Hanzo & Akari

When Nier woke up, he found Yan shivering and curled up. She was very tired too as she had been using her Foggy Cloud move for several hours. It was too much for her as she was merely at basic level in cultivation.

Nier summoned a set of warm clothes and a blanket from his spatial pendant immediately.

"You may rest now & put these clothes on. You're freezing." Nier said.

"Mmm…" Yan let out a breath and stopped using her technique. However, she immediately dozed off.

"…Hmph, humans are so fragile." Nier muttered in his mind before approached Yan and started putting warm clothes on Yan who was naked under a long shirt that Nier had previously given to her before the fight with the crazed red monkey.

Yan was a developing girl with soft perky mounds and porcelain-like smooth skin but Nier felt no emotions or even a tinge of lust towards her. He was an ancient demon. Petty human emotions could not affect him.

Once Yan was all bundled up in warm clothes under the blanket, Nier began to probe the surroundings. The fog was lifting quickly. They would no longer remain obscured. Nier looked out of the little cave. He could not sense Ceyda's aura. She had apparently left the area since a while ago. But Nier could not let his guard down.

"Who knows what arrangements that God has left behind?" Nier thought. "Staying here might still not be a good idea."

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Boom! Boom! Bam! Later that night, loud sounds echoed as several trees fell. A black crazed red monkey spirit manifestation was wreaking havoc in a part of the forest. All the mechanical bugs were alerted and moved towards that location. Nier didn't know about their presence but was cautious enough. He thus created a diversion by sending a manifestation far away while he snuck in the opposite direction, riding on a black lion that sprinted speedily. Yan was still asleep and clung to Nier's neck.

Far away, Ceyda was alerted as she obtained the visuals of the monkey spirit's rampage. She squinted her eyes and commanded the mecha bugs to scout the surroundings but there was no sign of the spiritist. The crazed black monkey kept rampaging and many bugs were implicated. Ultimately the spirit manifestation faded away.

"…A distraction?" Ceyda was surprised as this happened. She then smiled joyfully. "A smart tactic. Now by logic this spiritist must be heading in the opposite direction of where his new monkey spirit was found? Let's see, which mortal village is the closest in that direction?" Ceyda quickly got onto deducing. She found this spiritist interesting.

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By noon Nier and Yan reached another human settlement. Yan had awoken and recovered her chi while Nier was tired. His body was humane and hence not strong enough. The spirit force he had was also limited. Using his demonic power was no good either. The body was too fragile at least for now.

"Nier, lets walk from here." Yan said worriedly.

"Hmm." Nier agreed and the black lion returned to his body. Then he and Yan walked a few minutes and entered the village up ahead.

It was an ordinary village but bigger than Hanxing. There was much population. Traditional music could be heard. In a corner a girl was dancing. The audience were cheering her & the musicians behind her. There were also vendors shouting their products' prices to attract customers. Nier and Yan passed by a blacksmith shop as well. There a giant-like man was hammering red hot iron fiercely. A skinny female apprentice was looking at him in awe. Children were flying kites and shouting at each other. It was quite a lively village. As Nier and Yan were wearing ordinary villager clothing, they didn't stick out much and blended in the crowd.

"Ah, an inn! Look Nier!" Yan suddenly exclaimed, pointing towards a wooden building. It had two storeys.

Nier and Yan entered the inn and found it to have a bar at the ground floor.

"Hello sir! We'd like to rent a room." Yan said excitedly. She had been in good spirits since the moment she stepped in the village. For over a month she had been stuck in the wilderness with Nier. Seeing other humans made her happy.

"Oh? Just one?" The manager who was also the bartender looked Yan and Nier. This was a medieval world where early marriages were common. He thus didn't find it too strange that Yan asked for only one room. He deduced that they could be a married couple.

"The rent is 20 copper coins per day." The manager said smiling craftily. He was lanky slim man with extra oiled black hair. There was a small black mole on his nose and he gave the vibe of a crafty businessman.

"Is this daylight robbery? The usual rent rate is 10 copper coins per day." Nier frowned.

"Oh? That's indeed the usual rate but we provide special services. Such as, you can have 1 drink for free every day!" The manager said.

