Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 43. Alen Durash.
About ten minutes later Laien’s black War Horse, Bellicose, and Yin’s brown stallion were brought to them. While Yin continued chatting with the six-year-old, Laien moved a bit to the side to exchange a few words with the staff-wielding fourteen-year-old.
The youth was accompanied by six people this time, five of which were around his age and with the late one being slightly older, probably in his early twenties. By the looks of it, they had already settled on who would occupy the positions of Elders in the future.
“So, what do you want to know?” Laien asked openly. He could guess a question or two, or even three, but he wasn’t a fan of wasting his breath for an unsatisfactory explanation.
“Should I not beat around the bush?” the fourteen-year-old asked with a smile on his face and after Laien nodded, asked straightforwardly. “First, what is your name; it should be Laien, right? Second, what kind of position do you occupy in the Sarkcente Kingdom and can we be sure we are going to be welcomed there? Will they just let us cross the border and go to Neil City? Also, should we expect to need to set up on our own, or will we be able to rely on some external help?”
Laien minced the questions in his mouth for a bit, then answered. “Yup, I’m Laien, a personal disciple of the Great Master Rudford of the Red Dragon School; you should be familiar enough with the south to have heard about him. Next, you will be welcomed in Neil City for sure. As for the borders and settling down… take that,” he finished with a smile and handed one of the two top-grade interspatial rings he had obtained yesterday to the fourteen-year-old, only chuckling slightly at the awed expressions of the five out of seven people before him. Those five were probably all future elders so they knew a little bit about the outside world and thus could tell what kind of position was a personal disciple of a Great Master in a place like the Sarkcente Kingdom.
“I put a seal of mine in there, it’s that black dragon sigil,” Laien spoke up when the expression on the fourteen-year-old's face turned into one of disbelief. “Just show this sigil to the people patrolling the northern borders and tell them you were invited by me into Neil City. Apart from that, I added some items and coins that you should find useful for establishing yourselves in the city,” he explained, not feeling bad about parting with a portion of his wealth at all. Money was precious, but there was little point to keep so much of it if he couldn’t find any sensible use for their value.
The fourteen-year-old nearly choked on his tongue. If that was ‘some’ items and coin, then he was a flying pig! There were five thousand crystal coins in that interspatial ring, not to mention that the ring itself was worth another thousand! With all the top-grade and high-grade weapons, and also all the herbs, armors, alchemy and… torture equipment; and tents and even small houses the overall value this interspatial ring held exceeded ten thousand crystal coins! It was an unimaginable fortune! With this much they would be able to easily build a solid foundation for themselves in Neil City; their Durash family would definitely flourish in the future!
Before thanking Laien, he gave the ring for the others to see so they would understand where his words were coming from. He then bowed down to Laien while sitting and said. “Thank you. Our Durash family will remember this favor. Why don’t you take a look and tell me if you don’t need any of the scrolls of ours?” he proposed, taking the interspatial ring off his finger and presenting it to Laien. If they could repay him even a little for all the good he had done, they would do it without hesitation!
In truth, however, it wouldn’t have been strange if some of them were resentful towards Laien and Yin; they knew the bandit attack happened because of them and many of them had lost their parents in the last days; in fact, all seven of the youths sitting before Laien had lost their fathers! However, the amount of resentment that had accumulated in everyone’s hearts towards their cursed fate and terrible lives far surpassed the loose parental bonds the youths had with the older generation.
There were also quite a few practices in the village that involved abducting women and children from the outside… little to be said, what held the village together wasn’t the sense of belonging to the same clan or group; it always was the curse and their inability to leave. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that many of the youths were glad that their parents had been killed! Otherwise, under no circumstances would so many of them have joined the group of renegades.
Laien didn’t refuse the offer of the fourteen-year-old. He took the interspatial ring and checked what was inside, looking for anything that could prove to be useful to him. However, the martial arts and techniques of the Durash Clan weren’t of much value to him and he and Yin had already learned the Aura Manipulating Art. As for the knowledge of formations… it was a nice thing, but not something he was currently interested in.
“Do you have many copies of the books and scrolls related to formations?” Laien asked, thinking that one day he could find some use for this knowledge. “If you have more than one set, then I would like to take one. If not then forget it,” he stated clearly. He wouldn’t request something that those guys didn’t have a backup for; even though their clan had declined into this state, with a solid enough foundation they had a chance to recover quickly. Moreover, he only wanted to have those things for the sake of ‘maybe they will end up being useful’; he wasn’t in a dire need of them or anything.
“There are indeed many copies, but only two are of the highest quality,” the fourteen-year-old replied with a smile. “Feel free to transfer the one set I have directly from my interspatial ring to yours. We will still have another one; that will be enough,” he suggested and Laien took him up on the offer, then returned the ring back to him.
