328 Not A Man We Should Fear

After a wonderful flying experience, which lasted a while, Huskar finally plopped back down onto the ground. The manor did not quiet down after that; this was because the other Divine Warriors, Zar'Zar and Char'Char, took their turns flying with Baiyi's enchanted cape, so the inhabitants of the manor were treated to more shrieks of excitement and joy.

On hearing the commotion, the head of the manor staff walked over to give Baiyi and his posse a lecture. However, when his eyes spotted the huge barbarians, who were the size of small hills, and their bear-sized mountain guts, his planned lecture slipped right back down his throat and into his intestines. Instead, he smiled professionally and asked, "What would you kind sirs like to have for dinner? We would like to prepare them early."

Just like that, the barbarians had so much fun. They even asked Baiyi to gift them the enchanted goatskin, which he had enchanted with a levitation spell, and teach them how to control it so that everyone in Harrogath would have fun with it.

"Hmm. It would not be an easy task to get you three to control it. I'll need more time to tweak it," Baiyi replied solemnly. It was quite a challenging feat to get three people who were completely ignorant of how magic worked to control a spell.

"Then it's all on you, Brother Hope! Flying is sooooooo aweeeesomeeee! I! Can't! Wait! For all of my brothers in Harrogath to Have! As! Much! Fun!" the Huskar exclaimed as he forcefully extended an arm to clap Baiyi's shoulder.

Fortunately for the soul armature, he had quick reflexes and used then to dodge the muscular arm. However, the marble stone bench he had just vacated unfortunately received the arm, and it broke into two.

"I'm going to pay for that!" Baiyi helplessly said loudly to an alarmed maid, who had hurried over the instant she heard the crash. He then turned to Huskar and said, "Your request may take some time, but there are a few things I must do first."

"What things? No; I should say, are these things we can't help you do?" Huskar replied. "You helped us touch the sky, so we should help you solve problems. We are brothers, and this is a fair barter."

Finally! They were back on track. Baiyi did not even mince his words when he took his friend's offer. "I'm looking for something — the very thing that emitted that frequency. It's also the reason why you were sent here. This object, you see, means a lot to me."

"I see." Huskar nodded, then he quickly added. "But! That's not why we're here. The Ancestors just wanted us to make sure that the object does not endanger us. If you, Brother Hope, could take that object, I'm sure it will never come to harm us. This may just be what the Ancestors were hinting at."

Baiyi was surprised that these barbarians were able to interpret their ethereal superiors' vague instructions, and he could not help but admit that he agreed with their deduction. Since the barbarian ancestors trusted Baiyi, it only made sense that these barbarians would trust him too. 

The feeling of earnest goodwill was mutual.

"If we can bring your invention back home to Harrogath, our excursion would be regarded as most rewarding! Of course, if you think that our offer is not up to par, I can gift you a few javelins. Made 'em with the finest dragon teeth, I tell ya!" Zar'Zar chimed in.

"Er, th-th-that won't be necessary. I don't require anything from you... really," Baiyi replied curtly. He had no idea what he would be able to do with the dragon tooth javelins. They were more useful in the barbarians' hands.

"Now... should we go about helping you find that thing you are looking for?" Char'Char asked.

"I don't think it would be that easy..." Baiyi replied, with a bitter smile.

"We've got Cuckoo and the goats, don't we?" Huskar reminded. "We're terrible at finding stuff, but these our furry friends are experts! Even when the winter snow completely buried the mountain slopes, Cuckoo could still find some delicious yams underneath thick layers of snow! Have faith in them — for they are the guides who led us back to the right part when we went astray on our journey to this place!"

'What yam even grows under the snow? Are you certain that's yam and not some type of dangerous magical berry? Are you even that it was something fit for human consumption?' Baiyi exclaimed in his heart. 'Besides, is an analogy about finding yam comparable to finding the Book of Servitude?'

"What we mean is, we will find your thing; you just concentrate on making that wonderful flying tool!" Huskar grinned and tried to clap Baiyi's shoulders again.

The soul armature dodged again, and another bench was split in half.

"I-I-I'm going to p-p-pay for that too..." Baiyi stuttered as he rubbed his temple.

With their arrangement settled, Baiyi and the barbarians split up. Zar'Zar whispered something to his hawk-eagle, Cuckoo, and it spread its wings and soared into the sky. It began to lead the there Divine Warriors and the mountain goats away from the manor. 

"Uh, let them just have some fun. However, I sure hope that they remember what I said," Baiyi mumbled. Before they left, Baiyi had taken some time to remind them to obey their ancestors' commandments; if they did not, he feared that they may accidentally end up going on a rampage somewhere else.

When the barbarians left, Baiyi headed back to Capital City. He mentally made a list of stuff he would need in order to construct an advanced level formation. At the top of his list was a professional magus lab. He easily obtained access to one by walking to the city's branch of the Sorcerers' Association and flashing his Immortal-level badge. He then went to buy some other materials that he needed and took them back to the lab, where he locked himself up.

