113 Ablaze

"Took you long enough." Ran Huankuo said when he greeted the former Gravediggers in front of his house.

Jack shrugged his shoulders and retorted with "You can't rush perfection."

After Ran Huankuo gave the mercenary a snort of derision, he scanned all of the men standing in front of him and asked "Is this it or did you send some of your people to rent houses for you?"

Jack glanced over his shoulder and nodded his head before he looked back at the Haechi representative and answered "You are looking at the entire elite squad of the Immortals' Lament mercenary company. We will be in charge of escorting the caravan for now."

Ran Huankuo's shoulders stiffened before he asked "We're paying so much for one grade six, one grade five, ten grade four, and two grade three warriors?"

Jack shook his head and said with confidence "No, you're paying so much for the future of your Tribe. We are just an excellent bonus."

Ran Huankuo grunted and turned to walk back into his house while he declared "You can come in, send the rest to find housing."

Jack turned towards Ma Ruiman, threw him the Star Bag, and ordered "Go with Maolong and Bindun to meet with the old man's contacts and restock our supplies."

He turned to Shi Furui and continued "Take the rest and rent out a few houses. Make sure that people see you."

When his friends gave him nods of understanding, he turned and walked into the Haechi representative's house.

On their way into town, they didn't try to hide and walked through the streets with their heads held high. Jack wanted to make sure that if anyone meant the company harm, they would catch sight of them and try something on this mission.

'I gave you enough time, let's see how large of a threat you consider me.' He thought and joined Ran Huankuo in the front room of his house.

The Haechi representative glared at the mercenary through the slits of his mask and growled "We had to delay our food purchases and will have to pay a higher price because of you."

Jack kept eye-contact with the large man and said "I know, but now you can place some of the produce that would spoil in my Star Bag."

Ran Huankuo didn't lessen his glare as he continued "The other Tribes sent their caravans off days ago. Everyone will focus their attention on us now. The Lolin tribe even returned a large part of their caravan's guards back to the Assembly. I doubt that they will let this chance slip away."

Jack shook his head and responded with "No, they will not."

Ran Huankuo froze for a second before he shot up from his seat and pointed a finger in Jack's face while he bellowed "You want them to attack us!"

Jack kept himself in a reclined pose as he looked up at the looming giant and said "Of course, how would we show our enemies that they shouldn't attack us in the future without an example? Threats and showing off can only get us so far."

Ran Huankuo's fingers twitched and Jack had an image of the huge hands snapping his neck flash in front of his eyes. A few seconds later, the large man asked through gritted teeth "Can you defeat them?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders and answered "I'm not sure. It depends on what you're willing to do."

Ran Huankuo had a hint of confusion in his voice when he asked "What do you mean?"

Jack stood up from his leathers and craned his neck to look up at the taller man before he answered "I need you to keep the Lolin representative and anyone around his strength back here in the Assembly. Can you do that?"

Ran Huankuo looked down at the fearless boy in front of him and said "The Lolin only have one more grade seven warrior in the Assembly. He acts as an independent trader for their beasts and visits the other Tribes often. Their representative would never leave his post, but I can only hold the other man back if I challenge him to a duel."

Jack locked his gaze onto the Haechi representative's and asked "Can you do it?"

Ran Huankuo studied the strange foreigner and couldn't see a hint of doubt in his eyes. The boy believed that he had a chance of defeating the Lolin Tribe's prepared raiding party.

After half a minute of silence, the large man nodded his head and said "I can challenge and kill the Lolin's trader. But if I do, they might start an open war with us. Are you prepared for what that would mean?"

Jack didn't hesitate as he nodded his head and declared "You can order your men to run away if they think that we had no chance of winning the fight."

A smile blossomed on his face and he added "After all, I'm not so sure that the Lolin's masters will allow their dogs off of their leash when they hear what happened."

He could see the widening of the large man's eyes behind his mask and knew that the Haechi representative just caught a glimpse of a vital part of the game played behind the scenes.

Ran Huankuo's shoulders slumped a little when he asked "Was this ever about helping the Haechi Tribe for you?"

Jack showed him an insulted face, placed a hand on his chest, and answered with "Of course! The Immortals' Lament does everything in its power to help our customers."

He changed his face back to a neutral expression and asked "When do we head back for the Tribe?"

Ran Huankuo studied the strange boy and couldn't help but wonder if only Immortals would sing laments about this mercenary. He gave an internal sigh and said "Come back here in two days at dawn. I need a day to get everything ready."

