Savage Divinity – Chapter 763

 

In forty years of military service, Binesi had never seen such bullshit before.

 

When Lieutenant General Akanai revealed her bold and daring gambit to kill Bai Qi, Mataram YuGan, and Mao Jianghong, Binesi’s heart had soared to see her taking command in a room full of Living Legends. Ever since he was but a boy, the Chief Provost of the Khishigs had long since been a local hero of the Saint’s Tribulations Mountains, but beyond the mountains, no one even knew her name. Now, she was a Living Legend herself, and Binese could not describe how how gratifying it was to see someone of similar origins rise up so high in the world. Though he took issue with her stubborn naming conventions and lacklustre national spirit, he respected the work she did for the community and her personal strength immensely. Joining the army had been his own personal challenge, for he dreamed of surpassing her in strength and reputation so that the estranged children of the mountains would have a more patriotic hero to look up to, but alas, the Heavens were not so kind.

 

Immovable Binesi, the Empire called him, a Warrior who could hold his own against the supremely talented, but lacked the ability to surpass them. The title grated on him in his younger years, but as he grew older and wiser, he came to accept his place as the demarcating line between common Peak Experts and those rare talents destined to surpass them. This wasn’t to say he was willing to rest on his laurels and give up his dreams of reaching the peak, but rather he no longer defined himself by his progress, lacking or otherwise. The Martial Path had long since fallen off from being his first priority, and now was not even in his top three, for he had a loving wife and two wonderful sons in his life whom he cherished and adored. With these three blessings from Heaven, his lacking talents and stalled progress took a back seat to finding the perfect pink lotus to bring home for Asane’s garden pond or bringing his boys to camp out in the woods. Looking back on it now, Binesi pitied his younger self for living solely for strength, and thanked the Mother Above for Her charitable compassion in showing him the proper way forward.

 

Not along the Martial Path, but in life itself, for a solitary existence was synonymous with a sorrowful one, so lacking in love and kinship.

 

That being said, he was still a soldier and Martial Warrior, which meant he had his pride and ambition, muted and dulled though they might be. His heart still soared at the prospect of taking to the field of battle once again, for Lieutenant General Akanai had set them a most arduous challenge, and he for one did not intend to let her down. So imagine Binesi’s disappointment when Colonel General Nian Zu brought him aside and entrusted him with keeping the little Legate safe in Meng Sha, thereby denying him the chance to shine on the battlefield once more. It was vital work to be sure, for the little Legate had proven himself time and time again in more ways than one, but he also had more than enough protectors without needing to borrow any soldiers from the Colonel General. Unfortunately, the argument fell on deaf ears as Binesi knew it would, for his presence at the little Legate’s side had as much to do with political theatre as it did with actual concern for the boy’s safety. Shuai Jiao had long since revealed himself for the cunning politician he truly was, the same as the rest of his brethren hailing from their snake-pit of a province. If Colonel General Nian Zu were to leave the little Legate without a representative from his camp, then Shuai Jiao would take that to mean the two of them had fallen out and act accordingly.

 

Even in the midst of an all-out offensive against the Enemy, the faithless Central politicians couldn’t be trusted not to sink their fangs into another man’s sheep, and the little Legate had the fattest flock this side of the East. Even a damn dog knew not to forget favours and violate justice, but the snakes of Central harboured no gratitude for the man who’d done so much to safeguard their province. For this reason alone, the Grasping Vine bore the brunt of Binesi’s displeasure, but as the days stretched into weeks and nothing changed in Meng Sha, he could not help but resent Colonel General Nian Zu and the little Legate both. Only a bit mind you, but how could he not? Binesi was but one of the Famed Fifty, for Mother’s sake, and any one of them could have served as the Colonel General’s token soldier, but Binesi got stuck babysitting just because he hailed from the same region as the Little Legate, as if that mattered one whit to the insular Bekhai.

