Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 26. A Hidden Village.
“We sure are breezing through,” Laien mentioned, looking around in search of a good place to camp for the night.
As usually, after galloping for most of the day their group would usually slow down and ride casually for some time. It was partially to find a good spot to rest and partially to allow their war horses some leisure time instead of using them to charge through all the time. A horse that got into a habit of galloping all the time would grow restless, no matter how good his original training was; or at least that was what Ruan told them.
“Do you miss being ambushed and attacked every dozen kilometers?” Yin asked with a playful smile. “Or should we think up another game to play?” he asked and exchanged a glance with Laien, after what both of them laughed quietly.
“Fighting them all the time was getting a bit monotonous,” Laien said with a slight smirk. “But now that they are all gone, it’s also a bit boring,” he said wryly and chuckled a little. It did indeed sound a bit pompous coming from a youth like him.
“So, you enjoy killing people?” Yin asked teasingly, a clear smile still present on his face. He and Laien were already so familiar with each other that they had no reserve in asking each other questions most people would think twice before even uttering.
“Hm, who knows?” Laien said uncertainly, giving the matter some serious thought. “If they are bad people then I think I do,” he said honestly, at the same time wondering if it was bad to like killing others. As long as he made sure they were all bad guys beforehand then it should be okay, right?
“We should try to not make it a habit,” Yin said with a laugh, sensing Laien’s uncertainty. “Even if it’s about bad people, I don’t think I’d want to become someone who goes around and kills people he doesn’t like all the time,” he mentioned, having a feeling this path would be one that would sooner or later corrupt just about anyone.
“Mhm,” Laien nodded in agreement. If he were to think about it this way, then just like Yin was saying he wouldn’t want to become that kind of a person.
“These two really are something else,” Ruan said with a sigh. Riding behind Laien and Yin and often had the opportunity to hear what the boys were talking about and sometimes the subjects of their discussions made him feel a bit awestruck, while sometimes they made him feel rather helpless and worried. He really wanted to give the two of them a lecture about morality and the problem of what was considered ‘evil’ and ‘good’, but he had enough sense not to cut in right now to do that.
If there came an opportunity he would try talking with them about this matter, but he understood nothing much would come from forcing the topic upon the two. Additionally, there wasn’t much need of this lecture anyway since the boys seemed to have arrived at a correct answer on their own despite not being completely aware of the principles standing behind the concept.
“They are more sensible than most of the men I’ve dated,” Liza mentioned with a laugh, herself at the time riding at Ruan’s side. “They are also harder to deal with though,” she added more quietly and laughed at herself. Be it simple folk, merchants, clergymen, lesser or higher nobility… all of those men were so simple-minded to fall at a few simple nice words and compliments from her; she didn’t even need to try too hard to allure them, they couldn’t help but give in to their primal desires.
In comparison Laien and Yin were… well, she hoped it was because they were too young, but her charms were just about useless if not detrimental when she was talking with them. Every time she attempted to act alluring just to make them like her a bit more the two would either ignore her or would even snort at her actions quietly… or less quietly if it was Laien and he happened to be in a worse mood.
Truth to be told she found it really hard to figure out how to get along with a male without the end goal of making him her partner; she had no idea what to speak about, or even how to speak. She needed to remind herself to avoid the usual shallow compliments and the habitual routine of fawning over her potential partner to which she had gotten so used to. It didn’t help that she had no experience in dealing with children either. She wanted to befriend those two boys… but didn’t quite know how to accomplish that.
“Both of you are worrying too much about pointless things,” Jin said rather loudly and with a broad smile on his face. He had already gotten over being reprimanded by Yin and returned to being his usual self; although he did keep his promise in mind and stopped acting flirtatious towards the boys. He wasn’t aware of it quite consciously, but subconsciously he understood that two of them were thoroughly disinterested with him. He simply didn’t like to accept such a thought so he didn’t bother to seriously consider wondering about all those annoying things.
“I hate to admit it,” Ruan began helplessly, not quite aware what the basis behind Jin’s words was. “But this time he is right,” he finished with a little smirk, after what he and Jin exchanged a fairly annoyed look. The two of them weren’t getting along too well as of lately.
“Reprimanded by an idiot…” Liza murmured to herself and sighed bitterly. Jin had a point; there was no need for her to worry about something she couldn’t figure out anyway, but the mere fact that it was him who made her realize that was a blow to her self-confidence.
