Fates Parallel Chapter 62 - Progress

Eui wasn’t particularly surprised at the news that Sun Jaehwa might be going after Lee Jia’s reputation.

“It’s exactly what I thought—she’s trying to ruin your reputation and blame it on me. Then she can step in, clear your name with the ‘truth’ that it was actually all me, and you’re perfectly innocent. She hurts me, and you go running into her open arms—two birds with one stone.”

Jia scratched her cheek awkwardly.

“You don’t seem particularly fazed by that. Somehow I thought you’d be a lot more upset.”

Eui shrugged and sighed.

“So did I, but honestly, I’ve been expecting this for a while—it’s almost a relief to know I’m not just being paranoid. Besides, you shouldn’t be surprised either, since I came up with that theory while we were Yoshika.”

Now that Jia thought about it, that did sound familiar.

“Oh, right. Well what are we supposed to do about it? Back home, if I got a reputation of any kind, I would leave town as soon as possible.”

“I don’t think there’s much we can do at the moment. Accusing her openly will just make things worse, and acknowledging the rumors—even to deny them—makes us look bad.”

Jia groaned in frustration and sprawled out on the couch, putting her legs in Eui’s lap and trying not to mind the distracted glances that caused.

“Ugh! So skipping town’s not the answer, then?”

Eui chuckled and shook her head.

“No, sorry. You really did that? Just packed everything up and moved at a moment's notice? How many different cities did you live in?”

“That depends entirely on your definition of ‘in’. I mostly just lived on the outskirts, and I didn’t have an ‘everything’ to pack. Not counting my hometown, or the academy, I think I’ve lived in 4 different places. What about you? It can’t have been easy living in the wilderness for—what, a year?”

Eui’s face darkened, but she nodded with a stiff expression.

“A year, yeah. I should have died, to be honest. I got lucky with the first—um, with the first—”

“It’s fine, Eui. You were a bandit, I was a thief. I’m not better than you just because I didn’t kill anyone directly.”

Eui gave Jia a complicated look before chuckling mirthlessly.

“Hehe, you’ve got a weird outlook, Jia. The first person I robbed actually let me share his fire. I was cold, starving, and desperate, and he was willing to look past the brand on my forehead. He was—he was a good man, and trusting me was his last mistake.”

Jia paused. She hadn’t been expecting the heavy story, but this seemed to be something that Eui needed to get off her chest, so Jia gave her full attention.

“What happened?”

Eui hesitated, and then sighed sadly.

“I killed him, obviously. I didn’t mean to—no, that’s not right. I didn’t plan to. He had a hunting knife that I took off of him while he slept. I knew that even if he let me travel with him for a while, I’d be on my own as soon as he got to a shielded city, but he had a little wagon with travelling supplies and a single horse.

“I was stupid—tried to take off with the entire thing, but the horse wouldn’t cooperate. Of course I got caught. He didn’t even seem angry or surprised just—disappointed. When he came towards me I panicked and—I don’t know which of us was more surprised when I stabbed him. Those supplies lasted me nearly a month on their own, and then the horse another week before the meat went rancid.”

Jia was intrigued—Eui didn’t talk about her past much. Of course, Jia already knew about a lot of it—even remembered some of it herself—but it was different, hearing it directly.

“Then what did you do?”

Eui smiled sadly.

“Well, I’d found the winning formula, hadn’t I? In that month I went from a lost child to a full-blown brigand. I wasn’t stupid enough to stay in one place the entire time. Sometimes I’d follow a road to a city and wait outside the shield formation for an unprepared traveler, then I’d stalk them into the wilderness and get them in the night. There was always someone desperate enough to travel without a guard.”

“You must have run into some trouble though, right? From patrols or something. You mentioned that you’ve killed other mages.”

Eui blushed and averted her eyes, scratching the back of her head.

“Eh, that’s a bit of an embellishment on my part. I killed rogue mages—two of them, specifically. They were other bandits who’d tried to hit the same target as me. They struck first, in broad daylight, like idiots. Their target dropped his goods and ran away, and they started fighting over the loot. I just took them out after they’d exhausted each other.”

