When the six people came to the foot of the mountain, Jiāo was already waiting with five horses. Baishui looked at Jiāo, then at the five horses, a puzzled expression on his face.
Jiāo smiled, a hint of mischief in her eyes. "Don't look at me with that look. I know it's not the seven horses you want."
"There are seven of us, but you only have five horses. How can seven of us ride five horses?" Baishui asked, tapping lightly on Jiāo's forehead. "Did you think about it before you bought these horses?"
"I looked around last night and saw only these five horses," Jiāo explained, her smile faltering slightly. "When I returned to the market this morning, there were no new horses for sale."
"Five horses work because we don't have much to carry," U-ri chimed in, surprisingly pragmatic.
Yul put his bag on a horse's back and hopped on. Michio helped U-ri get on a horse, then jumped onto one himself.
Hajime, ever the peacemaker, said, "Baishui, I believe Jiāo has done her best. If we encounter a village, we can buy two more horses, no big deal."
Jiāo nodded, relieved. "I tried my best. We can get more horses in the next village, as he said." She pointed at Hajime.
Hajime smiled and walked away.
Baishui turned his head to look at Jiāo, gritting his teeth. "You did it on purpose, didn't you?"
"No… I didn't do it on purpose, there really are no horses left," Jiāo insisted, though her eyes darted away, betraying a flicker of guilt. She knew she had done it on purpose. "Also, His Majesty ordered me to take good care of you."
Baishui's jaw dropped in shock. "You told him?" He gritted his teeth, anger rising.
"His Majesty saw me take your bag and the Book of Life," Jiāo explained, avoiding his gaze.
"And he didn't ask you to stop me?" Baishui pressed, his voice tight.
Jiāo shook her head. "His Majesty said that he will wait for you to crawl back to Dreake on your hands and knees."
Baishui frowned and turned around, only to see that Hajime had already handed his bag to Abrafo and was preparing to mount a horse. He dragged his own horse towards Hajime, just as Hajime jumped onto his horse. Baishui quickly drew his horse alongside Hajime.
Baishui looked down at Hajime. "Hajime, get on my horse," he said, stretching out a hand.
Hajime gave him a polite smile. "I'm fine. You are our host; it's only suitable if you have your own horse."
"I don't mind. Come," Baishui urged, his hand still extended.
Yul, already mounted, looked down at Hajime. "Are you ready? The daylight doesn't wait for us." He then looked at Baishui, his eyes falling on Baishui's outstretched hand, then he turned his gaze back to Hajime. He stretched out his own hand. "Get on," Yul commanded.
Hajime grabbed Yul's hand and jumped onto the horse, settling behind Yul. "We still have plenty of daylight," he complained playfully, "it's not like the sun is setting behind us."
Yul looked at Baishui. "Lead the way," he instructed.
Baishui felt a little embarrassed by Hajime's clear refusal, so he chuckled lightly to cover it. "Alright, follow me." He charged forward, his horse galloping ahead.
"Wait for me!" Jiāo shouted after Baishui, scrambling to follow behind him.
Abrafo pulled his horse beside Hajime and Yul. "So, you won't call your wolf?" he asked, raising his brows at Hajime. "We are two horses short."
"Why waste energy when someone has already provided for your necessities?" Hajime replied, a sly grin playing on his lips.
Michio asked, "Hajime, you seem to be very close to that Baishui. What's your impression of him?"
"He is a good man," Hajime stated simply.
"I agree with you. He is too good," U-ri added, his voice tinged with suspicion.
Hajime nodded. "Someone said that when it's too good to be true, it's usually not a good sign," he said, looking at his fellow riders.
"Why do you say such things about him?" Michio asked, a hint of concern in his voice.
Hajime sighed. "I believe he is not human."
"Not human?" Yul questioned, surprised.
"I don't know who he is," Hajime elaborated. "He's neither a demon nor a god. Everything about him looks human, but the soul inside him isn't."
"A demi-god," Michio suggested thoughtfully.
"I don't know," Hajime repeated, shaking his head.
"You are a mage; you should know all these things," U-ri accused, his tone sharp.
"I have only been a mage for a few days before coming to Tanzang, so I don't know everything yet…" Hajime trailed off, looking at the men who stared at him with strange eyes. "Why are you four looking at me like that?"
"You said that you only became a mage for a few days before you came to Tanzang, which of course surprised us," Abrafo explained, his expression hardening.
"We were supposed to talk about him," Hajime countered, gesturing ahead. "Why are you four turning the issue on me now?"
"Because he's not our mage; you are!" U-ri retorted, staring at Hajime as if he had stolen something. "You're lying when you say you're a mage?"
