- Niku”
I blinked after I read the note and looked at the innkeeper, who gave it to me. He stood there with his arms and he looked worried. I wasn’t sure why he was worried at my response to him giving me the note, I guess?
“I’m sorry, honored cultivator,” he said and bowed softly.
I frowned and looked back at the note she left him and couldn’t help but grin at the little heart she drew. “When did she leave this?”
“She came by well before sunrise and woke me Cultivator. Again, I’m sorry to have to give that to you,” he said with his head still bowed.
I sighed and shook my head. “Raise your head man, it’s alright. It’s not your fault she had to go. I appreciate you giving me the note,” I said and dug into the little purse I had, pulling one of the gold shu coins before I handed it to him.
He clutched it in his hand and bowed his head three times to me. “Thank you Cultivator, thank you!”
“No man, thank you for waiting for me here and giving me this note right when I woke up,” I said with a smile. He was indeed standing right there when I opened my door, waiting for me with the letter clutched in his hand.
I had found the little old man standing in the hallway just in front of my door sweating and his head lowered. He only raised his head for a moment and only to greet me when I had first opened the door and the guy nearly gave me a heart attack. I was still half awake when I rolled out of bed, got dressed, and came out. I needed some sort of caffeine since I had stayed up late doing.. Well, nevermind what I was doing. The point was I wasn’t awake, and the guy had startled me in my sleep deprived state. Someone in this world really needed to invent energy drinks. Wonder if there was an alchemical brew?
“Kichi is working on breakfast and should have it ready anytime now,” he said with one last bow before I thanked him. He walked away almost as fast as he could.
I nodded and thanked him once more before I watched him leave. My stomach growled at the sweet delicious smell of fried pork, and I suddenly realized I was hungry. I rubbed my gut and looked down. It had slimmed down quite a bit since I came here. I wasn’t sure if it was because I wasn’t eating the junk food you found on the road back home or because I was now magically a cultivator. Eating nothing but dried meat and berries and nuts also probably had something to do with it. Either way, it was nice. I didn’t even need some sort of fat shot to help me like I used before I left.
When I got downstairs Amber and Norimoro were already sitting at a table and helping themselves to the spread of food. It took a long while for either of them to say anything to me once I sat down and made my plate. Amber had even poured my tea for me, which I just kinda stared at with a frown.
“Yeah, I wish there was coffee too,” she said, lamenting.
“Ah, I’ve had coffee. Dreadful stuff, like mud. Makes me too jittery,” Norimoro added to the conversation.
I looked at her, and then at him, and I shrugged. “I was never much of a coffee guy, either. The drinks I liked they don’t really have here.”
“Eh, those always tasted funny to me,” Amber said, knowing what I was talking about. Norimoro just cocked a brow in confusion but didn’t press.
“It’s a shame your friend can’t go with you,” he said instead around a mouthful of egg and rice.
Amber looked at me, frowned while she fed David an egg. Apparently she hadn’t heard about the note while Norimoro had all the gossip. “I’m sorry.”
Norimoro nodded his head. “I guess the attack was rather bad, and no one is quite sure what happened. Apparently Toya was there one day, and the next day…” he trailed off and shrugged. “There isn’t much left there.”
“I don’t understand why she and her master had to go, though?” I asked.
“Believe it or not, Moritoshi’s field holds him in high regard,” Nakayasu said before joining us.
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I blinked and looked at him. I hadn’t even heard him come in. Wasn’t being a cultivator supposed to give me super hearing? He made himself a plate of breakfast and seemed to ignore me staring at him.
“They’re hoping to find something to use for new elixirs or pills or whatever it is you cultivators use for advancement. “Always looking for the key to immortality.” He shrugged, rolled his eyes, and then took a sip of his tea.
“Plus, supposedly the famed Silas Zhao lived there with his wife, who was famous in her own right for her ability to grow specialized plants,” Nakayasu continued while he ate.
Me and Amber just stared at him while Norimoro continued to eat his breakfast uninterested in the whole ordeal. Nakayasu looked at us and raised his eyebrows.
“You don’t know who Silas Zhao is?”
We both shook our heads, and he frowned at Amber. “I’m kind of surprised you don’t. You seem to have done so much research on our lovely continent before you made the trek.”
