Fates Parallel Chapter 307 - Etiquette

With the immediate threat of the fiends dealt with, the Austere Mountain cultivators quickly rallied to reassert their authority.

“By the authority of the Great Austere Mountain Sect, identify yourselves and surrender!”

Jia grimaced.

“We just saved your lives! You’re not even going to thank us before trying to take us prisoner?”

The gray-haired leader of the cultivators sighed.

“Your assistance is appreciated, but it doesn’t change the fact that you are a suspicious group of foreign beastkin and barbarians moving through the empire under illusion. I can’t let you go unchallenged.”

Seong Misun crossed her arms and scowled at the man.

“I am Seong Misun, third princess of Goryeo and diplomatic envoy to the Great Spiritual Flowing Purewater Sect. My entourage is traveling under illusion specifically to avoid being questioned every other step by groups such as yours—invitations to Qin are always so tiresome.”

The man balked briefly before hardening his expression again.

“Do you have any proof of your claims? And how do you explain the barbarian women or the imperial citizens among you?”

Misun scoffed.

“Proof?! As if anyone could impersonate me—or would dare. As you imperials so delight in pointing out, my divine heritage speaks for itself.”

She waved her six fox tails in demonstration before continuing.

“The locals are simple guides of no consequence. As for Master Ienaga—she represents our Yamato allies in her capacity as the de facto head of the Ienaga clan and general of their armies. She is also, along with myself, the protector of this convoy and the only reason any of you still draw breath—an issue that can easily enough be rectified if you insist on forcing the issue.”

The Austere Mountain cultivator held her gaze firmly.

“Your threats don’t sway me, witch. We may be unable to hold against your power, but as respected elites of the great sects, the death of one Demon Hunter is already bound to have drawn attention—killing the rest of us will surely bring every elder in the province down on your heads. A sacrifice we will make if necessary.”

Jia’s eyes widened with surprise. She’d all but forgotten about Demon Hunters—an elite group of cultivators who were best known for harassing the trade routes between Yamato and Goryeo.

“I thought Demon Hunters operated on the frontier. What are you doing so far inland?”

He scoffed.

“Hunting demons, of course. And who are you? I note that despite your commanding attitude you didn’t contribute much to the battle.”

Jia ignored the rebuke and gave the man a well-practiced bow in the Qin style, with her hands tucked into her sleeves in front of her.

“Ambassador Lee Jia of the Goryeo-Yamato Alliance, unaffiliated with any sect but a core disciple of Imperial Elder Qin Zhao before his disappearance. May I offer proof of our invitation?”

The man raised an eyebrow. Jia was taking a risk revealing her real name, considering that she was a wanted criminal in Qin, but they’d already been revealed. She was counting on the fractional nature of inter-sect politics to smooth over her feud with the Awakening Dragon Sect.

“You expect me to believe that one of the emperor’s own divine progeny took a beastkin as a personal disciple?”

Jia held her bow without looking up, praying that Yan Yue’s lessons would be enough to carry her through this.

“Yes.”

The Austere Mountain cultivator stared at her for a long moment, but Jia refused to budge. Finally, he held out a hand, palm up.

“Very well, let’s see this proof of yours.”

Jia wordlessly reaching into her sleeve to hide the use of her dimensional ring, producing Yan Yue’s letter, still preserved with its original seal. He took it and inspected the seal carefully before returning it with a frown.

“This letter is sealed by the Great Awakening Dragon’s crest. The princess claimed to have been invited by the Spiritual Flowing Purewater.”

Though she was getting tired of keeping her head lowered and her arms out, Jia continued to hold the position as she answered.

“Are you familiar with Lady Yan Yue?”

A look of recognition crossed the man’s face.

“I see. Alright, I recognize your claims.”

Finally, after a quick duck of acknowledgement, Jia raised her head.

“Thank you, Sir...?”

This time he was the one who bowed.

“Zhou Ye, inner disciple of the Great Austere Mountain Sect and vice-commander of the Three Hundredth Demon Hunting Corps—currently acting commander.”

He stood straight again and frowned down at Jia in consternation.

“I must confess, it’s somewhat disquieting to meet a beastkin with such refined manners.”

“Holy shit, did he just say that?! Did he just call you refined?!”

Jia ignored Eui’s mental interjections and smiled at Zhou Ye.

“I had an excellent master, Sir Zhou Ye. Though, might I request you refrain from using the term ‘beastkin’? I used it myself earlier out of expediency, but in my homeland it’s considered rather disparaging. We prefer to be called half-spirits, if any distinction is necessary.”

“I’ll take that under advisement. In the meantime, though your claims are valid, I’m afraid we can’t allow you to continue traveling unaccompanied. My company will escort you to the nearest sect to fully validate your claims and arrange for a proper escort to your destination.”

Seong Misun heaved an exasperated sigh.

“Finally! We’ve wasted enough time on this already—let’s get moving.”

After a quick double check to ensure that nobody was injured, they regrouped to resume their journey—now joined by an unwanted escort.

Before they left, the Austere Mountain cultivators dealt with the corpse of their former leader, while some of the younger members of the group gawked at the enormous scar Ienaga’s technique had left on the side of the mountain—a new landmark that would last for generations, and a reminder of how dangerous xiantian fighters were.

While they did, Seong Misun sidled up to Jia and wove a subtle privacy spell—far more intricate than any that Jia knew—and spoke softly so that only the two of them could hear.

