White Swan

Lin Xiao left the cave to meet with Long YinLian outside. He saw the other sitting on a rock with Wang Lan resting beside him. For some reason, Lin Xiao could sense a melancholic atmosphere around Long YinLian.

“Shizun, I’m here. Is there something you want to tell me?” Lin Xiao asked as soon as he was close enough.

“En. Tomorrow morning, go to Senlin village and bring this along,” Long YinLian handed a medium-sized box to Lin Xiao. “Purchase a carriage for the young lady. Make sure they are comfortable to be used for a long journey. Any leftovers, use them to buy foods enough for two days journey. We are going to the capital,” Long YinLian paused for a while, before finally adding another sentence. “And try to hire a few mercenaries as an escort. But whatever you do, never ever mention we’re bringing the young lady. Not to anyone.”

“Is her identity special?” Lin Xiao asked in a curious tone.

“In a way… you can say that she is related to me,” was all Long YinLian said before he finally stood up. “You can take my bed. I can sleep on the ground tonight.”

At this, Lin Xiao immediately stopped Long YinLian on his track. “Nonsense! Shizun, you should sleep on your bed. Your disciple can sleep on the ground with Zan-er!” Lin Xiao said as he took Long YinLian’s arm and began to lead him back into the cave. “It’s going to be a bit cold tonight. So, make sure you stay warm, alright?”

Lin Xiao helped Long YinLian to his bed before he went to huddle together with the other three tigers. Because of them, Lin Xiao never once felt cold that night.

The next morning, Lin Xiao woke up early to prepare breakfast. He caught some rabbits, then he roasted them before leaving a note for the young lady to eat them for breakfast. Then, he packed some for himself before going to the lake to clean up. Only once he’s clean and proper did he go down to the village.

When he arrived at the village, the sun had just finished rising. He could see the villagers are now all up and about, preparing to start their daily routine. The first thing that he did was going to the stable. He purchased a carriage and two sets of horses. Next, he bought a cart that is big enough to carry their ingredients, as well as to hide the three tigers. After that, he begins shopping for ingredients. With the amount he was buying, it attracted the villager’s attention.

“Ah’Xiao, are you going to travel?” one of the villagers asked.

“Yes. Shizun and I are going to the capital,” he replied politely.

“Ah, is that so? Did your family finally found you and asked you to go back?”

“Uhh… yes. You can say that,” Lin Xiao answered. Since Long YinLian said that he can’t tell anyone about Fei YuXing, he can only lie.

After he finished stocking up, he checked on the box that Long YinLian had given him the night before. He had already spent so much and yet, the box he carried doesn’t seem to be losing too much weight. “Well… this box is full of gold pieces and yet, I barely use ten pieces,” Lin Xiao murmured softly before he took out twenty gold pieces out. He then covered the box with a cloth and tied it to his back.

His next destination was the mercenary guild outpost. Due to the increase of bandit’s activities, the Officials decided to create the guild to help them clean up the bandits. But because of the way it is set up, in the end, even the Officials cannot abolish them. They are the citizen’s hope when they cannot even get to the capital to get help. Lin Xiao entered the outpost and went straight to the counter.

“Welcome to Senlin’s Mercenary Outpost! Are you here to look for a job to do or are you here to post a job?” the attendant asked.

“I am here to hire mercenary to be guards and escort for my shizun and I,” Lin Xiao answered before he took out ten pieces of gold and placed it on top of the table. “The destination is the capital. Foods are provided. Prefer someone who knows martial arts. Because there may be some danger, my shizun told me to pay each who accepted the job a piece of gold. Then once we arrived, we’ll pay another two pieces.”

Lin Xiao said this without breaking eye contact and he could see that the attendant is already interested the moment the gold pieces were placed on the table. “The job will begin today, at noon,” Lin Xiao added, and the attendant’s expression changed slightly.

“This young master, to find people this quick is not—”

Lin Xiao didn’t let him finish and quickly placed another five gold pieces onto the table. The attendant’s eyes went wide, and Lin Xiao just smiled at him. “Money is not a problem. Oh, this is just extra but if you can find me, someone who knows how to keep a secret, I’ll throw in another five gold pieces as payment,” Lin Xiao added with a smirk.

“Consider it done! You’re in luck. The White Swan had just arrived a few days ago and is free of jobs at the moment. Though they should be resting for another three days, I’m sure I can convince them to accept your job,” the attendant informed Lin Xiao.

Hearing the name White Swan, Lin Xiao felt a sense of relief. The White Swan is a group of mercenaries. They are only eight in number, but they are all what they call the top class. “Tell them to wait for me at the southern entrance of the village by noon. Here is your five pieces of gold,” Lin Xiao said as he handed the payment over to the attendant. After that, he left the outpost feeling slightly cheated. “Ai… twenty gold pieces, ah! How much food can we buy with that? It’ll enough to last us for a decade at least!” Lin Xiao sighed as he shook his head.