Taking Responsibility

"Stranger, may I know the name of the one who saved my family and my village?"

Ryker and Zhao Gui's father hurried along through the forest, though, actually, Ryker was refraining from using his movement technique, on account of needing to let the middle aged man beside him keep up.

He had offered to carry the man over to his family, but Zhao Gui's father had respectfully declined. What would they think of him if he came riding on another man's back?

"It's Ryker. How about you?" Ryker said, jumping forward with each step at a leisurely pace.

"Zhao Hui. Let me thank you again, for saving both me and my family."

Zhao Hui lowered his head respectfully as they ran, causing Ryker to scratch his head in embarrassment.

"No worries, dude. Couldn't let Lil' Gui down, right?"

He thought about how Zhao Gui had been forced to run for his life, and about how the boy would have died if he hadn't stepped in, in time.

And for what? Among the bandits, there were two of them in the Soul Wandering realm, which was fairly high from what he'd seen of this place; did they really have to resort to banditry, to survive?

[We're closing in on their position,] Mini C said, breaking him out of his thoughts. Three figures were highlighted in his vision to the south, allowing him to see through the trees and underbrush they were hiding themselves in.

"Heeey! Zhao Gui! I brought your dad!" he shouted, alerting them that he had returned.

"Father!"

Hearing Ryker's call, Zhao Gui ran out from their hiding place, and Zhao Hui ran up to embrace his son.

"Xiao Gui! Thank gods, you're safe!" he cried, kneeling as he held his son in his arms.

"Darling!"

"Father!"

Zhao Gui's mother and sister had also come out of hiding and joined in the embrace, causing Zhao Hui to tear up a little.

"Thank heavens... Thank heavens..."

When he saw the bandits pursue those who had fled into the forest, his heart had sank to the pit of his stomach. It must have been heavenly providence that sent this kind young man to keep them safe.

Ryker looked on at their family reunion with a warm smile, crossing his arms in satisfaction. However, he couldn't help but think about the implications of him helping, here, especially with the threat of those two Soul Wandering bandits running about.

Growing up as a city boy, he'd never seen any actual bandits in his life, unless you counted the occasional mugger as a bandit. Not that he'd ever heard of any bandits in the countryside, either, though he *had* heard of pirates out in the South Seas.

Still, he'd only ever encountered bandits when he went to play those role-playing games at the Simulacrum, and these Red Vipers didn't seem to be like the trash mobs he encountered, in-game...

And unless somebody did something about it, it was likely that the Red Vipers would simply come back for revenge. However, before he could get further down that train of thought, a small tug at the hem of his jacket made him look down, to see Zhao Gui looking up at him with tearful eyes.

"Ryker, thank you for saving my father!"

The child bowed deeply, along with the rest of his family, causing Ryker to bashfully rub the back of his neck, wearing a broad grin.

"Hey, no problem, Lil' Gui. Just doin' what I could."

"Sir Ryker, we don't have much to repay you, but would you like to have a meal with us? We'd like to pay you back, even if it's only a little," Zhao Gui's mother said, at which point her daughter ran up to him with stars in her eyes, placing her hands on his arm.

"Yes, yes! Sir Ryker, you simply must join us!"

"Haha, well, I won't say no to free food!" Ryker said cheerfully, causing Zhao Hui to laugh heartily, clapping Ryker on the back.

"Good, good! We'll have a feast, today!" he said, grinning. With that, they all made their way back towards the village, chatting and laughing as they went.

--

As soon as they returned to the village, Ryker was surrounded by the exuberant villagers, getting subjected to their profuse thanks and gratitude. It was a long while before he could pull himself away, and even then it was only thanks to the village chief intervening and telling them to get back to repairing the village.

Ryker was now lounging about the Zhao family's household, which was more of a single room affair, and passing the time chatting with Zhao Gui and his sister, whose name he learned was Zhao Luli.

Their mother, He Liqin, was outside preparing some food, while Zhao Hui went to help the other villagers with repairs for the village.

"So you come from a place called Greyson Shores, Sir Ryker?" Zhao Luli asked him, leaning over the small wooden table they were seated at on the floor, "I've never heard of such a place."

