Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 25. The Great Chieftains of the Anarchic Lands.
Yet another seven days later, in the mid-northern region of the Anarchic Lands, in the grand, ancient castle at the side of the mountains.
A skinny man wearing a golden mask frowned, discontent with being forced to waste his precious time on some silly ‘emergency meeting’. He entered the cold and gloomy hall with a large, sturdy round table in the middle of it and swept the occupied positions with his gaze. “I purposely came late, but two of them still aren’t here,” he complained silently. If those bastards intended to make him wait more than one day, he would leave and go back to taking care of his organization.
“Who called this meeting out of nowhere?” the golden-masked man asked from the doorstep, not planning to waste his time on sitting and chatting with those blockheads. He would ask to be briefed in and until everyone was present, he would go find a private chamber and do some work. “Making me come here all the way from my Western Palace, it would better not be anything unimportant,” he added in a harsh tone, mourning all the potential gains he was missing on by wasting his time here.
“Western Palace?” a man with a true storm of white-greyish hair repeated with a smirk. “You still insist on calling your little base of cultist obsessed with gold a ‘Western Palace’, huh Prophet?” he asked, eyeing the gold-masked man with his wolf-like silver eyes.
“Leave this squabbling for some other time, Sky Wolf,” the light brown-haired man who was leaning back in his chair and sitting casually with his legs crossed reprimanded gently.
Despite the calm tone of the man’s voice, the two men who were about to start arguing both shut their mouths. They had no respect for each other, but in the end, they weren’t the strongest of the Great Chieftains whereas Lion King was not only the most powerful of them and the faction he controlled was also very strong. What placed him in the top position in the Anarchic Lands, however, was undoubtedly his personal strength of a martial master of the fifth rank.
“As for who called this meeting, it was me,” Lion King said and gestured Prophet to come over and sit down. “Shade and Nefirie should be here soon,” he said consolingly as he admittedly would have felt annoyed by Prophet’s endless restless fidgeting. This man really saw no value in life in anything that wasn’t bringing money and wealth and couldn’t stand not earning more for even a moment.
“I just hope it won’t be too long,” Prophet said resignedly, causing Sky Wolf to glare at him angrily and Lion King to shake his head. It seemed that those two would bicker with each other no matter what he did, and he wasn’t about to duke it out with them just for the sake of some silence.
Suddenly, the three of them tensed up when the hall filled with a cold and heartless murderous aura. Prophet and Sky Wolf trembled slightly, while Lion King frowned. They had last seen this woman just two years ago, but she already advanced from the second to third Realm of Heroes. She was the youngest of the five Grand Chieftains and had gained this position after killing the previous Chieftain who had ruled the eastern region of the Anarchic Lands.
“Could you tone down on the killing intent a little?” Lion King asked with a sigh when the long-haired woman clad in pale green clothes entered the spacious meeting hall.
“Strength is the only language people like us understand,” Nefirie said as if he was stating the obvious truth and subsequently withdrew her aura. “So, why are we here?” she sat down and asked, not bothering herself with something as trivial as one person not being there yet.
“You should learn some good manners,” a voice rang out behind Nefirie and startled her so badly that she instantly roused her Qi and took out a sword from her interspatial ring. She knocked the chair over as she sprang to her feet, then slashed without a second thought. Her reaction had been very fast… but nonetheless, all she managed to do was to have her blade swish through a cluster of dark, dissipating shadows.
“As violent and reckless as people claim you are I see,” the black-masked and black-cloaked man emerged from within the darkness just beside his chair. “You should stop trying to resolve everything with strength. I imagine you would have attacked and killed the pests traveling through our lands too, right?” he asked laughingly, his voice sounding just like it always did in his case; as if he wasn’t taking anything he was saying with any degree of seriousness, as if he was always joking about everything and anything.
“You mean the ones who wreaked havoc in my territory?” Nefirie asked, her beautiful yet scarred face turning ugly at the mention. She had taken her own men and the best of her territory to seek gains in the Eulean Union; who would have expected that a bunch of martial masters would randomly show up and start slaughtering everyone who remained there? The gal of those people infuriated her to no end.
“Your territory, eh?” the black-cloaked man, Shade, asked with a laugh. “Aren’t you being a little overzealous? You didn’t bother to take over or control your lands at all after you killed their previous Chieftain. Can you really call them your own?” he asked wryly and laughed it away when Nefirie began releasing a powerful killing intent.