 

As for the little Legate himself, how many times could one man fall comatose? Not without reason of course, as he did fine work securing four harbours and saving Baatar from certain death, but Binesi couldn’t understand why the boy needed weeks of sleep to recover from overtaxing his Core, much less days. More than a month had already passed since the little Legate first fell unconscious, and he remained unconscious long enough for Lieutenant General Akanai to roll the dice and emerge victorious. Though all three targets successfully evaded death, the Enemy paid a dear price in manpower and territory to keep their generals alive. After four bitter days of non-stop battle, Colonel General Nian Zu marched into the city of Shi Bei at the head of his army after forcing the insidious traitor Mao Jianghong to flee with his tail between his legs. Now, the easternmost city of the Western Province was back under Imperial control and quickly being fortified by the Spring and Autumn Consortium, a most heartening victory celebrated by people all across the Empire.

 

And after two years of just barely scraping by while enduring the relentless Enemy onslaught, this landmark victory was exactly what the Empire needed. First Meng Sha, now Shi Bei, the Legate’s foolish, but well-intentioned ambition to retake the West was off to a rousing start.

 

The Lieutenant General herself also found success in her endeavours, slaughtering an untold number of Defiled pursuers after running roughshod over the defenders of Tian Zangli and leaving naught but blood and ashes in her wake. A textbook raid carried out with the utmost efficiency, or so Binesi’s sons claimed to have heard Quyen Huong publicly acknowledge, which spoke volumes to how impressed the chauvinistic Southern Marshal must have truly been. Though they ultimately failed to take Mataram YuGan’s head, the fault did not lay with Akanai, for even after razing one city and moving to threaten three more, the traitor Patriarch refused to come out of whatever hole he was hiding in. Neither did Mataram YuChun for that matter, who Binesi yearned to fight on the field of battle to determine who was the better spearman between the two of them, but they had not been fated to meet just yet. For all intents and purposes, the Mataram Clan had seemingly gone into hiding, likely to prepare for a counter-offensive to retake the harbours. That explained their absence from recent affairs, for their forces had most likely been too far out of place when Akanai’s attack arrived. This much was expected and even presumed, as it was the reason the plan had a chance to succeed in the first place. Though built with the utmost of haste, Meng Sha’s sturdy walls and lofty towers of iron and concrete would not be easily overrun, while the remaining harbours were largely inconsequential, so even if the Enemy had proceeded with their attack on the harbours, they would have played right into Lieutenant General Akanai’s hands.

 

There were already rumours abound of how she might well be promoted to Colonel General for her valiant efforts here in the West. If true, it would simultaneously make her the first woman, half-beast, and Imperial Defence Officer to hold the highest military rank in all the outer provinces, beholden only to the Emperor himself and His Royal General, whose name was a mystery to everyone outside the Imperial Clan. Binesi hoped the rumours were true, if only so he could share in her unheard of accomplishment by virtue of proximity, but she was more than deserving of the honour. To think he once dreamed of surpassing such an incredible Warrior, the foolish dreams of a young man who knew not the heights of Heaven.

 

As for Lieutenant General Baatar, some would say his contribution to the war efforts surpassed even those of his heroic Mentor and Mother, and that he too was a contender for the rank of Colonel General. The mission in Pan Si Xing was the most dangerous and least likely to succeed for reasons that should be obvious. Not to look down on the Bloody Fanged Wolf, who had already been an established Peak Expert by the time Binesi Developed his Domain, but Baatar was tasked with killing the fearsome and formidable Bai Qi, a Colonel General who had already fought two of his famed peers and emerged with the upper hand. Even Akanai herself was unable to claim his head, yet she sent her Disciple to do so in her stead. Not only that, she also sent him out with a paltry hundred-thousand troops, a force comprised of disciplined elites to be sure, but a meagre number of soldiers considering the monumental task at hand. And yet, despite all the odds stacked against him, Baatar was not only able to clash with the Lord of Martial Peace in single combat and leave with his head still attached, he almost succeeded in taking the Defiled Commander General’s life.

