Tepo and Yerive could only watch as Fang Ya put away the sonarium with a bright smile. The young woman pulled out two blue cloth ribbons and fastened them around the friends’ arms.

“Good, now you are officially friends of our Flood Dragon Alliance! You can now visit most of our cities and work together with us.

But there is one more thing, mister Tepmodus…”

“Yes?”

“Can I ask you to take off your red scarf please? We don’t want others to misunderstand, right…?”

Although Fang Ya was questioning carefully, Tepo finally had enough. His face hardened.

“Are you for real?!”

Hearing Tepo rise his voice, Fang Ya was unperturbed. She kept her polite smile.

Suddenly a heavy pressure descended in the room. Tepo felt as if the weight of a mountain was put on his shoulders as he eyed the female warrior sitting on the ground.

He could only put on a strained smile.

“I will naturally comply with your wishes!”

Cursing inwardly the young man slowly took of his scarf. Only as he put it in his storage bad did the pressure vanish as if it never existed.

Afterwards Tepo and Yerive didn’t dare to stay in the pavilion. They hastily left, almost fleeing the scene.

Looking around the two friends found themselves within the Blue Alliance camp. The atmosphere was surprisingly peaceful. The locals walked around the camp gracefully and with soft steps, leading to the outsiders not daring to make a ruckus as well.

Not far away was a strange wall made from water which only allowed core alliance members to pass.

Yerive and Tepo walked around with no clear goal. They searched for someone who seemed as if they had some authority. Soon, a small commotion reached their ears which disrupted the peaceful scenery.

As they got closer to the commotion the two friends found a large open area which could be called busy compared to the rest of the camp.

Various alliance members arrived here, some on impressive mounts. They confirmed the completion of missions or sought to form teams.

Towards the side was a somewhat insulated spot where large crates of cargo were taken care of.

Tepo and Yerive’s eyes lit up. This finally looked like the place they had been searching for. The alliance’s caravans had to start from here!

The young men hoped to follow one of the caravans. This was the idea they had come up with after long contemplation. In their mind team Seven Strikes wouldn’t dare to attack the alliance’s caravan.

Song Hao was busily overlooking the caravans from an elevated stage. Behind him a few elders were gathered leisurely drinking tea. He didn’t like this setup, feeling as if someone was constantly looking over his shoulder. But what could he do?

“You! Hurry up! Load the Raunaris! Yes, the big crate! Don’t you have eyes?! The caravan leaves in two hours! If we are even a second too late, I will deduct your pay!

Hey, hey, what are you doing with the Ilunis? Those just arrived! Why would you load them again?!

And be careful with the Ontris! If you damage elder Bao’s alchemy materials it will be your head that rolls and not mine!”

“Manager Song, we don’t have enough storage bags for the force crystals.”

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“Then go up the city and buy new ones! Hurry!”

“Manager Song. You promised I could have some off time to buy a spell today…”

“Off time?! You can have off time when the caravan is loaded! Now, out of my sight!”

“Manager Song. Excuse me. My name is Tepo, and this is Yerive. We are good friends of the Yin Yang Duo of your Blue Alliance. I wanted to ask if there was a possibility to join one of your caravans?

“What are doing, talking here! Get back to w…!”

Suddenly the slightly plump manager stopped in his speech. He looked at the two young men who had suddenly arrived below his stage.

Under normal circumstance he would’ve immediately thrown them out, but the Yin Yang Duo gained quite the fame recently. He swiped the sweat from his face as his eyes found a man with short black hair controlling some crates with a focused expression.

“Xing, come over here. Take care of this matter for me please.”

Immediately the man’s eyes lit up. He rushed over happily, glad for getting some change.

“Yes brother, don’t worry!”

Tepo and Yerive were also grateful that they found someone willing to talk to them. They thanked the busy manager as Song Xing waved them towards the side.

“Hi. I’m Song Xing. How can I help You?”