“What the hell was that? How did you get them to agree?”

Jia chuckled.

“I wasn’t sure if it would work. I didn’t pay much attention when Yue tried to teach me Qin etiquette, and there were all kinds of ways it could go wrong—still can, really.”

“I got the Qin sub-conversation thing, but some of that looked very rote.”

“A bit, yeah. When he challenged my connection to Qin Zhao, it was a test. Trying to over explain would have made me look weak—I had to be confident in my assertion. The letter could have gone poorly—it’s bad form to actually read the contents, but if he had it would be easy to contest my interpretation of it. Mostly it was just about proving that I belong here—that I’m not as much of an outsider as I appear to be.”

Misun frowned thoughtfully.

“You’re more crafty than you look. I can see why my sister values you.”

“You know, some people are just friends because they like each other. Not every relationship has to be transactional.”

“For a princess they do.”

Jia grimaced.

“You’d get along well with Hayakawa Kaede. You could sit down with her over tea and not bond over your mutual non-friendship.”

“Tsk, smartass! Don’t forget who you’re talking to, Ambassador. Know your place.”

Though her words were harsh, Jia was certain she heard the hint of a smile in Misun’s voice. She shifted back into a businesslike demeanor quickly, though.

“You said that there are still things that can go wrong? What should we be worried about?”

“Oh, so many things. Ultimately, these guys are just foot soldiers. Highly respected foot soldiers, sure—but they don’t have any real authority. Just because they recognize our claim doesn’t mean that the sect they escort us to will.”

“Hmm. What do you suppose the chances are that the sect actually validates our claim and makes good on their promise to take us to our destination?”

Jia scratched her cheek.

“I’m surprised you’re asking me. Wouldn’t it make more sense to consult Master Ienaga?”

Misun wrinkled her nose.

“You’re not my first choice of advisor, but Lady Ienaga is a general, not a politician, and you’re clearly as close to an expert as we have. Now answer the question.”

“Honestly? This is pretty bad. They said they were taking us to the closest sect, but we haven’t changed direction—that means we’re headed into Baishulin. I won’t pretend to know the politics involved, but our current escort is enemies with the sect they are taking us to, who are also enemies with our destination. All three of them are fighting over the province we’re now entering.”

“Lovely. Even in Goryeo that would be an unpredictable morass of politics, but in Qin? I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I wish The Snake were here.”

Jia raised an eyebrow incredulously.

“Do Hye?! I thought the royal family hated him.”

She scoffed.

“That’s hardly anything special—everyone hated him. He was a never-ending headache for us while he was prime minister, but that’s a relatively short chapter in his history. Still, traitorous bastard or no—he was a force of nature in politics.”

“So I’ve heard. Unfortunately, it gets worse.”

“Of course it does.”

Jia sighed—she didn’t envy Misun’s position.

“Do you remember Bai Lin, from the tournament?”

Misun grimaced.

“The one who kept torturing his opponents and mutilating half-spirits. Oh yes, I remember—I tried to have him disqualified.”

“Her, actually. And she’s the heir to the family that controls the sect we’re probably headed towards.”

The princess stopped in her tracks and whirled on Jia.

“Are you serious?”

“I’m afraid so.”

Misun chewed on her lip, ears flicking in irritation.

“Unbelievable. The worst possible people at the worst possible moment and no recourse other than to either play along, or kill them and almost certainly ignite a war that we will be the first casualties of. How do you do it? Some kind of curse?”

“I’ve wondered that myself, sometimes.”

The princess barked out a single sharp laugh.

“Hah! Alright then, what course do you recommend, Ambassador? We have no good options.”

Jia furrowed her brows in thought.

“We’re very close to our destination, but we’re surrounded by enemies. Technically, we have a legitimate right to be here, but our enemies have a lot of leeway to interpret our claim uncharitably and every incentive to do so. I can’t imagine that any clan that produced Bai Lin is going to be particularly honorable, so we also have possible corruption to worry about...”

Misun gave her a bemused smile.

“Yes, that seems to be a fair summary of how terrible our position is. Let’s not forget that we could also kill our current escort and scurry away into the shadows again—possibly literally.”

“No, I don’t think either of us have enough power to do that, and I don’t want to deal with those shades again.”

“Hm, about that—I made a few observations about them, but now’s not the time to share them. Remind me later.”

Jia blinked—that was an uncharacteristically generous offer coming from Misun.

“Uh, sure. Anyway, even if I was okay with killing the Austere Mountain’s demon hunters, I don’t think that’s a real option. We could get away, but they’d absolutely be able to implicate Master Ienaga after she left that gash in the mountain.”

Misun huffed.

“Don’t put all the blame on her. A giant cut in the side of a mountain is a curiosity, but the crater your girlfriend left in the road is going to disrupt trade until someone fills it in.”

“Fair enough, but I think Master Ienaga and Eui’s flashy impact works to our advantage, actually.”

“Oh?”

Jia nodded, the beginnings of a solution starting to come together in her head.

“We’re still thinking in discreet terms, but the time for discretion has passed. We’re out in the open now, so we have to embrace that. Like you suggested back in Okou—a show of force. Get ahead of our enemies’ attempts to undermine us by declaring ourselves in such a dramatically public fashion that they have no choice but to acknowledge us or lose face themselves!”

Seong Misun pursed her lips, but failed to hide the smile that slowly crept across her face.

“Ancestors damn you, Lee Jia. I think I might actually be starting to like you.”