Hokori’s guard was edging closer to his left, clutching shortspear and shield, with the noble himself closing in from the right with a curved blade in hand.

  “I’ll move to incapacitate. You should be the one to strike him down, my Lord. This could be one for the Annals. Please consider an appropriate phrase to accompany the deed!”

  He could see Hokori’s brows furrowing as he considered that, fingers tight around the hilt of his blade. Dario figured he would rather die than be captured by these idiots. Or, if he had to be captured, better it be the city guards, which he thought reported to the mayor. Better chance for fair treatment there than with this shitty clan, though it was a longshot.

  The best scenario was still a clean escape.

  Dario turned, more seeds in hand, eyes flicking from one building to the next, looking for a facade he could easily scale. The guards were advancing in a line across the open square. It would be a close call, but if he broke through, then he could flee over the rooftops.

  But still, something held him back. He’d be drawing all these guards in the direction of the children, and once they were out the southern gate, then what? It was a long stretch across an open road with nowhere to hide. He clenched his teeth as his head swung around, mind racing to find a way out.

  Could he weave an illusion so clear that it fooled all the guards into thinking he went the other way? Maybe with the added distraction of rampaging plants. It would be a last-ditch effort, using much of his Ki and hoping nobody spotted him.

  “I think this might be a slippery one. Might you require some assistance? I’ll offer my services free of cost.”

  The silver-haired man had walked closer, sharp eyes locked on Dario as he flashed that vicious grin. That one was dangerous. He had to push back against a wave of sinking desperation pulling him down. It was time to act.

  But then, when he spotted yet another approaching figure, his eyes lit up with hope. The silver-haired noble picked it up immediately, then followed his gaze with narrowed eyes.

  “Hold!”

  The commanding female voice rang through the square, causing heads to turn. But Hokori gritted his teeth and prepared for a lunge, Ki cycling through his limbs.

  “There will be no meddling! This one is mine! Go, Kobun!”

  “I said hold!”

  Nika roared as she leapt high into the air, obsidian Ki gathering in her hands, before coming down like a hammer right in front of Dario.

  BOOM!

  The ground shook as dust rose and pieces of stone blasted out from the small crater she’d formed with her fists. Everyone stopped moving, looking on with wide eyes. Everyone except for the silver-haired noble who’d already turned to walk away, looking vaguely disappointed.

  “This man is an attendant of the Houjo clan! Any grievances are to be taken up with me!” she said loudly and confidently, folding her arms as she stared Hokori down. Turning her head slightly, she whispered at Dario under her breath.

  “It can’t have been more than two days. How, in the name of Tenjin, did you get into this much trouble?”

  Dario relaxed slightly, withdrawing his Ki from the scattered seeds. “Long story,” he whispered back. “They were trying to kill me and steal my things, so I pulled a beastwave on them.”

  “This peasant tried to kill me!” Hokori spat as he walked up to Nika.

  She paused a moment, then gave a modest bow. “Houjo greets Ashikaga.” Hokori frowned, but then the elder guard came running up to his side, hissing urgently about proper form. The noble’s mouth worked for a moment, looking like he might protest, but then he grudgingly returned the bow.

  “Ashikaga greets Houjo. Well met,” he said in a small voice.

  “You’ve leveled a serious accusation at my attendant. If your claims were true, you would be well within your rights to punish him, and the Houjo clan would owe you a debt besides,” Nika said seriously, before turning to Dario. “Attendant, what say you to this accusation?”

  Dario looked at her, then at Hokori and his guard, then back at the city guards who had stopped advancing and were now awkwardly milling about, none of them wanting to intervene in a dispute between nobles. It looked like the tables were turning, and Dario wasn’t one to turn down a helping hand in a time of need.

  All caution disappeared from his face as his expression twisted into an obnoxious grin.

  “Hokori, old pal! How could you say something like that?” he said, stepping closer to the noble, whose face was a picture of hatred. “I tried to save you, don’t you remember? There were so many beasts, but I pulled them away. If anything, I thought you were about to thank me!”

  “Lies!” Hokori snarled, grabbing for his blade again. “I will have your head-”

  “We have conflicting testimonies, then,” Nika interrupted. “Would you like to bring this dispute before a tribunal? Given a lack of witnesses, it’d be difficult to ascertain the truth of the matter. Naturally, if those claims would fail to be proven to be factual, the Houjo clan would demand retribution in turn. What I believe many have witnessed here today, was a guard of the Ashikaga trying to take the life of a Houjo attendant. That could turn into quite the nasty conflict, don’t you think?”

