Quest Maker: 430

Title: Missing Thy Wives

She hasn’t felt the need to get ready as such. Getting up early, preparing lavish meals, and daringly dolling her face just a bit. Her partner says he doesn’t mind it, but she likes the idea of some powder and products. After all, her partner looks almost divine, even if his student claims the title. Maybe she should thank the Sage God for this blessing, too. He treated her scars, gave her strong encouragement to focus on her life after that accident, and his Master to the boot! Well, maybe it’s the wrong way to put it. But it’s hard not to follow Ja Sun when even the Spirit Masters follow their Island’s spiritual leader with all the zeal they can muster.

Her gaze almost stills as she notices a strand of white in the dark forest of her hair. She reaches to pluck it out before stopping.

She IS getting old, isn’t she?

He wouldn’t mind, would he?

Her heart says he wouldn’t. Yet the teensy insecurity left after her accident claims her desire to test the notion. At least it would allow him to bail out from what little their relationship grew into—from customer and seller to partner.

*Knock Knock*

Steady knocks snap her out of her thoughts as she leaves the dressing table of her humble abode and bypasses the living room to open her cottage’s door, greeting a sleek, grey-haired man with skin as supple as a baby and jaws gifted by the gods. His smile lights her up. It’s warm and comforting as he hands her a jar filled with living centipedes.

“I hope you don’t mind. I brought something extra for the afternoon tea,” Daoliu smiles as she accepts the jar with a short grin.

Ever the snacker, that one. She holds the jar in her hands while stopping in her tracks.

“T-Thank you!”

“Don’t be,” he chuckles at her response. She wishes their Island’s God didn’t learn his Master’s speaking skills for the man adds without missing a beat. “These are the leftovers from yesterday’s stock. I thought we might enjoy it together.”

Her smile freezes for a second before she chuckles in a hollow-like manner.

“Oh?” Daoliu continues, noticing something on her head. “A white hair? Congratulations, Kuncho.”

‘What’s there to congratulate about?’ She almost rolls her eyes. She should be pleased Daoliu is so attentive, but he is somewhat eccentric, isn’t he?

“With enough time, we can have matching hair,” Daoliu chuckles, sliding his fingers through his neck-long sleek, greyish hair as Kuncho smiles back.

---

*Sizzle*

Kuncho stir fries their snack. It’s been a few hours since Daoliu came over, and they spent their time talking about different things. She asked about his experience as a Spirit Master, almost always wondering when his adventures would stop surprising her. And he asked about her experience on different islands she visited with her late husband to trade goods.

It was the profession that saw her husband encountering a band of ruthless pirates. They are dead now, her husband and the pirates. She escaped with scars, and the pirates could only get such a moment because their ship’s Spirit Master was handling other matters.

“You don’t have to be in the kitchen with me,” Kuncho smiles, working the wok as Daoliu tilts his head.

“It’s one of the things I wished I did more with my wife,” he admits. “I never got to spend too much time with her. If it wasn’t my responsibilities, it was my training or… other things.”

Kuncho nods quietly, the sound of sizzling oil filling their silence.

“That is why you agreed to humor me, right?” Kuncho swallows the lump in her throat, mustering similar courage that allowed her to jokingly flirt with the neighborhood’s ‘supplier’ despite knowing his student is the Island’s guiding light.

She can feel Daoliu’s stare until he speaks, “I thought it was fair.”

“Fair?” Kuncho glances at the man.

“It would be wrong of me to be with someone who expects me to forget about my wife,” Daoliu picks the sizzling centipede from the wok, unbothered by the heat, as he takes a bite. “I understand there are certain expectations in a relationship. So, I thought it was fair to be with someone who had someone before me in their life. You loved your husband, and I loved my wife. So, I want you to be as comfortable about sharing your past as I am with you. I think that’s it.”

Kuncho thins her lips, wondering how she should feel with this information.

“But I’m not a Spirit Master. One day, I will get old, and you will—”

A hand rests on hers, stopping her from moving the insects in the wok.

“I will grow old with you,” Daoliu looks deeply into her eyes. “You remember, right? I’m older than I look.”

Revealing her sense of humor that got Daoliu in her humble abode, Kuncho chuckles, “I do. You’re quite the rascal to seduce me with those exotic goods.” She glances at his thighs as he lets out a sheepish chuckle, unable to retort as well, with the odds stacked against him.

But the sheer comfort he feels from her, unlike the desperate confusion from before, allows Daoliu a smile. He slowly leans down while Kuncho stands on the balls of her toes with an expectant look.

Suddenly, her eyes widen, and she feels an ominous aura from behind. She shouldn’t be able to sense these things. Yet she does. Her body turns from Daoliu on instincts. Her lips gape in horror as the ‘colors’ of her world turn dim red and black.

The mangled face with one eye hanging from the left socket gazes back, his twisted jaw revealing a perverted grin.

“Romance, huh?”

He croaks.

“I remember.” He reaches out for Kuncho with dried arms and rotten flesh sticking to their bones. “I miss my wife.”

Kuncho stares as the arms stop inches away from her.

Well, she isn’t registering anything anymore. She slowly falls back with a blank look until a familiar presence catches her.

She passed out without her body being able to utter a single noise.

Her soul almost left her body.

---

“You were too cruel!”

“Pfft! Hahahahaha! That was the best!”

“Bi Ji is right.”

“Master, you should have looked your face! Hahahaha! Miss your wife now? Huh? Kahahahahaha!”

““Listen to us!””

Kuncho stares on with a different kind of disbelief, stunned beyond words as she shivers with joy and anger.

