Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 139. Old Companions.
“Quite a grandiose name,” Laien said with a slight smirk on his face. His naming sense had been similar when he was a few years younger, but thankfully, he had given up on creating names for each and every one of his moves. Now, apart from the Ice Body Technique and the Water Flow Spear Art, he didn’t even bother to name other of his spells or techniques. He did give a simple name to the Elemental Spear Art he had recently developed, though - Wave. Given the above and compared to a name like ‘Phantasmal Domain of Scattered Light’, his own naming sense really was tame and calm.
“It deserves to be grandiose,” Jasmine said with a heavy sigh. “That new technique of Arakar’s creates an all-encompassing domain of light-element Qi within the range of one hundred meters of him. We can’t be sure how long he can keep this domain up, but we do know that he had injured himself and became considerably exhausted after three seconds of employing it against Mustafa. However, since even Mustafa fell to this technique, it can be assumed that almost everyone who finds himself in the range of his domain will be killed during those three seconds,” she elaborated, all the while giving her best to maintain a calm and steady tone of her voice.
“From what Mustafa told us, once you are caught within the domain, you lose all ability to see and due to the pervasive aura of light-element Qi, you can’t even use your aura to locate anyone or to detect attacks. The domain also appears to allow Arakar to continuously use Light Steps with little to no intervals between each use; it’s a supreme control and assistance type of a technique. As for its pure offensive capabilities, a marital master of the third rank should have no trouble keeping his body safe within that mass of light, but that’s still questionable as Arakar might have purposefully limited the offensive aspect of his domain since he knew it wouldn’t do much against someone at Mustafa’s level.”
“Most importantly, however, it appears to be nigh-impossible to scatter the domain unless you possess a similar technique or magic in your own arsenal, and even then it might prove to be hard. The domain is composed of light-element Qi, after all, so most of the regular attacks simply pass through it without damaging it all that much. Perhaps a darkness-element practitioner would have an easier time destroying this domain, but even in the Guild of Shadows, those who possess the true darkness-element affinity are far and few between, while most merely use the pseudo-darkness Qi method of their guild to mimic the darkness element. Currently, we don’t have even one person with darkness-element affinity who could be of aid in either Makarash or the Ruishi Federation.”
“So, I will repeat. If that white-haired man appears, you must do everything to stay at least five hundred meters away from him, while one kilometer would be somewhat safer of a distance,” she warned sternly, knowing full well that the consequences of Arakar’s appearance on their side of the battle would be. “Remember, if he really does come to attack us, then do not try to do anything heroic against Arakar. He isn’t like Yimar Furi and his people, he is on an entirely different level. If he was the one facing Yimar Furi’s band instead of us, he would have been able to easily dispose of them all alone without any trouble. He also has vast amounts of battle experience and is rumored to be a crafty and hard-to-deal-with man, so again, keep away from him at all cost,” she repeated stubbornly, trying to make it absolutely certain that the three boys understood her point to the letter.
“Got it, stay away at all cost,” Laien said with a smile, though without any playfulness or arrogance glittering in his eyes. He wasn’t stupid, he knew his limits. Alone, he could perhaps kill a weaker martial master of the fourth rank and if he was lucky, then he could best an average martial mater of the fourth rank. If he was fighting with Yin, then they could beat even above-average martial masters of the fifth rank given the right circumstance, too! However, against an elite or maybe even a supreme martial master of the seventh rank, the two of them would be helpless. The only choice they would have left facing someone at Arakar’s level would be to entrust their lives to Julien, Jasmine, Reian and the rest of the experts protecting them.
“Don’t worry,” Yin said and sent Jasmine an amiable smile. “We won’t try anything stupid when we are outclassed. Dying a pointless death is the last thing we wish to do, especially when we are still so young,” he said with a chuckle. If he were to be judged by his outward reaction, someone who didn’t know him might have thought that he was making light of Jasmine’s repeated warnings, but be it Jasmine or the other three familiar White Guards, they could tell that Yin did mean what he told them.