However, everything Baiyi had done up till that point had been written down into two separate reports and sent to two people.

One of them was the Emperor.

It was only natural that a renowned powerhouse like Baiyi was the target of surveillance. Baiyi knew this, so he pretended not to notice the royal spies tailing him.

The Emperor read the document in his hands. On the desk beside him was the application letter that Baiyi submitted; it had been signed and stamped with the royal seal. It was still there because they had not gotten the chance to send it back to Baiyi.

"So… you frolicked around in my city, prevent a massacre at the northern gate, took three barbarians into my manor, ate a ton of food, destroyed my garden and a few of my benches, and now... you're locking yourself up in a magus lab?" The Emperor muttered with much interest. However, nothing in the report could provide any insight into the reason behind Baiyi's actions. 

'Could everything he has done till now be related to the secret treasure...?'

"What do you think? Why is he here?" The Emperor asked three members of his staffs, who were standing attentively close by. "He's not really here only for his procedures, right?"

"Quite inconceivable," a staff member replied, with a grin. "If he was truly here just to run his errands while spectating the treasure hunt action from afar, I'll be celebrating. Indeed, I would thank him by sponsoring his academy a million gold coins."

"Oh. I take that you like him a lot," the second staff teased.

"If one managed to obliterate the Lord of the Abyss, save hundred millions of people from Gouve, and finished off a Holy-level warrior from the North, would there be any reason not to like them?"

"To doubt the strength of this man is foolish because his immense might is something that has been carved into stone, plain for all to see. Fortunately, we preemptively laid down a few rules for the treasure hunt that tipped the balance a little more in our favor," said the third staff. "It takes more than might to be successful in one's search for the treasure. Unless, of course, he wants to play like a knave."

"That's not very likely. He wants to establish a school of his own, yes? Then, he has burdened himself by the chain that is 'reputation'; his behavior and strategies would all be limited by the constraint of public consensus. Acting hostile to an entire nation? He would not dare take such a path," the Emperor said. "I am, however, interested in those barbarians. Do they have any key feature I should be aware of?"

"According to the centurion on duty, their strength is immeasurable, and their defense against physical attacks is insurmountable; however, they did not emit a whiff of mana. In other words, they are all strength and zero magic," the first staff member respectfully replied. "According to reports, these barbarians are from the tribe of Alpine barbarians living in the Eol Mountains. They are different from the savages in the steppe, especially when it comes to combat prowess."

"Please. Barbarians will always be barbarians. How powerful will those who can only boast of brawn be? It's only out of respect for Hope that his Majesty let their intrusion slide. Besides, a group of savages who have no affinity for magic will not be able to locate this treasure."

"Therefore, Hope has almost no advantages under the rules we made. He's a loner who is being accompanied by a few barbarians, who, at their very worst, would only cut back my supply of goats and pigs for a few months. Nothing to be afraid of. In fact, I believe Hope knows about this too; this could the reason why he has not made any substantial moves," the Emperor concluded with confidence. "With that, I think we should designate more of defensive efforts on the Church and those sinister Northerners."

He crumpled up Baiyi's surveillance report and tossed it into a trashcan. Then, he lifted the approval document from his desk and handed it to one of the staff members. "Find a footman and give this to him. Now, where were we? Ah yes. The Church. They are surely our strongest competitors this time around..."

Meanwhile, in another manor also located on the outskirts of the Capital City, the envoys from the Northern Land gathered around a square table filled with sheets of paper. These papers contained reports that intricately detailed the actions and locations of targets worthy of the Northerners' focus.

One northerner was reading a surveillance report on Baiyi. This man looked to be around thirty years old; at that moment, his expression was maudlin, and his eyes seemed pensive. After reading the report thoroughly, he rapped his knuckles on the table to get the attention of his comrades.

They all looked over to him immediately, and he proceeded to speak, saying, "'Tis the man who reaped the life of the outcast from the Azure Sect."

"Och? Looks rilly powerful. Hud he stairted daein' anythin' yit?" Another northerner asked; he was wearing a sleeveless sweatshirt that bared his firm arms.

"Aye, he's an interesting one. His behavior does not comply with the action of one who seeks the same goal that we do," the first northerner, who still wore a maudlin expression, replied. He proceeded to recount Baiyi's activities to his comrades. 

"Tsk. Interesting character. I assume he is a scholar wha harbors na desire fur worldly possessions? But that is nae whit we hud heard from th' fellas from the Godsfall cult, is it? Thay painted him as a messenger o' a god. How come a god's messenger built a school, instead o' a religion?" This time, a man of a short but powerful stature asked pointedly.

"Hmph. The southern folks entertain themselves with flairs of the enigmatic, you see. They always indulge in secretive activities. However, I rather reiterate that we be on our guard against those charlatans from Godsfall. They may be our information broker and our partner, but they are not above reproach. We will be inviting calamity if we believe every single word they say," said a voice. This voice belonged to a man who was dressed in a standard robe common in the North. He looked like he was the scholar among them.