Chapter XVI: The Sengoku Empire I

Shizukana Gake

Heian Kingdom

The Great Plateau

Month of the Pangolin 4, 172 ,328 DE

Raising his metal hand, Old Man Jones draws a series of sigils in the air with Mana. They look to be in the same style as the ones drawn in metal powder on the ground. Once he finishing drawing, he pushes the sigils toward the dome, and a hole opens in it. Stepping through the hole, Old Man Jones swipes his foot through a section of the metal powder, and the dome collapses.

Made form a bronze colored metal, each Beat lure has a pedestal about sixty centimeter in diameter and circular top a little over a meter in diameter. With glowing, flat, crystal discs of varying colors set in their tops, they machines resemble spotted, metal mushrooms.

Old Man Jones' crystal eyes glows, casting a faint red light on the machines. Circling around each of the machines, he examines them from top to bottom. After checking all five, he squats next to one. A flat bladed screwdriver and pair of pliers appear in his hands, and he opens a panel in the side of the pedestal. He fiddles around inside the pedestal for a few seconds, and the crystal discs go dark.

After repeating the process on the other four Beast lures, Old Man Jones stares at the machines with a frown. "The workmanship is crap, but the design is interesting. If someone came up with this idea without being prompted by a Transcendent being, I wouldn't mind talking to him for a bit before I killed him. You should take one of these with you and study it, brat. You could learn a few things from how these things condense Elemental Power. The approach could be applied to any Elemental Power you want."

Putting my had on one of the Beast lure, I shift it into my Core Realm. While watching me, Old Man Jones shakes his head but does not say anything.

"Are you going to help with the Beast Wave?"

Old Man Jones snorts. "I killed the Almughayir that were pretending to be Beast Kings. Without anything driving them to rampage, the Beasts should disperse on their on their own. You're going to miss your entrance exams if you hang around here playing with the animals."

"What about you? Are you going stay here?"

Old Man Jones put the remaining four Beast lures into his storage device, a ring on his human hand. "I'll just be here long enough to make arrangements for the shop and Mika-chan. After that, I'll be traveling. You should join the Northern Academy. An old acquaintance of mine is using the College of Engineering as his base. He'll help you become a proper Artificer. He's a better teacher than I am."

"What about that Sengoku battleship?"

Old Man Jones chuckles nastily. "I had a talk with them, and they went home. They had a Priest from the Temple of the Dragon Gods on board. He was looking for me. They know about you, but they don't know what you are. Watch you ass in the Empire. Those idiot lizard worshipers might go after you to use as leverage against me."

"I'm always careful."

Old Man Jones make a sound that probably supposed to be a laugh. "Brat, you don't even know what careful is. Take care of yourself."

"You too, old man."

I glance at Vorn, who has returned to his human form. "Let's go. I need to load up some equipment for the entrance exams."

*Brigette, pick us up.*

*Aye, Master.*

Shizukana Gake

Heian Kingdom

The Great Plateau

Month of the Pangolin 5, 172 ,328 DE

With dawn painting the eastern horizon in in shades of pink, orange, and gold, Bridgette uses the anchors to draw the Silver Princess near the ground in the back courtyard of the Okada clan's mansion. The paved courtyard is normally used by the tradesmen and the clan's servants for supply deliveries and other business that the members of noble clans prefer not to dirty their hands with, but today, several members of the clan hierarchy stand gathered outside one of the mansions rear doors.

As soon as I open the Silver Princess' main hatch, Hoshi waves at me, making a come-hither motion. With a feeling of irritation, I throw out the rope ladder and jump out of the airship. With a fall of only five meters, I barely need to bend at the knees tot absorb the impact.

Not counting Hoshi and a half-dozen servants, five members of the Okada clan look at me with varying expressions. A tall, solidly-muscled male, who looks in his early thirties, stands next to Hoshi, and he does not seem to care about hiding his curiosity. Next to the male another man, who has a similar height, about one-handed-eighty centimeters, and a similarly muscular build, stare coldly in my direction. Three males and one female stand behind the front row, The female appears to be a few years older than the thirty-something male and barely stands one-handed-fifty centimeters in height. The other three males look to be well over fifty years and radiate Yuan Qi that would put them in the middle of the Martial Warrior realm.