“Shade, you are as goddamn scary as always,” Sky Wolf said with a little smirk. Out of the four of them, he was the only one who could be considered to be friends with this black-cloaked man. Although this ‘Shade’ was merely a martial master of the third rank and his battle prowess wasn’t that high, his assassination skills were polished to a frightening degree. None of them had noticed him entering the room and sneaking behind Nefirie; this much alone was a testament to his skill.
“More importantly, why are we here?” Prophet was the first one to recover from the shock served to them by Shade. He looked at Lion King and asked, wanting to get back to his Western Palace as soon as possible.
“I believe our friend here will do better than me at explaining,” Lion King said with a sigh. “You did ask me to call this meeting for you after all, Shade,” he added helplessly, aware that Shade’s request to him to gather everyone was just this man’s whim. Shade could have as well called them on his own, but he was strangely fond of doing things in an ‘amusing’, though often strange or worse, very impractical way. Yet, with his skill as a silent killer… who would dare to refuse his request and risk getting on his bad side? Only a crazy person would do that.
Sky Wolf raised an eyebrow at this revelation, Prophet didn’t seem to care… while Nefirie somehow managed to suppress her rage, pick up her chair and sit down.
“So, as I already began saying,” Shade began saying in a merry voice. “We have some pests going through our lands and some of you would undoubtedly have a stupid idea or two with regards to them,” he said with a chuckle and looked first at Nefirie, then at Prophet.
“You little girl would attack them because they ‘tarnished your face’ or something like that, no?”
“You withered stick would try to rob them if an occasion appeared.”
“However, neither of you will do such a thing,” he stated after speaking to the two and laughed quietly when the mood around the table turned grim and dangerous.
“To be honest, I also planned to do the same,” Lion King revealed and smiled awkwardly. “They entered my domain three days ago. I ordered all the regular groups to stay away from them and were it not for this gathering, I would have already dealt with them,” he admitted, laughing at himself secretly. He was a hardened warrior and was over two hundred years old, but in front of this black-cloaked man, he couldn’t help acting like an obedient disciple.
“Good thing that you didn’t then,” Shade said with a smirk, though no one would be able to tell due to the black mask he was wearing. “I trust you did some inquiry about this group then, no, Lion King? Would you mind telling the others what we are dealing with?” he suggested playfully, curious how much information Lion King managed to get.
“Fine,” Lion King switched the leg staying atop of the other and elaborated briefly. “There is nine of them. One woman and one man are marital masters of the first rank, one man of the second. Three men are in the late stages of the mortal realm, and nothing is known about the last man.”
“And the boys?” Shade inquired with a smile, his voice sounding as excited as that of a child’s who was about to get a present he had always wanted to have.
“That’s the strange part.” Lion King smiled sarcastically and shook his head. “There are reports of those two twelve-year-old boys being comparable to martial masters of the first rank, some claim one of them is actually a spiritual master… there are even a few who are saying the two are at the level of martial masters of the third or fourth rank. I have no idea how such rumors came to be,” he explained helplessly and laughed openly. Who in his right mind would believe two kids were that strong? Yet at the same time, why would think about spreading such ridiculous lies?
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“Bullshit,” Sky Wolf commented and laughed with Lion King. Twelve-year-olds who were as strong as he was? What kind of nonsensical joke was this?
“For once I must agree with you, Sky Wolf,” Prophet said with a hint of amusement in his voice. As someone who specialized in trade in its various meanings, or more accurately someone who specialized in amassing wealth he could appreciate the value of disinformation and deception. However, even he found this piece of news to be a bit too far-fetched.
“Impossible,” Nefirie said simply, not taking the notion into consideration at all. It wasn’t realistic for any children to be so monstrous.
“Possible!” Shade exclaimed playfully and chortled when Nefirie sent him an ice-cold look. “You see, none of you know who those boys are but you already make judgments about them,” he said with a laugh, amusing himself by teasing the four Great Chieftains.
“Obviously I know who they are, who do you take me for?” Lion King asked, grinning at Shade. “I know their identities and I do not intend to kill them, but that doesn’t equal me trust those baseless rumors about their strength,” he said with a laugh and was awkwardly pleased with himself when Shade nodded a few times in recognition; or in so he hoped it was.
