"Are you going to help us or not?" asked Kiyu, folding her arms in front of her. "If it's all right, we'd like to take a ship without causing a fuss toward some city that's well outside his sphere of influence."

"That sounds fine," Slim countered, coughing again. "But ever since Xianzhu enacted his trade offenses, trade with other regions has been quite..... restricted."

"He controls almost every caravan, every merchant ship, just about everything that passes through his borders."

"No underground tunnel?" sighed Zhèngyi in disappointment. "Would have been too good."

Kiyu, Laki, and even old Slim looked puzzled at Zhèngyi when he mentioned the underground tunnel. 'That was his hope?'

The whole thing was seldom realistic, considering where they were. Sure, they were on a smuggling route... but a secret tunnel that led under Oras? That was a bit too much of a good thing, wasn't it?

"Boy... we're out here in the sticks and you expect smuggling routes like the ones in storybooks?" Laughing, Slim straightened up and stepped toward the group. "You're funny, little brats. Now then, I'm coming with you. Without me, you'll end up in a jail cell faster than you can even curse Xianzhu."

"I don't like this idea," Zhèngyi whispered to Kiyu, though he must have realized that Slim could hear her with no problem. "He could still be dangerous to us."

"Oh, what could there be?" Laki seemed almost appeared unconcerned about Slim's announcement. "There are three of us, and he's a frail old man. I think we'll be fine. He also seems friendly."

They had no choice anyway, that much was certain. If they entered the city without a plan, they would risk being discovered by guards. Unless they intended to spend the next few nights rotting in a jail cell, they would have to put up with Slim's suggestion.

"I see you came to an agreement, so to speak." He moved toward the small, rancid table in the room and crawled under it. Below the table, he broke away one of the wooden planks that jutted somewhat upward and rummaged out something.

'Alcohol? Aside from overlooking the stash, what surprised Kiyu even more was what the old man was hiding there. A bottle of cheap hooch, which he sipped with relish.

"Well, then!" he exclaimed, hiccupping while he walked towards the group. "Let's be on our way. Oh well, you can keep calling me Slim." Shuffling, he moved past the group and was the first to leave the hovel.

"So you have another name besides Slim?" asked Laki, as the three continued to follow the old man up the pass, which rose high into the sky.

"Yargsen `Slim` Tapoke." he replied, taking another sip. "But Slim is quite enough."

Kiyu and Zhèngyi stayed a little further back, while Laki stayed and talked with Slim.

"I don't trust that Slim," Zhèngyi whispered. "And I don't trust his image of an old frail man either."

"I know," Kiyu replied, not averting her gaze from Slim. "I may not know about smugglers, but nicknames always have an origin. So what's his?" she wondered, mulling it over.

"And even though you distrust him, we're going to let him come with us?" Zhèngyi wondered about Kiyu's decision. She couldn't blame him. Who would let a strange, unknown contemporary accompany them while they were on the run from the law?

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"You know it yourself. We have no other choice." She explained, still whispering. "I fear we can't get past the guards on our own."

She would have preferred to just leave him behind after he woke up, too. He could get by on his own before, so she could have reconciled it with her conscience. However, now they had him with them, and she had to accept that. After all, it brought them a big step closer to their goal of escape, assuming he could deliver what he promised.

"Trust me, Zhèng. I have no intention of putting you in danger." With that, she had ended the secret discussion for herself, without leaving even one point open. Whether she succeeded with her approach, she couldn't decide anyway, but to her it felt more right than trying to do it alone. 'I just hope so much that I'm not wrong.'

Catching up on the distance she had from Laki and Slim, Kiyu joined the two, who seemed to talk about Laki's petty thieving skills. Sure, it had only been harmless things like apples or other food, and yet Laki was a bit of a long-fingered thief when she wanted to be.

The mood was somewhat good, despite the fact that they had knocked Slim down after he had caught the two girls in a net.

They hiked without rest and reached the peak of the pass after a few more hours. Kiyu's feet hurt, and she balanced her exhaustion with her spiritual energy. But Laki and Zhèngyi would soon reach their limit as well, so a break was inevitable.

Although they weren't even at the highest point in the mountains, they already had a wonderful view here. How did it have to look like when they would run up the last few kilometers?

"How beautiful," Laki said, gazing at the starry sky spreading above them. If it wasn't pitch black, they could have even looked at Jarifa from above. The climb was exhausting, but it had been worth it.

As suspected, the others in the group needed a breather to rest their legs and feet. Besides, the air had become thinner than it had been at the foot of the mountain. However, Oras was also not too far away. anymore.

In a little hurry, perhaps they could make it to the city by dawn.

"The guards at night and in the morning don't want any trouble because of their exhaustion," Slim explained. "With a little acting and a bribe, we should have no trouble getting by."

So that was his plan! There didn't seem to be a secret way, so they went through the middle, but in a way no one suspected. Everything depended on bribing the guards the group would encounter.

Kiyu felt a little uncomfortable putting all her luck on it. In her mind, she ran through several scenarios of what could happen to them if the bribe attempt failed. It was only when she could think of no more likely outcomes to a confrontation that she let her mind rest again.

For her, it was a form of mental preparation that she had learned from Cheryu. Those who prepared for things that could happen would not panic at the moment of truth.

However, it was just as important not to fall into fear just by going through the thought processes, because it would only paralyze one.

"I have a contact in Oras," Slim opened up to them. "The city is larger than Jarifa. But it's no wonder Oras has existed for several decades."

"Anyway. My contact can get us lodging, as well as a ride on a transport ship." Out of his mouth, it all sounded so simple.

"And the catch?" asked Zhèngyi, who continued to suspect it all. It almost seemed as if his skepticism had increased. "Your contact won't help us for free, I guess?"

Slim just grinned in response to Zhèngyi's question. "Correct. Of course, if you use his services, you'll have to do him a service." he explained, taking a hearty swig from his bottle of alcohol.

"And what kind of service?" asked Kiyu. They were already criminals, but she was reluctant to be involved with too many more dirty deeds. They had not yet committed arbitrary and unjust murder.

Since Tānlán was going to be sentenced to death anyway, she took him out of the equation.

"Who knows," Slim said, shrugging his shoulders. "But it will have to do with smuggling. Tricking border guards, or guarding a cargo. But we'll see that when the time comes."

"We?" The wording hadn't escaped Zhèngyi's notice, so he asked again. "What do you mean by we?"

"Ha! You little three-cheese-high don't think you'd be let loose on a mission unsupervised, do you?" Slim seemed to just be able to hold back his laughter, but the amusement was clear on his face. "Wherever you go as part of the assignment, of course I'll come along!"

'I see!' Now Kiyu was sure that the man they were facing could not be an ordinary old man. If he was going to accompany them on an assignment, he had to have something on his sleeve. Otherwise, it would doubtless make little difference whether he went with them or he left them alone while they completed their task.

"Then let's hope you can keep up, old man," she provoked him. That she would elicit a reaction with that she didn't believe, but the attempt cost nothing.

"Gonna be fine, kiddo," he countered, tossing her a confident grin.