1045 Chapter 1045 The People have Spoken
The Poll is in and the People want Lily’s perspective to happen first so here we go!
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“I think we might have to fight…” said Lian with a wince. “The servants here a quite dedicated, and they might assume that I’ve turned against Bing if they aren’t all that familiar with me… or they might just not recognise me… or think that someone is using my face to infiltrate the house. The real issue is that about a quarter of them are wind cultivators and they can keep up with us. We’ll need to knock those ones out if we want to get away…”
“Is surrender an option?” asked Lily.
“What?” returned a confused Lian, thinking that the blood loss had caused her to mishear Lily.
“Surrender. As much as it would leave a bad taste in my mouth, we could simply surrender and wait for Kat to come and get us. She will have Bing, Feng, and hopefully Fake Meng. It might me less dangerous then trying to fight our way out. I can fight if you think that’s for the best, but I’m not certain I can properly fight off all of these servants. If we surrender… and just sit around in a cell for a bit, that’s rather safe all things considered,” explained Lily.
As if to punctuate her words, the paper guarding the door took a large impact, Lily could feel it creasing under a rapid series of blows, but her multi-layered defence was taking the beating well. Until more servants arrived to help, they were likely safe. Lian seemed to share that sentiment, looking over at the exit with a slight smile on her face. They had time.
“Hmm… I’m not really sure how safe it would be. If we surrendered the servants won’t kill us… it is not their job to decide… but if they take us to one of the sect elders, especially one that doesn’t like me… they might just have us executed before Kat can finish with Fake Meng,” said Lian with a wince.
“That… surely that isn’t something they’d do right?” asked Lily, voice shaking.
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Lian gave a ‘so-so’ gesture, “Technically they shouldn’t… but because I’m a curse user they can make special exceptions. If I was locked up, and I wanted to… I could trade my life for a nasty curse on the sect or something. They could argue they need to execute me before I have time to make up a large scale curse. Bing would be furious, if the real Bang and Meng find out, they’d definitely make life hell for whoever did me in…”
Lian sighed and shook her head “… but with that being said… if we’re dead there isn’t much they can do to bring us back. Our souls are too weak. Perhaps if I cursed my own soul to remain attached to my body… but my mind wouldn’t likely survive the process. That’s not even considering the fact that if Fake Meng and Bang have been around for a while, it is all but certain one of the elders is in on the deception. If that elder finds us, they’ll have no hesitation.
“They’d know that the real sect leaders are missing and they can get away with doing us in. Bing might swear vengeance… but if she’s silenced as well… then it ceases to be an issue. Perhaps they make it a show of it, perhaps they send a strong spirit beast after her to make it look like an accident…”
Lily groaned and interrupted Lian before she could continue on her rant, “Ok, I get it. Letting ourselves get captured is a horrible idea and I’m sorry I suggested it,”
“No… no I’m sorry,” said Lian as a loud, thwap, rang out through the room. The paper shuddered, and Lily could feel on of her layers tearing a bit. Sending a bit of mana to reinforce it, Lily gestured for Lian to continue, “Um… right no… just… that’s always been one of my worries so… I wasn’t a fan of hearing you suggest it as a good idea…
“A lot of people in the sect still don’t like me… and while I’m safe with Bing around… if she isn’t here… and her parents aren’t here… there really isn’t many in the sect who would vouch for me. The risk of death for myself is quite high… or perhaps they’d do me a ‘kindness'” Lian spat the word out, “they’d cripple me and return me to my parents, for obviously if I cannot continue in the world of cultivation I’d want to be with family right?”
Lily winced. “Is it really that bad?” she couldn’t help but ask.
Lian shrugged again, even as Lily heard the assault on her papers redouble. It would be time to leave soon, but Lian was looking better as she talked, perhaps this chat was helping her focus mentally and recover a bit from cursing the teleporter.
Lian once again made a ‘so-so’ gesture, “I’m certainly not well liked, and I can’t honestly say just how bad things are. I know for a fact they are not GOOD but I can’t say for sure just how bad things truly are. It is a fear of mine, perhaps an unfounded one… but one that has certainly become more powerful after finding out Bing has been kidnapped, and Meng and Bang are missing. I… I don’t know how much of a worry it should be… but it IS a major worry I can’t git rid of,”
Lily let out a long puff of air. She didn’t know how to play psychologist here. It was clear that Lian had issues and they weren’t helping right now. It was causing Lian great distress, and when one considered that cultivators were all about understanding yourself and being at peace with your place in the world… it was not a good attitude for Lian to adopt right now.
*Kat would know what to do. She’d deny that of course, but she would have some sweet, and perhaps somewhat harsh words to cheer Lian right up… or at least get her to look a bit less like she’s going to break out into tears.
The problem is that I am NOT Kat, and she asked me not to bother her. Not that I think I could get through her block TO bother her at the moment… but what do I do here? I’m not sure Lian is even well enough to run… but if I push for the surrender route Lian is liable to do something really stupid. I could see her sacrificing a few things she really shouldn’t to avoid getting caught if I don’t help her…*
The sound of tearing paper informed Lily she didn’t have time to worry about this anymore. *Welp, guess I’m fighting.* Lily glanced over and saw that one of the servants had managed to find a sword. *Well that’s just cheating really.* Lily dashed over to Lian and picked the goth girl up into a princess carry. Lily frowned as she shifted Lian around her hands as best she could before realising that Kat was cheating being so tall.
*That extra bit of height makes all the difference. I’ve got no freedom at all to use my arms. Dammit.* “Sorry Lian!” said Lily as she adjusted her hold on Lian to throw her over a shoulder. It was difficult, and Lily’s shoulder wasn’t really wide enough to fit a whole goth girl in winter clothing on it, but Lily could hold her down with one hand. It was… good enough. Lian uttered not a word of complaint.
Messing with Lian’s positioning had given the servants time to get into the room. A female servant stood at the front with the sword, while three others fanned out to block the door further. Lily could here more servants surrounded the exit, preparing for them to make an escape.
The woman with the sword was thin, with a scar running along her cheek. It looked like she’d managed to turn her head away from a sword-blow in the past and only been mostly dodged. Her apron had been sliced in half and tied around her forearms for a bit of protection, and she was wearing long gardening boots that protected her feet quite well. She was ready for a fight… well… if you ignored the shaking of the sword in her hand. While she was more prepared than the others, perhaps that just meant she was more aware of the true reality of combat.
The rest of the group looked both more and less prepared. They had various sharp implements that had been scavenged on their way over. One had a garden trowel as a makeshift dagger while the other had a butter knife in each hand. Lily really wasn’t sure how deadly something like that was in a magical world. Did cutlery need to be supernaturally sharp? What about gardening implements? Lily just didn’t know.
*Right. I’m mostly full on mana. I’m carrying a mostly useless Lian and I’m very surrounded right now. Is there anything I can do to get away? Sure we might need to fight some off… but better a few then the whole damn household!*
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