“Same here,” Arslan said with a smile. “I’m too weak to get involved in any fighting anyway, so I will be leaving protecting me to all of you,” he said and looked over everyone’s faces. Little did he know that at this time, be it the five White Guards, including Zaban, and even Julien along with his subordinates felt their hearts skip a beat. Back in the south, the terms like ‘aura of a royal’ and ‘royal’s demander’ were fairly widespread, but they weren’t all that popular in the west. However, at this time, those words would fit perfectly to describe what the adults were feeling.
If asked, they wouldn’t be able to explain how a few simple words from Arslan made them all feel that way, but Arslan’s aura seemed to have something mystical about it for those few seconds. As far as the experience startled Julien and his companions, the five White Guards were unable to calm down for a few good moments after the strange experience. This truly was Mustafa’s son and the lord they were willing to follow their deaths! Even Sirius, who had had thoughts about following Laien in the future, couldn’t resist those intense emotions!
Alas, the three youths remained mostly unaware of the adults’ feelings at the time. They did notice that they were all acting somewhat weird, but they never expected what the real reason behind their momentary silence was. And curiously enough, neither Laien nor Yin were in the least affected by Arslan’s aura and in fact, they didn’t as much as notice it. What was the reason behind that, though, this question was yet to be answered or to begin with, it was yet to be put forth by anyone.
“Ekhm,” Jasmine coughed in embarrassment. The weird experience from the last moment had really thrown her off quite a bit, but now, she was slowly growing composed. “Where were we? I don’t think I need to explain Abdain’s or Yimar Maar’s abilities to you. They don’t possess any unique techniques, they are simply fundamentally powerful and skilled. As I said, Abdain is an earth-element practitioner while in Yimar Maar’s case, he is of the fire element,” she explained, the flow of the words themselves allowing her to quickly regain her calm of mind.
“With that said,” she continued smoothly. “I think it’s the right time to tell you more about the Holy Union as a whole, about its origins and about the man with whom we will be negotiating an alliance or at least a pact of cooperation with, the Warrior-King Azuresky,” she said with a smile, expecting the three boys to grow at least a bit excited. However, contrary to what she thought would happen, much to her consternation the three looked more amused than excited.
“I don’t think you need to tell us,” Laien said wryly, cutting in right as Jasmine was about to start telling the whole story. He laughed when he saw the slightly angry look she sent him and quickly explained, “Raphael already told us most if not all we need to know. We talked about it yesterday in the evening, so there’s no need for you to tell us again. If there are some more specific details you want to tell us though, then go ahead,” he said with a smile. Was he regretful that they had spent a few hours yesterday to talk about something Jasmine wanted to explain now anyway? Absolutely not. Raphael was so good at telling all those stories and making them interesting that he was considering to ask him to repeat the story-telling about some new subject every few days. From that, even a fool would be able to tell that he had enjoyed himself quite a lot while listening to Raphael.
“He did?” Jasmine asked, her eyebrows coming closer together in a frown. “I didn’t ask when you mentioned that you guys want to spend time together in the Holy Union, but I can’t not ask now. Did you perhaps tell everything to those two?” she asked, finding it suspicious that the boys would chat about this subject at this exact time. She’d sooner find it harder to believe if they told her it was all by chance than if they confirmed her guess and as it soon proved, her gut feeling wasn’t wrong.
“Yup,” Laien said with a nod. “It shouldn’t be a problem, right? Those two wouldn’t go around telling anyone,” he said while smiling and sent Jasmine and the others an inquiring look.
As a result, be it Jasmine or the rest of the adults, they couldn’t help but feel a bit helpless. This self-confident behavior of Laien’s was sometimes annoying, but they couldn’t find a way to refute him, so all they could do was to nod or sigh quietly. Indeed, telling about their plans to the likes of Raphael and Mikaela, especially when they were staying here, around trusted people, wouldn’t be a problem at all. However, as much as Laien was right, his cheeky attitude did somewhat tick them off.
“Fine, got it,” Jasmine said with a helpless smile. She was very familiar with Laien’s attitude, so she knew that he meant to harm by it and so didn’t that him too seriously. With Laien, it was easiest to play along as in her experience, the attempts to restrain him by anyone else than Yin were doomed to failure. Perhaps Arslan or those two new friends of Laien’s would also have a chance of getting through to him, but in terms of changing his attitude, no one else would get through to him.