Amber shrugged.
“He’s probably the most famous arcanist and weapon smith in the empire. His rune crafting is said to be like no other,” Nakayasu explained.
“So, there’s bound to be some valuable things. That is, unless the Jade Mountain Sect gets to it all first, they’re right on the mountain overlooking the town. Though they didn’t go down and help, so who knows what’s going on down there,” Nakayasu finally shrugged and just went back to eating his dinner.
I nodded and picked at my food, not really in the mood to eat, even though I was hungry. I had a bit of the eggs and a piece of the fried pork, but not much else. The tea, while not my favorite thing, helped fix whatever I had going on in my stomach. I was just upset about Niku not being able to go on the journey with us.
“So, are we all ready to get a move on after breakfast?” Norimoro looked at Amber and I, respectively.
Amber nodded, and I shrugged. “As far as I know, we’re good to go. Me and Niku worked out a plan to go though the mountains to get to where we’re going so we can avoid any troubles with the rebellion.”
Norimoro rolled his eyes. “There won’t be any problems, but whatever. However, you want to get there is fine by me, as long as we get there.”
I nodded. “I found a spare map and drew the course for you. I have it in my pack upstairs. Besides that, I made sure the animal caretakers make sure Betsy would be ready to roll first thing in the morning and we have enough supplies and your clay loaded in the wagon already.”
Norimoro nodded his head, pleased with the information. “Very well then.”
“Yeah, we’re already burning daylight. We should get rolling,” I said.
“Very good, that’s what I like to hear,” Norimoro said and slapped his hand on the table before he gulped the rest of his tea.
It didn’t take us long once we were motivated to move. Me and Amber went and got our packs and the three of us went over to the barn. The village people had our wagons and animals waiting for us. The one Norimoro was taking was a small two-seater cart that only had a small bed for their packs and then what looked like some camping gear. He had two beautiful looking horses that gave a certain aura that told me they were spirit beasts. They gave off a much weaker presence than Betsy did, however.
I grinned and walked over to her after I slung my pack up to the driver’s bench. I wrapped arms around her massive neck and patted her head softly. “Are you ready to get back on the road, girl?”
An enthusiastic nod before I got the impression she had been impatient to do so. I laughed and nodded.
“Good, this is probably gonna be a long journey. I’m not even sure how many miles it is. Their maps aren’t great here and there isn’t any GPS like back home, so we’re just kinda guessing how long it’ll take,” I told her. “It’ll be important for you not to do like when you were showing off.”
An annoyed bellow was my response.
I nodded my head. “Alright girl.”
I walked over to the other two after I reached up and pulled the map from the backpack. They were just settling in their little cart when I handed the map to Norimoro. “Here’s the route we figured. Hopefully, nothing too wild happens, and it’s a smooth ride. I’ll send you a message back if anything comes up and you have to deviate course.”
“You know, Kohaku here is a relatively powerful cultivator, as well, I believe. She’ll be good as well if something comes up, and that snake,” Norimoro said.
Her eyes went wide, and she looked at him. I grinned and looked around a little, wondering where David was. I hadn’t seen him yet today. I finally found him poking his head up shyly behind the covered bench they were sitting on. He didn’t look at me though, instead he looked at Betsy.
My grin grew wider. “I told you I had a big ox as an ally,” I said and pointed at him.
He hissed at me and put his head back down before Amber rolled her eyes. I looked over at Norimoro and nodded. “Yeah, but I’d rather it not come to that. You guys stay behind, and Betsy and I will scout and make sure everything is clear.”
I wasn’t sure Amber was up for too pressing a fight, but to be honest, neither was I. I’d be heavily relied on Betsy if anything like that happened. I knew she’d keep me safe. I watched the ox lean down and munch on a bit of the grass as I walked over and then patted her on the rump before I climbed up onto the bench.
“Alright girl, let’s get going!” I yelled and slapped the reins.
A loud bellow, and she plodded off. I heard Norimoro crack a whip and then their little cart took off behind us. We wanted them to keep pace at first. There would not be any danger this close to civilization, I didn’t think. Or well, I hoped. That was until the pair caught up with us and Norimoro and Amber made a show of waving to us as they passed us.
“Oh, to hell with this. Come on Betsy, let’s roll….”
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