Chapter 47
New Bonds, Old Wounds
"I'm staying!" Liang firmly repeated yet again, prompting quite a few grunts.
Leo wasn't involved in it at all--instead, he sat to the side, snacking on small, grape-sized pieces of fruit that tasted like a strawberry-vanilla ice cream. He acted as though it had nothing to do with him, because he truly was helpless. Yue was adamantly against it, as was the young girl Mei whom Leo hadn't really interacted with at all since she came here, while Song and Lya were somewhat lukewarm about the entire ordeal.
Just like him, Xiaoling tried not to tangle herself with the thing, staying on the side and pretending to be preoccupied. She was looking rather intensely at the sleeping Blackie, so much so that Leo had to inwardly applaud her acting skills.
"Why would you stay?! You already belong to a Sect, and you already have a Master! Just go back where you came from!" Yue said.
"That's right, Senior Brother," Qiu Mei said. "Both your Master as well as the Sect Master will be sad if you don't return with us."
"No, I'm staying!" the young man was adamant. "Master has godly muscles, and the only way I can get them too is if I stay with him! Nothing else matters!"
"Just... just how stupid are you?! What do you mean nothing else matters?" Yue exploded. "What about loyalty to your Sect? What about the oath you swore to serve your Master?!"
"I never took any oaths. I am only Disciple in name, because nobody knows how to teach me. Until Master now, that is!"
"Master, please say something...!" in her desperation, Yue turned toward Leo who sighed and glanced toward her.
"Just let him stay if he wants to," he said. "It'll be good for you to have a friend your own age."
"Friend? You... you expect me to be his friend...?" Yue had all but broken into tears.
"I promise, Senior Sister, I will protect you no matter what!" Liang declared toward Yue as Leo could swear he saw Xiaoling facepalm herself in the corner.
"W-what Senior Sister, you bastard?! You're older than me!"
"It doesn't matter. You are Master's First Disciple, and I am the Second. You will always be a Senior Sister to me."
"Okay, okay, Yue, just relax," Leo quickly stood up and grasped the girl's shoulders as he noticed she was about to blow her top off and likely say some things she would come to regret. "Won't he be of great help with construction? And you can always order him around to do stuff for you... within reason, I mean."
"That's right, Senior Sister. I am great at completing tasks!" the young man declared proudly, thumping his chest.
It was all around a weird situation that Leo couldn't quite compartmentalize. Though he already knew that the young man would stay, and that Xiaoling gave a 'permission' for it, it still felt kind of like he was stealing a Disciple from somebody else--a Disciple, he was told, who was quite well-liked in the Sect and who was one of the most promising youths that they had.
Nonetheless, he had now acquired a second Disciple, this time entirely unprompted by the system. Whether it was a good decision or not... he couldn't tell, not right away, anyway.
Xiaoling once again reiterated that they would not share a word of this place to anyone, including their Sect Master, and made all kids swear a Soul Oath--supposedly, it was quite grave and whatnot, but Leo simply felt second-hand embarrassment for them as the choice of words for the oath was quite exaggerated. Until death, I shall keep it abreast, and Shall never my heart part with the truth, all very lovely and poetic, but a bit too much for him.
They departed soon after, with Yue and Blackie volunteering to escort them toward the edge and Leo obliging.
Now that (most) everyone was gone, he finally felt the awkwardness and tension slowly leave his body. Turning around, he saw Liang crouching, playing with Milky. The latter lay sprawled on its back and let the giant beside it pet its belly as though it was the most natural thing.
Whatever self-preservation instincts this kid had, they were more than just rudimentary--they may as well be broken. However, in some ways, it was precisely lack thereof that seemed to disarm the animals. Leo had noticed they were quite cautious around Xiaoling and Mei especially, while it seemed that they immediately saw Liang as one of their own.
It was a nice combination--animals without prejudice, and a man lacking it, too.
Leaving the duo to their little activity, Leo planted himself on the ground and began wondering what to do next. Having gathered all the required timber, it was time he focused on other materials. With Yue back, and the newly joined Liang, he could outsource some of the easier materials: reeds, fiber, and water mostly, with some clay and stone from the pond, perhaps. While the two focused on those, he'd have to start venturing out deeper into the forest, searching for a quarry and an iron mine.
He'd also have to start figuring out which animals he would actually hunt. Any of the remotely friendly ones were out of the question, including those who simply never interacted with him one way or another. So long as they left him alone and to his own devices and never bothered him, Leo had no intention of doing anything but repaying the courtesy by leaving them well enough alone.
This excluded effectively every animal he'd seen short of the two boars--which meant that he'd have to find some other 'aggressive' creatures like those two boars. If there was one, there were two--and from two, they might just be enough to fulfill the hides requirement.
He was in no rush--he'd already allocated at least a few months of work to this project. Considering it hadn't even been a month since he came to this world, there was little need in hurrying. As such, he wouldn't change much of his daily routine--he'd still prepare breakfast and dinner as he always did, take a bath, practice cultivation for a little bit, use his footwork technique to zip around the forest, fulfill whatever added quests his furry friends would give him, and spend the rest of his free time looking for the materials deeper in the forest.
