Chapter 1036: [Time] to Move
*Bing-Bong*
…
|What?|
This is the second time in a row with the title having brackets around the word, “time”.
|Yeah, and?|
What’s the gimmick this time?
|You’ll see it later.|
Great…
*Bing-Bong*
_______Back to Stone Claw we go…_______
“So…I know why I’m going, what’s your deal?”
“That…is a very weird way of starting a conversation. Aren’t you royalty?”
“Royal etiquette is for ballrooms, politics and other nobles. Last I checked, you aren’t any form of the latter.”
“Rude.”
“But true.”
At one of the gates that led out of Stone Claw City and towards the direction of the Jade Lake, a peculiar duo was waiting to leave.
Princess Jinju Ren and Cornelius had nothing to do with one another, other than knowing Zhen Liu. At least, that’s what they both thought.
When the both of them showed up to the meeting spot to go to the library to then go to Undertow, they were surprised to see each other there.
As such, a rather necessary conversation occurred.
“Seriously though, why are you taking this opportunity to go to a mythical lost city belonging to one of the most terrifying warlords in Roaring Tide history?,” Jinju Ren asked. “You don’t look like you got ancestral beef or an ancestor who was intertwined with the history of the place…”
At this statement, Cornelius had to rely on trained behavior in order to maintain a semblance of deniability. Since he technically was there several centuries ago, and was now confronting his past…which was incredibly novel.
“Well, just so you know, I actually do have an ancestral connection with Undertow,”, Cornelius answered. “My great great great grandfather was apparently friends with the Storm Queen. Allegedly. The journal he kept was a bit smudged and smelled of aged alcohol.”
“Ah…that tracks,” Jinju Ren nodded.
The smoothness and bluntness of Cornelius’s lie, was enough to convince Jinju Ren that he was telling the truth and nothing but the whole truth. Hell, she had questionable ancestry anyways, so it made sense to her.
“Wait, why are you heading down to Undertow? I thought the Imperial Family had a deep seated aggression with the city and all it stood for.”
Please note, that this aggression focused on the differing opinions on slavery, and the fact that most of Undertow composed of former slaves and people who had caused the Pearl Scale Empire economic suffering in the past. Not that angry of that mattered to Jinju Ren, the 34th Princess.
“My father had beef with Undertow but mellowed out after the Storm Queen scarred his face…or so I was told…anyways, I’m heading down there for personal diplomatic reasons. Figured it’s been long enough, perhaps I can be the first to mend a broken and burnt bridge.”
“Huh…that is surprisingly high minded of you.”
“I don’t think that’s the case,” Jinju Ren refuted with a wave of her hand. “I just think that the past actions shouldn’t act as a hindrance for future developments of any kind. They should be bricks in the road of life, not hurdles.”
“Huh…that is a surprisingly high minded way of seeing life. I’m impressed.”
“Thank you.”
“Did you learn that yourself or did you get that from your teacher?”
“Column A, Column B.”
“Got it.”
“Sorry we’re late!”
“Huh?”
“Jin Fang! Wasn’t expecting you to come along.”
“Well, let’s just say, I got over my aversion in going.”
Just as Jinju Ren and Cornelius were wrapping up their conversation, Aranea(Archanidame) and Jin Fang had arrived to the gate as well.
The aformentioned duo was expecting the former, since she was going to be the one to get them to the library, while the latter was unexpected due to the extreme hesitation they saw her display over the past few days .
Now though, she seemed more…determined. Although, they couldn’t help but to notice some subtle hints that she was hiding something. Not that they would bring it up, since it would be considered impolite.
Regardless, now that they were all gathered, they were ready to go.
“Archanidame, are you going to be going with us to the library?”
Since everyone present was in the know about Zhen Liu’s peculiar abilities, they freely referred the secretary of the Zhen Clan by her real identity.
“As much as I would love it, I still have to handle things here in preparation for the beast tide,” Archanidame answered with an apologetic bow. “However, I can at least send an escort to go with you and provide transport.”
From her person, Archanidame produced several marbles that appeared to be made of polished bone and tossed them into the air.
[Appear.]
Pop! Pop! Pop!
“Ay!”
“Still impressive to watch.”
The marbles glowed while in the air for a few moments before exploding into fully grown skeletal zakos. Unlike normal ones though, these one appeared to have several metallic bones and more complete looking helmets.
“And for transport…,” Archanidame trailed off before tapping the ground three times with her foot.
“What the-”
Rumbling ground noises
“Oh!”
From the ground directly beneath Jin Fang, Jinju Ren, Cornelius and the zakos, arose a Giant Rock Shell Tarantula that tripped them all off of their feet. Thankfully, they didn’t fall on their asses due to the timely manifestation of stone seats popping out from the tarantula’s shell.
“Now then, it should take about twenty or so minutes to get to the library at top speed, assuming nothing impedes your path. So use this time to mentally adjust, cultivate and what have you,” Arachnidame informed the young warriors. “You can also use this time to review the culture and history of Undertow.”
“How do we do-”
“Grunt.”
“Oh.”
The zakos on the tarantula’s back produced several copies of what appeared to be a whale skin bound journal titled “Undertow: City of Hope or Beacon of Falsehood”.
“Neat.”
Once everyone was seated, Archanidame opened the gates to the desert and sent them on their way.
“Give my regards to the others when you get there, and stay safe!”
“Will do!”
“Thank you!”
With these final words exchanged, the Giant Rock Shell Tarantula began its run towards the Library.
Evidently, this was uncanny good timing on Archanidame’s part.
“Now then…time to get ready for the inevitable.”
…
Meanwhile, back in Undertow…
“You okay, Xiao Liu? You look…tense.”
“Huh? Oh yeah, just…trying to mentally prepare myself in eating this…porridge. I think.”
“That’s porridge?”
“Not to your taste?”
“No, just didn’t expect it to be glowing…”
Despite being informed that the Undertow Council would have a diplomatic decision done by “morning”, the reality turned out to be a bit more…drawn out.
The long and short of it was that despite the display of [Chaos] presented by the Zhen Clan, several members still had misgivings about entering any form of diplomatic connection with a clan of people they were once bitter enemies with. Although, said members were a minority opinion.
Regardless, because of this diplomatic hooplah, the Zhen Clan matriarch and her son were forced to enter longer negotiations with the councilmen, much to the chagrin and boredom of the troops and scions. On the plus side, they now had the opportunity to enjoy(?) the food and culture of Undertow…sort of.
As of this moment, Zhen Hai, Zhen Feng and Zhen Liu was attempting to figure out what exactly they were eating for breakfast after being directed to the castle’s kitchen.
The formal dining hall was only for special occasions and dinner, breakfast and lunch was done in the kitchens.
The provided meal was quite nice, but also rather…unusual.
It was healthier and heartier than the rations they had been eating the last week, but it was still weird looking.
Especially the glowing porridge.
“Seriously, how is it glowing?”
<
“Oh, hello.”
As the trio of scions were still attempting to eat, they were soon joined by the Bloodliner(?) woman that helped them find their rooms yesterday.
The night prior, the scions were a touch exhausted so they couldn’t really have a good look/conversation with her, especially since she was doing her job. But now that the setting had changed to be a touch more casual, they could now freely talk.
Well, at least they could now introduce themselves more freely.
“Your name is…wait…<
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Evidently, the reason why Zhen Liu was looking about was because he had managed to figure out Terra was the one who captured one of his zakos last night.
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Evidently, she was going to try and get under his skin about it…