S-Sage God is laughing till tears spill out of his eyes on HER mat and cushion?! Not only that, one of his Priestesses, Holy Bi Ji, alongside a mysterious silver-haired and purple-eyed bombshell, berates him without a shred of honorifics. How dare they? Does their intelligence fail their meager minds? Do they not understand the blessed existence that their Sage God is?!

But what is going on?

“L-Lord,” Kuncho interrupts the two women, quickly bringing a cup of tea on a tray. The tray is one of her prized possessions, something she may have duped from another Island for a cheap price.

The two women stop while Daoliu flatly stares at Ja Sun.

The father of many stares at the lone steaming cup of tea for a long while, just enough for Kuncho to sweat in her robes as she wonders if the quality of the beverage isn’t upto the mark. She would hate to offend her lover’s student and their Lord.

“Just for me?” Ja Sun smiles awkwardly.

“Yes?” Kuncho tilts her head while the Sage God glances at his Master. “I only came here for the prank,” he asserts. “All the other stuff is for you to deal with.”

“Sigh,” Daoliu sighs, covering his forehead in a rare moment of speechlessness.

“Please, sit,” Bi Ji picks the conversation in a more understanding realm for Kuncho as Gu Yuena stares at others before disappearing mysteriously. “I will brew some tea for everyone,” Bi Ji declares. “I hope I’m not intruding, Sister Kuncho.”

“Ah, huh?” Kuncho stares with eyes wide open as Daoliu takes the woman’s hand and brings her down to the mat to the same level as the Sage God.

“W- What is going on?” The woman flusters as Ja Sun looks at her with similar comfort to Daoliu, unlike the pure horror from before that will surely haunt her nightmares for a few weeks. She must surely stay with Daoliu during those… nights.

“Allow me,” Ja Sun smiles, picking up the cup of tea brought to him. He sips, commenting, “Ah. That hits the spot after a good hour of planning. Ehm. Anyway, allow me to paint you a picture.” He glances at Daoliu. “There was once a man, diligent in his beliefs and so beautiful that men shivered with envy and admiration in his mere presence! He loved a woman, no less beautiful. Her eyes were like fresh droplets of molten sapphire, and her hands compassionate enough to reach a man’s heart with a single jab of… kindness.”

“You’re talking about Mistress Yin!” Kuncho nods hurriedly, stalling Ja Sun’s ‘honest’ account. But he persists. “Indeed. I am. But did you know that one man barred our romance?”

“The monster!” Kuncho gasps.

Bi Ji sighs as she brings the tea for everyone, smiling wryly as the deadpanned Daoliu. Ja Sun fully expects the tea to taste sweet since the table Bi Ji put the tray on is reversed!

“Right!” Ja Sun encourages Kuncho. “Yin and I were alone. We were staring at each other’s eyes. Many emotions were left unsaid, but we knew what we wanted. We were almost there when that ‘monster’ interrupted us, whispering in a baleful tone that deserved him a rebellious son—I miss my wife, he said.”

Ja Sun scoffs. “It stalled Yin’s and mine progress by a lot.” He asserts, conveniently leaving out the point that Yin wanted to reach a certain level of trust before admitting her lineage, and Ja Sun himself had yet to reveal his otherworldly past.

“Wait,” Kuncho whispers. The entire story almost sounds too familiar.

She looks at Daoliu before glancing at Ja Sun.

One looks slightly annoyed, and the other almost too proud.

She wasn’t a merchant for nothing. Kuncho pieces the clues together before staring at Daoliu, “Ehm. Did I call you a monster?”

“Oh, to some, he still is a monster,” Ja Sun snickers while Daoliu groans out loud. “You made your point. Now, don’t you have other work?”

Ja Sun smirks and stands up, smiling at Kuncho, “Oh, and about you growing too old and wrinkled, don’t worry. I can take care of that, too. Scars and wrinkles are easy stuff. Even keeping your organs young is simple.”

“Indeed,” Bi Ji nods while a blush threatens to overtake Kuncho’s face.

‘He heard that?’ she groans internally, seeing Ja Sun and Bi Ji out with a dazed look.

“Kuncho,” Daoliu begins once Ja Sun leaves, “Sun likes to have fun like that, but his heart is in the—”

“THAT WAS THE SAGE GOD DRINKING MY TEA!” Kuncho shouts while jumping in Daoliu’s arms. “THAT WAS AMAZING!”

‘Or that,’ Daoliu blinks. But it’s reasonable to assume he wasn’t thrilled by the idea that his lover is Ja Sun’s fan girl.

***

Alternate Title: Mortal Insecurities; Dem Jaws Be Blessed; Kuncho’s Lover; Kuncho Has A Whole Sugar Dilf For Herself; Kuncho Might Not Be Sleeping The Coming Nights, Ehm; Eccentric Rizz; Ah, Yes. Compassionate Yin; Ja Sun Using Killing Intent For Pranks; The Insect Paradise; Kuncho Cussing Ja Sun’s Martial Spirits; Kuncho When She Sees The Literal Silver Dragon King Berating Her Sage God: Square Up, Bitch!; Ja Sun Woke And Chose Pranks; Oh, How The Turn Tables; Ja Sun Gonna Keep Kuncho Young And Healthy For His Daddy Master; Daoliu Regrets His Past Pranks; A Fair Relationship; Xunji’s New Mommy

***

A/N: There you go, a short and sweet chapter for Daoliu and Kuncho. I’m pretty sure Kuncho also means insect. *Shrug*