 

Four years ago, Baatar had been a mere Captain of the Imperial Defence Force, and now he was a Lieutenant General standing closer to the pinnacle of Martial might than some Colonel Generals and Living Legends. Perhaps there would come a day soon when the North had three Colonel Generals, and Binesi’s pride soared to see his fellow mountain-dwellers succeed.

 

The stories of Baatar’s battle with Bai Qi were the talk of the Empire, for few would have ever believed the Bloody Fanged Wolf a match for the Prince of Barbarity. Oh how Binesi would have loved to have seen the battle first-hand, and he envied those fortunate enough to bear witness to such a momentous event. A rare sight to see, two evenly matched Peak Experts battling it out blade to blade with their lives on the line, and while no mere words could ever do it justice, those soldiers who were present in Pan Si Xing never went thirsty so long as they were willing to share their perspective of the action. Baatar himself was currently in Shi Bei, alongside the majority of his surviving forces and the rescued civilians to boot, but many of the wounded and recovering soldiers had been shipped to Meng Sha for recovery, where they were welcomed as heroes with open arms.

 

As such, Binesi spent many a night buying drinks for the victorious conquerors who took Pan Si Xing and sent the traitor general fleeing with so paltry a force, and from what he could gather, the fighting had been fierce and furious indeed. Already he could see a glut of dramas just over the horizon, and while many would focus on Baatar’s valiant efforts and Bai Qi’s shocking reveals of his powerful hidden cards, there was no lack of heroes to focus on. The married Exarches Bralton and Erien proved themselves yet again by racking up an impressive kill count of forty-three Demons in a single battle, a new and impressive record for them to boast of. Lawgiver Won Gwang of Central was unable to match them in raw statistics alone, but it seemed like every soldier Binesi spoke to only had praise for the man who spent his time on the battlefield lending support to those most in need. Situ Jia Yang’s reputation went up yet another notch, because even after Bai Qi personally scorned him, the Howling Dragon set to work and killed eighteen Demons and an untold number of Enemy Peak Experts over the course of the battle. The man single-handedly attracted so much of the Enemy’s ire, the Wraiths were prioritizing him over Baatar whenever they could, for he had a knack for spotting the Concealed assassins that few could match.

 

There were also lesser talents to take note of, like Major Rustram’s concentrated push into the city centre which resulted in a slaughter of the Enemy Chosen, a feat which was celebrated by all, to say nothing of Tam Taewoong’s feat of holding the market district to impede the Enemy’s ability to move through the city. Hangman Jorani was praised for bearing the brunt of the Enemy’s initial response, as he led them on a merry chase through the winding streets of Pan Si Xing and left naught but chaos and death in his wake. Though no duellist or Demon Slayer, the half-rat excelled at cutting down chaff with his Spiritual Weapon, a rope that somehow served as both whip and chain capable of reaping the lives of unarmoured opponents like wheat before the scythe. Any Champion or Chieftain capable of avoiding death at Jorani’s hands was quickly dispatched by one of the abundant young Talents emerging from the little Legate’s retinue, which meant their forces were utterly unmatched on the streets of Pan Si Xing until the Demons and Peak Experts took the field. Whether it be the disciplined, foul-mouthed Wang Bao, the wedded half-dogs Ral and Chey, or the taciturn Lang Yi whose spear would one day pierce the Heavens, the Warriors of Falling Rain’s retinue made their names known in Pan Si Xing as the next generation of Peak Experts.

 

Not without cost of course, one paid for in blood and tears. They were back in the city now, which meant their numbers must have taken a mauling else Lieutenant General Akanai would not have sent them away. There was a reckoning coming, and the Imperials would need every able soldier available if they wanted to hold Shi Bei for an entire month, but all Binesi could do was offer his hopes and prayers from Meng Sha.

