Fates Parallel Chapter 47 - Power

Lee Jia balked at Hayakawa’s demand, and she could feel Eui beginning to tense up as well. Hayakawa raised a hand to cut off a response.

“Before you answer, let me clarify. I don’t mean you need to teach me everything—only tell me. I may then want to exchange techniques or resources further, but the important part is simply knowing.”

Lee Jia paused, hesitating.

“Why? I mean, knowing someone’s full capabilities is valuable and all, but why us?”

Hayakawa gave Lee Jia a gentle smile and shook her head.

“I think you sell yourself short, Miss Lee. I’m thinking ahead—far ahead. We won’t always be fellow disciples under the same master, nor even classmates within the academy. One day we’ll leave this place, and then where do you suppose we’ll go?”

“I’m sure you’ll return home, but I honestly have no idea what I’ll do. I hadn’t thought that far ahead.”

Eui gave Hayakawa a wry smile and tapped her own forehead, indicating her exile’s brand.

“I can’t exactly go traipsing back to Goryeo.”

Hayakawa acknowledged Eui with a nod.

“Perhaps not, but again, you undervalue yourself. You may be exiled now, but if Do Hye thinks that you are a valuable asset to Goryeo—well, The Snake has a distressing habit of always getting what he wants.”

Lee Jia raised an eyebrow, she’d heard people referring to Do Hye by his ancestry before—a faux pas, but not as offensive as a term like beastkin—but the way Hayakawa said it made it sound more like a nickname.

“The Snake?”

“It’s a name he’s earned among the international community, not just for his appearance, I assure you. Do Hye may claim to be a scholar first, but he is a masterful diplomat. This place was under construction long before any treaty was actually signed by our nations—Do Hye never had any doubt.”

Lee Jia shook her head—they were getting sidetracked.

“What does all this have to do with knowing our techniques?”

“Simple. I believe that when the first generation of academy students returns to their home nations, they will revolutionize the world of cultivation—and none more than the two of you.”

“Us!?”

Hayakawa laughed sharply before covering her mouth and schooling her expression.

“My apologies. Yes, of course you. Your modesty would be insulting if I didn’t know your background. Actually, perhaps you could confirm something for me—is the rumor that you two were completely unawakened mortals when you arrived here true?”

Jia and Eui exchanged nervous glances, but at this point there was little reason to keep that secret, so they nodded.

“I thought as much. You don’t behave like mages, or any other kind of cultivator I’ve ever known. In only half a year you’ve made discoveries about cross-discipline practice that most would never have even conceived of. Each discipline has thousands of years of history behind it, but you two don’t hesitate to ignore or even reject the traditions that most of us take for granted.”

Lee Jia’s face reddened a bit—she wasn’t sure whether she was being complimented or insulted.

“One day, you two are going to upend the traditions of Goryeo’s mages. If The Snake gets his way—and he always does—then you two will likely be ushering in a new age of immortals with Goryeo at the fore. I doubt the other nations will be as quick to embrace the new methods—we’ll inevitably fall behind.

“And where will I be when all of this is happening? The Ienaga shogunate is in decline, and despite Master Ienaga’s peerless strength and her genius on the battlefield, she’s not a diplomat. Our nations may be in armistice, but Yamato does not know peace—without an external threat, our fangs will turn inwards.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if even now, my father is making moves to overturn the shogunate. Master Ienaga is here, after all—it’s a perfect opportunity. Furthermore, by the time I graduate this academy, I will most likely have surpassed my father. All of this to say that while you are bringing about a new era of grandeur for your nation, I will be ruling mine—we will be enemies.”

Lee Jia found herself bristling a bit at Hayakawa’s predictions. There were a lot of assumptions about not only the future of Yamato, but also Jia and Eui’s actions.

“What if we don’t do any of that? Besides, aren’t our countries at peace? Why do we have to be enemies?”

Hayakawa sighed.

