Chapter 520: Scouting and sightseeing are kinda the same thing.
‘So you’re certain this place has rooms?’
[Positive, milord. It’s located out of the way for the main festivities and from what I saw on the prices, this place is cheaper by at least three zeroes in comparison to those fancier inns,] Razorstella answered, [which is weird because it looks fairly cozy. Also, free breakfast, Stampeding Bison style.]
‘Oh, sweet…by the way, if you’re talking to me, what happened to the others? I figured they’d be commenting or making suggestions.’
[Funny you mention that…]
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[So…are we going to just stick to scouting around in these miniature form of ours?,] Spring Brawler asked his companion, [or are we going to try and blend in as mortals at some point and start scouting on the ground…where the people are?]
[Where we can see them dancing…,] Hurricroak quietly sung to herself while actually staring at some festival goers actually dancing to the rhythm of an instrument akin to a bronze drum that was covered in dragons and flower designs.
[Maybe, but I’d think we’d get trouble with Nepherage if we did.]
[Right…]
At this moment in time, the kaijin had split themselves off into three groups in order to better cover more ground in the city.
Nepherage and Frosttusk had gone off in one direction, towards a place where one could hear the clashing of metal and pounding of fists against flesh, while Hurricroak and Spring Brawler went into another, a place where one could smell exotic spices and hear melodies and rhythms that threatened to steal away your heart.
Razorstella was originally going to be sent with Hurricroak and Spring Brawler as well, but she insisted on going solo, stating that everyone else was too slow to keep up with her speed…except maybe Spring Brawler, but she’d never admit that.
Regardless, Hurricroak and Spring Brawler found themselves squatting on the roof of a pagoda, watching as people, both native and tourist, partook in festive activities such as singing, dancing, eating questionably healthy foods and play all manner of festival/carnival games.
This would arguably one of the best moments for the kaijin to go down there and play “mortal”, but they were on the clock and deep in…what wasn’t necessarily enemy territory, but it sure as shit wasn’t friendly to their lord and his family.
[Besides, I don’t think there’ anything that interesting down there that warrants us getting involved,] Hurricroak told Spring Brawler, [unless you wanna practice your conversational skills?]
[That is…a very fair point…,] Spring Brawler conceded, recalling that even though he had a good heart to heart with Zhen Liu’s grandfather, Patriarch Zhen Shi, he didn’t exactly enjoy getting up caught in such a situation in the first place.
He didn’t exactly mind it, he just wasn’t emotionally or mentally developed enough to do anything like that again…at least not competently.
[Alright, so once we’re done with this place tentatively marked as “food court four”, we just need to go and check out Crafter’s row and…what the fuck?]
[Huh? What’s wrong?]
In Spring Brawler’s head, Hurricroak was always the easy-going one who handled most issues with a laugh, so the fact that something made her go “what the fuck”, was enough to get him worried.
[Over there…,] Hurricroak said while pointing in a general direction to her right, [that emblem…doesn’t it look familiar?]
[Which emblem?]
[That one on the shoulder of that slab of mutton by the tofu pudding stand.]
[Oh…oh shit!,] Spring Brawler reacted with surprise,[ isn’t that the emblem of-]
[Yeah, that family,] Hurricroak immediately agreed.
[The one that-]
[Yup.]
[The one’s who daddy.]
[Yuuuuuup.]
[Huh…]
[…]
[…]
[So we’re going down there?,] Spring Brawler asked.
[If we weren’t planning to do before, we sure as shit as doing it now.]
[Of course.]
With their plans now set, Hurricroak and Spring Brawler proceeded to leave their little rooftop perch and found the nearest isolated spot in order to do a costume change into “Harriet” and “Sawyer”.
[Wait, should we play it up as foreigners or try to look native?]
[Ooooh, that’s a good point…]
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[You got enough heat to keep going?]
[I think so…might need to throw myself down that…forge chimney later…though]
[Fair.]
Whilst Hurricroak and Spring Brawler were bouncing around near what could best be described as the “friendly” portion of the festival, consisting predominantly of food, games and knick-knacks, Frosttusk and Nepherage had found themselves in the “martial” section of the festival.
[Hmmm, I think there’s a route we can take that gets us there while going through most of the stalls,] Nepherage pointed.
[Come on, if we move fast we can get you some heat before you even cool.]
[Okay,] Frosttusk agreed.
In the area they were in, a lot of the people that were running booths here were selling either aether art manuals, weapon-type aether treasures and materials galore, ranging from butchered aether beast parts to aether ores and plants that would make craftsmen of every sort drool with envy.