 

The coming tribulation should not take away from the heroics in Pan Si Xing however, and while the Peak Experts that had been present in the city spoke often of a formidable hidden tiger named Siyar who dispatched three Demons with a single blow each, in Binesi’s eyes, the most impressive young talent to stand out was Situ Jia Zian. Killing seven Demons in a single battle might seem unimpressive in comparison to other, more established heroes, but the young man was only twenty-seven and still a few years away from becoming a Peak Expert, yet already a more capable Demon Slayer than most. As anyone who faced them could tell you, killing most Demons wasn’t too difficult. Any Peak Expert worth their salt could deliver the final blow; the tricky part was surviving to tell the tale. Demons were inhuman monstrosities that could shrug off wounds which would cripple or incapacitate a human foe, to say nothing of the caustic Ichor coursing through their veins in place of blood, and many a Peak Expert had died after dealing a death-blow to their Demonic foes. A tale as old as the Enemy itself, for a Warrior to lower their guard in their moment of vigilance only to fall victim to the Demon’s final counter-attack or the resulting spray of Ichor, yet now, there was an up and coming young Warrior who could slay Demons with the best of them.

 

Lu An Jing would have been proud of his son, which was exactly what Binesi told him when Zian and his retinue arrived in Meng Sha, a gesture the young man obviously appreciated.

 

The number of heroes who emerged from Pan Si Xing were too numerous to list, but Binesi did his damnedest to learn their names at the very least. He looked forward to a time when he could proudly declare that he’d served alongside the future Colonel General or Living Legend of this generation, though he felt a little conflicted when he realized that the most likely candidate was still the little Legate himself. No matter what his peers accomplished today, Falling Rain had long since surpassed them, for the boy was so formidable the Enemy had all but hidden away their Demons and Half-Demons until he shattered his Core. Then when he made his triumphant return, the Demons disappeared once again and the Enemy aggression abated, a fact which alone was enough to secure the little Legate the well-deserved title of Number One Talent in the Empire.

 

And talent he was, slaughtering Wraiths like chickens and summoning tidal waves to bring down an entire fleet of ships, which were merely among the most recent of his accomplishments. That being said, he’d done little to help matters in the West thus far, but other heroes had stepped in to fill the void he left behind. Every tale of Pan Si Xing ended the same way, with a look of reverence in the story-teller’s eyes as he spoke of the miraculous rainfall that sent the Enemy running for the hills.

 

“It was like nothing I’d ever seen.”

 

“A miracle from Heaven, it felt like.”

 

“As if the Mother Herself saw our plight and shed tears for our fallen.”

 

By all reports, Bai Qi held the upper hand before the Heaven-sent rainfall appeared, both in his duel against Baatar and his mental match with Brigadier Hongji who coordinated the troops from the shadows. Between the reveal of the Green Dragon Crescent Sabre, a heretofore unknown Blessing of Sand, and the unexpectedly large number of Defiled stationed inside the city, Pan Si Xing should have ended miserably for the Imperial troops and citizens, yet thanks to the mysterious rainfall, Baatar’s forces were able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

 

Truly a miracle, or so most believed, except Binesi and several other higher ranking Officers of the North knew better.

 

He was there when the Defiled almost overran the Northern Wall while Colonel General Nian Zu, the Shield of the North, lay wounded and recovering. There with his comrades, Binesi stood ready to lay his life down in defence of the province, but he had little hope left to him. At the time, Baatar had been inconsolable and largely absent due to his wife’s grievous injuries, and though Binesi empathized with the man as a husband himself, the soldier in him could not forgive him for shirking his duties. It all went back to the Bekhai’s lacking patriotism, for Baatar fought not for the Empire, but for the sake of his own pride, pride which was rendered useless as his wife lay upon what might well have been her deathbed. If not for his absence, Jia Yang and BoHai would not have split command of the forces between them and might well have put up a better defence, but all this was a moot point now. The important part was that Binesi had been fighting on the front lines when the Defiled broke through the outer Wall and was all too ready to sell his life dearly to buy as much time as possible for his comrades to get the Colonel General to safety.

