CHAPTER 52: SILENT UNDERSTANDING

"Is getting the message out really all that you need from me?"

The single showcase of Theo’s ability turned out to be enough to fully change the huntress’ attitude.

It wasn’t enough to stop the team she came to support from throwing suspicious stares Theo’s way...

But in the face of Theo’s goals, what did a few suspicious stares matter?

"That’s right," Theo nodded his head, half focused on the conversation and half-focused on dispelling the energy he managed to gather just now.

As much as he wanted to check how it would feel to advance his cultivation, how it would change his inner world, how he could translate it into even further breakthroughs or magical theory, it was all but a distraction.

For what would be a personal power when compared to the might he could wield by abusing magic on an industrial scale in a world that didn’t seem to know the first thing about proper magic?

"I mean, my goal is to stop you, your tribes or any of the neighbouring tribes from coming here and over-reacting," Theo explained a little further with a shake of his shoulders. "You will all be free to come and visit, as long as none shall disturb the factory I’m planning to set up here."

"A factory?" hearing an unfamiliar word, the huntress hurriedly inquired.

"A place where stuff gets crafted in a streamlined way..." Theo squinted his eyes as he quickly came to realize the wording he needed to explain the idea was likely out of the woman’s dictionary. "Basically, this whole place will be sucking in the spiritual qi from the air. Because of that, the spiritual qi from all around will try to rush in to fill in the void, generating spiritual winds that you’ve experienced..."

Theo put on a wide smile on his lips and rested his hands down on his hips.

"That is, what I’m planning to set up here will be on a whole other level than what I could do manually. As such, the spiritual winds it will generate will be much greater too."

A moment of silence followed as the huntress took a moment to process the news.

Then, she raised her eyes, a hint of suspicion returning to her face.

"What would you need all that spiritual energy for, then?"

’Eh...’

Theo heaved a deep sigh.

’Here we go, I guess?’

As hateful a part of human nature as it was, Theo couldn’t exactly blame the woman.

Suddenly, when she realized Theo might be getting much more out of the deal than her tribe would benefit from the winds he would create, the benefits he offered suddenly lost most of their charm.

It was this innate drive and desire for justice, for equality, that messed up with the huntress’ perception of the great boon Theo was offering at no cost.

Sure, having spiritual winds increasing the spiritual qi all around the place was certainly nice... But not as nice as getting whatever it was that Theo was seeking to get out of this deal!

"Was it ever a point of consideration?" Theo asked, locking his arms over his chest as he took on a defiant look on his face. "I’m not here to do charity. I’m here to give something for my men to do, something better than just hunting and training until they are a soldier ripe for the nobles to pick and throw at some pointless wars," he shrugged at the mere thought of it.

’They would be much better used fighting in my wars instead,’ Theo thought on the inside, hiding the smirk that this line of thought nearly drew out on his lips.

For there wasn’t a single iota of doubt in his soul about it – no matter what he did and how hard he tried, a day would come when he would have to fight to preserve what he was striving to establish. That, or he would have to fight to expand his influence further, beyond the confines of this narrow, frontier region.

"I can see sense in what you say," the huntress sighed, revealing a troubled look on her face. "But while I can understand it, I cannot give you any guarantee that others will see it the same way I do," she shook her head while her entire body brimmed with the sense of powerlessness. "So, while openly allowing the tribes to visit whatever it is that you are going to set up here can push the conflict for later, serve as an act of goodwill..."

The woman then shook her head again, this time with resignation.

"I’m afraid it will only be delaying the inevitable."

Theo locked his eyes on the huntress yet opted to remain silent for a moment. Then, he turned his eyes away, looking first in the direction of his sect and then turning around, to where he presumed the tribes to be located.

"When that time comes, rather than having them die while trying to rob me, I will simply offer them a job with pay greater than what they could rob," he stated, shrugging his shoulders again while restoring the smile on his lips. "As for what I’m going to do here... It’s unhealthy to absorb excessive amounts of spiritual qi at the rate my factory will allow. The only reason why I’m here, is because I found a way to put that burden not on humans, but on things."

Once again, the two of them merely stared at the other, a silent bond of understanding sprouting between the two.

Only for Theo to then shake his head and clap his hands down on his thighs.

"Well, with that said," he added, only to raise his face and look up to the sky, only to notice the sun had already conquered the peak of its daily journey through the blue dome of the sky and started heading down, to where it was bound to fade behind the distant horizon.

"It’s time for you to go, isn’t it?" the huntress smiled, ignoring the scowls of fury her smile caused on the faces of her tribesmates.

"How did you know?" Theo asked with a faked surprise, as if she suddenly uncovered the card he kept as close to his chest as he possibly could.

"Given your aura, you could very well just go around screaming how much of a rush you are in," she explained only to then complement her words with a small chuckle.

Almost as if she was an adult revealing to the child how its naïve tricks wouldn’t work on someone with that much more life experience than it had.

"Another point for me to study, eh?" Theo shook his head, his exasperation not in the least faked. "I can only hope there will be a day in the future when I will be able to learn more about those... auras you mentioned."

For the nth time, a moment of silence grew between the two. Weirdly enough, though, it wasn’t awkward at all, appearing as more of a silent understanding than either of the parties struggling to find the ways to keep the conversation going.

"Well then," Theo repeated himself, only for the huntress to then break out laughing out loud.

"Yeah, yeah," she smirked before waving him off. "Just go already," she urged him only to then glance over her shoulder, to where her group was now reaching whole new levels of fuming, "meanwhile, it appears I too have some matters to deal with."