"The common liquors all cost around 4 copper coins per cup. Who the hell are you tricking?" Nier sneered. The manager faltered and smiled awkwardly. He didn't expect young kids to be so smart.

"Well-well, in that case…" The manager leaned and whispered to Nier. "How about a pill that offers long time erection? You can have so much fun with your little missy hehehe." He chuckled.

"Oi, father!" Suddenly a girl shouted as she approached the counter. "Everyone can hear your perverted whispers. Stop messing with the kids!" She slammed a wooden tray on the manager's head.

"Aiya, Akari, I was just joking hahaha." The manager chuckled rubbing his head. Meanwhile Yan's face was red.

"E-erect…? >////<" She stared at Nier and then stomped the floor while blushing hard. Her reaction was rather cute. She had apparently been taught a thing or two by her mother before she was sent away with Nier.

"Rent is 10 copper coins for you." Meanwhile Akari said to Nier and smiled. Then she momentarily froze as she noticed Nier's red eyes. Nier too felt something unique about Akari. There was a momentary silence between the two.

"Hmm well." Nier nodded and took out 10 coins and placed them on the counter, breaking the silence.

"We might stay one more day. I'll pay tomorrow's rent tomorrow." Nier said.

"Sure-sure. You're very welcome here. Here's the key to your room." Manager said. "I'm called Hanzo. You can come to me or call for me if you need anything." He said while sneakily showing Nier a small bottle of pills.

Ignoring him, Nier gazed back at Akari. She was in her 20s and was wearing a maid uniform. Her shirt had a large gap on front to display much of her bountiful breasts. Her skirt was also rather short, revealing her fair long legs and lovely thighs.

Akari slightly faltered noticing Nier's gaze.

"C-could this brat be interested in older girls?" Her eyebrows twitched as she smiled awkwardly.

"O-oi! What are you gawking at her for?" Yan suddenly snapped. "Gawk at me instead. I-it's not like I'm flat?"

"Bwahahaha!" Hanzo broke into a loud cackle. Similarly, some customers also chuckled hearing this cute exclamation. Yan's face was red like an apple now.

"It's nothing. Let's go." Nier said with a straight face. He was not flustered one bit and didn't explain himself either. As he and Yan walked away Nier narrowed his eyes. When he had gazed at Akari he had felt that there was something off about her. Somehow Nier felt a connection with her. It was strange. Nier almost felt his fey bloodline stir.

"Yan…" He suddenly whispered once they were on the stairs.

"Hmm?" Yan asked.

"You go to the room and rest up. I'll be right back. I've got to go get something from Hanzo." Nier said and walked back to the bar.

"Oh?" Yan uttered and blinked. "C-could it be…that pill?!" Her face reddened again.

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"Oi Hanzo." Nier said as he approached the counter.

"Yes?" Hanzo replied curiously.

"How about that pill?" Nier asked as he placed 5 coins on the counter. Hanzo's eyes lit up.

"Ahahaha! I knew you'd come. Good lad, good lad. Youth should be enjoyed thoroughly!" Hanzo was not quiet at all. Akari who was serving drinks to few customers, flinched.

Hanzo then gave a pill to Nier. As their hands touched, Nier narrowed his eyes. He found nothing off with Hanzo.

"You're a human huh? Then…" Nier side-glanced Akari.

Suddenly yellow flames appeared on Hanzo's hand and burnt the pill to ashes and alarmed Nier. No one except Nier was able to see this little stunt.

"A spiritist!" Nier's eyes widened. There was no way of recognizing a spiritist until they revealed their spirit force. The yellow flames earlier were manifestation of Hanzo's spirit force!

There was a momentary silence between Hanzo and Nier as they stared at one another. Nobody else noticed the tension between the two.

"Now-now, fey boy…don't get any ideas about my daughter." Hanzo warned Nier. Nier's red eyes were a dead giveaway about his half-fey identity.

"To the contrary, I actually intend to meet her mother instead." Nier said. "Since you're human and Akari is barely able to incite my fey bloodline, I assume that her mother must be a fey or at least a half-fey? I've never come across people of my own kind before."

