Chapter Twelve: Problem Solved
Lacy awoke to a gentle poke on the cheek by Shu.
“Wakey wakey,” she whispered. “How are ya feeling?”
To Lacy’s surprise, her answer was an honest one. After some bleary blinks she said, “I’m…okay.”
Shu smiled softly.
“You sure?”
Lacy nodded as she sat up.
“Yeah… No nightmares, even.” Lacy rubbed the sleep off her face. “Last night was scary but…Jin’s gone. I’m safe now.”
Shu enthusiastically nodded.
“Exactly! The instructors know what they’re doing! Now let’s get ready for our final day, eh?”
……
The morning began like every other, except that some of the recruits noticed two people missing from their morning headcount. It wasn’t entirely strange, however, because initiates were allowed to give up on the exams even in the dead of night, so the absences went unquestioned. Instructor Kong didn’t explain anything and instead acted like nothing had happened.
A few minutes into the intra-city jog Instructor Poko appeared beside Lacy and gave her an affectionate head pat.
“Come, let us take a different route,” she said, and Lacy obeyed. The two jogged down the next side street, separating from the main group, and Instructor Poko asked, “Are you well? I can understand that last night’s affairs could have been very frightening.”
The jog had just begun so Lacy wasn’t exhausted yet, but she still kept her responses short in order to maintain her rhythm.
“I’m fine. Koroths were scarier.”
Instructor Poko hummed a laugh.
“Few things are scarier than being abducted by koroths, yes. However, just because one thing is scarier by default than another does not mean you react the same way. There is a different kind of trauma that can arise from betrayal by allies than capture by enemies. So, are you truly alright?”
“I am,” Lacy replied confidently, still taking care to measure her breaths. “Jin thought I’m weak. Screaming would’ve brought help. Wasn’t in too much danger.”
Of course, Lacy wasn’t being entirely honest about why she was fine because under more normal circumstances she would definitely not have recovered so quickly from attempted assault. It was her specific unusual circumstances that brought her so much mental stability. Last night she had awakened as a rare spirit cultivator—and one who was apparently really talented, if the vampires were to be believed. Not only that, but she was already getting a handle on how her aura worked.
In her newly awakened eyes, the instructors both had bright and powerful auras surrounding them at all times, though Instructor Poko’s was more dense because she was a realm ahead of Instructor Kong. Earlier in the morning as soon as she’d sensed Instructor Kong’s aura she’d brought her own back into herself, which was surprisingly easy for how hard it was to manipulate outside of her body.
Interestingly, Instructor Kong’s aura only extended less than half as far from his body as Lacy’s did from hers. Maybe the seasoned body cultivator just kept his at that length, but Lacy had the feeling that it was a result of him being a body cultivator as opposed to a spirit one like her. After all, looking at Instructor Poko as they jogged, the Sprout’s aura also wasn't as large as her own.
“It is good that you see his crimes that way,” Instructor Poko replied. “As large as that scum Jin is, your head was brighter. He relied on our culture’s old-fashioned tendencies to assume women should be below men by hoping you would accept that he…chose you.” The older woman spat the word. “Do trust that times are changing. In the capital only the most old-fashioned and weak think that way, because there are plenty of women holding positions of power who are capable of proving to any fool that they are not inferior.”
Lacy nodded and hummed like she was particularly invested in this world’s feminism, but in reality, she had long assumed that women coming into literal power before her would fix that, presuming that magic treated the sexes equally, which it seemed to. What worried her more was the potential of evil magic that could be used to make the few powerful and the many suffer. She wondered if demons actually existed in this world and whether she’d have to slay a demon king.
“If we accept that you pass the exams, then when you are a cultivator you will no longer need to fear such revolting behavior from your fellows. Nothing will stop them from discriminating against you if they are truly that foolish, but they will not be able to harm you. Perhaps that can be extra motivation to be your strongest self,” Instructor Poko added, and Lacy was forced to nod along, despite having mixed feelings about that “advice”.
‘I get that she’s right, but damn! Telling me to pass the exams so that I don’t have to be worried about assault.’
She put those feelings aside and focused on the new conundrum forming. Instructor Poko’s mentioning of becoming a body cultivator was the perfect time to bring up the fact that she had awakened as a spirit cultivator. However, should she? Lacy had no idea. Even the damned vampires hadn’t known enough about this country’s humans to gauge whether she should tell the truth or look for a method of sneakily revealing she’d never been tested! The vampire dad had literally told her to figure it out herself!
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
There was always the option of waiting until a Sapling-realm cultivator was nearby so that she could naturally be spotted as someone with a spirit root—whatever that was—but the problem was in the waiting. How rare were Sapling-realm cultivators? The vampire dad told her there weren’t many in an area “like this”, so if Lacy waited too long to reveal her new status then she might die of spirit starvation or whatever!
Lacy just couldn’t decide, so she opted to be a coward and wait as long as she could. She could last a few days without killing spirit beasts, right?
……
The problem ended up miraculously taking care of itself.
When the recruits returned from the morning jog and rested, a man wearing an administration uniform—very different from the combat robes the instructors wore—singled Lacy out and pulled her aside. That, combined with being pulled aside earlier by Instructor Poko, caused a lot of whispers from the other recruits in the cafeteria.
“Yes, sir?” Lacy asked hesitantly as the administrator gestured for Lacy to follow.
“Good day, Initiate Mathews Lacy, I am Administrator Aften. Do you recall your conversation with Administrator Muriel after she performed your health examination?”
