Beware Of Chicken

Book 5: Chapter 65: The Experts of the Empire

The Lord Magistrate left to deal with the Auditor-General, and Gramps told Shenhe to get some rest. Elder Ge did something with his Qi. At once, all sound from outside the room was cut off, leaving me alone amongst the old monsters.

I felt a bit on edge, meeting the real movers and shakers of this world... but all of them seemed, well, if not normal, then much different than I anticipated. I had expected humorless, grim experts, with eyes ready to kill.

Instead, Elder Ge seemed downright approachable—he looked like a stern but fair teacher, and he hadn’t hesitated to speak to the Lord Magistrate with what sounded like respect in his voice.

Yukong and Shou were a bit harder to place. Yukong looked like a woman in her mid-thirties; she had dark hair and eyes, with a stark, stoic feeling about her, but her lips were quirked in a small smile. The man she was standing beside, Shou, seemed to have a bit more of a temper and had reacted the most obviously out of anybody. Even now he was shooting me glances... but they weren’t hostile, more like an eager academic. He obviously wanted to sit me down and talk with me about stuff, and I’d be happy to later.

The person I was the least sure of, however, was Tianzhe Minyan.

She had a cold arrogance about her and seemed bleached of colour, looking like a frozen ice sculpture rather than a woman. Most of her face was covered by a veil, leaving only her blue eyes exposed. They looked like chips of ice, sharp, cold and merciless. When Gramps had first introduced me as his grandson, those eyes had focused on me with terrifying intensity, her intent so cold it had made my bones creak.

That intensity had faded when Gramps had explained things further, the woman visibly calming—and now her glances were merely curious, rather than murderous. Gramps had spoken of a lady friend before, and I was beginning to think that this was her.

She had also arrived on a flying ship—which was awesome. My desire to see it up close was currently warring with my desire not to become a walking icicle if she took offense.

The final person was the Herald. The guy seemed fairly lenient and easy-going, surprisingly, taking Gramps’ jokes and likely active treason without a care.

It was weird, but considering how strong Gramps was... or rather, had been, I guess polite disinterest was probably the best move.

They obviously had some purpose for the meeting, as Elder Ge turned to Minyan.

“Divine Falcon Minyan. By the ancient friendship between our Sects, the Cloudy Sword Sect wishes to enter into an accord of information sharing and mutual cooperation for the duration of our examination of the north. Are you amenable?” Elder Ge asked the veiled lady.

“I cannot speak for the entirety of the Isle, but this Minyan accepts the offer of the Black Cloud of the Silent Sky,” the cold, icy looking woman declared.

They clasped forearms and nodded to each other. Gramps smiled at the byplay.

“Ah, it feels a bit like old times,” the old man said, a small grin on his face.

Minyan raised an eyebrow at him. “How are you so energetic, you old fool?” she demanded. “Look at you, you’re weak now, yet you’re bouncing about like you did as a boy.”

Her words were disdainful, but there was no heat to them. In fact, the way her eyes looked, she seemed to be smiling.

Ah, her voice and mannerisms suddenly clicked. She wasn’t just an arrogant asshole.

She was a tsundere.

What the hells.

“Indeed! I am in a fine mood—even my body’s aches have been improved by seeing you again. If I could but behold you for a few hours, I would be fully healed,” Shen Yu smiled brightly at her.

Minyan clicked her tongue and looked away, tilting her nose up in the air slightly.

The cultivators all rose and started filling out, but I walked up to the purple-haired woman before she could.

“Excuse me, miss?” I asked. The woman turned, and I saw the shift in her body language. She put on a haughty mask and looked at me.

“Can this one assist you?” she asked, her voice prim and proper.

“Please, you looked like you were still hungry,” I offered, holding out the rice balls. The woman’s look of haughty coldness instantly broke. She gaped at the food I was holding out to her, and her jaw worked for a moment, like she had no words.

“Ah, um—” she turned to look back at Lady Minyan, who was watching with a raised eyebrow.

“Time is of the essence, Seiyu,” was all she said before turning away.

Seiyu instantly took the offered food and dipped into a bow.

“Wakokukin Seiyu humbly receives this!” the woman said, her voice not quite a shout.

She then fairly dashed off, the prize clutched to her chest. The blue-haired woman, who had paused with Seiyu, looked at me for another moment, and then to my surprise, she broke out into a big, sunny smile.

“I’m Lanlong Bailu. Nice to meet you, Mister!” she said cheerily, her voice bubbly and far more carefree than I expected, and then sauntered off as well.

I followed after, at a slightly more sedate pace, to the roof.

Neither myself nor Gramps would be going—we were too injured, and somebody had to run the base of operations.

Both of us lifted our hands in the gesture of respect.

“My friends, I pray for your victory,” Shen Yu declared. “And you! When you go back to your Master, tell him not to bother me for a while! I don’t care what the boy wants me to do!”

His eyes were locked onto the Herald.

The man bowed, and once again let the insult roll off him. The cultivators jumped as one and moved so fast they disappeared into the distance, leaving no trace of their passing to the town below that was slowly waking up.

Then it was just me and the old man.

I glanced at Gramps, who rolled his eyes. “Don’t look at me like that. Fengyan isn’t incompetent enough to send a man who will get offended at my words... and it's fun to guess who's under the mask by the reactions alone. I think it's Shi Lang, since he was doing that little shrug with his shoulders. Not the most inspired man, Shi Lang, but he’s not terrible. He has a particular dry wit, and was originally Fengyan’s cupbearer...”

I sighed and shook my head as we went back in to collect Shenhe... and head home.

Our duty was done.

For the moment... this was somebody else’s problem. I still didn’t feel 100% safe, but hells, I certainly didn’t want to be a demon right now, with that kind of firepower heading towards me.

Truly, delegation was the strongest super power.