“So, will you be going to Neil City?” Laien asked, preferring to have a clear confirmation instead of an implied agreement.
The seven youths looked at each other, all of them smiling helplessly. How could they possibly refuse an offer this generous and beneficial to them? Without exchanging any words, all of them bowed their heads in gratitude. They would gladly accept Laien’s offer and most certainly would remember the huge debt they owed him and his friend! Both for helping them now and for getting rid of the curse for them!
“I assume I should take that as a yes?” Laien asked with a laugh. The people of this village really were too indirect!
“Yes, exactly,” the fourteen-year-old said with a laugh. “We will go to Neil City and do as you told us,” he confirmed once again.
“Mhm,” Laien nodded contentedly. “When you get there, show the sigil I gave you and request a meeting with my elder brother; with the Great Master Rudford. Tell him that the thing he gave me was very helpful and I successfully created what I wanted, and am very satisfied with it. He will know what it’s all about. After you tell him that and explain your circumstances I’m sure the Red Dragon School will lend you a hand in finding a good place to settle down in the city,” he explained briefly. The amount of help a family consisting of just one thousand people wouldn’t be too great, but with Rudford lending them a hand they would be able to get a good place to live in without paying for it through their nose. This kind of deal was beneficial to both parties.
“Once again, thank you,” the fourteen-year-old lowered his head, a bright smile present on his face. The other six future Elders did the same, all of them feeling that Laien’s appearance in the village was a true blessing for them.
“Let’s wait half an hour longer and then set out,” Laien proposed, feeling pretty good about himself. He was glad he spoke up in favor of that fourteen-year-old; thanks to that he managed to do something good without expending all that much effort.
“If you want to we can go even now,” the fourteen-year-old mentioned, pretty sure that Laien had been in a hurry to leave. They already took half the horses of the village and had caravans prepared; all that was left was some fast preparation that would take a few minutes at most.
“I can see that,” Laien said with a laugh. “But wouldn’t you all feel fully calm at heart if we waited for the news from the temple to arrive?” he asked, knowing how annoying it was to rely on something that you weren’t absolutely certain of. Those guys might trust him ninety-nine point nine percent, but if they didn’t confirm everything a little bit of doubt would keep lingering in their hearts. Such doubt could in time grow into more dangerous negative feelings; Laien himself was in such a situation with Genzie. He trusted his friend was still on his side despite being an internal part of the Cail family, but he simply couldn’t know what was going on behind the scenes. He could only trust! And trusting someone unconditionally, even one’s childhood friend, wasn’t an easy thing.
The fourteen-year-old was a bit startled by Laien’s suggestion in the beginning, but after he gave the matter a little thought he ended up agreeing with what Laien said. “It’s true. We will know if the curse is still there or not when we get a bit further away from the village, but it’s still going to be satisfying to listen to the ruckus those gooey adults are going to make when everything is confirmed,” he said wryly and excused himself for a bit to discuss who would like to go back to the village for a while and wait there for the news.
Laien breathed out and laid down on the grass. The hard stuff was done; now he could simply enjoy himself and be lazy for half an hour.
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“What did you come back here for?” one of the many villagers gathered by the entrance to the temple asked the fourteen-year-old and the few dozen people accompanying him. “Don’t tell me you changed your mind and want to stay after all? It’s too late to beg for forgiveness,” the man added disdainfully, holding quite a grudge against this youth who had instigated the split of their people.
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“Nothing like that,” the fourteen-year-old replied with a pitying smile present on his face. Those adults and geezers were not only blind, but also very unlucky. If they knew what kind of terms Laien offered their group of renegades they would have all chewed their tongues into mincemeat and pulled all the hair from their heads. “We are waiting for the news from the temple, just like you,” he added, seeing how more and more of the old guys were beginning to stare at their group threateningly.
“Ha, not so confident in yourself anymore?” the same woman who ‘greeted’ Laien and Yin when they left the temple spoke up with a smirk. Did those fellows really follow some outsiders and were now beginning to have doubts, so they came here to confirm them? Laughable! She couldn’t help but wonder if they hadn’t had a huge argument before coming here; it looked like it wasn’t all roses on the other side, what in itself made her feel quite good about herself and her choice.
“Think whatever you want,” the fourteen-year-old replied with a laugh, unknowingly adapting some of Laien’s attitude in dealing with stubborn people.
The woman and many others smiled wryly, but all of their smiled began steadily growing dim when they noticed the calm and confident expressions this group of youths had on their faces. It seemed like they weren’t bothered by their provocations at all; but if so, if there wasn’t any big falling out with those outsiders, then why did they come here? This question, however, was far beyond what the old villagers present could hope to comprehend.