“That would certainly be preferable, but this peace will not last forever. In the best case, the academy will continue to stand as an independent neutral ground—but even that may be optimistic. I could be wrong, of course, but I would rather be prepared for the worse and proven wrong, than caught off guard later.”

Lee Jia blew out her cheeks and pouted a bit.

“I don’t like it. You’re acting as if everything is set in stone, but I prefer to choose my own destiny. Why should we be enemies? Just cut that possibility off now and become friends!”

Hayakawa smiled, but Lee Jia felt like her expression was more sad than anything else.

“It’s a compelling notion, Miss Lee, but a naive one. Today’s friend is tomorrow’s enemy—people and their allegiances change. My father would tell me that I should eliminate a potential threat now, before it could blossom, but even I am not so ruthless as to kill a fellow disciple on a mere possibility. Though that does remind me—what really happened to Yan Zhihao?”

Lee Jia crossed her arms and frowned grumpily. She couldn’t bring herself to agree with Hayakawa’s views, and the implicit accusation regarding Yan’s death just soured her mood even further.

“I didn’t kill him if that’s what you’re suggesting. I told the instructors everything—if you have a problem with their story, then take it up with them.”

Hayakawa pursed her lips, but her response was cut off by Yan Yue’s voice coming from behind her.

“My brother was an arrogant fool who thought that having a peerless father made him equally invincible. An incredible notion seeing as how he never even lived to surpass me.”

Yan Yue wore a standard uniform, and didn’t seem particularly bothered by her previous dress being ruined—she never wore the same one twice, anyway. Her wet, dark hair was down as she towelled it off, and without her signature twin buns, it was much longer than Lee Jia had realized—cascading nearly halfway down her torso.

“This conversation has taken quite a turn while I was away, hasn’t it? Care to fill me in?”

After a brief summary, Yan Yue snorted in an uncharacteristically unladylike manner—Lee Jia wondered if her figurative mask had been washed away along with the literal mask of makeup.

“Tsk, Miss Hayakawa, I think you’re taking advantage of Miss Lee’s good nature. Even if what you say is true, you’re only giving her more reasons not to agree to your request. Speaking candidly, while you frame it transactionally, what you’re really asking is for Lee Jia to extend to you the benefits of her friendship while you give nothing in return.”

Hayakawa’s face went red, and she shook her head in vehement denial.

“That’s not—”

“Spare me, please. You forget that I am an experienced cultivator in the core forming stage—I can read your feelings like a jade slip. You’re afraid that any friends you make will be future enemies, so you act aloof to spare yourself the inevitable betrayal. You’re wasting your time with Lee Jia. She’s too guileless to know the difference—no matter how you frame it, she’ll treat both the friendship and the betrayal in exactly the same way.”

“Hey! I’m right here!”

Eui snickered at Jia’s protest.

“Hehe, she’s got a point, Jia. You trust everybody.”

Jia crossed her arms and pouted.

“I do not!”

Even she thought that her protests rang a little bit weakly. Hayakawa, in the meantime, had been going redder and redder as her expression turned furious. For a moment, Jia thought she could feel the air growing heavier before Hayakawa took a deep breath and schooled her expression.

“Miss Yan, I find your accusations to be baseless and insulting. I invited you into my home in good faith, and if you insist on being so discourteous then I will be forced to rescind my hospitality.”

Hayakawa’s voice was an overly formal monotone, but Yan Yue scoffed and responded with the same carefree attitude she’d had since the start.

“I only observed the truth as I saw it. If you find it unpalatable, then that’s your own failing.”

For the first time, Jia saw the family resemblance between Yue and Zhihao—she recalled him saying almost the exact same thing about his rude comments on half-spirits. Hayakawa’s jaw was clenched, but her expression and tone remained perfectly neutral.

“In that case, I must ask you to leave. I only invited you as a courtesy to Miss Lee, and I have no obligation to continue enduring your rudeness in my own home.”

“Very well then. Jia, Eui, I believe our business here is concluded.”

Everybody in the room except for Yue had expressions of surprise and confusion. Jia looked askance at Yue.

