After the Poisonous Raja was taken down, the elders arrived at the scene and asked the disciples what had happened. They all described the appearence of the one who had killed the mystical beast, but none of the elders recognized him.
Jian was later found inside of the cave, uncounscious and with blood covering his body. He appeared to be in a good state, though he seemed to have been stabbed in the shoulder. The disciples who found him concluded that he must have been stabbed by one of the horns that were on the poisonous raja.
Huang Lei would later confirm that hypothesis as the size of the hole matched the horns. But the elders still wondered how Jian survived, since the hole was quite big and would've killed anyone of the same level.
Jian would only wake up a day later. And the first thing he did once he opened his eyes was scream. He looked around frantically, his eyes searching for anything out of the norm in his little cottage, and they immediately settled on the little girl who had retreated to a corner of the room.
" Please ! Don't hurt me !" She exclaimed, trying to retreat into the corner even further while shuffling her little feet and shaking her head.
' What ?'
Jian looked at her with astonishment for a second, before he saw something that made him sigh. The little girl had some sort of wound all around her neck and throat. This was the proof that she had a collar attached to her not too long ago.
"Are you a slave ?" Jian asked as he took a sip out of a bowl filled with fish soup. The little girl gasped and looked at Jian in shock. The 12 years old teenager grinned and then lifted his pants, to reveal a similar mark around his two anckles, though it was barely visible anymore.
"You....You were a slave too ?!" The little girl yelled, instantly moving towards him and touching his anckles.
"Indeed. Though I wasn't a slave for long....Maybe something like 8 months....I once had the dumb idea to play Pyramidion against a slave merchant. Didn't end well obviously. I thought I was pretty good at the game, but that fatso was a master at it." Jian said as he finished the soup and relaxed on the bed. The girl chuckled and moved to his side before slightly rocking him.
" Say....Do you believe in the Treaty of Birds ?" The girl asked as Jian's eyes widened. He looked at the girl in shock as she looked at him with hopeful eyes. He looked away and bit his lip. The girl couldn't see it, but his face was all crunched up, and he was doing all that was possible to calm himself, but a small tear escaped in the end.
"I believe in it.....I just don't know if those who have actual powers will sign it....." Jian said. The little girl let out a disappointed 'Oh' before her eyes turned completely dead.
"There is no chance, huh ?...My mommy said that it will happen at some point... She always says that ' Once all wars have ended, the Knights and Religious Orders will come to help us." The girl said. Jian blinked twice as he heard that, before moving faster than the girl could follow and grabbing both her shoulders.
" That sentence.....By any chance, does your mommy have a little...Hmmm, what's it called again....Ah yes ! A tomoe ! Does she have a tomoe under her mouth ?!" Jian asked as he rocked the girl back and forth.
"Wha....Do you know my mommy ?!" The girl asked as Jian began to laugh.
"Hahahah! You're damn right I know her. But I thought she was dead...When I escaped from that fatso, I met her. She was escaping too, with another woman slave named...Yao or something...I can't remember. It was such a long time ago.....She's the reason I could escape. She took a knife to the back to save me." Jian said as his eyes lost their focus and he seemed lost in his memories. That was until the little girl slapped him.
" You...You're the reason mommy can't move correctly !"
Jian rubbed his cheek while looking at the girl. He then sighed and flicked her forehead with his fingers.
"So....Let me guess.....She can't move correctly. She can't lower herself too much because of her back. She can't stand on her own feet for more than an hour, or else she would collapse.....And finally, her hands won't stop trembling and the bones in them are practically crushed, so she can't cook or even sweep with a broom." Jian said before smiling at the little girl who looked dumbfounded.
"How....HOW DO YOU EVEN KNOW THAT MISTER ?!"
***********
( A few minutes later )
Being a well known inner disciples gave access to some perks. One of them being that most disciples wouldn't care about you are doing, and will just ignore you. This came in handy, when Jian entered the servants's dormitory with a little servant girl on his shoulders.
He was however unaware that the path that led to this dormitory was also the same that led to the Clan Head's private mansion. As such, a certain individual was met with this strange sight and smiled before he ran away.
