Book 1. Shifting Winds. Chapter 12. Pulled Around the City. (Part I)

“After we get our things from our old room, let’s go to celebrate,” Laien suggested cheerfully. At the moment, he and Siana were walking the path connecting the various private quarters at the back of the huge complex of buildings and training areas of the Red Dragon School. It was a little past eight in the morning; the sun was shining brightly, the sky was crystal clear. In other words, everything was great!

“Yeah, we could go to the best restaurant and have a really tasty breakfast,” Siana said dreamingly, already feeling a bit hungry at the thought. She flexed her right hand, peeking at the black gold interspatial ring she was wearing. Thanks to what happened yesterday, neither she or Laien would need to worry about money ever again. Something like spending too much on good food wouldn’t be a concern anymore! Oh, how she wanted to go to the bazaar and buy some exotic sweets and the rich flavored tea leaves from the far west!

“I wonder how everyone will react seeing us like this,” Laien mentioned with a chuckle, taking another look at Siana and himself.

They were both wearing the clothes they got from Rudford; white short-sleeved shirts and simple white pants. The only difference between the ‘male and female’ versions was the kind of red ornaments with the patterns on Siana’s set being slightly more complicated and effeminate.

Also, the other thing which would easily attract attention would be the blood red scabbard with a dragon engraved upon it which hanged at Siana’s waist. Within it laid one of the 81 Heavenly Treasures of the Starlight Continent, the second of the twin Red Dragon Swords. Of course, it would be hard for most people to tell that much just from looking at the scabbard and the hilt of the sword, but with a little help of the rumors spreading from the Red Dragon School itself, everyone would soon realize what kind of treasure Siana was carrying on herself.

The siblings understood that in normal circumstances, it would be potentially dangerous to be showing off like this. They would have never gone out with this much money and items on themselves. However, they were now Rudford’s personal disciples! Even madmen wouldn’t be stupid enough to assault them in the open. The power of the Red Dragon School was simply too great for anyone to take the risk.

“Greetings,”

“Good morning,”

“Greetings,”

The inner disciples they began passing by when they entered into the middle sectors of the Red Dragon School all began calling to them politely. The news of Siana becoming Rudford’s disciple had long since been made clear to everyone and as for Laien’s case, the two disciples of the Grand Elder just so happened to spread the information around.

It went without saying that the siblings gained a huge degree of authority in the school; only a few of the most talented inner disciples felt it appropriate to greet them informally. The very majority remained very courteous, even though the siblings more often than not were quite a few years younger than any one of them.

“Good morning,” a passing by Elder greeted the siblings and nodded towards them lightly.

“Morning,” Laien replied casually and smiled at the man. It really was a good feeling to be treated like this, but still, thanks to his talk with Rudford he didn’t let it get to his head. There was no shallow arrogance in his gaze, what the Elder didn’t fail to notice.

“Good morning,” Siana said and nodded back at the red-robed Elder, unlike Laien paying the man less attention as she was still daydreaming about what kind of breakfast she would like to eat the most.

“Laien!” a man called out from behind the siblings. When they turned to look, they saw one of the red-robed Elders hurrying towards them. If they remembered correctly - his name was Hauman and he was the Elder who was pretty familiar with Cran, but had no time to take in any more disciples.

“I probably shouldn’t be calling you by your name anymore, eh?” Elder Hauman said with a half-joking half-apologetic look on his face as he approached the siblings.

“I don’t mind, it’s better than ‘young master’ or something like that,” Laien responded with a smile and a shrug of his shoulders, instantly causing Elder Hauman to view him in a positive light.

“Then I shall continue doing so,” Elder Hauman said with a slight nod of his head and gave Siana a brief look, but as it seemed that she wasn’t interested in having a conversation with him, he didn’t try to exchange formalities with her and only greeted her simply, then got straight to the matter.

“Right, I was supposed to meet with Cran in the morning to help him organize a few things with regards to him leaving to the Royal Capital of Arand, but he is nowhere to be found,” Elder Hauman explained with a sigh. “Have either of you seen him anywhere or maybe heard where he could have gone to?” Elder Hauman asked helplessly. He had specially made some free time in his schedule to help Cran, but alas, Cran just went up and vanished without saying a word.

