The two walk side-by-side past the long line of people. Looking at Mai's face, Hisashi sees a saddened expression. At the front of the line, he sees a group of people scooping food into people's bowls.
Mai talks to some of them while Hisashi stands from a distance. Just then, he feels a poke from his back. Turning around, he sees a small frail kid.
"Kind mister, do you a spare food?" The kid said to him. With his height, he can see Hisashi from below. Even if covered by the shadow, the kid was able to form an appearance.
On the other hand, Hisashi looks down on the small kid closely. With his suppressed Ki, he can feel the kid's troubled and stressed emotions. He went to his knees, put his bag on the front, and took an apple.
"Here, for you. I don't have any bread, meat, or money with me, but I have a lot of these. If you want more, just let me know." He gives 3 apples to him but seeing that he can't hold them all, the kid grabbed it with his whole body.
"Are you poor too, kind mister?" The kid looks at him with happy but guilty eyes.
"No. It's just that-" Just as he was explaining, a man in ragged clothes ran past them, even bumping into Hisashi. He looks to his side and saw that the bag was now gone. He looks at the quick man and saw him looking back at him with a cheeky grin.
Feeling a movement with his ki, Hisashi raises his hands and grabs into nothing. But that nothing… was the speeding Mai. His strong grip almost made dislocated her shoulder but she reacted fast.
"What are you doing? You were just robbed! Why are you not chasing him?" Mai said in a loud voice causing everyone's attention to go to them.
"Let them be. It's just apples and alcohol. Besides, they were targeting me the moment we entered the town, and there are even more. This is also a good practice of patience. And the important stuff's on a different bag." Hisashi stood up and whisper. Mai notices the small bag inside his kimono. He turns back around to see the panicked kid.
"Tell me if you want more apples, okay? For now, eat those. Don't worry about what happened."
The two then left together and they went to the middle area of the town. There, a house looking more neat than usual stood out.
"That's the Town Officer's quarters," Mai explains. "Aside from the town officer, security personnel also use it as a gathering place for a meeting every now and then."
"Security personnel… That includes you right? Why are we going here?" Hisashi asks.
"I cannot leave my post. And I'm still suspicious of you. When I go back to the mountains, I'll ask the others to watch you for me."
"Is that really necessary? I thought I'm already clear?"
"You're not. And now you know. Come with me." Mai said as she walk in. Seeing the two enter the officer's house, Hisashi felt the other presence following him go away.
When they opened the door, they both hear a voice welcoming them.
"Oh, Mai! You're here. That's good. You need to see this." A middle-aged man with paperwork on the table called out to her.
"Sir Zhang! What is it?" Zhang didn't reply as he puts a letter on the table. He looks at Hisashi, then at Mai, but didn't say anything. Mai reads the contents of the letter intently as her face became confused.
"Sir, is this true?" Mai asks as she shows the letter to the town officer. It was sealed before so she knows that he doesn't know the contents. After reading it, the officer looks at her and shrugs.
"Probably? It's from your master." "Then what about Gozu?" She looks at Hisashi who also looks at her. Zhang looks at him too and Hisashi looks at him now. The three look at each other in awkward silence.
"Just take him. As for your duty, I'll get Xin Meng to come from the other town. I won't let that sleepyhead get paid for doing nothing." Zhang then shoos them away as he gets back to his work.
"What do you mean?" Mai asks.
"Eh. You can take him along with you. No one really cares. Just go to your Master." She didn't ask anymore and took Hisashi's arm to leave the quarters.
Outside, the two stand, and Mai paces back and forth. Hisashi just watch as she seemed to be in trouble.
"What's the matter?" Mai didn't answer right away.
"There's an emergency up north, several towns from the capital. Master said that there's an unusually strong beast and she needs me back right away."
"Is he going to send you there? I don't think that you're ready for that." Hisashi said bluntly. This time though, Mai wasn't angry at him and didn't even pay him a look.
"No. He made it sound like that but I know that he just doesn't want me here. If he told me that I'm dismissed, he knows that I won't accept it. But he phrased it in a way that compels me to go back."
"You think he's lying? Then why not go back? The officer told you that someone would be taking your place, right?" Hisashi asks. However, Mai just looks at him and gave him a troubled look.
"Because… if what's in the letter is true, and he wants me away from here… then that means that this part will be attacked by strong beasts too!" At that exact moment, a guy with a classical Han sword came running. It was thin, double-edged, and about a meter long. It was also a straight sword unlike the Hino Country's famous katana and was called Jian.
"Miss Mai! Someone detected a beast horde northwest of the town! They're 45 minutes away!" The guy said as Mai run inside in panic. Hisashi simply stood and looks at the guy without talking. A minute later, Mai, Zhang, and two other guys came out of the quarters with weapons in them.
"Ming! Call Xin Meng immediately! Destroy his sleeping quarters if you have to just to wake him up." Zhang orders and the guy with a sword called Ming quickly ran.
"Lao! Shen!" ""Sir!"" The two guys behind him answered.
"Go scout the area! I need as much information as possible!" The two look at each other and the man named Lao takes out his scroll and puts his hand out.
[Bird Sorcery: Xinshi Niao] (Messenger Bird)
A big white falcon was summoned which surprises him. However, it diminishes as he notices that it's not real and is made of mana. Lao and Shen jumps at its back and they took off fast.
Zhang looks at Mai before giving her assignments.
"Mai, ring the bells and tell all available forces the situation. Get the civilians ready to evacuate in case Lao and Shen came back with bad news." With this, Zhang held his spear tight, completely forgetting about the last presence which was Hisashi.
'He acts indifferent to Mai earlier but he's… pretty competent as a leader. Maybe that's just how they interact.' Hisashi thought as he pokes Zhang's back.
"What is it?"
"Where do I go now? Do I wait? Or should I offer my help?" Hisashi asks Zhang. The latter looks at him from head to toe before asking.
"What do you do? You can at least defend yourself, right? Assuming from your swords." The middle-aged man said as he saw the swords.
"Many things," Hisashi answered. Zhang squints his eyes before shooing him away.
"Then just follow Mai. If you don't want to help, just wait in the quarters… or she'll hunt you down."