Immortal Freeloader 38 (Patreon)

Leaving Markas behind has been easy. Lord Eirto’s army retreated, the city lord’s forces were too busy to stay on the walls, creating a lot of gaps. I didn’t even stop by the hiding spot, leaving the Black Tiger Onslaught book buried for the moment. 

I was still not comfortable practicing it, not after the last attempt left me with a lust for mortal combat. And, the other books weren’t particularly valuable. 

Ultimately, I was planning to return once things calmed down. Part of that desire was certainly selfish. I still wanted the Volcano Hammer manuscript, and maybe a better-quality Snow Blossom one as well. 

Traveling was much more comfortable now that I wasn’t afraid of dying of hunger or a sudden bandit attack. With my abilities, I was confident in dealing with anyone under the Bone Forging realm, and even they were not the impossible barrier that they had represented earlier. 

Connate Realm martial artists would have been more challenging … but even a significant civil war had only one Connate Realm artist, so I didn’t expect to come across one while traveling. 

Even with my luck, it seemed improbable. 

“Now, to the capital,” I said. I didn’t even need to think much about my destination, not when the power of those cultivators was still on display. Despite my best efforts, I wasn’t able to learn much about the cultivators while I was in the city, other than cultivators lived for a long time, some of the weaker sects had some presence in the capital, and disrespecting them usually meant death because they were strong enough to get away with casual murder. 

Only after watching their display over the city manor, I understood what passed as truly strong in this new world.  

Of course, technically, I could travel the kingdom altogether and try to find one of their sects, but the capital was a much better choice for that. 

Ironically, Pearyin’s mission turned out to be redundant. I asked her to keep her true martial grade a secret, which would slow her down. So, with my unique movement art, I would move much faster. 

If it wasn’t for the war, I would have searched for a trade caravan I could travel with, to see if I could multitask and get some benefits. But, under the circumstances, it was better to travel alone. I even avoided the main roads, which was not recommended. One reason was the lack of roads, which meant no horse or carriage to make the journey easy. 

More importantly, the wilder areas meant a more dangerous fauna. Not just ordinary beasts, but savage beasts, which were to animals, what martial artists were to humans; faster, stronger, more durable. In a sense, they were even smarter. Not human smart, but still enough to make them troubling enough. 

But, with my sprinting art, I was faster than most, allowing me to avoid them easily. Those beasts were valuable, enough to go for hundreds of gold. The money was tempting, as one could never have too much, but most huntersthat targeted the savage beasts operated in teams, which meant, a capable solo hunter would be remembered. 

I traveled alone, not even bothering to use the begging trick. I had enough food in my Inventory, so there was no need to slow down for hunting.  

In a caravan, traveling between Markas and the Capital would have taken a month. For me, it took about three days, though only because I was able to use my newfound massage talent to manage the strain on my muscles. 

An unexpected benefit. 

Entering the capital was even easier than entering Markas. Just pay a gold coin, and that was it. Once again, I found an inn, but unlike my presence at Markas, I didn’t do anything to catch people’s attention. 

For once, as a border city, Markas’ population was relatively stable, meaning there weren’t a lot of travelers, so the arrival of a young scholar was an important social event … but even then, meeting Elsana and Lannayin had been mostly luck. 

Repeating the same trick for the others wouldn’t be as beneficial in the capital. Attracting someone as rich and capable as Elsana wasn’t likely, and even if I did, the Returns I would receive would be the same as I could get in Markas. 

I needed to find a better path. 

Finding the recruitment spots of the sects had been easy, mostly because they were not secret, or easy to miss. They had their own compounds outside the capital, which only had some outer sect elders and disciples, yet they were second only to the palace itself in splendor.

Another sign of their importance. I didn’t know why they weren’t ruling the world directly, as everything I saw showed that they certainly had the strength to do it. But then, it was probably the same reason Soviet Russia and America didn’t invade the rest of the world during the Cold War. More about politics than sheer power. 

Unfortunately, approaching those places was out of the question. According to the stories, they didn’t like uninvited visitors, and their punishment was not easy to recover from. 

So, I turned my attention to the next best target. The palace. All I needed was to decide on the disguise. There were a lot of ways to enter the palace. There were periodical martial arts tournaments, allowing young and promising martial artists to join the palace guards. As long as the Martial Artist was young enough, peak Muscle Reinforcement was acceptable. 

The periodical central exam was another option. Every season, the best and the brightest scholars visited the capital and competed to gain an official position. 

Unfortunately, neither was a good fit for me. They weren’t stupid enough to put a newly hired martial artist in a sensitive position like the palace without years of loyal service. And, a scholar examination required proper identity. 

I even explored joining as a servant, but that turned out to be even more difficult. Being hired as a servant was easy, especially with some martial talent, but being posted anywhere important was an impossibility. 

Several days passed while I was poking for information, which also allowed me to learn more about the palace and the various factions, usually defined around many wives of the Emperor. 

I might even assume it to be impossible if it wasn’t for one lucky gossip I caught when I was frequenting — well, infiltrating as a cook, putting Marana’s teachings to good use — one of the gambling dens popular with the city guard.  

They were in a private room, unaware that they had a listener. A listener that had drugged their drinks with something extra, which would loosen their lips more than some ordinary alcohol would by itself, making them even worse gossipy. 

“ … I bet the Third Queen won’t last more than a year. That’s what happens when a mere Third Queen acts like Dowager-Queen just because she had a cultivator brother.”

My ears prickled at those words, shocked by the topic of discussion. The reason was simple. The Third Queen was supposed to be a mysterious bride that came from far away ten years ago, with next to no information about her, other than the fact that she existed.  

“I heard his brother died in a mystic land. Is that true?”  

“We don’t know. We just know that, a year ago, some disciples from her sect arrived and took every artifact in her possession. His Majesty was quick to get the message, and ordered her to move to the Cursed Palace.” 

“Is Cursed Palace as bad as they say? I thought it was just a rumor,” another said. 

“Of course. The longest-lasting servants managed to last only a week, and they only walked the outer path to leave some food. Why else would they keep it empty for years before sending her there. It’s a miracle she lasted that much.” 

As I listened to their gossip, I started to smile. A Queen, left alone as punishment, with servants fighting each other to avoid a dangerous mission.

Was visiting a location called Cursed Palace the best idea? Certainly not. But trying to get in contact with the cultivation world as a mortal was not a simple affair.

*** 

Arranging my admission to the palace as a servant was easy. They were already hiring a lot of servants every year. Considering the requirements, it wasn’t exactly a glorious job. And, annoying the wrong noble, or even overhearing the wrong thing could easily end up in death. 

Setting up an escape path through the city —  by leaving piles of smoke bombs and fireworks in various places in case I had to escape — took longer than getting in as a servant. 

Ordinarily, arranging my admission to a specific place would be difficult. Luckily, the Cursed Palace was not exactly an assignment servants were competing for, meaning the Steward was having trouble finding people. Getting assigned there was even easier. 

A few bribes here, coupled with a forged letter — another benefit of Marana’s teachings — written by my non-existent noble enemy who wanted to deal with me through an accident, passed to one of the subordinates, ensured that I ended up dressed in a drab blue robe, waiting in a line, with no surprise about my ultimate destination.

Sometimes, Freeloading was hard work.