Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 76. Light and Darkness.
“Huh,” Laien raised his eyebrows a little. “I thought it would be worse, but all there is in the air is nervousness and wariness… Yin is feeling the same thing. It’s not that those people are too scared to attack us; they aren’t even thinking of doing so,” he noted quietly, truth to be told feeling very pleasantly surprised. This Tuln Village wasn’t bad; compared to what he had seen in Ulme Village, this place was infinitely better.
“Ulme Village, Ulme Village was…!”
As the youth on the horse kept shouting, Turukan frowned and shouted back at him. “We’ve heard already, won’t you shut the hell up?!”
The young man almost bit off his own tongue when Turukan reprimanded him. He grimaced, the metallic taste of blood spreading within his mouth.
“Are you the ones responsible for that?” Turukan asked loudly and bluntly as he looked at Reian. He was a brave warrior, but even he didn’t have the guts to directly question Mustafa’s son. Thus, he settled for the second best option; this situation needed to be clarified properly to avoid trouble.
“Yes.” To Turukan’s surprise, it was Laien who answered the question. “We killed their experts, then I killed the rest of them. The only ones from Ulme Village who are alive are with our caravan,” Laien explained without getting agitated whatsoever. In fact, he spoke the words so calmly that many of those listening to him felt a fright; how could a boy so young speak so casually about killing thousands of people? And what did he meant that specifically he killed the rest of them?
“Ulme Village was frozen,” the youth on horseback said, the tone of his words betraying his anger. “I’m a martial practitioner of the eighth rank, but I was barely able to get down there and not die. I saw it with my own two eyes, all the villagers were frozen to death! All of them, elderly, women, children and babies! You think that’s the justice?” the youth questioned. He was aware of the terrible things the experts of Ulme Village liked to do; in fact, it could be said that he had a personal grudge against them as one of his cousins had been deemed ‘apostate’ by them and thus became a target of their sick hunting game. However, killing everyone without regard for their sin…! That was too much!
While the youth spoke, the people in the plaza were conflicted. That rash kid didn’t know who he was speaking to, but they shared his sentiment and thus, no one stopped him from finishing his words. It was the same for Turukan; although he had seen a lot in his three centuries of service as a mercenary and later on, as a soldier, he couldn’t easily accept laying waste to a whole village.
“What else was I supposed to do?” Laien asked loudly, using just a little of his Qi to carry his voice further. “Was I supposed to only find the ones who deserved death and killed them alone? And how would you even judge that? Is someone who allows another to be killed unjustly deserving death if he could have changed the outcome, but chose to not act? Is someone who taught his child that it’s fine to kill those he doesn’t like deserving death or not? Also, suppose I didn’t kill them all, suppose I set some bottom line and let all the kids three years old and younger off. What do you think they would have done after growing up and learning what happened to their families? Do you believe they would have agreed their relatives were bad people and left it at that? Of course not, they would have sought revenge!” he spoke calmly and fluently, find it very easy to articulate his thoughts on this matter as it was something he had thought about often during the past few months.
“As I recall, someone once said; being benevolent to others is being cruel to yourself,” he added with a rather helpless smirk. He didn’t care what others thought about him or his actions; as long as he could protect his family and friends from harm, he would be happy enough with that much.
The young man who challenged Laien, the well over three thousand villagers at the plaza, Rakar and his companions, even Turukan; they were all speechless. None of them had expected a young boy to actually articulate his reasons with a cool-headed and with the use of pragmatic arguments. As those who governed themselves in a fashion very much similar to Makarash, they could understand the rule of zero tolerance for the descent.
“Let me clarify one thing,” Turukan brought up with a frown, one thing that Laien said nudging him strongly. “You said you were the one who killed the common villagers. Does that mean you are the one who gave the order? Do you have the highest authority in your group?” he asked, enacting two very different responses. On one hand, Laien merely smiled at him, appearing quite amused, whereas on the other hand Rakar and the people of Tuln village gasped for breath. Did they not just learn that the youngest of those boys was Arslan, the Grand Yimar Mustafa’s only son? Then, how could another young boy possibly have a status higher than that?
