Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 12. Making Trouble.

“Hmm? Why would I be lying about us being partners?” Laien asked with a cheeky smirk. Technically speaking he wasn’t even making anything up; only stretching the truth a little bit. As for whoever this girl was… why would that ever stop him from making fun of her? She was basically begging for it, so no one could blame him for giving her what she wanted.

“But you are both boys, you can’t get married!” the girl exclaimed angrily. “I’m not stupid, I know you are making fun of me,” she added with a snort, only now collecting herself enough to stop shouting at the boy in front of her. Her mother often told her not to yell at people because it was immature; she was even a bit embarrassed by her actions, but not enough for the feeling to overcome her anger.

“You think we are making fun of you?” Laien asked, an amused smile still present on his face. Had he not seen this girl with his own eyes, he would have had trouble believing someone so oblivious lived in the Sarkcente Kingdom. He might not be able to argue with the facts, but he could still laugh at the silliness of the reality displaying itself before his own eyes.

“You aren’t?” the girl asked suspiciously. “Do you have anything to prove it then? Are you married or something?” she asked sarcastically; she knew people could get married only after their sixteenth birthday, so she was pretty sure the black-haired boy was lying to her and had nothing to back his words.

“Hmm,” Laien chuckled a little and took two quick steps back. “How about that for a proof?” he asked with a laugh, then glanced at Yin with a mischievous smile. Yin chuckled quietly, pretty much aware of Laien’s intentions. Thus, he wasn’t surprised when Laien grabbed him by the waist and pulled in for a kiss; he didn’t mind being watched either and hugged Laien for a bit, very much enjoying the pleasant moment.

The girl stared at the two boys before her with her mouth slightly open. It was hard to say whether she was more shocked or embarrassed by what she was seeing, but one thing was for sure; she was completely flabbergasted. She hadn’t had her first kiss yet! And now she was leaning boys could actually be a couple too?! And she was looking at them kiss?! It was simply inconceivable!

“Convinced?” Laien asked with a laugh, he and Yin both glancing at the flushed teenage girl in a white dress.

“U-uh…” the girl mumbled something incomprehensible. She truly didn’t know what to say to that and for some reason, she was so nervous no sensible thoughts were coming to her mind.

“Guess that’s about it,” Laien said with a laugh. “Come on, let’s go,” he added and walked past the girl, Yin following him in step.

“Lady Cecile!” a young man rushed past the two of them, having noticed the white-dressed girl standing there in the middle of a corridor. The young man seemed to not have even noticed them as he hurriedly called out to the girl. “Lady Cecile, I’ve been looking for you for ages! You know your mother forbade you from going out alone, allow me to escort you back to your room!”

The young man, likely the girl’s, Cecile’s guard was probably baffled to see her so calm and yet so flushed… but Laien and Yin knew little of what happened afterward as the two of them didn’t stay to listen. Instead, they hurried to the training grounds, impatient to stretch their muscles and have a good sparring; and naturally, to surprise a few of those Iron Knights.

“You know,” Yin brought up with a smile. “I think you are having a bad influence on me,” he said and chuckled to himself. Before meeting Laien he would have never thought to tease people like that, but he needed to admit it was a lot of fun.

“You think so?” Laien asked with a wry smile. He was pretty sure Anatis told him something similar, if not outright identical; the thought amused him quite a lot.

“Definitely,” Yin said with a laugh. Around Laien he would somehow find himself… going overboard a bit too easily. In some situations, it didn’t matter and was quite fun, but he needed to remind himself not to let the flow sweep him along at the other moments.

“You don’t seem to mind it though,” Laien pointed out. By now he could read Yin’s emotions with a simple half-conscious thought and Yin could do the same to him. The two of them felt that they could block out the feedback from their spiritual bond with some effort, but they never considered the option. They didn’t mind if sometimes it would lead to a small argument between the two of them; on the contrary, especially Laien found those arguments to be quite informative.

Yin smirked but didn’t comment any further. It was clear to both of them what the other thought about the matter so any more words would be a simple waste of breath. What could he say? He really considered himself to be very lucky to encounter Laien so early on in his search for a partner; he had trouble believing he could get along as well with anyone else.

A few minutes later the two of them arrived at the training grounds. They entered the spacious campus that was divided into many separate training areas. From what they could tell from the signs far to the right were the places reserved for martial masters, while the remaining sixty percent of the entrances seemed to be available for anyone to use. The area close to the region of martial masters was fairly loud at the moment; it was the most lively part of the training grounds by far.

“So, what’s on your mind?” Yin asked with a smile. He would rather first spar with Laien before making a scene, but if Laien wanted to do it the other way around he wouldn’t object either.

