"What do you mean there's trouble in the Scraplands?" a servant that heard the clamour asked, "What does trouble in that backwater place have to do with us?"
"Yeah, they can barely feed themselves over there, so it's pretty obvious that they're in trouble," another servant tuned in, "But why is any of this relevant?"
"No! You misunderstand!" the initial deliverer of the message exclaimed, "This matter is much more serious than a small-scale conflict brought about by lacking resources! The Scraplanders are rising a revolt! They plan to take over the Ming City Union!"
Immediately, the whole room quietened down. Earlier, when the breaker of the news had mentioned the Scraplands and their troubles, no one had really paid any attention to his words, since the Scraplands wasn't really a place worth thinking about. As its name suggested, the Scraplands was a resource-barren area that was not ideal to live in. Hence, it wasn't a topic of interest to most people.
At the mention of the Ming City Union, however, everyone immediately stopped their actions.
The barbarians of the Scraplands wanted to take over the Ming City Union? Were they tired of living?!
The people of the Scraplands could barely even get by. What kind of rotten medicine had they taken to even think of ruling over a behemoth like the Ming City Union? The difference between the strength in the forces that the two areas could muster couldn't be any more exaggerated.
One was an ant and the other was an elephant!
"What! They're simply courting death!" a gruff voice shouted out.
"Indeed! Just a Blue River Battalion alone would wipe the Scraplands off the map! And they want to take over the whole union?! Naive!"
"Be that as it may," the news breaker announced, "Whether this matter is big or small is not for us lowly servants to decide. The elders of the clan have already moved and it seems that they're paying great attention to this matter."
"Ah!" a man shouted in exclamation, "That's right… if the Scraplanders truly made a move, our Gin Town would be right in the middle of it. We'd be the first to go down."
All of a sudden, everyone burst out into panic. That was right! If the Scraplanders wanted to take over the whole union, they'd first have to cross through the smaller towns in their way. And, in doing so, they would definitely have to go by Gin Town, since the Blue River Township that Gin Town was present in, was the direct neighbour of the Scraplands.
"But, even still, it shouldn't be too much of an issue right?" a worried voice sounded out, "Even if the Scraplanders do come, we have the backing of Blue River City, not to mention the mighty Union that stands behind it! We shouldn't be in harm's way."
"Hahaha, what a joke," a fat man mocked, "Expecting the Union to help us is out of the question. They have their own matters to take care of, and they wouldn't consider our little Gin Town as part of the grander picture no matter how much we begged them. As for Blue River City, we can pretty much expect minimal aid from there. They will use our city as a guinea pig to probe the enemy's strength before making a move. This wouldn't be the first time for something of the sort to occur."
Following this man's words, another offered his own opinion. A debate soon started between the two opposing parties. There was one side arguing that the Union and the Township wouldn't abandon Gin Town, and there was another side arguing for the opposite.
As for the contents of their arguments, Hua Yan didn't really have the time to listen. Sure, this matter may have concerned the welfare of his town, but even if he did care, what could he do about it?
He thought that instead of wasting his time wandering about here, it would be more productive to get started with his day of work. After all, he didn't have the luxury to sit around and argue like these old fellows had been doing. He had someone to support, so he could not just idle about.
Quickly accepting a few missions for herb collection and Truewood Essence gathering, Hua Yan left the pavilion and returned to Courtyard 24.
On his way back, he noticed some of the younger servants, perhaps around his sister's age, practising some bodily tempering arts. Most of them looked like they had already reached Ballooning Stage, since their bodies were quite bloated up from excessive meat. Seeing these 11 or 12-year-old kids that looked strong enough to crush stones with their fists, Hua Yan felt no emotion.
Maybe if he were younger, he would feel envious. He would be jealous at their progress and the opportunities that they were blessed with.
But now, as the years trickled by and he became more mature, he viewed strength as just another tool; he viewed it as another outlet to obtain anything that was desired.
But strength, though it could be used to make people happy, wasn't the only method to achieve happiness.
Though Hua Yan couldn't be said to be perfectly content with his life, he had to admit that he was happy about some of the things that he was doing. Though he wasn't strong enough to be any sort of hero or legendary figure, he had his priorities that he could never back down. To him, the meaning of happiness was living up to these priorities that he had set up for himself. As long as he could comply with them, he would be satisfied with anything that life threw at him.
As he neared his home, Hua Yan had accidentally bumped into someone. Though he was completely alert of his surroundings, and was by no means being careless, a figure rushing faster than his body could react had rammed right into him.
Looking at this person, he recognized that it was none other than the local bully, Hua Gwan.
Hua Yan was in trouble.