The Embers of King's Teyvat Journey

Washizu sized up Thomas. Although his smile was bright and sunny, the specks of mud on his sleeve armor silently told everyone that he had come in a hurry.

"Haha, just call me Thomas. As for my purpose in coming to Hishiki Village... this isn't the place to talk about that, is it?"

Thomas nodded, then looked at the many villagers who had gathered in the distance, and spoke to Washizu as if to remind him.

"Oh! It was my oversight." Washizu nodded belatedly, then deliberately shouted loudly:

"Please come in, sir. Our crystallized bone marrow is top-quality; you won't find it anywhere else!"

“You’ll have to give us a good price!” Washizu said, winking at Thomas.

The latter nodded knowingly, "Okay, okay, take me to your warehouse. If the goods are all good, I'll take them all!"

Washizu and Toma, like true sellers and buyers, chatted and laughed as they passed through the crowd and entered Hisaki Village.

……

As night fell, the warehouse in a corner of Hikimura was not as dark as usual, but instead brightly lit with fire.

"Is everyone here?"

Washizu looked up and roughly counted; apart from Ember's bunch of tin cans, all he could see were throngs of heads.

"Village chief, everyone's here!" a villager next to Washizu replied.

“Alright, next, please invite the envoy of the head of the Kamisato family to come up and speak!” Washizu jumped down from the pile of ore and extended his hand to Thomas in invitation.

Seeing that everyone's eyes were on him, Thomas didn't refuse and immediately climbed to the top of the ore pile.

"Ahem! Fellow practitioners, my name is Thomas. Many of you may not recognize me, but that doesn't matter. You only need to know that I am the housekeeper of the Shenli family!"

"it is good!"

Seeing Thomas's passionate speech, Yu Jin, as Thomas's friend, naturally had to lend a hand, even though he had only just met Thomas.

As soon as Thomas finished speaking, a series of "bang bang bang" sounds, like iron plates colliding, came from below.

Following the sound, Thomas saw Ember clapping vigorously, and the Forge Knight behind him clapping as well.

"Keep your voice down! I'm just taking a breath, I don't need to clap!" Thomas was startled and quickly looked at the closed warehouse door, afraid that someone would notice something was wrong.

"Oh." Seeing that there was no need to create any more excitement, Ember stopped clapping. The Forge Knights behind him also fell silent.

"Don't worry, I've already told the villagers in advance that you'll be opening the ore and inspecting the goods tonight. The warehouse is a bit noisy, but they won't suspect anything."

Seeing Thomas's alarmed expression, Washizu reassured him.

“That’s great.” Thomas nodded, refocusing his attention. He then looked at the group in front of him again and continued:

"The festival will begin in a couple of days. The residents of Inazuma Castle will be drawn to the festival, which will be a great opportunity for us to enter the castle."

"And I will be your backup. Tomorrow, just stick close to me, and I guarantee we'll arrive safely in Inazuma Castle without anyone noticing!"

Thomas revealed the purpose of his trip. Upon hearing this, the villagers below couldn't help but gasp for breath.

All the preparations they've made these past few days have been for that moment tomorrow; how could they not be nervous?

"I have a question!" Just as everyone was taking a deep breath to calm themselves down, Yu Jin raised his hand.

"What's the problem?" Thomas stood tall and proud atop the ore pile, fully prepared and absolutely capable of handling any change.

"How are we going to get to Inazuma City? It will take several days to walk there. What if we miss the deadline?" Ember asked Thomas.

These people are not him or Ayato Kamisato. Although they are much stronger than ordinary people now, it would still take them several days to get from Hisaki Village to Narukami Island, let alone to Inazuma Castle.

Let's not wait until the plan hasn't even started before half of our people are exhausted.

"Don't worry about that. I've actually been here for several days and I've already found you transportation."

"We'll take a boat then! The boat will be waiting at the beach early tomorrow morning!"

Thomas waved his hand and said with absolute confidence.

"A ship?" Yu Jin lowered his hand. He found it a coincidence because he had also planned to put this group of people into the ship.

And he even found the right person—it's Guilong!

Now that his grain transport business has stalled, there must be many empty ships.

Looking at Thomas, who was standing on the pile of ore and talking eloquently, Yu Jin suspected that Gui Long might be taking on a side job.

Chapter 513 Crossing the Sea to Ascend Narukami

2024-02-28

Early in the morning, Hishiki Village awoke. Apart from the villagers tending to the wasteland, the most conspicuous group was Yujin and Washizu leading a large entourage.

"Good morning, village chief. Where are you headed?"

"Go get the goods. Our crystallized bone marrow has been sold. I'll take some people to carry the goods back!"

Washizu told everyone he met this, and the villagers had no doubts. After all, there were very few large livestock in Hisaki Village, and people had to carry everything.

The crystallized bone marrow of Hikimura has accumulated enough, and the goods obtained in exchange do indeed require this many people to carry back.

After leaving Hiki Village, Thomas led his group to a secluded place after a series of twists and turns.

