116 A Welcoming Feas (1/2)

”I'm not sure, but I think he was even stronger than your grandpa.”

”No way!” Pauller went wide-eyed as he looked back to Oliver. ”How could he be so strong? And he's dead?”

”Some things happened…After everything I ended up on my own, traveling and cultivating wherever I could. And now, here I am, in Trighton City. I'm still not sure where I'll end up, but at least I'm alive thanks to him.”

Quiet and pondering Oliver's words, Pauller closed his open mouth.

The two then walked in silence for the next couple of minutes as they neared their destination. Pauller then opened the door and smiled as he introduced the spacious room.

”What do you think?” Asked Pauller. ”You're welcome to stay here as long as you want.”

”Thank you. But before thinking about that, can you show me to the bathhouse?”

”Sure thing! In fact, I'll join you.”

Happy he could offer more help to Oliver, Pauller gladly showed him around and led Oliver to the bathhouse. They quickly changed, finding some towels in a cubby of the side. In no time, they entered the steamy open room to the sound of water gently trickling and flowing.

Oliver looked around, glad to see that the Practor family could afford a decent bathhouse. He allowed himself to indulge in the warm water; his body relaxed and unwound unlike anything he'd felt in the past nine moons. ”Ahhh…”

”Who are you? And why are you here?”

Pauller hurried into the water and stood before Oliver. ”Johan, leave him alone. He's our guest, so treat them with respect.”

”Oh, Pauller… So he's with you? Then I guess he's not worth much since you're not either,” laughed Johan.

”Hey that's--”

”Why are you complaining? The only reason your position in the family is higher than mine is that your father was lucky enough to be firstborn. And now that he's in a coma, what gives you the right to speak above me?”

”That… that's just...”

”Exactly,” Johan chuckled. ”Like I said, you and your brother aren't worth anything now. If anything happened to your father, then you'd be worthless.”

”Stop that!”

”Why should I? Did your feelings get hurt? Oh, little Pauller needs his big brother to solve his problems,” mocked Johan. ”Too bad he's not here to save you.”

”You're just lucky he's not here to shut you up!” Shouted Pauller.

Through all this, Oliver kept his calm. He sat quietly, enjoying the warm water and letting his own personal stress drift away. As the other two got more riled up, he opened his eyes but still said nothing.

Johan waved his hand mockingly. ”Go ahead, leave, go find him. It doesn't matter because we both know that I'm stronger than he is.”

”Not for long… Soon, he'll be even stronger than you and he'll be stronger then…”

”Stronger than who?” Asked Johan. ”Stronger than my dad? I doubt it! He might get stronger than your dad, but that's not hard now.”

”Is that what you really think?”

The three young men all turned toward the open door and noticed the naked Leon standing for all to see. ”I don't think there's any reason for us to be talking about this right now. Just calm down and shut up.”

John lifted one eyebrow as he stared up at Leon. ”Really? How about you prove it then?”

”That's pointless.” Leon shook his head. ”Right now, we're entertaining guests so there's no need to--”

”You just scared,” laughed Johan. ”It's always the same thing with you. You never bother arguing about who's stronger and who's not because you know you'll always be weaker. That's the way it's always been, that's the way it will always be. Unless… you can change my mind.”

”I don't see a reason to--”

”You're just like your old man, stupid and foolish to think you're stronger without proving your point. Your old man always refused to fight my father, saying that it was pointless. Well, now there's a reason to fight but he's unable to. And because of that, grandpa refuses to pass on the patriarch seat to my father.”

Without a word, Leon glared at Johan. The fire in his eyes seemed unquenchable as well as the anger shown as he gritted his teeth.