Reaching the door, he knocked firmly on it thrice, then entered.
Inside, sprawled out from one end of the living space to the other, were bedrolls. Numerous sleeping places, all filled with people recovering from being carved into and given a set of abilities.
Stepping into the room, Mei firmly locked to his side, Ash wasn’t sure what he was expecting here. Jia had entered as well and closed the door behind them.
Now that I think about it… I don’t think I’ve slept in… a while.
I can’t remember when.
“It’s been a while. You’ll need sleep soon, Chosen One,” Locke offered helpfully.
“Ah… Master Sheng?”
Moving his eyes to the speaker, Ash found the redheaded Outlander. She was already standing up from the chair where she’d been sitting. The seat was off to one side, so she’d been partially obscured by the way the wall turned toward the bedroom.
Err… what’s… her name again?
“Yes. I do wonder what her name is. She did tell it to you,” Locke said.
No. No, that is… uh… could you tell me what her name is?
“I could.”
Ash smiled at the woman, trying to buy a little time.
Would you?
“No. I don’t think so. You should suffer a bit, Chosen One,” said Locke quite cheerfully.
Giving up, Ash bowed his head to the woman.
“I’m sorry. I’ve forgotten your name,” Ash said sincerely. “It’s inexcusable but my only explanation is that I’m very tired.”
“Oh! Oh. Uhm. Ah. My name is Rou. Rou Kan, Master Sheng,” said the woman.
“Rou, thank you for your name. I’ll remember it this time,” Ash said and meant it. He wasn’t going to let Locke lord that one over him a second time. Lifting his head up, he met the woman’s blue eyes and smiled. “You seem to be recovering quickly.”
“Yes. Well. It… it isn’t… wasn’t… that difficult,” Rou said, her hands clenched together in front of herself. The faded blue dress remained, despite it being the same thing she’d worn the last time he’d seen her. “I just… don’t feel pain like other people do and it all felt right. The carvings, that is. What you did to me.”
Mei laughed softly at that, patting the back of Ash’s forearm.
“He does do wonderful things, but I don’t think anyone has ever described his carving work as… right.” Mei commented, tilting her head to one side.
“I… that is… well,” Rou said hesitantly. “Things… feel right? I can access my Dantian much easier now. Before it was like struggling through pea soup.”
“Pea what?” Jia asked.
“Pea soup,” Ash said without thinking about it. “It gets really thick hours after you make it. Gets thicker and thicker, too. It can be awesome all by itself.”
“Exactly!” Rou said, smiling at him.
Ash stopped himself right there, his mouth partially open.
“Uh… you’re an Outlander,” Ash said directly.
Rou’s eyebrows shot up practically into her hairline.
“I’m no such thing,” Rou said with a determined voice. “My… my father is an Outlander. And my mother’s grandfather was.”
“But you knew what pea soup was. Far as I know, I haven’t seen a pea since coming here,” Ash said.
Rou nodded her head quickly, then shook it as well.
“It’s just… just something my father would say. You’re… an Outlander, too?” Rou asked, her eyes searching his face.
“Yup. I’d love to meet your family sometime. Might be interesting to see where they came from. Maybe I can finally talk to someone about home,” Ash said with a laugh.
Mei’s fingers tightened against his arm. To his right side, it felt like Jia had gone absolutely still.
I wonder what that’s about.
“Anyway. I was just checking in,” Ash said. “Making sure all the new recruits are fine.”
“Yes, they’re all quite well,” Rou said, smiling at that. Suddenly the mousey woman vanished and she walked over to one particular sleeping woman. “I’ve been checking on them throughout yesterday and last night. As you finished up that is. Everyone is healing quite well.
“I had to put a little work into this one, but she’ll be fine. Her body seemed to resist the work you did at first.”
Rou laid a hand to the sleeping young woman’s head and brushed her hair back from her brow.
“She’s well now, though,” Rou murmured, patting the woman’s shoulder. “The rest of your women are in equal parts recovery and just needing time.”
