L.O.R.D - Volume 1, Section 1: Fauser"s Mysterious Visitor
L.O.R.D (New Version)
Movie t.i.tle: L.O.R.D (Legend of Ravaging Dynasties)
爵迹
Author: Guo Jingming
Published: 2016
Translation: [email protected]
Volume 1: Divine Beginning
Section 1: Fauser"s Mysterious Visitor
[West of Aslan Empire – Town of Fauser]
When Kins enters the lobby of the inn, it is already the afternoon.
The setting sun from outside the window shrouds the inn located at the outskirts of the town of Fauser in a warm and charming orange ray. Looking out from the entrance of the inn, there lies a straight path paved in grey-white rocks, the path looks dated, the surface of the rocks rubbed smooth from the elements and footsteps through the years.
There are people from all walks of life on the streets of the small town. From time to time there will be people carrying traveling bags of various sizes walking under the setting sun, one look and you can tell that the person is not local. Occasionally there will also be carriages drawn by horses leaving this town filled with the local special spices towards the port along the coast before boating the boats. For hundreds of years, the spices that are made from roots of maple trees in Fauser, due to their advantage of being quality products at low prices, they sell very well at the ports in the South.
At both sides of the path are dense carpets of gra.s.s, as it is currently the start of winter, the gra.s.s has yellowed, the wind picking up the pieces of dry gra.s.s, carrying them in the air; under the rays of the sun, they resemble floating golden dust particles.
The entire town of Fauser looks like a homely town after being painted by golden dust, filled with the fragrance of honey and berry wine and hot fruit tea.
Yet Kins does not care for the scenery outside the door, at this very moment, the only things in his eyes are the people seated in the lobby of the inn.
Similarly, another person sizing up the guests is Qi Ling who is currently weaving between the tables to serve tea for the guests.
If you want to describe Qi Ling, there are many adjectives you can use, the most commonly heard in his youth are sharp, fresh, obedient, pretty, etc, when he grew up, the most commonly heard are handsomely pretty, tall and heroic. Qi Ling was born with eyes that shine, looking like the stardust glimmering in the sky. His large and dark eyes, coupled with his dark eyebrows that resemble two sharp daggers, makes him seem even more handsome. His smile is like the spotless curved moon in the sky. Every day at the entrance of the inn, there will be many girls of Fauser who will take a round-about route in order to see him, on their heads there are colourful head-scarves and ribbons, play-fighting while they jog past the door of the inn and glancing in.
Looking at him tying his healthy raven hair behind his head with a band made from lamb skin, and then folding a small portion of his sleeves up in order to wipe the tables, wash the plates, his toned forearm emitting a vibrancy specifically found in mature youths, the lines of his muscles clear and pretty, full of vitality, unlike the uncles sitting at the tables drinking honeyed goat milk wine who seem as if their bodies are covered with a layer of cheese, soft when touched.
They also peek at him climbing up the fruit tree in the backyard to, picking fruits to eat, or standing atop the roof to sweep away the red maple leaves that fell from the sky. His long and lean built as agile as a leopard.
Sometimes he stands in the yard nearing nightfall in autumn; the wind picking up in the sunset where what’s left of the sun resembles blood, the wind causing his brows to scrunch up, looking like an amorous and fallen bard. This image does not match up with his age. Actually, in his mind he’s just thinking “I’m done for, I broke three plates this month, the boss lady is going to deduct a lot of money from my pay again.”
Of course, Qi Ling often throws flirtatious looks at the girls, as if boys his age are born to tease girls. Born with pretty eyes and an agile figure, despite being an errand boy wearing clothes faded from too many washes, an aristocratic aura surrounds him, like a layer of starlight so that he always stands out from the crowd.
Those from the town who’s been to the imperial capital of Gelanerte all say that Qi Ling looks like someone who belongs in the imperial capital. Yet from the moment Qi Ling was born to his seventeen years of age, he hasn’t stepped one foot outside Fauser. He does wish to go to Gelanerte all day long, but despite that, he hasn’t left this small town located deep in the forest even once.
But today, this inn located in the town of Fauser, sits five people from the imperial capital of Gelanerte.
Their target is the soul beast ‘Bing Mo’ (lit. Ice Racc.o.o.n) that will be appearing in Fauser that evening.
Qi Ling has been hearing the town folk’s talk about it the past few days, but words like soul beasts and soul masters are much too foreign to Qi Ling. Although he knows that the whole mainland of Odin is set on the foundation of “soul powers”, but the only contact he has with something related to soul powers is the old lady over eighty who is sanctified all day long. The people in this town all say that when she was young, she was the servant girl of a honourable family in the imperial capital, after learning some soul tricks sneakily, she returned to Fauser. Yet the only time Qi Ling ever saw her use her powers was to make the water from the well fill her pail automatically. And this simple action seemed to take all of her life, after which she huffed and puffed as if she was going to die.
