While Master Huang took it as a matter of course, Madam Huang wasn't entirely happy with Riku deciding on armor on his own. Ruyi was even less happy that he did so with Aulonia's advice and style of apparel. Upon a less-than-triumphant return, in order to avoid both of them, Riku fled to his secret hideout to take shelter until the storm blew over.
That was why Huo had to put up with being Observed by Riku for the next few hours as he prepared dinner in the kitchen.
[Flame Burst Kick Technique Observed: 40%... 44%... 48%...]
[Southern Star Blade Technique Observed: 50%... 52%... 54%... 56%... 58%...]
[Burning Palm Technique Observed: 9%... 10%... 11%... 12%...]
[Huo's Fire Jet Technique Observed: 28%... 29%... 30%...]
Eyeing him thoughtfully, Huo set aside some food for him in a small pot for a takeaway meal. Grateful for the chance to avoid the Huang mother-daughter pair at dinner, Riku happily took it and ran away with the food, canine style.
***
The next morning, Riku departed together with the caravan bearing the tax collection. Madam Huang watched him go wearing new leather armor with tight-lipped disapproval, but she didn't say anything more on the matter. As for Ruyi... she was still asleep when they left.
The caravan had five wagons in all. In the lead was Master Huang's, which his luggage along with Shui's, Riku's and Jin's. Behind it was an armored wagon with a whole squad of archers on the roof. The wagon itself was locked up tight, with chains and locks visibly running all around it.
The remaining three wagons bore supplies and luggage for the twenty-five escort troops, ten wagon drivers, twenty caravan workers and ten Magistrate Guards, all of them top outer disciples of Master Huang, including Watanabe Kagura, Wu Ardent, Zhong Bounty, Altan son of Arban and Herman Santiago.
Master Huang led the group, posting Shui in the rear, Jin on the left and Riku on the right. He divided his remaining disciples among them, taking the 7th (Herman), 8th, 9th and 10th ranked Outer Disciples with him. The 3rd (Zhong Bounty), 4th (Altan), 5th, and 6th ranked were posted with Shui guarding the rear. Of the top two, the 2nd (Wu Ardent) was posted with Jin on the left flank. The top ranked (Kagura) was posted with Riku on the right.
If it were just them, Riku would have felt that the formation was too weak on the sides, but the army's escort troops made up for it. They had eight soldiers on each side, eight more on the roof of the armored wagon (which was longer than it was wide, which meant easily four elevated archers facing each side), with their captain in front.
These soldiers were all without a doubt stronger than Riku and most of the Outer Disciples. The spearmen on either side of the wagons were at least Second Stage Adepts, and the archers on the wagon should easily be on par with Shui, a Fourth Stage Adept. As for the Captain, he was somewhere between Shui and Master Huang in strength, definitely beyond the level of an Adept, but short of a Master.
What was the rank between Adept and Master, again? Journeyman? From what Riku remembered, after Ninth Stage Adept was First Stage Journeyman, and then it was nine stages of Journeyman more to go before reaching Master level.
"The road is long, ahead." Riku sighed, thinking of how he'd only just made it to First Stage Adept.
"The journey only takes two days. We should be back within a week." Kagura assured him. "It is not that far."
Two days. Riku shook his head wondering whose idea it was for the guards (including Master Huang and disciples) to travel on foot. Admittedly, they wouldn't have gone much faster on horseback, because the armored wagon was too heavy to travel quickly and the roads were in rather bad condition, but it would still have been a bit faster.
Then again, Riku did not want to have to struggle with hostile horses for the entire journey. Those creatures were more likely to bite him than let him ride them comfortably. He had a hunch that if they really tried to make the trip on horseback, they'd spend most of their energy on the trip fighting to bring their mounts under control.
"Say, Kagura... are there others? Other Watanabes?" Riku asked. "Do I have more family on your side that I don't know about?"
"Not many." Kagura glanced about. "Just my own family and my aunt's. Less than ten altogether."
"Can you tell me about your family?"
"What do you want to know?"
"I just... wanted to get to know them. I mean... with the Xi Clan destroyed, I don't have any other relatives."
Kagura softened a bit as she considered for a moment. "We are traders, traveling merchants. We buy from the coast and sell to the plains, we buy from the north and sell to the south. In order to travel safely, we ourselves train heavily in martial arts. Some of the most valuable things we sell is information. This includes martial techniques, alchemy recipes and musical scores."
"Music too?" Riku blinked.
"Oh, yes. Once, my father even sold a playwright's script for 5,000 lir! The playwright was most grateful. The sales price was split equally between them."
Riku suddenly had a dark thought. "Kagura... what if I wanted to buy specific information, something that might require investigation? It might even be dangerous."
"We sell that too. But be warned, the more danger is involved, the higher the price will be. Also, if it is too dangerous, we might not accomodate you." Kagura glanced at him sideways. "Can you really afford such prices?"
Riku grimaced. "Probably not."
But at least now he knew who to ask, and what he needed. Once he had the money, he could get Kagura's Clan to investigate what happened to the Xi. Getting that money, though... other than Spirit Smithing or selling the Xi land outright, Riku couldn't think of any other way for him raise funds. The pay from a common town job couldn't possibly afford the kind of prices Kagura implied, plus what would he do once he learned of his true enemies? He would likely have to find help and that, too, will cost. Even for a children's squabble, Riku needed to pay Master Huang and his fellow disciples with goods and services. How much would it cost him to get help to deal with the people who wiped out his clan?
"I don't suppose you guys handle trust funds?" Riku winced.
"What?" Kagura looked at him blankly.
"Err..." Riku paused. "What if I invested in your trading? Bought a share in a trade route? Something like that?"
"You wish to be a trading partner?" Kagura shook her head. "Even I need to be at least a Journeyman to be a partner. Plus, I would need to bring at least 10,000 lir to the table."
Shoot. Not only was there a high investment minimum, they even needed him to be at the Journeyman level! That was the level the army required of their captains!
Heaving a slow sigh, Riku put aside the heavy issues for the future. "What about your immediate family? Any brothers or sisters?"
Kagura eyed him, then said, "Fifty lir."
"What?!" Riku gaped.
"If you want valuable information, you'll have to buy it." Kagura said.
"But... but we're related! I just want to know about my relatives!" Riku protested.
"But you don't know yet. And since you don't know any other relative of yours... that makes it valuable. Plus, I also need to save up to be a business partner." Kagura pointed out.
"So stingy..." Riku grumbled.
"It's for your own safety. Don't reach for danger until you have the strength to cope with it. This includes financial strength." Kagura advised.
Riku suddenly had a thought. "You know something, don't you? Something about what happened to my family!"
Kagura didn't say anything. She didn't react at all.
"You definitely know something. Otherwise, you wouldn't be mentioning about how dangerous it is..." Riku confirmed to himself. "Fine. Since you're so sure I'm nowhere near ready to face it, I'll leave off for now."
Not only was learning about his family dangerous, learning about her family was dangerous too! Was it something shared between them? Since the were related, were their dangers related too? Or were they entirely separate dangers?
Either way, it was clear that Kagura felt that the danger involved in her own family was already beyond what he could manage as he was. Best simply to focus on his training for now.
Kagura suddenly glanced behind them. "Someone is coming."
"Someone...?" Riku began to call out to the earth...
"Not hostile. For now." Kagura added, eyes narrowing.
Up ahead, Master Huang also noticed the incoming party. He left the front to the army captain, then went to the rear to greet the newcomers in person. "Elder Ji! What brings you here?"
The person incoming was indeed Elder Ji, but he wasn't alone.
"Is that... Cymaria?" Riku blinked.