The construction of the raft took longer than they initially expected, but no one was disappointed. It was a fun event for all and, soon after they started, even the girls joined to help by pulling away the cut branches and pieces of wood.

While joking and laughing, they finished the construction around the midday and decided to have lunch before continuing their trip.

While Nick and YunYun were cooking, he suggested her to ‘communicate’ with her Katana more often to understand it better. The ‘hum’ of satisfaction that it made when YunYun infused her Qi, was pleasant to the ears, but very inconvenient in stealth operations or sneak attacks. He had a similar issue with Wakizashi years ago and it took him some practice to learn how to soundlessly infuse Qi in his weapon.

During the meal YunYun asked about the point of the weird morning excesses. The others were also interested and Nick understood he had to give a bit better answer than just ‘I really like to start the day that way’. After seeing six pairs of curious eyes around him and thinking for a few moments, he sighed and gave the best reasoning he could think of.

“There are several hundred muscles in our bodies. How many do you think a regular squat or push-up involves? By doing more versatile exercises, it’s possible to train even those muscle groups that we normally don’t use that often. In addition, it lets you learn to better control your body and improves the general strength and agility at the same time.”

“That’s logical, but what about those weird stretches? They even seemed somewhat … improper.” Kate tried hard to pick other word than ‘perverted’ that was on her tongue. Even remembering some of his weird stretching with bottom or the ‘other part’ upwards made her blush.

“General flexibility, of course.” Nick shrugged, “And that way not only my tendons are more flexible, but my muscles as well. In addition, it helps to train more ‘explosive’ movement, for example in a practical fight I can change the position or direction more effectively. That means my ability to dodge is increased and it might save my life as well.”

Only YunYun was thinking deeply about his words, but the others didn’t take it that seriously. Even though he was a young genius, this was his ‘self-made theory and system’ after all. Seeing the skeptical gazes around him, Nick described the fight in the arena where he had to dodge a spear for over ten minutes just to win in an unconventional fashion at the end.

“But if you would’ve wielded a sword, you wouldn’t had that problem.” Steven still argued.

“Hahaha!” Nick laughed, “If I had my Wakizashi I wouldn’t had that problem as well, but the situation was different. My guess is that he would’ve won the whole thing if I was not against him – his advantage was huge! Let’s look at it from another perspective. Sometimes we just don’t have a weapon – what do you do in that case?”

“YunYun!” Nick’s call startled the girl from her thoughts, “How did you kill those four pirates when you were captive?”

“Well ...” She blushed, “I poked one in the eye with my finger and he died, then kicked two others in their necks and they died from suffocating and …”

Seeing how the faces of the other girls were turning white with these memories, Nick interrupted her with a smile, “Thank you, as an example it’s enough. You see, Steven, she is a sword user as well and I could bet she is a very good one, maybe even excellent. But there was a time when she had to defend herself without a sword.”

He paused for a second looking at his friend, “Alright, do you remember the pirate king White when we came back to the docks after you were set free? He was huge! Now think of it – how can you defeat him in one on one situation without a weapon? I bet we could kick him for the whole day and he would just laugh it off. But if we could kick him in the neck like YunYun did to those pirates?”

At this point Nick got up and while standing on his left leg he raised his right straight up in the air above his head.

“I would barely be able to reach it!”

“With your physique you could jump as well.” Clayton added with a smile. He was a Qi master, just not that proficient in fighting.

“True.” Nick agreed while sitting back down, “There are thousands of nuances in any fight. But if the morning training can give me that little edge which can save our lives, I even gladly double it!”

Of course, he skipped the part that he did it for health reasons as well and he brought up the fighting examples because of the place and situation they were in. If Steven thought about it, he would’ve realized that Nick did all those exercises long before he started to practice his dagger skills.

“There is another thing I would like to bring up.” While everyone was contemplating, Nick decided to use the current atmosphere to the fullest, “It is highly likely that few days later we will have to act like real mercenaries. I already suggested for the girls to carry swords, but I would like to ask you to seriously practice them every morning and evening as well. We can’t be found out! You all understand the reasons.”

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Their mood was still a bit heavy when they stepped on the raft, but it soon changed when Nick made the yellow paste again and made the girls put it on. In the end, while accepting their fate, the girls managed to kick him in the water and the trip proceeded in much more livelier atmosphere afterwards.

The river was much slower here and they had no other way but to enjoy the ride, so most of them chatted all the way till dusk when it was time for dinner.