“So? Who are those kids?” Sky Wolf urged. This kind of roundabout discussion was beginning to get on his nerves.
“They are protégées of the Sarkcente Kingdom and important figures on the scale of the whole country. Especially one of them who is a favored disciple of the Dragon God from the Great War of the last century,” Lion King explained, all the while smiling a bit mockingly. He wasn’t the one to enjoy making fun of people, but he could tell how shocked by this revelation Nefirie and Prophet were. The Dragon God… he was basically a living legend in the Anarchic Lands. The story of him and his elite unit committing an utter bloodbath after one reckless Chieftain had killed one of the Dragon God’s comrades were still being told every so often after one hundred years had passed.
“Accurate enough I guess,” Shade said and smacked his lips while smiling slightly. “The reason I called you here is to tell you that you can run if you want to,” he advised, causing frowns to appear on everyone’s faces.
“What do you mean by that?” Sky Wolf asked away before anyone else, not hesitating too long due to his relationship with Shade.
“I mean that I might end up killing those two,” Shade replied casually. He took his time watching the expressions on the four’s faces sink.
“What do you mean you might end up killing them?” Lion King asked in disbelief. Did Shade just tell them that the legendary Dragon God stood behind those children? And he wanted to kill them? Did he truly go mad, or was he mad from the very beginning?
“The Shadow Trials,” Shade said ominously and produced a piece of paper with which he began fiddling in a childlike manner. “I volunteered for this little game, so I would like to ask you all to lend me your men. I could have an use or two for them. Ah, but I don’t need the elites; I just want the full authority to move about the masses,” he stated carefreely, looking forward to watching how the boys would deal with the scenario he had prepared for them.
“The Guild of Shadows…” Lion King murmured, a hint of fear a bit too clear for his liking appearing in his heart. If there was one organization he wouldn’t offend even at the price of his life it would be the Guild of Shadows. From what he knew, Shade was affiliated with them… but he didn’t know anything else neither about the man or this mysterious organization.
“And if you kill them then what?” Prophet asked despite his fear of Shade. “If they die by your hand, then the Dragon God might purge the entire Anarchic Lands. What are we supposed to do then?” he asked, unwilling to lose the business he had so meticulously set up.
“That’s why I told you; run if you are scared,” Shade replied and shrugged his shoulders. He was already being nice enough to them by telling about his intentions, what else did they want?
“You…” Prophet was about to open his mouth, but he swallowed his words. He took a deep breath and attempted to calm down. He wasn’t strong or influential enough to change Shade’s mind no matter what he said; that was the kind of person Shade was. Thus, it was better for him if he shut up now and quickly began making preparations for the worst-case scenario.
“The one who flees is the one who will look most guilty,” Sky Wolf pointed out, keeping his cool as the only one of the four. The thought of making Shade change his plans didn’t cross his mind for a second, so he naturally had more time to contemplate about the options he had and try to predict their consequences. In the end… he quickly came to the conclusion that doing nothing would be for the best. The content of their meetings and the mere fact they were meeting was a secret; only a few of their closest aides knew what they were doing and why.
“Oh,” Sky Wolf raised his eyebrows in a sudden realization. “From the outsider’s perspective, anyone will see it was Shade who was behind everything since he will be leading all the forces of Anarchic Lands. If we think about it, he has enough of his own men and never really needed our troops,” he said with a smile, all the nervousness having left him at once.
“Is that right?” Lion King couldn’t resist asking. Was Shade really being so considerate of them? The character of this man was truly hard to work out.
“Maybe,” Shade said dismissively, sounding bored by the mere mention. The game was no longer fun when you stopped playing by the rules; his rules were to be fair in everything he did… though his idea of fairness might not be what the majority of people would expect from the word.
Nefirie, who was a bit distressed at first now smiled and looked at Shade with an uncharacteristic warmth in her eyes. She didn’t say anything, nor did she know what was this strange feeling she was experiencing, but now that she thought about it she wouldn’t mind befriending someone like Shade.
“So? I assume everyone agrees with the terms?” Shade asked away, his tone once again turning bright and cheerful.
“Yes.”
“Yeah.”
“They are acceptable.”
“Yes.”
