We made pretty good time the next morning, and it was late afternoon when we got to the gates of the city. Peter seemed to be in a rush to get the journey over with. I could never figure out why except maybe he was just tired of dealing with this many cultivators. I hadn’t seen him being a dick to anyone since the day I rejoined the caravan after beating up the cult people. Eh, after a week or whatever of riding in a wagon through a desert, I was ready to find a nice comfy hotel room too.

  “I need a bath,” Niku said as we sat there in the line.

  We were still at the rear of the line, and Peter was speaking with the city guards, arranging our entry. The day was chilly and overcast, threatening to rain at any time, and I’d much rather be in the city under a tent or something when it did start raining.

  “Well, if this storm starts before we get inside, you’ll have a shower instead,” I said glumly.

  Niku shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Enough of your Earth stuff. A bath here is quite nice. Not at all what you described you had back home.”

  I smirked a little and nodded my head. On the journey she had kept asking me for details from home, and everything had seemed to excite her.

  “I know. I’ve seen things about the baths. They do look quite nice. Relaxing,” I agreed and nodded along.

  It didn’t take much longer to get the line rolling inside the gates. While me and Niku spoke, it seemed like the guards weren’t going to let us in. Silas ended up leaving his carriage and speaking to them. One of them seemed like they might have been the grumpy guard captain when I first came here.

  The guards waved everyone with normal and mundane wagons through, but when it was my turn, they stopped me.

  “Hold up, son, this thing is too long for the city,” a familiar-looking guard captain stood in front of Betsy.

  He was older and the only one I’ve seen who had brown hair instead of the usual black. That was how I knew it was the same captain that had let me into the city before. He was also still the only guard who didn’t wear a helmet.

  The massive ox reared and bellowed at the guard captain. I had to shout her down so she’d stop. Betsy got so angry there was even a bit of lightning that ran up her horns, and I flared my spirit out, unsure why she was acting like this.

  “Betsy!” I yelled as wind swept out from me and all around us.

  The guard captain and the three others backed away with their eyes wide in fright. A couple of them even reached for their swords.

  That was when Niku got involved. She stood on the bench and held a hand to the guards. “No, guys, stop that. That isn’t needed.”

  I hopped down and moved in front of Betsy, grabbing the gear that held her to the wagon. I tried to emanate calming, peaceful thoughts through our link. It took the ox a moment before she stared at me and snorted from her nose.

  “It’s alright, girl. It’s just a dumb guard who didn’t realize who he was getting in front of,” I said and patted her head between the horns.

  He yelled an objection behind me, but everyone ignored him. The other guards still had their hands on their sword hilts, ready and willing to pull them.

  She bellowed and then stared past me at the grumpy captain. Eventually she nodded her head, and I could feel that she agreed with me.

  “You good?” I asked her.

  She nodded, and I could feel some sorrow coming from her. Coming through our link. I cocked a brow and patted her head again. “It’s alright, girl, just don’t get so excited.”

  I turned and looked at the crew, who seemed to still be on edge. I threw my hands out and smiled. “It’s alright, gang. She just doesn’t like guys getting in her way.”

  “Look, cultivator and spirit beast or not. You still can’t come in with that wagon,” the guard said and pointed at it.

  Niku cleared her throat, and we both looked back at her. I grinned as she stood there on my bench with her hands on her hips. When I looked back at the captain. “Two cultivators.”

  I stepped away from him and motioned for him to follow me. “Besides, look, I had this specially made so I could come onto the smaller roads of the big city. The fantastic builders over at the Cove Garden Retreat built it for me.”

  I pointed down at the joint that let the wagon break apart and maneuver around the corners easier than the extra-long wagon I used to have. “It’ll be good.”

  He stared at it and rubbed his chin before he looked back up at me with his eyes squinted. He looked back at his couple of troops he had for backup before he turned back at me. “That ox better not cause any problems. He-”

  I put a finger to his lips with rapid speed. Even I was kind of surprised at how fast I went. He barely even got the word out. “She. My ox is a she, and her name is Betsy.”

