Half A Man

He turned and asked. "Why can't they just evacuate all the citizens through the tunnel and take them all to a different city? Yes, the city would be destroyed by the beast horde but it eliminates a certain element of risk if they did that."

Ranga shook his head, "Peasants like you would not understand but this King does, so let me explain it to you. The area in which each city is built has a specific mineral and or object that is needed, if they evacuate and leave the city unguarded then the city would be destroyed and mining would stop. This would cause the industry to collapse and the cost of most things that include weapons and other metal amenities would increase.

The mines here not only produce the type of metal we need for weapons but they also produce these other gemstones called ngoda, which make jewelry for nobles and it is a very expensive material. If production stops the noblemen will not be too pleased. It would also cost way too much to rebuild the city itself and to start rebuilding the mines and all the other industries once they are destroyed."

The Gutu were honor-bound people, and they served their nobility with extreme fervor. Taku, having been raised on earth, had a different outlook on things, but he chose to do the wise thing.

He nodded in understanding and kept his mouth shut for the rest of the journey and so did everyone else. When they arrived at the base of the Ivory Guard two hours later, they were shocked at how barren it was. When they entered there was only one person sitting behind a desk, this person was a youth who had a cultivation base of the Tohwe level. The youth lifted up his head and stared at the five people who had just entered and proceeded to greet them respectfully. The five returned his greeting and Taku handed him a piece of paper.

The young man read through the paper and then called out, "Tinashe, the goods have arrived, you can now take them to the front lines."

Just as he finished talking the door that was behind him swung open and an old man who looked old enough to be their great-grandfather walked out with a smile on his face. He bowed toward Taku's team and thanked him for delivering his goods and turned to the youth behind the desk,

"Tendai. How many times do I have to tell you to call me elder, I am already old enough to be your great grandfather's father."

Tendai rolled his eyes, and then sent the man off with the goods, after the man had left he said, "You guys should rest for a while, whether you are planning to go to the front lines or go back to the city you came from, it is still wise for you guys to get a bit of rest."

They all nodded but before they left, Taku asked the youth if there was any way he could contact General Maka.

The youth was slightly shocked by this question but he quickly composed himself and answered, "It is a bit tricky at the moment because she is at the front lines but if there was a message you wanted to leave for her, you could leave it with me and I will tell her."

Taku smiled wryly, "That is not possible, this is something that I have to personally deliver to her myself, but if you could please send her a message that, Takunda Gumbo is looking for her, I would be grateful. "

The youth nodded and promised to try his best, he then gave the team their contribution points and gold coins for completing the mission. Then the team left to look a place to rest, the team found an inn nearby and rented out five separate rooms. They had offered to pay for a room for the coachman but he had strongly declined and told them that he had other businesses to take care of.

He told them that if they needed to find him all they had to do was go to the City Lord's palace and look for a servant by the name of Tapiwa. Taku did not waste any time and headed straight for his room, he was tired and he needed some time to rest and cultivate later on. When he got into his room, he quickly took out his storage poach and then removed everything in it. As everything came out a lion which was about a meter in height jumped out.

Shumba stared at Taku with displeasure written all over his face, Taku was quick to notice this and apologized because he knew that he could have taken Shumba out at any time, but he had earnestly forgotten him. Still looking displeased, Shumba went and lay down beneath the window. Taku fell on the bed, initially, he wanted to look around the room to see where everything was but he was so tired he decided to just sleep.

He only woke up the next morning at sunrise. He looked around and he noticed that there was a bathroom to his left. He got up and headed straight for the bathroom and took a very long, cold shower. After he was finished bathing and changing clothes, he went downstairs but was shocked to see that in the whole inn only he and his teammates were present. He decided not to think too much about it as he went downstairs and sat with the rest of his teammates who had woken up way earlier than he had. He found out they had already ordered food so he sat down and dug in. Took him about five minutes to finish his meal

As he finished Nyasha spoke, "It seems like you and General Maka are pretty close. Just this morning Tendai came with a letter from her, the letter stated that if you wanted to meet her, you would have to come to the front lines in three days. The problem is this was the same day the beast horde will be attacking for the last time, which means that the beast horde will be at full strength."

