Chapter 24 – Choosing apprentices

🙞❤︎🙜

“You want to carry me,” I said.

“Yes,” said Prince Baiyu.

Today he looked even more splendid than usual. The sleeves of his robe were longer and wider than normal, and the hem went down to the ground. His clothes were made of deep blue silk adorned with intricate white and gold embroidery depicting the Four Gods. in addition, he was wearing a small white jade crown held in place over his topknot by a hairpin. Ornaments made of jade and silk tassels hung from his belt.

I felt really underdressed for the situation since I was wearing a simple white Scholar’s Robe from the cash shop.

“In your arms,” I clarified. “While you’re flying high above the treetops.”

“It would be more comfortable than the cart,” said Prince Baiyu

The two of us glanced at the oxcart that Shuye was going to drive. The Farm Guide’s colossal form and the sacks of potatoes filled most of the space, which meant that it would be a tight squeeze for me.

“Go on, the Prince is right,” said Shuye, who was standing near the oxen. He was also dressed quite nicely in a set of brown silk robes and pants painted with a leaf pattern.

Prince Baiyu moved a little closer and bent down to whisper in my ear. “If you like, I can take my robe off for you.”

What the heck?! He wasn’t aiming to join this world’s version of the Mile High Club, was he?

I ran to hide behind Shuye’s bulky form. “No!”

The Prince smirked at me and folded his arms across his chest. “You know you want to.”

He kept on teasing me like that for a few more minutes while Shuye shook his head and pretended not to listen. I eventually gave in because I was curious to know what flying in the air with a Prince would be like.

Shuye’s flying cart was slower than Prince Baiyu, so we would arrive in the city earlier. We agreed I should go straight to the orphanage and finish my business there without waiting for Shuye. He said he knew what to do, and didn’t need me to supervise. That was good enough for me since, anyway, I knew nothing about selling potatoes.

My face turned red when Prince Baiyu scooped me up in his arms. He slowly ascended in the air until we were above the forest’s canopy. This took around ten minutes, and the gradual rise in elevation wasn’t scary at all. Prince Baiyu felt quite solid, and I clung to his neck as we flew north in the direction of Anwei City, the largest human city in the Westerlands and the center of commerce.

“Are you comfortable?” asked Prince Baiyu.

“Yes,” I said. His body was quite warm, and we were traveling slowly. Below us was the forest, while above us was the blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds. I had expected to be a little scared of flying, but I felt fine. I was even enjoying myself.

“Then I’ll increase our speed. Let me know if it becomes uncomfortable for you,” said Prince Baiyu.

Logically speaking, the faster we flew, the more uncomfortable the wind should be, but I only felt a gentle breeze as he increased his speed. “How come the wind isn’t getting stronger?”

“I’m using my aura to protect us, of course,” he said. “You wouldn’t be able to bear it otherwise.”

“Oh.” It was quite comfortable, so I relaxed and enjoyed the view. After about an hour, the forest gave way to cultivated fields and tiny villages. We were so high that the people below us looked like ants.

A few hours later, Prince Baiyu gradually slowed down and descended. Flying up in Prince Baiyu’s arms wasn’t that scary, but flying down was. My brain knew that we were going for a safe landing, but my body thought that I was falling. I involuntarily closed my eyes and buried my head in his chest.

“Are you uncomfortable?” asked Prince Baiyu.

“A little slower, please,” I said.

The Prince obligingly slowed down until we were descending at a snail’s pace and I could hardly feel that we were moving. My stomach settled down, and I heaved a sigh of relief when we finally landed.

“Let’s take a moment to prepare ourselves,” he said.

We were in an empty field, and it was only then that I realized that there were people flying behind us. Three men and two women came down around ten feet away from us.

“Are they your staff?” I asked Prince Baiyu since they seemed to be looking at him for instructions.

“Yes, I never go out without a few attendants,” he said. He made some sort of signal with a hand, and one of them flew off. “Let’s give him a bit of time to report our visit to the City Lord.”

“Um, I won’t have to meet him, right?” I said. Was Prince Baiyu all dressed up because he was going to meet with a noble?

“It’s fine. We’ll go in and finish your business, then leave. Informing the City Lord is just a courtesy,” he said. “Pardon me, my lady, I have to arm myself.”

Prince Baiyu took out a sword from his soul space and belted it on his waist.

Since we were getting ready, I took the opportunity to fetch a comb from my inventory. The wind hadn’t been particularly strong, but my hair could be neater.

Once we both finished getting ready, Prince Baiyu took me in his arms again and we flew onward until we arrived at Anwei, the capital of the Westerlands.

Fengying had told me what to expect.

The city was surrounded by a high wall made of white stone etched with protective runes. There were four enormous gates at each cardinal point that were reserved for certain functions. The north and south gates were open to the public, and that was what most people used. The East gate was for the human nobles, while the West gate was for the members of the God Beast clans.