"Throw off the ore you're carrying. Aren't you tired of running like this?"

Seeing that Hikimura had disappeared from sight, Thomas addressed the group in front of him.

“Okay.” Washizu nodded, then threw the long, cloth-wrapped object in his hand onto the grass and began unloading the ore.

"Are these your weapons?" Thomas asked, noticing the long, thin objects in the hands of the group. Although these objects varied in shape, they were all bound together with cloth.

Thomas quickly realized that these were the weapons of the group.

“That’s right, we built it ourselves, and we’ve been using it for a long time. It’s very handy.” Washizu nodded.

Thomas had no objection to this, as he was well aware of the consequences of using weapons he was not familiar with.

Moreover, for this group of people, there is really no need for concealment or disguise.

As for why..., Thomas looked up at the embers waiting for everyone and the group of tall Forge Knights behind him.

With this group of people around, once they're spotted, there's no escaping them.

Noticing Thomas's gaze, Ember said in a serious tone, "You might not believe it, but if we take off our armor, we'll be discovered immediately."

Upon hearing this, Thomas glanced at Ember and the Forge Knight. Ember was alright, but the Forge Knight...

Judging by their physique, even without their armor, they would still be quite eye-catching.

“I believe you.” Thomas nodded. Seeing that everyone had removed the crystallized bone marrow from their backs, he waved his hand and said, “Alright, everyone, follow me!”

After saying this, Thomas turned around and led the group off again.

With everyone running hard, they soon arrived at the shore of Ba Yun Island. And just as Thomas had said, a large ship was already moored on the shore.

"No way? Is it really such a coincidence?" Yu Jin looked up and felt that the ship looked very familiar.

Upon closer inspection, the person gazing out from the bow of the boat was none other than Guilong, whom they hadn't seen in a long time.

"Guilong, all the people we're sending off are here," Thomas said to Guilong as he led the group onto the ship.

"Ember, Washizu, it's you two? What a coincidence?!" Oni Ryu was quite surprised to see Washizu and Ember.

"Haha, I didn't expect to see an old customer again? What, changed careers?" Washizu was also very surprised to see Oni Takashi.

Previously, Hiki Village relied heavily on Oni-ryu for the circulation of supplies. He bought crystallized bone marrow and sold grain. It can be said that without Oni-ryu, Hiki Village would never have had the resources to shelter others during the war.

"Looks like I guessed right, it's you!" Yu Jin nodded when he saw Gui Long's figure.

In a war-torn region like this, transporting hundreds of people at once seems to be the only option besides Guilong.

"What are you all doing here..." After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Oni Ryu noticed the long strips of cloth wrapped around Washizu and the others' hands.

"Ha...haha, what are we doing here..."

Seeing Oni-Taka's movements, Washizu instinctively hid his katana behind his back. Just as he was thinking about how to fool Oni-Taka, he saw Oni-Taka quietly approaching him.

"You all know that Bayun Island is uninhabitable now, and you want to flee, right?"

"Since you've always been a patron of my business, I'll give you a 20% discount!"

"Tell me, how many people are left! You've only sent so few? Who do you think you're underestimating!"

Alright, no need for Washizu to fool me anymore, Onitaka can fool himself.

Washizu chuckled dryly after hearing Oni-taka's words, and continued the conversation, saying, "Ha...haha, indeed...that's true."

"We're all going to Narugami Island to test the waters. If the work is good, we plan to all go there to make a living."

Gui Long nodded thoughtfully upon hearing this.

"I see. One should indeed be more cautious when moving to a new place. Narukami Island is great; there is no war there. Although it is tough, at least you don't have to worry about your house burning down one day."

"Stop reminiscing, let's set sail!" Seeing that Guilong seemed to be having an endless chat with Washijin, Yu Jin immediately came over to interrupt.

"Right, right, right! We were having so much fun chatting that we almost forgot about that! Let's set sail right away!" Gui Long slapped his forehead upon hearing this, and then immediately ran to the cabin to prepare for departure.

Before long, Guilong's loud shouts came from the bow of the ship.

"Let's set sail!"

With the sails billowing, the ship cut through the wind and waves, carrying its passengers and crew, gradually heading towards Narukami Island.

……

"Whew! We've finally escaped the island!"

"Hotaru! Tell me what happened to Inazuma? It's so depressing!"

Having escaped from the island, Paimon fluttered freely around Ying.

They arrived in Inazuma by boat, but upon entering, they were told there was a processing fee of four million Mora. This immediately prompted Ying and Paimon to run away from the counter.

They were law-abiding citizens in Liyue and Mondstadt, but they turned into criminals as soon as they came to Inazuma.

The difference was so great that Ying and Paimon were still in shock.

"How would I know? Let's think about where we'll sleep tonight! If we don't find a village or city soon, we'll have to sleep on the floor tonight!"

Ying shook her head and said to Paimon. Along the way, they saw many people, some smiling broadly, others looking worried.

However, the proportion of people with gloomy faces is much higher than in Mondstadt and Liyue.