We made our way quickly back through the city, able to dodge the foot traffic a little easier since Betsy didn’t have crates hanging from her. As we maneuvered our way back to the entry to the city, I began to worry that my wagon would not be there.
_______________________
“What do you mean, someone stole it? You said it’d be safe?” I yelled at the guard.
It wasn’t the guard captain I was talking to. Or well, not the same one as before. He glared at me. “This is the first time I’ve seen you. Why would you leave a wagon here at one of the busiest entry points to the capital of an enormous empire?” he yelled at me.
I stared at him blank faced and could mentally see myself trying to think. “He told me it wouldn’t fit?”
“That’s the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard,” the guard scoffed. “We have wagon routes!”
_______________________
I blinked and wondered if wagon routes were a thing? I turned back and looked into the city and didn’t think that such a thing was possible, but it’s not like I saw every street. I shook the intrusive thoughts away as we walked up, and my wagon was still sitting there. It wasn’t exactly in the same spot we left it in. Someone was kind enough to get it turned around for me, so all we had to do was hook Betsy up to her yoke and then we’d be good to roll.
While Betsy went to the wagon to situate herself, I spoke with the guards. The original guard captain was not there, and the replacement was quite a bit more pleasant.
“Yeah, he was probably right to not allow you in with that. We had trouble just getting it turned around for you. I’m told that the city planners want to make wider streets somehow for more wagons to reach the downtown area, but I have no idea how they’re supposed to accomplish it,” he explained.
I laughed and nodded my head. “Yeah, it would be a little tight in there,” I agreed with him. “Anyway, thank you for watching the wagon and my things while I did my delivery.”
He nodded and gave me a wave before I turned and left the man to go about his work. I went over and got Betsy into her yoke and soon enough, we were exiting the city. We went a long way until I realized we didn’t buy any of the supplies we were supposed to, and I sighed. Betsy looked back at me and rolled her eyes as if she knew what I was thinking.
“Well, why didn’t you say anything when we were in the city? You could have also tried to get us another job,” I accused her.
“Mrrrr,” she bellowed angrily at me.
I leaned back on my bench and shrugged. “It’ll be alright, I think we’re going to go see that hippie sect, anyway. See how much it would cost to make me a new wagon, a combo wagon like you’re used to pulling… kind of.”
She bellowed.
“Plus, I want to make it back to Sunjin and see Erana,” I smiled when I thought of heading back to the town I arrived in when I got to this world. “Then who knows what we’ll be able to find to do? I wonder if brokers are a thing?”
I kinda hoped not. Back home, the brokers were the pariahs of the industry. I’ve heard more than enough horror stories to make me thankful I had my little private fleet job and then got squared away on a private contract once I had my own truck. No. I shook all those sorts of thoughts from my head. I had my plan for what to do.
Betsy bellowed.
“How long do you think it’ll take to get to that hippie sect? What the hell was their name?” I mumbled as I reached down for my map. While I was unrolling it I just got the mental image of Betsy rolling her eyes at me again. I looked over the map, rolled out in my lap and traced my fingers along the lines.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“It’s not too far off the Royal Road from the looks of it,” I told Betsy as I looked up at the sun and frowned. “But I don’t think we’ll make it by nightfall. You up for driving us through the night?”
Betsy huffed.
“I have some more nuts. We can stop and you can eat the rest of them with some grass before you push us through.”
Another huff, but I saw the smile in my mind. I was going to have to figure out how to get more of those nuts. I took my outer robe back off and opened the cloth up to expose my chest once more and groaned, feeling the air hit the sweaty skin. I did eventually roll the upper part of the robe down around my waist. After running around in the city all day wearing all the clothes, it was nice to strip down a little.
It went exactly like me, and Betsy planned. We drove until about nightfall and the chaos of the city was long behind us. Pulled over long enough to feed Betsy the nuts and for her to graze on some of the hay in someone’s field. While she ate, I looked around to make sure the coast was clear. I was, of course, fully ready to pay a farmer if he had an issue with Betsy grazing, but we weren’t bothered.
“We’ll see what sort of treats we can get you tomorrow at the sect,” I promised her once she started rolling again.
I shook my head, kind of irritated with myself. I had to do better. How the hell did I keep forgetting to keep basic things stocked for us?
“Give me a shout if you need me, Betsy. I’m going to be in my bunk,” I call out to her and watch her give a nod in response.
I climbed over the bench into my little living area and stripped down and laid in the bed, eyeing the area where I wish I had some blinds or something. Though the benefit was thanks to the moonlight it was still bright enough to see. I grabbed the little messenger crystal and concentrated on it like I watched Soga do.
I was concentrating, but I wasn’t doing anything. The guy didn’t actually show me how to use it.
“God dammit,” I muttered.
Eyeing the crystal, I thought about the books I used to listen to. I had heard many cultivators cultivate their qi, grow their cores, and perform other amazing feats. I thought about how in the books they circled the qi in their bodies. Do I have qi? I mean, I must? What if this world doesn’t have a qi, though?
Well, whatever it was called that was in the core I had, I concentrated on it. I pushed away the anger that Soga didn’t really teach me anything. He seemed to be full of information, but he didn’t actually show me anything. I pushed it all out. I closed my eyes, then I concentrated on whatever it was inside my body and worked on circulating it through my body. My channels?
Eventually, I concentrated on pushing some of that magical ability into the crystal I held in my hands. When I started to do this, I made sure I kept my eyes open so I’d be sure to see the crystal light up with the energy so I could use it. I breathed as even as I could while I still pushed the energy around in my body. Eventually, finally, the crystal lit up, and I almost threw it in excitement.
“I DID IT! I DID A CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.
Betsy bellowed mightily, and I felt the cart swerve around the road followed by someone yell curses at us. My eyes opened wide, and I peeked my head out from behind my bench and saw the tail end of another cart swerve to miss Betsy’s drunken driving.
“Sorry!” I yelled to him and waved the hand that was holding onto the crystal. Before I realized what was happening a small ethereal little butterfly seemed to float from the crystal and flutter off until it dissolved into the aether.
“No, wait!” I yelled after the butterfly and then grunted.
I tossed the crystal into my bed and then looked over at Betsy. “Was that hay alcoholic? Did the nuts ferment in my sweaty pocket?”
Betsy just bellowed indignantly, and I smirked.
“Just don’t kill anyone,” I yelled to her with a small laugh before I went back into my bed.
I grabbed up the crystal once more and eyed it. Surely it’d be easier the second time, right? Surprisingly, it was a lot easier. It only took a little effort for me to get the crystal to light up once more. I thought of Erana and told her I’d be back in Sunjin in the next few days. I filled her in on everything I had done since I’d left and that the scenery was amazing.
I thought about adding how it’d be nice to bring her on a ride sometime, but I didn’t. It was too soon for that sort of thing. I ended the message with something safe; that I was looking forward to seeing her when I got back. Only a moment later, another small glowing butterfly fluttered from the crystal.
I could watch it a little closer this time. It seemed like it was made up of tiny little glowing sparkles. Its wings fluttered around, and it took a few extra minutes to fly around the crystal before it left the wagon. This butterfly flew out from the rear of the wagon, and I could watch it for a while before it dissolved. I could almost see how the sparkles separated from each other and then floated off into the universe.
With that done, I folded up the pillow under my head and laid back. I watched the canvas roof of my wagon for a while and let the clip clop of Betsy’s hooves on the road take me to sleep.
As of this posting there's a bunch of chapters and bonus stuff on the
Hiroshi, Tale of a Sumotori
You can also buy the entire pre-published version on Patreon and get the published copy once it's ready.
For those of you have been around, how do you like the new cover?
