Chapter 3:

“Hu Ru, Feng Li,” the captain finally said, making me tense up a bit. Not that it would really do any good, given my state and their likely experience and power. “Go and check for any signs of ambushes. Stay together and stay alert. Shui Jianfeng, since you are so concerned for his welfare, you take him back to the caravan to be treated. We’ll take him back to the city. Until then do not let him out of your sight and keep him away from the clients. Understood? If we are attacked make sure to watch him then too.”

I sagged in relief at those words and leaned more heavily on my walking stick.

“Yes sir,” the three men said. Then the two other men went off at a run in the direction I’d come from. They moved much faster than I expected, sending up a small cloud of dust. Yeah, they were definitely not normal people.

The captain stayed where he was on top of his horse, but his eyes finally left me. Instead, he scanned our surroundings carefully.

That left the youngest of the group to come over to me with a friendly smile. He cupped his fist in his other open hand and gave me a shallow bow. “Hi, I’m Shui Jianfeng. What's your name?”

I clumsily moved to mimic the fist and palm salute. “Um, I’m Michael Li. Or Li Michael. Do you guys go with your surname first or last?”

“Mai Ke Er Li?” He asked with a small frown and I winced.

I wasn’t sure if that was the auto-translate butchering my name, or that was the best he could do at pronouncing it. Either way, it sounded odd, like my English name when phonetically translated to Chinese but worse. It would probably be better to just use my Chinese name instead since it probably was easier to say for others. Should have thought of that earlier.

It wasn’t a big deal but it made me stand out. And that was the last thing I wanted to do while I was still learning about this world. However, it was probably too late with Jianfeng given my question about name order.

“Um, you can call me Lan Li or Li Lan instead,” I said quickly. “Um, Michael is the name I use in my homeland. They speak a different language there.”

“Ah,” he said, nodding though looking confused. Did that mean they mostly spoke the same language in this world? Or was this guy just not worldly and hadn’t met anyone who spoke another language before? “You must be from quite far away then. And we use our family names first here.”

I’d assume that was the case but it was good to have it confirmed. “Okay, then call me Li Lan. And yeah, I think I’m pretty far from home.”

“It is good to meet you then Li Lan,“ Jianfeng said and then gestured towards the still stopped caravan with a hand. “Now let's go get your leg looked at.“

I nodded gratefully at that and started to head towards the caravan. Jianfeng walked unhurriedly beside me.

“So, how did you end up so far from home?” He asked.

I hesitated for a moment, thinking of how to respond. In the end, though, I decided to go with the truth. Mainly because I wasn’t a great liar. But I decided to go with as little details as possible. No need to tell someone I just met everything after all. Not when I didn’t know how people would react to the idea that I came from another world.

It could be a completely believable normal thing here. Or it could make me sound crazy. The worst possibility would be if it was taboo or something. Probably not, but why take the chance?

“Well… I’m not a hundred percent sure…” I said, trying to figure out how to word things. “I was walking home and then suddenly I found myself in that forest.”

“Really?” Jianfeng asked, looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

I grimaced and shrugged. “I know that sounds odd but it's much worse for me. Imagine having something so absurd happen to you. Then imagine having to explain to other people this, knowing just how absurd it sounds. If I was going to lie about something like this, I’d rather go for something more convincing.”

“Yeah… I get that,” Jianfeng said, nodding though I wasn’t sure how much he believed me. It seemed random teleportation accidents weren't normal in this world either.

We soon reached the front of the caravan where another man on a horse moved to meet us. He was middle-aged, with a thick beard and mustache. He nodded to Jianfeng and then gestured to me. “Who’s this?”

“Just someone in need of help, Shi Dai,” Jianfeng said. “Captain said to take him to the back and treat him. But keep him from the clients just in case.”

I noticed that he seemed to call everyone by their full names, and the captain had done that too. I should probably do that as well to fit in.

Shi Dai rubbed his bushy beard and nodded at that. “Alright, get to it then. We’ll start moving when the captain gives the signal.”

Shui Jianfeng nodded at that and he continued to lead me past the rest of the caravan. We walked on the grass, keeping a distance from everyone else. And despite his friendly attitude, he kept himself between me and the wagons and people.

I wasn’t sure if that was just a coincidence, or Shui Jianfeng being more cautious than his attitude would suggest. It didn’t matter too much to me though so I didn’t comment. Instead, I just took a moment to check the caravan out as we walked.

There were several large wagons each being pulled by horses, and each with a rider and a passenger. Most of the wagons looked simple and made of wood, all filled with crates. One of them, though, was much more ornate. More of a carriage than a wagon. Probably where the leader of the caravan was.

I didn’t see who that might be though, as the carriage had its windows shuttered and the one holding the reins of the horses didn’t look fancy enough to be the owner. However, I could be wrong.

