Week 1 - Misconduct

I could almost smell it. Civilians. The disgusting putrid smell of all the bastards that make the one thing that I'm trying to look for. A civilization.

(Senior? Is there any problems?)

I took a deep breath, seeing all of the defenses that they went and tried to apply to this place.

{Didn't seem to make much of a difference if their troops are looking like this. Though I couldn't really say much about it myself, I was a count for the empire.}

I looked at Konglung behind me. Peculiar thing, he was. Always so fidgety about what's going on around him, but he was especially jumpy around this place.

I chalked it up to bad history as I walked up to the front gates, seeing a checkpoint that guards were stationed at.

Oddly enough, it took me a while to realize that this "sect" or whatever Konglung called it was actually tied to those girls that I met a good while ago.

You know, the ones that I ate after they starved out of spite.

That means, this was a rather matriarchal group. Wonderful. A socially-exhausted man having to interact with misandrists. Sounds like a real dream.

(Listen kid, I just need supplies, you on the other hand don't. You post up with me once I'm all done and dusted, and we leave for greener pastures, am I clear? After that, your life is your own. No ties no nothing.)

The kid had glazed eyes while he looked at the walls, so I slapped him and asked him again.

(Am I clear?)

(Y-yes senior! I understand completely! But senior, I-I don't wish to impose on your choi-)

(You can stay outside if you want. All that I need you to do is not be a little shithead that gets into trouble. Casters here are annoying, but they don't really have any way to handle something extremely speedy, unless it was a full-powered cryomancer.)

Konglung was confused as I finally walked up to the gate that's in front, looking at the two guards stationed here.

{Why do they look like they have some relation to highmates? They don't particularly come off to me as the sort to be submissive? Maybe they're related to lowmates?}

(Identify yourself, traveller.) the guard said as they begun studying me and my reactions.

(Shun von Aachen. I want to buy supplies for a migration. I'm heading southwards.)

(Understood, traveller. Do you have any weapons on you?)

(I do. I gotta deposit it? Because they're not really the type that like to listen to other people.)

(No, all you need is to declare that you have one on you. Your cultivation?)

Now that was the tricky part. These girls, they went and asked about what level of psycasting I was at. Now I'm not too certain about the ramifications of saying what I was at, but these girls seem to have had a different way to call psylevels.

They called it cultivation, which, isn't particularly incorrect if you had a natural focus type, but otherwise I wouldn't particularly get what they mean.

(Sixth le- I mean, realm.)

I let the energy pulse out for a brief moment to clarify my current status, and they went wide-eyed. That..... doesn't exactly fill me with confidence.

(T-this servant understands! Honored senior is allowed to come in with your slave!)

For a moment there I thought that they were talking about someone else, but no. They were talking bout Konglung, who looked far more despondent than before.

{Oh, so the history's that bad huh?}

I turned back to them and quickly said some simple words for them to keep in mind.

(He's not mine, nor is he a slave. He's a comrade, of sorts.)

I let them take that however they wanted as I walked my way into the grounds. And I wasn't going to lie, they had a very specific aesthetic.

The walls, from what I noticed, were almost all completely made out of jade. Respectable amounts, which to say was about most of the inner portion of the place.

Couldn't help but notice that they don't particularly get nearly enough meteorites that fall down from space, so they must've bought a metric shitton out of all of the neighbouring settlements near here.

Not going to lie, good aesthetic. Or it should have been if not for the sheer shades of blue that they made use of. The braziers that keep the place lit up? Ice blue. The walls, a sky blue. The goddamn latrine was even a color of blue that I didn't want to name.

But what really got me confused was what they used to keep the fires lit. These were shroom braziers. They had a nice and warm enough basement where they could grow these things.

{And that means a nice place for me to stay in, if they let me.}

I wandered for a minute, walking past all of the confused gazes about the man in full armor waltzing around, trying to look for the closest thing to a general store, before I gave up and sat near on a bench.

That's when I saw something that should have never been. Something that's not meant to have happened, even with all that's occured.

Out and about, there was a child, guarded by a couple dozen individuals that ranged from level 3 to 5 when it came to psy. What I really got confused by, was who the child was.

Because their mother was someone that I thought I'd never ever see again, for as long as I thought I would have lived.

The woman had black hair, a slightly tanned look to them, but what really had me was the tattoo on their face.

A tattoo that only the people with my blood would ever get on their faces. That woman, was my daughter. And from what I saw, the little girl that was walking happily while holding her hand was my granddaughter.

My family, was on this planet. Maybe not all of them, but they were here.

And one was just walking around, with a daughter that they had with the locals of this planet.

{Do I- wait. I shouldn't. She's happier here, it's obvious. She's got a life that she made for herself. I think she was one of the ones that I gave the chance to try and make a personal xenogerm for themselves.}

I felt happy about what I saw, and knew that she had a good thing going for herself. Until something popped into my mind.

{What was her name again?}

I honestly thought that it should have been a given that I could remember her name. But I don't. I, I can't remember my daughter's name. Or which one she was. I can tell she's my daughter, she's got my looks. But she...I-

I took in a deep breath, and relaxed myself, letting the hum of the inbuilt archosoothe enzymes fill my mind while I looked at my options.

Option A: Introduce myself, and get some family bonding after all those years of loneliness. I may have not been a good father in most scenarios, but I tried. I really did.

Option B: I stay away, making sure that she doesn't have to worry about her essentially estranged father from more than 300 years ago has come to the planet.

Option C: Say hi, and just go with the flow.

Option B actually reminds me of something. She's had access to the biosculptor pod back at her old home, and our base, but there's no signs of technology that exist here. She's.....wait a minute.

I took a deep look at her and realized something. Her eyes. They were red. Blood red.

{Sanguophages. And here I thought I'd finally escape the empire. First the Obsidian Saint, the founder of the Empire. Then that man. Then the Blood Empress. Oh you actually have to be joking me.}

The Blood Empress. A decent woman, from what I could recall. I was given the honor at around 400 years to visit her home base, and I was more than sure that they were capable of doing things to me that no mortal should have been

But they were anything but mortal. All the bloodlines, all those different xenotypes. It shocked me to no short end. And the fact that she kept enthralled deserters as her personal guard, oh boy.

You don't mess with the empress, and that's why I was a lucky enough man to be capable of sending off thousands upon thousands of tons of pure gold from the meteors that fall on the planet.

Let's just say, that her Majesty was pleased with how fruitful my colony was. I looked on and sighed, having realized that the daughter before me was following in the footsteps of her old father.

Except it was more xenogerm related, she was a sanguophage after all. Walking away, and making sure to cast invisibility on myself to be able to leave without making too much of a scene.

This "sect" or however they called it. It was an interesting concept, I wasn't going to lie. But it wasn't as fruitful as simply recruiting people the regular way.

I managed to find a general goods store, but the local currency eluded me.

(Would a barter be possible?)

The shopkeeper, a young man who had seemingly effeminate features bowed to me while he spoke.

(Forgive this lowly one, honored customer, but we are not allowed to trade in barter. The sect had imposed-)

(I-I get it. Just a shame is all. I managed to get some stuff from a couple dumb as dicks bandits, is all. No coin on their person.)

I shook my head as I thanked the keeper for their service as I walked out. Where was I supposed to get silver around here.

{Bounty hunting? No, far too much paperwork, and putting a red mark on my head doesn't seem like the smartest choice.

Is there some sort of general guild tht I could avail to? It wouldn't be the worst. But getting into some sort of organization isn't within my prospects either.}

I rapped my fingers the top of my forearm armor, while wondering what were my options to even be able to purchase anything.

Things were getting a lot more complicated than what was necessary.