Yue returned about an hour later, Blackie in tow.
There was a wide smile on her face that soured as soon as she saw Liang still playing with Milky. The two had been chasing each other between the trees for the past thirty minutes, playing a strange game of tag. Even Leo was a bit confounded at the sight, but he was the sort that just let it all slide off of him. Yue didn't seem as 'well-oiled' as he, however.
"What the hell is he doing now? Is he disturbing you, Master?" she asked immediately.
"Haah, just sit down," Leo smiled bitterly. "Are you really that against having some extra company?"
"No. I am against him being that extra company."
"Wow."
"I--I'm sorry, Master. It's just that I am familiar with his type," she said. "All they can think of is getting stronger, and they won't care how they achieve it. Whenever a problem presents itself in front of them, all they can think of is smashing their heads against it until either cracks. It's just... so tiring."
"I can imagine," he said. "But not something you can't learn a thing or two from."
"M-Master...?"
"Take life in strides, Yue," he said. "Oddities belong in it as much as you do. If you let yourself be swayed by life's ebb and flow, you'll spend most of the time obsessed over things that have nothing to do with you. How about this: once your... Junior Brother..."
"... Master," she pleaded with all but tears in her eyes.
"Khm, once he exhausts himself, teach him the cultivation method and the footwork I passed on you. Right--you probably practiced despite my warnings. How is it going? Is there something I can help with?" Leo prayed that there wasn't, as he didn't even know what 'help' he could offer.
"I am now able to use footwork continuously for just shy of forty minutes, Master!" Yue exclaimed proudly. "Yes, after that I will lie down for about two hours to recover, but it's worth it! In fact, I haven't told you--I used the footwork technique to escape my father, and I actually managed to flee while he pursued me with intent to kill! It was amazing, just thinking back on it. I am just at Core Formation, and he's at Peak Avatar Realm! I can only imagine how angry and flustered he got when I fled, ha ha ha!"
"... your father tried to kill you?" Leo asked, feeling a surge of anger and shock. It was something that he could never fathom--no matter how chilly things got between his father and he back on Earth, not once did Leo ever even contemplate that his father might harm him.
"A-ah, yes. I... I was a bit shocked, too, to be honest. I didn't think he'd go so far."
"... I'm sorry, Yue. All children should only ever know their parent's love and nothing else."
"It's alright, Master," she said, lowering her head. "I've long since made peace with the fact that my Father never truly loved me or cared much for me beyond using me as a tool. The fact he was willing to kill me... while it hurts, it isn't entirely outside what I expected out of him. He is a greedy, selfish man--always has been--and when he saw how quickly I improved, he wanted that for himself. Ah! But I would have never told him anything, even if I couldn't get away!"
"..." Leo stared at the shimmering, green eyes for a moment in silence. "I want to make something abundantly clear to you, Yue," he said, extending his arm and putting it on her head gently. "Should there ever come a point where you can save your life by telling the world about me... I don't want there to be even a thought of hesitation about it. Tell the world, and tell them everything. I don't care, truly. Your life is far more important than my secrets. Do you understand?"
"Y-yes."
"No, don't just reply," he shook his head. "Look me in the eyes and tell me that you will do it."
"..." just like he stayed silent for a moment, so did she. Just before she spoke, however, she pulled her legs back and suddenly bowed toward him. "Forgive me Master, but I cannot obey that."
"Yue--"
"--I understand. I understand where you are coming from. But please understand me, too, if only a little," she said, her voice firm and aflame with determination. "You have saved me, Master, and given my life a second breath. I have sworn to Heavens, both in my heart and at my lips, that I would hold no other Master until my dying breath, and that I would sooner die than ever betray you. You are asking me to break that oath, and so I cannot be compelled."
"... haah," Leo sighed, his heart stirring. Why?
That was the question hanging above his head. This kid barely knew him--in fact, she knew him so little that it was a tragedy to even call him a friend, let alone much else. So... why was she so stubborn? Was it merely the customs of this world, the normal Master-Disciple relationship? Leo didn't think so.
"She is right, Master," Liang suddenly joined from the side. "You have shown me that a body can become a mountain. That is--"
"--you stay out of this," Yue quickly interrupted. "Why are you butting in, huh? We were having a nice conversation, and now you ruined it!"
"I'm sorry, Senior Sister. I am agreeing with you, though!"
"That's worse! I feel it somehow invalidates what I said if you agree with it!"
"No, no, Senior Sister, you are confused. When more people agree on something, it makes it more right."
"..."
"And I'm out," Leo stood up and stretched. "Teach him, Yue. And, uh, try... try not to kill each other while I'm not here, okay?" and thus, Leo darted with the winds behind his back. They've known each other less than a day, and they already resemble a veteran pair of siblings who'd been at each other's throats for years. That was... talent, in and of itself, Leo mused.