Shade smiled and laughed a little. “See you next time then,” he said and turned into a mass of shadows, which quickly dissipated, disappearing along with his presence.
“What game should I play with those young ones?” Shade wondered, wavering between the many options he had prepared in advance. He strolled the corridors unhurriedly until he arrived by the window he had purposely left open. He jumped out of it and went by the rooftops, then got over the walls and entered the forest.
“Come, come. We are going to play,” he said laughingly, at first glance talking to himself. Yet, when he ran forward dozens of gusts of wind followed behind.
As for the other four Great Chieftains, they remained in the meeting hall for the time being and continued talking.
“What do you think those Shadow Trials are?” Sky Wolf asked randomly, not in a hurry to leave the place. Since the four of them were here they could as well discuss the matters at hand; this way they would be able to put off their next meeting and not waste time traveling. However, before they got into the serious and boring part, he wanted to gossip just a little.
“Probably what the name implies,” Nefirie replied with a slight smirk. “From what he said we can assume the ones being tested are those two boys. I heard the pass rate for those trials is less than one in twenty… and I know there are many parts to their trials,” she said while smiling cheekily, the little bit of a little girl that was left in her apparently acting up.
“And how do you know that?” Lion King asked in surprise. He had attempted to research the Guild of Shadows, but he learned nothing. For this young woman to actually have some information about them was unexpected.
“I was once targeted by an assassin from the Guild of Shadows,” Nefirie said with an evil grin. “Luckily for me the night was hot and I like to sleep naked… a strange sound woke me up just as he was about to pierce my neck through with a dagger. He was so surprised when I dodged that I managed to grab his hand; he was stronger than me, but I got one punch in before he could do anything. And it was enough,” she explained and snickered. Only an idiot wouldn’t carry a few extremely strong poisons to use in emergency situations, and she wasn’t an idiot.
“I interrogated him before killing him. The funny thing was he didn’t attack me because there was a request for my head or anything like that, he confessed that he just loved doing dead women and didn’t expect I was a martial master,” she said and grinned once again, the pitiful circumstances in which an elite assassin, a martial master of the fifth rank died making her want to laugh to no end.
“And? What did you learn from him?” Lion King asked a bit impatiently, just like the two others hoping to learn some precious information.
“I can tell you about the trials I guess,” Nefirie said with a smile, slowly calming down and becoming less and less of a little girl and more of the cold woman she usually was. “The other things won’t be for free though, so if you want to hear more you will need to pay up.”
“Let’s hear about those Shadow Trials first,” Lion King said with a helpless laugh. Yes, he shouldn’t have expected to get anything for free in this particular gathering of people.
“How about this, I will tell you their names and you can figure the rest out yourself,” Nefirie suggested and continued without waiting for a response from any of the three. “There are three trials as far as I know. The Trial of Heart, the Trial of Strength, the Trial of Will. That’s all,” she finished, chuckling to herself. She didn’t understand what made her mood to improve so much, but she didn’t care. It had been a long time since she laughed so lightheartedly.
“The middle one is self-explanatory,” Sky Wolf mentioned with a smirk. “But the other two? How are we supposed to learn anything from just those names? Since you began, tell us something more,” he urged, very much disliking being left with a piece of incomplete information. In comparison it was better not to know anything at all; then he wouldn’t at least keep wondering about the remaining parts.
“I changed my mind,” Nefirie said and snorted a little. “I won’t be telling you anything more, nor about the trials nor the Guild of Shadows,” she said with a very much satisfied smile. The unlucky man she had killed told her that as long as she keeps this knowledge to herself, the Guild will be unlikely to pursue her. However, if she begins revealing its secrets an assassin might be sent after her life. Did those three guys seriously believe she would trade a piece of priceless information?
“Women…” Lion King sighed heavily, Sky Wolf shook his head whereas Prophet nodded to himself, his suspicions confirmed by Nefirie’s words.
“Enough chit-chatting,” Prophet said and waved his hand, remembering that he was wasting his precious time. “Let us discuss what we need and go our own ways,” he urged, to what the other three reluctantly agreed. They understood the importance of communicating and solving the major problems together, but they weren’t nearly as passionate about it as Prophet. The three of them were warriors at heart, not greedy merchants who saw an opportunity to make a profit at each step.