mouth in shock to ask. "What? How is that possible? You're not just..."
"... A mortal?" Lothur completed that man's speech and smiled. "Actually, I am not, but I ask the patriarch and madam to keep the secret."
Both of them frowned upon hearing this information. However, Lothur continued his speech so as not to generate more suspicion. "I accidentally ate a medicine that made me stronger and noticed the possibilities of body cultivation. After that, I started to follow that path secretly to surprise Viktoria..."
"Anyway, because of that, I managed to reach the 6th Transformation, which allowed me to kill that person by surprise."
"Oh? 6th Transformation?" The two looked at each other surprised that Lothur had already reached that level in body cultivation, even though he was so young.
Body cultivation was more difficult than soul cultivation due to the need for great physical effort or resistance to pain to evolve. Hence, few could follow this path or even grow fast in it.
But body cultivation was not a secret or something rarely seen in this world. On the contrary, even soul cultivators would take the chance to increase their physical strength if they had the chance to temper their bodies with resources or in a place made for body cultivators.
After all, it was not that difficult to get a technique of this kind, and improving their weaknesses was something that everyone sought.
In this way, they did not find it so strange or suspicious that Lothur was not a mortal when they discovered that he was a body cultivator.
It would be strange if he were a soul cultivator since that would imply that he was using something to hide...
But body cultivation was tough to be noticed, and the chances of Lothur being involved in some plot would be less in this scenario. So, they felt reassured to hear his explanation.
"So, that's how you eliminated that person..." Gomeric sighed, wondering how blessed he had been that Lothur had been strong enough. 'I don't know what I would do if I lost my little girl...'
Hilda then questioned him. "But Lothur, why do you want to keep this a secret from your wife? Don't tell me that the Frost family doesn't know about it?"
"They don't know." Lothur realized the problem and explained it. "I started on that path after I married Viktoria. So, as far as they know, I'm just a mortal with no cultivation ability."
"Oh? Does that mean you reached that level in less than a year?" Her eyes opened even wider at this absurd possibility.
"I think the medicine I ate boosted my results a bit..." He lied.
Hilda then looked at Gomeric, interested in this young man who seemed to have many exciting ideas. Before, he was just a clever mortal in her view. But now, Elke's mother saw a little more in Lothur and could not help but reassess his figure.
'Is that all? This young man must be hiding more...' Her eyes sharpened, and she decided to press him. "Lothur..."
Realizing what her mother was going to do, Elke said. "Mom, dad, Lothur, and I are tired from the trip. Can you give us some time? We can talk later before we go to the academy."
"Uh?" Gomeric looked at his daughter. "What do you mean? Is Lothur by any chance going to stay here until your time to go to the academy?"
"That's right."
"He brought me here, so I won't let him come home like this." She stood up and took one of her man's hands. "I will let him rest in my residence, and I hope you will prepare a good breakfast for my hero!"
...