  The captain furrowed his brow and then his eyebrows lifted as he heard me.

  “She’d get upset if you claimed otherwise,” I continued.

  He nodded. “Al..alright. She can’t do that kind of thing in the city.” He made sure to stress ‘she’ when he spoke.

  Betsy just grunted and shook her head.

  “She wont, she's normally a good girl. Think you just pissed her off by walking in front of her,” I said and then decided to turn up the pressure thanks to the position I had by being a cultivator. This world definitely treated cultivators like they did in Xianxia, right?

  “And where do you get off impeding the travel of a cultivator and powerful spirit beast, anyway? And one in a caravan that you have already greenlit to pass through? I am carrying goods for the Jade Mountain Sect to sell at the markets here.” I asked and stood up a little straighter.

  To really add some oomph, I may have flexed my spirit once more. I was careful about it since I didn’t really know how to do that yet. Since I was apparently powerful before I got an element, and I think only gained power when I actually got an element, I didn’t want to kill anyone. Could I kill someone like that?

  I steeled my gaze at the captain, and the wind kicked up around us. The grass in the fields blew a little harder than it had been before. It wasn’t much. I was trying to restrain myself as well as I could. The guards behind the captain looked a little more unsure than they had a moment ago, and their hands left the hilts of the swords.

  The captain, though, to my dismay doubled down. His gaze hardened. “I have the full authority of Emperor Sasuke Kyo in this matter, and his samurai are only a call away from being here.”

  My eyes went wide, and I deflated a little. The winds calmed. Samurai? I had been thinking it was a little odd that I was in Japanese Fantasy Land and hadn’t heard about samurai.

  “Maikeru,” Niku called, her voice short and full of tension.

  “Now,” the captain was growling. “Get on your wagon and get with the rest of your convoy. If this ox causes any problems or your wagon gets stuck somewhere, I will hold you personally responsible.”

  What a time to try to start to finally try to be a bad ass. I kept up the facade of being a tough guy and glared at him for another moment.

  “Maikeru!”

  I squinted at him, and then finally released the winds. Everything calmed around us, and it finally started to rain. Nothing major, just a slight drizzle that was enough to let you know it was there. I smiled at the guard captain and gave him a little bow. “Thank you.”

  “Yeah-huh,” was all he replied with and walked away from me back to one of the sides of the door against the wall.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  I finally turned and looked back at Niku, who seemed like she was still on edge. She was tense, and her eyes were wide and scared. She pointed at the seat next to where she was standing.

  “We have to go,” she said.

  I nodded and patted Betsy’s head once more before I walked around and climbed up the wagon to sit on my seat. Betsy got us rolling a moment later, and I looked over at Niku, who finally sat down when I did.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  She looked at me, the worry finally starting to ease from her. “You don’t kn- No, of course you don’t. The samurai are the Emperor’s personal army and make up his personal guard. They’re a small force, but they’re all cultivators as well.”

  Yeah, that makes sense, I thought and nodded along with her. “We had samurai back home, or well, in history.”

  “You did?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, they were like noblemen in ancient Japan. They were fierce warriors and would die by their own swords if their master commanded it.”

  “Yeah, well. It’s like that here too. Except their lord is the emperor, and they work directly for him. We’re probably going to meet some when we show the emperor what we have. It’s probably better not to make a bad first impression,” Niku told me. She had finally started to relax as we moved away from the main gates and entered the main city.

  Since we entered through a different gate, everything was different from my first visit here. Before I entered the main gates and everything was very large and walled and imposing. Incredibly busy.

  Here, there was still the wall and gates, but it seemed like we were on the nicer side of town. It seemed like I was near where I delivered stuff to the Karyu teahouse. Houses were smaller and more spread out. Quite frankly, it seemed like the suburbs. The streets were also wider and well paved for it being more ancient than what I had back home. The stones that made up the roads were large, so the little bumps in between them rarely happened.