Taku nodded and said, "During the next three days, try your best to raise your level; I know that we did not come here to fight but it is really important for me to meet up and talk with Maka. If any of you do not want to come with me, it is okay, you can stay in the inn or you can go back through the tunnel."

Ranga was incensed when he heard this, "Do you think that this King is a coward, that you have to use such words. This King was raised to protect the weak, to be righteous, so even if you had told us to go back home, I would still have gone to the front lines and disobeyed your orders."

After finishing his words, Ranga stood up with a proud expression on his face and proceeded to grab Tadi and began walking upstairs. At first, Tadi tried to struggle but she knew that she was not a match for Ranga as she just obediently followed. As they entered the room, Tino was the next to stand up, and left and went into his own room to go and cultivate.

After the three of them left, Taku tried to go to his room but just as he stood up he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and noticed that it was Nyasha who had stopped him and he had a mischievous glint in his eyes. He forcibly sat him down and then Nyasha stood up and went and retrieved a couple of jars from the innkeeper. As he came back with them and sat down, Taku felt a faint aroma flood his nostrils. The aroma was brutish but at the same time sweet. He couldn't help but take a couple of glances toward the jars.

Seeing this Nyasha smiled, "Today my brother is when I show you what being a man is like, I can tell that you are one of those waiting for 'the one' type of people, so taking you to the brothel is out of the question, but what I can do is help you turn into at least half a man."

Taku would be stupid if he was not able to realize what was going on, he felt slightly hesitant as Nyasha passed him the jar but after a couple of breaths. He grabbed the jar himself and began chugging it down. He only stopped when the jar was about half empty. He looked towards Nyasha and noticed that he had a deadpan expression on his face. Taku scrunched his face a little as the alcohol passed through his system. He had chugged it down so fast that he had been barely able to taste it but now that it was settling in his stomach he wasn't quite sure if he was happy with this mundane habit that people here and earthlings alike seemed to consider a rite of passage.

It took a little while for the liquid to take full effect and even though neither of the two had spoken since Taku didn't know why but at the moment he felt that it was really hard to hold back his laughter. Nyasha looked towards Taku, the glint in his eyes only growing brighter and noticing the look on Taku's face he was the first one to erupt into a pool of laughter.

The boy's kept on laughing for a while until Taku finally spoke up saying, "I can't help but feel that this is a rather wasteful use of our time considering-"

"Honestly sometimes one would think there was an old man stuck inside of you trying to break out." Nyasha spoke up cutting Taku in the middle of his speech, which shocked Taku quite a bit. "Instead you should be telling me what about this woman Maka is so special, you have us all charging straight into battle."

Taku snickered a little, now feeling visibly awkward but the alcohol had this freeing effect that made him feel liberated enough to say what he said next which surprised them both.

"I think I like her."

Taku stopped laughing after that his eyes bulging out a little, which made Nyasha start laughing all over again. "Relax man, you would think you had just seen a ghost, liking someone is perfectly normal. It's just a clear sign that your loins work and they aren't there just by design."

Taku who was about to eat a bun he had leftover from breakfast, choked as he heard the last part of Nyasha's speech.

"What I'm trying to say is now that you've taken the first step by experiencing bliss within a bottle, you really should do something about the other thing. I understand wanting to wait for 'the one' he he he, okay? I don't support it but that's beside the point. You don't want to finally get her to give you a chance and be embarrassed by your lack of experience now do you?"

Taku now visibly uncomfortable took a large swig from the jar, he wasn't sure he liked were this conversation was going. It wasn't that he was worried about his lack of experience at all rather the opposite. He was worried about the intensity of his desire. With each growing day as he grew more powerful so did his want and need for this woman, he had not seen in years and the one thing that kept him up at night was the fear that when he finally did see her, he wouldn't be able to control himself. This just didn't make sense to Taku. Just why was he so obsessed with this woman? It was completely unlike him.

Nyasha noticed the growing distress on Taku's face, "Okay, okay don't worry she will love you just the way you are and all that jazz, no need to pop a vein. Reminds me of my first time, she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, haha who am I kidding she was the most beautiful woman I had seen that day…"

Taku drowned him out as he let the alcohol drown out the rest of his senses.