Chapter 7 - Breakfast & Gin

Six days ago. Late afternoon; Village of Ichonodo.

"It was raining hard when I arrived at the Village of Ichonodo. It was not my first time here, but I have never been here during the rainy season. I walked slowly under the village arch and swore to thank Anika for her tips on how to protect our scrolls and documents against the weather. I think we were around fifteen when I had that conversation with her. It started when I complained about how fragile parchments and scrolls were and yet they are our primary means of recording information. She then gave me tips on how to protect them under any weather. I can feel the rain battering against my raincoat and travel packs and the wind makes the water protection of my clothing and bags nearly useless because it blows the rain in every direction and into every possible opening. I was almost tempted to use an eizou that will protect me from the weather, but that will definitely ruin my disguise. I'm supposed to be a mere merchant. Merchants don't have the skill to use eizou. It's even more tempting because I specialize in weather eizou. I have become more sensitive to the different aspects of weather after years of honing my skills on weather eizou. Air, water and temperature. I suddenly noticed how the wind has started to become colder. No longer the warm and humid wind of summer, but cool and relaxing. In a few moons, the wind will grow stronger and cold instead of cool and this would herald the arrival of winter. Not even the warm air currents from the west was enough.

"The streets of Ichonodo were made from beaten clay laid over the sandy ground. The clay dries during the intense heat of summer to an almost brick-like hardness. Unfortunately, it is slippery to wooden sandals so most of the residents of Ichonodo use straw-soled sandals on the streets and use their wood-soled shoes on the fields. Ichonodo is one of those villages whose main source of income is serving as a trading hub along the Pilgrim's Way. The Pilgrim's Way is a road that is smaller than the Merchant Road, the Trade Way, or the Imperial Road, and remarkably less busy. It is the route taken by southern villages in the kingdom if they need to get to the capital—Heung—and get their goods sold. Normally, merchants in trading hubs like Ichonodo buys off their goods and these merchants are the ones who'd bring the goods to the capital, or to other cities to be sold. It is the main advantage of Ichonodo to be roughly at the center of the three major cities in the kingdom—the port city of Beobwon to the east, Haan-Dar near the western border, and the city of Heung, the capital. It may be closer to Heung compared to the other two cities but this positions it closer to the Imperial Road and the Imperial City to the north, just along the edge of Goruumshimi, also known as The Land of Restless Anguish.

"There is nothing like the smell of food to greet a weary traveler who's been on the road and under the rain. I don't know if Mingmei knew exactly that we'd arrive at Ichonodo under these circumstances but her choice of location to meet is definitely the best.

"I walked briefly on the main road and made a turn to the right to get to the Market Circle. I navigated the village mostly based on my memory of being here five or six years ago. It's a good thing that very little has changed since then. One of the things that have never changed is the smell of grilled food as you approach the Market Circle. I found myself almost running towards it, splashing rainwater under my boots as I went.

"The Market Circle was named that way because of the circular roof that covers the outer perimeter of the market area. Double rows of stalls line the center of the roofed area while buyers can walk along the outer edges of the circular roof. There are several market buildings at the center of the market that housed stores for more specialized goods. I immediately went for the market stalls of grilled food and was surprised to see Mingmei there already eating a chewy sweetened rice cake on a stick. She was the last to leave the capital and yet she's the first to arrive. And I expected to be the first to get here because I used all the shortcuts that our clan uses when delivering messages. Nonetheless, I felt relieved that she still enjoys the same food that we used to enjoy when we were kids. Sixteen years of isolation and Mingmei was the same childhood friend that I remember.

"Except for the height. She has grown almost as tall as Lynn and the ladies in Lynn's clan are the tallest ladies in the kingdom.

"I immediately approached Mingmei as she happily chewed on her rice cake. 'How did you get here so fast?' I asked with a smiling expression of disbelief. I made sure not to mention her name in case someone was following us. 'I thought I'd get here first,' I added.

"'When I remembered that Ichonodo has the best rice cakes, I couldn't help but hurry to get here. I really missed these!' Mingmei replied with the same childish smile that makes her tiny twin dimples appear. She triumphantly held her food up for me to see and I laughed at her comment. I should remind myself to think of food thoughts when I want to travel faster.

