“Yes, but the cooking …” YunYun was still conflicted. In fact, the things Nick explained was not a common knowledge and he was putting the Qi cultivation in somewhat unique light. In any other context she would’ve loved to hear more and discuss about it since she was a cultivation maniac as well, but the cooking part was really confusing.
“Remember what I told you girls back in the emperor’s bedroom?” Nick smiled back at all of them, “Practice Qi all the time! While I’m infusing Qi in this simple vegetable stew I’m still performing my Qi technique and continue to absorb it from surroundings! I’ll never run out of it and can only increase its amount, therefore I can still practice my Qi manipulation, absorb Qi from the world and enrich the food that will benefit me greatly – all at the same time!”
He straightened up and threw a victorious glance around, “It’s a triple level training!”
Even though he was astounded himself after summarizing what he did until now out of a pure gut feeling, it did make him feel good. The girls looked at him with open mouths. This was something unheard of – how could he twist things like that? Even if all of it sounded logical and simple, it can’t really be so, right?
“But there is one more thing and maybe it’s the most important one.” Nick sighed, covered the pot with a lid and sat on the only free spot between them.
‘I knew it! There is something more!’ YunYun’s eyes sparkled as if she caught a little thief and now was going to punish him.
“The people in this world have no clue on how to use spices!” Nick facepalmed, “They add some salt and maybe pepper and think that the meal is tasty just because of that! It’s an insult to every potato and onion out there!”
YunYun looked at him stupefied and then angrily slapped him on head, “You’re the potato, you’re the onion!”
The other girls laughed and watched the ‘lover’s quarrel’ with a sweetness filling their hearts. After all the stress and horror during the last two months, they finally could relax, casually chat and have other emotions than fear and despair.
When the door opened and the panting Steven ran in, there was a plethora of these other emotions. Conny jumped in his arms, crying and laughing loudly at the same time. They didn’t care about the presence of others, but kissed, hugged, sobbed and whispered to each other until Clayton finally came in.
He patted Steven’s shoulder, “It’s fine now. She’s safe. But we have to get moving.”
Steven nodded while still not letting his love go.
“Nah, let’s eat first. Twenty minutes or half an hour won’t change anything.” Nick got up and took the lid from the pot, “Maybe even we’ll be slower if we go on empty stomachs.”
The girls were already salivating and now the two newcomers realized that the four have not been sitting around while waiting.
“Alright, let’s eat first.” Clayton agreed, “We can have a short briefing after that – after all we haven’t really agreed on any specific plans to follow from now on.”
Nick poured the stew for all of them and for a while there was only munching and slurping sounds filling the small hut.
“Oh god! How I missed this!” Suddenly Kate looked up to the ceiling with tears in her eyes. Then she turned towards YunYun and said with an envy in her voice, “You don’t even realize how lucky you are!”
The latter was digging in her bowl when she heard it and understood the implication while blushing.
“Oh right, Kate told me all about it.” Clayton smiled, “Congratulations, Nick!”
Nick’s face instantly turned in to a similar dark red color, but he pretended not to hear anything despite almost choking on a piece of carrot.
“What are they talking about?” Steven asked Conny in confusion.
But she giggled and pointed with a spoon at the two beet like faces, “They got engaged back in the tower.”
The other two girls giggled as well while Nick only could sigh and shake his head.
“Don’t you dare to laugh!” YunYun got a bit angry. She was a bit embarrassed of the fact as a young maiden, but not ashamed at all by her fiance or her new status, “You haven’t even seen the engagement present he gave me, it’s the most beautiful …”
“YunYun, please don’t.” Nick suddenly got serious and interrupted her, “You’ll have enough time to show off, I’m just afraid that as soon as that thing sees the light, someone might die.”
He guessed correctly that YunYun was about to swing her new Katana around the little hut.
“Alright.” She suddenly gently smiled and continued to eat the stew as if nothing happened.
The other five stared at them with mixed emotions. So? Where is it? The most beautiful engagement gift? And why would anyone die?
Only Steven couldn’t wrap his head around the news. Nick got engaged? In two days he hasn’t seen him? With a complete stranger? Is that even the same Nick he had known for years?
But since no one explained anything, he would just ask Nick later when they were alone. The most important thing was that he was back together with the woman he dearly loved and it was, in fact, all thanks to the blushed boy who sat across the room.
“Nick, thank you!” Steven broke the silence and seriously said.
“No need.” Nick answered with full mouth, “All I did was just my part in our plan.”
“No! Nick without you …” Steven got agitated, but Nick guessed how his friend felt.