"Because if you lied to us, I would cut off your head, like I said before in the Royal Council Chamber. Do you remember?" Abrafo threatened, his hand instinctively going to the hilt of his sword.
Hajime pointed at Abrafo, shouting, "You want to chop off my head?! I'll see if your sword is faster, or my leopard is faster! I hate you rich people who think you have the right to everything without even having to work hard for it!" Hajime jumped off his horse, his eyes blazing.
Seeing Hajime jump off his horse, the rest of the people dismounted one after another. Abrafo bellowed and reached for the hilt of his sword. Yul looked at Abrafo angrily. "If you dare to pull out that sword and hurt a single hair of Hajime, I will cut off your hands and feet!"
U-ri yelled at Yul wildly, "If you cut off his hands and feet, do you think you alone can complete this important task that His Majesty entrusted you with? Who do you think you are, huh?! The Tenth King… The Grand Great General Sukh...? You must remember, you are just a lowly palace guard!"
Yul looked at U-ri coldly. "A lowly palace guard who has saved you many times. Without my low skills, you would have been a dead old man!"
Boiling blood reached his head, and Abrafo shouted, "Old man, shut your mouth!" He looked at Yul. "If you want to fight, then let's fight. Let's see who will chop off whose hand first!"
Yul looked at Abrafo angrily and gnashed his teeth. "Is that a challenge?"
U-ri threw his pipe at Abrafo, but Michio, with surprising speed, grabbed U-ri's hand. Michio watched the four, who seemed to be under the influence of some visible spell that had suddenly turned them against each other. Michio asked worriedly, "What's wrong with you four? Stop quarreling in front of our two guests!"
Abrafo pointed his finger at Hajime, his face contorted in a frantic rage. "This is all your fault!"
Hajime sneered wildly, "How can this be my fault?! Your country that is about to perish is all the fault of your stupid king, who wants his lover to sit on an equal footing with the Emperor of Heaven!" He pointed at Yul, Abrafo, U-ri, and Michio. "Also, it's all your fault! Your kingdom doesn't have capable people, that's why your poor king asks for help from people like me! Your kingdom is going to perish because it has people like you!"
Yul said angrily, "You can say anything but curse my homeland!"
U-ri said, "How pathetic are you, Yul? You can't even control your husband? Slap him across the face and let him see who the real man is!"
Hajime provocatively said, "Dare to hit me. I will turn each of you into chickens!"
Yul said madly, "You think I can't hit you?"
Hajime said madly, "If you think you can defeat me, hit me!" He shoved Yul back with both hands. "Do you think I'm afraid of you? Remember I'm a mage. If anyone dares to hit me, I'll let heaven strike that person down to the ground!"
U-ri mocked, "You're nothing but empty talk! A powerful mage who can't even rift through time and space! Now that is pathetic!" He laughed, a harsh, mocking sound.
Hajime gritted his teeth and spoke between them. "Such bold words come from a good-for-nothing old man who can't stop complaining about his thin bones when he only walks three steps! If I had known you complained so much, I would never have agreed to take this journey with you!"
"How pathetic you are!" Abrafo snarled.
Hajime charged forward. "Now you also want to interfere with me and this old man, right?! Why don't you finish the old battle first before beginning a new battle?!"
Abrafo gritted his teeth. "I can beat you with my eyes closed, sissy!"
Hajime charged forward again. "You are so dead!"
Michio grabbed Hajime's waist. "Hajime, calm down!"
Abrafo smirked. "Michio, let him come at me. Don't stop him!"
"Shut up!" Michio snapped. "It's wrong for you to call Hajime names. You apologize to him now!"
"I will do no such thing," Abrafo said, standing still with his arms folded across his chest, defiantly holding his ground.
Jiāo, who had been watching the group, turned her head slightly. She was surprised to see that the magic didn't affect Michio. She couldn't figure out why everyone else was affected by her magic, but he wasn't. To avoid being discovered by Baishui, she turned her head away, trying not to attract attention.
Baishui, in the distance, heard the rising discord between the five people. He turned around, intending to investigate, but was stopped by Jiāo. "I wanted to go and see what they were arguing about," he said.
"My Lord," Jiāo said, her voice laced with feigned exasperation. "Look at those uneducated people fighting wildly for no reason. We should go home instead of following them to a strange city we've never been to."
Baishui looked madly at Jiāo, his eyes narrowed. "What did you do to them?" he asked, a chilling edge to his voice.
Jiāo bit her lower lip and looked at Baishui, her guilt apparent. "My Lord… I…"