“I know nothing, the last time I saw him was before I went to rest after my duel with Tin’Long,” Laien replied without the need to think about it too long. “Siana, you know anything?” he asked, recalling that it was his little sister who was there when Cran had a talk with Rudford in the late afternoon.

“I don’t know where he went,” Siana said uncaringly, causing Elder Hauman’s face to sink. However, she added right afterward. “But after talking with Master Rudford, he appeared to be very frustrated. He practically stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind himself,” she mentioned on the off-hand, unable to be bothered about Cran’s childish problems.

“What? What happened for him to act like this?” Elder Hauman asked with a slight frown. The Cran he knew would usually be composed and only rarely would act angry, but he would never be outright boorish; especially not in front of someone like his uncle, the Great Master Rudford!

“He was being immature and Master Rudford told him off,” Siana said straightforwardly and shrugged her shoulders a little. “It was all something about him not becoming Master Rudford’s disciple, something stupid like this,” she explained briefly, the contempt sounding quite clearly in the tone of her words.

“Ugh,” Elder Hauman’s face sank as he learned from had happened. Not only had Cran embarrassed himself before Rudford, he also needed to do this before his new personal disciple! Even a young girl like this could see that he was being immature; why couldn’t he understand it too?

“I think I can guess where he went,” Elder Hauman said with a sigh while massaging the temple of his head with one hand.

“Where to?” Laien asked, thus making Elder Hauman regret having spoken up. He would have rather not embarrassed Cran further, but at this point, his principles demanded him to be honest.

“He probably went drinking to one of the high-end inns or taverns in the city… just like he did the last time he had an argument with his uncle,” Elder Hauman informed the siblings, then bowed his head and excused himself. He needed to find Cran as soon as possible, before Cran would do something stupid and slander himself and the school’s name.

“Unexpected,” Laien murmured to himself but chose not to change his plans. He was indebted to Cran… but he wanted to spend the morning with Siana. Both of them were looking forward to going around the city and eating together; he wouldn’t cancel it all just to look for Cran without even knowing if he would find him.

Either way, their first destination was a place none other than the great mansion of the Valius family itself. The two of them headed there and apart from a large number of people staring at them and whispering to each other, and also some of the citizens they didn’t know for some reason going out of their way to greet them and try to strike up a conversation, nothing too important or interesting happened.

However, at the main gate to the grounds of the Valius family…

“Greetings, young masters,” the two guards Laien and Siana had never seen before spoke simultaneously and bowed before them.

“The Clan Leader requested you to come meet him when you have time, young masters,” one of the men said politely and hurriedly opened the gate, allowing the siblings to go in.

“He sure became super courteous, ‘when you have time’, hah,” Laien pointed out, thinking that he could find an hour or two in a few days. Right now, he wanted to concentrate on settling in the Red Dragon School. He wasn’t in the mood to have serious talks about the future relations involving the Valius family and the Red Dragon School.

“I guess we could go see him… in a few days,” Siana said with a light smile, literally speaking Laien’s thoughts. The two of them exchanged a glance and chuckled at once, amused by how much the world around them changed overnight.

They made the trip to their old room and collected their clothes and the few personal belongings into their interspatial rings, right afterward heading to the high-end district of the Neil City to have a nice breakfast.

Although they had gotten a lot of attention on the streets, they relaxed at the luxurious dinner where only rich nobles could afford to eat. With no one disturbing them, they went ahead to wander the bazaar and buy whatever they wanted. As Rudford had given them most of the necessary things, they didn’t end up spending that much in comparison to the amount of funds they had; using up merely a few dozen gold coins each. They could have bought much more… but they saw no need to be wasteful on things they didn’t really need.

It was early afternoon when the two of them decided to head back to the Red Dragon School, both wanting to go through with their daily training routine, what by the way was a new thing for Siana as she had barely trained in the past. They were walking down an alley, when a few buildings ahead, someone who was standing at the window suddenly bent in half and vomited onto the street, making quite a few people openly voice their displeasure and curse at him.

