Chapter 44

The carriage pulled up to the Shen family farm. A little girl and a young boy got out. They greeted their parents, who were waiting for them at the end of the road, and their friends, who had all gathered to greet them. The adults in the carriage took a few minutes longer to get out. They were sore from the journey, and when the lady of the house offered them the use of the family bath, they gratefully accepted.

Tan and the other children carried the scholar’s luggage to the guest house, which had once been the primary house of the Shen family before the manor was built. Swenshion was startled when a wild boar greeted them in the living area, but the children just greeted ‘Tremble’ politely and introduced the couple.

“This is Tremble. He’s a spirit-pig. He lives here too. Tremble, go change into your human form and give them a proper greeting,” Tan said, his tone slightly scolding towards the spirit-boar.

Tremble grunted and got to his feet, closing the door to his bedroom behind him. A few moments later, an ugly man opened the door.

“Sorry about that,” he muttered. “Yeah, like they said, I work here and live here. If you want my room, you can have it. It smells like me though, so you might want to sleep in one of the other ones.”

“We wouldn’t dream of kicking you out of your room,” Lokari said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Tremble. I’ve never met a spirit animal before.”

“Yeah, that’s great,” Tremble said. He scratched his butt and shrugged. “If you need anything, you know where to find me.”

He returned to the bedroom and shut the door behind him.

Swenshion exchanged a look with his wife, and the couple collectively shrugged. They selected Tan’s old bedroom as their own, then began unpacking their things.

Tan excused himself with his friends, and they went up to the top of their cultivation hill. Tan was nervous.

“Hey, guys, I was wondering. If my family were … I mean, I never really thought about it before, but my family is weird, isn’t it? If we were someone actually important, instead of just being farmers, would you still be my friends?”

Pao, Won and Ko exchanged looks. “Did your parents finally tell you?” Won asked.

“Tell me what?” Tan asked.

“Yeah, they told him,” Ko said. “Tan, we’ve known for like two months. Yes, we’re still friends even if you are a prince.”

Tan’s eyebrows rose. “Wait, you guys knew and didn’t tell me? ”

“Your parents told us not to,” Pao explained. “And your uncle kind of threatened us.”

“Yeah,” Won said. “I mean, if you weren’t his nephew, you’d take a threat from the emperor pretty seriously, wouldn’t you Tan?”

“Is that why you’ve been so weird around me lately?” Tan asked.

“Yeah,” Pao admitted. “Sorry. We weren’t trying to be, but it’s hard not to be when you suddenly realize that your best friend is a much more important person than you thought he was. I mean, we always knew that your parents were hidden masters. But that’s a completely different thing from being royalty and hidden masters.”

Tan sighed. “Whatever. I was wondering what the heck was wrong with you guys. Are you going to keep being weird now that it’s out in the open?”

“We weren’t trying to be weird in the first place,” Won said defensively.

“It will help now that we can actually talk about it,” Ko said.

“Yeah,” Won agreed. “But Tan, you have to realize, this changes things. We want to be your friends still, but you’re, I mean, you’re royalty . And we’re just your attendants.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“No. You’re not my attendants, your my friends,” Tan said. “So stop being weird!”

The three older children exchanged looks again, then nodded to each other.

“We’ll try, Tan,” Pao said. “It’s just, well, you have to realize. You grew up knowing that your parents were hidden masters. We grew up as peasants. The step up from you being who you were before to being royalty is a much shorter step up the ladder than for us realizing that our best friend is the heir to the empire.”

Tan blinked. “Oh crap, you’re right. I’m Uncle Renton’s heir, aren’t I?”

“Unless he’s secretly raising a son or daughter, then yeah, I think so,” Ko said.

Tan laughed. “Oh man, no wonder Master Swenshion is so nervous about my education! He’s right, I know absolutely nothing about ruling an empire. Good thing Uncle Renton is so strong, huh?”

The other kids exchanged looks, then laughed nervously.

Once the laugher had settled down, Tan grew somber. “Guys, I have a confession to make.”

The other kids waited for him to continue.

“I really did let Won kill the bandit. And I haven’t been cultivating as hard as I could have. I tried for a while, after Pao beat me back then. But then I stopped trying so hard once I was the strongest again,” Tan said. He paused, searching for the words. “I didn’t see the point in trying so hard if it meant leaving you all behind. I was worried that if I became too strong, we couldn’t be friends anymore.”

The children processed his words for a minute. “I’m sorry about yelling at you after I killed the bandit, Tan, but it wasn’t really your fault. It was a fight, and—”

“No. If I’m going to be the leader then I should act like it,” Tan said, interrupting Won. “I shouldn’t put the dirty work on you. If your hands are dirty, then as your leader, so are mine. My father explained that to me when I asked him why I felt like crap about the bandit and he was right.”

“Who says you’re the leader?” Won said.

“Shut up, Won. He’s literally royalty. We’re a bunch of village brats who’re only important because his father gave us a spirit stone a few years ago,” Ko said. “He’s obviously the leader.”

“Yeah...I don’t like it but she has a point,” Tan said. “I mean, I used to have a dozen friends in the village, but since I became a cultivator it’s suddenly just you three and Safron. Safron is my sister and I’d love her even if she couldn’t cultivate, but I don’t think that we’d be friends if you couldn’t. I was trying to pretend that power didn’t matter, that I treat everyone the same whether they’re strong or not. But the only reason I can do that is because I’m strong myself.”

“Holy crap,” Won said. “Sis, Tan is becoming self-aware!”

“Shut up, Won,” Pao said, punching the younger boy in the shoulder.

“Make me.”

“Both of you two, shut up,” Ko said. “Tan, I’ve always thought that was a great quality of yours. That you didn’t see the people who weren’t as strong as you and your parents as lesser.”

“Yeah. Well, anyway, I think that I’ve been kind of an idiot. So I need you guys to tell me when I’m being stupid from now on. Like, if I offend someone without realizing it, slap me and make me apologize. Stuff like that,” Tan said.

“You’re giving us permission to slap you?” Won asked, perking up.

“Shut up, Won,” Ko scolded, smacking her brother on the shoulder. He winced and rubbed the area, although he wasn’t really hurt.

“And there’s something else I have to say,” Tan said. “I’m going to start getting serious in my cultivation. So, I mean, I think I’m going to leave you guys even further behind. I don’t want that to change things between us, but I understand that it might. I hope that we’ll still be friends.”

“Of course we will be,” Ko said. “Tan, even if you become stronger than your parents, we’ll still be friends.”

“Yeah,” Pao said.

“Right,” Won agreed. “Friends forever.”

The children basked in the afterglow of their pledge, and then Tan said. “By the way, my grandfather tried to possess me and eventually I’m going to have to hunt down all of my cousins to make sure that he’s not possessing them as well.”

The three common-born children exchanged startled looks.

“What?!”

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