“I didn’t give the order, but I made the choice and acted upon it,” Laien explained and shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t like the idea of putting the responsibility for what I did on others, so let me make it clear. I was the one who used ice magic to destroy Ulme Village. Whether you believe me or not is up to you,” he declared straightforwardly and without a hint of remorse. Then, he revealed a pleased smile for some inexplicable reason, causing all the hair on Turukan’s body to shiver.
Little did Turukan know that Laien wasn’t threatening him, but was actually very happy to sense a change occur within his soul.
“It really does look like Compassion is a double-edged sword,” Laien mused, his eyes half-closed as he looked upon the now four complete orbs of essence that rotated slowly in the very center of his soul. The completion of the Aspect of Compassion might not have increased his battle capacity by much, but it should have further enhanced his healing abilities.
“Makir Turukan,” Rakar broke the period of silence, speaking with a slight smile on his face. “Don’t you think it’s a good opportunity to make the announcement?” he suggested to Turukan, then looked Laien in the eye. With Turukan guarding the village, perhaps it was the time for the old him to make himself useful one last time before his longevity came to an end.
“Yes…” Turukan nodded in agreement. He closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath; he wasn’t used to speaking to crowds, so he needed a moment to collect his thoughts. “As all of you know, the Grand Yimar Mustafa arrived in our Yimarate,” he began saying, sweeping everyone with his gaze. “According to the edict we received a few hours ago, from today onwards the law of land shall be that of Makarash. I trust we won’t need to make many adjustments at all to our lives… but the region might become unstable once again. Thus!” he raised his voice and added more Qi to it, intending to make the best out of the current situation.
“Ulme Village shall serve as an example of what happens to those who don’t follow the new law. Spread the news, make sure that everyone in the region knows what it means to oppose the rule of the Ferocious Tiger General!” he roared, coming close to shattering the nearby windows through the vibration his voice caused. Since the person he feared most in the world was taking over and he had even come across his son, then there was only one choice to be made! And that was to support Mustafa’s new rule enthusiastically.
Although it took a second or two for the villagers to understand what was happening when they realized how their lived would change from this point onwards they were all greatly pleased. At first, it was only a few brave individuals who began cheering, but then more and more people joined until finally, the whole plaza was roaring, causing the windows of all the nearby houses to tremble dangerously despite no Qi being used. They all cried out Mustafa’s name, the name of Makarash, the name of Arslan… curiously enough, there were few who called out to their God.
“Whoa, that changed fast,” Laien pointed out, baffled to see how the crowd of people that had been weary and even angry with them turned into a supportive mob in seconds. He had experienced how hard it was to deal with unreasonable people during his ‘trial’ a few months ago, but he didn’t think it was possible for such a drastic shift in the mood to occur almost instantly.
“The crowd mentality is a scary thing,” Jasmine stepped closed and said with a smile. “People will act on emotion in large crowds, make sure to remember that. You can address their reason when they are calm, but if you truly want to move them, you must always stir their emotion! This village here was similar to those villages in Makarash to being with, thus they welcomed what you did in Ulme Village and they are happy for change Mustafa brings. However, they were reluctant to voice those opinions due to fear of being ostracized by the other villages. That’s the same reason why they didn’t act to help others despite thinking that what was happening was wrong,” she explained, making sure that her voice reached the ears of not only Laien but also Arslan and Yin. As she saw it, this piece of knowledge should be very useful to those three youths further on in their lives, given that the three of them were bound to live in the large world and deal with the great things.
Laien listened attentively, and so did the other two youths at his side. For Arslan it was a bit too fast to completely understand and put Jasmine’s advice into action, Yin cared little for such things, but as for Laien, he felt enlightened. It was as if the pieces of knowledge he had already acquired all magically clicked together and created one whole. He revealed a broad smile and nodded gratefully, welcoming this piece of information with open arms and fully intending to make use of it in the future.
“Let us finish the trade,” Turukan suggested, glancing at Reian. After receiving a confirmation, he looked at the three youths and inquired. “I trust you will accept my invitation to stay for the night? I will see to it that that people in your caravan receive a warm meal before the nightfall, so you needn’t worry about your companions sleeping in bad conditions.” he offered, now that had calmed down entirely seeing it as a precious opportunity to make friends with Mustafa’s son.
