The last child left the room, and Han Shanyuan was left with the magistrate. The man approached him and smiled down at him.

“You say in your essay that the former magistrate, Wei Caihong, is the reason you managed to get a steamed bun a day for months. I would like to meet him. And your Master, Nikola.”

“They took me in,” said Han Shanyuan proudly. “But Master Wei ate a mermaid’s heart and became a woman.”

The magistrate took a step back.

“I see,” he said.

“And he is going to get married to Master Nikola again today with the lady Pen.”

“I see,” repeated the magistrate again. He had gotten a request to preside for a wedding today, but had thought it was a double one.

“Both Wei Caihong and lady Pen are pregnant. Please don’t refuse to marry them,” pleaded Han Shanyuan, and the magistrate shook his head.

“I’m not judging them, my boy. Our emperor has a harem. I just hope this Master Nikola of yours has the means to support such a big family.”

“Oh, he does! He is building greenhouses and has two caravanners and enough money to help build a whole orphanage,” listed the child, and the magistrate nodded along.

When they got outside, Han Shanyuan’s family had already gotten the news that he had won, and so they waited for him by the entrance of the school, ready to heap praise on him.

“Wei family, I presume?” The magistrate saw how a woman who looked a little like the Wei Caihong he remembered stepped forward.

“That’s us. Thank you for showing our Han Shanyuan fairness,” she said and bowed her head. The Wei Caihong he remembered wouldn’t have done that. Now he simply burned with the desire to meet this Nikola, who changed the highly noble so much.

“And you must be Nikola?” Asked the magistrate, extending his hand to the only man of the family. Although he had to double-check that the man didn’t have breasts. He was as beautiful as his wives, well, maybe not more beautiful than Wei Caihong.

“Yes. Han Shanyuan had told you only good things about the family, I hope.”

“Quite,” said the magistrate as he shook Nikola’s hand.

 “I want to invite you all to my palace for a dinner. I will not take no for an answer.” Said the magistrate, and Nikola shifted nervously.

“Well, we send a request to be married beforehand. I don’t know whether it had arrived or not.”

“It did. We can move to the temple right now…” Said Kang Lei, and the people who were closest to them began to murmur.

“A wedding!”

“Who is getting married?”

“This noble and those two beauties.”

“To the temple, everyone! There will be a wedding!” Yelled a stall owner and there was a literal stampede towards the temple, she approached the lucky soon to be married.

“For a gold coin, I will provide all the food for the guests. And if it’s not enough, I can talk some other stall owners to charge you the same rate,” she said, looking hopeful. Nikola took out his coin bag and took out a single golden coin.

“You do that. And to think we wanted something private…”

“Private? Gege, don’t be stingy!” Said the stall owner, snatching the coin from his hand. Then she went to the other stall owners who had gotten their wares to the school and told them of her offer.

They each crowded Nikola one by one, and he ended up fifteen gold coins lighter. Could the town’s folk even eat all the food? He asked himself as his family and he moved towards the inn so that they could change for the wedding.

The ceremony was brief, but the people had been excited by the end of it. Rice was thrown over their heads as they exited the temple, and the people were either eating or dancing.

The acrobat troupe from yesterday had set up a stage near the temple and Nikola ended up five more gold coins lighter, one for each of the acrobats so that they could perform the entire day. The crowds didn’t follow them to the magistrate’s palace, having their food and fanfare by the temple, and the Wei family could finally breathe freely.

While they were now all known as the family, Wei Nikola and Penemue had refused to have it added to their names in their papers, which were provided by the magistrate of their village.

Wei Caihong had pouted at this, but hadn’t argued. Ryota became Wei Ryota, and Nathaniel also refused to have the name added to his own. Only the Han siblings weren’t included, but Han Shanyuan didn’t hold it against his family. How was he going to marry Wei Zhaohui and Han Fengfan Ryota if they were adopted?

In the palace, the servants murmured about the guests. Of the three jades, as they called the adults, and their pack of children. Some women tsked their tongues that the lady Pen had two children while being married only to the father of one of them beforehand. But they did so out of hearing.

Kang Lei called his wife Kang Mei, and they sat opposite their guests as food and drinks were being brought in.

“I hear you dealt with the corpse infestation of Samjin, trader Nikola,” he said as Nikola chocked on the sake he was drinking.

“I, well, it is only a matter of chopping their heads off,” he said as he tried to get himself to calm down. Of course, the magistrate would know. Word spread fast in this country.

“And was it so simple to summon a beast with a lion’s body, lizard feet and the head of an old man?” Kang Lei was looking at him like he would rip him a new one if he heard a lie. Still, lies were the only thing that Nikola could give him.

“I know a bit of magic. My family comes from an Oracle’s line,” he said, and the magistrate nodded.

“I had a reward prepared for a cultivation sect willing to deal with the troubles in this valley. Now it will go to you,” said Kang Lei, and Nikola was about to refuse it when Wei Caihong jabbed him in the ribs.

