Shu He landed on a wooden roof on the outskirts of the town, it was still in the middle of the night so most of the place was pitch black, save for the town square that was lit up bright as the militia had returned with the captives, so they were settling them back in and celebrating.
He was wearing his conical hat yet only wore his sect robes below him, his bare feet feeling the smooth wooden texture beneath them, after calming down enough he returned because he had a spare cloak and shoes in the bottom of his backpack he brought along, and of course he wanted to take the rest of his things and leave.
He didn't feel like staying here any longer, he wanted to leave under the shadows of the night.
Yet he stood about a hundred meters away from his room, focusing his sense he paused because of what he saw inside.
'Of course, I wasn't exactly secretive…'
Someone else was inside his room, just a single person, sitting peacefully on his bed.
He breathed in the cold nights air and then exhaled before he hopped between the buildings roof to roof making as little noise as possible, and soon he reached the inn that he was staying at and slipped into the room.
He landed with an audible thud to let the person know he was here as he stared directly at them.
"You're back" The aged voice said with a hint of joy as his wrinkled face turned to look at Shu He.
It was the old man that was at the front of the back, with the guard captain and the militia.
"You used a spare key?" Shu He asked.
"I'm the village chief, as long as I ask I can do anything in this little village" The old man, who was actually the village chief chuckled lightly.
Shu He wasn't too surprised, instead he placed his hat on the bed as he pulled out his backpack from underneath and began rummaging through it.
"You're going to leave now?"
"…" Shu He didn't reply, only continuing to rummage through his backpack.
"You don't want to be thanked?".
Shu He stopped and glanced at the old man, his gaze speaking the words that were trapped behind his tongue.
"You're quite young, not much older than my great-grand daughter- Thank you for saving her life, by the way".
Shu He pulled out a pair of shoes that matched his robes and slid them on, sitting on the bed next to the old man.
"Will she be alright?" He couldn't help but ask out of concern.
Shu He assumed he was talking about the young girl, the one close to his age, the others were all of age and were less likely to be a great-grand daughter.
"I don't know" A hint of sorrowful darkness plagued the old man's complexion.
Shu He's brow dipped as he stopped moving.
"We can help her as much as possible, but when dealing with these kinds of trauma, in the end it's up to the person themselves to overcome it" The old man whispered, "I've seen such a thing too many times in my long life, some people end up letting the trauma control them until they expire, others blow it away like a leaf in the wind".
He then looked over to Shu He with a small smile "Though, she has a mental pillar that will help her, the hero that saved her".
"What do you mean?" Shu He's expression turned sour.
"The reason for her trauma was defeated by a light, a hero, just a simple difference can change someone's outlook easily, especially a child."
"I'm not a hero, a hero wouldn't have killed all those people" Shu He almost barked, managing to restrain his voice.
The old man looked surprised, but then he asked "Then, what would a hero have done in your eyes?".
"They would have saved them without harming a single person, ideally capturing them all".
The old man laughed.
"What?" Shu He frowned.
"My apologies, that just sounded so ridiculous I couldn't help it" he put his hands together in apology "But then, let me ask you this next question".
He looked deeply into Shu He's eyes "Could you have done what you just said?".
"Of course not" Shu He shook his head immediately.
He had used the sleep powder to put as many as possible to sleep, but some still remained awake, there was a chance that if he didn't knock all of them off one would wake early, notify the ones outside what was wrong.
If he was alone, that wouldn't be a problem, but he had to escort the captives outside, the possibility of having a rouge bandit messing everything up would have been high, and someone might have died.
He took the safest, most secure root with the only objective – save the captives.
"Then, you are a hero." The old man stated, his face wasn't smiling, it was dead serious.
"But i-"
"There is only one thing a hero needs to do – to save someone, everything else is irrelevant".
Shu He looked down, he felt the two sides in him at conflict once more.
"I don't know where you grew up, but you should leave those empty-headed philosophical thoughts behind, the only people that can afford them are those living a life where they don't worry about everything else".
Shu He's eyes shook; a shiver ran up his spine.
He had realised exactly why he felt like this.
The Shu He that grew up in this world, and the 'He' that grew up in the other world, these two memories and experiences run with and against each-other.
But his old life felt like his backbone, it came first so his experiences are harder driven into his mind.
In that life the idea of human rights, the judicial system, true justice and all such things were commonplace, many humans had spent their lives ranting and raving about philosophy because they had the luxury to do so.
They could look at the disasters and tragedies of the world from the other side, free from its consequences and pick apart, judge, falsify and label everything.
But in this world, barely anyone had such a luxury.
They were living in the 'now', the only thing that mattered were their lives and those of the people around them.
They just wanted to live, and they had to strive to do that.
There was no cushy guarantee to lift them up when they fail.
Shu He felt something click in his mind.
He needed to adjust himself if he kept going as he was he'd go insane.
Just like he vowed, he would never look at a mortal as anything less than a life.
But he also shouldn't judge himself harshly based on his previous life's standards.
The two worlds were too different.
But… maybe in the future, he can create a place where those values can be applied.
He looked up to the old man, his eyes swirling with a fresh light.
The old man smiled and chuckled "Well, I don't know what I said but it seems you've learned something important".
"Yes, thank you" Shu He nodded his head.
"So, will you stay?".
Shu He shook his head again "No, I want to move on".
He felt a spring in his step, he wanted to run a marathon right away.
"I see, then take this". The old man pulled a scroll out of his pocket and handed it to him.
Shu He took it with a look of confusion.
"I know you didn't want to be thanked, but you should take something at least, it's not much but it's a technique for finding valuable ores we've had for generations".
"How do you have something like this?" Shu He asked, baffled.
He could tell there wasn't a single cultivator in his village, so it made no sense to have a cultivation technique.
"The founding family of this village were cultivators, only weak ones, but their technique allowed them to find the mines here and start a town, unfortunately the talent thinned in the bloodline so not a single cultivator has been born since" He explained.
"Don't worry, it's only a copy; But since you saved a couple of their descendants I'm sure they'd be fine with you having it" The village chief grinned while standing up.
"…I'll take it then" Shu He placed it in his backpack, also pulling out the spare cloak.
It wasn't a technique that was too useful to him, but it wouldn't be harmful to have it.
"Right, if you're gonna' leave then do it quickly, I'm sure that by sunrise they will have also figured out this location" He said as he opened the door, flashing Shu He a grin and walking out, the wooden door closing behind him.
Without wasting time Shu He slung on his cloak, regaining his mysterious traveller appearance and adjusted his hat, placing his backpack on his back and hopping out the window, he ran across the rooves like wind as he passed by the celebration, seeing those that returned washed and smiling as much as they could, he couldn't help but smile a little himself.
Then he realised that someone was looking at him, very same girl that he had just been told about.
She smiled and waved at him who was standing on top of a chimney, and he couldn't help but wave back before he jumped over the villages wall and set off to the west.
After a few minutes with the feeling of the dirt road hitting his feel he couldn't help but relax a little as he thought –
'I hope the next place I visit is peaceful'