“Yerive.”

“Tepo.”

The two friends were a bit slow as Song Xing clasped his hands and bowed slightly. But they had seen this form of greeting a few times now, so they simply repeated the motion.

“Thanks for listening to us, mister Song Xing. I don’t want to take up too much of your time. We are only here to ask if it would be possible to join one of your caravans towards the Star Valley Hub City.”

Song Xing looked in the two hopeful faces, fidgeting slightly.

“I… I don’t think that’s possible. Normally we don’t allow outsiders to join us…”

“Normally…?”

“Well.”, hesitated the man slightly. “I overheard you talking about the Yin Yang Duo. If they would vouch for you…

But as far as I know they returned to our world about a month ago. They have surely reached the Peach Mountain Sect by now.”

Tepo furrowed his brows, trying to come up with any solution. He pondered if he had any prove of his relationship with the two brothers.

After a few seconds Song Xing spoke up carefully.

“I can offer you something but it’s a bit risky.”

“Let’s hear it.”, responded Tepo with a sigh.

“I can send a message to the Yin Yang Duo through our massager Taárins. But the damned Red Alliance might interrupt them. Thus, your massage could be leaked or the Taárin might even be killed. If it doesn’t return, we have to ask you to work until the Taárin will be repaid.”

Tepo was surprised that Song Xing was this helpful. Apparently not every local carried such deep bias towards outsiders.

Should we take this risk? What would be the worst outcome? That we have to work here for a while?

It sounds good but we don’t know what they would make us do. We could simply be used as cannon fodder and wouldn’t even be able to complain.

F*ck! What a stupid situation. If it weren’t for Seven Strikes I would definitely reject.

Mybe I should curb my curiosity in the future? But if I don’t investigate suspicious people, what if I miss the outsiders…

Tepo took a deep breath. He felt a huge burden pressing on his shoulders. The outsiders were like a huge shadow in his mind, a fear he couldn’t get rid of which constantly influenced his actions.

In his old life the investigator wasn’t this contemplative. He was more of a risk taker since he had nothing to lose. But now he was caught between his duty and the refusal to disappoint his mother.

In the end working with the Blue Alliance should still be the lower risk. If we travel alone, we won’t be able to defend ourselves if Seven Strikes decide to act.

For a second Tepo even questioned if he was too paranoid but his rationality quickly took over. He could imagine the situation from Seven Strike’s perspective. If even the smallest doubt existed, it was only natural to get rid of a potential witness.

Thus, the young man looked at Yerive for a moment before slowly nodding his head.

“Your conditions sound fair. Please contact the two brothers for us.”

“Alright. Come with me.”

Song Xing began to move, leading the two friends away. The trio arrived at a small building. It was adjacent to the big stable offering shelter for various mounts.

Low growling noises could be heard from the building. Song Xing went in alone and came out with a small flying beast. It resembled a big bird a lot, but it had four wings and a sharp face worthy of a predator. Its brown feathers were perfect in this world consisting of stone.

“Ok. I have already given the Taárin your message. The caravan will leave in two hours. If it doesn’t return until then, we have to consider the Taárin to be lost.”

Song Xing gazed at Tepo’s and Yerive’s faces before raising his hand. The Taárin abruptly shot into the sky.

The two friends looked after it but lost sight within a few moments. The flying beast was incredibly fast as well as stealthy.

“Now we have to wait for the Taárin to return. Please don’t run around for now.”

“Thank you for your help. Really.”

“Yeah, we appreciate it.”

“Ahh, don’t mind it.”

Tepo and Yerive looked at Song Xing’s leaving back.

“Now we can only hope for the best.”

“I wish we could do more…”, answered Yerive with a subtle mood.

“If we don’t want to rely on others this much, we can only grow stronger!”

Yerive let out a sigh. He didn’t understand why Tepo took the risk of trailing Seven Strikes in the dungeon, getting them in this difficult situation.