Granted, in the kaijin’s eyes, the stuff for sale were just would-be components for more of their kin…or possible upgrades for themselves.
Aside from that though, there were a lot of martial competitions going on in this particular section of the festival, ranging from simple move exchanges to straight up multi-day tournaments with all sorts of restrictions in terms of equipment, aether affinity or even cultivation level.
Of course, that latter category was rare given that not many people could reach anything beyond Aether Master, unless they were part of a sect of had access to special items that could aide with cultivation.
Speaking of, there were a lot of weird festival games and booths that offered such services…of course, they could also be scams, the kaijin weren’t entirely sure.
“Step right up, step right up! Bao Fang here is a cultivator of the [Bronze Buddha] formula! His defense is equivalent to an Aether Grandmaster! If you can land a scratch on him, this fourth tier aether pill is yours to claim!”
“You think your eyes are sharp? You think your hands are faster? Then come and try your hands at this! If you can nail the Golden Sonic Locust within three knife throws, you’ll get this major Ethereal aether art: [Sonic Wing]!”
“One thousand gold! All it costs is one thousand gold pieces, and you’ll get advice from the one and only Peach Sage of the Sagacious Forest Society! An additional five hundred gold pieces and you’ll get a recommendation to become an inner disciple!”
[Wait…I read up on the Sagacious Forest Society. Aren’t they from the Soaring Gryphon continent?,] Frosttusk asked as he and Nepherage landed on the top of this particular stall.
The so-called Peach Sage appeared to be a middle-aged man with a thin mustache, who was currently napping.
From what the kaijin could sense of the man’s aura though, he was sitting at the intermediate Grandmaster stage. Granted, it felt sluggish, a clear sign that he hadn’t been keeping up with this practice.
[I think I know what book you’re talking about, the Sagacious Forest Society is one of those multinational organizations. They got sub factions in Roaring Tide and I think Stampeding Bison,] Nepherage answered, [granted, they’re in a kingdom that is like two months from where our lord lives, walking that is.]
[Ah…]
The mammoth and jade kaijin duo were just about to hop onto the next stall roof, when out of their corner of their collective eye, they saw something that made them pause.
[Hold up…you recognize that emblem?]
[I think…so, but…dammit…getting cold…]
[Hold on big guy, those guys are heading over to the forge area. We can hop over there and spy on them.]
[Okay…]
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“No vacancy, no vacancy, no vacancy…by the lords above, how popular is this fucking festival?!,” Zhen Tai complained as they passed by the third, totally booked to the stables inn.
“Seriously, we do this founder’s schtick back home and it’s never this crowded.”
“That’s because we live in a frontier city, remember?,” Zhen Yue pointed out.
“Ah, right…”
Following Zhen Liu’s initiative, the scions of the Zhen Clan coordinated with the elders to try and find someplace to stay in this massive ass city on the water, during the middle of a fucking festival.
They all agreed that it was probably easier for them to split up into groups to try and find someplace as a opposed to just moving as one collective gathering. Therefore, the elders went off to check for lodging that was closer to the city center, the servants went to check in the midtown area while the youngsters went to check on the outer sections of the city.
Granted, these sections were bit ubiquitous and numbered in several hundred buildings each, including the floating ones, so it was a bit more of a hassle than exploring Stone Claw.
As the scions eventually came across their sixth completely occupied inn, Zhen Liu spoke up.
“Alright, I think we’re approaching this the wrong way.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Well, Zhen Liu began to explain, “you know how back home, our section of Stone Claw was referred to as ‘Tidepool Town’ by some of the residents? And that aside from the businesses we run, there’s that one super cheap-looking inn that always seem to pay rent despite us not seeing a single guest?”
“Yeah…,” the scions agreed.
Much like how on a certain blue planet there were ethnic enclaves, i.e. Chinatowns and Little Italys, that were part of a bigger city, Valresta was also home to such phenomenon. Back at Stone Claw, the Zhen clan’s territory was considered as such.
“You think maybe there’s something like that in Willow Scale? Maybe something aimed towards us being from Stampeding Bison?”
“…huh.”
Following Zhen Liu’s suggestion, the group tried to find the ethnic enclave for people from Stampeding Bison in Willow Scale.
It was a long shot, but it was worth a try.
Of course, none of them save one knew that this particular part of the city was referred to as “Stomp Town”.
‘It probably sounds better in its native tongue, and not in my translation butchering…’
