Chương 109: Chapter 98: The Eastern Road

Joe's final guard shift was uneventful. He appreciated that. No blooded beast emerged from the forest, no merchant started a fight, nobody disappeared, and nobody tried to murder Simon. Joe spent most of the morning checking the medical supplies assigned to three spring patrol teams. He rejected one batch of old wound powder and reminded a younger guard that medicine stored beside a leaking wall eventually became expensive trash. At midday, he ate in the canteen.

Cole and Daren were arguing about whether a travelling martial artist could defeat a blooded bear bare-handed. Halven eventually told both of them to stop discussing things they had never seen. Simon arrived late. It was an ordinary day. Joe looked around the room. For years, so much of his life had happened here that Blackwood had sometimes seemed to contain the entire world. Now he understood the room for what it was. It was useful and familiar, but the world beyond Blackwood was much larger.

That did not make this place less important. At sunset, Joe returned his active-duty token. The clerk checked the number, scratched Joe's name from the next duty cycle and pushed the completed record aside.

"That's it?"

"That's it." Four years of guard service ended with ink drying on a page. Joe stepped outside. Simon waited near the courtyard gate.

"So you're finished."

"Yes." Simon looked at him.

"You still own part of the workshop."

"It earns more than my guard salary."

"Then I suppose you aren't completely unemployed." They walked home together. Joe realized that this would be the last time Blackwood made that journey routine. It was not the last time he and Simon would ever walk together. Joe intended to see his brother again. Tomorrow, however, Simon would wake in his own house, put on his guard clothes and continue the life he had built here. Joe would take another road. That evening, Mira cooked too much food. Simon claimed it had been intentional.

Mira claimed Simon had given her the wrong quantities. Joe believed Mira. Mary's latest letter from Green Hollow sat on the table. Lily had apparently asked three different travellers how long the journey to Ashbourne City truly took and received three different answers. Mike's contribution had been simpler. Watch your money. Joseph had added beneath it: Especially around people with clean shoes. Joe folded the letter again. The advice was useful enough. Simon noticed.

"You'll write when you reach Stonegate?"

"Probably after we leave."

"Why?"

"We're only stopping for one night."

"One night is still enough time." Joe looked at him.

"I'll write when I have something worth writing." Simon seemed dissatisfied with that answer, but Mira laughed and the conversation moved on. They talked throughout dinner without discussing anything particularly important. Joe valued that more than he expected. He returned to his room late. Almost everything was already packed into two travel bags. His medicine tools, documents and clothes were ready.

Edwin's Ashbourne address was secured among his papers, his money had been divided between several hiding places, and the wooden caravan token remained easily accessible. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. He was taking no furniture. More importantly, he carried no written cultivation records and no notebook containing information that could become dangerous if someone else read it. Joe sat on the edge of the bed.

Before leaving Blackwood, he wanted to see exactly what the years here had produced. He focused. The panel appeared. Joe Vale Age: 18 Static Foundation — Lv. 5 / Perfection Dynamic Foundation — Lv. 5 / Perfection Skin Tempering — Lv. 5 / Perfection Muscle Tempering — Lv. 5 / Perfection Bone Tempering — Lv. 5 / Perfection Medicine — Lv. 4 / Complete Disguise — Lv. 1 / 63% Breath Control — Lv. 2 / Minor Joe read it slowly. The panel did not record Skin IX, Muscle IX or Bone IX.

Those were Joe's own descriptions for something the ordinary cultivation system had never expected a person to do. The panel recorded mastery. His body carried the repetitions. He had completed nine Skin temperings, nine Muscle temperings and nine Bone temperings. Each realm had reached a private Great Completion that existed nowhere in his official records. His Static and Dynamic Foundations had both reached perfection. Medicine had also become far more than the survival tool it had originally been.

Joe had started learning herbs because cultivation damaged bodies and poor people could not afford to waste medicine. Years later, he was improving medicine production, treating patrol injuries and studying anatomy deeply enough to assist his attempts to reconstruct martial methods. Disguise had begun as a practical experiment and had already helped save lives. Breath Control remained modest, but it was useful for regulating respiration, supporting recovery, concealing himself and improving control over his body.

Joe closed the panel. Morning came cold and clear. Joe carried his bags to the eastern gate before sunrise. The caravan was already assembling outside. Eight large freight wagons stood in two loose lines, their canvas covers still damp from the morning air. Two passenger wagons waited nearer the center. Independent carts and travellers gathered around them while clerks checked permits and argued about cargo weight. The caravan was larger than any Joe had travelled with before.

It was still not large enough to make the route harmless. Two senior martial supervisors stood apart from the ordinary hired guards. They watched the preparations without helping with the physical work. Joe studied them briefly. Neither made any effort to attract attention. Theo's warning returned to him. In larger places, the strongest person might be the one making the least noise. A clerk waved Joe forward.

