“…”, the Imperial Guards Captain held in the desire to curse out loud, and even the impulse to show any dissatisfaction like clicking his tongue, as he looked in the direction that the pirate leader fled to just now. After all, he wasn’t in any position to complain to the one who by all accounts saved him and his men from certain doom. Not to mention, he still didn’t know this man’s identity, affiliation or intentions.
But even a trained warrior like him, who knew how to control his emotions, couldn’t completely hide the disappointment in his eyes, at the fact that the man responsible for the pirate raids managed to slip away, as he turned to face his savior.
“Please allow me to express my gratitude…”, he spoke, putting a fist to the chestplate of his armor in a salute, producing a loud metallic noise, signifying that he was speaking not only as someone who was personally saved, but also as a captain, leading soldiers whose lives were also at stake, “My name is Chen Hui, Captain of the Imperial Guard Corps of the Wei Dynasty”
“You don’t have to be so on guard, Captain Chen. We’re simply interested in continuing our journey on this Beast of Burden”, Wu Long chuckled in a friendly tone, calling out the caution that Chen Hui couldn’t hide from him, “If everything went well I would’ve preferred to leave it for you and your men to handle, since you clearly seemed to have a bone to pick with those pirates unlike us”
“I…”, Chen Hui stammered, slightly embarrassed at his caution toward Wu Long being so easily seen through, as well as taken aback at a rather brazen admission that Wu Long’s group was indeed basically forced to interfere out of selfish interest, and weren’t driven by some noble intentions or a genuine desire to help.
“Ah~, don’t worry about it, I’d be careful too if some random guy came to help me out in a pinch”, Wu Long waved his hand in a carefree gesture, implying that there was no need to feel bad about being cautious either.
The Imperial Guards Captain slightly widened his eyes at how different this man was from the cold and emotionless harbinger of death with an overwhelming and oppressive presence that he first witnessed.
This friendly and approachable, carefree attitude very subtly and unnoticeably predisposed Chen Hui to hold a preferable view of Wu Long, even if he didn’t completely trust him or lowered his guard. To an extent, this interaction diminished the effect of the earlier impression he got of Wu Long, despite how profound it was.
Added to that was the fact he didn’t dance around the facts with flimsy excuses, or try to not address and veil awkward truths, instead blowing the topic wide open, and talking in a refreshingly honest and straightforward way. This also added to the favorable impression.
“Haha, you don’t sound like a bleeding heart, that’s for sure”, Captain Chen snorted, to an extent even amused at this level of bluntness, but going along as it suited his style as well.
“Just used to minding my own business most of the time…”, Wu Long shrugged.
“You have my gratitude in either case, you might’ve been forced to do it for your own travel, that doesn’t change the fact you’ve saved me and my men”, Chen Hui spoke with a lighter, less official tone than before.
“You’re welcome”, Wu Long smiled, accepting this more informal gratitude that also had less suspicion mixed into it, and as if reciprocating the change in tone, added “Wu Long, a pleasure to make your acquaintance”
“Haha, so it is Master Wu. I doubt I’ll be able to forget that name. It’s an honor for me to get to know such a formidable warrior, and no doubt a figure of great fame in these lands in the future”, Captain Chen cupped his fist with a smile, as did Wu Long in response.
“By the way, I have a favor to sell to you, interested?”, Wu Long then added, prompting Chen Hui to raise his eyebrows.
“A favor? On top of what you did already? I’m no merchant but even I know it’s not good to rack up too many debts, especially before you even start paying out the previous ones”, Chen Hui chuckled, maintaining reasonable caution even as the tone of conversation became more friendly.
“Haha, wise man”, Wu Long let out a short laugh while nodding, “But it’s not like I’ll be doing anything more than I already did, it’s just a matter if you want to exploit the results or not”
The Imperial Guards Captain turned a surprised look to Wu Long, and then a realization appeared in his eyes, as he uttered with exasperation, “You… you can’t be talking about…”
“Correct”, Wu Long confirmed, “I let him go. You wouldn’t have gotten any information out of that guy if you captured him, even less if you’d killed him. He’s a lot more useful alive and free to run back to his master. Though if he’s at least a bit smart he’ll lay low for a while before doing so”
“But… the raids…”, Captain Chen looked down and raised his hand to touch his chin in thought, certainly seeing the merit in those words.