“Steven!” Nick stopped him, “You still don’t understand what happened. Without your discovery and analysis, we wouldn’t even have had a plan and there was no way for us to bring girls out randomly by hoping that no one would notice. Even Clayton as a Qi master wouldn’t have been able to do that. You are belittling your part too much. In fact, all of this was possible mostly because of you, your hard work and maybe even a bit of luck in the beginning. But your love towards Conny kept you going and you stared at the castle walls for days until you figured out the small gap in shifts that gave us the crucial minute we needed so badly. And your perseverance and concentration while you were giving the signals? You don’t even realize how valuable it was for us to have someone as methodical as you! And at the end we were only able to save YunYun only because of your will that was probably stronger than that of everyone elses in this room combined!”
Looking at the shocked gazes of the girls Nick explained, “Do you think he was just lighting up some candles and that’s it? His heart was bleeding while longing for Conny every single second, but all he could do was to stare at the castle walls. Do you think he didn’t see how I brought you down the tower? He was the only person in the capital who noticed my movements just because he was closely watching every brick on that damned tower. And imagine, after I came down the third time – he knew for sure that I brought down all three of them, but instead of running off to see the person he loves the most in the world, even more than his own life, he kept showing signals, because, he gave his word! I can’t even imagine what pain he has been through.”
Nick got up to gather utensils, while Conny leapt in Steven’s arms, loudly crying. The other girls had tears in their eyes as well listening to the heartbreaking side of events. Only YunYun looked at Nick with shining eyes – she knew that he could’ve carried her down any time – the way they got down wasn’t any slower than his speed alone. But with this little lie he made his friend not only keep his dignity, it definitely will give Steven more strength and confidence for the rest of the trip. In addition, or even maybe more importantly, Steven’s value in Conny’s eyes rose so high it probably could never fall again. Until now she only missed him, but didn’t know what he had been through, but Nick, with a few sentences, not only told about it, but made her realize how much her husband loved her.
‘Only person who can love this deeply can truly understand feelings of others!’ YunYun watched Nick cleaning up while clenching her fists. This was her ‘fiance’ and this side of his was completely new to her.
“Clayton, and you.” Nick sighed and continued after a moment, “I know you’re not a boy like me or Stewen, but please don’t dare to think that you were some unimportant person as well. It might seem that running around the city and arranging few horses or boats might not be crucial, but your ability to pay attention to details allowed us to even have a proper clothing and you won’t believe it – I used every single piece! The wet ones I have on me now are the last black clothes that was left from all those you prepared! And that is only a little part of it.”
Seeing how his elder friend waved him off, Nick sighed, “You guys did a great job, all I had to do was to climb around a little and float down the river.”
Silence filled the room after the last statement. Everyone knew he was trying to joke, but somehow it didn’t seem funny.
“But … but you did kill the emperor!” Beata stuttered breaking the silence.
“What?!” Steven was shocked. The girls had time to tell everything to Clayton, but this was big news to Steven.
“Don’t take it the wrong way, but if he climbed naked on you with his ‘imperial highness’ raised in the sky with intention to rape, you would’ve killed him as well.” Nick snickered and sat down after finishing cleaning up.
“Hahaha!” This time no one could hold back laughter. Even though it was a serious matter, the previous tension was too much and the mood in the shack finally relaxed.
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“Alright, let’s get to work.” After a while Nick got serious, “Clayton, you probably analyzed our situation and have some suggestions.”
“Indeed.” Clayton nodded, “But first, give me your estimate on how long do we have until the hell breaks loose in the whole country.”
“There are two possible scenarios.” Nick explained, “First, in a few days, maybe even tomorrow the death of the emperor will be discovered and everyone in the world will look for the five princesses and maybe even Dash from the Lion mercenary group, and his accomplices. The second, when the emperor’s death is found out nothing will happen for a month, two or even a year.”
Looking at the confused faces around him, he continued, “There are obvious frictions between the upper echelons in the empire that we don’t know of. Remember, Nazir also kind of pointed at it, albeit unobtrusively. When the dead body of the emperor is found, some people will proclaim that this time he has some super-long training session, maybe a year long or even some ten year long nonsense. Remember – we are talking about the ‘immortal emperor Osman’ here! It’s easy to explain to the public he has secluded himself for a year or even a decade.”
“But!” Nick raised his index finger to accentuate the next part, “People will look for us in either case. Will it be few millions or a special investigation squad, we’ll find out only later.”
“Thus either way we’ll have to go into hiding and can not go home in any direct or obvious way.” Clayton said, saw Nick nodding in agreement and then continued, “Fine, in thas case the following plan should be the best. We‘ll go down the river on the boats I prepared.”