I don’t know why I was surprised. I should’ve already realized that I was living in a feudal society, and that, from now on, I would have to get used to the caste system here. The God Beast clans, of course, were the ultimate rulers of the Westerlands, but Anwei was a human city, so it had human rulers, too.

As for me, I was but a mere peasant.

Prince Baiyu landed at the West gate and was greeted by the guard captain who waved us in with no fuss. An ornate gold and black carriage was waiting for us, and it seemed that the driver already knew where to go, since the carriage had started off without the prince giving him instructions. Prince Baiyu’s attendants traveled behind us in an identical carriage.

As we traveled through the city streets, I saw that the main streets were paved with hewn stones and that they were wide enough to accommodate four carts side-by-side with two orderly lines going in each direction. It looked like commoners used the inner lanes while the outer lanes were reserved for nobles because all the vehicles in our lane looked very expensive.

The city smelled of horse manure and wood smoke, and the air was full of sounds: the rattling of the cart wheels, the neighing of the horses, the mooing of the oxen, and above it all, the sounds of people talking and shouting.

The place was bustling, especially the main streets, which were full of humans jostling around the sidewalks while going about their daily business. The buildings on the sides of the central thoroughfare were made of stone and packed close together. However, when I peered into the smaller side streets, I could see that most of the buildings were made of wood.

The architecture was mostly the same, and what I expected an ancient Chinese city to look like. There were the usual gabled roofs made of  glazed tiles with the corners curved outwards and upwards at the corners and pillars painted a bright vermilion.

The typical store architecture in Anwei reminded me of the colorful shophouses in Singapore. They were long and narrow terraced two-story buildings that opened out onto the street at the ground floor. The front part was the shop where business was conducted, while the rear house served as the shop owner’s dwelling. Though I couldn’t see very far inside of the shops, I guessed that they probably had a courtyard in the middle to separate the shop from the house, since courtyards were considered essential to daily life here.

One big difference between the streets here and in Singapore was that Anwei’s thoroughfares were not too clean. I saw a few street sweepers trying to tidy up the public spaces, but there was dirt and litter almost everywhere.

All of the people around me were dressed in colorful robes. Just as I had been told, fashion was extremely important to the city folk, so almost all the prosperous-looking people were dressed in robes that were similarly cut. It seems that this year, sleeves were extremely wide, almost two feet at the wrist, and extended past the fingertips.

Fengying had told me that the city was divided into two parts: the northern part, which was home to the human nobility, and the southern part, which was home to the poor and working-class humans. The clans had their own small district.

The northern part was full of grand homes and palaces where the wealthy lived and worked, while the southern part was where most of the ordinary business of the city was done.

The noises, the smells, and the sights combined made me feel uneasy. Deep in the forest where I lived, it was easy enough to live a simple and quiet life without worrying about my transmigration, but now everything looked different, and I was faced with the undeniable fact that I was in a completely different world from Earth.

I unhooked Mr. Bear from my belt and made him big enough for me to hug. “Mr. Bear, I think we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

Prince Baiyu must have noticed my unease. “What do you think of the city?”

“I’m just a little uncomfortable because I’m not used to being around so many people. I don’t know what to say because it’s the first big city in the Westerlands that I’ve seen,” I said. “Is the orphanage far from here?”

“It would be faster if I flew you there. Would you like to-”

“Absolutely not!” I cut him off immediately. There was no way I was going to go flying with him inside the city. I could just imagine everyone looking up at us and pointing at the two weirdos.

“I fly here all the time,” he said.

Did he? I didn’t see anyone else flying inside the city, but I guess the Prince was an exception to the rules.

“We’re not in a rush, so let’s take our time,” I said.

“Very well, but please stop putting your head outside of the window. If there’s any place that catches your fancy, we can stop to look at it,” he said.

“No, I’d rather finish my business and go back home early. Deming is making ‘Wind, Snow, and Cloud Soup’ for dinner,” I said.

The dish was made of demon chicken with tender bamboo shoots and snow fungus. I’d never had it before, and it sounded delicious.

It took around an hour before we arrived at a small nondescript building. Inside, we were quickly ushered behind a screen where we could look over a large hall where dozens of young people, from toddlers to teenagers, were waiting for us.

A middle-aged lady in severe black robes introduced herself to us as the matron.

“You can choose from any of these orphans,” she said.

The System helpfully offered me insight into all of the available orphans. When I focused on anyone of them, I saw a list of their three most important characteristics which included positive qualities like kind, generous, helpful, loyal, diligent, creative, outgoing, and so forth, as well as negative qualities such as arrogant, lazy, jealous, rude, dishonest, manipulative, bossy, etc.

Most of those qualities could be ignored, but there was one that I absolutely insisted on.