Frowning, Ash looked out at the sleeping forms.
My women. You hear that, asshole? You hear that? You did this.
You did it. And now I’m Lord Harem of the harem people on harem planet. With the largest harem of all harem time.
“Congratulations, Harem One,” Locke replied smoothly.
I’m going to kill you somehow.
“Will they be ready for the tournament?” Ash asked. “They’ll have to participate after all.”
“No. They can’t,” Rou said immediately, standing up and crossing her arms over her chest. “They’ll all still be too weak for such a thing.”
“They won’t really have a choice, will they? It’s not like I’m forcing them, Rou,” Ash said, grinning with one side of his mouth. “This is a sect tournament. Everyone fights.”
Rou shook her head, her lips forming a pout. “No. They can’t fight.”
“If you want to talk to Master Gen about it, be my guest,” Ash said. “Maybe you can convince him to somehow make that happen.”
“Master… Master Gen? Yes. I’ll seek him out then. Who is he?” Rou asked.
That’s… right. She’s new here.
“He’s the master of our alliance and family,” Mei interjected. “You should introduce yourself to him. Be sure to tell him you’re Ash’s and that you’re a Qi Healer. Alright?”
“I… suppose I can do that,” Rou murmured, looking from Mei back to Ash. “And I really am a Qi Healer, right? All those papers you gave me vanished and I know how to Qi Heal, but… I can’t…” She gestured somewhat helplessly at the women in the bedrolls.
“She won’t be able to do much with them until they’re stable. Their Qi Seas are empty, after all.”
“When their Qi Seas fill up again, you’ll be able to assist them, but not until then. Alright, I’m going to get going. I was just checking in,” Ash said, waving a hand at her.
Leaving the building, he got the door open and practically ran Na over. The young woman was standing literally on the other side of the door.
“Master Sheng, I’ve put Chunhua to bed, everything else is taken care of,” Na said.
“Great, move,” Ash said, wanting to get away from all of this. He felt like he was suffocating under Mei’s firm Earth Essence user grip and Jia’s constant gaze.
“Are you well, Master Sheng?” Na asked, then laid a cool hand to his brow.
That was enough for Ash.
Managing to shake free of Mei and dodge around Na, Ash got outside.
Only to find Tala and Moira waiting for him.
Ash immediately ran away into the ring.
***
“It’s been a day now. You should probably go back,” Locke admonished.
“Why? Is there something wrong?” Ash asked, not looking up from the book he was reading.
Amongst the countless treasures stolen from the Deng family, Ash had also made sure to take every book he found.
Reading more of the culture here was key to him succeeding in this veil. Or so he felt.
“No, though they’ve come to inspect the area several times. To be fair, it was rather abrupt and without warning,” Locke said. “It was rather unbecoming of the Chosen One. Almost like you threw a temper tantrum.”
“Well, maybe they’ll give me some space next time,” Ash grumbled.
“I sincerely doubt that. Na is still waiting for you. She
slept next to the spot where you vanished,” Locke said. “You didn’t ask for space, by the way.”
“What?”
“You didn’t ask for space. You just… ran. If you want them to know what you want, you have to tell them. Didn’t you once complain that you weren’t a mind reader?
“Neither are they. Man up, already.”
Ash frowned, glaring at his book.
Now that his mind was chewing at the problem, he knew for a fact that Locke was right. He was behaving in a way that was more suitable for a child.
He hadn’t conveyed his needs, talked about how he was feeling, or that he needed space.
“You were tired, and have slept now. I considered saying this yesterday, but for all I knew you’d just throw another fit,” said Locke.
Unable to argue that point, Ash hung his head.
“Don’t worry, the only one you probably angered was Tala. She’s still mad that you kissed her, so I imagine she’s looking for an excuse to kick the crap out of you. Have fun with that, Chosen One.”
“When she works up the courage to do it, I’ll let it happen,” Ash mumbled, then instantly transported himself out of the ring and back into reality.
