Chapter 195

  Over the Summit (I)

  The weather luckily improved within a couple of hours, during which the young man never woke up.

  As the blizzard settled down and the thick fog began to recede, we started our climb back up to the castle, the moods lifted. The kids chattered on about one thing or another while I kept glancing over at Long Tao and wondering precisely what new fresh hell he would take us to once we crossed the mountain.

  ... speaking of crossing the mountain.

  There's no one dedicated path. Honestly, I thought there'd be a tunnel or at least a navigable road, but nope. No such thing. There are natural ways to cross, of course, but they involve climbing further up, about 650 yards to be precise, against the dreadful weather, insanely low temperatures, and God knows what else.

  It is the path we'll have to choose, but goddamn, I ain't looking forward to it in the slightest.

  It was midday by the time we returned to the castle, and, boy, was it ever abuzz. As soon as the Blood Fiend collapsed, so did his Thrall--and, we were quickly ushered (well, Lilia and Zhu were quickly ushered; we just followed along) to the barracks, where we didn't find a recently 'deceased' corpse... but just a sludge of rot in a vaguely humanoid shape.

  And it stank so badly that I retched and nearly belched my guts out; Xi Zhao, Dai Xiu, and even Wan Lan were unable to hold back, and they quickly rushed out and behind the barracks, where they did vomit their guts out.

  Light merely frowned, strangely enough, while Long Tao looked as though he expected precisely this. Probably because he did.

  "Hallowed Heavens," Zhu mumbled, deeply frowning too as he stepped over to the sludge. "No soul deserves this accursed existence."

  "We'll bury him behind the pines," Lilia said. "And pray."

  "Hm."

  We didn't stick around, as, well, this looked rather personal to everyone involved. Despite merely being a husk, the Captain was quite respected by all those who lived here.

  We returned to our little abode, which was when I finally handed over the gauntlets to Dai Xiu.

  "... for, for me?" Her lips trembled as she stretched out her arms and took them, her eyes turning watery as she looked up, her chin folded downwards.

  "Of course. Who else?" I said, smiling faintly.

  The punch was rather abrupt. Well, it wasn't a punch--it was the force of a young girl slamming directly into my stomach as she hugged me with the force of a damned bear.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  I held back a yelp as the shock straddled through me--this was the first time she hugged me. I mean, she wanted to many times before, I could see it, but always managed to hold back. The gauntlets, I guess, were the fuel she lacked before.

  To be honest, my heart was melting a bit; I reached out and hugged her back as she squeezed even harder. I don't know much about any of these kids, but I fear most have been starved for comforts like these, one way or another.

  "--I-I'm sorry!" She pulled back as abruptly as she lunged at me, her cheeks almost as red as her bloodshot eyes. "That, please forgive me, Master! I will never do it again!"

  "And deprive me of the fantastic way to check how sturdy my ribs are? I don't think so." I said with a faint smile as her worried expression melted into one, too.

  "Master has the sturdiest ribs ever!" she grinned. "Even if I hugged twice as hard, nothing would have happened!"

  ... yeah, no, I'm pretty sure my chest would explode.

  "You like the gauntlets?" I asked.

  "I love them! I will treasure them until the day I die!" I knew it was pointless to mention anything here, so I moved on.

  "Put them on, then, and let's see how they fit."

  "Yes!"

  The gauntlets themselves looked like... well, a pair of gauntlets. They seemed to be made from some strange metal--it was both extremely sturdy yet strangely soft at the same time, seemingly malleable to external forces yet also impervious. That was sort of the essence of it, too--it 'folded' itself in such a way that it increased the striking force of every punch, further forging the aftereffects of the Law of Annihilation, but because of that make, it couldn't really 'defend', as it were.

  So, she'd have to fight less like a boxer and more like... I don't know, a martial artist of some sort, I guess? Where she'd bob and weave more so than block and retaliate. I don't actually know how well that style would fit her, but I needed to give her something, and unlike Xi Zhao's art that I was still holding onto, it wouldn't alter the very nature of how she fought by force.

  If she didn't like it, or if the style didn't fit her, I'd simply find her something new. Or, well, I'd pray the system found something new.

  "Xi Zhao, let's fight!!" She challenged him immediately as soon as she donned them; they were coated in a faint sheen of red, barely visible, smoky tendrils seeming to granularly shift across their edges.

  Though he didn't seem particularly enthused, he got up, and the two left to the back of the building. I'd already forbidden them from using Qi to fight, so they mostly just executed techniques--not much changed, to be honest. Even with the sword, and without her gauntlets, Xi Zhao never managed to win a spar--whether they used Qi or not (especially if they used Qi).

  Dai Xiu was just a touch faster than him, and donning gauntlets did little to alter any of that, especially since they were just sparring casually. She didn't use her Qi, and he didn't even take the sword out of its scabbard.

  They stopped after a few minutes, with Dai Xiu appearing quite refreshed while Xi Zhao was pouting. One thing he 'had over her' was that I'd given him a weapon as a gift, and now that I've given her one, too... well, they'll figure it out.

  When I was young, I was fiercely competitive too--any sport I'd try, I found it extremely bitter to suffer a loss. I cooled off, so hopefully, one day, they will too.

  ... hopefully.

  As we all went back inside and were preparing to eat lunch, I heard a knock on the doors, and after inviting them in, saw Lilia, Zhu, and that young man walk through.

  Now that he wasn't comatose and pale as a sheet of paper, he looked rather handsome. No, seriously, it's like he walked out of a catalogue back on Earth.

  "Ah, we were just about to have lunch; how about you join us and we have a chat?" The more the merrier, as Old Jova used to say. Except, every time Yas and I went over and she had like 17 relatives, it turned into raw chaos. Entropy at its most basic.