“That was…” Laien groaned, quite sure that he recognized the person who just staggered back into the room. “Eh, Siana, will you mind returning alone? I think I should do something about this idiot,” he said with a sigh and smiled apologetically.

“I don’t mind,” Siana said and smiled at her big brother. Really, now he was being oversensitive; she wouldn’t be unreasonable enough to demand to be walked back by him now that they stumbled upon Cran. She wasn’t that kind of a person.

“Mm, then see you later,” Laien said and exchanged a glance with Siana, after which the two of them smiled and hugged each other for a bit.

“See you later,” Siana waved her hand at him and walked away, brimming with happiness as she obviously was in a very good mood.

“Now to take care of another drunkard,” Laien mused, his cheeks slightly flushed. “Good thing I have experience with Master Shire,” he thought with a laugh and headed to the building which appeared to be more like a hostel than a high-end inn Elder Hauman mentioned.

“No wonder he couldn’t find him, he went to such a run-down place,” Laien said to himself as he approached the door located a few meters into the alley of the main street.

The mercenary-like guard who was leaning against the wall and half-napping with his hands crossed over his chest opened his eyes a little when he heard the footsteps. “That’s not a place for kids,” he said with a snort, seeing that the person who approached was but a boy with milk under his nose, then closed his eyes and returned to napping.

“Open your eyes and take another look at me, then tell me to leave again,” Laien said with a laugh, quite apparently angering the man.

“Listen, kid, no matter who…” the guard began saying, but when he finally noticed the black dragon on Laien’s shirt he immediately swallowed the rest of his words. There was no person in the Sarkcente Kingdom who didn’t know what, or rather who the sign of the black dragon represented!

“Forgive me, young master. Please enter and have a good time,” the man said nervously, a second after he finished speaking realizing that it would be good for him to open the door… but as he tried to move over, he found out that his legs had gotten so stiff from standing in one position for hours that he ended up tripping over the step and falling over.

Laien chortled, watching the comedic scene with a wide smile. He walked past the man who didn’t know what to say or to do with himself and entered the hostel, welcomed by a heavy smell of tobacco and alcohol. “Terrible place,” he murmured to himself and ignoring the ‘lady’ at the bar at the few guests in the bar at the lowest floor, headed upstairs.

Thankfully, the woman proved to be more perceptive than her guard and took note of his clothes before yelling at him; for what she quietly thanked Heavens. She already welcomed one young master of the Red Dragon School, to now offend the other who almost certainly came to get his friend could very well be the end of her business! Stories about nobles shutting the whole places down or even murdering the people involved to save their face were quite common, after all.

“Pretty sure it was the fourth floor, right about… here?” Laien murmured and pushed at the door, which obviously was closed. He sighed and put his hand to the lock, filled it with some water and… found out that locks weren’t simple enough for him to just ‘push’ in every direction for them to open. Feeling a bit resigned, he controlled the water and forcefully ripped the whole lock off the door with a loud crouching sound.

As he pushed the door open and looked inside, he sighed with relief. Cran was indeed inside and he hadn’t busted the door to some stranger’s room.

“You sure look wasted,” Laien said with a smirk, seeing that Cran was so drunk that he stared at him blankly, not realizing what was going on. “Here, let me help you wake up,” he said cheekily and pulled one some of his spiritual energy, creating a large ball of water and sending it flying straight at Cran.

The fifteen-year-old jolted up when the cold water hit him. He somehow managed to try and take a breath and thus, choked a little and started coughing. Yet despite that, the cold showed did its job; he no longer was dizzy.

“What the hell, Laien?” he asked in confusion, sweeping the wet hair away from his face.

“Why don’t you use your Qi to sober up a little?” Laien suggested with a sigh. With a stable control over his Qi, any martial practitioner above the fifth mortal realm could easily use it to suppress poisons and negate their effects. It just so happened that alcohol was exactly that; a poison, albeit a little less lethal and with some side-effects which the humankind very much appreciated.

“Ugh, all wet,” Cran groaned but followed Laien’s advice. He circulated his Qi through his whole body and sobered up considerably, although not fully as he had drunk way too much alcohol for his own capabilities. Regardless, feeling much better he took a look at Laien… and his jaw dropped to the ground.

