Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

The situation had always been a ticking time bomb, destined to explode sooner or later. With the constant interactions between the magic people and the human kingdom, it was only a matter of time before the details of the conflicts between them and the beast people became known.

Rain understood that many of the magic people still harbored deep-seated animosity towards humans, and it was inevitable that some of the more militant tribes among them would seek to reignite the flames of war. He knew that he'd have to confront these issues head-on before they escalated into a more significant and troublesome conflict.

The delicate balance of peace in their shared world was fragile, and he needed to be prepared for the challenges that lay ahead.

In the end, Rain found Jodar at the council hall alone. It had been two years since he saw him, but he could tell that he looked a bit more relaxed, even though it was past dinner time and he was still working.

"Rain? This is one unexpected visit," Josar furrowed his eyebrows. "I thought that you were busy raising your kids."

"The duty called and I decided to warn you about a suspicious person that you might find in the future," Rain said.

Rain quickly got to the point where he wanted to return as soon as possible… During the whole time, Josar didn't seem surprised by what he had heard… that was weird. If humans were surprised by the existence of such a person, why wasn't he?

"It seems that things are changing once again and we are entering another age," Josar rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "We found some signs on the sea of ghost ships… I suppose we were lucky, but it seems that someone has been hunting and killing pirates, a lot of them, actually. It might be this person."

"It could be, but if that were the case, I wonder why the sea folk didn't find them," Rain said.

"That is because we found them on the southern sea," Josar said.

The southern sea was notorious for its chilling waters and frigid temperatures, a region that the sea folk found rather hard to deal withstand. It was an area where they rarely ventured, despite having established their waterway to connect various regions of the world thanks to Rain's help.

The sea folk preferred to stick to the more warmer and relaxing regions, making the southern sea a rarely visited and less explored part of everyone's territories.

"This looks like a job for me," Rain said.

"Does it?" Josar asked. "Won't you face some problems thanks to the beast people?"

"I'd rather not comment on that," Rain shrugged.

"That is the right thing to do… I will keep that quiet on my end as well and just inform my people to keep cautious about such a person," Josar said. "Should we tell everyone that a criminal that escaped from your country and is being hunted by you all? A bounty would make things more convincing."

"I suppose one hundred gold coins would do the trick," Rain said.

"It certainly would," Josar nodded. "Leave that to me."

Josar was being quite a bit cooperative, and Rain wondered if that was to drop his guard or to make one of his people marry him as well… he wondered if he was being suspicious or conscious or both. Either way, he finished his job and began to fly home at top speed.

Rain was back home at noon of the next day, and while it had been a while since he moved that fast, he didn't mind that much. Only his butt was hurting a little. He felt annoyed that he had lost his edge more than he had expected… he had to find the balance of recovering it while not scaring his children.

In any case, when Rain found his grandparents, he also found Terra and Seara there; they just had arrived together, and it looked like Seara had some news. Unfortunately, it was something that Rain just learned…

"We found some empty pirate ships," Seara said.

"Can we remodel them for our business?" Rain asked.

Rain explained the conversation that he had with Josar, and in the end, Seara felt like she wasted the last few days looking for more ships once she heard about the suspicious figure. Both incidents were connected, but not in the way she had imagined.

"Jori and Reca's home aren't connected to the underground tunnels, right?" Seara asked while massaging her temples. "I can't go and warn them fast enough since that is the case."

"It is fine, and I will bring them up," Rain said and saw the bags under Seara's eyes. "You can go and rest for a while, too. Nothing happened so far here, so you don't have to worry about it. I will be counting on you for a while to put the kids at ease, Terra."

"You do that a lot better than me… as much as I hate to admit it," Terra shrugged.

"Understood," Seara nodded.

Rain quickly left to find Jori and Reca… it seemed that the gang was getting together again after three years… come to think of it, Rain forgot to ask about Liss and Asche… they probably would keep investigating the disappearance of the soldiers, but they will have to keep a low profile with more focus now.

Although he needed to rest a bit himself since he hadn't slept in three days, Rain kept going while thinking about the possibilities of the whole situation.

Only crazy ideas came to his mind, probably because he was tired… things like perhaps Joanis didn't die and he used some relic to transfer his soul to another body to things like another human had been reincarnated in that world and laid low now to gain power and eventually take over it… adding to his crazy thoughts, when Rain found Jori and Reca, he found their three kids and Reca with a fourth one incoming.