“Let’s find a quiet place to spar first,” Laien answered after a second of thought. He had pretty much confirmed he would be unable to gain any insights into Aspects from Yin, but exchanging blows with him was a great practice in itself. With some luck, he would be able to employ the Water Flow defense again and maybe even dodge Yin’s Thunder sword art, though he felt much less confident in the latter.

Yin nodded in agreement and the two of them headed to the left. Knowing little about where they would find no people they chose one of the doors at random, and thus entered something that resembled an old-fashioned dojo with a terrace and a flat rectangular open area designated for fighting. The place wasn’t huge by any means and in fact, it was quite small in comparison to the standards of Neil City, but it was more than enough for normal youngsters to train in. The only issue was that with different weather conditions it could be annoying to work out under the sky… but perhaps it was also just a part of the training for the future defenders of the citadel.

“Huh, you guys new in here?” an adolescent boy, perhaps thirteen or fourteen years old, turned around and asked when Laien and Yin entered. Judging from the tone of his voice, he was surprised to see them here. “Don’t you know it’s the place where trash train? Or are you one of them?” the youth asked with a smirk, his words followed by quite a few chuckles and mocking smiles of his group of friends.

“If it’s a place for trash to train at,” Laien brought up with a smirk. “Then, are all of you guys trashes?” he asked mockingly and laughed in his heart when the faces of about dozen youths fell. How could he not tell this bunch was amusing themselves by picking on those three guys who didn’t even dare to look up or say anything? Although he had been so different back then that the memory was distant to him, he still remembered how he used to be bullied himself. He naturally would have no trouble recognizing the familiar enduring look in someone else’s eyes.

“We are only reminding those troods where their place is,” the youth said with a snort, ignoring Laien’s obvious provocation.

“Troods?” Laien raised his eyebrows, but at the same time didn’t fail to notice the frustrated and angered, though also helpless expressions on those three bullied guys’ faces.

“Trood; traitor’s blood,” the youth said with a shrug of his shoulders. “You two can’t be from the borders and outsiders aren’t allowed to walk around freely. You must be mainlanders,” he pretty much stated, not looking for a confirmation from Laien or Yin.

“And is there something wrong with being a mainlander?” Laien asked curiously, the smile on his face turning into a rather challenging one.

“Most mainlanders are spoiled,” the youth answered and shrugged his shoulders again. “They are better than troods though. There is nothing worse than a traitor,” he added strongly.

“And what did their parents exactly do?” Yin asked, wondering if those three really deserved to be treated so harshly.

“The unit they belonged to got ambushed during a patrol,” the youth said grimly. “Their fathers pissed their pants and ran away. Because of them, the ranks collapsed and more than half of the unit ended up dying. Over thirty people, my elder brother included,” he explained with an extremely cold look in his eyes and spit on the ground. The three bastards never returned to the Iron Fort, knowing what the punishment for running away from a battle was. So many good men died because of them and yet, they refused to even face the consequences of their cowardice!

“That’s pretty bad,” Yin admitted reluctantly. He didn’t like bullying… but he couldn’t quite find an argument to retort those guys with. Was he supposed to tell them bullying is wrong? If he were in that boy’s shoes, he would have likely acted in the same way.

“Only a coward and a trash abandons his comrades and runs away alone,” Laien said clearly, his words surprising the youth and his friends.

Truth to be told they had expected those two mainlanders to be spewing some far-fetched moralistic crap, so having both of them agree with the point just like that was quite unexpected to them indeed.

“Say, was your brother a great man?” Laien asked seemingly out of the blue. The adolescent youth before him frowned a little but responded nevertheless.

“He was,” he said simply, not feeling like talking about his elder brother in detail with someone he just met.

“So he was. Does it mean you are automatically a great person too?” Laien asked, then shrugged his shoulders as he saw the look of realization in the youth’s eyes.

“No, it doesn’t,” the youth said with a sigh. “You want to tell me I am a hypocrite for blaming those three for what their fathers did?” he asked with a bitter laugh, truthfully no longer knowing what to think. He had picked on those guys to vent his resentment and… in the back of his head, to make sure they wouldn’t turn out like their fathers… but was this really something he should be doing?

“Pretty much yeah,” Laien said with a light laugh, then exchanged a brief glance with Yin. Was it really so surprising to Yin that he could sometimes be reasonable too? He had seen many young masters trying to force their way into the Red Dragon School without sufficient talent and had seen all of them being flat-out rejected. In life, what your parents and family had accomplished could give one a better start, but it wouldn’t by any means represent his own value! For that everyone needed to work on their own.

“They are still troods,” the youth said with a snort and glanced at the three somewhat angrily. “If they can prove their worth though, they can become ones of our own again though,” he said offhandedly and looked away from the three, but not before noticing the significant change in the three’s eyes and expressions. He couldn’t not smirk mockingly to himself after seeing that; could it be he wasn’t helping all this time but actually driving those three to act like their fathers had?