This time Nick was cooking alone and YunYun practiced her water walking skills. He explained her the theory behind it and, before the food was ready, she was able to hold for a split second on the surface. Nick knew it will only get harder from that point on, but still looked forward to her progress.

Meanwhile the other tree girls were patiently taking lessons from Clayton and Steven. They looked clumsy and got tired really fast from holding the swords, but the main training was to make them look like a proper sword users and not teach any techniques, therefore it was not that exhausting yet.

Next morning was the first time when everyone got up right after dawn and did their practices. Their hands were still hurting from yesterday, but the three freshly baked swordsmen were persisting in their training, while Nick and YunYun mostly had fun in their own way.

In a similar fashion the seven travelers spent their next days. Luckily there was no rain and they could leisurely enjoy the trip.

To his usual activities Nick added reading. Finally he had time to study the books he got from the pirate king White and since none of them had any idea on flora and fauna of the Nestri continent, Nick thirsted for a new knowledge.

On the third day they finally encountered the first humans. It was a jungle village where a small local tribe of hunters lived. They were so secluded, they even had their own dialect.

Seeing no hostility from their guests, the half naked hunters invited them, probably, to join a meal or have a drink, when the girls noticed the local women who were half naked, similar to their male counterparts. Few screams later they sat back on the raft with blushed faces with abashed Clayton and Steven joining them.

The locals were surprised by their actions, but Nick didn’t care. Unfortunately there was no quick way to explain his indifference towards the naked female bodies poorly covered with few palm leaves and tattoos, therefore he made some trades, giving away two simple swords in exchange for some fruits and leather strips. Aborigines were delighted with such a windfall that few moments later they offered for exchange everything they had in the village. Nick took only a small basket of low rank beast cores and exchanged it for the bow and a stack of arrows he got from Kardiff before crossing the desert and locals in their great joy gifted yet another basket of fruits.

In the end they unwillingly let him go while smiling and waving at their raft until it disappeared in the distance.

Nick could finally relax, but when he tried to offer the fresh fruits to the others, he was only met with awkward silence from Steven and Clayton, and even hostile gazes from the girls. He tried to ask for the reason, but YunYun smacked him on the bald head and angrily called him a ‘pervert’.

He finally understood why, but there was no way to explain he didn’t really care for that view and, in fact, he would’ve even preferred if the women wore a bit more clothing.

“YunYun!” Nick suddenly remembered his father, “What do you see there?” He pointed at the riverside.

While still being angry, she blurted back, “Jungle, of course!”

“But did you notice the tree I was pointing at?”

YunYun got confused – she obviously didn’t, but what that tree had to do with anything.

“You see, even if a whole village of half naked women stood in front of me, I only see random jungle. Why would I discern and look at any of them if the most beautiful girl in the world sits right next to me? That’s just silly!” He smiled at her.

“Hmpf.” She tried to pout and turn her head away, but had a hard time to hide a silly smile.

“Sigh.” Steven sighed loudly. ‘Turns out I have to learn more than Qi skills from him.’

But Nick looked at the sky reminiscing about his father and how he used to quell the fiery Marianne’s jealousy. She was from south France and had quite the temper which was exactly opposite to that of her Swedish husband’s.

All in all the ‘excuse’ Nick gave was enough and the tense situation was dissolved. It was hard to stay mad at him, not only because of what he said, but because he was still a young boy and when dealing with villagers he didn’t even glance around improperly. They were watching him grudgingly from the raft thus could judge all of his actions and there was no real reason to suspect him of being perverted. It’s just that the six of them were too shy and embarrassed at that moment and somehow had to vent.

After they wolfed down the fresh fruits, Nick shared his findings. It looked like the closest town was approximately three days from here and the aborigines traded with hunters from there quite often. The village had few canoes they were willing to exchange, but those were suited for maximum two people, so Nick refused. In the next town they should be able to purchase better boats and increase their speed.

Clayton took out the map and calculated the approximate location. If he was not mistaken, then from the Susha town, which they should reach soon, it will take less than ten days to arrive at the biggest port city on the eastern coast – Beliz.

While the news were good, they brought some nervousness as well. The group decided to let girls show off their ‘manliness’ for the first time in Susha as a practice, that way they would be better prepared for a bigger city. Nick and Clayton both had an inkling that at the time of their arrival, the news of the emperor's death would have definitely reached the eastern coast. The only question was how the search for them will be organized.