"Hold on sir! What do you mean by that?!" Chen Lei shouted in shock, why did the old man suddenly get so mad? "Get out! I will not let a foreign pig anywhere near my damn store!" He shouted as he took a stick next to his counter and waved it at them. "Just go away!" The old man shouted. "Let's leave; it would do us no good to argue with this old man." Luo Cheng said as he leaves the store with Zhong Huang, Chen Lei, and Dong Jian. Just as Charles was about to leave with them, the old man stopped him "Hold on there!" Charles turned around confused and asked, "Didn't you tell me to leave?" "I'm just giving you advice foreigner! Some bandits own this town and have told us to ignore all army personnel! Since you're the captain of your squad, you should at least know about this!" The old man explained.
"What? Commander Er Hong is stationed here, how could there be any bandits?" Charles asked. "You people in the army might not know it, but here every man, woman, and child know it! We can't say anything!" The old man said "Then why do you trust me with this information? Didn't you say you hate foreigners?" Charles asked. "The fact that you're a foreigner that I trust you! The people of the army who are born in this region must swear an oath to protect the emperor and serve their own, distrusting their commander is considered treason and would be instantly killed! Seeing that your foreigner and new means that you haven't been brainwashed by those bastard's sweet talk yet!" The old man explained.
The old man then gives Charles a set of new hemp clothing. "You can come over here to get any information you want, and I'll do my best to help you with it! Just promise me that if you get the chance. Make that bastard lose his standing as a commander! I beg of you!" The old man begged Charles. Charles stood there and looked at the old man 'Janko, what do you think? Should I trust this man?' Charles asked Janko. "I do not think he's lying, though overthrowing your commander will be an extremely tough task!" Janko replied. Charles thought about it more and nodded "Alright I will do what I can." Charles said.
A look of joy was shown on the old man as he replied "Thank you! On behalf of all the residents of this town, we thank you!" The old man bowed as he gives Charles the set of clothes. "Ah and take this as well!" The old man gives a necklace made with a leather string and a square steel amulet that had the engraving of a rabbit. "This was my son's necklace, I have no use for it anymore, so you should take it instead. It will give you good luck!" The old man said.
Charles takes the amulet and wears it around his neck. "Thank you; I will come around when I'm free." Charles thanked the old man. "As long as you do your best to help this poor town I assure you everyone here will treat you with the utmost respect!" The old man said as he smiled. Charles then leaves the store with the set of clothes in his hand and the necklace on his neck. "I just finished fixing that breathing technique! Get back to your place, and I'll talk to you about it!" Janko said. Luo Cheng, Dong Jian, Zhong Huang and Chen Lei were waiting outside for quite some time and were worried that Charles had done something bad like killed the old man in anger. "Why didn't someone wait with him there?" Luo Cheng asked, "I didn't think that the captain would stay inside there!" Dong Jian said. "I should have waited for him..." Chen Lei said while Zhong Huang stared at the door of the store.
When Charles came out all 4 of them heaved a sigh of relief but once they saw that Charles was holding a set of clothes they started sweating. 'Did he kill the man to get them?!' "Alright guys I got the clothes, shall we go?" Charles said. "How did you get the stubborn old man to give you the set of clothes?" Luo Cheng asked. "Oh, I just talked to him! It went rather smoothly!" Charles replied nonchalantly. 'Talked? Don't bandits usually say that when they beat someone up?! Smoothly? Were you talking about your sword going through him?!' The 4 of them started thinking crazy situations, Charles didn't seem to be a man who could convince a stubborn old store owner into giving him the clothes for free! Charles didn't have any money on him after all!
Charles didn't know that his members thought of him that way and started walking back to the barracks. "What are you guys doing? Let's go!" Charles said to the four guys who were standing there looking at the store. "Y-yeah!" Chen Lei said, and all 4 of them followed Charles. They got back to their living quarters, and Charles asked Janko 'So how goes the breathing technique? Did you manage to fix it?' Charles asked 'Of course! There were a lot of dumb mistakes that the creator made. Like he was making the technique randomly! Honestly, a person like that should never have even written this! And for the army to give this out to their men, it's like a death sentence!" Janko said. 'I wonder who the creator of the technique is. Anyways Janko, can I learn it now?' Charles asked.