“Uh, but we haven’t—”

“Miss Hayakawa has received your offer, and it was more than fair. Overly generous on your part, if anything. I believe she will accept it once she’s had time to cool down. The rest—well, if she wants your friendship, I imagine she needs but ask.”

With that, Yan Yue strode out of the room. Lee Jia quickly stood and bowed apologetically to Hayakawa.

“Sorry about that! I don’t know what came over her.”

“It’s fine. I don’t blame you for her behavior. We’ll speak later, Miss Lee.”

Lee Jia hurried after Yan Yue, but found her in the front hall, her hair now up in a single loose bun that somehow made the wet hair look effortlessly stylish.

“I don’t suppose you have an extra pair of sandals? The pair I arrived in are a lost cause.”

“Yue, what in the ancestor’s names was that?”

“No? I suppose a short barefoot walk won’t kill me. I have replacements back at the dorm.”

Lee Jia shot Yan Yue a baleful glare, and she responded with a shrug.

“You’d already completed the negotiations—everything else was window dressing. She just wanted to see how much she could get out of you for nothing, which is apparently quite a lot, in your case.”

Eui snickered, but averted her eyes and played innocent when Jia turned to glare at her. She turned back to Yan Yue.

“Well now we have nothing. How are we supposed to get up to that mountain now?”

Yue shook her head with a rueful smile.

“I meant what I said. Your offer was more than fair and she knows it. By the next time you speak to her, she’ll be ready to accept your proposal.”

Lee Jia grumbled as they departed.

“You better hope so.”

As they approached the doorway, it opened on its own to reveal a rather startled looking Sun Jaehwa on the other side.

“Oh! I hadn’t realized we had, um, guests.”

Sun Jaehwa glanced nervously at Eui as she spoke, who simply crossed her arms and glared angrily.

“Not to worry, Miss Sun. We were just leaving.”

Sun Jaehwa let out a nervous chuckle.

“I see, haha. Um, M-Miss Lee, before you leave, might I have a word with you? There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you about.”

Lee Jia had to suppress a sigh—she’d been repeatedly brushing off Miss Sun’s requests.

“Go ahead, Miss Sun. We’re in no rush.”

Sun Jaehwa hesitated, glancing at Eui, who had not stopped glaring—it occurred to Jia that they were both rather terrible at hiding their feelings.

“I was hoping for some privacy? It’s a somewhat sensitive matter.”

“We’ve only barely met, Miss Sun. What kind of sensitive business could you possibly have with me?”

She bit her lip and shook her head at Jia’s words.

“That’s difficult to explain with—others present. It’s important, though.”

Lee Jia nodded amiably.

“In that case, perhaps it’s not something we should discuss casually. Why don’t you come over tomorrow and we can have a proper discussion over tea?”

After a moment of hesitation, Sun Jaehwa nodded.

“If it’s just the two of us, then that’s fine. Tomorrow it is.”

Jia ignored the roiling anger and jealousy she felt from Eui and nodded.

“I’ll see you then. Good day, Miss Sun.”

She bid Sun Jaehwa farewell with a small bow, and they began making their way back home.

“Jia, what the fuck!?”

Jia sighed as Eui’s voice resounded in her mind—she had been expecting this.

“She was just going to keep asking, Eui. May as well just get it out of the way now and clear up whatever misunderstanding she has. If that makes us enemies, then so be it. The ambiguity doesn’t help anyone.”

“...fine. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Yue gave the two of them a sidelong glance.

“You two couldn’t be more obvious if you were literally whispering in each others’ ears. If you’re going to communicate mentally, you could at least do it covertly.”

Jia smiled apologetically.

“Sorry, Eui was just reminding me that we don’t actually have any tea. I’ll have to borrow some from Eunae or something.”

Yue narrowed her eyes.

“Liar.”

Jia channelled her best Guan Yi impression and kept her expression impassive as best she could. Yan Yue was always annoyingly observant.