 

Then the storm-clouds gathering overhead released their fury, and the Enemy broke ranks and fled faster than Binesi had ever seen.

 

In all the official reports, it was simply a fortuitous coincidence for the storm clouds to break at the same time the Defiled withdrew, but the truth was more or less an open secret at the highest echelons of command. A Divinity had acted at the Northern Wall, one Blessed by Cloud and powerful enough to send whole armies into retreat, but Binesi was one of a select few who knew the identity of the mysterious Awakened Divinity, for Asane was Speaker of the Village and was privy to secrets even he was not supposed to know. Every Speaker in the Mountains was told to be polite and accommodating to the ‘eccentric’ Medical Saint Taduk, but to also refrain from offering him any female companionship without prompting. Baatar’s wife Sarnai played it off as if it was to spare the Medical Saint from having to refuse out of respect for his lost love, but Binesi’s grandmother had been Speaker in her time and had once hosted the Medical Saint in their village when Binesi was but a boy.

 

An odd sort, the Medical Saint was, prone to distraction and muttering to himself at great length, but he gave candies to all the children so Binesi thought the world of him. He needed help running errands while there so Grandma picked a handful of boys and quietly tasked Binesi with making sure ‘no funny business’ went about, stressing that he was to remember and report back with the names of every woman the Medical Saint spoke to. An easy enough job considering the man spent most of his time there watching the quins, not playing with them or training them, but just seeing where they went, what they ate, and how they spent their days. He had the boys take samples of everything they ate and one poor soul even had to collect their droppings for some reason or another, but otherwise, the Medical Saint mostly kept to himself. After he left, Grandma had gone house to house asking if any young women spent time alone with him. Supposedly it was because he’d given her some coin as a reward to ‘the young lady’ who helped him, but he failed to ask for her name, so he could only ask Grandma to help find her. No one admitted to being the young lady in question, and after the umpteenth time Binesi insisted his vigil never slipped and no young lady ever approached the Medical Saint, Grandma had patted his cheek and said, “I know dear, and I believe you, but you can never be too careful after all.”

 

At the time, it wasn’t all that important, and Binesi promptly forgot about it until after Asane became Speaker and asked him about the Medical Saint and the strange requirements regarding his care. “A handsome man he is,” his beloved wife had declared, oblivious to Binesi’s jealousy as she shook her head in regret. “It would do us all good if he were to put some roots down in the mountains, and a woman might just be what he needs to sort himself out.”

 

Even then, Binesi didn’t stop to consider the implications of what he knew, not until after the miraculous storm at the Northern Wall. From there, Binesi put the rest of the puzzle together by dropping a few quiet questions in the right ears and parsing through the non-answers he received. All of it led him to one, clear conclusion, that the Medical Saint Taduk was no half-beast, but an Ancestral Hare hiding in plain sight. Strange for a Divinity to interact so closely with mere mortals, but that was the Medical Saint in a nutshell, so who was Binesi to judge him? Perhaps he had only recently Ascended and wasn’t so jaded just yet, or maybe he was just a sociable sort and enjoyed the company of others. It didn’t matter either way, because beneath all the quirks and foibles, the Medical Saint was genuinely a good man, which was a rare find in this world, regardless of whether one was a Divinity, half-beast, or purely human.

 

Anyone who dared disparage the Medical Saint would find themselves quickly ostracized. The man was well loved not because of his Healing abilities, but rather because he freely dispensed his medical knowledge to anyone who might have need of it. The village women all swore by a tea that helped alleviate their monthly cramps, a bitter concoction made from nettles and tree bark among other things, but they also claimed it helped with fevers, headaches, muscle and joint pain, as well as a plethora of other minor afflictions. The recipe had come from the Medical Saint’s lips, which the Khishigs shared freely with all the people of the Saint’s Tribulations mountains, and he had never once asked for anything in return. He also shared his remedies with the people of Shen Huo and Shen Bin, though he rarely ever travelled any further than that, preferring to live in relative obscurity with the Bekhai rather than the palatial mansions provided to him by the Magistrates of both thriving cities.