"I was in the middle of buying grilled squid when I heard the voice of Lynn screaming at the sight of the sweet rice cake that Mingmei was eating. She spoke almost at the top of her lungs when she recalled the times when the three of us would eat those chewy sweetened rice cakes and would have stiff jaws the next day. She ordered herself some of the same and was already chewing her first bite when I joined them. I was almost laughing as I walked towards the pair. It felt like we were kids once more and spending time with each other after training or after our classes at the temple.

"The only difference was that there were only three of us now instead of four.

"'Let's get to the Cleansing Temple so that we could inform them of our intent,' Lynn suggested as we ate.

"I nodded in agreement and we started to walk towards the temple dedicated to the Mistress of the Flame; a servant of Thorobandon the great Celestial Ruby Dragon. When we reached the temple, one of the monks greeted us. Lynn wasted no time and explained to him what we're there for. He then bowed lowly to us and brought us to a visitor's area where we waited.

"The Ritual of Full Cleansing is believed to clean a person's mind, body, and spirit. It has the secondary effect of destroying any magical enchantments on the person—good or bad—along with any object that the person carried. This secondary effect is what we were after so that we can assure ourselves that no scrying spells would be left on our person that can be used to track our location and true identity. This would make our disguises more effective as we investigate the case the missing elderly folks. Mingmei paid double the suggested donation for five people in merchant notes that the monks received gratefully. We were briefed that all of our belongings will be destroyed in the process of cleansing except for items that have powerful protection spells on them. None of us had any items that had that kind of protection. We then received the schedule for the cleansing. It was to be before dawn and the ritual is to be completed exactly at dawn. The new dawn represented the new cleansed life that we would have after the ritual.

"We thanked the monks and left the temple. I was amazed when I remembered that the temple was the oldest structure in the village. Getting to the temple was once the only reason why people would travel to that area. Thus, the Pilgrim's Way was soon built for the travelers who'd want to visit the Temple of the Mistress of the Flame. As the number of people that traveled to the temple increased, a small village started to grow around the temple that eventually grew to a trading hub. One of my great uncles suggested the building of a road for the pilgrims going to the temple. It has now grown into a small city, but the citizens prefer to call it the Village of Ichonodo.

"We met Ianme as we walked back to the market. He was on his way to the temple to look for us there. Lynn relayed to him everything that we learned from the temple.

"'I have to say goodbye to my blades soon, then. They're the first items that I bought with my own money,' Ianme said sadly.

"'No, they're not,' Lynn said contradicting Ianme's claim. 'You bought them with money that you saved from the allowance that you get weekly,' she added as she tapped the tip of Ianme's nose. 'The replacements that you will buy are the true first weapons that you will buy with your own money because that's money that we were given to accomplish this mission,' she added with a wink as she turned to me and Mingmei.

"'Well, I suppose you're right,' Ianme agreed and seemed to feel better about the idea. 'By the way, where's Khyn?' he asked. I immediately looked around to check if anyone was within hearing distance. I was worried that someone might hear our names and could easily identify us in case someone followed us and started asking for us.

"Lynn gently held my shoulder and whispered in my ear, 'Don't worry, Mingmei used a khayantor that replaced our names with random names when we first saw Ianme.' I laughed lightly after a sigh of relief. It was one of the first eizou that Mingmei learned to cast. A word replacer spell. I remember her using it to replace specific words as we speak, and the replacement words were funny words. We'd laugh until we couldn't laugh anymore, and our stomachs felt like it'd have muscle cramps.

"It was nice to have Mingmei around once more. It felt like the nicest memories I've had from our childhood has suddenly become easier to remember.

"'We haven't seen him yet,' I replied with a shrug. 'He's probably still on the way here or he could already be eating. It's almost evening already,' I explained. I then caught the last syllables of a minor detection eizou that Mingmei used.

"'He's in there. The Breakfast and Gin,' Mingmei said as she pointed at an establishment at the center of the Market Circle. Lynn shook her head and smiled.

"'Who names their establishment the Breakfast and Gin?' Lynn asked with a grin as we started to walk towards the building.