“So are you going to explain what that whole thing with Hayakawa was all about?”

Yue scowled and averted her eyes.

“Tsk, I thought I already had.”

“No, there’s got to me more to it than that. I’ve never seen you be that openly hostile towards someone who wasn’t Han Yu, and we’ve literally fought.”

She scoffed and met Jia’s eyes with a condescending smile.

“If you can call that fighting. Fine! I don’t like her. She’s the type who will find any excuse to justify her own failings—an expert in self-delusion. She could convince herself of anything if it meant she didn’t have to admit to her own weakness.”

Jia eyed Yue curiously.

“You sound almost as if you’re speaking from experience.”

“I am! I’ve seen her type a thousand times before. It used to be I’d see it every day in the mirror, but I’ve grown past that, now. She’s still stuck in her own little world, and it’s pathetic. She doesn’t even realize how weak she really is.”

“Uh, I hate to tell you this, but Hayakawa is the strongest student in the entire academy.”

Yue snorted derisively.

“Not anymore. She’s strong for a stage two, and she might give me some trouble if I didn’t have the element of surprise, but either Han Yu or Zheng Long could subdue her without any trouble.”

Jia shared a concerned glance with Eui and frowned.

“How can you be so sure about that?”

“Simple—we were briefed on the known threats among the academy disciples. Hayakawa Kaede, Hyeong Daesung, and Seong Eunae were all mentioned by name. Hayakawa is the lowest threat among them—the only note was that I should avoid confronting her directly. Hyeong, on the other hand, requires at least two to subdue.”

“Really? Dae!? I mean, he’s definitely pretty strong, but...”

Jia thought that Hayakawa was a much bigger threat. Yue shrugged.

“He’s known to have some kind of storage artifact, is expected to have some powerful talismans from his master as trump cards, and has an enormous amount of versatility as a spellcaster. It’s less that we’ve measured him as a high threat, and more that his threat level is nearly impossible to accurately measure—he could be much stronger than the intelligence indicates.”

“Huh. I guess even after seeing him fight, it’s just hard to imagine Dae as a combat threat. He’s just so—”

“He’s a fucking nerd.”

Jia smacked Eui in the shoulder, but couldn’t really bring herself to protest the assessment. She turned back to Yue.

“You’ve got me curious now, what did they say about Eunae?”

Yue glanced back at Jia and her expression grew grave.

“Xiantian level threat. Do not engage under any circumstances.”

Jia froze, her eyes widening in disbelief.

“What!? Eunae!? She was with us on the expedition. She’s a good mage—as good as anyone other than Dae—and her ancestral technique was even enough to hold back a beast at the peak of the third stage, but—”

“A beast!? Do you even realize what you just said, Jia? The Seong clan’s bewitching gaze is a rare trait which has only manifested a few times in known history. Our best scholars theorize that it works by attacking the mind and soul. A beast has neither and it still stopped it?”

Jia had not thought about it that way. She had known that Eunae’s gaze was less effective on beasts, but she’d never really considered how it worked. Yan Yue shook her head in disbelief.

“The last Seong to manifest that power was a living calamity. She single-handedly destroyed Tengzhou city a century ago, and spearheaded the only successful war of aggression in Goyreo’s history. She took territory that your country still holds to this day. Luckily, Seong Eunae’s bloodline is weak—if she’d been born with seven tails like her predecessor, my country might have risked war to kill her for the omen alone.”

Jia blanched a bit at that. It seemed as though every time she learned something new about Eunae, she grew scarier and scarier. The fact that she was such a sweet and friendly girl gave Jia a fierce sense of cognitive dissonance.

“Huh, I didn’t know that. I think you might know my own country’s history better than I do.”

“That’s not something to brag about, you know.”

Lee Jia shrugged.

“Oh, that reminds me. Eunae agreed to help me train against spiritual attacks. Since you’re so intent on following us around everywhere, I guess you can come too, Yue.”

“Tch, I suppose I—wait, what did you just say!?”