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"Of course! The only problem is that I have no way of giving the information to you and just telling you is too much work! So, I'm going to imprint the technique into your mind. You're going to have to faint during the process so see you later!" Janko replied 'Hold on I-!,' but before Charles could finish, he fainted onto his bed. The next day Charles woke up with a massive headache, a bunch of information suddenly appeared in his mind. He had the entire technique in his mind, but they were mixed up and not in order. 'Why is everything so out of place?' Charles asked Janko "The technique I used to dump the information into your mind is not perfect, so the information is out of place. It'll take a while for you to figure it out, but it will be worth it!" Janko replied.
Charles nodded and got up, Chen Lei who was eating his porridge breakfast seeing that Charles has woken up happily said "Captain your awake! The rest of them have gone to eat their breakfast. I managed to get in line early and got two bowls of porridge and a piece of bread!" Chen Lei said happily. Charles sat down to eat with Chen Lei "Thank you, Chen Lei, I probably wouldn't have eaten this morning if you didn't bring this here." Charles said thanking Chen Lei. "Oh, it's nothing! By the way, you should wear the new set of clothes. A soldier came around saying that the vice commander wants to see you when the sun sets." Chen Lei said as he ate. "I just hope it's not another trial," Charles said and finished the food. "I'll be in the town until sunset if you need to find me then wait until after I speak with the vice commander," Charles said as he wears the new set of clothes and leaves.
Charles looks much better with his new white hemp clothes so decided to visit the old man to thank him, so he took his katana and walked towards the town, as he reached the store and opened it to see the old man talking with a girl. "Thank you for sending me food again Xu Ya, but you have to be careful! The streets these days are dangerous!" The old man said. "I know uncle, but I want to be helpful!" Xu Ya said. The old man sighed as he stops trying to persuade Xu Ya and notices Charles at the door. "Oh, you are here! Welcome! What brings you back?" the old man asked. "I wanted to ask you more about Er Hong. Though it seems like your busy." Charles said as he looked at Xu Ya, she looked about the same age as him with long black hair, cheeks that looked as soft as pillows and beautiful black eyes. "Oh, I'm not busy at all! Xu Ya here was delivering me food for the day. Ah, could you please help Xu Ya back to her mother's store? I'm worried about the bandits that roam the place." The old man said.
"Some bandits roam around here? Is that why there aren't any patrols around here?" Charles asked, "Yes, but they avoid anyone who wears the army's Armor which all soldiers who have been accepted will have to wear." The old man replied, 'That must be why the vice commander wanted to see me later.' Charles thought and said, "Alright I'll escort Xu Ya back." "Don't I have a say in this?!" Xu Ya shouted annoyed with the fact that the old man has asked an unknown man to bring her back. "It will be fine Xu Ya! Anyways go with her and please keep her safe."
Charles and Xu Ya walked down the path with some distance away from each other. "Uncle Jian might trust you, but I don't so don't get too close to me!" Xu Ya said still wary of Charles. "I understand, even I am surprised at how trusting he is," Charles replied as he walks behind her. They finally stopped at a store that had the sign "Herbalist." But just as they were about to go in a man holding a wound in his stomach walked out angrily and shouted "Fine! Don't you regret it!" Seeing the man, Xu Ya quickly runs into the store worried, and Charles follows. "Mother are you ok?!" Xu Ya shouted as she saw her mother looking despondent. Her mother looked at her and quickly said: "I'm sorry Xu Ya we have to leave quickly!"
"What happened, mother?" Xu Ya asked "There's no time! If they arrive, now we are doomed!" Xu Ya's mother said as she took her hand and tried to leave but before she could do that a man suddenly shouted from outside the building. "You dare to hurt one of my men?! Come out here! I want to see the bitch who dared to do that!"