Chương 27: 27 -Watch the Horizon

Yomi made her way toward me, a faint hobble to her gait. She was better, obviously, but it wasn't like a person could casually walk off a knife in their soul.

"I'm told I owe you for my survival," the bounty hunter said.

"Which is nice. I'm not used to anyone trying to save me. Usually they're out to kill me. Or stiff me." I shrugged, keeping a good grip on the flower pots in my grasp.

"Well, I try not to kill people if they're not out for my head. And I figure the Old Stranger will judge my soul harshly if I con people in life." Ha. The spectre of the Old Stranger had enough to judge me on already.

"Let's just... consider ourselves even, yes? You helped keep my farm safe, and I got that flower for you. Neither of us owes the other anything."

"Ah. I'd heard foreigners were liars an' craven to boot. So far? You're doing far more than I would have expected." She offered me a lopsided grin.

"Well. I could be regarded as craven in some regards." I turned, starting on the path back toward my farm. To my slight annoyance, I could tell at once that Yomi was following me. She clicked her tongue and her cassowary broke away from the wall to trot alongside her.

"I take it you want something?"

"Suppose I'd like a chance to see that farm of yours in daylight," Yomi said, shrugging.

"And I take it telling you not to won't work?"

"Likely not." I sighed, creasing my brow.

"You're lucky my hands are occupied," I said. We made our way though Tiode, venturing uphill. Gradually the village grew distant, and the outline of my farm became visible on the risen hill.

"Can't say I've ever seen too many westerners," she admitted.

"You'd mainly get a handful in the larger cities, and even those are mostly just merchants. Certainly, I ain't seen many of them isolated villages like this one."

"I've always strived to be unique," I said bluntly, not looking back at her. I could almost feel her smirk.

"No doubt, no doubt." Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Her scrutiny was obvious. A man like me stuck out like a sore thumb, even if she hadn't seen me pulverise grown men, or take a yokai on in single combat.

"Being honest," I said, "I'm surprised to see you up and about at all. Old Man Guang does good work."

"Tell me about it." She grimaced, rubbing her injured side.

"Still fucking stings, don't get me wrong. But I count myself lucky when the alternative was slowly shrivelling and dying. Never would have thought a village healer could handle something like this. That Guang fellow must have had training at one of the larger cities."

"You figure you're going to make a full recovery?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Might take a week or so before I can leave Tiode behind, but I'll be fighting fit by then. Guess you got lucky, avoided getting hit by that bastard's technique." The corners of my mouth twitched into a frown. Clever, probing for information like that.

"Suppose I did."

"And of course, fighting a yokai at all is something that only a strong cultivator could do. Killing one? You'd have to be pretty impressive indeed. You're a beast, my man." I glanced at her over my shoulder, and she flashed me a cheeky grin. We pressed on, I deciding to keep mum on that front, and we walked through the gate of my land. Smoke was waiting for us. Excited to see me, at first, but wary at the presence of Yomi.

"This is the bounty hunter from the other day. We can trust her," I said, glancing over at her.

"Even if she is being a pain." Yomi hitched her bird to a post on the fence, fed him a handful of grain, and then followed after me.

"Being a pain is my speciality. Usually when I'm hunting a quarry, but I can apply the skills elsewhere," she said. She stood back, watching as I lifted the first sapling from the vase. I had one pit dug out a few meters behind the house, which already had the skeleton of an extension taking shape on the left side, and one on the front.

"I wanted to thank you all the same," Yomi said, her tone turning serious. She leaned against the back wall, watching me quietly.

"Can't say I expected to find someone who could actually help me in the backwoods like this. And I'd be dead without your support."

"Mm. I was mostly trying to keep my land safe." I set the first tree in its hole and pushed the clods of dirt to cover it over.

"Well, I'm grateful regardless. Though you should know that this probably won't be a one time thing. Yokai have been growing in number over these past months. Usually in the central steppe, but they're probing out more and more." She clicked her tongue, a look of disdain crossing her pretty face.

"You got yokai where you come from, westman?"

"We call 'em demons back home." At least, I assumed there was some relation between the two. Though they preferred to prowl about in shadows than to act as brazenly as Inumi had.

"Demons, eh." She tested the word on her tongue.

"Well, I left all scholarly pursuits behind a damn long time ago.

"I figure we're due more trouble. So, take my advice Amon..." She grinned at me, as if excited by the prospect.

"Watch the horizon."