"Token." Joe handed it over.

"Joe Vale. Passenger wagon two. Blackwood to Ashbourne."

"Yes."

"Standard passage."

"Yes." The clerk marked the sheet.

"If you want protected passage through Greyspine, upgrade before the caravan leaves Stonegate."

"I remember." The man handed back the token.

"Remember before we leave." Joe nodded and moved aside. Simon and Mira arrived several minutes later. Simon carried nothing. Joe appreciated that. His brother had finally accepted that the packing was finished. Mira carried food. Joe looked at the package.

"The caravan provides rations."

"So you've said." Joe accepted it. Simon frowned.

"You argued when I tried to pack extra food."

"Most of yours was dried meat."

"It was still food."

"Mira's tastes better." Mira smiled. Simon decided not to continue the argument. Several familiar faces appeared behind them. Daren and Cole came first. Elise followed, and Alex arrived shortly afterward. Even Halven came as far as the gate. Nobody made a speech. Daren clasped Joe's arm. Cole told him to bring back something interesting. Elise warned him not to believe every investment opportunity offered in a capital city. Alex asked him to remember Mutual Help if he discovered useful contacts.

Joe said he would remember. He did not promise more than that. Alex appeared to understand. The first departure horn sounded. Independent followers hurried into position. Joe noticed the differences between them immediately. Some were prosperous merchants travelling with their own carts. Others had far fewer resources. A family of five carried packs while walking beside a thin mule. Two young men had bedrolls tied across their shoulders. A middle-aged couple pulled their own small handcart.

Eight silver bought permission to follow the convoy and benefit from its general security. Twenty-four bought Joe a seat, ordinary food and camp space. Forty-eight bought priority protection when danger appeared. Joe recognized the pattern. Money could not make the road safe. It could determine how much protection stood between a traveller and danger. Joe remembered the difference. Greyspine would show whether the additional twenty-four silver was worthwhile. For him, it probably was not.

For an ordinary traveller, the calculation might be different. The second horn sounded. Mira hugged him first.

"Write when you reach Ashbourne."

"I will."

"Edwin will pretend he doesn't need help."

"I know."

"Don't let him make you work for free." Joe smiled.

"I don't think that will be a problem." Then Simon stood in front of him. For once, his older brother had nothing immediate to say. Joe waited. Simon looked toward the passenger wagon and then toward the eastern road. Finally, he looked back at Joe.

"You could still take the next caravan."

"No." Simon nodded.

"I know. I had to ask." Joe smiled. Simon pulled him into a brief embrace. Joe returned it. When they separated, Simon lowered his voice.

"If your Root test is good..."

"I'll tell you."

"And if it's bad?"

"I'll still tell you." That surprised Simon. Joe had no reason to hide the result from him. Whatever the test revealed, reality would not improve because Joe refused to acknowledge it. Simon nodded. Then his expression changed.

"And the Bone thing..."

"No."

"Joe."

"The distance won't change the answer." Mira laughed. The final horn ended the conversation. Joe climbed aboard. The caravan began moving slowly. Wheels creaked beneath the loaded wagons. Animals pulled against their harnesses while guards shouted at independent travellers blocking the freight line. Blackwood's eastern road stretched ahead, muddy in places but open. Joe sat near the side of the passenger wagon and watched the city recede.

The eastern gate became smaller, followed by the guard buildings and then the surrounding roofs. Simon and Mira remained visible longer than most. Simon raised one hand. Joe raised his own. The road curved. Blackwood disappeared. Joe settled back into his seat. The passengers around him were strangers. A spice seller sat nearby. An elderly couple occupied another section of the wagon. A woman travelled with a young son, while a toolmaker's apprentice guarded two locked cases.

One man had already fallen asleep despite the movement of the wagon. Nobody here knew Joe. They did not know what his panel contained. They did not know what his body had actually completed. To the world beyond Blackwood, he was still an eighteen-year-old guard whose official record revealed only a fraction of what he had accomplished. Their first major stop would be Stonegate City.

According to the caravan notice, Stonegate was an old fortified city still surrounded by walls and large enough to resupply travellers before the Greyspine crossing. Beyond Stonegate came the dangerous portion of the journey. The route passed through mountain roads and forest, with greater distances between settlements. After Greyspine, the clerk had said the world would gradually change. There would be more travellers and patrols. The roads would improve, and towns would stand closer together.

Eventually, they would reach Ashbourne City. Joe knew that Edwin lived somewhere in the East District. That was nearly the extent of his useful knowledge. Joe did not mind. He had spent years in Blackwood finding answers. Now it was time to find new questions. The wagon continued east. Behind him was the place where he had learned how to become strong. Ahead was the first place large enough that his strength might no longer be unusual.