What About You?

10: interest

"My apologies, sect leader Wen," Jiang Fengmian said with a slight smile, trying to hide his nervousness. "It slipped my mind for a moment that A'Xian has a courtesy name. As far as I know," He felt his face contort with a grimace. "He is out doing mercenary work."

"Mercenary work?" Wen Ruohan exhaled insidiously. "You would allow a child to wander and kill as he pleases? Or did he just have so little cultivation potential?"

"The opposite, actually," Madame Yu stepped forward, giving her husband a look before sending the other sect leader a smile. "He was so talented that we had little that we could teach him."

"Ah, is that so?" His eyes narrowed as his lips quirked upwards ever so slightly. So it wasn't just luck that he was able to stand up to me, it seems. A truly interesting person.

"There's somebody even Sect Leader Jiang has trouble teaching?" A new voice was heard, causing the three to glance at the new arrival to the conversation. "I'd love to meet this person. You said his name is Wei Kuo?"

"That's right," Jiang Fengmian confirmed. "I'm sure he would be honored to make your aquaintence, Sect Leader Nie."

"Ha!" The man laughed, grinning sharply. "Well, I'm always looking for worthy opponents, so be sure to notify me when he returns to Lotus Pier."

"I will be sure to do so," The Jiang sect leader nodded in agreement. "Shall I do the same for you, Sect Leader Wen?"

"No," Wen Ruohan waved the suggestion off, turning to leave as he folded his hands behind his back. "Bring him to the next discussion conference. I shall make my judgement of him there."

"...Still as rude as always," Sect leader Nie scoffed once the guy was gone, crossing his arms. "Damn Wen. Anyway," He glanced between the two in front of him. "Just how good is Wei Kuo? And how did Wen Ruohan know about him?"

"I have no idea how Sect Leader Wen found out about Wei Kuo or why he's interested in him," Jiang Fengmian admitted with a concerned expression on his face. "But if he ever encountered Wei Kuo, it wouldn't be surprising to take an interest in him."

"Indeed," Madame Yu agreed. "Wei Kuo is talented and has a powerful aura about him when he fights, so anyone with a brain would be interested," She paused with a slight frown. "Not to mention he can memorize things quickly and implicate them perfectly right after. Truly a genius of the century."

"Speaking so highly of him has given me high expectations," the other sect leader smirked. "How old is he?"

"He turned 11 just a few months ago."

"Damn, now that's a ripe age," The sect leader laughed. "Amazing, now I'm even more excited to meet this Wei Kuo. I should definitely introduce him to my sons."

~*~

"I have been sneezing nonstop today, what is happening?" Wei Kuo complained as he wiped his nose on his sleeve.

"Eh, someone's probably talking about you," Cao Shuren shrugged. "Focus on the task at hand."

"Yeah yeah," The boy grumbled, resuming his focus of hammering. The troop had stopped by a friend's house, since they had been in the area. It was the friend that had allowed him to make his own sword, so surprise surprise, Wei Kuo was making another one.

His idea was to make another sword since a few months back he had already made a pair of daggers for himself. He also planned to make a boomerang just to be extra. You can never have too many weapons on you, he thought to himself as he finally finished hammering. Picking it up with a tong, the boy shoved it into the water.

"Hey guys, how's the crafting going?" Bai Zhenya and Meng Tian sauntered into the workshop, causing Cao Shuren to greet them with a nod.

"Close the door, guys, geez, you're lowering the temperature!" Wei Kuo snapped at them, causing Bai Zhenya to scoff with a roll of his eyes.

"You're so touchyyy dude, chill out."

"I would make failures if it got any more chilled out in here. Close the door behind you."

"Fine," Meng Tian grumbled, shutting the door.

"What are you guys here for?" Cao Shuren questioned as Wei Kuo got back into his work, too focused to interact with the others in the room.

"We were about to head into town," Meng Tian explained. "So Zi'Xiansheng wanted us to check in with you two to see if there was anything you needed specifically."

"Not that I know of..." The man murmured before glancing at Wei Kuo as the poor dude sneezed again. "Maybe get a gag order for Wei Kuo's name."

"Huh?"

"Ha, funny."

It took another half a day for Wei Kuo to finish his work, and to say it was gorgeous would be an understatement. None of the people around could figure out how he had gotten the blade to be almost a pure white, while also lacking none of the attack or defense elements. The name he bestowed on the sword fit it well: Yinhe, or Milky Way.

The names of his daggers were a sort of pun, one being named Shen and the other being named Pang, which together meant beside or alongside.

Even though Wei Kuo had barely studied the Chinese language, he was still able to make play on words, and it sometimes startled him, but for the most part he just rolled with it with the excuse of 'it's isekai crap'.

Once Yinhe was finished, the troop took their leave and started their travels to once again find more adventures. It was already the middle of July, meaning they only had three-ish months left before Wei Kuo would be returned to Lotus Pier, as per the deal.

During the rest of that time, the mercenaries took on many jobs. Some were investigation jobs, some were bring justice jobs, some were cultivation required jobs, and some were just straight kill jobs.

Needless to say, Wei Kuo preferred the easier type of job out of the four. Time flew by, and before anyone knew it, the mercenaries were on their way to Lotus Pier to drop off their charge for the winter and spring. The November air was sharp with the intent to snow, yet there was no white substance on the ground.

Maybe I'll get to see the first snow of the season with A'Xian, Wei Kuo thought fondly as the complex came within view. I wonder if he's changed at all...