Jia knew that rogue mages were self-taught mages that weren’t recognized by the colleges. They were usually exiles who learned after leaving, since Goryeo didn’t typically exile mages. If a mage committed a crime severe enough to be exiled, they’d likely just be executed instead.

“That kinda ruins the image I had of the cold-blooded badass who throws knives at the first person to open the do—ow!”

Eui cut Jia’s teasing off by pinching her leg.

“Shut up, Jia! I’m trying to be serious, here.”

Jia pouted and looked away, abashed.

“S-sorry...”

“The only other real mage I killed was the one I got the token from, and that was a total fluke.”

“What do you mean?”

Eui crossed her arms and scowled, as she recalled the memory.

“For some reason, the merchant I followed had hired a low ranking mage to guard him, but had the guy hiding in the cart the whole time. From the moment they left the city—even after he set up camp for the night—the mage was hiding in the fucking wagon! It’s like they were trying to lure me in or something.”

Jia recalled what Do Hye had told them about arranging for individuals with strong potential to be placed to find their way into the academy.

“Maybe they were. I’ve been distracted by all the other things happening, but Do Hye is kind of scary. I’m a little worried about what he’s got planned for us.”

Eui nodded slowly.

“You might be right, but let’s just survive the week first, before we worry about that. Anyway, if that was the plan, someone forgot to tell the mage about it. I killed the merchant first, and then found the mage sleeping in the wagon—some guard. He woke up when I went to steal the supplies, and we were both surprised, but I was faster. Now he’s dead and I’m here.”

Jia hummed thoughtfully.

“Hmm, it feels weird to say, but I’m glad. I don’t know what I would have done without you, Eui.”

Eui frowned and stared down at her lap—which meant staring at Jia’s legs, but she wasn’t about to comment on that.

“It’s nice to hear you say that, but I still have a hard time believing it. I don’t really know what you see in me. If anything, knowing me has caused you more problems than anything else. Without me here dragging you down, you’d probably already have crushed Yue’s scheming without even having to sell yourself off to Hayakawa.”

Jia grimaced and lightly kicked Eui in the side.

“Don’t make it sound so dirty! The only reason I’ve been able to accomplish anything here is because you’ve had so much faith in me. I blustered a lot when I first came here, but I’ve only been able to turn those words into actions because you’ve had the confidence in me that I never really had in myself.”

Eui snorted, then blushed and covered her mouth when Jia crossed her arms and blew out her cheeks angrily.

“Sorry! I wasn’t trying to laugh at you! I just realized that we’ve both been thinking the same thing. We both think we owe our success to the other—we both base our self-confidence on each other’s trust. It’s just kind of funny—we can’t both be lifting the other up.”

“And why not!? That’s what a partnership is, isn’t it? We both support each other—two parts of one whole, greater than the sum of its parts. Neither one of us carries the other. We share our burdens evenly, and the same goes for our successes, right?”

Eui’s blush deepened and she leaned back and sighed.

“You’re right. Sorry, I just—no, you’re right. I’m being stupid.”

Jia sat up and scooched forward on the couch so that she could reach Eui and pulled her in for a hug.

“No you’re not! If there’s something bothering you, tell me. I’m supposed to listen more, remember? New Jia!”

Eui’s face went tomato red at the sudden closeness, but gently returned the embrace.

“No, this is one of the times where stubborn Jia is better. The way you can just smash through my insecurities like that—”

“—it’s why I love you.”

Jia squeezed Eui a bit tighter.

“I love you too, Eui.”

Eui suddenly stiffened and Jia froze, realizing that she might have gone a bit too far.

“I-I mean, like, as a friend—platonically—or not necessarily platonically, but I don’t really know if I—”

Jia cut herself off when Eui just started laughing uncontrollably.

“Hahaha, oh my ancestors, Jia you are way too adorable when you get flustered. You’re going to make me fall in love all over again. That’s not what I was reacting to—you responded to something I didn’t actually say.”

