Summoner Sovereign

"Where"s Bu Fan?" I asked, noticing that her brother was missing. Sacha Stuart looked a little uncomfortable.

"Your friend…got into a fight with the police, attacking Rottsfield. I"m getting my lawyers to work on his case, but he"s being held for…a.s.sasult."

"It"s self-defense!" Xin Chun argued hotly. "The detective attacked him first!"

"I don"t doubt that, but unfortunately the law is the law. a.s.saulting a detective is still a crime. No way out of that. Don"t worry…give me a few days and I"ll be able to bail him out. Just be patient."

Xin Chun lowered her head, but she understood that Sacha"s hands were tied in this case. That he was already doing his best, and she couldn"t demand more of him.

"Thank you," she said quietly instead. Sacha nodded, an understanding expression on his face.

"No, I understand how you feel. Perfectly. Trust me. I will do everything within my power to get your brother out."

As I wheeled her out, I was greeted by Adrian and a bunch of Stuart Corporation bodyguards. I glanced around warily, half-expecting Yuan Dao Yue Guang to show up out of nowhere, but thankfully he didn"t.

"Brother Richard! Are you all right?"

"Yeah." I lifted a hand from Xin Chun"s wheelchair to wave at him. "You"re here too?"

"This is Southampton City, remember? I live here."

Oh, right. The Stuart clan"s base city was indeed Southampton City, and that was where the main family and all their establishments were located in. Most of them, anyway. Still, I had just only recently seen Adrian in Aurora City, so I was a little taken aback to see him return to Southampton City so soon. Then again, he did say that he was there just to watch the qualifiers, so it made sense that he came back here to continue watching the knock-out rounds.

"Wow, I heard you took out a bunch of kidnappers?"

"That wasn"t me." I gestured toward the girl I was currently wheeling toward Sacha"s limousine. "That was her mother."

Xin Chun pursed her lips, but she didn"t say anything. I hoped she wasn"t too offended. She didn"t glare at me, though, and merely stared straight ahead before sighing.

"…yeah."

"We"ll bring you both back to the hotel for now. You"ve been through a lot." Sacha glanced back in the direction of the police station, his eyes hardening. "I"m sorry about your brother, young lady, but as I said, I"ll definitely get him out. A few days max. I promise."

"Thanks." Xin Chun"s voice was subdued, but audible. She said nothing else as I loaded her up into the limousine.

"How are your preparations for the tournament?" Adrian asked when I sat next to him in the pa.s.senger compartment.

"Well, you know," I replied vaguely. As if I was going to give away details of our strategy to an outsider. Even if I didn"t care about this secrecy thig, I couldn"t because I had no idea what Harrison had planned. Yet. "Okay, I guess."

"Do your best! I"m rooting for you!"

"Thanks. That"s a.s.suming I"m still in the tournament, though."

"Don"t worry about that," Sacha informed me, having taken a seat opposite me and settling into the rich, leather couch. "You won"t be disqualified. I"ll make sure of it. If anything, it"s the police"s fault for treating you like a criminal." When I stilled looked unconvinced, he took out his smartphone and waved it at me. "I"ve already spoken to the tournament staff, and they a.s.sured me that nothing will happen to you or Bu Fan."

Xin Chun visibly relaxed at the mention of her brother, relieved that he wouldn"t be kicked out of the compet.i.tion just because he "a.s.saulted" a police detective. I was suddenly immensely relieved that I didn"t pull that defiance stunt and fought back, or I would be sharing a cold, dirty cell with Bu Fan tonight. Poor guy.

This, kids, is the reason why you don"t just resort to violence and fight back every single time. This wasn"t me being "spineless." No, it was just me playing smart. And Rottsfield was going to get punished. Sometimes, what you need is patience and wisdom, not instant retaliation and edgy vengeance.

When we reached the hotel, we were greeted by almost the entire team, minus me and Bu Fan, of course.

"What happened?" Harrison demanded, looking concerned. His eyes widened as he took in me and Xin Chun. "Where"s Bu Fan?"

"Stuck in jail for now." I sighed for a moment before I briefly gave him an account, with Sacha interjecting occasionally to help me build a fuller picture. "He won"t be out until a few days later."

"It"s my fault," Xin Chun said miserably. "If I didn"t get myself kidnapped, Brother would never have to…he was only trying to save me."

"It"s not your fault," Pearl a.s.sured her, kneeling by her side to place a comforting hand on her arm. The girls gathered around her, trying to help her out.

"That"s right! It"s those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds who tried to kidnap you in the first place!" Lily agreed fiercely. "How dare they lay a hand on you?!"

"I"m glad you are all right." Sheila patted Xin Chun"s head. "That"s the most important thing. That you"re safe and sound. I"m sure Bu Fan thinks it"s all worth it."

"Yeah, Bu Fan is the kind of guy who will walk through h.e.l.l and back just for his sister. I"m sure he"ll just laugh off his stay in a mere cell." Craig chuckled with a shake of his head. "It sucks, but I know he"ll be fine. if anything, his jailmates are going to be afraid of him."