“Are you kidding me? You too?” Cran asked with a helpless laugh, so perturbed that he failed to notice that the water all over the floor, the bed and himself started dissipating as it had been created through a spell.

“What, are you going to go back to drinking because of it?” Laien asked with a snort, seeing no reason to be consoling Cran in this situation. He himself had gone through much more and never broke down, but Cran would depress over something so minor? Truthfully, seeing the fifteen-year-old in this state filled Laien with nothing but contempt for him.

Maybe it was because how blunt Laien was with his words, maybe it was because it was a ten-year-old reprimanding him. Maybe because of the scornful look in Laien’s eyes… but Cran said nothing and lowered his head. He would have gotten angry if someone tried to console him. In fact, he had vented out on Elder Hauman all those years ago when he found him in exactly same situation. However, right now he felt nothing but shame. Really, what in the world was he doing…? His life wasn’t over, he didn’t lose anyone important, he wasn’t crippled or fatally ill! Had there really been a need to go and drink himself until he was half-dead?

“Eh, just collect yourself and let’s go. Elder Hauman was probably searching for you the whole morning,” Laien said resignedly, cutting Cran some slack off as he at least appeared to regret what he did. He even smiled a little, the irony of this situation not escaping his notice. A ten-year-old like himself was reprimanding a fifteen-year-old like Cran, what has this world come to?

“Ugh…” Cran groaned, feeling worse by the moment. He completely forgot that he made a promise with Elder Hauman and continued to drink without end.

“What, will you continue being a baby? Do I need to carry you or what?” Laien teased with a laugh. He walked up to Cran who was still sitting on the floor and reached out with his hand. The current Cran might have been pitiable, but he was indebted to him either way. He wouldn’t scorn the fifteen-year-old for what he did… but he surely would make fun of him because of it.

“God damn, aren’t you one cheeky brat?” Cran asked with a helpless laugh, giving Laien a long look. He didn’t know if it was because of all the wine, but he had always found Laien to be pretty good looking either way... He wouldn’t really admit it before his father, but he wasn’t as interested in women as in men… his father would have never accepted it, anyway…

Acting on a total impulse, he grabbed Laien’s hand and pulled him over, taking the youth completely off-guard. He hugged him with one hand and grabbed his head with the other, then before he could realize what he was doing, he kissed Laien, locking their lips together strongly and deeply.

After a second or two, Laien regained his ability to think. He became very aware of the feeling of Cran’s lips on his own, he could also smell the sweet aroma of red wine… His first thought was to push himself away and jump back, but somehow he ended up not doing that. The sensation of a deep kiss proved to be really pleasant; much unlike the child-like kisses which he had sometimes shared with Siana… he blushed at the realization and breathed out, apparently causing Cran to snap back into reality by the air ticking his cheek.

Cran released Laien instantly and backed away, that is as much as he could with Laien practically sitting on top of him. Seeing Laien’s flushed face he reddened himself, overcome with the mix of guilt and embarrassment. “S-sorry,” he barely managed to force out of his throat while stuttering a little. What was he thinking, kissing Laien…?! It was a disaster…!

“Well, that was a surprise,” Laien took a deep breath and said with a laugh. “It felt pretty good, though,” he said wryly, making Cran completely and absolutely speechless.

“You aren’t angry?” Cran couldn’t help but ask. How come that Laien was so calm and was treating what happened as nothing important?

“Why would I be?” Laien raised his eyebrows. Obviously, had Cran went too far or had he not liked him enough, he would have been furious. However, was there really a need to freak out over a single kiss? “Don’t tell me you are some kind of an innocent young master? Do you even realize what part of the world we live in?” he asked jokingly. Wasn’t it pretty normal that here in the south kids around his own age would grow interested in these things?

In contrast to Laien’s leisure attitude, Cran still appeared to be rather conflicted. He wouldn’t ever confirm what Laien implied, but indeed, he was a bit of a sheltered kid. He had only fooled around a bit with once or twice with guys his age, but never went all the way. There was also the matter of his father’s attitude towards men liking men… it was all a complicated matter.