This solitude didn’t last long, as Shixuan came back from informing the official and Qianyu had finished discussing with the Head Eunuch. Ji Li waited till they sat down as he introduced them “Stone, Monkey, this is Fox.”
Looking at their confused faces, Ji Li chuckled as he said “I mean Shixuan, Qianyu, this is Lila, princess of the Beastkin Alliance’s Fox Clan. She will be traveling with us temporarily. Her expertise lays in interrogation, tracking and is a danger alert.”
Qianyu and Shixuan seemed surprised for a second before they greeted her and told her what they were good in. Qianyu was the first to do so “Greetings Lila, I am Ji Qianyu and am proficient in scouting, management and supporting.”
Shixuan then continued “Greetings Lila, I am Ji Shixuan and have some insights in Formations and Defence, intimidation also somewhat falls into my role.”
Lila bowed and recuperated their greetings “Thank you for accepting my company. I hope we have a fruitful endeavour.”
They chatted some more, as the trio became a quartet… as the trio became a trio +1. They would come to know some more about each other as time went on, it was just the initial things. But Lila already felt closer to them than most of her previous friends. That was the usual for royals in every country – they would rarely have true friends, and those were often just other royals or important people, ones that were just as busy as you were.
…
The next morning, Ji Li rushed out of his bed and quickly clothed himself. He hadn’t even bothered airing the robes he would wear for the day – not that it mattered too much. Sprinkling a bit of frozen rose powder on his clothes, it got the same effect… just that it was a bit stronger and not the perfect harmonious smell he preferred.
‘I will have to make a perfume with different flowers and smells, ones that were frozen for different times… and not just willy nilly done quickly. This one smells like a sudden snowstorm landed in high spring; not the vibe I wanna give off.’
It wasn’t his fault – the smell was to subside any bad ones he had on his body. Showering isn’t that much of a necessity, as he had basically cleansed his whole body with his awakening… but just because permanent bad smells were removed, and his robes cleaned his body the whole time he was wearing it… well, he didn’t want to smell like nothing, okay?! That’d make him feel like a sterilised freak… he was already as neat freak, no need to enhance the image further.
He went to his side room, which was actually a small study, and saw Lila inside. She didn’t need a full room and was satisfied with having a proper sleeping place. Being tired from the drama, add to that the mistreatment she experienced under the viscount, it came to no surprise when Ji Li found her still sleeping.
He just wrapped the cushion she slept on with a vine he grew, making it a green-white basket. The cooling breeze from the ice came as a nice contrast to the warm cushion, so Lila nuzzled a bit in the basket as Ji Li took it out, where he met Shixuan and Qianyu.
Both of them smiled at the cute sleeping fox in the basket. Shixuan offered taking over holding the basket, but it was made of ice and needed a steady supply of Ji Li’s essence. It wasn’t too much of an issue for someone else to carry the basket, but for convenience’s sake, Ji Li just held it. The sight of the small and cute fox melted some of the guards faces as they left the branch.
Ji Li had already told Shixuan to prepare food beforehand, so it was already in the carriage. He also talked shortly with Qianyu about all the steps they had discussed the previous night; as well as how Qianyu was supposed to explain why the fox would be staying with Ji Li instead of leaving for the Fox Clan.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
This might have been a grievous mistake in the viscounts’ hands, but in the hands of the representant of the Eunuch Ceremonial Hall? Since Ji Li wanted to personally take responsibility for it, no one wanted to burden themselves with troublesome deliveries. He would even be rewarded with something for the effort.
Shixuan entered after Ji Li and closed the carriage, giving the signal for the guards to start. There was no time to lose, or Ji Li might actually have to talk with the disciplinary eunuchs. That would be too boring for him, since Qianyu would be the one to talk about the details anyways. Why would they still keep him if he was there? For the obvious reason: bureaucracy.
…
Five minutes after Ji Li left, at the gate of the viscount’s city. An eunuch with dark green robes arrived, on his back there was a large symbol of the emerald tree, with people kneeling on the ground before it, having several cuts in them, leaves all around their body.
He enters the city and rides straight to the branch, hoping he’d find the person that reported a severe case of traitorous behaviour. As he was already warned that the eunuch might very well leave the city soon, it was a question of minutes whether he would be able to catch that person of high status. It wasn’t necessary for the eunuch that reported the case to be present, but normally it helped if they were.
Unfortunately, the disciplinary yard of the Inspection Palace had a reputation that… well, made many of their brothers avoid them. It wasn’t like they didn’t call them; no, the cooperation was perfect to a point, just that when it came to official matters, the higher ranked eunuchs would much rather send one of their underlings to work with them.
It wasn’t an issue besides that they would take longer with the bureaucracy… the underlings would also often be specialised in the jargon of official matters and not say more than necessary.
The eunuch jumped down as he arrived, his mist horse heaving from the exertion. It would have to rest at least two days till it could be used again, not that the bureaucracy would be over in two days anyway, it would take longer than that, at least there was reason for avoidance.
Beaming a bit as there seemed to be some guards and an eunuch just outside the branch, the disciplinary eunuch thought that they were preparing to leave. He quickly went to the gate and cupped his hands at the eunuch at the door “Greetings brothers, I have been informed of a serious case and made my utmost effort to arrive quickly.”
Qianyu smiled somewhat awkwardly before he took his professional expression and said calmly “I greet the disciplinary eunuch. Thank you for arriving so quickly, unfortunately I have to inform you that my senior brother just left a few minutes ago… you could go after him and maybe catch him, but it seems your mist horse is tired?
I would like to offer you mine or other, but they have to be tended for more serious cases, don’t you also think so? Come on in, we can discuss everything in detail inside.”
The eunuch followed Qianyu with a sigh… the higher-ups were always slipping away like eels.
…
After hours of movement, just barely an hour or so away from the two dukedoms Ji Li would have to cross to arrive at the march, he was alerted. It didn’t come from himself, but Lila tensed all of a sudden in his arms. She had woken up and taken seat there while she was eating something.
“Eunuch Li! Danger!” before Lila could even explain anymore, Ji Li had already looked at Shixuan, who jumped outside and told all guards to gather. He positioned himself next to the carriage and put his hands on the ground. Pushing essence into his Talent while also into the earth, he raised a wall of earth in a circle around the carriage, five meter in diameter, enclosing in on the six guards on their horses.
Ji Li also went out with Lila and told the guards that rushed close while being in a battle position “Off your horses, they are not war steeds. Shixuan, come on the carriage, guards jump outside and be ready, we will give you ranged support but also close the wall, so you can fight freely.”
Ji Li, Shixuan and Lila went onto the carriage, then Shixuan used his essence to further heighten the walls till it was a semi-sphere shielding off the carriage and horses. Lila looked all around, as she had the best eyesight, while Ji Li spread Hibiscus Flowers around the wall to act as a first shield, while he planted Windflower and Shooting Star flowers on top of the sphere, circling him and the other two. He then looked at Shixuan and saw he was nervous.
“Shixuan, you reacted fast, but tell me again, how was you Talent called?”
More confused than anything, Shixuan replied “Earth Fortress?”
“Is this a fortress to you?” Ji Li asked sarcastically. He wished he’d have time to let Stone experience and test out things himself, but this might be a serious situation and he didn’t want to risk anything… besides, battles were always the foundation for enlightenment, right? Of course, this probably wouldn’t be enough… but it would serve as a first step.