Jack nodded his head and went to find his men.

The two days passed fast. Most of the Gravediggers spent it in their rented houses either cultivating or practicing their marksmanship. The two grade three members felt extreme pressure to breakthrough and gave it their all for the last month, but they still felt that last wall obstructing them.

At dawn of the second day, the squad met up with Ran Huankuo and his second in command in front of the Haechi representative's house.

Jack first saw the second in command, Gong Derui, on the first day when they came to this side of the River. He took over for Ran Huankuo when the latter had to leave his post near the docked White River family ship.

Gong Derui seemed like a straightforward person, but Jack saw the same calculating intelligence in his eyes that his great-grandfather had.

Once the introductions ended, Ran Huankuo led the group to the gathering place for the Haechi Tribe's wagons. This time they had six wagons stuffed with food, and a number of crates of fruits and vegetables set on the side.

Jack had to store the perishables in his Star Bag as per the agreement with Pan Xinfa, while Gong Derui took over leadership for the thirty-warrior strong caravan and prepared them for the journey.

He would have overall control of the caravan's pace and route, while Jack had command over all aspects of defense and safety.

When they set off, Jack exchanged glances with Ran Huankuo and got the nod of confidence from the burly man. The entire town heard that the Haechi representative had challenged the Lolin Tribe's trader to a duel to the death yesterday.

They scheduled it for ten days later, in a ploy to keep the trader away from the caravan even if Ran Huankuo lost. The other tribes wouldn't allow someone to flee from a duel beforehand.

When the caravan started their journey, Jack ignored the gazes they received from hundreds of eyes and spent twenty minutes convincing Gong Derui to take a route that would keep them near the White River.

The careful man wouldn't just listen to his demand and wanted to hear reasons. Jack even felt surprised by the youthful face that he had when he took his mask off.

Only after insisting that it would help them defend the caravan much better, did the Haechi Tribe's second in command relent and changed their route to follow the River's path north.

On the fifth morning of the journey, just after they entered a valley between the White River and a large hill, the scouts that Jack set to watch for raiders reported seeing a mass of riders moving in their direction from the west.

Gong Derui immediately called for a halt and followed after the mercenaries to the top of the hill.

When they got there, both men located the oncoming blob on the horizon and used the Farsight spell.

Two lens-like spell structures formed in front of each other between Jack's hands. He had to secure the water sigils with the shape and connection sigils, while he focused the range sigil on the spot he wanted to observe. In the end, he covered the rim of the second lens with the rotate and light sigils to get the correct picture of the oncoming Lolin tribesmen.

"There are too many of them." Gong Derui said in a grave tone as he observed the mounted beasts loping in their direction.

Jack studied the oncoming enemy for a few seconds longer and said "Around eighty by my count."

He collapsed the spell and turned towards Shi Furui to order "Get ready to cover my retreat."

When he got a nod in response, he turned towards Gong Derui and said "You can wait here and watch. Be sure to get a good look at everything so you can report it back to Pan Xinfa and your grandfather."

Shi Furui went around and arranged a firing line on the hill. Everyone that could use the cylinder had one and a bag with twenty metal balls in a pouch. The three people that didn't know how to shoot started gathering rocks and prepared their slingshots.

Jack gave a satisfied nod to his men, winked at the confused Gong Derui, and started sprinting towards the oncoming Lolin riders.

When he neared them enough to see their excited faces, he stopped and prepared his cylinder and four metal balls.

As soon as the enemy came into range, he fired off an Air Blast propelled shot.

He got lucky and struck one of the riders on the edge of the group on the shoulder. The man cried and tumbled off of his beast.

His next shot missed, but the two after that struck home on the chests of two Lolin tribesmen.

The rumbling of the oncoming beasts reverberated through his feet, but he ignored it and the shouted curses of their riders and took out another metal ball.

Instead of firing off the ball, Jack mobilized his spirit energy and started forming a large spell structure in the air above him.

He did a few quick calculations while he formed the spell, and right when the charging beasts came to a distance of thirty meters away from him, he joined the last strands of spirit energy.

When the screaming riders and snarling beasts came to twenty meters away from him, he saw the bestial rage of the leading Lolin turn into pure agony.

An instant later, the screams of a beast set ablaze joined in with the screams of its rider and the tip of the Lolin Tribe's charge fell into chaos.