“Answer a few questions of mine then,” she said calmly. “Do you know who the four Kings of the Holy Union are? Do you know how the Warrior-King Azuresky came to power? Have you heard about his character and recent accomplishments? Do you know of the attitude people of the Holy Union have towards Ikarians and the rest of the world? If you know this much, then we can skip this subject altogether,” she stated without beating around the bush. According to their plan, she would be the one representing the side of Makarash in those negotiations and she would provide the proof of the deal between Makarash and the Ruishi Federation as needed. As for Laien and Yin, they were tagging along in case the Warrior-King needed some more convincing. Thus, it wasn’t all that necessary for them to know more than the outline of the past and of the current situation in the Holy Union.
“We’ve talked about all of that,” Laien replied without a second thought. In truth, they had talked about much more than those few simple things which Raphael explained in the very beginning, but he didn’t feel the need to bring it up. “Raphael told us about those things in detail too, but I can summarize them if you want me to,” he said agreeably and interestingly enough, he noticed that the look in the eyes of all the adults turned softer at this very moment. Heh, by the looks of it he managed to appease them after he noticed that he had annoyed them a moment ago.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“There’s no need,” Jasmine said with a clear smile. “We might as well chat about it a bit as we ride north tomorrow since you are already familiar with the basics,” she said lightheartedly. Truth to be told, she was glad to be able to avoid quite some blabbering. The sooner this meeting ended, the sooner she would be able to enjoy the first night of rest in the past five days.
“Mhm.” Laien nodded happily. “Is there anything else left then?” he asked, his thought beginning to wander towards the time they would soon be able to spend with Raphael and Mikaela.
“Just one thing,” Jasmine replied. “We were discussing what kind of approach should we take when negotiating with the Warrior-King or in that case, with one of his people before we are allowed to meet him. We have a few different opinions, but instead of having us all talk, how about you boys tell us what you think?” she proposed, curious to hear what the opinion of the boys would be. Would the recommend to push a more battle and revenge-oriented approach or a calmer one that focused on economy and benefits of the long-term cooperation? Or would they expose the strength Makarash and the Ruishi Federation more? The first impression was, after all, extremely important.
Surprised by the request Jasmine had for them, Laien and Yin exchanged an amused look. This question was quite weird, but the answer to it was simple, at the very least as far as the two of them were concerned. Thus, Laien said with a laugh, “What is there to decide? We will know once we see him. Everyone’s different and everyone tends to have different moods. Setting up a specific approach beforehand is pointless, all we need is to know which points we can bring up to convince the other side and how to counter their arguments against making an alliance with us.”
Hearing Laien’s casual response, this time around the adults were unable to bring themselves to pay any heed to Laien’s cheeky and confident attitude. The reason for that was simple; it hit them like a ton of bricks, but Laien was actually entirely right! They had gotten so caught up in discussing ‘the possible approaches’ that they failed to remember that having no set-in-stone approach was also a viable option! It was no surprise that in the end, all of them were more of warriors and war-experts than diplomats. They had been planning to ask Elder Samuel for his opinion regardless of what the boys told them, but now it seemed like it would no longer be necessary.
“Thanks,” Jasmine said and smiled at the boys with genuine appreciation. “We will do just that, and that’s all we needed to discuss with you guys today. Unless you have something you yourself want to talk about with us or ask us about, you are free to go,” she added without wasting any time, guessing that the boys would want to go and play as soon as possible. They might have made an agreement with their new friends to meet up again in the Holy Union, but they still wouldn’t see each other for around a week and a half if everything went according to the plan.
“There might be one thing,” Laien said without hesitation. This problem had come to his mind a few days ago already, but he had put off dealing with it until now since it would be more convenient this way. “Could you get Ruan and the rest of our guards from the Sarkcente Kingdom to come over here? Yin and I would like to discuss what they’re going to do from now on with them,” he explained briefly but by the looks of it, those few words were more than enough for everyone’s opinion of him to increase by a level, especially in case of Julien and the people he had brought here.
