"Are you sure you are good to go? We could take a few days off if you need."

"Why would I need to take days off? I am not sick and I am not recovering from any injuries. I am perfectly alright."

"Betrayals are known to hurt more than any of the physical injuries and this is the first real betrayal you experienced. I wouldn't be surprised if you were actually sleeping in your room all this while and I wouldn't even be surprised if you are going to sulk for another few months.

That is an expected and proper reaction."

"I don't need to sulk. I am ready to get back to work and I will be working faster than usual now that some rats are caught. I don't need to worry about a few more popping up."

"That is good. But if you need a break, just tell me beforehand, it would be troublesome if you broke down in the middle of the work. I don't want to deal with the extra bullshit."

Grivon appeared surprised by Sam's words and it was clearly shown on his face.

But Sam just smiled and replied nonchalantly.

"I am not someone that coddles you Grivon. If you are really ready, be on board. I am completely okay with you taking the rest and taking a few days off, even a month is not a problem for me. I can still handle things on my end and all you would have to do is present at the meeting at the last minute, but if you are going to fail in the middle of this, it would be a lot more troublesome for me than it is now.

Sometimes, people in your situation would try to push through the situations like this as if nothing happened. You would be colder, more decisive, and seem emotionless for a few days, but all that would be a cry for help.

You would pretend that you don't need any help, but your mind and heart crave for it. You want to feel reassured by someone and you want to show that you can trust people again.

I know this routine. I have seen it a thousand times at least and I am not saying that figuratively. I literally saw it more than a thousand times.

That is the problem with you good guys. You don't have the stomach for all of these things. You cannot digest this easily.

But you would get used to it after you experience a few of them."

"So, you are saying, that I either have to work without any emotional disturbance or I shouldn't work at all."

"Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. I will handle the next transaction, just have one of your subordinates show me the locations if you are not feeling well. Anyway, I already promised that I would deal with the secret businesses, we can start here."

Grivon stayed silent for a while and said.

"I would like to take some time off."

"That would be great. I will deal with two of your peers and you can come back after that. I would definitely start the secret businesses first, throw them out of the business in the places and give them support with a different type of business, in a different place. That is the gist."

"That would be great. Thank you so much."

With that Grivon left the stray realm and he went to meet Giyon.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be celebrating? I heard that you managed to root out the rats completely." Giyon asked.

"I should, except the three rats I killed are my closest subordinates."

Giyon stopped looking at the report in her hands and looked at him.

"How are you feeling?"

Looking at her expression, Grivon was surprised.

"You are really putting aside your work for me? I was half expecting you to kick me out as soon as I started speaking."

"Come on, don't treat me like that. I might be hard on you in usual times, but I was there whenever you needed me."

"Well, it has been a long time since I came across a situation like this, so I am a bit down on the dumps."

"Okay, let's have an outing. Jyon wants to go to the waterfalls today and since I rejected her, she was originally planning to go alone. Why don't we go there?"

With that, both of them contacted Jyon and all three of them went to the waterfall in the woods.

Jyon practiced her flute gently while Giyon and Grivon talked.

"So, it seems like the rest of your subordinates are supportive enough to take on the businesses to give you some free time. That is a good sign. It seems like you still trust them."

"Well, I was actually about to head to work and I even did some menial work by myself. You could say, I was not really ready to trust them that easily."

"Then what changed your mind?"

"Sam did. He said that he would rather me not be present there than be there with these bottled-up emotions. He said he doesn't have interest or tolerance to coddle me through this time and wanted me to take some time off so that I could get coddled elsewhere."

"That is guy is more impressive than I thought and he really is gutsy to tell you that straight."

"Why?"

"Well, most people in your situation wouldn't react well to such kind of advice. He might be better at judging people than I thought. He is a great person to work with. You better use him well while he is still here."

"Yeah, I still have around twenty-one months left."

"You cannot count on that. After all, there is always the other side to these plans. Something that could shift the whole situation might happen. So, squeeze him dry as fast as you can."

"The league members are being dealt with. The decoy plan is going smoothly. Sivan has no idea who Sam is really working with. It would take a lot of shift this situation around. I doubt something of that scale will happen."

As Grivon and Giyon are talking their time away.

In Mari Clan grounds, Sivan's personal residence.

He is currently sitting in the middle of a formation with a bunch of cultivators sitting at different nodal positions.

He had a deep frown on his face and inside his head, he is currently going through a large battle. As his expression changed and the formation started glowing brightly, one of the cultivators in the formation suddenly opened his eyes and fell on the ground while holding his head.

"AHHhh… Somebody help me. Some..somebody help. It.."

He wasn't even able to finish the word when one of the subordinates came in and took the guy away from the room.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…."

Soon another woman in the formation screamed louder than before and she couldn't even speak properly. The subordinates took her away too.

The same thing kept on happening until all of the cultivators in the formation were dragged away because of some screams and pain that are completely uncalled for.

Sivan opened his eyes and his face broke into a wide grin as he wiped the sweat off of his forehead. His nose started bleeding slowly, but he wiped that away too and grinned wider than ever.

He walked to a table nearby where a bunch of potions and pills are placed as he started taking them in.

As he was consuming the medicine, the Disciple One of Butler Si came up to him and asked.

"How are you doing Young master? Is the procedure a success?"

Sivan looked at him and asked.

"What do you think?"

"I think it is pretty successful from your expression."

"It is more than successful. I finally got rid of that abomination. I eliminated the ghost chimera completely. Can you believe that it took twelve cultivators out before being completely separated again?"

"I have seen it, sir. All the cultivators who were infected were taken away and are being disposed of."

"That is great. I don't want anyone to know about this. They might be my subordinates, but they are actually spies of some of my peers in the clan. Now, I used them to get rid of this pest from my soul.

Now, there is nothing left for me to stop digging at Sam's soul. I can pick on it as much as I can and get the information I need.

I will absorb it and dig through all the secrets that bastard is hiding and I also got some pretty exciting new information regarding his weaknesses."

"What would that be young master?"

"He doesn't like being called a bastard. I thought he didn't have any weaknesses except for his friends, which are completely out of bounds because of the contract, but this guy killed so many people because of this one word.

Bastard. And I just saw a slaughter in his memories.

He slaughtered ten of his peers in the most gruesome way.. I never knew that people could even be killed in those ways."

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