RUMBLE! CRASH!
It sounded as though the world itself had split in two.
Clapping his hands over his ears at the deafening thunder and lightning, the farr scowled and climbed the hill.
“Damn it.”
Grabbing a violently swaying tree, he cursed under his breath and sucked in rough breaths.
The whole ground had turned to mud, and his shoes kept sinking into it, making even a single step hard to take.
He had co out because he was worried the barley he had just sown would be washed away by the downpour, but now it looked less like the barley would be swept off and more like he would.
Regretting the decision to step outside in weather like this, he hesitated.
Should he turn back now?
But he had already co too far to simply go ho. If he climbed just a little farther, he would be able to see his tiny field.
Right. I’ll grit my teeth, replant the barley, and go back.
Having made up his mind, the farr took a deep breath and forced his heavy legs forward.
KRAAAK!
At that instant, the sky flashed white, and then a brilliant pillar of light slamd down right in front of him.
“Aaah!”
With a scream, the farr fell backward onto his backside.
The great tree that had been standing tall just monts ago was now snapped crooked and burning.
He really had almost been struck by lightning.
Pressing a hand to the ground, the farr rubbed at his pounding chest.
Damn it all. To hell with the barley. His life mattered more. You had to stay alive before you could even scrape a living.
It seed wiser not to play brave and simply head ho.
Then sothing hard brushed against his hand.
Thinking the rain must have exposed a tree root, the farr turned his head—and his face went white.
Sothing long and narrow, like a human hand, was touching his fingertips.
His eyes darted frantically, and then his whole body began to shake.
RUMBLE! CRASH!
In the white flash of lightning, he saw it clearly.
What the rain had washed bare from beneath the dirt was a corpse with half its face lted away.
The body, its eyes and mouth gaping open in hollow pits, seed to be staring straight at him.
“H-hiiik! Aaaargh!”
Screaming, the farr scrambled backward, then all but rolled down the mountain path in his desperation to flee.
*****
“Duck.”
“Chicken.”
“Duck.”
“I said chicken. God, Brother, you really don’t know how to eat.”
Still locked in a standoff with Yeon Ryang, I tapped the table irritably.
On a rainy day, obviously you were supposed ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) to eat sothing with broth.
This was weather for warming yourself up with steaming chicken soup, and he wanted roast duck? He really had no idea what he was doing.
“If you’re going to be using your strength, you need so fat in your stomach. Your brother’s having roast duck.”
“Chicken has fat too, you know.”
“Not like duck does.”
When our argunt showed no sign of ending, the inn runner, who had been hovering nervously nearby, finally cut in.
“Um... honored guests. Why don’t you just order both duck and chicken?”
At the suggestion, Yeon Ryang clapped his hands as if struck by revelation.
“Oh, that’s one way to do it. Fine, we’ll do that.”
As Yeon Ryang answered with a snicker, the inn runner bowed and headed for the kitchen.
“The food’s going to go to waste.”
“Don’t worry, it won’t. And even if a little does, so what? You cleaned those fellows out of every last bit of spending money they had.”
Yeon Ryang shrugged like I worried over the strangest things.
“And this is the last inn, Sister. From here until we cross into Hubei, we’ll be sleeping outdoors, so it’s better to eat well while we can.”
“Well, that changes things. Should we order a plate of dumplings too?”
The mont I changed my tune, Yeon Ryang burst out laughing.
“Hahaha, our little sister really is fun.”
“One plate of dumplings too, please!”
“Yes, Young Lady. Right away!”
Propping his chin on his hand, still chuckling, Yeon Ryang tilted his head and asked,
“So what are you planning to do when you get to Wuhan?”
“I haven’t thought that far ahead yet.”
“There’s a huge inn near the Martial Alliance headquarters. You should stay there at least one night. People from every sect and school gather there, so there’s a lot to see.”
“What’s it called?”
“Dragon Gate Inn. You should definitely go. Their dumplings are good.”
“...Do you rember what kind of at was in those dumplings?”
“Hm? Pork, obviously.”
“Oh. Right. Don’t drink there next ti, then. I’m only saying this for your own good.”
“Hm? Out of nowhere? The more I look at it, the more I think you say the strangest things.”
Because that sounded exactly like the kind of inn where a beautiful innkeeper sold suspicious dumplings. If he drank there, it felt like sothing terrible would happen.
I resolved then and there to avoid that inn no matter what.
“You should visit Yellow Crane Tower too. When you say Wuhan, you have to say Yellow Crane Tower. Since you’ve set out into the martial world, you ought to see the famous sights too.”
“I will.”
“Ah, and the biggest rchant company in Wuhan is the Namjeong Trading Company...”
For quite a while, Yeon Ryang told what I should eat and what I should see once I reached Wuhan.
His kindness made realize our parting wasn’t far off.
Once we crossed into Hubei and reached Wuhan, I really would be alone.
...I was going to miss him a little.
For all I kept telling myself I couldn’t fully trust him, that I needed to stay on guard, it seed I had been relying on him more than I’d thought.
“Your food is here! Careful, it’s hot!”
“It’s here. Gyeonga, let’s eat!”
