“Lookout City.” Shio said silently as he looked at the city gates from afar, watching as a multitude of people entered the city like a sparse stream.
“Hmm, good.” Theo said in approving manner. “This is a good place to introduce myself to the world.” He said calmly, as if his future fame was just a matter of course.
“Pshh,” Elaine couldn’t help but exclaim. “Introduce yourself to the mirror and have a good look. At the moment, in the cultivation world, we’re simply just like ants. If you’re so arrogant while we’re here, we might not have enough time to grow, like a seed sprouting only to be crushed under someone’s foot.”
“True,” Ronin responded. “Arrogance could kill us here, but being too timid will just the same destroy us in spirit.”
“Right, right!” Theo said in a dignified manner. “It’s not arrogance, it’s confidence! If we don’t even have that, we might as well have never left Newleaf.”
“Alright, enough talk. I want to have a look at this Lookout City.” Shio said as he led the way forward.
As they walked through the city gates, the atmosphere suddenly became much livelier as hawkers sold their wares on the side of the street, and as people conversed around the entrance square’s central fountain.
The square had restaurants and inns surrounding it to welcome people immediately as they came into the city.
Beyond the city gate, Shio and everyone’s gaze immediately drew to the statue before the fountain, of a man with his short hair swept back. He had a calm expression, a stubbled chin, wide shouldered armor, and his two hands held a sword before him like a staff pointed at the ground. There was a sense of security to be found on the statue, as if the sky was to fall this man would be there to hold it up.
As Jackson saw everyone stop to look at the statue, he began to explain. “That’s Lance the Defender, one of the legendary Reyah’s companions. It was he who built this city after Reyah founded the country. When Reyah set up the country as a place where people could cultivate in peace, it was Lance who held up this ideal, building this city to defend the peace in case the Chaos Continent ever invaded.”
Shio smiled at this and added, “Some also said that he also missed the excitement of the Chaos Continent and built the city, hoping for the Chaos Continent to invade, so that he could once again experience the glory of battle.”
“What?” Jackson exclaimed. “Who would say that? That’s nothing but nonsense. Lance was definitely the country’s defender of peace!” Jackson argued.
Shio simply smiled and said nothing. It seems like Jackson very much looks up to this Lance. Maybe he’ll also aspire to be a defender of peace.
“Who was Reyah?” Elaine asked. She had nothing of these stories.
“What? You don’t know who Reyah was?” Jackson said, dumbfounded, as he thought that everyone in the country would know who Reyah was. “She was the founder of the country! A visionary of her time; because she was displeased with the craziness in the Chaos Continent, she founded this country for sake of cultivating in peace! If it wasn’t for her, we would all be just like the animals in the Chaos Continent.” Jackson said in disdain for the Chaos Continent.
“This place isn’t necessarily better than the Chaos Continent.” Shio replied. “It’s all about perspective. Although, here in the country of Reyah, people live longer and the stronger cultivators are much more numerous, with more time to reach the peak, but the people of the Chaos Continent are refined through blood and fire. Some say one Chaos Continent cultivator could easily match any 10 cultivators of the same rank from the country of Reyah.”
“Pshh!” Jackson exclaimed. “So what? Even if they are stronger, people in the Chaos Continent are simply worse than dirt. They’d commit fratricide just to go on living for another day. Those people have no honor!”
“Ho ho!” Theo teased. “The young bandit begins to speak of honor!” He said, causing Jackson to blush in shame.
“Those people are way worse than I am.” Jackson couldn’t help but grumble.
“Don’t be so quick to judge. Many people in that continent don’t have any choice in the matter. It’s either kill or be killed.” Shio said with a different view.
“Enough talk, let’s go.” Ronin said. He didn’t care too much about these big views on right and wrong. As long as he could protect what he wanted to protect, he wouldn’t care if the world burned down.
“Right.” Shio responded. “Come, young Jackson, lead us to find some alchemy supplies.”
“Fine.” Jackson responded. “And don’t call me young. I’m older than you.” He said, still quite displeased at Theo’s earlier teasing.
Jackson lead them to a pretty well-known alchemy store in the middle of town, which pretty much had anything that someone of Shio’s level would need. Shio, Ronin, Elaine, and Theo all went in, while the little bandits waited outside.
Shio lightly greeted the lady behind the counter, near the entrance before heading further into the store to find what he needed.
Eventually Shio found the seed section of the store, where he continued to pick up several seed packets that he required.
“Hmm,” Elaine said, raising an eyebrow as she looked at the prices below the seed packets. “Does this place not take gold? What are Will Stones? Do we have any of those?”
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“That’s the common currency of cultivators,” Shio replied as he picked out seeds from the shelves. “Luckily we came across a small amount during our bandit hunts.”
“Those pale blue stones?” Theo asked. “I thought those were just pretty rocks, but they’re actually money? Damn! We should have sought out even more bandits!” Theo exclaimed in regret.
“Right,” Shio responded. “You can buy common things with gold, but for things that cultivators would need, only Will Stones will suffice.”
“So how much do we have exactly?” Ronin asked curiously. “Can we go out and buy some actual cultivator weapons, instead of the random assortment of things we have now?”
“Yeah, Shio!” Theo said quickly. “Don’t buy too much stuff! Leave some for us to use!”
“Ha,” Shio laughed awkwardly. “Unfortunately, we don’t have much. About 40, and I’ll need all of it. But don’t worry about it, I’ll compensate you. Just wait a few days.”
“Don’t be so anxious, Theo. Would Shio let you suffer a loss?” Elaine asked rhetorically.
Theo smiled awkwardly and no longer spoke. Indeed, Shio would not let him suffer a loss.
