Capitolo Terzo: Conquista (12)

“Sir, we will soon enter the Chinese borders.”

I nodded at the pilot, staring through the window as I could tell we were soon going to leave the Burmese lands for good.

Our little stay in India had been quite brief. Not only because there wasn’t much of an issue in trying to further expand the local industry as I had a solid influential base within the region, but also because much of the projects that could be done were already underway. If Britain had been my starting base of operations, then India and other colonies/dominions such as South Africa, Canada, Newfoundland, Australia and New Zealand were places where industrialization from the homeland’s companies was seen as a positive step into autonomy. And in a way, it was for them as I made solid political pushes to turn this Empire into a proper commonwealth early on.

Best to do so now before decolonization crippled the nation’s economy.

I was also relieved that the paperwork we needed to cross into China had come back quite quickly as we were staying with Jojo and Erina, and with an approval from the Emperor himself at that. I was stunned by this detail myself, but it turns out that things had gotten better ever since I last helped around their internal issues. Still, there were some political problems which had recently unfolded due to the radicalization of parts of the military.

I had worried about this matter due to how aggressive modernization was going to actually empower those conservative elements in charge of fast-modernizing armies such as the Beiyang Army. Despite all of that, my role here was limited. I was tasked to provide economic assistance in the Chinese heartland since both the Beiping, Shanghai and southern regions were already experiencing rapid infrastructural and industrial improvements through investments from Britain, the United States and Japan.

Also, the trip’s setup was simple and quick-paced: from Yunnan, we would move to Guangdong and use this stop to dig more on which location the spot of the map was referring to so I could handle the main reason for our stay without wasting too much time on it.

Then I would move to Wuhan, Chongqing and finally Jinan, planning to set up some semi-independent factories to start producing the material needed to complete the railroad work that was started in the north and south sections of the country.

Now, without any man-made obstacles on the road and with the news of our flight mostly a secret left to us and the imperial officers and governors assigned to the various areas we were exploring, I saw no point in worrying much and finally took this chance to ‘rest’.

I was bantering a bit with Santana and Hannah, the Pillar Man having grown curious about some elements of India which had jumped to his attention, specifically the kind of entities they worshiped in that subcontinent.

Baba Yaga tagged along from time to time, but the woman was mostly engrossed by a few booklets she was studying in an effort to understand the language that was used in Madras and some bits of Delhi’s Indian.

So, we were all pretty distracted at this point, with Giorno quietly peering over the mountainous area we were flying over, awed by the many clouds fluttering around but also from another detail which he was not too shy from pointing out as soon as he realized it was truly happening.

“Dad, there’s a cloud sitting on one of the plane's wings,” Giorno commented, drawing the adults’ attention.

Hannah moved to check, and she looked as surprised as our son was awed by such a situation.

“That’s… not a cloud.”

A frown adorned my face at that correction, and soon we all moved to see what was going on. My eyes spotted the source of confusion and concern, a tiny entity that was happily sitting on one of the planes’ wings.

While that would be worrying as the first thing that comes to mind of a little thing clinging on a plane’s wing is a gremlin, what I was looking at was the opposite of that. While it was true that this small creature was clinging on the plane, its wings were flapping once in a while to lessen the weight put onto the thin section of the vehicle.

And while the small thing was round, I could tell most of that size was pure, dull blue cloudy fluff which made it look like an actual cloud with a pair of black horns with red hints and a pair of inquisitive dark eyes which stared straight back at Giorno.

“Then what is it?”

I frowned a bit more, thinking about what I could remember of any potential creatures in this region which could match with this sort of entity. It took me a while since the fluff threw me off a bit, but then I realized that its color and the horns plus the wings and the tiny hooves it had were telling.

“I think that’s a Qilin, the creature that is used to represent the Qing Dynasty in their banner.”

Giorno’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“It’s a supernatural creature,” I admitted, trying to reason why it was there and… why wasn’t it together with other beings of its kind. “I believe that it has been… abandoned by others.”

The clues to that assumption was not just driven by the odd lack of fellow Qilins within these mountains. Maybe there were a few around I couldn’t see through the plane, but the point that really drove me to believe it had been left behind was its wing. A closer look was enough to confirm it, they were too small and underdeveloped to allow the small Qilin to make any lengthy flight and thus… it couldn’t follow any potential migration from its species.

I wasn’t really that familiar with any flight pattern of Qilins due to how little was known of them, but since those were rarely seen around by people and were defined as ‘fantasy creatures’, I could tell that they migrated frequently and in unreachable places within China and other parts of East Asia.

“What? Really? Is it alone?” Giorno pressured and I sighed.

“It would seem so.”

Nothing came to sight in the next few minutes, and my theory was ultimately confirmed as true when we eventually arrived at the small flat area near Yunnan. Once the landing was over and we were starting to refuel the plane, most of the group was drawn to the peculiar circumstance as the Qilin was still there and seemingly waiting for something to happen.

