A New Home

I wasn't wrong, we've encountered 4 more bandit groups over the last four days.

As we enter this mountain cottage called the Cherry Blossom. It was already snowing at this time of the year, not to mention that we were quite high up, we have been for the last two days they called this area Akama's Teeth, after the goddess of death, who fell here.

Most of the taverns [Edit: There were only two since the last chapter but, shhh] were on flat ground but this one was nearly carved into the hillside. I enter to see a huge fire pit in the room, and several men drinking, and not in silence, but in a full swing party, there were only like 10 of them, "Uhh, I'm not intruding on a wedding, right?" I ask.

Three of the old men turn to me and each react differently, but all in a friendly manner, "Hah! You should see us when they're really is something to celebrate, heh, why don't you join young lad?" He bellows, all of the partygoers cheer me to join, "Why not?" I grin and sit down.

The ladies sit down beside me in a much more relaxed manner, except for Sasha, she sat down and dove the mug straight away, "Woah there lass! Don't you know that men get first sip? Cause if we don't you'll all be knocked clean asleep before we feel woozy!" A man yells. He really shouldn't have said that... he's so gonna be pooped out before she feels woozy, oh well, "Do I hear a competition?? Who will win? All the drinks are on me!" I yell with *excitement* and message Sasha to blast him into the dust.

*

Well I gotta give it to this guy, he only lost his liver after the 13th drink and Sasha was looking slightly drunk, but yeah, nobody could've beat her in our whole company, and trust me, we had quite a few people there on alcoholic charges, so it's not an easy position to get.

"Not bad, old man. But I'm afraid our weak bellowed commander can, d-drink more than you!" She slightly stutters. "It would be close, but I think you'd probably win," I say modestly, looking at the man fast asleep on his mug. "What to do with him?" I nod my head towards the poor man.

They shrug, "He's not out of it, he'll be up again in like an hour or so, but you've proved that you have what it takes to sit here, so LET US BEGIN!" The man bellows, like he was in a storm, and two large tankards appear in between of his beefy arms, "How did you do that?" I ask, still gazing at his arms. "People call me the God of Feasts young man! NOW LET US FEAST!!"

*

When the feast was finally over, we managed to limp ourselves into the room, except for Lantla, who didn't effected at all by the food and drink we've ingested, who helped me into my bed, I wonder why she stays with us... I mean, I don't even have a contract with her, but I might as well just let her stay, it's not like I could truly stop her even if I tried.

Good news is, I found out some information about the area where we will be settling.

The name is Rahae, I think and it has a majority population of Foxen, so I don't think there'll be much racism against Sasha, however they are extremely conservative, so they'll probably be cold towards Lantla and I, whom look visibly different.

The architecture will probably be significantly different, most of their houses made of paper and wood even though they're area is surrounded by rich resources, they aren't technologically advanced enough to extract them, and some people say that they wouldn't even if they could because they are important regional sites.

The mountains weren't too bad, however the woodlands were considered dangerous, and a few drinks in he called it the, "The fucking XXXXXmandering of Entians" [Censored due to political nonsense] but it was pretty clear that he meant that the woods were nothing to ignore.

Anyways, after morning comes, we'll be moving on... that is if I can move tomorrow, maybe I'll ride a horse, or maybe just a mule...

*

That night no training was done, the suns position told me it was a little past noon, oh well, it's not like we're in a rush or anything, I shrug and go on my way.

Where the party once was there was Sasha with her head placed firmly on the table, Violet who was doing something looking like a mating dance, and Lantla, who was oddly calm, compared to her companions, at least. She was hanging from a vine upside down, with her hand on her nose, "Why are you doing that? Lantla?" I ask.

"I'm boooreeeddd, can we go yet Cao Tai?" Lantla asks, with her other hand on her chest, "We could've gone earlier, if you woke me up... why didn't you?!" I ask.

"Well, we thought you were pretty pooped out from last night, so we thought it may be a good idea to let you rest for a little while," Sasha says before groaning once more. I don't think that was the only reason... "Are you sure? You seem to have a worse hangover than me..." I say, almost teasingly.

"Thats not cause of drink, I'm like this cause one of Lantla's horses bucked me..." She groans.

Lantla turns her vine around, "I already said I'm sorry, Sasha..." She mutters.

I clap my hands together, "OK lets get moving! We need to get there by tomorrow night! Or we'll be considered slow!" They slowly get up and get ready, Lantla asking once more if I would like to ride a horse, or something else, this time I say, "OK, I'll take a Dragon," I say, Lantla looks confused and asks, "But you already have a dragon, Violet to be precise."

"Yeah, but I wasn't a lizard dragon, not an epic shapeshifting dragon who has wings, those things take too much maintenance" I say, just loud enough for Violet to hear.

*

After 2 days and one night of traveling, we finally arrived, the crater surrounding this area was inaccessible aside from this one paved road and several mountain trails, perfect for isolation, outside the crater there was a relative wasteland, at least compared to the lush landscape that was associated with Hou

The buildings on the other hand were small and spread apart, at least from what I can see from where I'm standing.

The forests weren't as bad as the guy said they were, but I guess thats cause we're taking the official road, not one of the off trails.

We make camp for the night right outside the road and quickly fall asleep...