The rest of the caravan—those not tending to the wagons—consisted of a couple of other mounted riders, along with more than two dozen armed men on foot. Only one of the riders wore the same type of robes as the captain, while the rest were dressed more like Shui Jianfeng in simpler clothes.

However, I noted that pretty much all the armed men—except for a couple of the wagon drivers—had some kind of sash tied to one of their arms. These were all red and—looking at Shui Jianfeng’s—I noticed that there was the image of a stomping bull on it. They probably meant they were all part of the same group, maybe hired guards or something.

Eventually, we reached the back of the caravan, something I was grateful for. The throbbing of my leg was starting to get worse again. It was as if it could tell it would be treated soon and wanted to make me regret getting clawed up by that cat while it had the chance.

Our destination was a smaller wagon right behind everything else. There were a couple of crates, but also what looked like camping supplies and maybe some spare weapons. I could at least make out what looked like spears and a barrel of arrows.

We were met by three other men on foot. Two carried axes and looked older. The last was around my age and stood out a lot more.

He had the type of pretty-boy good looks that some—more immature and totally not me—guys might be jealous of. Like all the men here, he had long hair that was tied up in a topknot, though his hair seemed extra shiny and well cared for. Overall, he seemed rather effeminate.

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Which made his weapon stand out all the more, contrasting heavily with his appearance.

It looked like some kind of thick metal pole. Except one end was thicker than the other and had metal studs that looked like it would hurt a lot to get hit by it. Like the polearm version of a studded metal baseball bat. The brutal and heavy looking weapon seemed really out of place on his back.

Jianfeng greeted the three men quickly and explained the situation again. He also introduced me to them. The two men were Mo Da and Mo Tu. Apparently, they were brothers. They just nodded indifferently and got back to work. One of them scanned the surroundings while the other got back in the driver's seat of the wagon.

The effeminate guy—Ming Lin—greeted me stiffly and looked at me with suspicion.

He followed us over to the back of the wagon, where Jianfeng helped me get up and finally sit down. Despite the less than friendly guy eyeing me up, I let out a sigh of relief as I was finally off my feet.

Shui Jianfeng then climbed up after me and rummaged around through the supplies. When he sat down next to me at the back of the wagon, he had a small flat clay jar in his hands. Instead of handing it to me though, he tossed it to Ming Lin.

The responding glare he gave to his friend, then me, told me all I needed to know about what he thought about treating me. But apparently, Ming Lin was raised by some kind of doctor or something, and was a lot better at these things. According to Shui Jianfeng anyway.

So, after some cajoling, Ming Lin reluctantly agreed to help treat my wounds. I tried to offer to do it myself with his instructions, hoping to not piss off the already annoyed guy any further. But he just looked even more annoyed at that and insisted.

Which was how I found myself gritting my teeth as he roughly pulled up the muddied, bloodied, and ripped leg of my jeans. Then he tossed away my makeshift bandage, cleaned the wound, applied the cream, and used strips of clean cloth to tie it all up again.

He did all this while looking disgusted, cringing when he had to touch the blood or dirt on me or my clothes. Given the slightly floral scent I could smell from him as the wind picked up, I assumed he was very much unused to dirtiness. Or at least disliked it immensely.

Still, despite how awkward and a bit painful it was, in the end, I was still grateful. The wound was already not hurting anymore—even if it was itching a bit—and I felt a lot better having someone who knew what they were doing look at my leg.

I tried to thank Ming Lin, but he just ignored me. Instead, he moved off to the side to clean his hands with a gourd of water Shui Jianfeng tossed to him.

I sighed at that and leaned back against one of the crates in the wagon. Since Ming Lin was gonna be that way, I might as well thank the other person who helped me.

“Thanks for speaking up for me before,” I said, looking over to Shui Jianfeng who’d watched the whole thing amused. “And for getting your friend to treat my wound.”

“It’s not a problem,” Shui Jianfeng said, shaking his head. “It didn’t take much effort from me.” He grinned and looked over at Ming Lin who was walking back. Ming Lin was still rubbing their hands, despite them already looking clean and grimacing. “Besides, Lin has been living the good life for too long recently. Baths every day back in the city and everything. It's good to not get too used to that stuff. He used to be able to handle a lot more than some blood and mud.”

Ming Lin glared at Shui Jianfeng for a moment, then directed another one to me as well. I winced and tried to apologize and thank him again, but he just scoffed and turned to look away.

Shui Jianfeng just laughed and shook his head. “Don’t mind him. He’ll get over it.”

I winced since I wasn’t so sure about that. But there wasn’t much more I could do about it, so I nodded at that and we fell into a silence.

This lasted a couple of minutes before it started to bother me. It felt awkward just sitting here with strangers, especially when one of them kept sending me unfriendly looks. So I decided I might as well start to try and learn more about this world.