  “This is the nicer side of town, huh? I think I’ve been around here once before.” I said the obvious to see what lore Niku might have me.

  Niku nodded. “Yeah, the western side is the richer side of the city. It’s where the emperor lives and where the market is that the caravan is going to set up. The different sects have little offices and buildings here, and the guard’s main building.”

  As she spoke, she pointed to different buildings as she was explaining. I wondered if the Cove Garden Retreat had a building here. They weren’t one of the larger ‘main’ sects, so I kind of doubted it knowing what I knew about them. She also motioned up to a large, looming multi-tiered building that had to have been the castle.

  The building wasn’t overly large and gray stone like you’d see in western fantasy stories. This was white with jade green roof tiles, and the top peeked way above anything else in the city. I gave a slight whistle through my teeth and wondered why I hadn’t noticed that when I was here before. I guess I was paying more attention to trying to find the teahouse.

  We finally made our way to a large opening in the city that made up a sort of courtyard. We were relatively close to the castle, and there was a fountain in the middle of the courtyard. The wagons were already set up in a semicircle, and the people were busy setting up tents and tables to sell their wares.

  I was hoping this was going to be easy since I wasn’t responsible for actually selling the stuff I brought from the sect. I was just supposed to meet someone, and they were going to pay me some cash, and they’d sell the stuff. Beyond my getting paid, I didn’t really care about the business behind the scenes.

  As I rode up, I saw a man dressed in fine robes with the hakama over his kimono. Everything the man wore seemed like it might have been silk, and he had the little toe socks and sandals. He smiled wide and waved at me, and his somehow bright and energetic brown eyes drew me in. The hair was of course black and greased back with a traditional topknot. This clearly was a someone.

  Judging from the colors he wore, he was clearly someone at least loosely affiliated with the sect. The kimono was a lighter green than the sect’s deep jade green, and he wore black pants. I guess that was close enough?

  “You must be Maikeru,” the man called as Betsy rolled up and then stopped. He spoke deeply and with confidence. This man just reeked of a rich merchant.

  I nodded and jumped down in front of him. I almost reached a hand out to shake his but stopped myself. Instead, I gave him a little bow. “Hi there, yes. I am. Are you Kanzan Juro? I’m supposed to be meeting?”

  He grinned a wide, toothy grin and then returned the bow, though I did notice his was a little lower. I guessed because he wasn’t a cultivator. “I am. So, Kio explained I’d pay you after?”

  I nodded. “She said it was a possibility, and that you’d need me to leave the wagon for a bit.”

  He smiled and nodded along. “Yes, good.”

  After that, we got into working out the details. All boring stuff. He told me to give him two days with the wagon, and he would pay me then. Though he did give me a few coins that at first glance looked silverish but I just slipped them away in a pocket and smiled. Basically, I would unhook the second wagon and leave it where he had a stall set up. Then I’d come back to collect some money and my wagon and go about my way.

  While we spoke, I noticed Silas climb out of the lead carriage and look around glumly. The serious man had a lot of things going on and wasn’t happy about any of them. Eventually he yelled inside at William and then walked off, pulling his hammer behind him. William did not get out of the wagon and just stayed there.

  Once Kanzan Juro and I worked out our deal, I smiled and gave him a bow, which he quickly returned with a deeper one. Me and Betsy got to work on moving the wagon where he needed it, and then Niku helped me unhook the second one. I didn’t have any qualms about trusting this guy with the wagon, or paying since he was associated with one of the major powerful sects in the world.

  “Great man, thanks for making it easy,” I said finally and wiped a bit of sweat from my brow. Or, well, I went to go wipe the sweat, but my forehead was dry. Being a cultivator was neat.

  “Of course, of course. Just happy to be doing business with the sect. Luckily for them, they found such a powerful person to haul the stuff for them. This shipment might have come under attack otherwise,” he said as he looked inside the wagon.