“Easy enough.” To Laien’s surprise, it was Zaban who responded to him. “Just wait a minute,” he said calmly and used a strange element-less movement technique to approach the door in an instant, then went outside and disappeared from everyone’s sight the next second.
“He’s taken a liking to you two,” Jasmine said with a laugh. She wondered, did meeting Mustafa have a positive effect on Zaban’s attitude towards Laien and Yin?
“Did he?” Laien asked suspiciously. He couldn’t feel the same hostility from Zaban as a few days ago, but he couldn’t tell whether his attitude changed or if he was simply keeping his thoughts and emotions to himself. The man was definitely a hard nut to crack.
“Yeah,” Jasmine assured. “He took the initiative to talk to you without being asked to do something. In his case, it’s a sign that he likes you,” she clarified with a laugh. Zaban was a man who showed it easily if he disliked someone but would be annoyingly indirect when he was fond of someone. However, once one became aware of his tendencies, getting along with him was simplicity in itself.
“I will take your word for it,” Laien said with a smirk and leaned backwards in the sofa. He kind of expected the ‘minute’ brought up by Zaban to be only a manner of speech and was ready to wait longer, but not long after they finished speaking, Ruan and the rest appeared at the door. “Wow, that was fast!” he exclaimed in surprise. How did Zaban manage to really make it a minute?
“They were all nearby,” Zaban said with a slight smile. “If I say something is going to take a minute, it’s going to take a minute. If I say an hour, then an hour it is,” he said boastingly, though apart from the words themselves, the tone of his voice was more neutral than anything else.
However, Laien was no longer as confused as he heard about Zaban’s character from Jasmine just now. “I will keep that in mind then. Thank you,” he said gratefully, letting the bygones be bygones. Zaban might have said a few unpleasant words to them during their first meeting and might have acted like a dick, but since he wanted to make everything better, there was no reason for him to refuse. After all, nothing of consequence had happened because of Zaban’s words, so their old argument didn’t matter much in the grand scope of things.
And in consequence of Laien’s positive approach, Zaban nodded with a slight smile on his face. Although he didn’t say anything, he was happy that Laien accepted his form of an apology. From this point onwards, he would make sure to cooperate with Laien and Yin amicably and naturally, to the best of his ability.
“What do you want from us?” Ruan asked cautiously, his gaze wandering around the room. He wondered how kids like Laien, Yin, and Arslan could with such carefree looks on their faces in a room that was filled with so many intimidating presences. Those people were so strong that he had trouble discerning their cultivation bases, but just by being near them he could fell his heartbeat grow faster. For those boys to be dealing with such people so calmly was amazing in itself, though if he considered the ridiculous level of strength of Laien and Yin’s, it became less unbelievable.
“Let’s get to another room first, then I will explain the rough picture and ask you what I want to,” Laien said casually and got up with Yin. The two of them exchanged a look with Arslan, then nodded at the adults and headed to an unoccupied living room in this spacious house. Speaking from the technical standpoint, it wouldn’t be a problem for them to speak where they were, but objectively the decision would be easier to make for Ruan and the rest if they spoke in private. Thus, that was what Laien chose to do. He didn’t want to force them to do anything, after all.
After a few minutes, Laien finished explaining the events of the past six days to his seven original guards. Their reactions, as expected, varied. Gahar, the retired Shadow from the Guild wasn’t too surprised and looked fairly calm. Ruan also appeared to be holding up well, though it was obvious that he was more disturbed than he was willing to show. As for Liza and Jin, the former of the two of them looked enthusiastic while the latter appeared more or less unconcerned. Finally, the three weakest members of the group, Dinne, Rishe, and Ethane, the guards from Valius Family, looked overwhelmed by the scope of events Laien had just told them about.
“That’s pretty much what the state of things is,” Laien said in conclusion. “I can give you some time to think about it if you want, but I will ask the question I wanted now. What are you guys going to do? You can either choose to follow us when we set out with Arslan or you can stay away from everything and join us in the Holy Union, after everything’s done,” he stated straightforwardly. He wasn’t planning to force those seven into a hard spot, so he gave them an easy way out.