"…" Hanzo was surprised at first. Then he sighed and smiled wearily. "Akari's mother passed away long ago. But I know several things about fey. Come find me after work and we can have some talk." He said.

"Then, thank you." Nier nodded. Although he was an ancient demon who would normally find it insulting to thank a puny human, Nier still was an eloquent young scholar. He had to master human manner in order to blend in well. He was not like crazed red monkey. He was balanced, calm, perceptive, cold and capable of perfectly faking it to be normal. He was like a wolf in sheep skin.

Nier turned around and left.

"Oh, wait. About that pill." Hanzo said, taking out another one from the bottle.

"No need." Nier scoffed. His red eyes lightly glowed.

"Ahh…perks of fey bloodline." Hanzo shook his head smilingly.

Fey bloodline offered many perks. Since fey originated from animals millennia ago, they carried several animal characteristics. Just their horns, wings, tails or hoofs were not everything. Some of them possessed innate strength, some could leap high and long, some had enhanced senses of hearing, sight etc. But almost all male fey were extremely potent & female fey were extremely fertile. So basically, Nier needed no pills. He could maintain his erection 24x7 naturally if he wanted. He would have preferred some other perk though. Just innate strength would have been so much more useful to him.

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After resting the whole day, Nier took a bath at dusk. As he walked out, Yan twitched in the bed staring at the steam wafting off Nier's chiselled body. There was a red monkey tattoo on his chest. Yan had not noticed it before but she quickly deduced that this tattoo must have appeared because the crazed red monkey was 'slain' by Nier. This was a common fact about spiritists. They all had their spirit's tattoos on any part of their body. Yan didn't know about the details of how and why the tattoos appear. Her mind was not on the tattoo but instead on Nier's entirety. Due to the misgivings she had on her mind, Yan began to blush while her heart kept thumping hard as she stared at half naked Nier.

Nier approached the bed. Yan froze. Nier picked up a set of fresh clothes placed on the bed, wore them & walked away.

"I'm going to have a talk with Hanzo to gather some information. See you later." Nier said from the door.

"Eh? O-ok…" Yan uttered. As Nier left the room, Yan blinked several times.

"Th-then…wasn't he going to…but that pill…ugh! Nier you idiot!" Yan threw a pillow at the door, shouting angrily.

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"Hmm? The bar isn't closed yet kid." Hanzo said to Nier as he saw him and deduced that Nier had come to have that conversation regarding feys and Akari's mother.

"Yes, but I have things to do later on." Nier said.

"Oh?" Hanzo smirked. Nier ignored.

"Let me help you out in preparing drinks and meanwhile we can have a talk here. I'll be leaving the village by evening tomorrow after all." Nier said.

"Oh, sure. You know how to prepare drinks?" Hanzo was doubtful.

"Of course. I once read a book about it." Nier said. He had indeed read all sorts of book and memorized them. He quickly displayed his potential as he familiarized himself with the different type of alcohol beverages in the bar counter and then made a few drinks quickly as Akari kept bringing in the customers' orders.

Hanzo was quite impressed by Niers skill and nodded repeatedly as he also prepared the drinks alongside him.

"So, what is a fey boy doing here? Where did you come from? Where are you heading?" Hanzo enquired first.

"We come from Hanxing village, a hundred miles north from here. It got devoured by a beast tide. We are headed towards the capital where my deceased father's friend lives." Nier said.

"…I'm sorry to hear about your village." Hanzo said. At the same time he wondered about many things. A hundred miles through the wilderness was no joke. How many wild beasts were there? There were even rumours that bandits live in the forest! Little did he know that Nier was an ancient demon & a spiritist.

Hanzo didn't know that Nier is a spiritist as Nier had not displayed his spirit force yet. It was something Nier had sought unnecessary.

"Aren't beasts hostile towards fey? How did you make it past them?" Hanzo asked.

"My turn to ask. Tell me, does Akari know about herself being half-fey? Also, tell me about her mother and things you know about fey people." Nier asked.

"Hmm. Well, Akari knows indeed but her physique is rather unique." Hanzo began. "Let me tell you from the start. It all began when I met Akari's mother 23 years ago…"