Time passed and around twenty minutes later three people gasping for breath literally jumped out of the stairs and crashed into the closest group of villagers.
“The Divine Seal…!” one of the men yelled forced himself to say, using Qi to carry his breathless voice far enough. “The Divine Seal, the crystal…! It’s broken! The demons are gone…! The High Priest and everyone, they are nowhere to be seen either!” he cried out, his thoughts spinning in circles.
The old villagers, having heard the news, were all thrown into just as much panic as those messengers were in. Their superiors were all dead! Their successors left the village! The Divine Seal was destroyed, the demons went away and the curse… the curse should have disappeared too! But did it?! Would those evil demons remove the curse after breaking out from their prison? Why didn’t those devils kill them all?! Why did the end of the world not come? Did those outsiders speak the truth?! They simply couldn’t wrap their minds around all of that!
In contrast, the few dozen of youths all revealed extremely pleased smiles. They now had no doubts at all; what Laien and Yin had told them was true! Satisfied, they quickly turned around and left before the despair of those four thousand old people turned into frustration and anger, which they would feel inclined to release upon someone they could blame for their perceived misfortune.
“How did it go?” Laien sat back up and asked when the fourteen-year-old and the other few dozen young people returned. The talks and chats all around quieted down almost instantly. Everyone wanted to hear what news was their leader bringing to them.
“It is as our benefactors said,” the fourteen-year-old spoke happily. “The Divine Seal was broken, the Demons are nowhere to be seen and there is no trace of the High Priest and those who had gone with him at all,” he declared simply, deciding against giving any kind of grand speech. Not only would it not suit the moment, but he wasn’t good enough at orating to attempt something like that anyway.
After the fourteen-year-old finished speaking everybody was overcome with a warm sensation of relief and extreme happiness. They were all smiling, some of them were beginning to cry tears of joy; and finally, one of the youths shouted at the top of his voice, letting all those pent up emotions out.
The clamor rose to great levels in but a second as the youths raised their voices in the cries of joy. None of them had experienced a happiness this extreme in their lives before; they had only dared to dream about the day when they would be able to leave this place and live freely, without a cruse shortening their lifespans and limiting their cultivation bases, but not it was all happening! And at this very moment, the new reality came crashing onto them, causing them to all to be filled to brim with extreme joy and happiness!
The shouts and cries of this thousand youths were so enthusiastic and so loud they took even Laien somewhat off guard. However, when the surprise subsided he smiled warmly and closed his eyes. Being a good person felt unexpectedly good; enough to make someone addicted to it even. Thinking about it Laien couldn’t not chuckle; someone with a weaker heart could easily get obsessed over committing good deeds… just as well as he could become obsessed with the thrill doing evil could bring, depending on his personality.
“In the end, trying to help everyone isn’t the right way,” Laien reminded himself. “I will help those who happen upon my way, but I won’t go out into the world to play a valiant knight,” he mused, but quietly wondered if he would ever become powerful enough to actually change the world for better. “Would I even know what to do if I had the power necessary?” he asked himself, thinking back to the Iron Fort and Agnes’s family.
The world was filled with countless shades of gray… for a person to judge for what right and wrong was a difficult task! One too difficult for him to be thinking about right now, or so Laien assumed for the time being. There was little point to be wondering about things far, far in the future too. It was better for him to focus on the present.
It didn’t need to be said what kind of faces the four thousand people in the village had when they heard the cries of joy of the one thousand youths. Many of them began heavily regretting not joining them when they still had a chance, but just as many consoled themselves; if the curse was truly gone, then it didn’t matter which group they were with. It didn’t change the fact that they were now free! The danger of those demons coming back to kill them existed, but they at least no longer needed to live their lives in this one dark place and suffer the miseries the curse brought upon them!
Of course, there was also a fair portion of those who refused to believe the curse had been lifted. They were determined to stay in the village and see what happens to others; it could be said that they were the strongest believers who truly trusted the words written in the ancient tomes of their clan. Yet, no one cared about them at the moment; and especially not the thousand youths at the outskirts of the village.
“Well, time to go,” Laien mused aloud and jumped to his feet, then headed to Yin, the six-year-old, Marie and the three horses waiting for the four of them. He mounted Bellicose, Yin soon got on his brown stallion and Marie got on the third horse with the six-year-old.
“We are setting out!” the fourteen-year-old shouted with the aid of his Qi, as rough of an aid as it was given that he was still only at the fifth mortal realm.
