The first time Kade saw a cultivator kneel, the man wasn’t praying.
He was apologizing.
And the person receiving the apology looked barely old enough to have finished university.
It happened at 10:36 the following morning.
Kade hadn’t planned to witness anything unusual.
He had planned to eat breakfast, exercise his injured ankle under Mama Efe’s supervision, and spend another frustrating day waiting for answers.
Then Bamidele arrived with a broken wristwatch.
"Come outside," he said.
Kade looked up.
"Why?"
"There’s something you need to see."
Mama Efe appeared behind him.
"Outside where?"
"The courtyard."
"How long?"
"Five minutes."
She narrowed her eyes.
"Three."
Bamidele nodded.
"Three."
Tobi grinned.
"Negotiations concluded."
The clinic occupied the ground floor of an aging building behind a busy street.
Its courtyard was small, bordered by a mechanic’s workshop on one side and a locked storeroom on the other.
Kade moved carefully with his walking aid.
His ankle still hurt, but the swelling had reduced enough for short, supported movement.
Bamidele positioned him beside a shaded wall.
"Look across the street."
Kade followed his gaze.
A black SUV stood outside a pharmacy.
Beside it were three people.
Two men in dark clothing.
And a young woman wearing a cream blouse and black trousers.
Nothing about them seemed remarkable.
Until Kade activated NIGHT SIGHT.
The two men possessed visible Ase.
One carried a faint amber glow.
Spark Realm, perhaps.
The other’s energy was denser.
Kade couldn’t confidently identify his realm.
But the woman—
He frowned.
Nothing.
No visible Core.
No spiritual residue.
Nothing unusual at all.
"Who is she?" Kade whispered.
"I don’t know."
"Then why are we watching?"
"Because of the man beside her."
One of the cultivators had stepped forward.
He bowed.
Then lowered himself onto one knee.
Right there beside the pharmacy.
Tobi blinked.
"Did he drop something?"
"No," Bamidele said.
The woman spoke.
Kade couldn’t hear her words over the traffic.
The kneeling man lowered his head further.
The second cultivator stood motionless.
After several seconds, the woman entered the SUV.
The kneeling man remained where he was until the vehicle drove away.
Only then did he stand.
Kade watched carefully.
"Why did he kneel?"
Bamidele’s expression was grim.
"That’s what I wanted you to see."
Back inside, Mama Efe checked Kade’s ankle before allowing the conversation to continue.
Bamidele placed the broken wristwatch on the table.
Tobi pointed at it.
"What’s that for?"
"An excuse."
"For what?"
"If someone asked why I came, I needed a reason."
Kade stared at him.
"You brought a broken watch to a phone repairman?"
"I repair electronics."
"That doesn’t make the excuse better."
Bamidele ignored him.
"The man who knelt is a cultivator I’ve seen before. His name is Dele."
"Friend of yours?"
"No."
"Enemy?"
"No."
"Then?"
"He once came to my shop with damaged equipment. We spoke briefly."
Kade nodded.
"What’s his realm?"
"Vessel."
Kade remembered the hunter who had pursued them.
A Vessel Realm cultivator had nearly killed him without much effort.
And another Vessel cultivator had just knelt before a woman who appeared spiritually ordinary.
"Who was she?" he asked.
"I don’t know. But I recognized the vehicle."
"The SUV?"
"Yes."
Bamidele hesitated.
"I’ve seen it outside a property associated with the Akinwale name."
Kade sat straighter.
"The Trust?"
"Possibly connected. I can’t confirm."
Tobi folded his arms.
"So a Vessel cultivator kneels to someone who might be connected to the Akinwale Family Trust."
"Correct."
"Correct."
Tobi sighed.
"I miss when our biggest problem was NEPA."
Kade opened his notebook.
OBSERVATION: Vessel Realm cultivator kneels before apparently ordinary woman.
He paused.
Then added:
POSSIBLE EXPLANATIONS: Authority, debt, punishment, personal relationship, unknown.
Bamidele nodded approvingly.
"Good."
Kade looked up.
"Could she have been hiding her Ase?"
"Yes."
"Could she have no Core?"
"Yes."
"Could she be stronger than him?"
"Possibly."
"Could she just be his boss?"
"Also possible."
Kade leaned back.
"So we know almost nothing."
"We know he treated her as someone with authority over him."
Kade considered that.
The Seven Houses were becoming less abstract.
Not because he had learned their secrets.
But because he was beginning to see how their influence might operate.
Money.
Employment.
Obligation.
Status.
A cultivator’s strength didn’t necessarily determine his position.
That was important.
Because Kade had no strength to speak of.
Not yet.
At noon, Tobi received another call from Kunle.
He put it on speaker.
"Good afternoon, sir."
"Afternoon. Is Kade there?"
"I’m here," Kade answered.
"I’ve made a decision."
Kade waited.
"I’m not handing the folder to Mr Bello."
"Good."