 

Most telling of all however was something far more innocent and innocuous, for Binesi had heard all about the struggles a Divinity faced after siring a half-breed child, yet Medical Saint Taduk showed his one and only daughter nothing but love and affection. They were the only two ‘half-hares’ in all the Empire, easily differentiated from the masses of half-rabbits by their rigid, upright ears as opposed to slack, floppy ones, and it was clear theirs was a family full of warmth and sincerity. Yes, Medical Saint Taduk was not only an Ancestral Beast, but a paragon of one who exhibited none of the failings seen in most of his kind, on top of being a better father and parent than most humans.

 

And so when Baatar and Akanai both refused to acknowledge the miraculous storm which sent the Defiled fleeing from the Northern Wall, Binesi put the pieces together and knew it was the work of a Divinity. Now even though the Medical Saint had clearly been present at the time, this wasn’t proof that he’d acted in violation of the Treaty, nor would he ever admit it if he had. That being said, add in the strange downpour which took place during the little Legate’s duel against Situ Jia Zian, as well as the Medical Saint’s pride in his cloud chaser hare heritage, and Binesi had all the proof he needed.

 

Medical Saint Taduk was a Cloud-Blessed Divinity who single-handedly saved the Northern Province, and now, considering his contributions in Sinuji, JiangHu, and most recently Pan Si Xing, he might well save the West too.

 

At least that’s what Binesi wholeheartedly believed, though he would never speak a word of it to anyone besides his wife, and maybe his sons if they ever proved themselves as level-headed as their mother. In contrast, the Medical Saint’s student was mildly disappointing. The little Legate had inherited his teacher’s charitable nature and used his power and wealth to improve the lives of civilians the Empire over. Medicinal formulas, technological advancements, and economic innovations, the little Legate introduced all this and more to the Empire at large, but it was clear to everyone involved that the boy was not personally responsible for coming up with these wild ideas. Having watched over him for so long, Binesi had long since seen through the facade young Rain put on when speaking of things he himself supposedly came up with. He only ever spoke in broad terms when explaining his ideas and was always vague when pressed for details, which showed that he himself did not entirely understand the concepts he spoke of. Financial pundits were quick to gush about his brilliant and ingenious introduction of War Bonds and Treasury Notes, but Binesi knew all too well that most of the fine details had been put together by his concubine Luo-Luo, while concrete, cast iron, cheap paper, clear glass, rubber, and Mother knows how many other ideas had come from his ‘think tank’ led by Diyako Albaiev. From this, one could infer that most, if not all of Rain’s ideas were not truly his to begin with, and that he was simply taking credit where none was due.

 

Not so terrible a sin except when his parents, Teacher, and grandmother had to step in and shoulder the Heavens just to fulfill the grand promises he made with minimal consultation.

 

It was the little Legate’s idea to retake the West, and worthy though his ambition might be, he’d largely left Akanai, Baatar, and Taduk to clean up his mess. Irresponsible is what it was, and while he worked harder than any youth Binesi had ever seen, he still couldn’t bring himself to like the brat for this and many other reasons. The boy had a big mouth and a habit of getting in over his head, only for his powerful backers to swoop in and save him from a mess of his own making, and it seemed like he would not learn his lesson until someone died for his mistakes. It was one thing for Akanai and Baatar to act, for they were Warriors and soldiers to their core, but every time the Medical Saint acted out, he risked reprisal from the Enemy who no doubt knew the unnatural storms were the work of an Imperial Divinity.

 

In short, Falling Rain was a silk-pants of the highest order, and while he was not entirely undeserving of praise, he fell far short of the magnificent and magnanimous Chosen Son of the Mother that the people of the Empire had made him out to be.