“Hmm,” Laien tilted his head, not sure what to do. He exchanged a look with Yin, then with Arslan and finally said, “Why not. Let us stay for the night in your house.”
“Great!” Turukan exclaimed but then coughed in embarrassment, thinking that he had gotten a bit too excited. “Old Rakar, do your part with our friend here too,” he urged, guessing it was going to take those two a fair bit longer since they didn’t have the details talked out yet.
“Yes, I will do just that,” Rakar confirmed with a slight smile. “However, let me exchange a few words with this youth here first…” he mentioned, his eyes moving towards Laien.
“With me?” Laien asked. “Well, go ahead. I’m waiting to hear what you have to say,” he said with a smile, thinking that it would be an unnecessary bother to move to the side for this small exchange.
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Rakar laughed heartily in response to Laien’s calm, almost dismissing attitude. “This boy skillfully dodged the question about being the leader of his group, but seeing his attitude I can’t bring myself to think otherwise. Really, who is he to be able to stand above Mustafa’s son?” he wondered quietly, though he didn’t ponder for long and started speaking soon afterward.
“You heard me mentioning my blood debt to that herbalist woman and as you can see, I failed to repay it. There isn’t much time the old me has left, maybe three or four years at most, Though I may not like it, I feel it. I’ve already done all there is for my family, so I think it’s time for me to pay my last debt off… I want to ask you to allow me to accompany you on your journey with the family of that herbalist. Who knows, maybe I will find a chance to settle that old gratitude.”
In face of such a straightforward request, Laien couldn’t do anything else but agree. “If that’s what you want, then your help is welcome,” he said calmly. He could tell Rakar was a martial master of the first rank and while he no longer saw this level of cultivation as anything amazing, he wouldn’t refuse help from someone as strong as that for no reason.
“I’m happy to hear that,” Rakar said with a smile, then glanced at Albert and willingly or not, saw the not-too-pleased expression on Sarah’s face. Yes, given how that girl acted, she would never have agreed to receive help from him… and that was the second reason why he came asking Laien and not her. She could despise him all she wanted; all he wished to be able to do was to die with his heart at peace and to do that, he needed to pay back the last blood debt he had.
“Before we complete this trade,” Albert brought up in a little troubled of a voice. He didn’t want to divert from the subject again, but… uh, well, yes. He indeed wanted to divert from the subject again. Thus, he gave Turukan an apologetic look and proceeded to say. “I think it would be a good idea for me and Sarah to return to the carriages and sleep there. It’s not that I look down on your hospitability, Makir, but I think it would be better this way for all of us.”
Turukan understood the reasons for Albert’s words pretty quickly. “Do as you like,” he agreed easily, being of the same mind as this youth who spoke to him. There was no need to risk any unpleasant events during the night and there was also no need to force this girl to stay at a place where she would feel uncomfortable.
At this point, Sarah no longer thought of complaining about having Johan stay with Laien and the other two. She was frustrated about so many things that, to be honest, all this frustration began turning into apathy, at least towards the matter of decision-making. Being angry at what Laien and Yin were doing with each other? Getting anxious about having the child of one of the most influential Ikarians as Johan’s friend? Once again, getting angry at having some two-faced Ikarian claiming to want to help them, or getting angry with Laien for agreeing to that without asking her? Screw it all. She couldn’t do anything about any of those things, so she could as well resign herself to watching passively as everything would develop while hoping for the best.
“So… do we go back?” Arslan asked, seeing how Albert engaged in trade, or rather in a one-sided mentioning of what he needed. Reian and Turukan had simply said the price and exchanged items through their interspatial rings, so they were already done; there was no need to wait for them.
“Wouldn’t that be a pity?” Laien asked with a cheeky smile. “Aren’t there many stalls with food around here? They all smell pretty nice. I want to taste them,” he said merrily and licked his lips. It truly has been some time since he had eaten so much good food, he couldn’t let this opportunity go to waste, could he?