“So,” I said, getting Shui Jianfeng’s attention. “Do you mind if I ask you some questions about this place? Since I’m from so far away?”

“So far away?” Ming Lin asked, much to my surprise. However, the suspicious look he gave me was not surprising at all.

“Yeah, I’m not from around here,” I said. Then I went on to give the same explanation as I gave Shui Jianfeng. The truth, but very much incomplete.

I got the reaction I expected once I explained. Mainly disbelief and suspicion. Much more than Shui Jianfeng, though maybe he was just worse at hiding his reaction. Still, after Shui Jianfeng reminded Ming Lin that the captain said they would take me to the city, he let the subject drop.

I sighed in relief at that and was about to try asking Shui Jianfeng things again when I was interrupted. A call rang out from the front of the caravan. It was repeated a couple of times before I could hear it clearly. It seemed that things were all clear and we could finally start moving.

After another moment the wagons started to move. Shui Jianfeng hopped off and walked behind it alongside Ming Lin—who still occasionally gave me suspicious looks when not scanning his surroundings.

I did my best to ignore him and instead made myself more comfortable in the back of the wagon. And despite the glare directed towards me from time to time, I let myself finally fully relax. I might not actually be safe yet, but I was as close as I could be for now.

After a couple of moments of this, I decided to try and ask questions again and learn more about this world.

“Hey, Shui Jianfeng?” I asked. “Can I ask you those questions now? Unless it will distract you from your duties?”

“It’s fine,” Shui Jianfeng said, shrugging his shoulders. “I need to stay alert for dangers but talking is okay. Ask away.”

“Alright, thanks,” I said, as I considered what I should ask first. Just what did I want to know about this world? What was the most pressing? “I have so many questions it's hard to know where to start. But I guess… Can you tell me about where I am right now? And anything pressing I should know? Like the dangers around here and in the city were going to? Also what kind of jobs can someone get in the city? Oh, also what’s the etiquette here with names? I notice sometimes you refer to people by their full names and sometimes just their given ones.”

“Sure I can do that… to an extent. I’m not very well traveled or… well educated, but I can tell you the basics of what I know and more about the city itself,” Shui Jianfeng said, nodding as he scanned the grassy hill around us. “I guess it must be pretty confusing if you’ve traveled so far in a moment and don’t even know where you are.”

Ming Lin scoffed at that, which both Shui Jianfeng and I ignored.

Instead, Jianfeng started by explaining the name thing. And it was like I thought. Full names for respect or just for strangers. First name for those close to you like friends or family.

After that, he started explaining as much as he could about where we were and what he thought I should know about the place. I listened intently as we traveled, taking it all in.

I learned that we were in a massive empire that ruled a large portion of the continent. It was so big that it would take decades for a normal person to travel from one end to the other. We were in only a small part of the Empire, in a place called the Southern Sky Province. And to be more precise we were just to the east of Everlake City, a frontier City.

I learned that Shui Jianfeng and everyone else wearing the red armbands were part of a mercenary group called the Stomping Bulls. They were hired to guard this caravan. Usually, they just had to deal with spirit beasts. But recently bandit activity had been getting a lot worse. Great…

I also learned that the forest I had been in was the Amberwood Expanse and that I was apparently really lucky that I hadn’t been too deep in there. Spirit beasts were in fact a thing in this world and forests and other wild untamed places were where they dwelled. They could also range from just normal animal strength to being so strong they could rend apart mountains.

Though thankfully spirit beasts that strong were apparently non-existent or at least super rare in the Amberwood. The bad news though was there was another forest to the south that Everlake City was close to. It was where most cultivators went to try and acquire great wealth. It was called The Great Southern Forest, which apparently was known to have really powerful spirit beasts in its vast unexplored depths.

Goodie.

I made a note of never going anywhere near there. At least not until I’d gotten a lot stronger.

After that delightful note, I tried to ask more about the terms he used to describe the strength of the spirit beasts. Apparently, they were ranked from 1 to maybe 4. I wanted to clear that up and learn more about human cultivation and power levels too. Before I could though, something happened.

One of the other guards cursed and shouted something. It made Shui Jianfeng and Ming Lin straighten up into alertness and grip their weapons. They scanned the surroundings, though Ming Lin kept looking back at me as if expecting me to attack them from behind.

After another moment, they both cursed as well and I turned to follow their gazes. In the distance, I could see dark figures approaching us. As I continued to watch I realized they were moving fast. Like really fast. Like they would be here in a minute and—

A loud explosion came from the front of the caravan. I flinched at the sound and covered my ears and closed my eyes. The wagon came to an abrupt halt and the shouts grew even louder. I toppled over and almost hit my head. Thankfully I managed to catch myself on time and only took a bump to my shoulder.

I pulled myself up just in time to watch the sudden battle begin.