“Ooh!” the whole group responded energetically and began getting onto and into the carriages, with some of them simply mounting the single horses. Just as the fourteen-year-old had told Laien, it took merely a minute or two for everyone to prepare. Thus, with Laien and Yin at the head, their caravan set out of the village, begging the very first true journey of their Durash Clan since ten millennia ago.
“We are really leaving!” the six-year-old said excitedly, the festive atmosphere having caused him to become a bit hyperactive. “Big brother Yin, will you and big brother Laien go with us to that city?” he asked, the thought calming him down ever so slightly.
“You are going south-east, we are going north-west,” Yin said while shaking his head. “We will only go with you for a bit, then we will go out own ways,” he answered clearly and smiled in understanding when the six-year-old grew rather sad after learning that. He came to like this kid a fair bit, but it was just that; in comparison, Laien was much more important to him and the two of them needed to get to the Eclipse Academy in time for the beginning of the new academic year.
“That’s too bad,” the six-year-old said with a sigh and finished at that. He had heard from Yin and Laien about their goals and their journey so to be fair, he knew those two wouldn’t stay with him for too long. He knew he should be satisfied with regaining his life and obtaining the freedom he had always dreamed about but despite that… he was feeling sad enough for his eyes to start tearing up.
Ever since he could remember he had only Marie; he never had any true friends. He might have talked with Laien and Yin only for a few days, it might really have been a very short, almost insignificant amount of time in one’s life… but to him, those last few days were the happiest of his life. He really, really didn’t want them to leave so soon…! So much so that even though he didn’t want to show them how he cried, he couldn’t stop the tears from flowing without end…!
Marie, who was sitting behind the six-year-old in the saddle was genuinely shocked to see the Holy Priest… no, this little boy cry. Since the moment this child learned how to talk, he never cried again; he knew he would die before doing anything in his life, but he kept smiling and never complained; and yet! And yet he was weeping like any normal child right now!
Seeing this boy cry shouldn’t have made her glad… but it did. To her, it looked like this little boy had finally regained the part of his heart that had been torn away from him with his future. As he wept, he certainly was much more human-like than his old self.
“Come on, do you want us to remember you crying?” Laien asked with a slight smirk. Farewells should be done with a smile, not with tears! He wasn’t happy to, but he had some experience in saying goodbye to his dear ones.
Hearing Laien say so, the six-year-old sniffed strongly and swept his face with a sleeve of his shirt. However, even though he was trying his best not to cry anymore… he still failed to keep his emotions in check.
“You, you…” Yin said with a little sigh. “We can’t very well remember you as ‘you’, nor like the Holy Priest. Don’t you think you need a proper name?” he mentioned, the idea striking the six-year-old like lightning and causing his thoughts to instantly be taken away from crying.
“A name? I can have a name?”” the six-year-old asked, as if this matter only occurred to him once Yin mentioned it. It was normal for him to be the ‘Holy Priest’ and not to have his own name like everyone else. But, he wouldn’t be needing to die anymore! He really could have a name now!
“Of course you can,” Yin said with a laugh. “What do you think, would you like to come up with it on your own?” he asked, curious what the six-year-old would prefer to do.
The six-year-old lowered his head in thought and fell silent for two or three seconds, then suddenly looked up at Yin and said eagerly. “You pick a name for me, big brother Yin!”
Despite having considered such an option in his heart, Yin was still so startled by the six-year-old’s words that he caused Laien to quietly chuckle. “Are you really fine with me choosing it?” Yin asked, at the same time pressing his left leg onto his war horse’s side and making it ride into Laien’s Bellicose, much to the black horse’s displeasure.
“Yeah,” the six-year-old confirmed without a second thought, the looks of impatient anticipation already appearing in his eyes. By the looks of it, he couldn’t wait to hear what kind of name Yin would come up with for him.
“Fine,” Yin shook his head slightly and put his hand to his mouth, giving the matter a serious thought. “How about Alen? With your family being called Durash, you would be Alen Durash,” he proposed, feeling like this kind of name fit the six-year-old very well.
“Alen…” the six-year-old repeated, checking how this name would sound on his tongue. “I like it! Thanks, big brother Yin!” he called out happily, by now having all but forgotten about crying.
“You are welcome, Alen,” Yin said with a smile, causing the six-year-old; causing Alen to smile brightly.
“They really ended up getting along very well,” Laien thought quietly, not disturbing the subsequent chat Yin and Alen engaged in. “It really is a nice evening,” he said quietly, watching the slowly setting sun. He had nothing better to do and didn’t really want to train at the moment either, so he allowed himself to relax. He leaned back in the saddle and enjoyed the warm rays of sun that managed to sneak past the thick crowns of the trees; it truly had been a good day.