“You are still going to eat?!” Arslan blurted out in disbelief. Didn’t Laien just finish eating enough food to fill five grown men at Turukan’s place not even half an hour ago? He still hadn’t had enough?
“I could eat some more too,” Yin supported with a chuckle. He might have eaten just as much as Laien, but his physique was pretty different to that of a normal human. Since on top of that, he was at the ninth mortal realm, he could keep eating for a truly long time before he would become unable to swallow another bite.
Arslan turned to look at Yin, his mouth hanging open a little. He himself was full beyond belief, but those two still wanted to eat! Were their stomachs bottomless pits or something? He had never seen anyone eat so much before…! Still, he could imagine martial masters eating as much if he wanted to recover more quickly after an injury, but he didn’t think anyone so young could be such a glutton! And there was two of them!
Turukan just about as surprised as Arslan, but instead of dwelling on it for long he simply laughed in amusement. “Good, good. Youngsters should eat a lot and train a lot! Go dine as you will, everything is on me,” he said with a smile, very much content to see the boys enjoy themselves.
“I will stick to watching,” Arslan said and smiled helplessly. He wouldn’t feel like eating anything until tomorrow, so there was no way he was joining Laien and Yin on this food tour.
“Me too, I’m full,” Johan said a bit timidly, but when the other three youths looked at him, he smiled at them and in particular, looked Arslan in the eye. He had gotten quite nervous when he learned who Arslan was, but he didn’t want to be scared of him just because of that. He wanted to be friends with Laien and Yin no matter what others, be it some random people or someone as close to him as his older sister, said. Similarly, he didn’t want to care about big and complicated things related to Arslan; he wanted to be his friend, regardless of what Arslan’s background was.
No words were exchanged in that moment, but Arslan’s mood instantly brightened up. He could tell there no longer was the same nervousness and wariness in Johan’s eyes; sure, Johan unchangingly appeared to be on the nervous and shy side, but he wasn’t scared of him anymore. With the biggest obstacle out of their way, they should be able to get along just well! The only problem was, he again didn’t know how did it all happen! There was no other option but to ask Johan later, eh?
“A good day,” Laien mused aloud, then headed toward the closest stalls that were beginning to liven up.
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“Grand Yimar, please, no!” Yimar Sharu pleaded, his whole body shivering in fear. “I beg you! I promise on the name of Rala, I will serve you faithfully…! I beg you…!” he repeated the pleas, his voice echoing in the underground catacombs below the Grand Palace of the City of Palee.
Yet, the pleas feel deaf on Mustafa’s ears as he thrust out with the palm of his hand, skewering Yimar Sharu’s stomach with utter ease despite the toughness of the body of a martial master of the fifth rank. Paying no attention to Yimar Sharu’s pitiful groans, Mustafa roused his Qi and filled Yimar Sharu’s innards with it. He coiled his Qi around Yimar Sharu’s Qi Origin, which slipped away the moment Sharu’s stomach was pierced through, then with some effort, he shattered it.
The scream Yimar Sharu let out was closer to that of a dying beast or to that of a pig being skewered. The physical pain of having one’s cultivation crippled at the level of a martial master was one thing, but the psychological torture was a whole another thing. The moment his Qi Origin shattered, Yimar Sharu understood that he was as good as dead; he was worthless without his Qi. Within hours, the remnant energy within his body would dissipate and he would be reduced to the level of a martial practitioner of the seventh or eighth rank. Then, was he somehow not to be killed the next day by Mustafa, he would begin aging rapidly until his body withered and he became an old man. He would die of old age in half a year at most. That was the terrible fate awaiting those who had lived beyond the age of a normal person but had their cultivation crippled.
“I do not need the loyalty of a dog who isn’t faithful to any master…” Mustafa said disdainfully, his voice emotionless and cold. He yanked his forearm out of Yimar Sharu’s stomach, sending the man tumbling down onto the stone floor of his cell. “Patch him up and send him to sleep. I want him to be alive for the execution tomorrow morning,” he ordered, shaking off the blood and innards off his clothes with the aid of his wind-element Qi. He looked around at the rest of the prisoners that were either being crippled or put unconscious, then cursed furiously and headed up, back to the Grand Palace.
