Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 84. Craving for More.
“Your father wouldn’t fall so easily,” Jasmine glanced at Arslan and said confidently. Of course, she was also worried for Mustafa after hearing about a report like that from this grey-haired young man, but she could ill afford to show that to Arslan. The boy was already worried enough, not to mention the amount of stress he had gone through in the last minutes. If in addition to that his guards lost their cool, then how was he supposed to keep at least a somewhat calm head?
“That’s right,” Reian supported eagerly. “I can’t imagine Mustafa losing to a few experts. Even if he ended up being unable to win, he would have been able to easily withdraw given his ability,” he assured Arslan with a smile, then gently tousled his hair. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing to worry about; this news was likely just a piece of misinformation or a baseless rumor.
With Jasmine and Reian saying so, Arslan indeed managed to calm down a little. He wasn’t about to panic anymore and he was no longer imagining all the worst-case scenarios in his head, but he was quite anxious regardless. He remembered learning that his father, in his youth, had been in quite a few dangerous battles that could have gone either way, but as far as he could recall, for the last four hundred years, his father had been claiming nothing but one overwhelming victory after another. This knowledge should have given him confidence that his father was all right, but it caused him to worry instead.
Wasn’t Arakar, the Sword of Rala of the Great Prophet’s, a martial master of the seventh rank, just like his father? If he recalled, Yimar Maar was an exceptionally strong martial master of the fifth rank, while Yimar Maar’s Sword of Rala was someone at the peak of the sixth Realm of Heroes. If those three people joined hands with dozens of other experts under their command… then perhaps even his father wouldn’t be their match.
“I’m sorry, but…” the grey-haired young man spoke up with a sigh. “I wouldn’t be mentioning this report if it wasn’t at least somewhat credible. The Ikarians under Yimar Maar’s banners are apparently celebrating the death of Mustafa and the news is spreading like a wildfire. There is yet to be any confirmation that Mustafa’s corpse had been seen through…” he explained in a fairly straightforward manner, but changed his tone towards the end, when he saw the pained look on Arslan’s face. He also hoped that Mustafa was alive and well, so he didn’t want to put Arslan down… but still, he didn’t want to give the boy any false hope either. If anything, he and his Cherubim knew how agonizing it was to hope for days upon days and months upon months, only for all this hope to crumble in the end.
“…” Arslan lowered his head for a second. However, he raised his gaze right afterward, when he remembered what Reian had told him a week ago. No matter what happened, one should always hold his head high and keep looking ahead! He hadn’t quite been able to comprehend the meaning of those words back then, but he felt like he understood them better now. “If any new information comes, could you please tell me?” he asked in a fairly calm manner, looking directly into the eyes of the grey-haired young man.
“What a strong kid,” the grey-haired young man mused to himself, then nodded and said. “Aye, I will do that.”
“Thank you,” Arslan replied politely. There was no way he could rush west on his own to confirm what had happened and by the looks of it, the beasts they used to deliver messages weren’t able to move freely or had already been all killed. As such, he appreciated the grey-haired man’s help.
The young grey-haired man seemed like he was about to say something else, but then he and many of his subordinates turned to look at the nearby area of shattered rock and earth. “You should finish those guys off. Or, do you need our help?” the young man inquired. At least some of those martial and spiritual masters in Arslan’s ground should have some strength remaining, no? Else, those remaining Ikarians wouldn’t have run from them but fought until the bitter end.
“I will take care of them,” Jasmine volunteered. She hadn’t been quite able to do as much as she would have liked to during that battle, so she had a lot of pent-up stress. Those half-dead bastards would do well enough as scapegoats, for the lack of a better substitute.
“Also,” the young man added. “You should collect all the interspatial rings from the bodies all over this place. Of course, though, if you don’t want them then we will happily relieve you of them all,” he said with a smirk, enacting a few quiet laughs from the riders behind him. They wouldn’t rob those people of their spoils of battle, but if they didn’t want it, they wouldn’t refuse to take them away.
At this mention, Liza perked up a little. She had gotten used to collecting the various items after each battle, but this time around she held herself back from doing or saying anything. No matter how she looked at it, she didn’t play much of a role in the clash with Yimar Furi and his men; it wasn’t up to her to enjoy the benefits of the victory.
“Would you mind helping with that?” Reian asked in turn, looking toward Liza, Ruan and the rest of their group. “I’ve managed to kill a few of them, so go ahead and share twenty of the interspatial rings amongst yourselves. As for the rest of them, be sure to keep them separate, including the ones of those black-golden-clothed commanders,” he offered simply, without thinking about it too much. As a member of the White Guard, he didn’t lack anything, so he didn’t feel especially desirous of the spoils. The only things that would be of interest to him or Jasmine were the rings of Yimar Furi’s and his commanders’.