  “Ah, people tried. They failed. Hey, is there a good bathhouse somewhere nearby? After so many days riding through the desert, Niku and I desperately want to get clean.”

  “Oh,” his eyes went wide, and he looked behind me at Niku. “Are you two companions?”

  He mulled it over and stroked his chin after I answered in the affirmative. “There is one bathhouse that allows couples to bath-”

  “What? No! uh… nothing like that,” I smiled sheepishly. “I don’t know if,” and then I just kind of mumbled.

  He nodded in understanding, and his face brightened. “Well, either way. There is the Inner Path Onsen that tends to cater to cultivators. I’m not sure if they mind dual bathing or not. You’d have to ask. Or there’s the uh The Veiled Petal, but that might be a little…” and he raised his hand in a sort of wishy-washy gesture.

  I smirked and nodded. “I got it, thank you.”

  He pointed directions to each of the places for whichever we chose to go to, and I thanked him again, and me and Niku wandered off together.

  On the other side of the courtyard, in the shadows, two powerful presences kept their distance and stayed hidden from the cultivators in the convoy. People seemed to walk by them and not notice them as they stood just at the edge of a small alleyway.

  One was taller and thin while wearing the same conical Kasa hat that was made from straw and conical on his head. He wore all black robes and seemed not to be standing in the shadows; he seemed to be part of the shadows.

  The other was smaller and petite, with her hair done up with golden hairpins. She was elegant but not overly gauche. She had the restraint not to flaunt the fact that she obviously liked the nicer things in life. Her outer robe was as black as the man’s but had slight twinkles in it. While her inner robe was silvery, and almost even had a slight glow to it. Her face was painted white with just a bit of red on her lips.

  “The man who walked away. I’m told his name is Silas. He’s the one who came from that village,” the woman said. She didn’t try to whisper and spoke plainly, but she naturally spoke softly.

  The other man had a bit of grit and gravel in his voice, and she heard the smirk he wore when he said. “The one that one of your demons came to the mortal realm and destroyed?”

  She sighed and broke character for a moment to rub at her temples and closed her eyes. “Your damn brother did that. Someone really needs to put a leash on him and figure out what is going on.”

  “I think that’s what Minoru has been doing,” Kenji responded. “But I’m not sure.”

  She sighed again and finally looked towards him. “No one ever knows what that skeleton is doing. He’s as airy as his element.”

  “Well,” Kenji was going to put out that the man was the wind kami, but his cousin held up a hand to stop him. She knew what he’d say.

  “Minoru is fascinated with this man, the man that Kentaro brought here somehow. He likes how he travels around,” she said and waved towards the man who was working with an ox to unhook and move around a wagon.

  “I need to figure out the bald one,” she then said and turned to watch Silas walk away.

  “What the hell kind of cultivator is bald? Thought having long hair and such was a point of pride for them. Anyway, what does all of this have to do with me? I’m not Kentaro, Minoru, and I’m not the one who pushed Kentaro into your realm to release the demon,” Kenji said, his patience growing thin.

  “He’s always gone his own way. I need you to help him,” the woman said.

  “Ha.”

  “Kenji, I’m serious. These foolish mortals don’t even know about me, or anything beyond their simple little planet. Yet here I am.”

  Kenji looked at his cousin Teru flatly. “What the hell am I supposed to teach him? He knows how to cultivate. He looks like someone who was well on his way to his goals.”

  “Yes, but he’s an idiot. My aura, my mana, has invaded his body, and he’s trying to fight it. He doesn’t realize the new power he’s gained. He has to learn how to harness it.”

  “You help him. I have my own domain to worry about,” Kenji said flatly.

  Teru sighed and shook her head. “I need to figure out what to do with your youngest sister. Kentaro couldn’t have done what he did without her help.”

  Kenji sighed and lowered his head. “Fine.”

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