“We thank you, magistrate Kang,” he said, and Kang Lei made a sign to one of the servants and a large coin bag was brought to the table and given to Nikola.

“A thousand golden coins for the corpses and another thousand for the water ghouls. I hear you do charity, that you do too, Wei Caihong. You two put the money to good use, you hear?” He smiled when Nikola set aside the coin bag, more of a coin sack, really, without counting it.

“Magistrate Kang, you called us here for more than to celebrate our marriage?” Asked Nikola, and Kang Lei nodded.

“I wish to do charity in my town of Danyang, but I do not know where to start. Your apprentice,” he said, pointing at Han Shanyuan. “Gave me an idea, but I would like to hear more. And I am interested in another thing he mentioned. Something called a greenhouse?”

Nikola breathed a sigh of relief that the magistrate wanted advice instead of to dig into Nikola’s past. They conversed as they ate, a servant taking notes on all the ways the revenue of the town could be increased so that the charity work doesn’t result in raised taxes for everyone. And of course, of all the things that could be done for the poor of Danyang.

Wei Caihong, remembering grandpa Cao, suggested a home for the elderly so that they wouldn’t be a burden to their children. The magistrate promised that while the building was in construction, he would invite all the homeless old people in his palace. To feed them and take care of them.

Wei Caihong was pleasantly surprised by this magistrate. It wasn’t often that one such as he would actually do his job. To his shame, he himself wasn’t among the numbers of the good magistrates.

The bell chimed, and a servant came to announce it. It was the seventh bell after noon. That was the cue for the Wei family to leave, but before they did so, magistrate Kang stopped them.

“Trader, Nikola, there is something you can do on the way to Chang’an. For the good of everyone,” he said, and Nikola nodded. If he could do so by not revealing his full power, then he would take the job.

“There is a Gudiao plaguing the forests of Yuzhang, staying close to the mountains,” Kang Lei snapped his fingers and a servant came forward with the picture of something hunched over. Nikola took the picture and looked at it better. It had the body of a wolf, with dots on its back. A rat like tail. And the head of a lizard with sharp teeth, coated in blood and venom. Or at least he thought that the purple smudges were venom.

“How tall is this thing?” Asked Nikola and Kang Lei pointed at a nearby pillar connecting the floor with the ceiling. Nikola’s eyebrow’s shot up. This was at least five meters high!

“What are its tactics?” He asked, and he watched as Kang Lei looked at his feet.

“It can make the sound of a crying baby. Mostly it runs and topples down its targets. Then it crushes their heads in its maul. I can understand if you are asking only to give it a wide berth, trader Nikola, but please consider getting rid of it.”

“The manticore can defeat it, probably,” said Nikola thoughtfully. Which was the truth. There were precious little beasts that could survive a manticore’s venom. “But then I will have to make another one to deal with the water ghouls. Do I have a guarantee from you that your people won’t hunt down their protector?”

“You make them?” Asked Kang Lei, and Nikola winced at his slip up. Then he took out a sheet of paper and quickly folded it into a spider. He whispered the word to it, and then it began jumping in his hand.

“Yes, although please keep it a secret.”

“Because this magic screams Atlantis?” The magistrate was taking a closer look at Nikola as he said it. From his long, curly brown hair to his green eyes and foreign features. The magistrate could swear he had seen all this before on a painting. But it had been so long ago and for such a brief time.

“Yes. Atlantis and its Emerald Emperor committed many crimes using magic. The world is not ready for practitioners to openly wield magic again,” Kang Lei nodded at that. He couldn’t brush off the feeling that Nikola was familiar. And the lady Pen also looked familiar, now that he thought of it.

“I take it you will take the job?” Asked Kang Lei, and Nikola nodded.

“I will need a guide to lead me to the Gudiao’s lair. We don’t need to leave Danyang for a week, more if we take a more forward road to Chang’an. I will deal with the Gudiao and return,” Nikola chanced a look at Wei Caihong and Penemue and found them perfectly calm. He had killed a dragon once, when there were still dragons, and had told that to Wei Caihong as he berated him for the corpse infestation stunt. So, it was understandable that they were calm.

“You do that, good man. Now leave and enjoy your wedding night. But let me warn you, I will not preside over another of your weddings! You stick to these two ladies; you hear?”

“He has a massive incentive to do so, magistrate Kang,” said Wei Caihong, patting his stomach as Penemue did the same. Magistrate Kang’s face lit up at the good news, and he called for more sake to be brought so a toast can be held. The expecting mothers raised cups with juice for the toast, mindful of their children’s health.

Back in the inn, the owner met them at the door, a platter with bread and salt on it.

“This is my gift to you, for the wedding!” She said as she gave them the platter. Two boys were hiding behind her legs, but they waved at the Wei family. “And remember…” Began the inn owner as the entire Wei family beamed at her.

“No pets!” They chorused as one. Even Han Fengfan let out a giggle. The inn owner smiled, happy that at least some of her guests were respecting her rules, and let them inside to rest.