Jia blinked once.

“Wait, what!? Quick, think something!”

Eui closed her eyes for a moment, before opening them again.

“Anything?”

Jia frowned with disappointment.

“No. Damnit! You’re sure you didn’t—?”

“I only thought about it. Did you just finish my sentence in your head?”

Had she? Jia thought about it for a moment before realizing that she wasn’t entirely certain she’d be able to tell the difference.

“I was pretty sure I’d heard it. Damn, this would have been a good time for Absolute Awareness.”

“Oh, yeah, just bleed all over me for a second to see if you actually read my thoughts.”

“Can I?”

Eui gave a look.

“Absolutely not, I was joking.”

Jia sighed and focused her attention on her domain. Sure enough, her domain had merged with Eui’s—only, partially. It was more than the tiny overlap from when they practiced together, but nothing compared to the complete unity they had experienced before. Worse, they seemed to be pulling further apart with each passing moment.

“No!”

Jia cried out with disappointment and Eui giggled.

“Relax, Jia. Weren’t you the one who said there’s no hurry? I think this means we’re on the right track. Whatever happened to us, we’re healing.”

Jia sighed before resting her head on Eui’s shoulder.

“You’re right. I guess I just got excited for a moment, is all. But see? You’re making me feel better with the same argument I gave you like ten minutes ago. We’re both there for each other when we need it.”

Eui leaned her head on Jia’s and smiled.

“I guess we are.”

They sat for a few more moments in comfortable silence, before Eui chuckled mischievously.

“I can’t believe I finally got you to confess to me.”

Jia resisted the impulse to punch Eui, and instead just hugged her even tighter.

“I meant what I said. I might not be ready for a—a relationship—but I do love you, Eui.”

Eui blushed brightly and faltered as she tried to respond.

“I, um, s-sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

Jia grinned, taking a little bit of vindication in the fact that she’d managed to turn Eui’s teasing around on her.

“I’m still going to make you pay for that, though.”

“Wait—”

Jia wasted no more time on words or mercy as she reminded Eui that only one of them was ticklish. Eui had forgotten that without their bond, she couldn’t retaliate.

---

The day had finally come and Lee Jia was—not as prepared as she would have liked. In the end, she had failed to make any significant breakthroughs in either her spiritual resistance or in Steps of the Stalker. Yue had been right—without a solar eclipse or some other source of shadow essence, it took forever to refine the qi within herself.

She was glad that she had taken Eui’s advice and practiced a contingency plan, even if they only really had a way to circumvent Yan Yue. Jia wasn’t looking forward to having to deafen herself, but if she hadn’t listened to Eui, she would have had nothing to show for her efforts in the past few weeks.

She was still feeling a bit downtrodden about it, though. She’d failed nearly every objective she had set out for herself, and been so determined to do everything her own way that she had wasted the potential of her friends and allies. Eunae and Eui had given her a wake-up call, but it had come too late to change anything. Now, she could only hope that her previous arrangements were enough to tip the scales, if anything happened.

They met outside of the academy’s northern gate, adjacent to the training field. Spring was in full swing, and there was a warm, pleasant smelling breeze in the air. Jia and Eui had arrived with Eunae, Rika, and Dae. When Lee Jia had told Dae about a potential betrayal from the Qin students, he had taken it in stride without even asking for more detail—reminding Jia that the world of cultivation could be more savage than any streets she’d lived on.

Next to the Goryeon group—and Rika—were the Qin students. Zheng Long stood with Han Yu and a miserable looking Yan Yue, and Jia took a bit of petty satisfaction at seeing Yue in a bad mood. With them were Xin Wei and Guan Yi, looking as self-satisfied or impassive as ever, respectively. Lee Jia had invited them in hopes that some mostly-friendly influence on the Qin side of things would help prevent an incident.