 

It didn’t help that Binesi was still stuck watching the boy even now as Bai Qi’s forces marched Westward in a bid to retake Shi Bei. Though the fighting had yet to break out, both sides had been hard at work building up their forces in preparation. It would only be a matters of days now before the massive army of Chosen and Defiled reached the recently liberated city, and Binesi wished he was there with Colonel General Nian Zu instead of here in Meng Sha watching the comatose Falling Rain go for a swim in the bay. Yes, a swim. With his pets and wives at his side, as if they were here for a beach vacation instead of fighting a war for the fate of the Western Province itself.

 

Two weeks had passed since the charming and adorable Mei Lin first brought her husband out into the bay, without clearing it with Binesi, mind you. Had he known in advance, he would never have allowed it, and he’d almost gone apoplectic with rage when he heard what transpired in his absence. As fate would have it, the first day Mei Lin set out into the water with her comatose husband in tow was the same day Binesi traded shifts with Naaran. Ostensibly because the older Warrior was having trouble sleeping and was hoping a double shift would bore him enough to fall asleep standing, but Binesi suspected the amber-eyed grandfather had been put up to it by Mei Lin. Sweet and lovable though she might be, the Medical Saint’s daughter was not above using her charms to get her way, and the darling half-hare had almost everyone wrapped around her little finger, including the majority of Binesi’s guards who failed to alert him the moment the little Legate’s body entered the water.

 

Fools, one and all, having forgotten how the little Legate almost lost his life when a herd of sharks scented blood in the waters of Nan Ping’s bay. The Azure Sea was far from safe, for who knew what dangers lurked within its deep and unfathomable depths, but once little Mei Lin had gone out once with her husband and returned safely unharmed, there was no argument Binesi could make that would change her mind. Worse, he didn’t dare use force to keep the little Legate landlocked, for the Medical Saint was a doting father and had tasked a fearsome Peak Expert to guard his daughter, a nameless, unsociable woman who punched her way out of a megalodon from inside of its stomach. As such, Binesi was helpless to stop little Mei Lin from bringing her husband and pets out into the water each morning, and the little Legate’s other two wives joined them after they arrived back in Meng Sha. All he could do was station a handful of ships further out in the water and place Peak Experts on each one to warn him of any incoming danger.

 

That’s where they were now, with Binesi watching the little Legate float face-up in the water, bobbing in place and never sinking beneath the waves despite a startling lack of support from his wives. The three women kept an eye on him for sure, as theirs was not a marriage of alliance or convenience, but rather true love on all accounts. It was clear the little Legate loved each of his wives dearly and they loved him in turn, which made their lack of concern for him all the more baffling for Binesi to behold. Sure, the little Legate was Blessed by Water and could immerse himself in the sea for an indeterminate and possibly infinite amount of time, but there was no guarantee that his Chi skill would work while he was unconscious from using too much Chi. What’s more, it wasn’t as if they were unaware of the danger, for thrice now the quins had warned them of predators drawn to their movements, and each time resulted in a mad scramble to get the little Legate away to safety. Well, at least Mila and Yan had scrambled; Mei Lin simply pouted over the ‘unnecessary’ end to their games and huffed about how her ‘hubby’ needed more time in the water.

 

Which was just ridiculous, and even Mila and Yan knew it, but everyone commiserated with the sweet half-hare because no one wanted to upset her with the truth.

 

Day in and day out, this was Binesi’s life now, watching the little Legate as he bobbed up and down with the waves in the Azure Sea. Perhaps this was a form of treatment devised by the Medical Saint, or maybe it was just little Mei Lin’s way of consoling herself over her husband’s pitiful state, but Binesi had to admit that the little Legate looked in good health these days. When his coma first came upon him, he looked like death warmed over, with a pallid and sickly complexion to go along with the pinched, troubled expression that had already etched itself into his features. Somewhere along the way however, his skin had taken on a healthier glow and he’d lost that subtle frown and replaced it with a more serene expression, not quite the slack senselessness of a sleeping fool but more of a tranquil, meditative look. What’s more, rather than deteriorate from lack of use, his physique was still as chiselled and muscular as ever, a slim, wiry figure that was deceptively dense and hid a surprising amount of strength and endurance. Did the boy get taller too? Difficult to tell, laying shirtless as he was, but his swimming pants were looking a little shorter than appropriate of late, though that might just be the style these days.

