Alfonso took his time closing the remaining distance between himself and the village of Anhao Luzhou. He kept the dirt bike going with only the slightest amount of revs to its engine and stepped off the vehicle when he came within ten feet of the leader of the village. Then there was silence and a pause. Alfonso was not confident in this step, and keenly aware of what he was about to ask.

So he stood there and racked his brain for the right movements and actions that he needed. By the time he moved, he began following the movements the wuxia media had taught him. The same way he had copied his cousin’s movements when at catholic church, his body moved and his voice spoke, but he was on autopilot. With a genial attitude and the right movements, the young man greeted the village elder. He may have been screaming self-doubt while he did it, but he could do it.

Luzhou Gou, the acting head of the village, was confused by this strange cultivator that had come with Hou Gen. He was odd looking, and his hesitation made the Elder suspicious, but Gou was well aware of how many cultivators reacted to slights. So he kept a smile.

Alfonso's attire made him noticeably different from the rest of anyone in a thousand miles. He wore a pair of leather cowboy boots, blue jeans, t-shirt, a leather jacket, and completed with a big belt buckle and leather belt. Even with the mid-torso bend bow which he used, and his hands held flat together, he looked alien to the elder.

“Howdy, I’m Alfonso Carter. You can call me Alfie, though. What’s your name? What do y’all grow around here, only rice?”

The elder blinked at the words for a second, and at the young man’s outstretched hand.

“We grow peppers, hunt deer, and fish. Some vegetables. Beans, onions, cabbages, that sort. And some livestock.” the old man said, it was odd for a cultivator to ask that sort of stuff. Was this a merchant instead? Why did he talk like a rough and rude youth? “You are not from around here, are you, Kartuh Al Fi?”

The young man found it surprising that the man could easily identify his surname or reorganize its placement. But he did not let himself get lost in it. “Awesome. Deer, onions, peppers and beans can be used to make a great meal! And no, I’m from a place called Texas. I don’t know if I got here, either, but I’m here.”

The acting head gave a smile. “That sounds like the results of the nature of Juren Wuting, and well..” he looked around for Hou Gen. When there was no sign of the bedraggled cultivator, the grizzled leader of the village continued his statement. “The actions of cultivator nonsense fights. Either way, welcome to the Juren Wuting and to the village of Anhao Luzhou. What brings you here?”

The young man gave a nervous grin. “I may have beaten up and assaulted some fellows that tried to rob me. Hou Gen jumped in to help me after my dog and I started fighting them, but… he says they’re some big deal? And I’m not some cowboy from the wild west… or I-uh… some cultivator who decides to be a judge, jury, and executioner, so I couldn’t make the decision on what to do with them after the attack.” He let out a nod of his head in Gou’s direction. “Hou Gen said you were the fellow to talk to about it, the closest thing to an authority figure here.”

The old man let out a frown and took a moment to stroke his bearded chin. This was not an easy decision to make, but the young man seemed honest, clean, and down to earth. Who made a comment about the produce of a region being able to make a good meal in an introduction? He would give this young man some trust, he decided.

With a gesture, some men of the village came forward and quickly the elder discussed the situation.

“Take the bandits that the young man has in his cart and put them in the goat pen.”

With that instruction, they took the pair of unconscious cultivators and stopped only upon seeing hourglass-like emblems stitched upon their robes, “Elder Luzhou Gou, these are members of the Immortals.”

The old man did’s face twitched, but he did not lose his composure. “It doesn’t matter. Do‌ as instructed.”

Then Gou patted the six foot young man from another world on the shoulder. “So, will you have a meal with me? It is not much, but it is my duty as a host greeting a new friend. Hou Gen can even come eat with me, so long as he stays away from Rin and her family.”

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

***

After introducing himself to the sizable extended family of Gou, Alfie and Hou Gen were seated with the grizzled old farmer and village head at a table surrounded by cushioned pillows. The floors were well taken care of, and Alfie was impressed by it all. His expression throughout the village and the home of the village head had been one of a child at a theme park for the first time. Overwhelmed and excited.

