Still stewing over Weiwu’s offhanded comment, Gaius returned to the hut. There, an old man was playing yet another round of checkers with La-Ti, but Gaius knew that the former’s win rate was lower than one percent. His apprentice wouldn’t even show mercy to himself when practicing sculpting, so why would he extend mercy to an opponent in a game?

Gaius quite liked the decisiveness that the little fellow showed, but again, La-Ti’s role model was Gaius himself. At that thought, Gaius gave himself a mental pat on the back.

There was one last mission he was going to give to La-Ti, but it could wait until the kid wiped the checkerboard with the Chanter of Innocents.

As expected, the great god was outmanoeuvred at every turn. The regular click-clack as the two players placed down pieces now took on an uneven tempo, as Weiwu took more than ten seconds to decide on his next move, while La-Ti took half a second in doing so. Mentally lighting up a candle for the great god’s ignoble defeat, Gaius walked over to the stove, where some side dishes were being warmed up for him.

He hadn’t even brought the dishes over when the sounds of a great god groaning entered his ears, and a corner of his lips rose. I didn’t pick up a master sculptor; I picked up a master checker player. A suggestion for Pinnacle Kolya to make checkers a nationally recognised game is in order…

Hiding his smile, Gaius dived into his late dinner as the two began their little war all over again. The boy snuck a few glances at them, and fantasised, for the shortest of moments, about how nice it would be if the impending war between the Five Lands and the Wildlands was something as civilised as this.

War bred war. This much he knew. Even if the Five Lands somehow won, would new seeds of conflict rise up from the ashes?

Suppressing the buds of sorrow in his chest, Gaius polished off the stray dumplings that were scattered around the plate, and then mused about how the food here was far more varied than when he was back at his own dwellings. After washing the dishes, he placed them on the small tray that had been used to deliver food, and then turned to the two strategists duking it out.

Indeed, as he’d expected, Weiwu had lost within five minutes. Before the peeved great god could ask for another rematch, however, Gaius rapped the table twice.

“Sorry to interrupt this one-sided display of brilliance, but there’s something important I have to check about,” said Gaius. His eyes fell on La-Ti, who had smiled so widely upon hearing the first half of the sentence that he had probably missed out the remaining bits.

Clearing his throat, he directed his gaze to the Chanter of Innocents, who smiled back in return.

His eyes still on the checkerboard, Weiwu said, “Nakama will be dropping by…tomorrow night, it seems. A complete vessel for La-Ti has been created by her. As for my own part…bringing La-Ti into Orb with us shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Good enough. I can feel my body calling out to me too,” Gaius replied. “It seems that my soul will be recalled to its home soon, in a month or so. I’m not going to stay for that long, however.”

“I know. That said, you should leave Cybral first, and then return to your body from there,” said the great god. “You don’t want to risk any trouble. The same goes for La-Ti and Nakama…although I get a feeling that your little sister is far more intelligent than she lets on.”

“Are you looking down on her?” Gaius retorted.

“Did that sound like me looking down on her?” Weiwu shot back.

“Point.” The boy drummed his fingers lightly, pondering upon his near-instant reaction when the great god seemingly disparaged his sister. It was something that could lead to a quarrel, which could be a problem that needed solving…or it would be, but since it was Nakama, nothing could be wrong.

After taking the liberty to examine this issue from another angle, Gaius nodded to himself in satisfaction, having noted that there really wasn’t a reason to change this subconscious instinct after all. Feeling somewhat chuffed, Gaius patted La-Ti’s head, and then looked at his apprentice seriously.

“The second thing I want to say is to you, La-Ti.” Gaius fixed his eyes on the little boy. “I have a mission for you.”

“Mission?”

“Yes.” Gaius took a deep breath. “As you know by now, I probably will not be able to spend the rest of my time on Orb. Don’t you give me that look; I know you’ve been eavesdropping.”

His little apprentice somehow managed to force innocence into his expression, and Gaius rolled his eyes, before continuing with his words. “It wasn’t my intention to do this when I first took you in as an apprentice, and I have no intention of treating you as a substitute for me, but I hope that you can be the best little brother Nakama can ever have.”

Confusion danced around on La-Ti’s face. “Isn’t that what I’ve been doing all along?”

“Yes. I’m just afraid that if she’s too dependent on me…” Gaius didn’t complete his sentence. “I’m happy, but it’s also a cause of worry. My time here has definitely made her less dependent on me, but I’m still worried about it.”

The little apprentice thumped his chest proudly. “Don’t worry! I will do it!”

“For some reason, I’m beginning to regret my words,” Gaius replied with a straight face, before patting his head again. “Alright, I’ll be counting on you.”

He took a look at the checkerboard, and wondered who would win the next time Nakama and La-Ti fought a war.

“Senior.” Gaius gestured at the Chanter of Innocents. “Let’s play a few rounds, shall we?”

The great god glanced at him and raised an eyebrow. “You think that you can defeat me, now that I’ve experienced successive defeats at the hands of your apprentice?”

“Definitely not,” Gaius replied, hiding his fib with an honest smile.

“Well, we’ll soon find out.” Weiwu’s aged face smiled. “Let’s go.”