"It was a four-story building. The top floors are mostly rooms for rent with a bar and restaurant on the bottom floor. We entered the restaurant and found that the upper floors can also be accessed from inside the bar and restaurant. The bar was separated by a wall and a doorway leading to the restaurant which was exactly half of the ground floor. Sure enough, Khyn was already sitting at a corner table with two rows of comfortable high benches waiting for us. He waved at us when he saw us enter.

"'What took you so long?' Khyn greeted with a grin as we sat around the table. Lynn sat beside him and lightly pinched his ear.

"We ordered dinner and introduced ourselves as traveling merchants who just came from the capital for the festival and have come here for the Cleansing Ritual to the waitresses who saw us for the first time and were curious who we were. They were more than happy to accept our merchant notes with no questions asked. We also rented five rooms on the topmost floor as Mingmei suggested.

"'We will buy only one set of clothing, and a temporary set of weapons,' Mingmei whispered her suggestion. 'We will then travel to Yeongsong to resupply as soon as we finish the Cleansing Ritual,' she added.

"'Why not resupply here? Ichonodo is a trading hub. It should have everything that we need,' Ianme asked. He looked puzzled and did not understand why Mingmei wanted to travel all the way to Yeongsong before we would resupply.

"'Have you ever heard of Master Sam-Well?' I asked after I turned to Ianme.

"'Yeah, he's that weaponsmith who was born in the Untamed West and settled here when his parents died here during their tour. Do you mean he lives in Yeongsong?' Ianme asked surprised.

"'He has a shop there disguised as a horseshoe shop. But members of the Scorpion Clan in the area go to his shop to buy masterfully crafted weapons, armor, and equipment,' Lynn replied in a whisper.

"'Good. To Yeongsong then!' Ianme replied cheerfully as he raised a slice of braised pork to his lips.

"Everyone was surprised when Mingmei suddenly stood up from the table and walked towards the doorway that separates the bar from the restaurant half of the ground floor. There was a commotion on the bar side, and she seemed determined to investigate it. Lynn was right behind her before I was able to stand up to follow her. The twins always had the sharpest hearing among us.

"An elderly hunchback was being bullied by a large muscular man. They were both by the bar. The hunchback was trying to talk to the bartender, but the large muscular man stopped the bartender from replying to the hunchback. Mingmei always had a soft spot for old people and Lynn and I share a hatred for bullies. The large muscular man had five of his companions behind him laughing as he bullied the hunchback. 'Village bullies,' Lynn whispered to me in disgust. I looked at the people inside the bar and they all avoided looking at the spectacle that the large muscular man and his group were making. Yes, Lynn was right. They were the local bullies.

"'Leave the old man in peace!' Mingmei declared in a loud voice as she approached the bar. I immediately noticed that she was oddly positioned. She faced the wall of the bar; thus, she had the group of bullies slightly to her left side. I'm sure we all have new techniques that we haven't shown the others and I wondered if this was one of Mingmei's new techniques.

"'We will leave him be if you and you two girlie friends will drink with us,' the large muscular man retorted and then laughed. His friends laughed out loudly and agreed with his proposal.

"'No. You will leave him be or you shall leave this bar, never to return to disturb its patrons ever again,' Mingmei replied bravely. I noticed a very slight movement in the fingers of her right hand that would otherwise be unnoticeable to anyone who doesn't use eizou. Anyone who happened to notice the movements would think that it was just a slight twitch. The patrons of the bar looked surprised and yet stared at Mingmei expectantly. They understood that it was an outrageous demand from the village bullies, but they hoped that it could happen.

