Chapter 9. The Inspector Has Arrived, Gentlemen! Part 1.

Dear readers,It is with great regret that I inform you that I have recently been in a car accident and am currently in the hospital. Due to this circumstance, all my future chapters will be published from my phone, as unfortunately my laptop has also been damaged and is now inoperable.In these difficult times for me, I would be immensely grateful for any support from you. I don't want to be cheeky and ask you for money directly, but I really need your help to raise funds for a new laptop. You can help by getting this fanfic to the top of the tops of our site. Your power stones, comments and reposts will be a real support for me at this time.For those who wish to support me in other ways, I remind you that I have a page on Patreon. Starting today, I will start posting more chapters there to thank you for your support.I promise I will try to release chapters more often. Your care and attention is invaluable to me.Thank you so much for your understanding and support. Together we can overcome these difficulties.

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Finally, after a good half year, our ship and crew set course for our original destination. To one of the medium-sized ports in a village or even a city long since conquered. So long ago, that everyone here has forgotten that the Fire Nation is supposedly evil. Earthbenders and Firebenders coexist quite peacefully.

As it is on all long-occupied territories, the war has become a routine matter, and life had to go on. If you read between the lines, initially, Earthbenders were feared and tightly controlled, leading to various unnecessary uprisings. Later, it was realized that earthbending could be very effectively used in construction, canal building, and so on. Then, a slow introduction of propaganda began, and a better treatment was decided upon.

And what do we have as a result? One generation passed, the old was forgotten, and earthbenders are now successfully employed as builders. Of course, grumbling in kitchens still exists, as do some not-so-trustworthy elements, but there's no centralized system anymore. For that, one would need to connect with someone from Ba Sing Se, which has long stopped caring for much of its territories captured ages ago and is now trying to reclaim territories with valuable resources like mines or specific forests.

In any case, craftsmen or builders have firmly claimed Earthbenders for themselves, but they're not allowed in the army. Maybe privately, some might recruit particularly talented benders, but that's the exception. There's still fear of handing them too much power, so to speak.

And probably for the best. It's too soon for that.

At the port, we were received, registered who we were, where from and where to, given honors, and then looked straight in the eyes as we were told everything was in order here, "look around."

Indeed, it was clear throughout the city that all was well. Even the slum areas weren't as bad as one might think. No frightened people, some moving about quite comfortably in green hues with a touch of red, of course, but nonetheless. They wore such clothes openly, no one glancing around, afraid of mockery or worse.

What a dissonance the Kyoshi warriors must have felt, raised on tales of the terrible... the terrible Fire Nation. They thought on the ship they were practically prisoners, walking as if to the gallows, truly. I even set up patrols at night, supposedly against saboteurs, but... You never know what might cross their minds. They might decide to slit everyone's throats in the dark of night and claim it was always so.

We don't need that kind of trouble, so I arranged everything in such an interesting way. And they also got the warriors involved in training. A very interesting method, because at first, they were extremely unwilling to train in front of everyone. Something about revealing secrets and the like.

I forced them with a quite simple method, pressed on their pride, and challenged them to a duel.

"I don't think your martial art is worth worrying about so much," I tossed out casually one day.

"What do you mean by that?" Suki frowned.

This happened in the "dining hall," if you can call it that. Where there was a separate table for the senior officers - previously, it was just me and old Uli Maurer, but now we also seated Suki there, after all, she's the leader among her own, and in a way, this was how we highlighted her. We even rearranged the seating to prevent the unfortunate ones and the Kyoshi warriors from sticking together too much.

Such a brilliant plan, maybe even without quotes, came to us with Uli. Why not?

So, a phrase casually dropped during lunch quite significantly hurt the warrior's pride, to which she promptly responded.

"Well, in the sense that there's nothing overly secretive or cool there," I replied, gesturing with my spoon but making it seem as if I was still not interested in the dialogue and inspecting the damn canned food.

Of course, for the senior officers, the local cook did a decent job of disguising the general army sludge, but it was essentially the same eggs, only in a different form. There was no way to get anything else, and buying separate food just for two, now three, people on the ship... well, that seemed excessive. So, the cook did what he could, but the taste remained the same, typical army fare.

But the service.

Although, initially, both Uli and Suki wanted to join their own, I decided, to screw it. Too much fraternizing with subordinates is overdoing it. Though, of course, both Uli with his team and Suki, are already well-adapted, some distinction must be shown - it's necessary. I just have a feeling.

Sometimes it's necessary to discuss things not meant for the ears of the rank and file, setting up a meeting every time for that - it's too much, and again, it takes extra time. So let them sit.

"Ordinary martial arts," I continued my thought meanwhile.

"It's not ordinary!" the warrior objected, putting down her utensils, "you almost use the same style yourself!"

"The quality of the sword does not determine the swordsman's skill," I said, trying to sound profound, almost adding an "alas" at the end, I swear, "In other words, it's me who's good, not the martial art. So, I don't understand what you're hiding. Fighting is fighting, nothing to think about."

"You're not in a hurry to teach your unfo... darn, your warriors what you know either!" Suki logically pointed out. The term "unfortunate" became too common. I set a trend there.