It was not until the small bowls of rice and pickled side dishes that the family of the elder had made were placed in front of him that Alfie broke from his child-like trance.

Taking a ginger bite from his bowl with a pair of chopsticks, the elder spoke up. “So what is it you do, back in this Dekasushi you come from?”

Alfie heard his home’s name, and the syllables said, but didn’t even hesitate with his response. “I guess you could call me a merchant. My family sells cooked meals, but I’ve got other stuff with me right now.”

When he was done, he followed suit, taking a few of the pickled vegetables and putting them on his bowl with his chopsticks before taking a bite of rice and pickled vegetables all at once. “Good… My compliments to the cook.”

Gou smiled. “I will be sure to tell the women of the village who helped make it all. A cook? Did you run a food stall in a large city or the like?”

Alfonso shrugged, but before he could say more, there was a whoop of triumph from nearby. Soon, the older man got up and, upon instinct, the Texan followed. Hou Gen did not, shoving his food in his mouth before stumbling to his feet.

The source of the whoop was a pair of young men with large deer carried between them. The one of them on the front even turning to Elder Gou. “Grandfather! We were able to bag a few deer! The rest of the party is coming with the others.”

Which led to some other whoops.

Alfie let out a “Congrats, you should be proud! That’s probably the biggest deer I’ve ever seen.”

He couldn’t help but think it would make a good trophy, and to be impressed, it had been taken down by some arrows, but as he stood there, he also heard a mumbled cheer of joy from a young woman behind him. “Good job, big brother. This means we can survive the month until the rice can be brought in if we ration it..”

Alfie turned to the girl. “You all are worried about food?”

The girl - woman, really, she was clearly close to his age - let out a whispering sigh. “Who isn’t?”

And he had eaten their food, taken hospitality, when they were already rationing things and worried about surviving until the harvest. “I.. wasn’t.”

This young woman let out a sigh. “Of course you weren’t. Idiot cultivator.”

“But I’m not a culti-” and he got no further before Hou Gen reached out and dragged his companion by the collar of his jacket.

“Just accept the loss. Rin is a young woman who doesn’t change her mind often.”

***

So it went that Alfonso and Hou Gen gave the people of the village space.

“We need to gather some food to help them supplement their diet. There are easily four hundred people in the village, and even a dozen deer aren’t going to go that far for them. Not for a month,” the young man said to the wandering cultivator. It was with conviction and without levity. Alfonso cooked to feed people, and he had heard stories of great-grandma’s childhood and seen others. He knew what it was like to be hungry, or worry about food nonstop, just from their stories.

“This one does not want to agree with you, friend Alfi, but I also don’t see what you mean. We have no obligation to them.” Hou Gen preferred moving, and he had already stayed in this area too long. Especially with Immortal army members nearby.

“Sure we do. They’re holding those bandits for us and dealing with the situation for us. The Luzhou clan and the other members of the village of Anhao Luzhou are taking a colossal risk for us if what you say about their Army of the Immortal is true, and while I hope my plan works, it doesn’t change the facts. We owe them.”

The wanderer let out a sigh. “Very well. I will help you gather food for them, but after we are done, we leave.”

“We?”

“I attempted to protect you in exchange for the kindness you provided me by letting me rest in your cart. I put you in more danger instead of protecting you. So now I must help you find your way home. Honor dictates as much.”

So several days passed, with Alfonso’s cart left in the town of Anhao Luzhou, and the cultivator, the cook, and the dog traveling through the forest and plain which surrounded the village of Anhao Luzhou. While Alfonso did not know how he was going to hunt a deer with only a chihuahua and a bowie knife, Xiang Hou Gen claimed to have the game hunting handled.

Truly, there would be a game soon on the path of our heroes, but it would not be the one they were planning for. Ding Hui and his Immortals were coming.