"'You're a crazy girl! Come here and I'll make you even crazier in bed!' the large muscular man said as he moved towards Mingmei. He moved too fast for his size. Lynn's hand was immediately at her kodachi, ready to slice off the man's hand off before it could touch Mingmei. However, to our surprise, Mingmei's left hand waved quickly in the air with her left palm pointing at the roof. It then swept the air downward in a lightning fast movement and three small pins flew off and whizzed at the large man's left ear. 'Ha! Missed!' the large man shouted as he stepped sideways to his right. Three thudding sound from his back made him stop charging towards Mingmei and turn his head. He turned just in time to see three of his companions fall unconscious to the ground. He resumed his charging movement towards Mingmei, but she had her left hand at her hair and pulled out the six-inch-long hairpin that held her hair together. Her braided wavy raven-colored hair undid itself and fell down on her shoulders as she pointed the hairpin to the charging bully. She formed her right-hand fingers into a tube, moved it to her lips, and blew on it. The remaining two companions of the bully fell to the floor. The charging bully stopped moving reflexively when he saw Mingmei point something at him. Mingmei used that momentary pause to throw the hairpin on a man who was sitting at a table for eight. It was a table at the far wall that Mingmei was facing. The man on the table was loading a concealed hand crossbow as he pretended to be sitting and watching the drama inside the bar. The pin hit him in the neck, and he fell down unconscious. His hand crossbow fell loudly on the floor.

"'What did you do with my brother!' the large bully exclaimed when he saw the man fall to the floor.

"'Not as bad as what I will do to you,' Mingmei replied as she turned to the man in front of her. I expected her to use an eizou to swiftly take care of the bullies, but it turned out that she used an obscuring eizou instead. Everyone in the bar would never remember our faces except for the large bully and the old man. 'Leave or I will use extreme violence against you!' Mingmei threatened. Her voice carried a certain darkness that brought a sharp cold down my spine and I was forced to believe what she said despite knowing her as the sweetest girl in our group.

"The big bully had no choice but to accept Mingmei's terms. He saw me and Lynn in battle-ready positions and he knew that he doesn't have the slightest chance against the three of us if Mingmei can render his companions useless all by herself. The bartender told him that he would have someone throw his companions out the door so he shouldn't bother himself with carrying them out. Lynn sighed out a relief as the big bully walked out of the door. Mingmei immediately approached the hunchbacked elder and checked if he was ok. She then rented the biggest room available for the hunchback and paid for it with her own money.

"'You are too kind!' the hunchback said to Mingmei as he held her hand with both his hands. 'And skillful too!' he added with a smile.

"'They were drunk and moved slow and sluggish,' Mingmei replied with a slight smile.

"'And humble too!' the old man replied with a wide smile. 'Why don't you and your friends visit me at my room once you're done eating,' he suggested as he tapped Mingmei's hand gently. He then gave the three of us a courteous bow and walked up the stairs as one of the servants helped him with his luggage. I wondered how he knew that we were going to eat. Our orders haven't arrived yet when Mingmei went to the bar to rescue him.

"'The biggest room? Good thing we didn't book that for ourselves,' Lynn said to Mingmei with a nod.

"'He needs a bigger space to move around comfortably,' Mingmei replied in a soft voice.

"'I know. I was just teasing you, Mei,' Lynn replied with a sweet smile. She then grabbed Mingmei's arm and we all walked back to our table.

"'We should thank you boys for your assistance, as usual,' I said as I sat down.

"'I don't think there is anything inside a village bar that could possibly threaten three eizou-wielders,' Ianme pointed out. 'I'm not always asleep in our classes, you know,' he quickly added with a wink before I could say anything. Mingmei and Lynn simply giggled at his reply.

"We finished eating dinner and then went to the old man's room. He was not surprised to see five of us instead of just three. He had a light dinner of bread and water based on what was left on the table of the room. The room was indeed more spacious than our rooms, almost twice the size.

"'I am glad you have decided to visit me. I am very thankful for your assistance earlier,' the old man said as he gestured us to sit. 'It gladdens me to see that the future will be in such kind and capable hands as yours,' he added with a nod when we were all settled and relaxed.

"'Are the accommodations relaxing enough for you, sir?' Mingmei asked politely.

"'It is more than I am accustomed to, but I thank you so dearly still,' he replied with a slight bow. 'I have to give you all something in return. Not because you have helped me earlier but because you had the heart to help someone like me in the first place. Our world needs more people like you,' he continued.

"'What do you mean?' Lynn asked. She looked like she was reading the old man's intentions but was either puzzled with what she sees in him or cannot read him entirely. She is always the untrusting one in the group. Izrik will always act as untrusting, but it was Lynn who would throw anyone off about her untrusting nature because she is always smiles and positivity.

