Gleam [Karma Cultivator Isekai] - Chapter 85: Return

“Are you okay?” Chance asked, approaching the girl sitting on the ground. She watched him with wide eyes, her knuckles white around the hilt of her huge sword. “You didn’t get injured, did you?”

“I – no,” she said, staring at Chance like he’d sprouted a horn from his head. “I am uninjured.”

“That’s good.” Chance let out a relieved sigh. “I’d hate for anyone else to get hurt today.”

The girl slowly rose to her feet without releasing her sword.

“I don’t think there are any other monsters. It was just this one,” Chance said. His urumi flicked back around his wrist, returning to a bracelet. “It’s safe now.”

“What do you mean?” she asked after a short pause.

“Uh… what?”

“You said you’d hate if anyone else got hurt. Were any villagers injured? They said you were the only cultivator present.”

“Oh,” Chance said. He sent a sad smile in Seleth’s direction. “No. As far as I’m aware, no people were hurt. I was talking about him.”

“The monster?”

“Yeah, Seleth. He was a decent guy, I think. I don’t think he wanted to eat anyone.”

The girl stared at him. “He was here trying to attack the city. Are you insane?”

“I’m not defending his actions,” Chance said, raising his hands. “I just think he got dealt a bad hand. I hope the universe is kind to him and something better is waiting for him.”

Chance looked back at Seleth and clenched his hands. After a moment, he shook his head and cleared his throat.

“Right. You’re all safe, right? I’m going to head off if so.”

“Wait! You can’t just leave like that.”

“Why not?”

“You – uh… aren’t you going to tell the village what happened?”

“I think they can see,” Chance said with a small chuckle. “And to be honest, I know they’re going to be really happy about this. I can’t blame them, I guess. It just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.”

“I don’t understand you at all.” The girl’s fingers twitched and she raised her sword slightly. Chance traced the motion, but she slid the blade into its sheathe. “I’m Jade.”

That was weird. For a moment, it felt like she was about to attack me.

“I’m Chance. Nice to meet you.”

“So I heard,” Jade said. “You told the monster your name. Why’d you do that?”

“Because he seemed respectable,” Chance replied. “And there was always a possibility I could have talked him out of fighting. That would have been nice.”

Jade laughed, but it faded away when she spotted the serious expression on his face. “You’re not joking?”

“No. Why would I be? Seleth was intelligent. That means he could be reasoned with.”

“He was a monster the size of a small mansion that eats humans to survive.”

“Well, we can’t all be perfect. Maybe he could have eaten some elks instead.”

“You’re doing it again,” Jade said, squinting at Chance.

“Doing what?”

“Being serious. You really think a monster will just become good if you act nice enough to it?”

“I mean, sure. Why not? He could have killed you, you know. He chose not to.”

Jade blinked. “What do you mean?”

“His tail was much faster than his mouth,” Chance explained, sending another look back at the dead monster. “He nearly got me several times with it and, no offense to you, but he saw you coming from a mile away. He actually told me our fight was going to get interrupted before you got here.”

“Impossible.” Jade took a step back. “You’re telling me he intentionally chose not to kill me? Why? To play with his food?”

“I think he did it because he didn’t really want to kill us. He was waiting on cultivators to show up. I think he wanted to lose the fight,” Chance said. “Maybe not enough to actually tell me, but deep down, I don’t think he wanted to hunt living beings anymore.”

Jade shook her head. “You’re imagining things.”

Chance shrugged in response. “Maybe I am. Either way, the job is done. The threat is taken care of and the village is safe, so there’s no reason for me to stick around. You should probably report it was defeated as well. I’m not sure how the pay works, but I figure its all split between us.”

“Why would it be? You did all the work. Are you new to this or something?”

“Yup,” Chance replied with a small smile. He reached into his pocket. “I guess you could say that. Well, it was nice meeting you, Jade.”

“Wait!”

Chance raised an eyebrow.

“I – you saved my life. You can’t just leave like that,” Jade said, crossing her arms in front of her stomach. “It creates a debt between us that I need to pay off.”

“Oh. Duh,” Chance said, flicking himself in the forehead. “Do you have any gold?”

“Uh… yes?”

“Great. I need one. Could I have a gold?”

Jade slowly reached into her pocket and pulled out a coin. She handed it to Chance, who took it with a smile.

“Thank you. I really needed this. It’ll help me afford something that will save my life in the long run.” Chance tilted his head to the side and peered at Jade. She shivered and took a step back.

“What are you doing?”

“Just double checking. We’re all clear.”

“What?”

“Karmic debt,” Chance explained. “There’s none between us. I just made sure. No debts to pay.”

Jade glanced from Chance to the gold coin in his hand. He followed her eyes, then held the coin out. “Here. You can have this back.”

“I just gave it to you.”

“Well, I don’t really need it,” Chance admitted. “I just thought you giving it to me might make you feel better. We really don’t have any debt, though. Don’t worry about it.”

“How does you saving my life not endebt me? And there’s no way a coin could have possibly paid the price,” Jade protested. “At least let me seek you out in the future with proper payment.”

“There’s no need,” Chance insisted. “Just trust me on this. Maybe we’ll run into each other again in the future, but I’m not going to ask for any payment. Just try to do good by other people.”

Jade pressed her lips together as emotion warred on her face. She shifted her stance from foot to foot. Chance watched her silently. Nearly a minute passed, but neither of them broke the silence. Finally, Jade inclined her head.

“If you insist. And you’re sure you won’t let me pay you back?”

“If you really want to pay me back, then help someone in need of it,” Chance replied. “As long as we’ve increased the amount of good deeds in the world, then I’m happy.”

Jade opened her mouth, then closed it without saying anything else. She just gave Chance a small nod. “Fine. I’ll tell the village what happened and that you were the one to defeat Seleth. I’ll also ask them to give him a burial.”

Chance smiled. “Thank you, Jade. Take care.”

He reached into his pocket and snapped the token without pulling it out. Essence swirled around him, building up around in a copper swirl around his feet before swallowing him completely and ferrying him away to the Dancing Cloud sect’s city.

***

“You had to retreat?” the guard asked, giving Chance a knowing smile as he arrived. “Good decision, kid. It’s not worth your life.”

“No,” Chance said, shaking his head. “I defeated the monster. Could you have the pay sent to my account?”

The guard’s eyes bulged. “You’re kidding. Seriously? It was an emergency job, wasn’t it? Did the village overestimate the monster’s strength?”

Chance gave him a small shrug. “The pay was pretty bad, wasn’t it?”

“I suppose it was.” The guard rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled. “Well, I’ll be. Good job either way. Once we get confirmation that the job has been completed, I’ll send the payment to your account as you request. I’ve already got it since you used our teleporter.”

“Sounds good.” Chance raised a hand in farewell and headed out of the guard post. He walked at a brisk pace, moving as quickly as he could without running as he made his way back toward Bella.

It was a minor miracle that he’d managed to hold everything together this far. Chance was well aware that he was a terrible liar, but luckily it looked like Jade had been equally bad at reading him.

When he’d opened his third eye, he’d checked her Karmic threads. It felt like a slight breach of privacy, but with the Shikari hunting him, he didn’t have the luxury to avoid it. Among them was Gibson.

Jade was a Shikari.

There was always a possibility that she’d stumbled into him entirely on accident, but her reaction when they’d spoken had been telling. She knew who he was, at the very least. Her insistence on finding out where he lived could have very well been her trying to determine how to track him down.

I’d love to believe she’s realized that I’m not who the Shikari are saying I am, but I’m not about to bet my life on that. I need to find Bella and let her know what happened.