He took out a map and continued, “It flows directly south, but then turns south east and there is a big city where it enters the sea. We can decide on our next step there and the options would be – to cross the continent by land or go around southwards by the sea. There is no way we can take a step towards the north since it’s the obvious route for anyone escaping the Nestri continent. In addition, I still have a phobia against the pirates from the northern archipelago.”
124. The crime of the century.
“There are few things we must note. Remember – we are on a plateau high above the sea level, therefore the river might become unruly around this part.” Clayton pointed on the map, “But I can’t say for sure and couldn’t get a better map. I didn’t want to make too many inquiries as well to not raise any suspicions or leave unnecessary trails.”
“Good, then we can proceed according to your plan.” Nick smiled and nodded.
“You’re forgetting something important, maybe the most important thing.” Clayton grinned, “Whoever will look for us, will look for five women and some men!”
“Sigh, you are correct.” Nick looked at the girls with a pity in his eyes because he knew what will happen next.
YunYun was incredibly beautiful while the other three were the famous ‘flowers of Aurora’. It was hard to imagine any of them becoming young boys, even if it was for the time being.
“What’s the big deal!” YunYun snorted, “I did you, now you do me!”
She immediately understood what Clayton meant and grabbed her hair right at her head with both hands and then turned her back to Nick.
“Sure … just your choice of words …” Nick was embarrassed, but still took out the dagger.
“W … wait … we,” Beata stuttered in shock, “w … we have to become like him?”
She pointed at Nick’s cleanly shaved head.
“Why? You want to look like me?” Nick giggled while the sisters and Kate gasped with red faces.
“Of course!” YunYun’s voice confidently replied, “And make it look clean, the same way as I did!”
“Are you sure?” This time Nick was shocked. They didn’t have to shave their hair off fully and could look like any normal youth.
“Stop wasting time!” YunYun sounded annoyed, “If my fiance has to shave his head, why can’t I?”
“Sigh.” Nick raised the dagger in his hand, but it took him a moment to gather mental strength. He gently caressed her hair and YunYun’s shoulders trembled. She was extremely beautiful girl and she obviously knew that as well. It was painful for anyone to watch her loosing her pretty black hair.
‘Mental training!’ Nick whispered to himself and went on with this crime of the century.
After few minutes her head was shaved clean and the long black hair covered half of the floor.
She got up and turned around, then, seeing the wide eyes and the shocked faces of other girls, asked with tears in her eyes and a shaky voice, “How is it?”
Nick gently brushed few leftover hairs from her shoulders and back.
“It’s … it's kind of cute.” Kate blurted out.
Then YunYun turned her teary eyes towards Nick, “Will you even love me if I look like this?”
“Why not?” He shrugged. He really didn’t understand what was the big deal – it’s just some hair and will grow back, these were not teeth!
But the girl was a girl after all and understood his answer differently. She hugged him tightly and whispered, “Thank you.”
Nick was stunned and didn’t really know what to do, so just put his hands around her shoulders and gently caressed her back. She would soon calm down anyway.
“Do I … do I have to do like that as well?” Conny asked Steven in a weak voice. They just got out of a nightmare and were thrown into another.
“No, it’s just them.” Clayton sighed and shook his head, “What a weird couple. Simply cut your hair to look like normal, young men. It’ll probably grow back till the time we get back home.”
He got up to help and soon the little hut was filled with sobs and soft cries.
After they were done, Nick cleaned up as much as he could.
“We’ll burn everything when we make a camp in the evening. Your faces and skin is too white and you’ll have to get a natural tan during the next upcoming days. But be careful and for now keep your hats on to not get burned or get a heat stroke of sorts.” He looked once again around the room and found everything acceptable, “I think we should change the clothes to our previous ‘Southern mercenary group’s’ attire. What do you think, Clayton?”
“Here, I already prepared those as well.” Clayton took out the long light robes, trousers and head covers, “I’ll show you how to use those head covers later, just wear these things for now … just ...” Then he got embarrassed and didn’t know how to continue.
“Sigh …” Nick saw the confused faces around, “You have to look like young men. I don’t know what tricks you can use, but is there a way to hide your … uhmm … nature’s gifts?” He pointed at his own chest. Although he started the explanation confidently, in the end he became even more uncomfortable than Clayton.
“Get out!” Kate hissed through her teeth and the three males were thrown out of the small house in an instant. The nature has ‘gifted’ her way more generously than the others and she found it unacceptable to even think the way Nick put it. But even if the girls didn't like it, they understood the importance of ‘becoming men’ and tried their best to ‘cover’ as much as they could.
“This part of our trip will not be as easy as the way from Berin to Olava.” Clayton sighed.