"'Attack me with your needles, young lady,' he said as he gestured to Mingmei. She was visibly shocked and was expectedly reluctant to oblige his request. 'I must insist or consider it a disrespect to an elder if you do not attack me as you would an opponent,' he told Mingmei with a smile. The words forced Mingmei to attack him, obeying his orders reluctantly. Her hands lashed out like a whip and three needles flew out instantly towards him. However, with the slightest movement of his hand, he was able to block Mingmei's needles with his walking stick.

"We were all shocked at how he easily defended against Mingmei's attack. He then tapped the floor with his stick and the needles fell harmlessly to the floor. 'How did you?' Mingmei whispered.

"'Let's do it one more time, this time all five of you, attack me at the same time. Elder's orders,' he said with a playful grin. Despite his smiling countenance, we were all forced to attack him at the same time. Partly because we were amazed at how he blocked Mingmei's needles effortlessly, and partly because we were ordered by an elderly man to do so.

"Mingmei rolled to the right and used both her hands to attack him with six needles. The old man dropped flat to the floor and made a wide sweeping arc with his walking stick that caught Lynn as she attacked him with her kodachi. Lynn lost her balance instantly and fell to the ground. I attacked him from a distance with the full length of my three-section-staff as Ianme covered me with his twin butterfly sword attack. The old man bounced himself from the floor and caught Ianme's attack with an upward stroke of his stick and Ianme fell backward on me, neutralizing my attack as I tried to avoid hitting Ianme with my attack. Khyn used multiple throwing daggers on him from multiple different angles, but the old man simply caught them all with his stick—even the ones that should have missed him. He moved so nimbly like he was not a hunchbacked old man.

"'What I will teach you is how to defend as I did,' the old man said as we straightened ourselves. 'You seem to involve yourselves in helping others, defensive maneuvers are going to be your favorites, I'm sure,' he continued.

"'So, you know how to defend yourself from that bully?' I asked in surprise.

"'There is nothing to defend from that bully. I planned to buy them a couple of rounds and they would leave me alone,' he replied with a smile.

"'What if he decided to hurt you?' Mingmei asked.

"'I am sure he couldn't hurt me in a way that wouldn't eventually heal anyway,' the old man replied with a grin. 'I will teach you one technique only. It is for your benefit as well as my own,' he added with a serious tone.

"'What do you mean?' Ianme asked as he rubbed his chin.

"'I will teach you this technique so that you will recognize my nephew by the same technique,' he explained. 'He is very much like you. Eager to help others. Unfortunately, alone, he cannot do much. Each one of you will not be able to do much help alone. But together, that is the only time that you will be able to make a real difference in the world beginning with our kingdom,' he explained.

"'You want us to find your nephew?' Mingmei asked.

"'No, my child. I am sure you will cross paths with him eventually. And the technique that I will teach you will help you identify him as he will be able to identify you,' he explained.

"He taught us his defensive technique and it felt both simple and familiar and yet impossible to figure out alone. It was a technique that felt like we already knew but would never be able to use even if it took us all our lives to try to figure out how it is executed.

"We slept with our bodies tired and bruised by the rapid and intense training. We woke up shortly for the Cleansing Ritual. When we reached the temple, an initiate was assigned to each one of us and we were escorted to a chamber each. The chamber is semi-circular and looked like it was molded from a huge clay and was left to harden. There was a large chest inside the chamber where we will leave all our belongings. We were then given white robes to wear for the ceremony. During the ceremony, all our things would be magically incinerated. I used an eizou to rapidly memorize all the contents of the scrolls that I have brought with me. I intend to transfer them manually to a new set of scrolls after the ceremony. Hopefully before my eizou expires and my mind naturally forgets the details of these scrolls. When the ritual was complete, I heard tiny bells ringing in my ears and I was escorted by the initiate assigned to me out of the ritual chamber and into a waiting room. Lynn came out almost at the same time that I did although her initiate was not with her. The rest of our group eventually came out one by one, each escorted by their initiates.

"'So, off to Yeongsong?' Mingmei said with a smile. She didn't look tired at all from all the training the entire evening, the lack of sleep, and the ritual."