Alas, one of the four fell into the hands of this grey-haired man and his riders. The second of those rings definitely belonged to Laien and Yin, while the third was arguable… but Reian didn’t feel like trying to claim it for himself. He was ashamed enough that it was those two young boys who won the battle for them; he wouldn’t make himself seem even uglier by being petty about their gains.
Finally, there came the matter of Yimar Furi’s interspatial ring… but that one proceeded to solve itself on its own.
“I will take care of collecting the rings,” Gahar said with a calm, but also somewhat wry smile, causing the look on Liza’s face to dim a little. “I’ve already taken Yimar Furi’s ring too… I will keep it for the boys, including the rest of their spoils along with my share. It’s not like I have a need for money or anything else anyway,” he mentioned. Then after a few seconds, when he decided it had been long enough for Liza to cool her head, he mentioned before turning into a cluster of shadows.
“I will pick twenty rings of those killed by Reian for you, so don’t worry…”
After being a bit dumbstruck for a moment, Liza revealed a sour smile. Was it bad that she had been thinking to pick the better rings for herself? There would be a huge difference between possessions of martial masters of the second, third and fourth rank… and it wasn’t like those two were poor! “Did he see through me...? Was I punished for my dishonest intentions?” she wondered, only able to sigh bitterly. They had played a supportive role in the battle, true, but they ended up not fighting once. She wasn’t in a position where she could complain about the shares of the loot.
“An assassin of the Guild of Shadows,” the grey-haired young man muttered, observing the moving cluster of darkness with wariness. He had been able to tell early that Gahar was just a martial master of the third rank; he hadn’t seen him as anything great. However… a Shadow was a very different thing. “He is keeping his Shadow Step easily detectable on purpose. Was he hired by Mustafa to protect his son…? No, that doesn’t make sense, Mustafa would never deal with those people,” he mused, not quite sure what to think of that black-cloaked man’s presence.
“Does it mean that my share has been conceded too?” Jasmine asked playfully and without waiting for a response, headed to kill the last few remaining martial masters of the fourth rank. She was grateful to Gahar for avoiding them, so she went to finish them off. As for the rings? She might as well give them to Arslan. Herself, she had no need for them at all.
“Would you mind if I asked something?” the grey-haired man brought up, his gaze wandering toward the two white-robed, unconscious youths. There was something he couldn’t quite understand given the respective strength of the experts in this group in front of him, so he couldn’t help but ask.
At these words, Reian smirked a little and replied. “I don’t think anyone will mind, but shouldn’t you name yourself first?”
“True,” the grey-haired man laughed. “I’m Julien, the Lord of the Eagle Pass and the General at the service of the Ruishi Federation. Pleased to meet you,” he said with a smile, at first looking at Reian, then switching to look at Arslan. If possible, he would have liked to welcome Mustafa’s son into the country, provide him shelter and in case Mustafa really was dead, aid in returning to Makarash. However, he doubted that those stubborn old fools who insisted on upholding the neutrality of the Federation would agree to that, especially in regards to the latter of those two things.
Reian nodded ever so slightly, acknowledging Julien’s introduction. He didn’t speak just yet though; he wanted to see if Arslan was feeling well enough to take the lead in the conversation or not.
Arslan seemed to have picked up on Reian’s intentions fairly quick; he was still rather shaken by everything that had happened, but he didn’t shrink away from speaking. “You already know who I am, so… you said you have a question?”
“Yes, indeed,” Julien nodded. “Allow me to ask you straightforwardly. Are those ‘boys’ that man mentioned these two here? If so, why are you giving them most of the spoils?” he inquired, but as he did he suddenly started feeling that his question was pretty stupid. Wouldn’t it be something like Arslan having made a bet of some kind with two of his companions, which he then subsequently lost? He shouldn’t have asked something so silly… but since he already had, it was too late to change his mind.
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“That’s…” Arslan blurted out with a troubled look on his face before he could bite his tongue. He scolded himself for giving away that there was something he would rather not mention. “Should I tell him the truth or not?” he asked himself, not sure how to respond. Would Julien believe him if he told the truth? And if he did, then wouldn’t Laien and Yin find themselves in trouble because of it? No, if Julien wanted, he could have captured him already; since he didn’t, there should be no danger of him acting against Laien and Yin either.
Seeing Arslan fidgeting slightly with an uncertain expression on his face, Julien became the more convinced of his own theory. However, the next moment…
“Yes, Gahar meant them. As for the spoils of battle, it was the two of them who killed most of our enemies. It only makes sense if the interspatial rings go into their hands.”
was what he heard from Arslan. He frowned heavily; he was just as baffled as his men were about this revelation. Was Arslan kidding them? But he didn’t look like he was joking at all… the look on his face was absolutely serious. Either he was saying the truth, or he was a really exquisite actor for a little boy.