Both youths nodded. Although the part that Clayton referred to was very stressful and dangerous, even deadly, all of them felt that it might feel like walk in a park compared to what they were about to experience during the next months.
‘Boom!’ The door of the hut was kicked wide open and four ‘Southern mercenaries’ came out. The trio inspected them with surprise in their eyes. If not for the white skin and tender faces, they looked quite like young men.
“Alright, let’s move. The sun is coming up.” Clayton clapped his hands, “Nick will instruct you on how to behave and the rest of nuances. We have a lot of ground to cover till the evening.”
Only now the girls noticed that it was already bright outside and they had spent the whole night conversing and preparing. Clayton led them towards the tree cluster where the boats were hidden when Nick saw YunYun coming over and insecurely touching his arm. She probably regretted her rash decision now and wasn’t sure how to act or what to say.
“Don’t worry, you look good. If you were a boy, I think you would be the most beautiful boy in the world.” He winked at her, but she immediately kicked his butt and both of them ran to the others while laughing out loud.
In the end the group decided to take only one canoe. Although it was a bit tight, they would be able to converse better during the first day or two and later they could just purchase another or a bigger boat in a village on the way.
‘He really pulled it off.’ An old man, hidden in the trees watched their canoe disappearing in the distance, ‘Not only he killed off that old bastard, he even figured out the political situation in the capital. And he’s not some royalty, but a self taught kid! Sigh, I’m too old for this crap.’
Then he grinned to himself, ‘What will the others think when they’ll get the news? Hahaha! But first, let me help him a bit. He solved an old grudge after all.’
Nazir went over to the small hut, looked around carefully.
‘He is still inexperienced.’ He sighed and after a minute the hut was gone and a pile of saw dust lie in its place. Nazir took out a yellowish powder from his ring and scattered over the ground, then lit it up and in a couple of minutes the saw dust turned in to a pile of ash without any smoke that could alert nearby people. Then, with a wave of Nazir’s hand the ash scattered and no one could even guess that there was a small hut standing an hour ago.
After returning to the Riverside inn, Nazir wrote few identical notes that should be sent around the continent to his closest friends. All had the same sentence written on them: “The boy from Mainland killed the snake and is going home.”
Watching this simple line over and over again, the usually composed Nazir became more and more bewildered.
‘How the hell did he pull that off? Even if I went one on one with that old bastard, I couldn’t kill him, to not speak about escaping without alerting the whole castle! And from what I understood, he killed him with a weapon as well, not a poison! Sigh, I guess I’ll retire. Maybe Salma in Rolum could be a good company. No ... no way ... then I’ll be poor soul within hours. Where should I go? I don’t want, or rather I shouldn’t, take a single step in the capital for the next ten years.’
What Nazir didn’t realize, was that, in fact, the emperor was long not what he remembered him to be. Nick correctly guessed that the emperor’s flame of life was dying out and he had a year, maybe two left and it was possible he was at peak strength one or two days after the replenishment, but he was hopelessly loosing his lifeforce rather quickly. The Qi was flowing out of him as if he was a sieve and there was no way to stop the process. In addition, he got sneak attacked with no option to defend against Wakizashi. Nick knew the only thing that could protect the emperor was on his right arm and therefore targeted any other part of him, but his arm. In addition, in that situation and position the old tyrant was nothing more than an old man.
Nick was the only one who knew all of that, but there was no need for him to run around and announce it to the world, thus Nazir kept reading the short sentence on the paper slip and sighed over and over. Finally he called his servant and ordered to send out the messages. Then he went to the basement, lifted up an inconspicuous stone slab, knelt down and with few more actions disabled an inconspicuous defensive rune formation. After he got up, he had five meteorite rings in his palm. He snickered, wore them on his fingers and now he had six in total. Then he left few more instructions and disappeared towards the south.
Nazir couldn’t stay in the city since he would’ve been one of the first suspects after emperor’s death was found out. But he didn’t care much. While whistling a joyful tune he contemplated which friend should he visit first. He had five gifts to give out.
‘I guess that weirdo Yakub is the closest one, in that case maybe I should go east.’
Nick had no idea what bloodshed will come to Olava during the next few days, but even if he knew, he most likely would applaud the disaster. Nestri empire was the enemy of the Sun kingdom and a strong supporter of the Holy Order, to not speak about the pirate gangs that plagued the southern seas. What was there to be sad about if the viper nest being destroyed from within?
The stream was carrying canoe and currently it was Nick’s and YunYun’s turn to paddle. She insisted to be on the same shift as her fiance and no one tried to object. There was still some time till the midday and the sun was nicely shining on their two bold heads to the great amusement of others.