Qi Ling feels extremely disappointed. That is because he’s heard so many great things about soul masters, in the legends they seem invincible, when they raise their hands they can influence the red glow of the sky, with a wave their hands they can also command a tsunami, their presence akin to that of deities.
He will always seek information from the travelers about the imperial capital and the soul masters there, but those who can come to a place like Fauser aren’t very important figures, they only know about the soul powers controlled by the bloodline of the royal family by ear.
So, when the inn suddenly contains five soul masters from Gelanerte, his whole body feels like a kettle filled with boiling water, jumping around, unable to stop not even for a second. He is constantly refilling the tea for the people at those tables while he listens intently so he will not miss any words in their conversation.
Kins surveyed his surroundings before picking to sit at a table that is already occupied, before he was even properly seated, the woman opposite him opens her mouth: “Can’t you see that this table is already occupied?”
Kins raises his head and a clear and bright smile appears on his face.
Slightly over thirty, Kins is a soul master that has quite some fame in the imperial capital, the family of Kin is also known for their precise control over soul powers, a notable family. He raises his carefully trimmed brows slightly and speaks to the woman opposite him who was clad in dark green: “I did.” After saying that, he raises his hand to pour himself a cup of tea, the liquid filling the teacup like a thin thread without haste, after quite a while, he fills the cup. He places the teapot down, “So?” looking up with his insightful eyes, he looks at her with a smile that is not quite there.
Kins raises his cup halfway, just when he wanted to raise it to his mouth, the cup shatters.
The liquid that splattered everyone solidifies into water droplets the size of pearls, bouncing on the surface of the table, the sound of something impacting on wood echoing on the table. yet these water particles are not frozen, as if held together by a force, they form a ball of liquid that will not spill as they bounce everywhere.
Standing at the side, Qi Ling watches with eyes so wide they are almost falling out.
Kins looks down with a laugh, gently spreading his hands out, at that moment, all the water particles seem to be lead by a force, all of them returning to his palms, before Qi Ling saw what happened, a dainty cup made of ice appeared in the hands of Kins, emitting coldness. Kins picks up the teapot he had set aside before and pours another cup of boiling hot tea into the cup made of ice, the cup not melting despite the flowing steam.
The face of the woman opposite him looks as if it was shrouded by a layer of frost, just when she was about to stand up, Kins raises his hand and gestures for her to sit down. Kins takes a sip of tea before speaking dimly: “You should reserve your soul powers to capture the Bing Mo, if not, you can leave some soul powers in order to run for your life.” Kins smiles bright and confident, “Am I right, Lu Ya?”
The woman clad in dark green does not speak again, however, the man sitting beside them opened his mouth: “Well, since there is only one Bing Mo, you’re gonna have to fight for it anyway, even if one of them dies now, it’s nothing big, it’s actually better.”
Kins turn his head; an expression of disgust appears on his face. The person he wishes to see the least is sitting at the table neighbouring him at this moment — Tuoka. Kins touches what’s left of his severed pinky and shoots a poisonous glare at Tuoka. Three years ago when he had been haunting down the soul beast “Liu Yun” (lit. flowing cloud), Tuoka had been fighting for it with him, cutting off his pinky with his sword of ice, but in the end Tuoka wasn’t able to capture Liu Yun, the person who subdued the beast was a young count from the imperial capital who was only eight years old.
At this moment three years later, Tuoka looks at Kins wildly and arrogantly once again, revealing his dirty teeth.
“It’s not like you have to die s.n.a.t.c.hing Bing Mo, you’re ruining the friendly atmosphere by saying that.” A beautifully made-up woman from another table opens her mouth. She’s dressed like a dancing diva that tours from town to town, bells and cheap jewels covering her body. However, her status is far from cheap.
“As long as you know when to quit and run with your tail between your legs, you won’t have to lose your insignificant life, if not you’ll be a blur of blood and flesh in the end with no benefits. That’s why, a person should know where they stand.” While speaking, she movies her full bun of hair from side to side, looking very joyous, as if she just drank some delicious vintage wine, but no one knows who she’s talking to as she was staring at the air, her gaze not focusing on anyone.
After Kins sees her, he takes in a deep breath, regarding her with a tone that is half fearful and half of disdain, saying: “Liuna, don’t you already have ‘Hong Ri’ (lit. Red sun), why are you here.”
