Chapter 8 - Misunderstanding (2/2)

Puzzled, the man couldn't understand who this child was and where he came from. But he knew that they had somehow scared his daughter, and as a father, he certainly couldn't let it go. He then proceeded to advance with decisive steps towards the child-snake pair.

But it was at that moment that she heard Lei Lei screaming at him, ”No! Dad. Stop! There has been a misunderstanding, Hei is innocent. It is all my fault, please. Don't do anything.”

Noting how worried her daughter was, Lei Bai couldn't help but stop and answer, ”Okay, but I demand a clear explanation of who this child is and what happened.”

Since her father had consented her to speak, she smiled. Then she started to tell who Hei was and what had happened.

Seeing them discussing with each other, Hei slightly lowered his hostility. Initially, he was surprised by Lei Lei's screaming and Lei Bai's arrival. For this reason, he had assumed an offensive position to defend his two little sisters. But since they didn't seem to have bad intentions towards them, Hei remained in his place, still holding his position with his left hand near the spear, ready to pull it out at the slightest signal.

Meanwhile, Xing, who had recovered from the fright, also left her hiding place ready to lend a hand to Ye and Hei if a fight broke out.

Once he heard his daughter's explanation, Lei Bai finally relaxed as his daughter wasn't in danger.

”So, when you noticed the spider, you got scared, and you screamed while this kid got angry because you scared his pet, right? Well, I understand they are dangerous species, but you should be more careful anyway. Hey, right? I want to apologize for my daughter; she didn't intend to scare your spider.”

”Yes, I apologize for this. Hei. I'm sorry if I screamed, I behaved like a fool.”

Seeing that they were apologizing, Hei eventually returned to an upright position and answered as he stroked Ye and Xing on the head to calm them. ”It's okay; it's partly our fault. I should have told you that they were with me. I'm sorry if we scared you.”

Even Ye and Xing, once they understood that it was partly their fault, responded by apologizing to the young girl. Since they had no vocal cords, Ye and Xing obviously couldn't use words, and they weren't yet able to speak telepathically, although they wouldn't have done so even if they were able to do it right now. Instead, they lowered their heads to indicate their regret about this event.

Noticing their movements, the father and daughter couple were struck by this action. It wasn't a common recurrence to watch animals behave like that. With curiosity, Lei Bai asked Hei, ”Hey, boy, are you a beast tamer?”

A beast tamer, it was a very rare profession. These cultivators were able to stipulate what were called spirit pacts with spirit beasts. Through this spirit pact, they could communicate between them, and the beast tamers used this communication to fight with their beasts in battles.

Since you had to spend so much time training your beasts instead of yourself, it wasn't an activity chosen by many. However, the most skilled beast tamers were people who had a particular reputation in society, and their services were highly sought after.

As far as spiritual beasts were concerned, these included only those who had developed spirit power and could, therefore, take an evolutionary path towards their final form. Those without spirit power were simply called animals, and they had less intelligence than those with spiritual power. They were usually used as livestock for people with little or no spirit power who made up the majority of people.

Even for humans, it was difficult to awaken spirit power and to reach high levels, so they could only be content with raising normal animals. After all, high-grade spirit beasts weren't something within reach of any passing cultivator, let alone people who hadn't the slightest trace of spirit power.

Therefore, seeing the intelligence of this spider and this serpent, Lei Bai concluded that they were spirit beasts with a certain degree of intelligence. However, it wasn't possible for a child with the age of Hei to have developed his spirit power, nor to have reached an adequate level for spirit pacts.

Consequently, the only valid explanation was that his mother was the beast tamer and that that little spider and that little snake were nothing but the offspring of the spirit beasts of Hei's mother. Only then did it become plausible that a child such as Hei was able to command two spirit beasts.

Hei, hearing that question, didn't know how to answer. Beast tamer wasn't a covered topic during his study with his mother. Not knowing what it was and because he had to hide his true origin, he decided not to answer.

Seeing that he wasn't answering, Lei Bai had a greater certainty that he had hit the mark. However, being a rather perceptive man, he knew it wasn't nice to investigate too much into a person's origins, especially if it was someone dangerous to offend.

Not wanting to incur the wrath of Hei's mother, Lei Bai replied, ”Ok, forget the last question. Anyway, as it is still early morning, what do you say if you come to have breakfast with us first. Then you and Lei can go for a tour of the village.”

Hearing that he didn't want to investigate further, this time, Hei decided to answer and agreed to have breakfast with them. Although they had already done it early in the morning, this tumult of emotions had made Hei, Xing, and Ye very hungry. Moreover, the three of them were very curious about the human kitchen; therefore, they consented to Lei Bai's request.

Seeing him accepting their proposal, the father and daughter couple smiled and became happy even if for different reasons. Lei Lei, because she was afraid that Hei still had it with her because of the scream of before, and so she wanted to do something to make up for it in addition to her excuses; Lei Bai thought, on the other hand, that he had partially realized Hei's origin and wanted to form a good relationship with him in order to make a good impression with his mother. After all, it was always convenient to have relationships with someone powerful, and although he didn't know her real strength, he knew she wasn't an ordinary person if she could give her son two spirit beasts at such a young age.

So Hei with his two little sisters, who had overcome their fear and distrust and they had come out of their hiding places, followed Lei Lei and Lei Bai into their home to have breakfast.

Since they had agreed to welcome him into their home and had also accepted Ye and Xing in a certain way, Hei felt that, overall, things were progressing better than he had expected, and there would be no hitch in their mission of discovering human society.