Before Na could even react to his appearance, Ash reached out and put his hands on her shoulders.
“Stop,” Ash commanded.
Na stared up at him with wide eyes, her lips parted.
“First. I’m sorry for running away. Second. Thank you for helping me. Third… I needed space and time. That’s all, you did nothing wrong,” Ash said, trying to head everything off upfront.
“There’s no need to apologize to me,” Na said, shaking her head. “Master Sheng, I’m but your personal attendant. Your Handmaiden. I’m supposed to receive your attention—positive or negative—in all things, even if it’s undeserved.”
Ash shook his head, then patted Na’s shoulder.
“You’re an idiot. A kind idiot, but an idiot,” Ash said. He needed to go apologize to everyone else. “Everyone at home?”
“Yes, Master Sheng. Most of them are. Yue went to her store to check on things, Tala and Moira are out sparring and hunting. Mei is in your home, and Jia is in hers,” Na answered quickly.
“My home? Why?” Ash asked, not really liking that.
“To wait for you, of course. That and it’s easier for her to hide from Zi Xin Zhou there. He can be a nuisance if she leaves by herself,” Na explained.
“Ah. I’ll need to take care of him then, won’t I?” Ash asked.
“Yes, Master Sheng. He made a passing comment to me as well, though I attempted to stab him with my spear,” Na said with a blank look on her face. “After that, he’s left me alone. Mei fears that as your woman she cannot act so deliberately or she might hurt your reputation.”
This… is all so stupid.
“Right. Guess I’ll have to add the house elder to my pumpkin patch. Though that’ll be—”
“Ashley,” Yue called out to him. Turning toward her voice, he saw her heading his way from the end of Sheng Street. “We have a problem.”
“Of course, we do,” Ash muttered. “I’m a damn problem farmer. My endless fields of problems. Problems and fucks. Because I have too many fucks to give and too many problems.”
“See. If Mei were here, she’d tell you that you could solve several problems by fucking them,” Locke said.
“Master Sheng, you could solve several problems by—”
“If you finish that sentence, I’m going to put you in the pumpkin patch,” Ash threatened, interrupting Na mid-sentence while not looking at her.
“You know what? I’m with Moira and Tala. I like her. I won’t let you put her in the ring at any time.”
Na said nothing more as Yue came over.
“I just had a run-in with some people,” Yue said with a huff. “They tried to get me to either join their alliance or just deliberately fail the alchemy tournament.
“As if I’d ever do that. This’ll be easier than selling paper ever was.”
“Not to mention it’s for the greater glory of Master Sheng,” Na added.
Yue turned her head toward Na. Her eyes, which always seemed to hold something back, stared at the other woman.
Something clicked in her head and Yue gave Na a wide smile.
“Yes. It’s for Ashley. I have to win,” Yue said, looking back to Ash. “And that’s what I told them. That I would win. They threatened that it’d be the last thing I ever did.”
“Really now,” Ash said, his emotions catalyzing into a solid chunk of cement in that moment. “Did they? Any chance you could tell me where they are, so I can go have a chat with them?”
“They were admiring your ‘pumpkins’ earlier today and then they followed me into the city. They’re probably somewhere between here and my store,” said Yue. “But I’m not sure. I’ll go with you.”
“As you like,” Ash said. He wasn’t going to argue with her. Right now, he only wanted to add more people to his display.
Leaving Sheng Street, Ash paused for a moment to check on his pumpkins.
They were still where he had left them, though they were all conscious and awake now. Someone had clearly given them medical aid, as well as food and drink.
Not one of his pumpkins met his eyes.
Chuckling to himself, Ash moved right along.
“Master Sheng, should I not have provided them anything?” Na asked.
“No, you did fine. If anything, them being awake and healthy for it makes it all the better,” Ash said.
“Rou healed them. I felt it would be good practice,” Na clarified further.
“Oh? Good. That’s not a bad idea. Maybe we should be on the lookout for other pumpkins for her to practice on,” Ash said.
“Yes. That’d be wise,” Na agreed.