  Bunko’s eyes were wide with panic as he clutched at his lord’s arm, hissing urgently in his ear. Hokori’s expression was shifting between something like panic, then back to rage as he looked at Dario, who was showing a thumbs-up with a shit-eating grin.

  “There’s no problem! Just a misunderstanding. Right, old pal? Friendy friend? Buddy boy?”

  A harsh look from Nika shut him up, but nothing could wipe the grin off his face. This humble boy from the Belt was moving up in the world. If he’d known the benefits of making noble friends, he’d have tried to make some a lot sooner.

  “Woung mahwstah, we an’t wet him go!” The other guard had managed to pull the arrow out of his tunic and came up to them, clutching his jaw.

  “Come on, that was just a little scuffle. A strong cultivator like you, you’ll be good as new in a couple of days!”

  There were a lot more angry looks and hissed whispers and pulling of sleeves, but eventually Hokori gave in.

  “I won’t forget about this,” he said to Dario. The dark red hatred was clear as day around the noble’s chest.

  “Yeah. You and me both, pal.”

  ***

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  “Treasure, treasure, treasure, without it there’s no leisure. Come on, sing it with me now!”

  Dario pointed at a giggling Andrea, who was happy to play along.

  “Treasure, treasure, treasure, I want more than I can measure!”

  “Haha! That’s right! Alright Enzo, show us what you’ve got.”

  The two boys only glared at Dario as they stomped along the dirt road, the quality of which had gotten worse the further they got away from Endanshi.

  “How much further, uncle? My feet hurt!” Enzo complained.

  “It’s not far. You’ll get to see it once we go over that hill.”

  “That’s what you said three hills ago!”

  “Yeah, but this time it’s actually true.”

  But before they finished walking up the slope, the rumble of an approaching cart had them slowing down and stepping aside.

  “Well if it’sn’t my favourite trogfarmer!” Dario called out, waving. “How goes it, Luca? Has the Brown Flood struck yet?”

  The trogfarmer’s cart rolled down a bit further as Luca waved back, then he pulled to reins to bring the confused oxen to a halt. They could see through an opening in the tarp on the side that it was packed full of boxes underneath fat legs of dried trogmeat that dangled from hooks.

  “Dario! Good to see you! I knew you wouldn’t be pushing up daisies quite yet. Your mother’s been worried sick, you know?”

  The smile was swept off his face as he lowered his hand.

  “Has she… Is she doing alright?” he asked more quietly. Luca took him in for a moment, then stepped out of the cart to give him a kind smile and a squeeze on the shoulder.

  “She’ll be fine. I think you two probably need to have a little talk, don’t you?”

  “Yeah. I know,” Dario sighed. Luca chuckled, taking in the kids then looking back at Dario.

  “I’d be asking if I’ll see you at market next week, but… Well. Something tells me you’re not going to be there, are you?”

  “No, I suppose I won’t.” Dario gave a weary smile. “Not behind the stall, at least.” Luca smiled in a way that deepened the wrinkles around his eyes. “Good for you, kid. I know lots of people will be rooting for you.”

  Dario nodded, then frowned slightly as he sniffed the air. “Smells like trogshit. Tenjin’s balls, is that you, Luca?”

  Luca snorted. “Do I smell like trogcrap? Does the pillar always shine, boy? Let me tell you, I’ve been practically swimming in it.”

  Dario laughed till his stomach hurt as Luca told him of his struggles and in that moment, he truly felt like he’d come back home.

  But the farmer had to get to market, so it wasn’t long before they were approaching the ramshackle homes around the Belt to the backdrop of the seemingly endless fields of garbage.

  “Eww. Does it always smell like that here?”

  “Sure does.”

  “Is that really an endless field of trash?”

  “Treasures, Enzo. An endless field of treasures.”

  The questions continued, but Dario zoned them out and came to a stop, his stomach tightening as he spotted his mother’s house far in the distance. He was glad to be back, but a part of him might have preferred to go another round with Uso rather than have this conversation.

  “Uncle, are you okay?” Andrea asked.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just… I need to have a talk with my mother and it’s not going to be easy.”

  “At least you still have a mother,” Elio said.

  “...Way to bring down the mood, Elio. Alright, listen, why don’t you kids head over there, to the playground. I’ll come pick you up in a bit.”

  “What playground? You mean that place with the dirt and the scrap metal?”

  “Anything can be a toy if you use your imagination.”

  “Dario!”