Laien and Yin exchanged a glance and chuckled. Just as those behind them would often listen to them talking, they would listen in to some of their chats; and what could they say? It was quite amusing to listen to the adults speaking about them or about other interesting things.
Their group of nine continued riding onwards for a period of time while chatting away without any specific purpose or subject in mind. The road then turned slightly, revealing a further long and straight path that still was leading westwards, but from now on also a bit northwards
“A kid?” Yin said, surprised to see a boy maybe six years of age simply sitting on some random stone and daydreaming in the middle of nowhere; or rather, in the middle of the Anarchic Lands.
“What is he doing there alone?” Laien asked, feeling equally surprised. “Let’s check it out,” he suggested and made his horse go into a gallop, and so did Yin at the exact same time.
“What kind of eyes do those two have?” Liza asked with disbelief. She was squinting her eyes and frowning, but she couldn’t make out the figure of a kid Yin mentioned from so far away. On one side of this road was a huge grassland with no trees, so she was sure the kid the two had spotted was somewhere to the right, in just by the road. However… even though she knew that she couldn’t spot him at all.
“Don’t worry, you aren’t alone,” Ruan said with a laugh. He couldn’t see anyone either, but in contrast to Liza, he was no longer surprised about the boys’ senses and instincts. Not after they had successfully spotted all those ambushes during the headhunting part of their journey through the Anarchic Lands. “Come on, we shouldn’t leave them alone,” he mentioned a bit helplessly; technically they were those two’s guards, but in practice, those boys were stronger than they were. Sighing a little he kicked the sides of his horse and made him speed up.
After riding for a little more than a kilometer Laien and Yin pulled on the reins and slowed down, then stopped completely just a few meters away from the six-year-old.
The boy was sitting on the grass and appeared to be extremely interested in the two riders who appeared before him all of the sudden. He looked up fearlessly, his dark eyes gleaming a little as he simply stared without saying a word, seeming not to be scared of them in the slightest.
“That’s some strange and pretty uncomfortable clothes,” the thought crossed Laien’s mind. He always preferred to wear things that were comfortable, so he couldn’t help but think how unfitting to the terrain this kid’s clothes were. The dark-haired boy was wearing a black robe and had what looked like some wooden sandals on his feet; something that people used to wear long, long ago before ways to create better shoes were invented. Walking in such a suit through a thick forest must have been quite a pain in the lower area of the back, least said.
“You guys are from the outside, right?” the boy asked after a few seconds. “I can’t believe I finally met someone from the outside! Can you show me around?” he requested as he stood up, by the looks of it completely oblivious to potential danger involving oneself with strangers carried. What’s more, his accent was really strange; there were some differences across the continent, but he sounded like an old man from the far north.
Just before replying to the boy, Laien extended his spiritual sense. Yin did the same with his aura, both of them aiding themselves with their insights into the Aspect of Awareness. Yet, what they discovered proved to be very strange, if not shocking. This boy wasn’t a practitioner of any kind; nor a marital nor a spiritual one. Also, it was as if his body lacked any kind of Qi whatsoever. There were people in the world with no talent for cultivation, but even them would have minute amounts of Qi circulating in their bodies, but this child had none of that! None at all.
“Aren’t you scared we will do something bad to you?” Yin inquired, being the first one to find words that wouldn’t seem awkward. “We are in the Anarchic Lands, you know? Are you here alone?” he asked again, seeing that the boy wasn’t in a hurry to answer his first question.
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“Buu, you are just like Marie,” the black-robed six-year-old pouted with a sour, displeased expression on his face. “I don’t like you, I’m here to see the outside!” he stated while wrinkling his nose, then turned his gaze to Laien. “You, will you show me the interesting things around here?” he asked very strongly, his tone suggesting an implied command and an inherit strand of arrogance.
Laien’s face twitched a bit when he was faced with this unreasonable behavior of some random kid. However, he took a deep breath and kept his temper in check; was there really a point in getting angry with a seven-year-old? “Kid, do you even know where you are? Wandering alone can be dangerous. Had you met bandits instead of us, they would have probably killed you three times over by now,” he said with a slightly patronizing smile and laughed a little when after a good moment, the understanding hit the boy like a ton of bricks.
“Seriously, haven’t your parents taught you anything?” Laien shook his head. How did this boy manage to find himself in the very middle of the dangerous Anarchic Lands and still act like some kind of an incredibly sheltered young master? Who in the world was he?
