The Three Generals of the Blazing Army felt that the situation they were in was becoming more absurd by the minute. First they received reports of the destruction of Emerald Town.
A town that was home to close to 5000 people was destroyed in less than a few days without anyone finding out until several days later by one of the city's scholars casually passing by.
When they got their hands on the piece of paper that Yoze wrote they had already concluded in their minds that he was dead. Yoze's excuse of holding up the back line and being safe was all a front to not worry his father's mind. At least that was what the generals and other high officials had thought. It was too hard for them to grasp the idea that a scholar, who shouldn't have any combat ability, could survive a town full of undead.
So at the very beginning of this mission all the generals had not given finding Yoze's half eaten corpse as a top priority. Now seeing that the scholar that was supposed to be dead standing in front of them alive and well. And giving these generals a feeling of being suppressed as if they were feeling the presence of a fellow first rate Martial artist.
It was especially weird for General Wood as he felt that he had seen Yoze before but couldn't figure out for the life of him. He had visited the Martial Court Yard before and knew that they had advisors but just like the martial artist's of the court yard he paid even less attention to them. Not to mention that Yoze's appearance had changed drastically from two years ago.
"Cough, tell us what happened in there and how did you make it out alive?" General Gold took the lead to break the silence.
"That's simple, I believe you must have gotten my letter so I'll spare you the earlier details. The town is overrun by undead zombies that don't feel pain and seem to drain an individual's energy from the slightest touch. Some of them have mutated to become even stronger. The strongest zombie was one that had grown to a giant and she carried a baby with her."
"As for how I escaped I could only sneak through the town and whenever I was caught I had to fight for my life. Luckily, I was able to survive because there were too many close calls to count." Yoze sighed as he poured his heart out and gave the generals as much information as he knew. Yoze didn't mention to the generals what had caused this event.
He didn't feel the need to mention that core information as from what he could tell this was a once in a lifetime event that naturally wouldn't occur again. It would also put more attention on himself, if he was questioned of how he figured it out, and he told them about the memories that would be putting too much unnecessary of a risk on him.
Even now Yoze didn't quite understand why he saw Death Rejecting Baby's memories at that time.
"Hhmm, the ability to drain a person's energy from a touch explains our higher than normal casualties." General Wood grimaced as he hated the fact that his army had faced such losses, it was a kick in his face.
"Okay, thanks for your contributions, scholar. You may rest for now as we have the situation handled. " Having received crucial information about their enemies, General Gold and the other two generals discharged Yoze and started shouting orders to their soldiers to change their approach.
Seeing that he had done his part and only needed to wait for the military to do its thing, Yoze took a nap on the soft grass amidst the howling wind.
Yoze woke up to the feeling of being nudged by horns and saw Leah laying on top of him. The sky was still a Blazing orange as he felt a heat coming from the town.
"Who set the town on fire!?"
Yoze couldn't believe his eyes as he watched a massive flame covering the entire town and letting out columns of black smoke.
"This is a precaution to prevent this from happening again. The people of the town are dead and will be buried alongside the town." General Gold's cold voice calmed Yoze down. As Yoze stopped asking further questions.
It wasn't his business to make and the act had already been done. There was no way for him to change the situation and could only watch the bright flames light up the night sky.
"General, can I ask how long this road is going to be sealed?" Yoze asked a question he had been holding onto.
"When the town has turned into ash is when this area is no longer sealed. The city won't allow such perfectly good land to be unavailable for long."
The fire that burned the entire town lasted for days before the last embers died and the black ash covered the earth for miles.
During that night, Jackie came to visit Yoze to talk to him about his experience inside the death town. And left with frustration in his heart as he could feel that the gap between him and Yoze had grown by a large extent in a mere few days.
After that the Blazing Army marched back to Jade City with Yoze, his father, and Leah in tow instead of continuing their journey. As they needed to go back to the city to hire a new carriage driver as the last one had abandoned the mission after he came back to Jade City.
Even though it was a pain in his ass to spend another few days trying to find another carriage driver that also knew the way to New Swampscott City he eventually had found a driver that was willing to go the distance when he increased the pay.
Standing in front of Yoze was a young girl in her mid twenties wearing some clothes that commoners frequently wore. She seemed to have a vibrancy that made everything around more fun.
"Hello, my name is Jewel Emerald, an experienced carriage driver for the last 5 years and one of the best guides in the world for the last 6 years." Jewel smiled, extending her hand to shake Yoze's hand.
Yoze was a bit surprised by the gesture as ever since he came into this world he had never had to give a handshake since it wasn't part of this world's culture. But he could easily accept since he was more interested in the young girl's last name.
"My name is Yoze Thunder, this man here is my father, and this goat beside me is my pet Leah Goat."
"Ahh what an interesting name for your pet goat." Jewel looked at Leah with curiosity before greeting Drew with respect.
"Before we leave I need to ask you the origins of your last name. Is it from the same origin as Emerald Town?" Yoze asked, wondering if this was fate playing its part.
"Nope, my last name comes from the noble martial arts sect Emerald Armor sect. My father was part of that sect before he met my mother so they chose to change my last name to Emerald out of pride." Jewel's face turned apathetic when she mentioned her parents so Yoze stopped his line of questioning.