v5c65: The Experts of the Empire

The Lord Magistrate left to deal with the Auditor-General, and Gramps told Shenhe to get some rest. Elder Ge did something with his Qi. At once, all sound from outside the room was cut off, leaving me alone amongst the old monsters.

I felt a bit on edge, meeting the real movers and shakers of this world… but all of them seemed, well, if not normal, then much different than I anticipated. I had expected humorless, grim experts, with eyes ready to kill.

Instead, Elder Ge seemed downright approachable—he looked like a stern but fair teacher, and he hadn’t hesitated to speak to the Lord Magistrate with what sounded like respect in his voice.

Yukong and Shou were a bit harder to place. Yukong looked like a woman in her mid-thirties; she had dark hair and eyes, with a stark, stoic feeling about her, but her lips were quirked in a small smile. The man she was standing beside, Shou, seemed to have a bit more of a temper and had reacted the most obviously out of anybody. Even now he was shooting me glances… but they weren’t hostile, more like an eager academic. He obviously wanted to sit me down and talk with me about stuff, and I’d be happy to later.

The person I was the least sure of, however, was Tianzhe Minyan.

She had a cold arrogance about her and seemed bleached of colour, looking like a frozen ice sculpture rather than a woman. Most of her face was covered by a veil, leaving only her blue eyes exposed. They looked like chips of ice, sharp, cold and merciless. When Gramps had first introduced me as his grandson, those eyes had focused on me with terrifying intensity, her intent so cold it had made my bones creak.

That intensity had faded when Gramps had explained things further, the woman visibly calming—and now her glances were merely curious, rather than murderous. Gramps had spoken of a lady friend before, and I was beginning to think that this was her.

She had also arrived on a flying ship—which was awesome. My desire to see it up close was currently warring with my desire not to become a walking icicle if she took offense.

The final person was the Herald. The guy seemed fairly lenient and easy-going, surprisingly, taking Gramps’ jokes and likely active treason without a care.

It was weird, but considering how strong Gramps was… or rather, had been, I guess polite disinterest was probably the best move.

They obviously had some purpose for the meeting, as Elder Ge turned to Minyan.

“Divine Falcon Minyan. By the ancient friendship between our Sects, the Cloudy Sword Sect wishes to enter into an accord of information sharing and mutual cooperation for the duration of our examination of the north. Are you amenable?” Elder Ge asked the veiled lady.

“I cannot speak for the entirety of the Isle, but this Minyan accepts the offer of the Black Cloud of the Silent Sky,” the cold, icy looking woman declared.

They clasped forearms and nodded to each other. Gramps smiled at the byplay.

“Ah, it feels a bit like old times,” the old man said, a small grin on his face.

Minyan raised an eyebrow at him. “How are you so energetic, you old fool?” she demanded. “Look at you, you’re weak now, yet you’re bouncing about like you did as a boy.”

Her words were disdainful, but there was no heat to them. In fact, the way her eyes looked, she seemed to be smiling.

Ah, her voice and mannerisms suddenly clicked. She wasn’t just an arrogant asshole.

She was a tsundere.

What the hells.

“Indeed! I am in a fine mood—even my body’s aches have been improved by seeing you again. If I could but behold you for a few hours, I would be fully healed,” Shen Yu smiled brightly at her.

Minyan clicked her tongue and looked away, tilting her nose up in the air slightly.

Yup, this lady was tsundere as fuck.

Ge chuckled and shook his head.

“Then let us see to our disciples,” he said, and we exited the room, and started down the hall. When we reached the room where the disciples were staying, the others paused. The door was closed, but I could hear Lady Wu’s guzheng… as well as other instruments being played.

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Ge opened the door.

Most of the Cloudy Sword Sect disciples were seated and seemed to be enjoying the music, save for one woman who had added her erhu to Lady Wu’s guzheng. The lady had a few bandages over her arms, but other than that she didn’t look too worse for wear.

The Soaring Heaven’s Isle disciples, in contrast, had mostly left their tables. Several of the women had their own instruments out as well, and most of them were sitting in front of the impromptu concert bobbing along to the music. They were all well-dressed, but I could see some callouses, and the occasional flash of a tattoo.

Two hadn’t joined in. The first was a woman with her long blue hair in two braids who was watching over her fellow disciples. Above the waist she was still, but I could see her feet tapping along to the song. There was another woman beside her, who appeared to be wearing part of a kimono, of all things. She had short purple hair, grey irises, and a mole under her left eye. Instead of looking at her fellow disciples, her gaze was locked onto a large pot of rice. She had an utterly forlorn look on her face, and I saw her swallow thickly. There was still quite a bit of rice in it, and she was clearly holding herself back for some reason.

The Elders seemed to find this arrangement satisfactory, and the disciples swiftly noticed their leaders. The music, aside from Lady Wu, immediately stopped, the disciples rising to their feet at the entrance of the Elders.

“Have the accommodations been satisfactory, disciples?” Elder Ge asked.

“Yes, Elder,” one of the Cloudy Sword Sect members stepped up—another woman, who looked quite a bit like Elder Ge. “We pay our respects to the Household of the Lord Magistrate.”

The other disciples followed suit.