Jian sighed once he entered the dormitory, the pungent smell hitting his nostril in an instant. The little girl looked completely used to it, and that's what really displeased him.
' Then again, I'm pretty much used to this too. My small house didn't smell good either, and the streets always smelled horrible.' Jian thought. He then glanced at the door in front of him that was just opened, revealing a beautiful woman with a motherly charm that brought warmth to Jian's entire being.
"Old Hag." He couldn't help but mutter as he saw her.
A vein surged on the forehead of the woman and she turned around in anger, only to gasp as she saw Jian.
"...This face. How ? What are you doing here ?! Why are you wearing this robe ?!" The woman yelled as she difficultly ran at Jian's side and pulled on his sleeve. Jian was slack-jawed at seeing her like that, and was even more surprised when she pulled him aside and forced him inside a huge room.
He instantly had the urge to cough as the smell of tobacco hit him, mixed up with the smell of various plants. He looked at what was inside the room, and his shock only became greater. The room was filled with servants smoking, drinking, playing games and just...Trying to relax. Most looked as if they just went through a war, while the others had these haunted looks that told you just how much they had seen....And how much they wished they could forget everything.
"A sad sight, ain't it ?" The woman said. Jian looked at her and both he and the little girl gasped as she punched another servant who suddenly hugged her.
" You damn drunkard ! I already told you not to touch me !" She said. Her loud voice suddenly attracted all the attention on herself, and the servants suddenly all looked like death had come for them.
"It's the crazy old hag !!!! Hide !!!" A teenager yelled as everyone began to run around.
The first servant that got to the door was suddenly sent flying around by a kick, while the others gulped and all froze.
"Mommy ?" The little girl whispered, the sight that was laid before her eyes being too strange for her to understand.
"Ughh...This is why I never bring you here." The woman said as she grabbed her daughter and kissed her forehead.
"You don't mind waiting for me outside, Uri ?"
The little girl nodded and quickly left the room, before the woman chuckled and looked at Jian who suddenly felt goosebumbs all over his body.
" So.....Been a long time kiddo." She said as Jian used his hands to make a cross symbol.
"Nope, we are not doing this again. I already told you old hag, I am young....You are old. Stop looking at me with those eyes !!!" Jian said, after he realized that the woman wasn't listening to him and was instead licking her lips while undressing him with her gaze.
"HAHAHA ! Ain't my fault kiddo ! I'm from the Twin Sisters. That's just the way I was raised."
"Yeah well....That won't change the fact that you are not touching me ! I am young and you must, like what ?....30 maybe, or even more !" Jian said, but he was grabbed by the woman who brought her face close enough from his for him to feel her breath.
He found himself staring at her milky white skin and gulped, before his eyes were directed at her long, blonde hair and finally settled on her red eyes.
"Not a problem...I am a priestess of Thanatos, I am from the Twin Sisters. You are strong and you have that unholy stench to you...Moral ain't gonna stop me !" She exclaimed as she tried to kiss him. She widened her eyes as a hand suddenly grabbed her head and began to squeeze.
"AHHHH ! Stop, stop !" She began to beg, while the man who had grabbed her merely frowned.
" Uma, you are the elected leader of the servants, right ? Then do something about them ! They all smell worse than a damn Swamp Dragon and...They are gonna have a lot of work later. The clan head has invited the elite disciples to come to his mansion....Apparently it's time for them to get their allowance for this month. And you know him....A simple gathering always ends with a feast." The man said, the frown on his face becoming even more pronounced. Uma nodded right after she was released and began to bark orders at the other servants, while the man looked down at Jian.
'Who's this giant ?!' Jian thought as he gasped after getting a good look at the long haired giant. The man was easily over 7ft tall and had long dark red hair that hid part of his face. He was relatively thin but still looked imposing due to the outfit he wore. He was wearing a gi with golden metal plates acting as protective parts around his arms and legs. The gi itself was quite long and even a bit too large for his thin body.
"Um, excuse me, who are you ?" Jian asked as the giant lowered his body to meet Jian's level.
"Me ? Well, nice to meet you child....I am called Giran."