"Carry on," the inspector at the gate says before he waves them off. The four armored guards in the front part and let them through.

*sniff*

Ken's nose scrunches up. It's been scrunched up for a while, but even more so now.

'Why does it smell like shit?'

"Is this smell normal in the cities?" He asks Fanron, the old man that had helped get through the gate.

"It is" he confirms "Quite the welcoming stench isn't it young lad?" The scowl on Kenki's face causes him to laugh out loud. Though, the burn of the awful smell makes him to reconsider when he starts hacking and coughing.

"It usually isn't this bad." He manages to relay through coughs "Maybe the river has dried out? But I doubt that is what's happening, it is a big and strong river… What are you looking for, lad?" He calls out.

"Don't you get the feeling that someone is watching us?" Ken replies as he looks left and right

'She wasn't lying about getting immediately noticed' he thinks to himself 'I can see the Qi in the air. It's nothing like what she demonstrated in Dongmei's manor but it is blanketing the entire city'

"And the air looks kind of wobbly?" He further says, continuing to act dumb. He has no idea if the cultivator can hear him but it doesn't hurt to go the extra mile.

"Well, it is summer." Fanron replies "It's expected for the air to be like that. Or maybe the city stink is going to your head" he continues laughing despite his earlier incident. Pulling at the reins, he directs the horse through the busy city streets.

Meanwhile Ken just sits back and takes the whole scenery in.

Being this close to the only gate leading out of the city means that there is a lot of traffic. A steady stream of caravans and people are waiting in line to be inspected. Their clothes are on a level above what he is used to. There are no strings and wool randomly sticking out and the designs… the fact that the clothes have designs is telling in and of itself. Ken's own clothes are just plain pieces of wool and linen stitched together.

"Make way! Make way!" Fanron shouts out to nobody in particular. The passing of his carriage parts the people in front and, judging by how smoothly they move out of the way, this is all normal for them.

Out of the corner of his eye Ken catches a man on the second story of a building. He's holding a bucket. Mildly curious, he turns to see what he's going to do.

Ken's eyes widen in horror as the man empties the bucket's brown contents out the window and right onto the unwary passer-by below. He's too far away to make out the contents of the resulting shouting match but the man who just had literal shit dumped on his head is, understandably, absolutely furious.

It is only then that the young boy notices all the brown lumps scattered under the buildings. The roads aren't paved so he hadn't managed to distinguish them from the surrounding dirt before.

Worst of all, he manages to catch sight of a man using his bare hands to collect whatever fecal matter had happened to land on that particular part of the road. Tossing it into a large bucket like he's collecting fruit and not someone's shit, and then hauling it away. Ken didn't know why the man was collecting it. Perhaps he's paid to do it, perhaps he has 'that' particular fetish. He just knows that he is collecting it with his bare hands.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Many chaotic thoughts pass through his brain in the following few minutes but there was one thing Ken is absolutely certain of…

…he was moments away from fainting in shock.

'Dios Mio, these fucking savages!'

It was on that very day that Kenki felt the spark of ambition ignite deep inside his soul. He swore that if he ever got powerful enough to become the guardian of a city or a town, he would re-invent the sewage system from his old world.

But that is a story for another day.

=========================

"Ooooh. What a cutie you are" Shina, the inn owner hugs him. She is exactly what you would expect when you mention a female inn owner in a fantasy world. A living stereotype if you will.

Slightly overweight with plenty of fat on her cheeks. Somewhere in her thirties or forties and having a voice that perfectly fits her body type. She's wearing a garb that reaches all the way to her ankles while also having a food stained apron strapped to her shoulders and waist.

And, if the smell wafting from the kitchen is anything to go by, she is an average cook. Not bad but… not good either.

A vein pops up on Ken's forehead as the woman pinches his cheeks.

"And you have such beautiful long hair as well! The people will love you. What's your name?"

"Kaito" Ken lies, telling her a name he'd picked out beforehand.

"Lovely!" She cheerfully clasps her hands "Alright then, Kaito. Why don't you and Fanron follow me upstairs? I'll show you to your rooms"

Ken's room is a small one. But it's not like he's going to remain here for long if things go as planned.

Even if he was, he would not have complained.

There's a bed, already an extravagant piece of furniture when you consider that you can just lay down a thick blanket and call it a day. A closed wooden window and that is pretty much it. Almost as plain as it could get

Ken contemplates opening up the window but decides against it. Better the stagnant air filled with the smell of wood than whatever is on the outside.

He bids Fanron goodbye. The man has to prepare for his next journey. In that short one hour ride with him, Fanron had told Ken that on outgoing trips he mostly sells artisan goods to the surrounding villages. He needs to buy pots, pans, knives, farming tools and the like.

On the return trip he sells the many different kinds of produce he'd gotten from the villages back to the city. Wheat, dried fruit, smoked meat…

…Pemmican

Ken inwardly smiles when he's reminded of the awful tasting travel food, as hard as a rock and as tasty as dog food. The first time he'd tried it he nearly spat it out. Yet he couldn't bring himself to hate it.

It's a food that has a lot of pleasant memories attached to it.

"There we go." Shina calls out as she enters the room, having brought a bucket of warm water and a towel with her.

"Clean yourself up. When you're done come downstairs and we can get you started on your new job."

She leaves after seeing Kenki nod, closing the door behind her.

'The pressure is gone, did they lose interest in me?' Ken remarks in his mind as he grabs the towel and submerges it in the bucket.

'Honestly, I didn't think that I would get this far. I expected the city guardian to come out and grab me the moment I passed the city gates.'

Twisting the towel out of its excess moisture he proceeds to clean up. The warm water feels pleasant against his skin.

Steadily, the water gets cloudier and cloudier. The more dirt that Ken removes from his body, the darker the water becomes, to the point where it is impossible to see the bucket's bottom.

His skin now shining, Ken examines the cuts that he'd inflicted on himself. Much to his surprise every single one of them is scabbed over and well on its way to healing despite the fact that less than a day has passed.

'Crazy stuff. And apparently cultivators just cannot get infected, even newly advanced ones like myself.' Ken remains stoic, suppressing his smile. He is absolutely delighted about his new superhuman healing abilities but doesn't dare show that outwardly, for fear that he is being watched.

'Welp. I've gotten this far' he shakes his head 'If the guardian doesn't want to spirit me away then I'm not going to force him to.' Inwardly, he chuckles.

'Might as well stay true to my declared path and really let the winds take me. I'm going to enjoy the city life for a month or two and, if nothing happens, I'll get on an outgoing carriage and bag it out of here. I want to continue experimenting with Qi but I can't do it when such a powerful cultivator is present'

Standing up from the bed he stares disdainfully at the bucket, the memories of what he'd witnessed upon entering the city are still fresh in his mind.

He shrugs, hesitating only for a moment before opening the window.

"Yeet!"