Lacy blanked for a moment before a bulb lit above her head.
“Ohhh! Is this about how I’m an amnesiac and don’t have a past?”
“Precisely. I was delegated the task of heading the investigation into your purported background. Simply put, your recounting of events was directly verified to me by many dozens of Pole residents and your official identity paperwork has finished processing. Rest assured, your identity is acknowledged by the city and you will find no trouble in that regard.”
Lacy’s shoulders untensed.
“Thank you so much! And I’m sorry for the trouble…”
The administrator grunted.
“The investigation was frustrating—especially in the beginning when I was sure you had lied—but it is not your fault that you awoke in some random field with no memories.”
“Thank you, that makes me feel better,” Lacy admitted, grateful that the man didn’t hold an unfair grudge against her. “But, is that all? Do you need something else from me?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” Administrator Aften said reluctantly. “Normally there are no issues with previously undocumented men and women from surrounding farming villages revealing themselves legally so that they might make something more of themselves than farmers, however you are the first who is verified to have no history. You did not come from a family that simply never registered you, you spontaneously emerged from the earth like a potato in a flower bed with no one the wiser of your origins.”
He paused, seemingly gathering his thoughts.
“I am bringing you in front of Guardian Mai Mosa so in the rare case that you are more than you seem, I get to keep my head,” he admitted.
Lacy recoiled at that.
“Do not fret, Initiate Mathews Lacy,” the man said, “you are in no trouble. It is just that since we have no records of your origin that we need to confirm you are…what we think you are. Simply put, the Yellowvine Guardian will be able to determine, officially, whether you are a demon or human. Also whether you have a spirit root, but that is, frankly, less likely. Wherever you came from you were likely checked, and no one would let a spirit cultivator be in a position that would have them lost and without memories.”
The isekai protagonist had a choice to make…and she opted for caution.
“I’m sorry, I…don’t understand. Demon? Spirit root?”
The administrator chuckled.
“I’ve no doubt of that, I assure you. I do not personally consider the possibility of you being dangerous as likely, but alas, it is my job to make sure such matters are dealt with. If you will just follow me, I will bring you where you need to go. I’ve also already spoken to your instructors about the change of plans for the day. You will not be penalized for missing this part of your preliminary guard eligibility testing.”
……
It was at least an hour’s walk until they arrived in what looked like Yellowvine’s rich district, at which point Administrator Aften brought Lacy to a large building that offered very fancy rickshaw services. The administrator flashed his badge and was provided an official-looking two-person rickshaw that was different from the fancy ones but no less lavish. The person who pulled it was a relatively new body cultivator, judging by his lack of scars and short aura that only extended as far as his outstretched arm from his body.
Only once they’d arrived in front of an extravagant manor decorated by the city’s iconic yellow vines—both paintings and real plants—did Lacy realize that the cultivator who pulled their cart was probably one of the few cultivators in the entire city-state that wasn’t employed by the city.
Suddenly Lacy was extra glad to have decided on the guard route, because she could not have withstood being an extravagant donkey to transport wealthy people.
“This will only be some thirty minutes at most,” the admin told the rickshaw…driver(?) before he walked right up to the manor’s gate and flashed his badge and some paperwork for a guard, who let them through with surprising ease.
“Recall the proper etiquette,” the man whispered as he guided Lacy through the outside of the huge compound, obviously heading for a tall, domed building at the other end.
“Yes, Administrator Aften,” Lacy said softly as she corrected her posture and walked as “politely” as possible with her chin raised, arms held in front of her, eyes looking straight ahead, a step behind and to the right of the man, her gait matching his. It was annoying to have to take care of how she walked, but it was better than offending a powerful cultivator by seeming rude.
At last they made it to the domed building, which was guarded by yet another man holding a spear and equipped with a sword on the belt. The admin showed off the same badge and vellum paperwork as before, but this time the guard didn’t immediately wave them through.
“The Guardian’s just arrived from his last outing and is mighty tired,” the guard warned boredly as he leaned against his spear. “You’ve got your official business, sure, but he might be asleep by now. Doesn’t like getting woken up.”
“I am well aware,” Administrator Aften replied with just a tinge of frustration. “However, this guard recruit needs to be seen before the end of the day because my hours end soon and she is leaving the city tomorrow.”
The guard shrugged.
“Still might be best to give the job to someone else. Could come by later, maybe around dusk when the Guardian will be awake again for sure. Or tomorrow morning before she leaves.” The guard lazily turned to face Lacy. “Also, congratulations are in order. Not many women even get past the prelims. I hope you have what it takes to become a guard.”
Lacy blinked in surprise, not having expected a positive response to her status as a guard recruit.
“Oh, uh, thank you.”
The admin began tapping his foot against the cobblestone floor.
“It is the Guardian’s duty to be seen when he is needed,” he insisted. “If he has a problem with the letter of his job then he can complain to the Mayor.”
“The powerful make the rules, Administrator. You know this. I’m not trying to make your job harder, I’m doing my part to protect you.”
The two stared each other down for a minute. Administrator Aften’s eyes held vexation while the guard pursed his lips and straightened his back.
“Fine then,” the guard said. “I can’t keep you from doing your job or insisting the Guardian does his. Good luck.”
The guard opened the door and stepped aside, and the admin stomped through while exhaling sharply through his nose. Lacy did her best to express an apology to the guard with her eyes, to which the guard shrugged again and closed the door.