In the end, even though they were hired as their guards, it wouldn’t be fair to them if they got dragged along into a potentially very dangerous situation. Comparatively, they would be in much more danger than Yin, Arslan and him since they wouldn’t be actively protected by all the elites around them. Additionally, with the exception of Gahar, all of them were relatively weak. Being a marital master of the first or second rank wasn’t something to scoff at by any means, but this time around, someone at this level would be nothing more than a somewhat sturdy meat shield.
“There’s no need to ask,” Gahar responded before anyone else. “I will follow you wherever you wish until my mission is finished and who knows, maybe even after that, if you two will be willing. If worst comes to worst and I can’t protect you, I have high chances of escaping with my life anyway,” he said so casually and yet so seriously that Laien and Yin couldn’t help but laugh a little.
“I’m staying with you too,” Liza said as the second one. “There’s no gain without danger, and I’ve earned many times over what I’ve gathered in my whole life in those two short months with you boys. There’s no way I’m going to jump the ship now of all times we’ve been in danger,” she said and laughed carefreely. She didn’t have any grand goals in her life and she hated the idea of living in a boring, average way until she died of old age. As such, this choice was simple and obvious to her.
“Hah,” Ruan shook his head resignedly. “Honestly, I don’t see this as being more dangerous compared to what we had already been doing. You can count me in,” he stated resolutely and gave the two boys a smile. Even if this wasn’t a mission, he had gotten too attached to them to ditch them halfway through their journey. As long as their ideas weren’t straight-out suicidal, then he would do his best to help them out as much as he could. The two were, in the end, just children. No matter how strong they were, they sometimes needed a voice of reason around to hold their reins.
“I’m staying too,” Jin said with a shrug of his shoulders. “More money is never a bad thing and with you around, it never gets boring,” he added with a slight smirk. However, his attitude gave everyone a feeling that he wasn’t entirely honest with them. Truth to be told, Laien felt like asking more, but then he realized that Jin’s answer would probably be something like ‘I’m only waiting for you to change your mind on your own, you know. I assure you it will feel really good if you reconsider.’ or something along those lines. Thus, he didn’t bother as he didn’t want to spoil his mood.
“And you guys?” Laien asked, turning his gaze towards the three weakest of their party members. All three of them had families waiting for them back in Neil City so he wouldn’t be surprised if they were to say they didn’t want to face more danger. However, contrary to his expectations their response ended up being very similar to the one Ruan gave.
“We’ve been in more danger than that already,” the unofficial leader of the three, Dinne, said with a laugh. “Worst case scenario, we will cower away in fear and use our bodies to protect you two. This way, we will also be able to enjoy a degree of protection,” he added with a smirk and received vigorous agreement from his two friends. Someone could think that he was jesting, but in truth, he was quite serious about what said.
It couldn’t be argued that the three of them were too weak to be tagging along when things had escalated to this level. They had been useless in the battle against Yimar Furi, much less against someone like Abdain or even worse, Arakar. However, they weren’t cowards and during those two months, their spirits had been roused. If they could break through their limits and advance to the Realm of Heroes, their families would be able to enjoy far better lives. Additionally, it would be greatly satisfying to them as practitioners, not to mention the benefit of extended lifespan. Considering all of that in addition to the fact that their current endeavor didn’t seem to be all that deadly, they decided to stick around and try to grab for their own fortune in life.
“Great!” Laien said with a pleased laugh. He didn’t expect all seven to decide to follow them, but although he was worried for their safety, he was glad that they did make this choice. He secretly promised himself to reward their loyalty when their journey came to the end, then got up from his seat and wondered aloud. “Are Mika and Raphael back yet? They should be, so let’s check.”
Having said so, he gave the seven a smile and waved his hand at them, then left with Yin just like that. Usually, people would be baffled by the sudden cut in the dialogue, but not this bunch. They knew Laien’s tendencies quite well, so they didn’t think much and also dispersed right afterwards.