“So since it’s settled, if you excuse us,” Laien said with a slight smile and headed off to the side with Yin.

“You want to spar here?” the youth asked, the tone of his voice suggesting that he had something else to say.

“Yeah,” Laien responded with a shrug. “What, is that a problem?” he asked and smirked a little. He would have had nothing against quickly putting some ‘Iron Knights’ in place if that was what they wanted.

“I believe my rough-faced cousin wants to invite you to train at our parents’ place,” a long-haired youth who had just entered through the door called out with a smile. “At the section of martial masters if I might add,” he clarified with a laugh and gave his cousin a bit more serious look. “Teira, your father told me to call you over. He said you should keep bullying troods to a reasonable limit,” the youth said with a little smirk, using the exact words his uncle had.

“I’m done with that for good.” Teira shook his head with a smile. “Lucin, do you think it would be fine if we brought those three too?” he asked and glanced at the three guys who were perhaps the most surprised ones to hear him say something like this.

“You want to bring troods over?” Lucin laughed helplessly. He considered his cousin’s suggestion for a second or two, then ran his hand through his long hair and said. “Do whatever you want, but you will be the one explaining it to the adults.”

Teira nodded and turned his gaze to the two Laien and Yin. “You going or not?” he asked without beating around the bush.

Laien and Yin looked at each other, wondering what they should do. They had been planning to first duel and then to see if they could find anyone to spar against in this place, but since they were being given the opportunity to go and see how martial masters of the Iron Fort fared wouldn’t it be a pity to refuse? They could swap the order of what they intended to do after all.

“We are,” the two of them answered at the same time, then exchanged another look and chuckled. They spoke like that a bit on purpose and luckily enough, they managed to choose the same words to respond with.

Teira nodded contentedly and gestured Laien and Yin to follow him. Soon, the whole bunch left this particular training ground; as for the three boys who had been labeled as ‘troods’, they hesitated a bit but also went with the group. To them, it was one of a kind opportunity to cut themselves from the shame their fathers had brought upon them and their families. They wouldn’t waste it just because they were anxious about taking the invitation.

---

“Lucin? Just how many friends did you bring with you? Ugh, you are so hopeless…” a long-haired man greeted his son with a helpless laugh.

“At least he took my filial son with him,” a sturdy-faced man said with a smirk. “There are two faces I don’t recognize, who are you kids?” he asked, glancing at the two white-clothed boys walking at his son’s and nephew’s side.

As for the three boys deemed to be troods… a few people noticed them, but since they came with everyone, no one objected to their presence.

“They are mainlanders, father,” Teira answered with an amused smile. “The black-haired one is called Laien, the green-haired one is Yin. They are saying they want to see how strong the Iron Knights are,” he explained in a fairly loud voice and given that everyone on the spacious terrace was already more or less listening in, managed to attract quite a bit of attention with this statement of his.

“Ho?” the long-haired man raised his eyebrows, his lips curving up into a confident smile. “Then we should oblige the boys. Lucin, they seem to be about your age. Go and show them what you have,” he instructed swiftly, always happy to remind everyone how great of a son he had.

“Yes, father,” Lucin obeyed happily and amongst the clatter of fairly amused discussions asked Laien and Yin. “Which one of you wants to go first?”

The two exchanged a glance, after what Yin smiled and sighed a little. “Fine, just go. I can tell how eager you are,” he said with a laugh.

“Thanks,” Laien said gratefully. Seeing that Lucin began walking towards the center of the large area; one much bigger than in the previous training room they were in, he withdrew the white spear from his interspatial ring and went after the youth.

“A spear wielder?” the sturdy-faced man commented aloud, just as surprised as many others.

“To think we would see a mainlander who isn’t biased towards the sword,” the long-haired man said with a laugh.

“Don’t you and your son use swords?” a man with ruffled hair pointed out with a smirk. The vast majority of soldiers at the borders used swords too. In his opinion, they shouldn’t call mainlanders out for something they were similarly guilty of.

“Just because we do doesn’t mean we look down on the spear,” the long-haired man replied calmly. The one who just spoke was the highest-ranked person present; lieutenant Tares, a martial master of the third rank. Naturally, he would keep his sarcastic comments in check when speaking to his superior, even if the situation was a fairly casual one.

“You are pretty harsh, you know,” Tares said while glancing at the long-haired man. “You made that kid face your son first. Isn’t your boy already at the sixth mortal realm? It won’t even be a fight,” he added with a slight smile, purposely not bothering to keep his voice low. He peeked at Yin to check the expression on his face… only to be startled when his gaze met Yin’s.

