The four people behind Mo Ji were all men. Two of them looked really young, not that I should make any comments about people’s age since I am only eleven. After Mo Ji informs us that they are the new guards we have requested, he takes off as he has to return to get lunch for the governor.
The first person is Liu Kang. While his surname is Liu, he is not part of the Liu family and instead is from another province. He has a rough, square face and he is just wearing some kind of jacket which exposes his chiselled abs and strong body.
“Hello everyone, I am Liu Kang and I have just transferred over to the capital from another province. I hope everyone will treat me well. I am a capable brawler so you may put me in the front of your formations.”
Next to him, a young man who looks like a scholar then smiles and introduces himself. He has a young face and is full of charisma, which somehow gives you a pleasant feeling whenever you look at him and his face looks like it’s symmetrical.
“Good day everyone, my name is Sima Di and I am adept at formations. I was transferred over from the investigations department and I can also defend myself with a shortsword if the need arises. That said, my skills are defence orientated.” He says charmingly.
He then introduces the short, fat man next to him. “This is Zhuge Pang. He is not eloquent but frank and you will find him to be a great friend if you try to talk to him. He was my partner at the investigation department and he is a shield bearer.”
Zhuge Pang then interrupts “We were only transferred here for this riding circuit. The official in charge of the investigation department said you people needed help and that joining you guys will make it easier for us to get promoted.”
Sima Di frowns at Zhuge Pang and sternly reprimand him “Hey you damned fatty. Lord Hui said to be nice as these people are all ranked higher than him! Do you still want your promised promotions?!”
Zhuge Pang then makes a nervous face and say “Uhhhh…haha…haha…you can call me Fatty (Pang Zi). Let us all be friends, shall we? I know where to eat all the delicious food in the entire DongGuan province and I’ll bring you guys there!”
Judge Cui then says softly to spare Zhuge Pang the awkwardness the created by himself “okay okay, we will all be one body once we set off for this riding circuit. I know everyone is hungry as it is time for lunch so let us let the last person introduce himself then we will head to the canteen for lunch.”
The last person looks a little dirty, but he is wearing the uniform of a ranger. Every city will have a ranger unit and they are the most highly trained unit in the city. They are part of the city defence corps and will guard the city in case of emergencies until the army arrives.
Unlike the rest of the city defence corps who are just trained in basic combat to patrol the city daily and fight on top of the city walls, the rangers are often sent outside of the city to hunt and clear up monster nests in the wild. He is of average height and average looks. Nothing about him stands out. You would not notice him in a crowd and would just forget about him.
“My name is Mo Di. Mo is not my surname. I don’t have a surname, I am an orphan. You can just call me Moddy. I asked for a transfer when I heard that you were looking for people as I got tired of watching my friends die. You should already be aware that I am from the ranger unit as I don’t have anything else to wear. I am skilled with a bow so put me at the back of your formation.” He says without any change in his expression. His eyes are also blank as if he has lost far too much and is emotionless.
After all four of the new guards introduced themselves, we introduce ourselves and head off for lunch.
…
After lunch, we return to the briefing room and discuss our plans. Everyone seems interested in listening to what we will be doing for the foreseeable future as a riding circuit will usually take a few years. Well everyone except Zhuge Pang who is now sitting on a chair at the side of the briefing room and is dozing off.
At lunch, as the food in the canteen in the governor’s office is free as it is open only to staff, Zhuge Pang became overly excited and started ordering a huge amount of food and as soon as we sat down, he started eating crazily. Everyone gawked at him and stayed silent throughout the entire lunch except for Sima Di, who just ate his food happily.
Judge Cui looks at him and let out a sigh. “Well, with this team we will be able to set off on the route that Shi er recommended. We should be able to search for the bandits since we have someone from the ranger unit and with the sleeping fatty, even if they have established a base, we can easily smash it.”
Judge Cui then explains the previous plan that we discussed and asked if anyone had any suggestions. Nobody was against the plan but Sima Di woke up Zhuge Pang and asked if the route is fine.
“Zhuge Pang often goes around the province hunting for good food whenever he takes a break so he should know the best routes to take to shorten the duration that we will spend on the road.” He explains.
After a few minutes of examining the three dimensional map of the province, Zhuge Pang rearranged some of the strings but did not make any significant changes. “This should be the most optimal route,” he says proudly.
Honestly, this is kind of amazing since maps are military secrets in this world and not many people will venture too far away from their homes.
….
Two months later, it is the time to leave home. My mother seems to be adept at fooling my brother and sister so they still think that I will be back home for dinner later. They were still laughing and waving when I left home with my father.
My father had already given me one hundred and twenty spirit stones last night, which is my salary for the next five years. He said that everyone who leaves on a riding circuit will receive five years of their salary before they set off as a riding circuit will normally last around five years. Ever since I found out how valuable a spirit stone is in the empire, I was shocked at how well people are paid.
My father explained that this is because the currency that the empire uses is useless in the world of cultivation world. Since everyone who is aware of cultivation will want to cultivate, all the big families and high ranking officials will ask for their salaries to be paid in spirit stones instead so the empire just decided to give high salaries to everyone who worked for them. This way, they will be happy and live comfortably for the rest of their short lives as a form of reward.
In the cultivation world, spirit stones are used as currency while metals like copper, silver or gold that cannot conduct qi are no different than as scrap metal.
