Fates Parallel Chapter 160 - Allies (Patreon)

It wasn’t until after a full day of running that the group finally relaxed enough to return to a more normal pace and settle down a little bit. The retreat towards Goryeo had been surprisingly orderly—apparently owing to military discipline that had been instilled in most citizens of Yamato during their mandatory time serving in the armies. The mortals and pack animals hadn’t been able to keep up with the pace of the martial artists, but apparently Yamato doctrine had a plan for precisely that kind of scenario.

The palanquin was, of course, completely abandoned—which Jia was secretly grateful for—while the mortals were each paired off with first-stage martial artists and carried on their backs at a run. The animals were, unfortunately, mostly left to their fates, but their burdens were taken up by the higher stage martial artists, who looked rather comical with satchels and saddlebags piled up on top of their shoulders.

Even being carried, a full day of running was exhausting to the mortals in the group, and it wasn’t exactly easy on the martial artists carrying them either. Still, they weren’t permitted to stop and rest. Instead they slowed to a march, with the mortals being princess-carried in order to give them an opportunity to get some measure of rest.

Thus, Lee Jia and An Eui learned Yamato’s fast-march. A practice that had frustrated their enemies for centuries, as entire armies would rush between battlefields at a pace that beggared belief. It wasn’t that they were faster than mages or spiritualists could manage with spells and techniques, but rather an exercise of sheer endurance. A force of Yamato soldiers—Rika boasted to them—could maintain the pace indefinitely, alternating between the marching ‘rest’ at night and a near-sprint during the day.

It wasn’t easy, though, even with Eui’s technique easing the burden of travel. In fact, it was a grueling pace for everybody, with a few notable exceptions. Hayakawa, Rika, Jia, and Eui were almost entirely free of burden, except for the responsibility of keeping the swiftly moving envoys safe from attack. The old onmyouji Hattori rode alongside them on a spirit-like cross between a deer and a horse covered in scales, with flowing mane that crackled with arcs of lightning—Jia recognized it as a qilin. Between the phoenix, the turtle, and the qilin, Jia was left to wonder if he had a tiger or a dragon among his shikigami as well.

Before Jia could get too caught up wondering about the significance of lesser spirits mimicking the form of the so-called ‘great spirits’ that she knew as the ancestors of the high nobles, Hayakawa and Rika approached her for a long-awaited discussion about what had happened during the confrontation with Qin’s demon hunters. Something Jia had been trying awfully hard not to think about. Hayakawa was polite, but direct as always.

“Miss Lee, Miss An, I believe that it’s time we spoke. I trust you’ve recovered from the battle by now?”

‘Battle.’ Jia couldn’t help but scoff. That hadn’t been a battle at all. Those demon hunters had been unprepared for the fight that they picked, and the moment it was no longer convenient to disable them, Jia had murdered them. Their blood was literally still on her hands. She tried to tell herself that her decisiveness had saved the lives of innocent people—that her enemies wouldn’t have hesitated to do the same or worse to her. It didn’t help. By the time she snapped out of her reverie, Eui had already begun to respond.

“We’re fine. And if you’re looking for an explanation, you can mind your own fucking business. We don’t owe you anything!”

Jia sighed. Eui’s outburst had drawn more than a few sidelong glances from the people around them, but Jia couldn’t really bring herself to admonish the lapse in propriety. She was getting sick of pretending to be subordinate to Hayakawa as well.

“Sorry, Lady Hayakawa. It’s been a stressful couple of days. We’ll explain as much as we can.”

Eui crossed her arms and frowned, but didn’t object. Jia cast a privacy spell, forming the familiar bubble of silence around them. A bit of tricky reworking as she pushed her mana through the talisman allowed her to alter the spell so that it would follow them as they walked, rather than anchoring to the same spot. One of the few new magical tricks she’d picked up during their training in the wilderness. She met Hayakawa’s eyes tiredly.

“Alright, what do you want to know?”

Hayakawa hesitated a moment, exchanging a glance with Rika before she began.

“I was hoping you’d be a bit more forthcoming, but fine—how did you lead that cultivator away? And what was all that about Jianmo?”

Jia shrugged.

“Our Steps of the Stalker technique lets us travel through the realm of spirits, but we have no idea how to navigate it—that’s how we got so lost, remember? We thought he might know how to do something similar, so we used it to lure him there.”

Rika frowned.

“Then you came back, but he didn’t. What happened? And how did you know he’d be able to do that?”

“It was a guess. Jianmo spoke as if that kind of thing was normal where she came from, and Shen Yu gave away that he was from the same place.”

Hayakawa rubbed her temples.

“Miss Lee, you’re not making any sense. You’re also dodging the question—what happened?”

Rika scratched her head with a small frown.

“I hate to say it, but I agree. You’re being weirdly dodgy, here. Do you not trust us?”

Before Jia could respond, Eui let out a huff and whirled around to face the two of them.

“We met Jianmo after we escaped from the academy. She had left a bit of her essence in me when we first encountered her that she could use to track us, and vice versa. She did that because she wanted me as a disciple. She repeated the offer when we met again, and Jia and I both accepted. We’ve spent the last two years with her funnelling magical beasts into us non-stop as ‘training’. That self-proclaimed god didn’t come back from the spirit realm because Jianmo was waiting in ambush. There! Any other questions?”

Hayakawa blinked, nonplussed, while Rika put one hand on her hip and used the other to run her hand through her short brown hair as her face twisted into a confused frown. After a moment of processing, Rika raised one hand apprehensively.

“Wasn’t Jianmo a guy?”

Eui threw her hands up in frustration.

“I am not having that conversation right now.”

Jia scratched her cheek and chuckled awkwardly.

“She—they change sometimes.”