After they bought the things they needed, they went off to buy some common steel weapons and find an inn to spend the last of their meager amount of money on rooms and food for them and the little bandits.
“Bah, what’s a bunch of kids doing here? So annoying. I hate children.” Said a skinny man with chin-length red hair as he walked into the dining area with a couple of dangerous looking people.
“Him!” Jackson said, glowering at the red-haired man.
The man saw Jackson staring at him at violently responded, “What? Stinking kid, got a problem?”
Seeing that the man noticed him, Jackson put down his head and didn’t dare look up again.
“That’s right! This kid isn’t so dumb after all.” The red-haired man said before turning to find a table, away from the children.
“Jackson,” Shio said, noticing the angry look in Jackson’s eyes. “Do you know that man?”
“Yes,” Jackson said, recalling where he saw him as a burning rage grew within him. “He’s part of the gang that killed the caretakers of my orphanage.”
“What? How do you know it was them? Did you see them?” Ronin asked.
“No, they came in at the middle of the night, while we were all sleeping.” Jackson replied. “But, one day I was looking for a job at a restaurant, and I saw that man with a bunch of other people. At the time a large bald man was bragging about a job he did at an orphanage, and…” Jackson said, trying to continue. But as he thought about the things they said, his anger caused him to be unable to speak. He wished he tear apart those people and vent his rage, but alas, he was powerless.
Jackson took a moment to calm down before continuing. “Their gang is notorious in the city; murdering and stealing rampantly. The ruling Hale family should have gotten rid of them long ago, but for some reason, they just ignore the Night Stalker Gang.”
“In other words, this gang has some sort of backing.” Theo said, reading the situation clearly.
“No one knows,” Jackson said with a sigh. “But if they do have someone supporting them behind the scenes, it has to be either the Seir Clan, the Patient Waters Sect, or maybe even the Hale Clan themselves. Only organizations of that level could allow the Night Stalker Gang to be so rampant.”
“Regardless of whether they are guilty or not of this crime, such a gang should be wiped clean from the earth!” Ronin said in indignation.
“Hold on a minute,” Elaine butted in to settle the mood. “Is picking a fight really the first thing we want to do now that we’re in the city? Has cultivating for two years really supplemented you with such arrogance?” Elaine said in disdain. As she saw it, they were just young cultivators and new to the city; it was better to err on the side of caution rather than foolishly looking for fights to pick. Now was the time for building a solid foundation, and if a day comes when they were fully informed and confident, it wouldn’t be too late to act at that time.
Since when did we become almighty powerhouses, able to look in down at the world? Killing a few bandits has gotten to Ronin’s head. Elaine thought, slightly worried.
“Easy, everyone,” Shio interrupted Ronin as he was about to speak out. “Now is not the time for action, but information. We’ll be in the city for some time, and it’s unlikely that this gang is going anywhere. In future, we’ll still have time to act.”
“I agree.” Elaine said in support.
“What do you intend?” Theo asked.
“This red-haired one’s cultivation isn’t too strong. Rest easy tonight; by tomorrow we’ll have the information we need.” Shio said calmly.
…..
……
….
Late into the night, after the red-haired man arrived at home after a good night of drinking, and lazily slumped into bed; too lazy and drunk to cultivate. After several hours, he was in a deep sleep, and at this time a white haired boy appeared from the shadows of the room.
The house wasn’t too hard to sneak in for Shio, as the only other person in the home was the red-haired man’s frail mother.
A gentle flame appeared above Shio’s hand and floated above red-haired man’s sleeping face. The bright light startled him awake, but in his half-asleep state his eyes immediately became focused on the gentle flames aura; its soft warmth against his face.
Shio began to guide the red-haired man’s mind into comfort, dissolving any wariness from his mind. Then he began to question the man.
His name, the people in his gang, and finally the night that Jackson spoke of.
“His name was Rorg. He told us about how he saw a man heal a sick beggar on the streets with magic. After following the man back to his home, he intruded into the man’s bedroom in the middle of the night and killed the man and his wife in their sleep. After searching the room he found several magic tomes and left the house.” The red-haired man narrated.
“He didn’t find any children?” Shio asked, curious whether it was mercy or purely coincidental that Jackson and his little bandits survived.
“No. After finding what he wanted he immediately left before he caused any more of a disturbance. He did not mention any children.” The hypnotized man said.
“Tell me about Rorg.” Shio said.
“He’s a ruthless man. His purpose in joining the gang was mainly to get rich and to satisfy his bloodlust. He rarely steals without killing and frequently brags about these acts to others in the gang.”
“Hmm,” Shio said in thought.
“Do you ever steal for the gang?” Shio began, trying to get a sense of the red-haired man, and questioning whether he should end the man’s life.
“Yes.”
“Have you ever killed an innocent person?”
“Yes.” The red-haired man said, causing Shio to furrow his brows.
“Will you kill innocents in the future?” Shio asked, his intentions taking a dark turn.
“Yes, if I have to.” The man replied in a steady, dull voice.
Shio raised his hunting knife to the man’s neck, his muscles tensing as he intended to commit murder once again. But after a moment, his hand relaxed once more and drew to his side.
“Is there anyone in this world you have love for?” Shio asked once again, his mind in doubt. Perhaps I’ve been asking the wrong questions, Shio thought.
“My mother.”
“How much do you love her?”
“I would do anything for her, because she’d do anything for me.” The man said. Though his voice was dull and without emotion, his words still conveyed his meaning in this state.
“Do you have any regrets in this life?” Shio asked with solemn voice.
“I regret not being able to live the life my mother wanted for me.”
Shio sighed, asking no more. It’s not my place to judge this man, Shio thought, causing the flame to disappear and the hypnotized man to once again fall asleep. His murderous intent faded and he once more disappeared into the darkness…