Eric returned the next afternoon, which left Zane with the task of explaining what happened. The former general’s reaction surprised him.

“Good work,” Eric said, “Bajade was a prick, and the lowlands are better off without him.”

“You're not mad?”

“No.” The big man shook his head. “There's a reason why I spent as much time as I could on the mountain. When Bajade wasn't squeezing money out of the local farmers and burning villages, he was plotting to overthrow the Emperor.”

Zane filed this information away for later, and promptly forgot about it. “Do you think his people will come after us?”

Eric shrugged. “Who knows? It's hard to march an army up the mountain. Most of the rank and file soldiers are too low level to resist the fog. But his heir may send assassins, if they suspect us. Good job on covering your tracks, by the way.”

The rogue cultivator beamed. “Oh, that was easy.”

“It won't deter a determined investigator though,” Eric warned, “One of our neighbors probably saw or heard something. So, we should plan to move on, sooner rather than later.”

“Ah,” Zane said, “That might be a bit of a problem.” The young man shifted awkwardly, unsure of how much he should say. He hadn't told Eric about his connection to the gods, or his blessings.

Kiel had warned Zane about what might happen if someone found out. The kobold had told him that other cultivators might try to take the blessings for themselves.

“You're making a face,” Eric said, “What aren't you telling me?”

Zane sighed. “I have it on good authority that someone is going to try to destroy Hero’s Step during the Winter Festival.”

The big man paused to absorb this new information. “Alright, do you know who is behind it or how they are planning to do it?”

“No,” Zane frowned, “They weren't allowed to go into details, on account of some pact or agreement. Sorry.”

Eric’s massive brow furrowed. “I see. So, I suppose the next question is, why do you care?”

“What do you mean?” the young man asked.

“Look, Zane. I like you. But you also have the moral fiber of a water slime,” Eric said, “I'm honestly surprised that you aren't fleeing town, or trying to find some way to turn things to your advantage.”

“I'm hurt,” Zane replied innocently, “Why is it so hard to believe that I want to help people?”

Eric didn't buy that for an instant. “You just killed three people and fed the rest to your pets.”

“Fair point,” the rogue cultivator said, “But even you have to admit, they had it coming.”

“What's the real reason why you want to stop this?” Eric asked.

“Honestly, I don't know,” Zane replied, “My friend seems to think that it's important, otherwise she wouldn't have told me. But she didn't tell me why it was important.”

“Look, I know that I'm not a good person.” The rogue cultivator gritted his teeth. “Even the Mesh says that I've got extremely low Purity. But something is telling me that we need to stop this. So, I'm going with my gut.”

“Fair enough.” Eric shrugged. “I can respect that. But I want to know who your friend is. Perhaps we know one another.”

Zane laughed. “I highly doubt that. She's a bit higher up in rank than either of us.”

“Do you at least have a plan?” the big man asked.

“Yep,” Zane replied, “I'm going to solo a temple, get stronger, then wait to see what happens. I might also win that cooking competition Pinky keeps going on about.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Eric rubbed the bridge of his nose. “That's a terrible plan, Zane.”

The rogue cultivator shrugged. “If you have a better one, feel free to chime in at any time.”

The big man stood up. “I'm going to go warn Mayor Jeffries. You, go do whatever it is you were going to do. I'll let you know if we find any leads.”

Zane smiled. “Perfect! Isn't it great when a plan comes together?”

Eric glared at him, but said nothing.

Once he was gone the rogue cultivator let out a sigh. “Well, I thought it was a good plan.”

“What plan?” Pinky asked as she poked her head over the upstairs balcony.

Zane was pretty oblivious at the best of times, but even he would have noticed a whole new floor. He frowned and pointed. “When did we get that?”

The kitsune shrugged and loosened her robe. “Apparently the restaurant decided to make some changes while we were gone. Want to come with me and check out the new bathroom?”

Yes, Zane thought as he walked upstairs to meet her. He could use a good distraction from all those troubling moral questions. I definitely do.

***

The restaurant had grown to incorporate a whole third floor, despite appearing the same from the outside.

Zane attributed the change to magical fantasy world bullshit, and decided against trying to understand it. Besides, there was a naked kitsune in the bathtub, and that was his current priority.

Sometime later he lay in the oversized tub, gently massaging Pinky’s feet. Despite the hot water, Zane couldn't help but feel slightly chilly. It was as if his blood itself was becoming colder. He used some Essence to reheat the water, and got splashed in the face for his trouble.

“Hey! Enough of that!” Pinky protested, “You're not making fox soup!”

The rogue cultivator relented. “Sorry about that. I was just trying to warm up.”

Pinky gave him a searching look. “Ok, now I know that something is wrong. You never apologize.”

Zane sighed. There was no point in trying to hide his corruption from the one person who regularly saw him naked. “The Mesh says that I have low purity, and Lady Foxglove told me that if I was a human, I would have already turned into a core fiend by now.”

“Right, I was going to ask about that.” The kitsune wrinkled her nose. “Ever since you had a run-in with that thing your Essence has smelled off. It's like…” She struggled to find the words. “Food that has been left in the sun for too long.”

“Wait,” the young man said, “You can smell corruption?”

“Can't you?” Pinky asked.

Zane processed this new information. It made sense that a creature who fed on Essence would be able to smell corruption. He pointed to the black veins running down his arms. “What do you make of these?”

“Well, it's bad, obviously.” The kitsune came in close to get a better look. “But they haven't been spreading, at least, not as far as I can tell.”

The young man slapped his forehead. “You already noticed them, didn't you?”

“Yes, Zane.” Pinky nodded. “You tend to notice when your boyfriend comes home covered in weird black veins.”

“Well, why didn't you say anything?”

The kitsune sighed. “You really haven't dated much, have you?”

“I fail to see what that has to do with anything,” Zane replied, wondering what strange physical transformations had to do with his romantic history.

Pinky shook her head. “Did your goddess friend tell you how to get rid of them?”

“She said that I had to abstain from violence, earthly pleasures, and sex.”

“So you're pretty much screwed then,” the kitsune said.

“Yep, pretty much.” Zane threw his hands up in mock surrender. “I either have to become a monk, or do some hero shit to increase my purity level. Neither of which are particularly my style.”

“Can you eliminate the corruption with some cleansing pills?”

The young man made a face. “I've been meaning to try that. Actually, I purchased a new ability when I leveled up that might be able to help.”

Pinky got out of the tub and dried herself off.

“Hey!” Zane called out, “Where are you going?”

The kitsune went into their bedroom and returned with a bottle of cleansing pills. “Look, I get that you're… easily distracted,” she said, “But corruption isn't something that just goes away on its own. So, take the pills, sort yourself out, and then I'll give you a massage afterward.”

Zane eyed the glass bottle. He had the feeling that cleansing so much corruption in one go would be incredibly unpleasant. “I'll take care of it tomorrow,” he lied.

Pinky wasn't buying it. “Nope. You'll take care of your corruption now, before you die or turn into something weird. I refuse to share my bed with a core fiend.”

“Fine. Fine…” Zane held out his hand for the pills. Once Pinky was gone he swallowed them and braced himself for the inevitable. At least the restaurant had seen fit to provide him with a fairly modern toilet.

This is certainly going to suck, he thought.