"Knowing Bu Fan, he"ll probably tame all the other inmates and have them address him as boss or big brother by the end of his stay," I muttered. A very typical trope in most modern Chinese webnovels featuring the ultimate soldier or secret agent or whatever.

"You guys should rest for now. Go to bed and take the night off. I"ll make sure Bu Fan gets help, so don"t worry about it. And he"ll still be legible to partic.i.p.ate in the tournament, so continue to prepare accordingly."

"Okay." As the team captain, Harrison represented all of us, and he nodded to acknowledge Sacha"s iinstructions.

"See you, Brother Richard! And good luck!"

Adrian waved at me before getting back into the limousine, and I waved back almost absent-mindedly.

"Yeah. Thanks."

We watched the limousine pull away and drive off in the direction of the Stuart District. Now that I thought about it, we were actually being accommodated in the Stuart Hotel, of all places. When we returned to the lobby, Stewart Stuart emerged.

"You guys all right? I heard everything from Sacha. That was quite the crisis you"ve been through. Let me know if there"s anything we can do to help."

"Thanks, I appreciate it, but for now we probably just want to return to our rooms and rest for the night." Harrison bowed politely, and Stewart nodded.

"I"ll bring some snacks for you guys…the room service will be on the house for the rest of your stay here."

"That would be very much appreciated. Thank you."

Well, at least we got free food. That was an improvement.

After we got into the elevator and went up, Yue Chu turned to me.

"Richard, why didn"t you tell us?"

"…tell you?"

"The kidnapping," Theodore explained. "I know you and Bu Fan were worried for Xin Chun"s safety, but to go after the kidnappers by yourself…it"s too dangerous. Why didn"t you tell us that Xin Chun got abducted? Why did you go after them by yourselves?"

"Well…to be honest, that"s because Bu Fan ordered me not to tell anyone. I wanted to report it to the police, but he seemed to think they would mess up and put his sister"s life in danger. He was also pretty fl.u.s.tered and impatient, and didn"t want to wait for reinforcements. He wanted to go save her immediately. In fact, the only reason why I knew about Xin Chun getting kidnapped was because I just happen to run into him by coincidence while he was searching for her outside the restaurant I had my dinner in."

"Even so, you should have told us!" Yue Chu insisted. I lowered my head.

"Sorry."

"I do sort of understand Bu Fan"s emotions, though," Craig admitted. "If I were him, I would probably want to move out immediately and not waste any time at all on contacting others. I would want to save my sister with my own two hands instead of relying on other people. And you know how paranoid Bu Fan is – he definitely doesn"t trust the police at all."

"You don"t have a sister," Sheila reminded him dryly. Craig glared at her.

"It"s just the thought that matters! The personal feelings!"

"In any case, what"s done is done, and I"m glad the three of you are all right." Harrison sighed, rubbing at the crease between his eyes. He looked a little stressed out, but more than that he seemed relieved. "As long as you guys are back safely, that"s all that matters. Just that…in future, if something similar happens, don"t hesitate to contact us, even if you don"t want to contact the police. Perhaps there is very little we can do, but we would like to at least try to help in whatever way we can."

"I"ll keep that in mind," I a.s.sured him, though I doubted Bu Fan would ever do that. The guy was too much of the typical arrogant G.o.d-mode main character to consider anything other than going solo. Maybe he would join a mission with a party if it contained cute girls, but otherwise he was the type who believed he could do everything alone.

"Why did they want to kidnap you, though?" Cody asked Xin Chun, his arms folded. "Are you a super VIP or something?"

"That"s actually the strange thing. They didn"t call Bu Fan or his dad to ask for ransom. They just took Xin Chun and brought her to a warehouse."

"I…" Xin Chun hesitated for a moment, and then swallowed, as if her mouth had just gone dry. "I overheard them saying that they intend to bring me to the Dark Church."

"The Dark Church? Why?" Yue Chu"s eyes almost bulged out of his sockets. At that moment, the elevator doors slid open, and we found ourselves back in the level where our rooms were located. Lily took charge of pus.h.i.+ng the wheelchair and then caressed Xin Chun"s hair.

"Don"t worry about it, sweetie. We won"t let the Dark Church touch you again."

"Yue Chu did raise a valid question, though," Theodore pointed out seriously. "Unless we know why the Dark Church is targeting Xin Chun, it"ll be difficult to prevent them from carrying out similar acts in future. What do they want from her?"

"Maybe it has something to do with drawing out her mother," I suggested, remembering that last scene at the end when the lady in black showed up to obliterate the kidnappers in one spell. I shrugged when everyone turned to stare at me. "I did tell you about how she showed up at the end, right?"

"You did," Harrison affirmed.

"…perhaps." Xin Chun had this faraway look in her eyes. "I was never close to my mother. I don"t know what she"s doing and I can"t tell what she"s thinking. I don"t even know what the relations.h.i.+p between her and the Dark Church is, and why they would want to lure her out. But if they didn"t bother my brother and father, then…it is possible that my mother is involved in this somehow."

She lowered her head and sighed sadly.

"But honestly…right now, I just wish she will stay as far away from our family as possible…"