The young lord looked stumped and had absolutely no idea what to do. He didn't care about Ning or even the fact that he was blocking traffic for that matter.
He only worried that his beast, Bong, was going to go wild if he didn't do wild. When that happened, the beast was most likely going to kill many before. With how strong the beast was, it would take his entire garrison to stop the beast.
And he absolutely did not want that to happen.
"Young lord, what do we do now?" one of the guards asked.
The young lord really only had one choice. "Call my sister," he said. "She'll know."
"Yes, young lord."
The guards quickly run away to call the young man's sister.
Ning picked the sword back up and put it into his sheath. Then, he moved to the side and let the beast follow him to the side.
He wanted to make up space for the rest of the people to walk by.
People slowly started trickling away one by one, forming a small path around the happy beast that kept sniffing.
Ning wondered if he should give the fruit to the beast, even if just one, but he gave up on the idea. There were too many problems that could happen with him just doing that.
Instead, he leaned close to Sophie who was still plastered by the wall, and asked, 'Am I going to be in trouble for being a gang member?'
He whispered as quietly as he could so that only Sophie could hear it. Given the noise all around, it would be hard for anyone to hear him speak unless they were listening to it.
"What?" Sophie was too distracted to register what was said to her. She quickly shook her head after understanding what he meant and answered him.
'Thank god,' Ning thought. Now, he only wished that he could get out of this quickly.
"You can leave if you want," Ning told her. "I will be fine."
Sophie hesitated a bit, but in the end, she had no choice. She was truly very tired to keep up with whatever was happening there. She wanted to be there for Ning since he was so new to everything, but her head ached from the lack of sleep.
Also, with the lord of the fortress involved, she wasn't sure there was anything she could even do.
"I'll leave for now," Sophie said and walked away as well.
Ning watched her leave and quickly turned back at the beast that was still sniffing him. He slowly reached out his hand to pet it.
"Don't touch my little Bong!" the young lord cried out, making Ning stop and sigh. He crossed his arms and sat on the floor, waiting for the sister to show up.
He knew the girl was there when there was a commotion far away. He could hear hurried footsteps of people that quickly stepped aside to make way for whoever was coming.
He waited until the footsteps were close enough before turning to look who it belonged to.
A blond woman in a guard's armor walked out from the crowd with other guards following behind her. Everything aside from her flowing golden hair and her beautiful face was behind an armor.
Her armor itself was quite unique as well. There were various parts to it, each of which was made with a different element.
Ning could see air, water, fire, and earth in a single glance. When viewing more, he noticed some cloud and ice potions to the armor as well. Not only that, there was even something that looked like lava, surprising Ning.
The woman, before even looking at her brother, looked at the Essence beast and by association, Ning. She saw the beast sniffing around him and got curious.
"What's the issue?" she asked while finally turning around to her brother. She looked about the same age as the young lord but somehow had a much more mature stance while appearing stronger as well.
"Jenna, this man is trying to steal my little Bong," the young lord complained.
"What?" the girl quickly turned around back to look at Ning. "How is he planning on stealing your dog?"
"That sword of his," the young man pointed. "Bong likes it for some reason, but we can't take it from him because it's very heavy. Can you do something about it?"
The girl frowned a bit. She looked at Ning, but he had barely any Essence in comparison to everyone around him. Why would someone like that try to steal an Essence beast?
Even if he did, why would he do it in broad daylight in the middle of the street with a lot of guards around?
"Take the beast back home first, we'll talk later," the girl said.
"I can't," the young lord said. "Bong doesn't move away from that sword of his. Unless we take the sword with us, we can't leave."
"And you can't take the sword?" the girl asked.
The young man shook his head. "I had the guards try it out, but it seems to be made up on some heavy rock. They can't pick it up. Only he can."
"Ah!" the girl said. "Then why not have this young man bring the sword home so the beast can follow him?"
"Oh!" the young lord said. "I didn't think of that."
"You, come with us," the woman gestured NIng.
Ning sighed and got up before following the woman who was already marching away.
"Grab him. Makes sure he doesn't walk away," the young lord said while he followed.
"Stop being stupid and just follow," the girl said. "Why are you treating a random person like a criminal?"
"S-stupid? Did you just call me stupid?" the young man's eyes went wide. "Did you forget I am your lord?"
"Yes, lord Jan," the girl said as she walked through the streets. "I'll try to be careful next time around."
"Good," the young lord said.
The girl nodded. "I'll make sure to not voice my thoughts out."
