A New Path

As Ryker and Long Meiling returned to the Sea and Root Oasis, they were met with kneeling refugees on all sides, all of them singing their praises while they walked through the new temporary encampment.

"All hail the Honored Ones!"

"Thank you for your grace, Honored Ones!"

Ryker just waved back with an awkward smile, while Long Meiling walked stoically beside him.

"Hey guys, no need to kneel, or anything," Ryker said, though by this point he knew that nothing he could say would get through to them. Those kneeling people got up and bowed for now, but the next time he saw them, they'd be back to prostrating on the ground, wouldn't they?

"... I didn't realize it back home, but this kind of overexaggerated treatment gets rather tiring, doesn't it?" Long Meiling said from beside him. She'd had plenty of boot-lickers back in Yuliang City, but to have such attention lavished on her at all times was getting uncomfortable.