  He stiffened as the kids ran off to the playground, slowly turning around as the sound of footsteps got rapidly closer, and then his mother was crashing into his chest.

  “Oof! Hey, mom. Sorry I’m late.”

  “My boy! You’re back!”

  She said a few more things, but her voice was too muffled from being pressed into his tunic for him to understand. He held her close for a while, until she pushed away to take a good look at him.

  It felt like his heart stopped for a moment as he saw tears glistening in her eyes, but there was still a bright smile on her face.

  “I’m so happy to see you. I thought… Well, you know what worried mothers are like. And I was allowed to worry! What happened? You look fine, actually. No missing limbs, no hideous scars, at least as far as I can see.”

  “Oh, you know, I just got caught up in some stuff. Defeating old forgotten evils and whatnot, you know what it’s like.” He flashed a playful grin.

  Aria scoffed, but the smile never left as she shook her head. “You haven’t changed at all. No, something’s different. You look… stronger. A bit less fat and a bit more muscle, maybe?”

  “Could be,” Dario said, squeezing his belly. “I haven’t been eating well.”

  “Well we’re about to change that. Right after you take a bath-”

  “...But also I’m Amber now.” The words rushed out, then his face scrunched up as if he’d just struck someone far bigger than him and was preparing for the return punch.

  “Oh. Right… Well, congratulations, son. I’m proud of you.”

  Her eyes were sad despite the smile and kind words. When he spotted the slightest quiver in her bottom lip, he stepped forward, reaching out to grab her hand, more words spilling out of his mouth.

  “I promise it won’t be like-”

  “Stop,” she said in an unexpectedly firm voice, holding up a hand to cut him off. “This time, I think I should go first.” She sighed. “I’ve come to realize that the last year, or maybe even the last few years, I’ve been… stuck. There used to be so many things that I wanted to do, so many things that made me feel alive and happy, but then, somehow, I think I began to focus only on the negatives.”

  She looked down at the ground, contemplating, and he was sure she was about to burst into tears, but when she looked up at him, she was smiling again.

  “Anyway, I’m not trying to complain. You’ve been such a great support, Dario. I couldn’t have wished for a better son. I’ve realized that I’ve been leaning on you too much the past year. I’ve always known you want to climb and… I didn’t mean to, but the reality is I’ve been holding you back. And I’m sorry for that.”

  Dario’s eyes widened, his mouth opening and closing a few times. He’d been preparing for a different conversation, one where his mother would be balling her eyes out and he’d be the one apologizing. Relief warred with caution. It felt like he’d been given a valuable yet fragile and unstable artefact, one that could explode at any moment.

  “You’ve known that I want to climb?” he finally said. He’d been telling everyone for years that he was staying put and it hadn’t even been a lie, really. He’d believed it himself.

  His mother laughed, bringing a hand to her mouth yet laughing even more when she saw the baffled look on his face. “Oh, Dario, don’t look so surprised. You’ve been sitting on the roof and looking up with that scope of yours since you were a little boy. I’d have to be completely oblivious not to have noticed that.”

  Dario frowned, running his hand through his thick, spiky hair. He really needed that bath.

  “I did really think I would stay here, though. I mean, it took me all this time to admit what I really want, but still it feels… off, somehow. Like I’m doing something wrong. I don’t want to be like them.” His face hardened with determination as he looked up to the ceiling. “And I won’t be. This time, there won’t be any empty promises. If I’m going to climb, I’m going to do it my way, the way that feels right to me.”

  “Oh, darling,” his mother said sweetly, squeezing his hand. “I’ll admit it took me a while, but I’ve forgiven your father. He always had a strong sense of responsibility and he’s doing what he thinks is right. I hope in time, you’ll find it in yourself to forgive him too. For your brother, it’s different. It’s not like him at all, not to write. I worry that he’s gotten into trouble.”

  “The first thing I’m going to do is find Matteo and drag him down here. That’s another promise,” Dario said, dragging her into another hug.

  “So what are you going to do?” he asked after they held each other in silence for a while. “It sounded like you had something planned?”

  She nodded, smiling. “I’m going to start teaching again. In fact, I’m planning to start a proper school here. Too many Belt children are lacking an education these days. And I like taking care of others. It gives me purpose.”

  “Right. Well, in that case, I’ve got some good news for you.”

  Dario grinned at his confused mother, turning to the three orphans who’d already gotten bored of playing with the scrap metal and were heading back in their direction.

  “Let me introduce you to Andrea, Elio and Enzo.”