“Can they be…?” Julien decided to forego the rules of courtesy. He directly released his aura and swept the two unconscious youths with it; and the moment he did, the frown on his face transformed into a look of disbelief. One was a dual practitioner with both cultivation bases at the early eighth mortal realm, while the other was a martial practitioner at the early… no, at the middle ninth mortal realm? The Qi inside that green-haired boy’s body was swelling up and growing at a noticeable pace; it was something he had never seen happen before.
“They are incredibly strong for their age, but that alone isn’t enough to make them strong enough to contest against a large group of marital and spiritual masters…” he thought quietly. For a second, he had thought those two were incredibly powerful experts who had broken through to the Realm of Heroes at an abnormally young age, but this guess proved to be wrong. Curious; baffled but curious, he turned his eyes toward Arslan and said. “I hope that later, you will explain it all in detail. I admit, I’d love to hear how your battle played out.”
“Yes, later,” Arslan said with a slight smile. It was still afternoon, but he was extremely tired; he certainly enough didn’t have it in him to tell the whole story to Julien at this moment. Briefly, he glanced at Gahar and Jasmine, who were walking over after having finished their own tasks. “Can we enter Ruishi Federation with those five thousand people?” he asked, returning his gaze to Julien.
“Uh,” Julien groaned quietly. “Entering is one thing… but I can’t guarantee they will be allowed to stay. It’s not up to me to decide,” he explained briefly and shook his head. He was occupying the position of a General within the Ruishi Federation, but due to the nature of the people he had gathered under his command his authority was perhaps the lowest out of the seven Generals, not to mention the two Great Generals and the council of Grand Elders. He had also gone out of his way to accommodate many refugees in his own lands over the past years, especially during the Bloody Dusk this spring. He wouldn’t be able to help one hundred more people, much less five thousand.
“I see,” Arslan nodded calmly. It was good enough that they could enter for now; he was sure that worst case scenario, Ruishi Federation would let those five thousand stay if they paid enough money in exchange. How much could it cost to accommodate five thousand people? To average nobles it might be a high price to pay, but to him, the heir to Makarash, it was simply a chump change.
“If that’s everything,” Julien began saying. “Then go gather those people and follow us. We will lead your caravan through the Eagle Pass so that all those carriages don’t break twice over along the way,” he mentioned with a smirk, then added casually. “If we hurry, we should just be able to reach Lugna before the nightfall. I will have you stay the night at my place for the time being.”
“Yes, thank you,” Arslan said with a smile and nodded his head. Julien responded with the same gesture, spared one last curious glance in the direction of the two white-robed boys and finally, turned his horse around and led his unit to the nearby crossroad, all the while musing in silence.
“They called those two boys, but is it just a habit of theirs or something? One of them was obviously a girl…”
“We shouldn’t delay any longer,” Jasmine stated. Now that she was no longer as frustrated as before, she began thinking clearly once again. Although it wouldn’t be wise to say that a commander ought to always act with the worst-case scenario as the center for his plans, saying that he should keep it in mind and take reasonable precautions against it was something Jasmine strongly agreed with. They might have successfully fended of Yimar Furi and his elites, but it wasn’t guaranteed that no more enemies were coming their way; getting deeper into the Ruishi Federation appeared to be the best option this time around, at least until further news about Mustafa arrived.
“Yeah,” Reian supported simply. He was naturally worried about Mustafa, but at the moment, he wanted to rest, recover and attempt to make a breakthrough the most! He had thought himself to be strong, and he indeed was very powerful for someone his age… but after the battle with Yimar Furi and his men, he realized how lacking his strength and experience was. As a talented dual-element cultivator, his future potential was limitless; however, he needed this strength now, not in a hundred years! It was the first time since he had been a powerless slave that he felt such a strong desire to become powerful appear in and take root within his heart.
“I will carry them over,” Kasha offered. She still had some spiritual energy left, so using magic to move Laien and Yin back to the carriage should be just about manageable. There was no one in their group who required and wanted a treatment either, so she saw no argument against moving those two in a gentler and more comfortable manner.
“Right, here you go,” Gahar flicked a single interspatial ring into Liza’s hands. “Everything’s inside, be sure to share it properly,” he said with a laugh and without waiting for the rest to come along, began walking toward the caravan.
A second or two later, the main group of theirs also moved. Kasha lifted the two youths slightly into the air with a layer of water she created and took them along; Arslan, Johan and Albert tagged along closely, whereas everyone else followed behind them.
However, none of them, including Julien and his Cherubim, we aware that two black-cloaked, black-masked men were sitting atop one of the many hills in the area.