“They didn’t teach me anything,” the boy said and shrugged his shoulders. “I have only Maria after all,” he added with a somewhat lonely look on his face, but then smiled and looked Laien in the eye. “Also, I don’t worry about those ‘dangers’, you know? I’m going to die soon anyway so I wanted to see all of that,” he said and pointed with his hand around, at the plains and the area beyond the forest.
“You’re going to die? What do you mean?” Laien asked, but before he could receive any answers he and Yin noticed movement in the forest and a group of people that had literally appeared out of nowhere. The two of them once again spread their auras to their limit of about twenty meters, and it proved to be enough as those strange black-robed men were already dangerously close, but to their this time very genuine shock, they discovered nothing; and by no means was it meant metaphorically. Forget about telling how strong those men were, they couldn’t even sense their presences while actively searching for them!
Yes, people like Ruan and those who practiced shadow element arts were proficient in hiding their auras, but they would be unable to hide themselves from an active aura search of a decently strong practitioner. Those people, on the other hand, were non-existent to Laien’s spiritual sense and Yin’s aura; were they to rely on only this method of perception, they wouldn’t be able to as much as spot this group of black-robed men.
“Already?” the six-year-old grumbled unhappily. He didn’t try to run through; it looked like he was accepting of the fact that his escapade was over the moment those men found him.
“So unlucky for outlanders to appear just as we were coming,” one of the black-robed men complained in a low voice, barely any sound coming out of his mouth. He hit the ground with the large, black staff that he was carrying and caused the around dozen men following him to come to a halt. He swept the two youths on horseback with a cold, contemptuous gaze and when the sounds of more riders getting close reached his ears, he frowned heavily.
“Outlanders, I advise you not to get involved with us and leave for your own good,” he said loudly, making sure the newly arriving people heard him clearly. “If you intend to fight us to take our Holy Priest away, then we will oblige you,” he stated coldly, apparently quite confused about the group’s intentions. It wasn’t too surprising though considering that basically, no groups like the one before him had appeared in the Anarchic Lands in the many past decades.
Laien gave the speaker a look, just about catching his youthful face from below the hood of his robe. The young man was at most twenty and despite the coldness of his words, he seemed to be feeling rather anxious. Noticing that allowed Laien to calm down a bit; he and Yin couldn’t sense those people’s strength, but it looked like the men weren’t all that powerful since they were so nervous.
The six years old, to whom the young man referred to as a Holy Priest, had already turned around and began walking up to the black-robed man, not expecting any other kind of development than being taken back, but he pretty much froze in place when he heard Laien speak up.
“And where are you going? Didn’t you want to see the ‘outside’?”
The six-year-old looked at Laien with wide eyes, caught off-guard by his words. Yet, he only smiled and said. “Thanks, big brother, but there is no way you can fight Kalan and uncle Uluan.” Having said so, the boy took the last few steps and stopped in front of the black-robed staff-wielding young man. “Do you think we could take them inside for a bit? Just for a bit! I want to hear about the outside world from someone who lives there before I need to die!” he pleaded, the request startling the young man a fair bit.
The law prohibited them from allowing outsiders into their village… but the young man couldn’t fully bring himself to ignore the plea of a boy he knew was destined to soon die. He was only the boy’s overseer and he shouldn’t have gotten attached to him, but he ended up doing so nevertheless. He suppressed a sigh and glanced at the group of riders on the road. He pursed his lips, unsure what he should do.
“… Those boys can go in, the rest will wait outside,” he gave up and agreed. He couldn’t know how strong those adults were and so he wouldn’t risk letting them in, but his father shouldn’t complain too much about two youngsters being allowed inside, right? How strong could boys the age of those two be anyway? They wouldn’t pose any danger to the village.
“Really?!” the six-year-old couldn’t help but cry out in his excitement. He then remembered something and turned around as fast as he could. “You will come, right? Please come!” he asked almost desperately, really hoping not to miss this once in a lifetime chance.
Laien groaned inwardly. He had a feeling he didn’t need to be scared of this group of men despite being unable to sense their cultivation bases, and he could tell Yin felt pretty much the same about it. However, he couldn’t not think twice about taking an unnecessary risk. Not after how his meddling in the Iron Fort had ended. What if there were powerful martial masters hidden in that mysterious place? What if he led himself and Yin into another very dangerous situation? He didn’t want to just take the risk because he felt like going with that kid and was curious about his circumstances. It would be way too irresponsible and careless of him.