Apparently Zheng Long had introduced himself and made friends with Xin Wei after seeing them getting along during Yan Hao’s class. Jia wasn’t really sure what to think of that, but she’d already cleared Xin Wei and Guan Yi with Hayakawa before she’d learned about that particular detail. She was only a tiny bit worried that it meant that Zheng Long had been probing Xin for information about her—which he had rather a distressing amount of. She hoped she hadn’t inadvertently given more allies to a potential enemy, but she trusted—well, Guan Yi at least. Hopefully Xin Wei considered her confidence to be more valuable than whatever Zheng Long had to offer.

Waiting for them was Hayakawa and her contingent. The same team she had taken with her on the mountain expedition a few months ago. Lee Jia recognized the ones from her class—Kasai Hanako, Satou Ryuuji, and Miyata Toshiharu. Of them, she only really knew Hana, and even then just as someone she sometimes made small talk with during class—they’d never had a particularly meaningful conversation.

There were six more Yamato students with them, and Lee Jia was a bit embarrassed that she couldn’t remember their names—it wasn’t the first time she’d met them, she had simply never bothered to learn their names. Most of them were actually Dae’s classmates under both Ienaga and Magus Hwang—which, Lee Jia realized, meant they were also her classmates under Magus Hwang, furthering her private embarrassment.

All of them had active auras, and had been apparently training hard to fully integrate magic and martial arts into their own unique fighting style based—according to Dae—on what they had seen in Lee Jia’s duel against Yan Zhihao. Lee Jia blushed fiercely when most of them greeted her with respectful bows, before doing the same for Dae. She felt terrible—she would definitely endeavor to learn their names.

Hayakawa regarded the fully assembled group of twenty before curtly nodding.

“Greetings. It looks like everyone is here. It normally takes roughly a day’s travel to reach the mountain, but after our last purge, the magical beasts have yet to recover in numbers. As such, we’re planning to save time and make it a sprint. We should be able to make it in under an hour at full speed—is that going to be a problem?”

Hayakawa eyed Zheng Long and Han Yu as she spoke—the only two people in the entire group who couldn’t control their ki. Zheng Long simply smiled and inclined his head.

“That shouldn’t be a problem, Miss. We cultivators have our ways.”

Hayakawa nodded.

“Very well. Once we get to the mountain, we’ll be making straight for the peak to begin our training. I understand each of you has your own motivations for joining, and you’re welcome to either join our training or explore the mountain at your leisure. Should you choose to break off, I won’t be held responsible for anything that happens. The peak was not affected by the recent purge, and its dangers are unknown.”

All three groups agreed—the fact that they were joining on Hayakawa’s invitation was mostly a formality, anyway. They all knew that there was never really a plan for them to train together at the peak, even if that was the intended purpose of the invitation.

“Good. Let’s not waste any more time, then.”

With that, Hayakawa and her group immediately began dashing toward the mountain at a full sprint. Jia and friends followed, and the Qin disciples joined soon after. It had been a while, but Lee Jia once again felt that sense of wonder as all three groups maintained what she once would have considered an unsustainable pace without so much as breaking a sweat.

To her surprise, the Qin group was actually the fastest, and after looking closer, Lee Jia realized why. All five of them practiced the Body Lightening technique—the same one she had among her manuals—which enabled them to make huge, bounding strides as if they weighed no more than a leaf. On top of that, three of them could also control their ki, empowering their strides even further. Of them, only Han Yu lagged behind a bit, but after taking a sip from a small vial, he quickly caught up.

The other two groups mostly kept pace with each other. Lee Jia thought that the half spirits would probably outrace even most of the Yamato group if they were going all out, but she had seen just how fast Hayakawa could move, and she wasn’t about to try challenging them. Still, it was rather exhilarating to run through the meadows and hills at such a pace, and Lee Jia enjoyed the feeling of the wind on her face as they ran.

It was a pleasant distraction from the worries that had been gnawing at her ever since they had first started planning this trip. She was still concerned about the potential treachery from Zheng Long’s group—how much had Yue told him, or Xin Wei for that matter? Hopefully it would go as Yue planned and they would fail to find any sign of Jianmo without any further incident.

Somehow, though, Lee Jia didn’t think it was going to work out that way.