“See, I told you it was worth the effort,” the old man said cheerfully. Had his voice not sounded elderly, one could have thought it was a happy child who had just gotten his favorite sweets speaking. “Those two are extraordinary! Even more so than Altair told me. They are perhaps only a little worse than this dear pupil of mine when he was their age, but there’s two of them!” he said excitedly. The cooperation those two kids displayed was a sight to behold; he could count the number of people he knew were capable of a similar feat on the fingers of his two hands and two legs, so it was quite an accomplishment!
“… I was the only one putting in the effort,” the young Shade complained quietly. “We didn’t even know if those hundred were going to rush back to Mustafa or choose to guard his son. Hell, I made sure to have all the flying beasts killed, so they wouldn’t have known anything was happening anyway! What happened to the rule of not involving ourselves with the power struggles unless we are hired for the job? Isn’t it a bit too much?” he continued pouting, now that he was given a chance. Before now, he had been told to shut up and not disturb the fun, so he hadn’t been able to even express his own discontent properly.
“Bah.” The masked old man rolled his eyes. “You are decently talented, but you are such a miserable joykiller. Can’t you just be happy with the moment instead of thinking about stupid things all the time?” he asked with a sigh, not an ounce of sarcasm present in his voice; he was being totally serious.
“Hmph,” the young Shade felt like cursing his old teacher out, but his wiser side stopped him from doing so. He had expended a considerable amount of effort to kill those one hundred White Guards; it had truly been a pain in the ass to take care so that none of them would escape too! But, it wasn’t like his teacher would care about any of that. It was like a slave complaining that his food wasn’t tasty enough to his owner; completely pointless and thoroughly counterproductive.
“Either way,” the young Shade changed the subject. “That should be it for the Trials. Am I free to go back? I have a lot of things I need to take care of,” he said hopefully. The performance of those two kids was honestly so good that it stunned him; they had eclipsed the level of strength and potential required of Shadow Trails by leaps and bounds. Testing them further would be a waste of time, or so he thought. Yet…
“What are you saying!” the old man exclaimed, very honestly appeased by his old student’s lack of common sense. “Don’t you want to see what they can do if they are pushed even further? We will continue watching them and depending on what happens, you will help the things move in the right direction,” he stated outright, his tone suggesting that he would take no objections to his decision.
“…” the young Shade was speechless, but he felt like he should have known better. Yes, that was the reason that only three out of the hundreds of geniuses his teacher had taken interest into survived all this attention of his. That old man simply didn’t know where to stop… but it wasn’t like there was anyone who could put brakes on his whimsical behavior. Maybe Altair could sway him a little if he was here, considering how heavily the old man favored him, but that was it.
“Oh come on, cheer up!” the old man slapped his old disciple on the back, seeming to be feeling slightly guilty about making him feel bad. “I promise the next time they show us something good will be the last, okay? I will even allow you to use twice the resources for the next ten years if you stop pouting on me right now, what do you say?” he offered since he was in an exceptionally good mood. He had been enjoying himself greatly with Altair, but the prospect of having two more pupils to observe and whose growth and accomplishments he could potentially enjoy filled him with glee.
The young Shade almost choked on his own tongue when he heard his old teacher’s words. Twice over the amount of resources?! His contributions to the Guild were already the highest by a large margin, so he was claiming a proportionally vast amount of annual rewards. Making it two times as much… was the Guild even able to sustain such a payout? Was his teacher aware of their finances, or was he oblivious to them?
“What, you don’t want to?” the old man asked teasingly, having noticed the wavering of this old student of his.
“No!” the young Shade exclaimed but began panicking when he realized the ambiguity of his reply. “Wait, I mean yes! Rather… Gah! I do want!” he said in a hurry, his words all over the place. He blushed in embarrassment under the black mask of his; he was over two hundred years old, yet he could still act so childish! It was so shameful that he wanted to dig a hole and hide in it.
“Good, good,” the old man laughed, pleased to see that the mood of his old disciple improved. “You were always easy to please. Here you go, half the pay upfront, half after we are done,” he said cheerfully and threw an interspatial ring directly at his old disciple’s face with quite some force.
The young Shade barely caught the ring before it slammed into his cheek. Usually, he would have been angered, but right now he couldn’t care less about his old teacher’s weird quirks. He hurriedly inspected the interior of the ring; the next second, his eyes went wide and he laughed heartily.
“I will see to every little detail, teacher. I assure you,” he said with a bright smile. He had thought he would only waste his time here in the west, but now this endeavor proved to actually be worthwhile! He had been pitying those two boys a little, but he no longer cared much about them. So what if his teacher ended up toying with their fate until they died? It would simply be two more to the count of hundreds.
“Mm, keep a watch on those two then,” the old man said contentedly. “I’m going back to the shore for a bit. We need to see that those two aren’t outright crushed,” he mentioned and after sending his old disciple a playful glance, dissipated into the shadows and disappeared.
The young Shade chuckled quietly, then similarly employed the Shadow Steps movement technique and disappeared from the hill.