Minutes later, he emerged through one of the secret pathways, making his way directly into the main section of the Grand Palace where Yimar Sharu used to live.
“Did you catch them?” he asked the moment one of the officers of his White Guard, who had apparently waited for him to come, came into his view.
“Forgive me, my lord…” the white-clothed man with a sigil of a roaring tiger on top of his heart lowered his head. “We killed a few of those who lagged behind, but most of them escaped into the Guode Yimarate. We were obstructed by the men of Yimar Maar’s, we had no numbers to fight them,” he explained, feeling great shame at having failed the task entrusted to him by Mustafa. If they had only been a bit faster in moving, or in taking action! It felt like those accused traitors were always half a step ahead of their movements, like they knew who, how, where and at what numbers they would attack and attempt to kill or capture. However, it was all not an excuse, so he remained silent.
Mustafa cursed in his heart. He had taken one thousand of his elite White Guard, leaving the remaining nine thousand elites to guard Makarash under Kundar’s orders, but this decision came back to bite him in the ass. He had been predicting a slow and steady struggle for influence in Eulene, so he hadn’t worried much; hell, even in the current circumstances everything shouldn’t have been all that troublesome to deal with! Yet, not only had he received the news that Yimar Maar mobilized all his experts as if he was expecting a military clash with him, but a large portion of the top experts of Palee City had somehow escaped the city fled to Yimar Maar’s protection! He shouldn’t have waited to weed them out to the last one, he should have killed them all without making distinctions!
“What of my son?” he asked after taking a deep breath. There was no point in him getting angry at his officers; he could only blame himself for not being careful enough. His White Guard was well-trained, well-coordinated and it was many times more powerful than in the past. Just the fact that in the very beginning of his rule, White Guard numbered over one hundred thousand whereas nowadays, it was limited to ten thousand members showed how harsh the selection was. As long as the plans were good and the balance of strength was adequate, he was confident in the ability of his White Guard to complete any task given to them.
“From what reports say, he got involved in helping Euleanians… and destroyed a small Ikarian village two days ago,” the man reported. They had received this piece of news long ago, but Mustafa had ordered them not to bother him unless his son was in danger, so he doubted Mustafa knew anything.
“Ho? They wiped out a whole village?” Mustafa asked, his lips curving into a smile for the first time this day. “They were more decisive than I was. I guess they will also end up better off, hah. Good, we can make use of that to calm the rural regions down. It will make some things easier and will spare us the hassle of making an example out of some village,” he said with a laugh. No matter how it had played out, it was a good experience for Arslan to have. It really had been the correct choice for him to give in to Arslan’s requests and let him go with those two boys.
“My lord, there is one problem though,” the man added, then proceeded to explain without further delay when the expression on Mustafa’s face changed. “We’ve discovered that the village, Ulme Village, had been entirely frozen by a powerful ice-element spell. The reports say that judging by the aftermath, only a spiritual master of the fifth rank and above would be able to use such magic. The problem is, we aren’t aware of a person like that being in the little master’s company.”
Hearing his subordinate say so, Mustafa frowned heavily. “Fifth rank by normal standards, or by our standards?” he asked and when the man confirmed that it was the latter one, the frown on his face deepened. He would still be inclined to believe it had been Laien’s job had the level been around that of a normal spiritual master’s of the third rank or so, but for a twelve-year-old to display the might of an elite spiritual master of the fifth rank… it was inconvincible to the point of being on the verge of, no, not on the verge of; it was entirely beyond ridiculous.
“We have no information of that master at all? No guesses?” Mustafa asked, though was met with his subordinate shaking his head sternly. “But they are going forward to Ruishi Federation like they were planning to?” he inquired and only after receiving confirmation of that did he relax somewhat.
“We shall leave the matter of this mysterious expert for later… there won’t be further changes to the plan. Early morning, executions. Then, I want you to command the pacification of the Banxi Yimarate. Those who surrender will be spared, everyone else shall be executed. The usual rules.”
“It shall be done, my lord,” the man responded with a smile. This task would be a perfect opportunity for him to redeem himself; he would see to it being carried out perfectly.