Hayakawa shook her head and sighed.

“Setting that aside for now, why did you not inform us sooner about Jianmo? Were you concerned that we would judge you harshly for consorting with the demon?”

Jia exchanged a look with Eui before answering hesitantly.

“Well...that’s kind of a long story. It’s a lot harder to explain and I’m not sure if we should.”

Hayakawa cocked her head thoughtfully for a moment before shrugging.

“As long as it doesn’t have any further impact on our mission, I suppose it’s not that important. Your secrets are yours to keep.”

Jia appreciated the respect that Hayakawa was giving them. Except it did impact the mission. It had a huge impact. Hayakawa wanted to know why the gods had descended and Jia already knew the answer to that. Jia met Eui’s eyes and contacted her telepathically.

“Should we tell them?”

Eui frowned.

“I don’t like Hayakawa’s entitled attitude, but we were going to tell Rika eventually anyway, right? I don’t really care either way.”

Jia nodded and turned back to Hayakawa.

“Okay, there actually is something that might change the mission, but it’s kind of a long story—and most of this is second hand information from Jianmo. I don’t think she was lying but...”

Rika nodded in understanding.

“He—or she I guess—was a bit of a weirdo the one time we met. It’s hard to take anything they say seriously.”

Hayakawa shrugged.

“If it’s pertinent, then I’m listening.”

Jia took a deep breath before nodding.

“Right, this is going to sound a bit outlandish, but bear with me...”

---

Jia’s explanation of everything Jianmo had told them took most of the rest of the day as Rika and Hayakawa interjected with their own questions and clarifications. Jia retold the tale of the Bloody Sovereign, his cursed legacy, and the gods that had abandoned their world in the hopes of sealing away or destroying it forever. By the end of the tale, Hayakawa was fuming mad, but surprisingly not at Jia and Eui for hiding the information.

“And so now they are here to recover the artifact before any other faction can assemble two of the three keys themselves? The gods themselves returned to our world, threw our continent into complete chaos, and now threaten to destroy my entire nation merely for their own greed!?”

Rika chuckled awkwardly.

“The world actually. Did you miss the part where if they get their hands on the tear, the world gets destroyed?”

Hayakawa ground her teeth together and clenched her fists at her sides.

“You’re right, it’s bigger than us. Bigger than Yamato or even the entire continent. That Jianmo is even worse! She instigated this event because—what, she was bored!? Yet, she’s not even the worst actor in all of this. No, I know precisely who to blame—exactly who to direct my ire at.”

Hayakawa Kaede was more worked up than Jia had ever seen her as their eyes met.

“The fucking Snake! I don’t know what he expects to get out of all this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s been working with one of the factions, or even seeks the power for himself. Make no mistake, Miss Lee—Do Hye is our ultimate enemy in all this.”

Jia blinked in confusion.

“‘Our?’”

Hayakawa scoffed, sweeping a handful of her long red hair over her shoulder and fixing Jia with an intense gaze.

“You didn’t think I’d hear all that and just leave it in your hands, did you? That would be completely absurd! Equally as absurd as thinking that you two could handle it by yourselves! Absolutely not! I am joining you.”

Jia held her hands up as she tried to sputter out a response.

“Wait—hold on, don’t we get a say in this? And what about your mission? Your country?”

Hayakawa shook her head.

“I already told you that this goes beyond any of that. Besides, this mission is more important now than ever. You need allies, Lee Jia. Not to mention resources beyond that of a pair of wandering cultivators, no matter how absurdly powerful the two of you have become. This diplomatic mission is your chance to secure the support of no less than two of the three great nations.”

Jia glanced between Rika and Hayakawa, flustered.

“Wait, what? I’m getting lost—what are you even talking about?”

Rika sighed.

“She’s right, Jia—you haven’t thought things through, as usual. What happens when this tomb opens up and it’s just you and Eui against everyone the other factions have gathered together? If the Empire puts their full resources behind all of their best cultivators, even you two can’t compete with that. I’m with Hayakawa, you need our help, and you need more friends. Consider stabilizing the continent to be an extra bonus!”

Jia buried her face in her hands. This was getting too big for her. She had already been trying not to freak out about the scale of her situation, focusing on smaller immediate goals. Now it was all getting thrown back in her face and it was overwhelming.

“I can’t do this! I’m nobody! I’m just Lee Jia! I don’t even have a real family name! I don’t move nations or save worlds. I—”

She felt Eui’s hand gripping hers and stopped. Eui met her gaze, and Jia had a brief sense of vertigo from being able to see her own eyes through Eui’s. Gold and red eyes stared into each other for an intense moment, and Jia could sense Eui’s anger and indignation.

“Don’t you dare disparage yourself like that. Of course you can do it! You are Lee Jia! You’ve been moving nations by accident since you were fifteen! You have the trust and respect of princesses from two different countries! If anybody is qualified to keep this continent from tearing itself apart, oppose the gods, and save the world, it’s you!”

Jia felt tears welling up in her eyes. She didn’t know how to respond. For a second, she felt like as long as she had Eui’s confidence she really could do all of that. She squeeze Eui’s hand back in appreciation.

“Thank’s Eui, but you’re wrong.”

Eui frowned, but Jia put a finger to her lips before she could protest.

“It’s not me who’s qualified. It’s us.”

She punctuated the statement with a long kiss, that they only broke off when Hayakawa politely cleared her throat. Jia jumped back, bushing fiercely—she’d gotten caught up in the moment and forgotten about Rika and Hayakawa entirely. Hayakawa had averted her eyes, but Rika was staring at them with stars in her eyes. It was Hayakawa who broke the silence first.

“If you’re, um, finished. Perhaps we should discuss the remaining details later. We’ve almost arrived.”