“They’ll stop at least for some time, he’ll have to report to his superiors, and it would take a while to gather a new crew of pirates with sufficient skills discreetly”, Wu Long nodded, “on the other hand, once you know who’s behind the whole operation, you’ll have more means to tackle it, as well as more political leverage”
“Clever… though you seem to be certain we don’t know who’s behind it”, Captain Chen turned his gaze back to Wu Long with a probing look in his eyes, implying that the latter knew more than he let on, as now this conversation went into the internal politics of the Wei Dynasty.
Chen Hui didn’t bother to sugarcoat or hide that suspicion in keeping with the direction their conversation was going so far, which itself was also a test of whether Wu Long would change course or continue in the same tone.
“I bet on the chance that you’re at least not certain who it is among those you suspect”, Wu Long shrugged, not finding it insulting, rather quite natural, to have to explain his reasoning in detail – given the sensitive nature of the topic – “Since you’ve been sent here to deal with these raids specifically by the ‘5th prince’, and confirmed some kind of suspicions, I assumed it had something to do with the internal affairs of the Wei Dynasty. But since your – I assume – secret assignment was leaked, with a nice ambush prepared and waiting, the powers involved are not so simple. The most common of large-scale troubles and turmoil within a Dynasty that involves such high level figures, as far as my experience tells, is succession, and given there’s at least five Imperial descendants from the sounds of it, all of whom I assume are at least somewhat aspiring for the throne, it’s hardly likely that you know which one specifically is responsible”
“A bet huh?”, the captain chuckled, thinking over that answer, ‘Didn’t evade… And his guesses can be made from just observing what happened here and analyzing my own words and actions before the fight started… doesn’t mean he isn’t bluffing, but I can’t see any holes to poke in this explanation, or any signs of acting’
He also understood that if Wu Long’s bet was off the mark, there wasn’t any downside for Wu Long personally. After all, he had no reason to care if the raids resumed after some time.
But the most important thing was that there was a clear intent to gain merit from the situation from Wu Long’s side.
It wasn’t yet clear what specifically he was seeking from building goodwill with Chen Hui, and through him with the 5th prince, but as long as Wu Long was pursuing some kind of personal interest there was less fear of more nefarious ulterior motives, as well as more room for negotiations.
“I think you know I can’t promise you anything, but something tells me that we will be seeing each other again”, Chen Hui then replied.
“You’re not going to the Wei Dynasty?”, Wu Long asked.
“We are…”, the captain made a questioning look at such an obvious inquiry.
“Then I’d say we’ll be seeing each other quite often on our way to the Imperial Capital”, Wu Long chuckled.
“Khh… you could’ve just let me say something cool and get away with it…”, Chen Hui grumbled as he turned on the spot.
“What, like your ‘surprise’ reveal that you were among the passengers? Believe me, everyone was left in ‘shock’, just not at the reveal”, Wu Long turned as well, as they flew toward the Beast of Burden.
“Ugh… was it really so obvious?”
“Well, when you march in lockstep like soldiers as you walk around the deck of the vessel it’s hard to not notice, or when some of your guys make a salute with fist to the chest when talking to you, or when…”
“Please stop… I get it”
“Ah, don’t get depressed over it. In my experience, regular government officials, especially civil law enforcement, excluding those who do infiltration as a profession of course, just, you know, regular duty people like you or your men, really suck at pretending to be civilians. It’s not just these obvious and glaring signs, it’s your overall… ambient aura”
“Bullshit, I regularly go to seedy places in downtown of the Imperial Capital disguised as a civilian, there’s even a bar where I’m a regular and recognized as one of the ‘locals’, if you know what I mean”
“Set aside discussing actual business, have you ever heard anyone telling a story involving something even remotely illegal there?”
“…no?”
“I have bad news for you… everyone in that bar likely knows you’re with the Imperial Guards”
“No way that’s true!”
“Fine, suit yourself”
“Don’t say it like that! Don’t act like you didn’t just ruin years of my life! You ruined everything!”
“Ah come on, don’t get depressed, want me to pretend I don’t know you’re an Imperial Guard for the rest of the journey?”
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