"Yeah, it's pretty far from here, I think..."

A sudden knock at the doorframe, however, caught their attention, and they looked to see the village chief enter through the curtains hung up where a door would usually be.

"Excuse me for intruding, but may I have a moment to speak with the village's saviour?" he said, looking at Ryker. Ryker just nodded, getting up and telling the Zhao children that he would be back.

"So, what's up?" Ryker asked, following the chief outside.

"First of all, let me thank you again for saving the village," the chief said with a bow.

"As for why I wanted to speak with you, it has to do with those Red Viper bandits that attacked us, today."

"You worried they'll be back?"

The village chief nodded, gesturing for him to follow.

"We've never had trouble with bandits in the past, you know," he said, walking along with a slight limp as Ryker followed alongside him.

"It was only recently that the Red Vipers rose to prominence, and only then because a strong expert suddenly appeared and took control of all of the bandits in the area."

Ryker listened as the village chief explained the situation to him, looking around at the ongoing repairs to the village. It didn't seem like there was too much damage, thankfully, but a few houses had damaged walls or roofing which everyone was helping to fix.

They soon came to the front of the village hall, where the villagers who weren't busy helping with repairs were tending to those defenders with minor injuries, while the village doctor and other medically trained villagers cared for the heavily wounded, inside.

"I'm worried that they might bring their full might to bear against us, next time," the chief continued, stopping just outside the hall to look in on how the injured were doing.

"All those who fled the village during the initial attack have come back safely, and there were no deaths among those who stayed to defend, thankfully enough. But I'm afraid this attack was simply to test the waters, since they only sent those in the Foundation Establishment realm, and below."

The chief closed his eyes and heaved a great sigh, his worries for the village seeming to weigh heavily on his hunched shoulders.

"I know it is presumptuous of me to ask for your help in this, great warrior, but I see no other option. Please, help us defend this village; I beg of you."

With that, the old man got down to his knees and kowtowed to Ryker thrice, eliciting gasps from the villagers surrounding them. Ryker, himself, just scratched his head and looked away awkwardly, puffing out his cheeks as he exhaled in hesitation.

"Er, yeah, way to put on the pressure..." he said, chewing his lip in thought, "Can you let me think about it, for a bit?"

The village chief slowly got to his feet, sighing as he did so, but he nodded in assent, giving Ryker another low bow of his head.

"Of course. I know it is a heavy task I ask of you, but I have no choice but to do so."

He turned and made his way into the village hall with a worried gaze, leaving Ryker to his own devices. The villagers milling about gave him worried looks, as well, before quickly returning to their tasks, acting as if there was nothing out of the ordinary.

[I told you to be aware that this might happen,] Mini C said in his head, as he left to return to the Zhao family's household.

'Yeah, well, I'm very aware of it, now,' Ryker thought back wryly. It was true, he should have thought over these things a little more before he decided to step in.

But would he have chosen differently? Would he have left Zhao Gui to die just so he wouldn't have to get involved?

{What's the big deal? You can totally take on those bandits, Ryker!} Bestie chimed in, trying to pump Ryker up for a fight. But it wasn't really the fight, he was worried about.

'... This probably won't end until those bandits get wiped out, huh?'

He unconsciously rubbed at his dad's jade amulet with his thumb, thinking about how the village might be saved without having to kill anyone... But was that even the solution he should be working towards?

Maybe the best thing to do *was* kill, at least for those two in the Soul Wandering realm, and their claimed Nascent Soul realm leader. Without them, there wouldn't be anyone to organize the bandits.

And could the bandits even be reasoned with? They didn't seem to have much of a reason to attack the village, after all.

... He never had to think about anything like this, back home.

[Perhaps we might dissuade them, yet,] Mini C said reassuringly, sensing Ryker's hesitation, [I'll help think of our next course of action, so let's not jump to any drastic measures.]

'Right. Let's think about this, a bit more.'

He took a deep breath to steady himself, closing his eyes in thought. Perhaps he'd take a quick walk, before he returned.