Chapter 878: It Was Like This You See


    Otiss nced back at the tents on the other side of thepound, noting the distinctiveck of movement from the other members of the caravan, “You can stay here telling stories if you want, I apparently need to wake the others up... perhaps get started on a bit of food for everyone as well... you’re free to tell whatever stories you want, just be ready for the breakfast bell,” after he finished speaking Otiss once again strode off, not even waiting for a response.


    Palo didn’t look pleased as he stared at the departing figure. Apparently he was hoping for some convenient excuse not to keep speaking with Kat. Well to bad for him. Hearing stories was a great way to pass the time, and she was sure that Lily would love to hear about basically anything new. Still, when Palo turned back to look at Kat, he caved under her pleading gaze. Well, that or maybe she was leaning over a bit too much. Not that Kat noticed either way.


    So Palo sighed and started up his story, “I’m not really sure there’s much to tell. You see, my grandmother on my father’s side was part of the sect that was on thend the swamp now sits. She wasn’t particrly high up, and she was terribly poisoned by the event. She survived, but with her cultivation crippled so she settled down nearby and had my father.


    “When she passed... well I was pretty young at the time but it signalled a shift in my dad’s attitude. Grandma was a major bread winner for the family. Even with her cultivation pretty much destroyed the improvements she’d made to her body was more then enough to make her the best ‘mortal’ hunter orbourer. They’d call her in for the bigger jobs that they’d normally have to hire a cultivator for. She got a good cut of that money... and really the thing most people don’t understand is that even for a Rank 1 cultivator mortal money has basically no use.


    “Still, to her it did and that made her well sought after. Until one day all the poison must have caught up to her. It was all very sudden. One day she was fine, hunting Rank 1 spirit beasts all by herself, and the next she could barely get out of bed. It didn’t even take 3 full days for her to pass.


    “Now... I don’t really know what was said between her and my dad. Maybe she encouraged him, maybe she told him not to bother... but to get money Dad decided he wanted to scrounge around the swamp, looking for relics. The real jackpots were old storage rings, if they survived. Those tended to have quite a few things in them and even if they were just cultivator robes, if they had some inscriptions on them that’s enough to feed the family for a year and then some.


    “So that’s what Dad did, still does sometimes though not frequently anymore. I would say... we lived well. Compared to the other mortals we had some of the best lives... but it just doesn’tpare to a cultivator and sometimes that burns me. Still, it’s never worth actually keeping anything around. Cultivators would here about it ande for us. Much better to be known for selling relics. It stops most of them from just killing you and taking your stuff. You might find more cool things alive after all, and if we’re selling them... well they have a chance to get it themselves... and if the fail... well... that’s someone else to kill that ain’t me.


    .....


    “As for Dad... see... he had an ident. He was excellent at stealth. It just isn’t worth fighting most of the beasties here. Either they weren’t worth much or he wasn’t even close to strong enough before the ident. He ended up getting surprised by one of the quillcrocs. Dad didn’t notice one was sleeping in a little hollow near his work area. So it burst out of the water right at him and the only way to dodge in time was to plunge himself straight into the poison...


    “That’s where I got my first hands on experience dealing with it. Sadly... Dad can’t really walk properly anymore. A cultivator can deal with having so many holes in their legs... but a mortal like me and Dad... well... he uses a cane now and the scars have mostly all healed... but apparently the pain persists, and while we might be able to pay for treatment... Dad says he’s gettin old and says ‘medicine is a tool for the young, the old shall endure for as long as necessary’ and I mean...


    “I of course don’t like to hear my dad talking about himself like that... anyway what I should really warn you about is-” Palo paused as they both heard a ringing sounding from Otiss’ camp. Palo turned to look over it and then back to Kat with a smirk. “I’m afraid I need to go. He does pay me so his requestse first, I’m sure you understand,”


    Kat pinched her lips together so she wasn’t frowning and gave Palo a curt nod. *Little shit. If you didn’t want to tell me anything, just say so. Stop trying to use Otiss as an excuse to get out of it. It’s quite clear you didn’t want to talk to me but I DID want to know and I thought I asked politely enough. Whatever.* “Of course I understand,” *I was able to say that? I suppose I do understand just not in the way he wanted...* “have a good,” said Kat with arge smile. Maybe a little bit of purple fire leaking out as well.


    Palo noted that wisp of fire, and his highly tuned instincts from constantly entering dangerous terrain and watching for threats informed him he may have just made a terrible mistake. That little wisp of me seemed poised to do something horrible to him. Burn him alive most likely, was what he thought. So he booked it. Kat just continued to smile and wave slightly as he ran away. Kat gave a huff at the camp once Palo had mingled in with the other figures and sat back down against the snake. Closing her eyes she started to meditate until someone else woke.


    Perhaps no longer surprisingly it was Lily who woke up next. Even if, upon waking and realising her rather lewd position, she attempted to pretend otherwise. Kat of course could feel the potent mixture of what had to be lust, something easily identified as love, and just as easily, shame and embarrassment. Still, Lily seemed to approve of the situation if anything so Kat let the ruse continue even if Lily’s emotions were a bit like a foghorn in her ear. Nearly deafening in their power.


    And so time passed, the convey moved off, Kat rxed, Lily pretended to still be sleeping and not immensely enjoying the feeling of being sandwiched by Kat’s boobs... until Kat heard a groaning, then a p, and then two people awkwardly exiting the back of the snake. Xiang was ring at Yang who was... well honestly it was hard to say what she was trying to look like. Her face waspletely red and her eyes were still had purple lines all through them making her look crazy if anything. “Hey guys!” said Kat, “So... good news and bad news... Good news, found out what you’ve been poisoned with... bad news... well... let me exin...”


    Kat quickly went over what she’d learned about the swamp rot and as soon as she finished Yang made her opinion known, “You will NOT be rubbing salt in my wounds I don’t care how much deadlier it might potentially be to me, I refuse to consent to that sort of treatment! What sort of poison requires salt to help neutralise it!”


    “I believe I pointed out it was a particrly sadistic cultivator with a penchant for torturing his enemies,” said Kat pointedly, “Also... from what I’ve heard it isn’t a matter of consent at that point, you’ll barely be coherent enough to have a say in the matter,”


    Yang clearly wanted to just point out that it was a load of nonsense... but she grew up with two cultivators for parents, “Well I have a say in the matter right now. I’m not saying if you CAN or CAN NOT. I am saying you WILL NOT or there WILL BE consequences,” said Yang angrily, if quite clearly.


    Kat shrugged, “Look, nowhere in my contract does it state I need to keep you alive, either of you. I’m not going to be an ass about this, but if you die, it is on YOUR head. I’ll help where I can, but if you really don’t want me to rub salt in your wounds, and YES I know how it sounds, then I simply won’t. I have better things to do then listening to you screaming in pain and crying tears of poison. If this is how you want to do it, you’ll get no furtherints from me!”