She caught me there, the devil.

"Let them master the army standard first, then we'll talk about something more sophisticated," I evaded vaguely, "but I train with them. If someone is such a genius that they can learn my style just by watching me, then more power to them. But I can't understand what you're hiding. It's just combat, what's there to think about."

"You don't understand anything," she practically pouted, like a girl.

By the way, it was the first time I saw her without makeup. They seriously walked around in makeup for almost four days, but it seems even they got tired of it and decided to wash it off. Finally, I can distinguish them not only by voice, because I barely avoided some stupid situations. Because if you start a conversation first, you can't tell if you're talking to the leader or not, and I had to construct all my phrases so they sounded equally applicable to Suki or any of the girls, without changing the meaning or adding stupidity.

And without makeup, Suki turned out to be quite an attractive lady. Very much so. Though maybe it's just my hormones overflowing, but unlikely... probably.

"Prove it," I smiled, looking up from my plate for the first time, "All seven of you attacked me. Win, and I'll admit your kung fu is better than mine; lose, and you'll admit your style is one of many, and train equally with everyone, how about that?"

"Well..."

"Or are you afraid? Afraid to admit it even to yourself? Or maybe afraid to face me alone?" Yes, it was a cheap shot, but she's not a master of intrigue, just a young woman from the island.

"I'm not afraid of anything! Two hours from now on the deck!" Suki took the bait, even standing up in a burst of emotion, leaning on the table, and firmly hooked.

"Hm, if that's what you wish, it's a deal," I nodded, not hiding my satisfaction, "just finish your meal, the cook hates serving food outside of regular meal times."

The warrior sat back down with a frown and continued to eat her soup.

Sure enough, two hours later, the warriors stood around me, fully in their battle attire. I was the same, with my rapier at the ready.

They attacked, following a clear plan, and I must say, they indeed had an idea. I can't say what it was, and it doesn't matter: it wasn't very successful because I easily slipped past the first two who lunged forward, immediately neutralizing one of the warriors who didn't expect it.

Their plan fell apart, and they started to attack according to a prepared and practiced scheme, coming at me one by one, periodically rotating to give each attacker a rest. Meanwhile, two of them monitored the situation closely, trying to catch me off guard from behind.

Well, against any single target, this is a very good tactic, I'm sure, and they also have a response prepared for group targets, but to their great misfortune, I am me.

But to their credit, I must admit, I eventually had to lightly use airbending to increase my speed. They would have worn me down sooner than I them, even considering that I am a bender and better trained, and also slightly cheating by using airbending. But there were seven of them, and they supported each other instead of hindering, so I decided to act brutally and quickly.

The second followed the first a minute later when I caught her changing roles with one of the warriors - she tried to leave too early, allowing me to kick her strongly in the stomach.

I simply caught the third with a technique - during one of her moves, I countered with a combination she failed to block.

In general, most of the girls were out within the first three minutes of the fight, after which it was just me and Suki, one-on-one, literally.

"Maybe you'll admit defeat?" I raised an eyebrow, "After all, I've been acting non-lethally the whole time, unlike you," I added with a slight smirk.

The girls didn't hold back, and honestly, at certain moments, they could have killed me, but I was fine with it. Let them not say... the same thing I'm saying now.

Suki didn't respond to my speech, just rushed into battle. Blocking fans with a rapier is quite the perversion, I'll tell you, but I managed, though mostly I was still dodging, and honestly, I could have killed or severely injured her many times over, but that wasn't the option. That's why I was here dancing these damn dances.

And even one-on-one, she doesn't hesitate to aim straight for the neck. Such relentlessness. After another too obviously non-training thrust, I countered with my rapier, leaving a decent bloody mark on her arm and knocking one of the fans out. There have to be some boundaries, even if they're quite far out. Aiming to slice my neck neatly, that's overdoing it.

Well, under these circumstances, winning wasn't hard, just a couple of exchanges and I broke through her block on the injured arm and landed a decent kick to her head. Not too hard, but it disoriented her enough for me to knock the second fan out of her hand with a sweep of my leg, pinning her down with my rapier to her neck.

"Seems like the victory is mine," I smirked, looking at the angry girl rubbing her cheek.

After that, the real training of all my combatants began. The experience accumulated from both sides and finally, some communication ensued.

After some decent time, we arrived at the coastal town where the Kyoshi warriors experienced a cultural shock from the interaction between the Fire and Earth nations. Nevertheless, it was time to start implementing my brilliant plan, which meant leaving my "army" here, taking Suki with me, and scouting several points as mere travelers.

A twenty-minute adventure, Kira.

Before that, I needed to have a heart-to-heart talk with the local mayor or whatever they call him here. Clearly, he won't be showing his hand, but I think he'd happily betray his neighbors in hopes of grabbing a larger share for himself before a new power replaces the old one.

And in the next town, we'll do the same. Eventually, we'll gather enough compromising information, and choose someone with at least some principles from them to settle down, holding their leader tighter by the balls than a burdock clings to clothing.

Hi, now for every 200 power stones there will be a chapter.

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