I swung my staff at my opponent, not having enough time to get out of the way he jumped. I put all my force into swinging the staff upwards, snagging his feet and causing him to trip midair. He tried to stabilize himself, but my staff was holding his feet in the air while falling to the ground, tipping in midair. Thinking quickly on his feet, my opponent used his spear to stabilize his landing to be more graceful, barely keeping himself from face-planting.

Drat, I was hoping that would work.

We stared at each other, both breathing heavily from the several minutes of intense battle. He tried to strike my right side, but I twisted my staff to redirect his attack harmlessly away from myself. I tried to get closer to him to put more force into my swings. He smiled, and I realized that was a mistake as he swung his spear full force towards my head. I tried to duck, but he redirected it lower and bashed me in the head.

I dropped to the ground and dazedly heard my opponent rush to my side, "I'm so sorry, Sage. I didn't mean to strike you so hard."

I looked up and saw head guard Li Wei holding out his hand in nervousness.

"I knew I told you not to aim for my back due to my injury, but I didn't think you would take that as an invitation to bash me in my head." I laugh as I grasp his hand to get back up.

Dizziness assaulted my senses but quickly evaporated as I got used to the vertigo.

"I'm so sorry, Sage. I'll make sure to pay for such a mistake." Li Wei said with a pensive look on his face.

I sighed. These guys still couldn't relax around me. "There is no need to apologize. It wouldn't be training if there wasn't at least a chance for bruising. But maybe next time you know you'll hit me, how about you slow your attack down just a bit? Especially if it's my head?"

Li Wei vigorously shook his head in understanding, "Of course, Sage. I'll make sure that doesn't happen again."

I grabbed a linen rag to dry myself off, "Let's take a break for now."

We headed towards my house, and Li Wei plopped in the chair I had set up right outside the entrance while the other stood guard. I rummaged through my collections of food and drinks before snagging my alcohol, as well as grabbing three bowls to share between us.

I set the bowls on the table and poured them equally between them before passing them. Li Wei looked hesitant but ultimately took it.

"Are you not gonna have any, Guard Hao?" I asked, gesturing towards the bowl.

Hao shook his head, "I cannot. I heard that the elixir dulls one's senses. I cannot drink any at this moment."

I continued to try to persuade him, "One drink will not dull one's senses. One needs to get lost in the drink for that to happen. One drink won't hurt."

"I am sorry, Sage, but I must stay firm and abstain today."

I shrugged but decided it wasn't worth my effort to persuade this man to drink. I couldn't force a drink on him, as it went against my morals. Li Wei took my hint as I raised my bowl towards him, and we clapped our bowls together.

"May the goddess bless this land and all our works." We both say before I chug the bowl. It was still just as terrible as when I first started making these, but it was the best I could make, so I was sticking with it. Li Wei took his time drinking from his bowl, savoring the flavor.

I took the third bowl meant for Hao and started drinking from it. This time, I was trying to savor the drink a little more. I have been turning towards alcohol more and more as more and more responsibilities started getting stacked upon me. I wouldn't let myself get drunk, but I did enjoy letting it dull my senses whenever I could. Plus, it was so boring out here that sparring with these guys was the most fun I had.

I thought back to the situation with the city; the population has grown from roughly ten thousand to a massive thirty thousand people. We had to quadruple the size of our farms and increase the number of guards to keep peace in the city. It had gotten even more complicated as people from further lands finally started arriving who did not respect our culture or my status as a Sage. They simply thought I was an essential city figure, which wasn't entirely wrong. They made it harder to mediate arguments and fights. Eventually, we built a jail cell, which passed without any arguments from the council.

"Sage, it is time for the lessons with the Priest." I turn towards the voice and see assistant Shan approach. I was really tempted to continue sitting as I had no time lately to do so. Still, a promise is a promise, even if I felt a little irritated to get my relaxation time interrupted.

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"Thank you, Shan. I'll head over there in a bit." One good thing about living in a society before clocks was that schedules were a lot looser, so I had some flexibility on when I had to arrive. I looked at the jug of alcohol I had and was tempted to pour myself another drink. After debating with myself, I decided showing up drunk wasn't appropriate, and I put it away. Walking out, the guards set up behind me, and we went to the hall.

* * *

"You're getting good at this, Priest Xuan Shan. I won't have to come here much longer to teach you."