Liuna giggles coquettishly, turning to the air beside her and saying: “Hong Ri has been alone for too long, it’s lonely, am I right, Hong Ri?” Just as she finishes speaking, a transparent whirlpool of air appears beside her, with a loud sound, a majestic red lion the size of a grown man when on its four legs. It is growling constantly, on its wide forehead are four large blood-red eyes, each looking like a glowing red metal ball, when it opens it’s b.l.o.o.d.y mouth, it spills a gust of burning hot air that causes the air outside to twist and turn. Liuna’s figure was originally built, but at this moment with the large beast beside her, she seems like a small girl.
Those town folks who had been discussing about the group of people softly escapes in panic with their voices raised. This is because they have never seen an actual soul beast before — soul beasts in their imagination should only be like lions and tigers.
“Also, Bing Mo isn’t an easy target, at the most vital moment, I still have to depend on my baby, letting it attack first.” Liuna caresses the terrifying monster beside her as she mumbles lovingly, as if a gentle and kind mother caressing her child.
“Sounds nice in theory,” Kins snorts, “Let it attack first? You mean let it die first. Everyone knows that an average soul master can only own one soul beast, if you want to capture Bing Mo, then you have to let Hong Ri die first.”
“Yes……” Liuna’s gaze is as tender as water, her fingers stroking the black circle of polypus beside the mouth of the monster, without turning her head, she replies, “But how does that concern you?”
Tuoka and Lu Ya both snort but do not reply.
Kins feels very uncomfortable looking at it, but he can’t make a move. Even if Liuna didn’t summon her soul beast, just by herself, her soul powers are comparable to his.
Kins takes in a deep breath and turns to look at the gradually darkening sky outside the window.
The lobby of the inn empties out quickly and no one speaks. They sit in silence, unconcerned about others. Qi Ling, who stands petrified at the side with a teapot, retreats quietly to behind the bar.
The dusk seeps into the lobby of the inn, successfully creating a chilling atmosphere. Qi Ling lights the bronze lights on the walls one by one before topping up the oil for the lamps that are flickering. The light spreads from the stone walls and the lobby is bright again. However, there are still corners the lights cannot hit, and there seems to be a pile of chilling ghouls hidden in those places. Everyone all senses it sharply, the temperature of the surroundings dropping at a hard-to-detect speed, the water in the air slowly but surely solidifying.
“Tinkle—“
In the silent inn, a clear sound of a metallic bell rings just like a circle of small ripples on the surface of a lake when raindrops pelt on it, spreading in the air.
“Ai yah……” A voice that is tender but has an indescribable strangeness to it drifted over from the darkness above, “Why are there still so many people?”
Appearing from the dark shadows on the stairs of the inn is a blurry silhouette of a young girl, appearing to be around twelve or thirteen years old, wearing a purple robe that reaches her knees. Two small masks are clipped to her waist. Her hair is messy and both her complexion and lips are pale. To put it another way, there seems to be a toxic blue-grey within her paleness. She has a pair of large eyes but they do not shine. They are soulless and her dark circles are heavy, as if she is troubled by sleep for long periods of time. She stands barefooted on the stairs, layers and layers of silver metal bands envelop her ankles. There is a silver bell on them and the ghostly tinkling sound came from her ankles.
“I really dislike noisy places......extreme distain. Can all of you be quiet?”
The ghostly voice, as if a puddle of dark and lifeless water. Coupled with the numb and hollow express on her face, this sentence doesn’t seem like it came from her, but from a ghoul hiding in the depths of the darkness. A smell spreads across the air, indescribable, as if a gust of thick stench of blood from a swamp of death blew over.
The little girl descends slowly, when she pa.s.ses Lu Ya, she turns her head gently, looking at Lu Ya expressionlessly, tilting her head slightly: “Then, we shall have one less first, perhaps that will make things more quiet.”
And then Lu Ya’s head, rather baffling, falls to the floor with a crash.
Her torso without her head is still perched upright at the table, even her hands remain in the position of her pouring tea. The cup fills rapidly and the water seeps out, dampening the table. The b.l.o.o.d.y hole the size of a bowl on her neck, like a fountain, has thick and hot blood gurgling out.
The teapot in Qi Ling’s hand falls to the floor with a crash. He stares at the torso without a head sitting upright at the table. It is as if a transparent large hand reached into his abdomen and grabbed onto his stomach. He wants to vomit. A high-frequency humming sound emits from his ears.
The little girl walks past Lu Ya’s corpse, the metal bangles on her feet emitting soul-stirring tinkles, she approaches Qi Ling slowly, with every step, the metal bangles on her body clangs, sounding indescribably creepy. Qi Ling"s hands tremble as he stares at this horrifying young girl that is approaching him. The rational part of him is screaming at him to escape, but his body is rooted to the ground in fear.
Soon, the young girl stands before Qi Ling.