The Qilins were known to be quite reserved and asocial around normal humans, yet this one did something quite intriguing. It spared a quick look at Giorno and then, after preparing for a jump, bolted at the surprised boy. The little blond caught the small thing in his arms, but still fell on his butt due to the push its momentum carried in that tackle-hug.

“Prui~?” The critter hummed happily while Giorno rubbed the fur on its back, quite close to its head.

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“Do you think it was really abandoned, Dio?” Hannah inquired, looking quite apprehensive but still at ease before the sight of our son playing with the tiny thing.

“From the looks of it, I would say yes,” Baba Yaga hummed, while I merely nodded slowly as I could tell that it would be better to have a personal confirmation about it.

“We need to know if it’s capable of understanding and engaging in intelligent conversations,” I argued, thinking about the many times I read of Qilins which could properly speak. “Can you help us with this, Santana?”

The tall Pillar Man nodded calmly and sat down in front of Giorno and the creature. The Qilin stared at this new individual and its gaze was as curious as delighted since Giorno was still treating it to some affectionate hugging.

“Prri?”

Santana hummed. “Cruuu.”

I frowned at the noise, and so did Hannah while Baba Yaga wrote something down in her journal.

“Cri-chirp-purr?”

“Crui-Cra-Kru-Puriu,” Santana replied, and I was feeling more and more confused by that undecipherable conversation.

Still, the Pillar Man was soon done exchanging words with the critter.

“She was abandoned, yes. Yet she believes they will eventually return back to her.”

She? No, let’s leave that for later.

“Where did they leave?”

“She mentioned North.”

Which could mean so many things since North of Yunnan there was Tibet and then… their path could take them either in the Himalayas, to Sinkiang, or even Mongolia. These places were filled with mountains where to linger in. And even with a high-paced migration schedule, it would take years for them to eventually think of going back to Yunnan.

“Parents?”

“She mentioned none. She mentioned cousins.”

And she was orphaned, thus no urgency in catching up to her as quickly as they could. That was just plain cruelty, but it was something entrenched in animal pragmatism when it comes to natural needs for a whole group over a single individual.

“She?” Giorno finally interjected, looking extremely interested in this detail as he squeezed the Qilin. “What’s her name?”

Santana frowned, showing a rare expression of confusion as it was clear he hadn’t gotten that answer from the female critter. But as he was about to ask, the Qilin’s chirp shifted into something more… recognizable.

“Gaaaa- Gaaaagniiiiiouuuu!”

The voice was hoarse, croaking akin to a frog with that kind of reverb. Giorno frowned- no, everyone frowned. I couldn’t decipher what I just heard, but that didn’t stop my son from actually pressing on the matter with guesses.

“Gangiu?”

The Qilin repeated the same word, this time clearer. “Gaaaagnnniuuuu!”

Giorno huffed. “Gagniu?”

“Gaaa-g-gniuuuu!” The critter almost belated like a giddy sheep, almost delighted by that silly game they were engaging in, and that’s where Giorno seemed to have a moment of lucidity and realization.

“Ganyu?”

The qilin purred. “Gaaa- Gaaagniu~!”

“Ganyu, that’s your name!”

The qilin grew excited and repeated the same word over and over again, and we all started to accept Giorno had gotten it right. Ganyu, this name… I couldn’t help but feel I heard of it somewhere before. But where? And when? I tried to muse over it, but I just couldn’t think of anything on the spot which could have answered this query of mine. Ultimately it wasn’t as relevant a question as it was for what was to be done about this matter.

At this point, there was no issue from me in taking care of this orphaned Qilin and Hannah shared no problem about the peculiar creature growing quite attached to our son. Santana further confirmed that she bore no ill intent towards any of us and that, by biological analysis alone, he could tell Ganyu was omnivore, with a preference over herbivore-related food from the shape of her teeth.

The only real problem which I was concerned about was how others would have reacted to this creature if they knew its species’ name. I knew for a fact that some imperial officers of the zealot kind would be more than happy to kill some foreigners, friends of the Emperor or not, for the sake of providing the current ruler with a symbol of their dynastic power.

I doubted the Emperor was going to go through any great lengths if I denied him access to the Qilin, but that could easily become an issue if the news spread. Thus, it was decided that Ganyu would be kept away from others’ sight until we were sure they could be trusted.

Plus, the little thing was excited for making an attachment with us, but behaved nervously enough to hide inside the plane when some of the locals managed to reach our plane and see it from afar. None noticed our newest companion, and it was all for the better.

Once the refueling operation was over, the trip to reach the city-port of Guangdong resumed, with my mind once again focusing on the main mission at hand and how I was going to handle any potential Kate-like situations now that I also had to keep an eye on protecting Giorno’s newest friend.

Giorno was truly showing an attitude for bizarre situations and… I wasn’t sure if this was for the best or not just yet...