“He’s smiling? Does he not like the other guy? Or…?” Tares mused quietly, the look in his eyes becoming more serious. The recollection of the news about some green-haired boy having a great duel against Rudford’s disciple crossed his mind, but he quickly discarded the thought. What would those pampered prodigies from the mainland be doing in the Iron Fort anyway? He smiled to himself in a rather mocking manner and proceeded to watch the duel that was about to begin.

“Glory to the Ishtar,” Lucin said amiably and took out his sword. He was one of the three strongest kids in the Iron Fort, so he was perfectly calm and confident in his ability to teach Laien a thing or two. He would be ‘benevolent’, or whatever was the word his father liked to use and not beat Laien up too hard.

“Well…” Laien started with a smile. “Glory to the Ishtar,” he said with a light laugh and took a proper stance. He wasn’t exactly the most religious person around, but if he thought about it as a form of courtesy before a duel he could speak the words with a straight face.

“So slow,” the thought crossed his mind as he watched Lucin charge at him. He used his spear to deflect the blow in a somewhat lazy fashion while stepping back and to the side, then thrust at Lucin’s chest before the boy could try and attack him again. The casual counterattack was easily deflected though, not all that contrary to Laien’s expectations.

“He seems quite strong, but he isn’t using his Qi,” Laien mused to himself. After a few more exchanges he could tell that Lucin’s actual physical strength was around the seventh mortal realm; the two of them were just about as strong. However, compared to Anatis who hovered close to the late stages of the eighth realm and Yin who was nearly as strong as a martial master of the first rank… the blows of Lucin’s felt both weak to his hands and slow to his eyes.

“I wonder why he isn’t using his Qi?” he wondered again, retreating steadily and circling around the center of the fighting around. For the past thirty exchanged or so he had been doing nothing but defending and sending out a sparse amount of counterattacks. He couldn’t help but smile a little; it probably looked like he was on the defensive to those few dozen people watching. Yet, he wasn’t even using his full skill with the spear not to mention any of his other abilities or insights.

“Like father like a son,” Tares commented heartily. “Is going easy on that kid his idea of being benevolent?” he asked, mocking the long-haired man just a little.

“Hmph,” the long-haired man snorted, but still forced himself to say calmly. “His opponent isn’t even at the level where he can control his Qi and use a martial art. Lucin is doing him a favor by exchanging so many blows with him.”

Tares laughed quietly but didn’t comment any further. Indeed, from what he could see Lucin was overwhelming that mainlander kid. Using the Iron skin art would be nothing but bullying the weaker. However, for that mainlander kid to be able to hold on for so long was also quite impressive.

Almost everyone in the small audience had feelings similar to lieutenant Tares’s. At the arena itself, however, Lucin was beginning to grow worried.

“What’s up with him?” he thought restlessly. He had been planning to suppress Laien with a berserk-like barrage of attacks, but the way Laien defended was disturbing his tempo at each step. He felt like he couldn’t exert more than half of his full strength as each slash and each thrust of his sword was being… akin to sucked in and sent to the side, thus throwing him off balance and creating openings in his defense which he needed to quickly fix.

He didn’t know when exactly it happened, but he found himself… being schooled by his peer in a way he never thought would be possible. He remembered how he and his father used to fight with wooden swords when he was younger; his father would often lead the spar in such a way that he would notice the lacking areas in his defense and would be led to try and correct them. As unbelievable as it might sound… right now the same thing was happening.

Those sparse counterattacks of Laien’s happened always when he showed too much of an opening after forcing his own attacks to go through too hard. This relaxed manner in which Laien was defending, the slight smile on his face… he couldn’t shake off the feeling that Laien’s skill surpassed his own by leaps and bounds. Moreover, regardless of wanting to admit it or not, he could tell that his skill with the sword was steadily improving under Laien’s guidance. This kind of a difference… the only times he had experienced it was when sparring with the truly elite martial masters of the Iron Fort.

“Use your martial art,” Laien encouraged calmly, speaking in a fairly quiet voice. At first, he had been totally disinterested with having Lucin as his opponent, but he then realized he could get something out of this fight if he held back and limited himself to using only specific abilities; just like Yin was doing for him when they sparred. Right now he was quite close to once again entering that peculiar state of mind required for the Water Flow technique, all he needed was for Lucin to push him harder.

Lucin’s eyebrows furrowed, but he quickly put his pride away and smirked self-mockingly. To the surprise of the people watching he roused his Qi and sent it flowing through his body and weapon. His sword was set aflame by the rust-colored flames while his skin turned somewhat reddish in color. Without wasting time for pointless talk, he swung his flame-engulfed sword, wondering how did Laien intend to deal with it without being able to use a martial art of his own.