Chapter 96: Souls of the Innocent (2)
"Haa--- this is so tiring," Elyra heaved long breaths of exhaustion while climbing the snow-muddy stairs of the mountains.
"Just a little more, and we’ll be at the gates of the monastery," Darin said.
"Just a little more? You’ve been saying that since the beginning," Elyra replied.
"It’s not even that high if I were to be hones-"
"I am a mage..." Elyra cut Darin’s words off. "And you are a warrior who has trained his physique all his life,"
’So that is a skill issue...’ Darin thought.
"Do you want me to carry you? It’d be more efficient," he suggested.
"Carry me?" Elyra mumbled.
And then her thoughts drifted to the words of tavern lady.
"N-no...I’m-I’m fine by this, I’m not exhausted," she replied in a hurry, and tried to increase her pace.
"Weird..." Darin murmured.
The rest of their journey was slightly fast paced, with Elyra giving it her all, and Darin casually strolling,
After a long while, they arrived at the tori gates of the Whiteleaf monastery.
The gates had spirals of vines with small white leaves that made it seem as if it was a way into heaven.
"Whoa~" Darin was amazed, and Elyra was way too exhausted to be admiring her surroundings.
As they walked on the stone path of the monastery, which was left unwept for the first time in centuries, the white-fallen leaves swayed with the winds and gust of even the slightest movements of their feet.
They passed through the quarters of monks with not a soul residing in them, paid there respects to every buddha statue they came across with.
After a ten-minute casual paced walk, they arrived at the stone bridge with no railing support, built on a natural pond just before the main residence of the abbot.
The bridge had patches of green grass, and moss, that had built over time from rain and age. And on the center of that bridge was a child sitting with his legs hanging over the pond, head hung low, bald as monks usually are, but that child had distinctively good physique compared to trained warriors.
Fair skin that told about his origins of northern region and deep blue in the iris. Despite being a commoner, he had the looks of high-class nobles.
He wore a dark grey robe, a black sash tied around the waist, his hands had whitewood prayer beads, and his inner robe was made of white silk linings.
He didn’t notice Darin and Elyra until the moment they arrived just beside him.
He raised his head to the sound of footsteps and looked at them.
"Good morning, Munk," Darin fetched the signed notice paper from his pocket, unfolding it, and showed it to the munk.
"We’re here to cover up for our expedition request which was requested from the following place," he said.
"..." The monk, stood up, accepted the notice that Darin handed out and after reading it, he bowed politely.
"My name...is Jinhai," he said.
"I was the one who sent an expedition request,"
"You? Not the abbot?" Darin asked.
Requests like these are often made by abbot after consideration of all the munks that he teaches and leads.
But a child made this request...and it somehow got accepted to be on the notice board in the academy? That was a little hard to believe, but it was the reality for Darin.
"I made this request after waiting for a few days...I was going restless because there was no reply from court officials regarding our file, and coincidently, both the expedition and the file for investigation got accepted at the same time," Jinhai said.
"...This doesn’t make sense, how do you know the expedition got accepted?" Darin asked.
For the one who requests the expedition, i.e, the victim or an acquaintance of one, they have no way of knowing if their expedition was even listed, or accepted unless there are cadets from the academy at their doors.
And from the way Jinhai spoke, it appears he knew that his expedition was accepted even before Darin’s arrival.
’How can this child who’s younger than me know that the expedition got accepted?’ Darin thought, and Elyra, even though quite, had the same thoughts.
"Senior Shen’s elder brother is the son of Silver Valley Village’s elder, I sent my request to him, and from there on, elder of the village requested Ser Graves, and then Ser Graves used his influence to make sure the request gets accepted," Jinhai said.
"Let me lead you to the quarters," he then turned around, and started walking.
"Wait...hold on," Darin couldn’t process any of it.
"Shen? Silver Valley? Graves? Give me a little context..." he said.
"...*Sigh*" Jinhai exhaled as if talking to a bum.
"Silver Valley is a not far from the Mount Whiteleaf, it’s a village situated around the Palace of Rain of the fifth Prince of the Lunar Kingdom, Ser Graves is the aid of the Prince and the caretaker of the palace, and also a very benevolent man who has good relationships with the elder of the village, that elder has two sons, the older son is a merchant, the younger one...brother Shen, used to be a monk," Jinhai said that in one go.
"..."
"..."
Darin and Elyra were both left speechless.
So, firstly they were commoners, second Jinhai in front of them seems to have a relationship with Ser Graves which not even Dukes have the leverage of, and lastly, from the way this child talks he is not even aware of the political power that anyone related to fifth Prince possesses, and he just asked the man and got response?
"...You know Ser Graves personally?" Elyra asked.
Jinhai shook his head.
"Not personally." He continued walking across the bridge.
"He just helped."
"He just...helped?" She murmured.
"Most nobles only help when they gain something in return."
"You poor souls...you must be living in a world full of selfish people to have that kind of thoughts," Jinhai replied.
"...Uh"
Elyra didn’t know how to answer that, and Jinhai didn’t seem interested in wanting to know either.