Moving quickly, the three of them headed for the exit of the sect. When they got to the gate, Ash saw a group of people off to one side. Men and women both, dressed in sect colors, were lounging around and looking bored.
“Are they mugging people?” Ash mused aloud.
“Maybe. They didn’t actually do anything to me,” Yue said.
“They were looking to recruit you, so of course they didn’t,” said Na.
Good point.
Ash quickly sorted through each person using Sneaky Peeky. Once he found the one with the highest level, he felt relatively satisfied he’d also found the leader.
The man had a number of women gathered around him, and they all appeared to be in various stages of “fawning”.
“The dorky one with the red shirt is the leader?” Ash asked.
“He’s the one who talked to me,” Yue confirmed.
“Right,” Ash said, then he took in a breath. “Hey! Stupid!”
Amusingly, the man in question’s head whipped around toward Ash.
“Yeah, you. The one with the dopey grin who can’t tell that those women are more afraid of you than like you,” Ash said. “Mr. Stupid.”
The man’s eyes widened at that, and his entire group got to their feet as well.
“I need to talk to you, Mr. Stupid. You threatened her,” Ash said, hooking a thumb toward Yue. “So now, I’m here to threaten you.”
Mr. Stupid walked up to Ash, glaring at him the entire time. He spared a look at Yue and then back to Ash.
“She’s a—”
“Valued friend of mine. Whom you’ll show respect to, or I’ll show you the ground and how it tastes,” Ash said. “You threatened her. You can apologize and walk away, or you can remember this moment. Because it’ll be the last time you have all your teeth in the near future.”
Mr. Stupid’s eyebrows looked like one giant caterpillar that couldn’t decide if it wanted to go up or down.
All around Ash, Mr. Stupid’s gang was spreading out in a circle.
“If anyone even thinks something at your IQ level, Mr. Stupid, they’ll be joining my pumpkin patch on Sheng Street,” Ash promised. “If you survive it. If you
don’t… well… I guess I’ll pay Master Gen a fine.”
Pulling out his butterfly swords from his ring, Ash immediately positioned his feet, then took a step closer to Mr. Stupid. Putting himself well in range to gut the man outright.
Apparently, that finally signaled to Mr. Stupid that Ash wasn’t going to back down, and would actually be the first to attack if pressed.
“Keep your little girl then,” Mr. Stupid said. “She couldn’t handle me anyway.”
“I doubt anyone could without some type of magnification spell,” Na said pleasantly, her spear appearing in her hand with the words. “I’m used to spears myself, in the service of Master Sheng. Not little dirks.”
Did she just…
“Yes. Yes, she did,” Locke confirmed. “Na did mention she wanted to start a rumor that she was sleeping with you, just as Mei did.”
What?!
“You were hiding in the ring at the time. She was speaking with Mei and Moira,” Locke said.
Mr. Stupid’s face was scarlet. He was still backing away from Ash and company, though. His gang slowly followed suit until everyone had left. Heading into the city rather than the sect.
“I don’t think that’s the end of it, Ashley,” Yue muttered.
“No. It isn’t. But that just means I need to tell Gen about it in advance, and that I’ll likely have to bury another body,” said Ash with a heavy sigh. “I already have one dead man in the ring. Did you send Zha the note, by the way?”
“Yes, Master Sheng. She responded with a promise to send you a very large sack of spirit stones soon,” Na answered.
Ah, well. Murder for hire.
If I don’t like them.
Ten
“I have the utmost confidence in Yue,” Mei said. She’d managed to position herself directly next to Ash. They were standing somewhat apart from everyone else as they were part of the “team” Yue had selected as her secondaries.
Except she hadn’t actually deigned to give them any form of instruction on what to do.
Leaning into Ash, Mei pushed herself against his side, then wrapped an arm around his waist.
“Well, at least I can push the rumor a little further. I’m sure everyone in the audience will watch us as much as the contestants,” Mei murmured. Ash didn’t have to look at her to know she was smiling.
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