Seeing Laien’s hesitation, the six-year-old pursed his lips, trying to think up anything that could make someone from the outside come with them. Was there something he could give them in return? He didn’t have anything, nor did he know any techniques useful to outsiders… apart from that one!
“I can teach you our Aura Manipulation Art if you come and chat with me!” he stated energetically and hopefully, causing the black-robed men behind his back to grow visibly restless. Teaching their secret arts to outsiders?! This was out of the question!
“If that’s what the Holy Priest wants, so be it,” a voice rang out seemingly from nowhere, only for another group of about a dozen black-cloaked men to emerge from within the forest.
“But father…!” the young man began saying, but he was quickly dismissed by a flick of a hand of the staff-wielding man.
“Uncle Uluan, can they really come?” the six-year-old asked, finding it hard to believe that his strict and cold uncle would not only not be angry with him for running away, but would also agree to let someone from the outside into their village! This was like a dream come true!
“As long as they promise not to make trouble and obey our rules, they can go in,” Uluan nodded ever so slightly and confirmed.
Overjoyed, the six-year-old once again turned to look at Laien. He just barely managed to stay quiet while anticipating a response from him. He really wanted him to come and tell him everything about the outside!
“What kind of rules do we need to obey?” Yin asked , keeping his head clear. He was enticed by the Aura Manipulating Art the kid mentioned just like Laien was, but he remained wary of the unexpected. He could already imagine learning that one of the so-called rules involved prohibiting anyone who had ever entered the place from leaving it again; if so he would rather avoid the trouble altogether than find out after the fact and be forced to fight his way out with Laien.
The six-year-old looked at Yin grudgingly, unhappy to see this green-haired girl question the details as if just to make her friend not go into the village.
“The rules you would need to obey are fairly simple,” Uluan answered calmly. “You go in, you do not go to places we tell you not to go, you don’t get yourselves involved with our traditions and leave when we tell you to leave. That’s it,” he explained briefly, implying there was nothing their temporary guests needed to concern themselves with.
“So? Will you go?” the six-year-old asked, his gaze fixed on Laien as he thoroughly ignored Yin’s presence and wished her opinion wouldn’t matter.
“It should be fine…?” Laien said unsurely and glanced at Yin, who sighed a little and nodded. What would be the point of going on a journey if they avoided all the risk? They would never grow strong if they chose to miss all the opportunities. Moreover, Yin seriously doubted this strange place he had never heard about could hold enough experts to obstruct him and Laien. Had this place been a home to a powerful organization the Forbidden Lands would have surely had some information about it.
“It’s settled then. We are going with you,” Laien said with a smile, looking forward to chatting with the boy and learning how to use this Aura Manipulation Art. The thing needed to be quite formidable if it allowed even a child to hide his cultivation base from their Aspect-enhanced probing. Learning it would surely bring them quite some benefits on more than one occasion.
“Great!” the six-year-old jumped up joyfully and nearly fell over after landing his foot at one of the sticking out roots. He didn’t let the little accident make him feel distressed though and was even a bit happy when he saw Laien chuckling at him, but he sure enough was less happy about seeing Yin do the same. He didn’t like this green-haired girl at all.
“When are you going to return?” Ruan asked, already having given up on the option of trying to convince the boys not to go.
“We will send them back to this place in three days,” Uluan answered for the boys, himself wanting to start going back as soon as possible. He hated the danger involved with going outside of the forest surrounding their village and sure enough didn’t want any random accident to happen to their precious Holy Priest.
Ruan gave the staff-wielding man a brief look, then spoke to Laien and Yin. “If you aren’t back three days from now we will go in to look for you,” he stated in a clear voice, making sure the black-robed men could hear him. Were they to planning to do something to the boys then he at least wanted them to think twice before attacking them, as much as he was almost sure it would be those black-robed men who would get massacred and not the other way around.
“You can try if you want,” Uluan said with a rare laugh. “You won’t find our village though, all you will do is wander around aimlessly,” he said smugly but snorted right afterward. He turned around and began walking into the forest. “If you are going, come,” he said impatiently, angry with himself for revealing more than he should have to those outsiders.
Laien and Yin wavered for a second or two, but in the end, they smiled at Ruan and the others, then nodded at them with somewhat apologetic expressions on their faces. Much to the six-year-old’s relief, they followed after him and the group of two dozen black-robed men, riding straight into this thick, mysterious forest.