I looked at the board we were using to carve, and most of the spelling was correct, or as correct as an Asian language spelled with the Latin Alphabet can get. On the board, I saw the description of the city's creation and the many miracles that got it started.

"Don't be so hasty to dismiss yourself, Sage Jie Mins. Would you be willing to teach others the same craft? After all, it holds no purpose if I'm the only one who can understand this craft of writing."

I understood his point but didn't want to teach someone else. I didn't have the patience to do so. I could only sit through the teaching sessions with the priest because I was getting something out of it. Teaching someone else wasn't in our agreement. He could just as well teach someone what I taught him.

"I'll think about it, Priest Xuan Shan, but I think the lesson for the day is over." I excused myself before he could entangle me into teaching someone else. As I pulled the door open, I was surprised to see a woman reach for the door as well.

She was striking. With long, dark hair that cascaded over her shoulders in soft waves, framing a face that was both delicate and strong. Her eyes were a deep, expressive brown. She wore a simple yet elegant dress that accentuated her slender figure, the fabric made of the rare wool of this era but wasn't adorned with any symbols, which showed she was important but, otherwise, nothing else. I had never seen her before.

We both froze as we stared at each other, and my brain did flips trying to figure out how to escape this awkward situation. Which way should I move? Left? Right? What if she moves the same way?

She recovered first, "I'm sorry, I was trying to see my father. I didn't know he was busy with the Sage. I'll come back later."

I quickly kicked myself mentally and said, "No need. We just finished up. I was leaving just now."

I made way for her and let her in. Once she was inside, I left the room and made my way out of the building. It was a little awkward, but I had bigger fish to fry. I did my routine checks at the farm and approached one of Shan's assistants.

"How is the farming going? Everything going as expected?"

He answered nervously, "Not totally. There has been a rise of insects. We have moved people to keep up, but I am afraid of what will happen to the plants if this keeps up."

That was terrible news. With the explosion of the population, we were going negative with food production. But if the plants started succumbing to insects, it would become an even bigger problem.

"Do we know the cause?" I wasn't aware of anything that would cause an explosion in the population of the insects.

The assistant shook his head, "No, it shouldn't be the season for the insects to come out of their burrows and reproduce. It is abnormal for this time. I guess it would be normal at these abnormal times."

It clicked when my assistant mentioned the last part under his breath. It was the Plague. The Plague was driving all these insects away from itself, causing a mass migration. If it hasn't happened already, we should also expect a migration of other creatures and animals. I thanked him for his news and quickly returned to the hall to confirm my suspicions. If migration was the case, there would be an increase in the number of animals that we could hunt.

I quickly found the elder in charge of the hunts and approached him. He turned to me, and surprise flashed in his eyes. "It's quite unusual to see you look for me, Sage Jie Mins. What brings you here today?"

I jumped directly to the point, "I was wondering if there has been an unusual ease among your hunters? Perhaps they are finding more prey than usual?"

He raised his eyebrow but didn't mention my rudeness, "There has been an increase among prey. The goddess truly blessed us, but how did you know?"

There may be a way to continue growing our stock even if our crop yield gets reduced.

"I am confident that the plague is driving them away since we are having issues with insects on our farms."

His eyes open with alarm, "Is everything going to be alright?"

I quickly soothe his worries, "We should be fine as long as you guys pick up the slack with the hunting. Would you be able to do so?"

He nodded, "Of course, we must protect this city, even from starvation."

I nodded, but he quietly added under his breath, "Even if most of our people aren't even our own at this point."

I ignored it because I didn't know how to comfort the poor man. It must be tough for these people who had a pretty closed community to provide for strangers. I headed back out because I needed to reach my assistant and start organizing some things.

I asked around a couple of times before finally pinpointing him and approaching his location.

"Shan, I need to talk with you."

He looked away from the person he was talking with, and the man backed away from Shan to give us space.

"How can I help you, Sage?" he asked a little impatiently. He knew I usually didn't interrupt him, but I could understand his irked attitude.

"Insects have slowly started to swarm on our farmland," he nodded, already aware. "The insects are likely to reach our reserves if we don't do anything about it."

That got his attention, I continued. "We need to seal as much of the produce as possible in clay jars. Get as many from our potters as you can, and see if you can have the lids melted on after, or at least sealed with clay. Sap sealing won't work."

"Understood, Sage, I'll get to it."

The Plague was getting close, and may goddess bless us so we may be prepared.