“Yes, if you take the road left out of the sect instead of going down the Royal Road, it’ll take you to the village of Yamajuku. They’re a relatively poorer town, so I’m sure the gifts and treats will be welcome. Then to get back to the Royal Road and see you back to Sunjin you’ll take this road here along the river” Hisai told me while we looked over my map. He used his finger to point along the route me and Betsy should take.

  “You’re actually doing this is at a relatively good time, they just practiced Kodomo No Hi, I think. Maybe a month ago or so? They celebrated the children then as well, so this will probably come as a welcome surprise. An extension of the children’s holiday,” Hisai told me with a smile.

  Before I left the sect, I negotiated with Hisai to get me some special cargo so I could deliver it. While me and the young elder were speaking I realized what holiday we were coming up on. I figured since the world brought me here, I’d bring some of the stuff from my home with it. I looked back behind my seat and on top of the hay and travel rations I had gotten I had flats and flats and flats of eggs.

  That wasn’t the only special stuff I got. What was Easter without jelly beans and chocolate rabbits? These, I admit, were a little harder to get. I had to speak with the sect’s chefs and bakers to get what I wanted and explaining what a jelly bean wasn’t easy. Still though, once they got it, they could pump out the sweets I was looking for in no time. If I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again; being a cultivator is awesome.

  I looked in the sky and saw that night was coming fast, the last rays of the sun barely visible over the mountains. I slapped the reins and yelled down to Betsy. “Come on girl, I wanna try to get all this stuff to the towns before morning. That way, they can wake up to the treats.”

  She gave an annoyed bellow at being slapped like that, but picked up the pace.

  The ride was bumpier than usual since we weren’t on the Empire’s proper highway, but thanks to all the hay in the back with the treats and eggs, I figured everything back there would be fine. I spent the time riding, trying to teach myself how to play the shamisen.

  “The egg, a symbol for life. Go inside your house and bust out your wife…” I sang once I found the chords to the song and strummed the strings.

  Betsy let out a long, low, annoyed bellow, and I snorted.

  “Oh, come on, you used to listen to this kind of stuff all the time,” I joked at her.

  She shook her head and gave more noises of distress.

  I sighed and shook my head as I put the instrument behind my bench. “Everyone’s a critic.”

  Betsy gave another low bellow and I could see her motioning her head directing me to look in the distance. There I saw Yamajuku and grinned to myself.

  “This is going to be great,” I told Betsy.

  “Hold! Who comes to this town just after nightfall!”

  There were two guards who ran from little shacks on either side of the road and carried spears. They didn’t have much in the way of armor, just a simple breast plate that hung loose on their chests.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “I’m a simple wagoneer spreading joy and Easter,” I told them with a grin.

  “What the fuck is a wa…” the one who didn’t speak began to ask.

  “What’s Ea…” the leader began to ask.

  I stopped them both by using a little trick Hisai taught me. I flexed my power. Through sheer willpower, my aura flared and pressured the men. While I did this, I held up a finger and wore a grin. “Calm, my friends. I mean you no harm. Let me explain.”

  Their eyes went wide, and they almost went to their knees shouting. “Master Cultivator!”

  “Stop that, come on, don’t do that,” I scolded them. Then before they could do anything else, I told them the story of why I was here and Easter. I didn’t tell them any of the Judeo-Christian stuff, more about just what Easter meant in the more modern commercial sense. I told them it was about new beginnings and spring and a fresh start. That sort of stuff, and then I also brought up their children’s holiday.

  They grinned and nodded their heads.

  “Sounds like the children will enjoy it!” the lead guard said.

  They spoke to each other in low mumbles for a few minutes and then the one who didn’t seem to be in charge nodded his head, a little dismayed. “Alright then,” he told his boss.

  The leader looked at me and grinned. “I’ll help you lay the eggs and candy around the houses that have children living in them. There’s also an old woman at the edge of town who takes in orphans.”

  “Oh…” I said and blinked. “Well, we’ll need to save the lion’s share for them.”

  “That’s what I was thinking,” he said with a nod.

  I told him to hop up and get on the bench with me and we’d get to work. Betsy pulled us through the town and he pointed out different houses that had children living in them. We’d stop and set up baskets for each child who lived there with an assortment of the candy. On their porches, and in their gardens and around their houses, we hid eggs and stuck lollipops into the ground.

  For the houses with new parents who still had babies, we didn’t hide as many and kept the eggs on the porch and I lamented I didn’t have any stuffed animals to give the children or the babies who probably shouldn’t be eating chocolate Easter bunnies.

  For the last house with the makeshift orphanage, we hid the most eggs and gave all the leftover treats. I had run out of the baskets, so I just arranged everything next to the door in a nice little formation. Finally, a note hung on the door with instructions to send a message to me if the woman ever needed any help with anything and I had planned on checking back when I could.

  “Great, thanks for helping. Make sure you let everyone know the Easter bunny dropped this all off, not a cultivator,” I told the guard.

  He grinned and nodded but gave a second look at Betsy who had stolen something from someone’s garden to eat. He cocked a brow and asked. “That doesn’t really look like a rabbit.”

  I laughed and shrugged. “Easter Ox then,” I said as I climbed up on my driver’s bench.

  He still seemed doubtful, but shrugged and nodded. “I will. Thank you, Master Cultivator.”

  I groaned at the name and title but shook it off. I wasn’t going to try to stop people from doing things they felt like they had to do. From my samurai movie experience, I knew these men valued honor and respect above all else. “Come on Betsy, let’s go up on that hill overlooking the town.”

  She plodded off towards the hill I pointed her at. Me and the man had worked all night and even though I watched the sunset, I was now watching the sunrise. We made it to the top of the hill and me and Betsy watched the rays of the sun work its way over the village and soon enough roosters were crowing.

  It didn’t take long for people to start opening their doors to get along on their daily chores and business and find the treats and eggs left out for the children to hide. I grinned as they got their notes and the guards told everyone what was going on. Soon enough, the village was full of kids looking for eggs and I couldn’t help but laugh and smile as I watched.

  The guards looked up to me on the hill and I waved as Betsy turned to leave and take us back to the road that would lead us back to Sunjin. I grabbed my shamisen once more before I found the cords and sang again.

  “Yeah that’s right, I’m the Egg Man. Driving around, kind of the town!”

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