 

The boy’s fat quin Mafu popped up from underwater to deposit his pups on the little Legate’s chest, which the beast saw as a safe place to leave his brood so that he could resume hunting again. The young quins could not be considered small anymore, each one being larger than the boy’s rabbits and weighing at least forty kilos apiece. While the rational part of Binesi’s mind panicked and insisted that the comatose Legate was about to drown, he stood in place on the beach and didn’t move because he’d already made a fool of himself once before, and would not make the same mistake again. There was some force at work keeping the little Legate afloat, either an unconscious Chi working he powered himself or more likely the work of the Divine Turtle swimming nearby. Now there was a sight to bring joy to the heart as the Divine Turtle cut through the waves as if they weren’t even there while carrying a shellful of quin pups along with her. Every now and then she stopped to check in on the little Legate and trade out the quin pups so each would get a turn, leading Binesi to wonder just what the boy did in a past life to deserve so very many Blessings from Heaven.

 

While it was widely accepted that the Mother Above didn’t favour all Her children equally, there had to be some limits as to how much attention one man could monopolize, else it just wasn’t fair…

 

And therein lay the crux of Binesi’s issues with the little Legate, something he only realized just now. He, Immovable Binesi, a Warrior of almost sixty years who claimed he’d long since come to terms with his lacking talents, was jealous of a young boy who didn’t have a single hair on his chin or chest. Ridiculous is what it was, and he scoffed at his own inadequacy, but a part of him also felt his resentment was justified. Falling Rain was more than just talented, he was in a category unto himself, a young Warrior who accomplished so very many miracles it was difficult to judge where he sat upon the scale of strength. Almost at the level of a Divinity in some ways, considering how he single-handedly dismantled the half-badger pirate Huanhuzi’s fleet, yet simultaneously less than some Peak Experts, for he had issues using certain Chi skills on command and was prone to losing focus in the midst of combat. The boy could Heal like the Medical Saint and Demonstrate the Forms as if he started practising while he was still in the womb, when in truth he had less than a full decade of experience behind him.

 

So in light of all this, Binesi’s jealousy was hardly unjustified, though it still felt a little silly to begrudge a man for his talents. At least the little Legate was suitably humble most of the time, though he had his moments of unintentional braggadocio, usually in the form of disbelief that anyone could have issues with something he thought was easier than breathing.

 

A horn sounded at the front gates, a low, booming warning which was soon echoed by every tower along the wall, and Binesi shot up into the air for a better look. What he saw shook him to the core before igniting his blood, and he quickly returned to the beach and Sent warnings to the girls still swimming in the water. “Time to go,” was the message, delivered in terse and succinct tones that would brook no argument, though little Mei Lin would undoubtedly try. “The Defiled are attacking.”

 

Perhaps the Mother Above hadn’t wholly forgotten Binesi, for She had sent him everything his heart desired. Not only was this a chance to test himself in combat once again, but his brief glimpse of the oncoming Enemy army emerging from Concealment had shown him a plethora of banners bearing the Mataram Clan Sigil, which meant he might well have the opportunity to cross spears with YuChun of the Ten-thousand spears and see which of them was the stronger spearman.

 

Grandmother had always warned Binesi to be careful what he wished for, but he had no regrets. The Enemy would break upon the walls of Meng Sha, and this time, he would be the one hoisting free drinks and regaling others with the tales of his heroics.

 

Say what you will about wife and family, but there were a few simple pleasures in life which could only be found at the bottom of a liquor bowl while surrounded by strangers.

 

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