When I near the Okada family delegation, the thirty-something male gives me a fractional bow, that clearly says he is superior to me. "Raymon-san, I am Okada Hiragi. Thank you for healing my foolish son's leg. Fujiwara-sensei said he would never walk without a crutch."

I do not return the bow. "I just took him to someone with the power to heal. I did not want to see Hoshi hobbling around a bad leg."

The male that looks like a younger version of Okada Hiragi has an expression falling somewhere between banal and bored. "See, otou-sama, I told you this gaijin was nothing. He just borrows the strength of others."

Okada Hiragi's jaw muscles clench for a moment. "Yoshi, be silent. Raymon-san has done our family a great service."

The scents of Okada Hiragi and Okada Yoshi are off. Okada Yoshi's banal expression masks festering resentment, and Okada Hiragi's pleasant expression hides a twisted mix of emotions that I cannot separated based on scent alone. I form two Telepathy threads and extend them to the Minds of the two humans.

Damn old man, why is he sucking up to this animal. The animal should be begging for the honor of speaking with us. That fat pig is dragging our clan name into the mud associating with him.

I don't know why a monster like Grandmaster Jones raised this brute, but if we can make a connection out clan's fortunes will soar.

Okada Hiragi glances at Hoshi. Maybe, this will wake Hoshi up and teach him that he needs to Cultivate properly.

"The City Lord knew Hoshi was being targeted. He didn't tell you?"

Okada Hiragi's eyes widen fractionally. How does this brute know that? Did Grandmaster Jones tell him? Did the City Lord hide something like this from me?

After a moment that lasts just a little too long, Okada Hiragi opens his mouth to speak. "Why would the Sengoku Empire have any reason to target my son?"

I shrug. "They came here to kill or cripple anyone they thought had Engineering talent. Hoshi was just one of the targets."

If only Hoshi would show some Cultivation talent, he would worth something for the clan's future. Unlike Yoshi he has a brain. If only he would apply himself for the benefit of the clan. He needs to show some value, or I cannot shield him forever.

"Otou-sama, what is the point in sending the useless person to test for the Gran Cultivation Colleges. I was in the fourth stage of Qi Condensation and failed. He'll never be accepted." Okada Yoshi's tone of voice makes him sound like a dog whining.

"Yoshi! Be! Silent!"

While Okada Hiragi glares at his older son, I glance at Hoshi, and he subtle shakes his head while glaring at me. Behind Hoshi, the small female, whose feature bear more resemblance to Hoshi's, despite his fatness, than his father's do, gives a faint smile. The female has a subdued aura, but there is not doubt she is a Cultivator, probably in the Core Formation realm.

"I don't want to go to a Cultivation College. I want to get into the Sengoku College of Engineering and Technology."

At Hoshi's firm statement, Okada Yoshi sniffs in an extremely snide manner. "If he want to play with machines, Sixth Elder needs an assistant for the head mechanic in the clans trading house."

Ignoring his older sone, Okada Hiragi looks back at me. "Raymon-san, please help Hoshi as much you can in the exams."

I shrug. "Hoshi doesn't need my help. He has more potential as an Engineer than anyone else in this city."

Hoshi snorts. "Anyone other than you, Beast. You're just a damned freak when it comes to Engineering. If only I had a Grandmaster Engineer to train me."

"Do you need to load equipment?"

Hoshi shakes his head. "You're the only one that didn't ship his projects in the Academy's transport."

"I didn't that damned Chairman poling around in my work. It's annoying enough teaching him. I don't want to have to fix something he broke before the exams."

Okada Yoshi scoffs but does not say anything.

I stare at Okada Hiragi. "We need to go. The Academy's contingent left two days ago. My airship is fast, but it's still a long flight."

Okada Hiragi smiles. "Please. Don't let this old man keep you any longer. I just wanted to meet the ward of Grandmaster Jones."

"Let's go, Hoshi." Turning my back on the Okada clan, I precede Hoshi to the Silver Princess .

"Otou-sama, why did you put up with that gaijin's boastful lies? We should have beaten him and thrown him out on the street."

Crack!

After slapping his son, Okada Hiragi glares at him, and his soft voiced words come out as a hissing whisper. "Idiot. Why do you have eyes, if you can't see? That boy was not lying or boasting, and you wouldn't last single breath against him. His eyes are the eyes of a killer, one with a lot of blood on his hands."

Human noble clans. The less I have to do with them the happier I will be.
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