Aimless Ascension

That's a bit cynical for a girl of her age, though he couldn't say it was a bad thing. Gale couldn't help but wonder what she had gone through to become this cynical.

Through the conversation, Gale invited her inside the house. Weirdly, she hadn't asked about all the wealth she probably had seen the last time she escaped from the house. Perhaps she deemed it inappropriate to ask about someone else's belongings.

Well, she hadn't taken anything. She was too proud to do something so low.

"Anyway, Mysterious Farmer Expert, or possibly his doppelgänger," Sumei addressed with a smile. "Do you have anything this unfortunate girl can accomplish?"

"So that you can pay back the debt?" Gale asked. He moved to clean the dishes and bowls on the kitchen. He asked her about tea or other beverages, which politely declined, as she would depart soon enough.

"Possibly."

Gale thought for a moment. "Unless you think boring farm work is something worthy, I have nothing for you to repay me," he told her.

"If it's just simple farm work, then I have to work for years to pay the debt in full."

"Something tells me you don't have that much time," Gale said. It was pretty easy to guess through the way she talked and her body language. This girl was made to stand in the martial world. She would achieve it on her own, or die trying.

"Either way," Gale said, trying to lighten the mood, "how do you calculate how much you need to work to repay the debt? It seemed like a funny math to me."

"Why?" Sumei perked her brows. "It's a straightforward matter, though."

"Do elaborate."

"I'll repay so long my heart says so," Sumei said with her killer smile.

She was probably unaware of how charming her smile could get. It was almost impossible for a girl like her to be alone, no matter where she was. Heavenly genius and freakish practitioner would cater to her just for that smile.

"Your heart says stuff?" Gale joked with mocked seriousness. "I wouldn't really recommend listening to a suspicious organ that talks."

Sumei burst into laughter and that smile reached her ears. Gale joined too. It had been too long since he found a girl who found his stupid jokes funny.

"Jokes apart," Sumei said, "are you sure there's nothing for me to do to repay the debt?"

Gale finished cleaning the stuff and stored them in the kitchen. He had made it a habit to keep the usual items where his eyes would go regularly. If he put them inside his void lock, he would probably forget about feeding birds every now and then.

Practitioners weren't that safe from these usual forgetfulness like mortals, though they tend to remember stuff better.

"Did you find something for me to do?"

"I didn't help you for you to repay me," Gale told her after a while.

Sumei threw an incredulous stare for a nick of a moment, though it moved to contemplation shortly. Gale probably thought he had mistaken if he hadn't caught it.

"I just deemed you in need of help, and helped you," Gale said. "I expect nothing out of this."

Sumei started at his eyes for an extended moment. "You're serious, aren't you?"

Gale said nothing. As the air was growing serious between them, he couldn't help but add, "Or perhaps it was my ploy to keep you here as long as I can."

"Is that true?" Sumei asked.

Gale didn't answer her question. "What do you think?" he asked instead. "Will I be able to keep you here with that ploy?"

Sumei narrowed her eyes. "I can see it working for some time," she said eventually. She sighed right after that.

Both of them got out of the house as the pretty woman looked up at the sky. There was still slight light, as they could see birds flying back to their homes, as the sky was an abstract canvas of golden and red.

"I'm like those birds," Sumei said. "I'll eventually fly. No cage will confine me. Nobody will master over me. Eventually, I'll break free from the confines, and I'll be free. I'll fly. Nobody will capture me."

Gale gave her a long stare and finally sighed. They finally said their goodbyes for now. Sumei hadn't left him anyway to contact her, though she said she would be back to repay her debt every now and then.

Gale kept his eyes on her disappearing figure.

'She ain't the one,' he told himself and sat down on the porch, waiting for Vale to come back.

The big boy came back after about an hour, dragging a dead mountain goat with him. Thankfully, it didn't look like a domestic one, or they would have to apologise and compensate the owner yet again. Well, Vale was intelligent enough to not make the same mistake twice.

Unfortunately, most humans, including Gale, weren't that bright. Not always.

He increased his pace, finding Gale waiting on the porch. He carried the heavy goat and let it go of his clutches when he reached the porch.

"Damn boy, who's going to eat all this meat?"

"Woof!" The hound clearly had the expression that said, if no one eats it, then he would.

"It took you so long to hunt this goat?"

"Wuu, ouu, woof!" The hound clearly wanted to express something, but wasn't particularly sure what it was to express.

"You ventured into the mountains again?"

"Woof!" Vale barked in agreement.

"What's it even in there?" Gale muttered and proceeded to take care of the goat. Perhaps Vale just liked to run around in the mountains. His home used to be in the mountains. Of course, he would like the environment.

"Well, perhaps I'll leave some for the workers tomorrow, and deliver some to the Shens. They had been helpful so far."

***

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Anyway, is the flirtation is cringe?

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