61 Inikaka

"Then why haven't you?" Ning heard Hyesi say.

"Why haven't I what?" he asked.

"Why haven't you left us yet?" Hyesi asked.

"I can't right now. That demon snake is blocking my way, and I need to defeat it before I can leave this island and go somewhere else," Ning said.

"Do you though?" Hyesi asked.

"Of course, why else would I waste my time here?" Ning asked.

"But Inikaka, you can just disappear to anywhere you want. You can reach the next island over in the blink of an eye. Is the demon really in your way?" Hyesi asked.

"I— " Ning couldn't come up with an answer. Given how much energy he had, he could leave this place right now and disappear to thousands upon thousands of kilometers away. Why hadn't he left yet?

"You can do so many amazing things. You can live inside small and big rocks, you can create anything you want out of thin air. I don't see how someone who can create so many miracles would be bound to a small island like this just because of a snake demon," Hyesi said.

"Also, you call yourself a, what was it? Fraud. Someone who only does things for their own gain. And yet you teach a whole village of illiterate idiots enough so they can read and write. "

"You teach us something so surreal as Qi cultivation and help us fix our original cultivation technique. You go out of your way to go to a new island and live there for months just so you can send us villagers food."

"You even went as far as to make a small child of no consequence like me into who I am today. Are you going to tell me that me becoming strong was a personal gain of yours too?" Hyesi asked.

"I- No it wasn't," Ning said. The world he had built up in his head about the villagers just being a stepping tool for him was all crumbling to the ground. He needed a kid to tell him what he was doing.

"But that doesn't change the fact that I am a coward, who couldn't even help you," Ning said.

"Who isn't, Inikaka?" Hyesi said. "Remember the first time you had me train and we ended up meeting the demon Fufuliki? I ran away from that place faster than I have ever run. You on the other hand stood your ground. You also must have done something there for you to get such a severe headache. By comparison, you are much braver than I am, Inikaka," Hyesi said.

"I only got braver after I got stronger. You have much more to go too, Inikaka. I am sure your bravery will show up on its own one day when you get stronger than you are now," Hyesi said.

Ning fell into contemplation. Everything the kid said made sense at some level. Although he was too scared to fight the demon, he had stood his ground to look at its information even when the kid was telling him to run away. "I stood my ground. That's correct," he said out loud.

It felt like a massive weight had just lifted off of his heart. He took a deep breath and said, "Thank you, Hyesi."

"I am glad I can finally be of some help to you, Inikaka," Hyesi said with a happy voice.

"You have always been of help to me. Since the first day I arrived," Ning said. He was smiling too at this point. "Also, stop calling me Inikaka, I am not the sun. You can call me Ning," he said.

"Ah, Inikaka, you seem to be mistaken about something," Hyesi said. "Inikaka does not mean the sun."

"It... does not? But I thought you prayed to the Sun, your Inikaka every day?" he asked.

"No, Inikaka is just our word for a benefactor. Since the sun is our benefactor, for the most part, we call it Inikaka. Although, at some point, we stopped using the name Sun, and just called it Inikaka. But the fact still remains that Inikaka is just our word for a benefactor."

"At first, we thought you were an avatar of the sun, so we kept calling you Inikaka. Now we know you have nothing to do with the sun. However, that still doesn't change the fact about how much you have helped us. "

"At the end of the day, Sun or not, you are still our benefactor. You are still our Inikaka, and all of us have unanimously agreed to keep on calling you so," Hyesi said.

"Is- Is that so?" Ning was surprised to hear that. All this time, even with the Intermediate Klavian language, it seemed he had the wrong information.

"Anyway, Inikaka, are you hungry? Do you need food? I'm sure the villagers will cook up something for you if you ask them to. They've been waiting for your return ever since you left this morning," Hyesi said.

"It's fine. I already ate some fruits from the other island. You go and eat something yourself," Ning said.

"Okay Inikaka, if you say so," Hyesi said and turned around to leave. He stopped mid-track and turned around to say, "Also, Inikaka. Make sure to come to the village in the morning tomorrow."

"Morning? Why?" Ning asked.

"For your lessons of course," Hyesi said.

"Y-You guys still want that?" he asked.

"Of course. The villagers were already anxious to miss a day of the lesson because you had a headache yesterday, and then today you left without even letting us say anything. We were all really bored all day due to the lack of lessons," Hyesi said.

Ning smiled and said, "Alright, I will come by to teach some new things tomorrow."

Hyesi smiled as well. "I will let the villagers know."

"Also, Inikaka… " he said.

"Hmm?"

"I'm really happy you came back." Hyesi ran away after saying this.

Ning stayed in his house and chuckled to himself and said, "I can't believe I let a child talk me into feeling better."