"But I’m also not keeping it at the house."
"Where will you take it?"
Kunle hesitated.
"Somewhere safer."
Kade frowned.
"Can you tell us where?"
"I’d rather not."
"That’s fair."
A pause.
Then Kunle said, "I spoke to my mother."
Kade leaned forward.
"About the receipt?"
"About the woman who came yesterday."
"Mrs Akinwale?"
"Yes."
"What did she say?"
"My mother remembers her."
Kade felt his pulse quicken.
"From when?"
"Years ago. She came to see my father once."
"At the Ogba house?"
"Yes."
"Do you know why?"
"Apparently, there was an argument."
Kade looked toward Tobi.
"About what?"
"Some papers my father was holding."
"The correspondence?"
"Possibly."
Kunle exhaled.
"My mother says the woman wanted them returned. My father refused."
Kade frowned.
"Why?"
"She doesn’t know. He wouldn’t explain."
"Did the woman threaten him?"
"Not openly."
"What happened afterward?"
"She left."
Kade waited.
"That’s all?"
"That’s all my mother remembers."
It wasn’t much.
But it established something important.
The dispute over the records hadn’t begun yesterday.
It had existed years earlier.
Possibly before Adunni disappeared.
"Thank you," Kade said.
Kunle hesitated.
"There’s something else."
Kade closed his eyes.
"Go ahead."
"My mother said my father used to say something about that folder."
"What?"
Kunle’s voice lowered.
"’A promise is still a promise, even when the person who made it is afraid.’"
Kade went quiet.
"What promise?"
"She doesn’t know."
After the call, Kade remained silent.
Tobi watched him.
"You’re thinking."
"Unfortunately."
"Anything useful?"
Kade opened his notebook.
The old agreement.
The rejected envelope.
The disputed records.
Samuel Adebisi’s promise.
They might all concern the same matter.
But he still lacked proof.
And the more he learned, the more dangerous the people involved seemed.
He looked toward Bamidele.
"Can someone without an Ase Core hold authority over cultivators?"
Bamidele nodded.
"Of course."
"Even powerful ones?"
"Authority isn’t always about personal strength."
Kade thought of the woman outside the pharmacy.
She hadn’t displayed a single technique.
Yet a Vessel cultivator had knelt.
He looked at his own hands.
For weeks, he had been thinking of power as something measured in spiritual energy.
Seventeen units.
Nineteen units.
Spark Realm.
Vessel Realm.
But there were other kinds of power.
Information.
Promises.
Debts.
Names.
And perhaps the most dangerous kind—
The ability to make someone stronger than you obey.
That evening, Kade attempted another exercise.
Bamidele had left three ordinary objects on the table.
A spoon.
A washer.
A length of wire.
No spiritual energy.
No hidden technique.
Kade examined them carefully.
Tobi watched from the doorway.
"What are you doing?"
"Practicing."
"On cutlery?"
"Observation."
Tobi approached.
"What’s the lesson?"
Kade pointed at the objects.
"Tell me which one is dangerous."
Tobi studied them.
Then picked up the spoon.
"This one."
"Why?"
"Because Mama Efe uses it when she’s angry."
Kade stared at him.
"You’re impossible."
"And yet consistently correct."
Kade laughed.
For a moment, the tension eased.
Then a knock sounded at the clinic door.
Three measured taps.
Mama Efe called from the back room.
"Who is it?"
A man’s voice answered.
"I’m looking for Bamidele."
Kade and Tobi exchanged glances.
Bamidele wasn’t there.
Mama Efe approached the door but didn’t open it.
"He’s not here."
"I know."
Kade’s smile vanished.
The man continued.
"I was told he sometimes visits this clinic."
Mama Efe’s voice hardened.
"Who told you?"
"No one important."
"Then come back when you have a proper reason."
A pause.
Then the man spoke again.
"Please tell him Dele came."
Kade froze.
Dele.
The Vessel Realm cultivator who had knelt beside the pharmacy.
Mama Efe said nothing.
The visitor continued.
"And tell the young man inside that he should stop watching people who haven’t invited him to look."
Kade felt cold.
The footsteps retreated.
A vehicle engine started.
Then faded into the street.
Tobi whispered, "He saw us?"
Kade didn’t answer.
He remembered standing beside the courtyard wall.
Watching the SUV.
Watching Dele kneel.
He had assumed they were too far away to notice.
Apparently, he had been wrong.
Mama Efe entered the room.
Her expression was furious.
"Nobody is leaving this building tonight."
Kade nodded.
For once, he had no argument.
He looked down at his notebook.
Then wrote one final line beneath the day’s observations.
OBSERVATION IS NOT INVISIBLE.
Outside, Lagos continued its evening noise.
But somewhere in the city, a Vessel Realm cultivator knew exactly where Kade was hiding.
And had chosen to deliver a warning instead of an attack.
Kade wasn’t certain which possibility frightened him more.