The inn runner brought out the food, but my appetite was gone.
I stared blankly at Yeon Ryang tearing into a duck leg, then slowly picked at a now-cooling dumpling.
*****
Despite all his swagger about how it didn’t matter if so food was left over, Yeon Ryang cleaned every last bit off all three plates.
Apparently he’d found it too wasteful to actually leave any at behind.
After we finished eating and went upstairs to our room, he patted his stomach with a satisfied look on his face—
and then promptly collapsed.
“Gyeonga. Your brother needs a cup of water.”
“Are you okay? Your face is green.”
“Ugh, I ate too much.”
Well. He really had eaten enough to make question whether he was even human.
“What kind of martial artist gets sick from overeating?”
I clicked my tongue at him and rubbed his back. Yeon Ryang scratched his head with an embarrassed smile.
“Seriously. It’s too shaful to even admit. Sotis I just can’t control it.”
The offhand way he said it left a sour feeling in my chest for no reason.
He probably ant he couldn’t regulate how much he ate.
There had been lines before about how, when he was young, if he fell out of favor with the Demonic Sect instructors, he would go hungry for days on end. He must have gotten into the habit of cramming in food whenever he had the chance.
Swallowing a sigh, I held out my hand.
“Give your hand.”
“My hand? Why?”
“I’ll prick it for you. If I do your thumb, it should go right down.”
“Prick my hand?”
Yeon Ryang stared at like I’d started talking nonsense. Instead of answering, I pulled a needle from inside my clothes.
His brows twitched at the sight of the sharp needle.
“...You’re not planning to stitch up my body or sothing, are you? I’ll pass.”
“You do know the Tang Clan is skilled in dicine, right?”
“The Tang Clan may be, but I don’t think you are.”
“Why not trust just once and see?”
“It’s not a poisoned needle, is it?”
“It isn’t. Honestly, what do you take for?”
When I silently waggled my fingers for him to hand it over, Yeon Ryang extended his hand at last, still half-skeptical.
I rubbed down his back and arm, then caught his wrist.
After warming his chilled hand between my palms for a mont, I pricked his thumbnail with the needle. A bead of pitch-black blood welled up.
Yeon Ryang’s eyes went wide.
“My blood is black. Was I poisoned?”
“No. You just overate.”
“Huh. Drawing out bad blood with a needle. Interesting. Is that a secret Tang Clan art?”
“Well, sothing like that.”
Not a Tang Clan secret art. Just folk dicine.
I mumbled vaguely and wiped away the bead of blood on his thumb. When a fresh drop welled up in a bright red color instead, Yeon Ryang let out an impressed sound.
“Well now, the color’s turned red again. It really does feel like the blockage’s going down. That’s fascinating.”
“Now press here.”
I firmly pressed the spot between his thumb and forefinger, and after nodding, Yeon Ryang started kneading the sa point on his other hand.
His complexion had already brightened, so it looked like I wouldn’t need to prick the other side.
After disinfecting the needle and tucking it away again, I looked up to find Yeon Ryang watching with obvious curiosity.
“You could open a clinic, Sister.”
“Not to that extent.”
“What do you an, not to that extent? If word got out that you were good at treating indigestion, people would flock to you. Gyeonga, how many doctors do you think there are who’d bother treating an ordinary commoner’s stomachache?”
If Grandfather heard soone calling a doctor just because I pricked a finger, he’d blow up on the spot.
“A doctor isn’t just any fool with hands and feet. You need to be capable of setting severed limbs back in place like they were never cut at all before you can call yourself that.”
“Even Hua Tuo couldn’t reattach severed limbs, Grandfather.”
...I wonder how Grandfather is doing. I miss him.
That sudden wave of gloom made brush back my hair and open the window.
“Get so air until it settles. Once the rain stops, we can leave... It stopped.”
“It did.”
Yeon Ryang got up and ca over, shading his eyes with one hand as he looked outside.
The clouds were breaking apart, and dazzling sunlight poured in. The rain that had been coming down since dawn had stopped before I even realized it.
“The ground won’t freeze, will it?”
“It shouldn’t. The weather’s warming up. It’d be better to leave while there’s still sun, Sister. The days are still short.”
“All right. Let’s go right away.”
As I answered, I neatly arranged the things inside my sleeves. Yeon Ryang, who had already tied up his bundle and slung it over his back, clapped his hands lightly.
“Well then, shall we?”
And then he swept up into his arms.
“What? Wait, what are you—”
As I flailed in alarm, he shifted onto his shoulder as though telling to stay still.
“I don’t want you getting soaked in cold damp. If I wait for your lightness skill, we’ll wind up sleeping on the roadside more often. Better to cut down the number of nights we camp out, don’t you think?”
Chuckling, Yeon Ryang looked like he had no intention of putting down.
Smacking my lips, I obediently grabbed hold of his neck. I wasn’t eager for our nights outdoors to grow any longer either.
“Then let’s head into Hubei.”
“Kii!”
Cane popped its head out from between my sleeves and answered in my place.
“Right. You hang on tight too, fuzzball.”
With the corners of his mouth tilted up, Yeon Ryang leaped lightly down from beneath the window.
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