"Nothing undermines faith, confidence, and discipline more than a clown with a bomb." And if that confused you, then you've already seen the point."

-The words of a general who preached the importance of unpredictability.

...

[I don't like this plan,] Nepherage complained. [It should be us down there, attracting their attention in such a manner.]

[You know as well as I do that that wouldn't work,] Blazejudicator said. [The lot of us would probably lose our patience and try to attack by now. That or they would notice that we have terrible poker faces.]

[Hmmm.]

[They're about to make contact in a couple of seconds,] Razorstella reported to her fellow kaijin. [Look alive.]

...

^Huh? Why are we stopping?^

^There's a stranger in our path.^

^A stranger? What are they doing that warrants our entire column stopping in its tracks?^

^They're...drinking tea.^

^What?^

Having an entire army stop because of a single man sipping tea was an absurd notion. And yet, that is precisely what happened between the 55th Punishing Hounds and Zhen Liu.

The latter was simply sitting and drinking tea in the middle of nowhere, illuminated by a simple candle. However, this action was so jarring and unexpected that the leaders of the platoon couldn't help but to watch in order to figure out whether there was something more to this moment than meets the eye.

If there had been a blockade, that would've been understandable.

If there were several warriors standing there with their weapons out and fierce looks in their eyes, that would've also been understandable.

But right here, right now, was nothing more than a single young man drinking tea without a care in the world.

Logically, they should've ignored the man and just kept marching on to Soot Snail Town. However, some primal instincts in their heads went off the moment they saw this young man sitting there.

It was as if they were staring at an apex predator, and none of them were sure why. However, there were at least two details that they could mentally latch onto to make sense of the whole situation.

The first was that they couldn't detect any sign of cultivation coming off of him. That either meant he was crippled or unfathomably powerful, and it was more likely the former than the latter.

As for the second detail, it was a touch more...interpersonal.

^Does anyone at least know who that guy is?^

^I don't think so…^

^Wait, we do. That was one of the people who the scouts couldn't identify, but hypothesized to be at least the lover of one of the women who slayed the Dragon Prawn.^

^Hmmm.^

In other words, this young man's identity was complex, and it was highly likely that he possessed the same level of power as the women who slayed the Violence Dragon Prawn or that he had a way of alerting them to their presence.

The rank-and-file soldiers kept their actions limited to whispers and curiosity, while the leaders tried to determine who was going to make contact with this unusual person.

Eventually, they decided that on Priest Patricio, a recently elevated member of the sect who had earned his promotion through a mix of honeyed words and having broken through to Aether Grandmaster just last month,

Zhen Liu, for his part, simply continued to sip and stare at the Sacred Flame soldiers until they had sent Priest Patricio forward. Once he saw that they had chosen a delegation, Zhen Liu purposely prepared a second cup of tea for the approaching warrior.

After all, even if this guy turned out to be an excuse to start a fight, Zhen Liu wanted to say that he at least tried to be diplomatic.

A tense silence fell over the area as Priest Patricio got closer and closer to Zhen Liu, under the watchful gaze of the former's army.

Once he was close enough, Zhen Liu didn't even bother saying anything extra. He simply gestured for the man to sit at the table across from him.

…Meanwhile, as the diplomat walked forward…

^Bishop Olmen, what are your orders?^

^We shall see what this interloper wants. And if needed, we'll throw him into the pyre,^ Bishop Olmen ordered while keeping an eye on the mysterious young man of foreign blood. He felt a nagging sense of strangeness about the fellow, but he couldn't place it. All he knew for certain is that it made him…cautious.

^As you wish.^

…Now back to Zhen Liu.

"Initial thought: Definitely not a face I would associate with being part of a sect called 'Punishing Flame Orthodoxy,'" Zhen Liu mentally observed. "Then again, the most docile of flowers can hide the most insidious of poisons…"

Priest Patricio had exchanged greetings with Zhen Liu after the latter had invited him to sit and drink tea with himself, while Zhen Liu explained his identity as being simply the fiancée of a dragon-blooded princess from a far-away land who had decided to come to Soot Snail Town on a whim, and that the eclectic group of people surrounding them were simply hired mercenaries acting as both guides and guardians.

One would think that a dragon-blooded royal would be a powerful identifier, but the sheer number of actual royals with dragon blood in their veins was as great as the number of bastards with dragon blood in their veins. Either way, this little lie was just enough to get Priest Patricio to believe that he had something he could offer Zhen Liu in exchange for keeping mum about their upcoming crusade.

Now, normally, Zhen Liu would have initiated the conversation by speaking first, but this time he chose to remain silent. He wanted to see just how these dogmatic firestarters approach something as delicate as diplomacy. Or whether or not they would go straight into making threats against his life.

^Master Zhen Liu, I hope you understand that you are currently standing in the middle of our holy war path and that remaining here would be…unwise, to say the least. And I don't just mean here in the jungle; I mean…back in the ruins of Soot Snail as well.^

Priest Patricio spoke in a condescending tone that Zhen Liu recognized from a past life as the tone of voice preachers used when addressing small children. Zhen Liu found this tone incredibly irritating.

'Okay, looks like violence is more inevitable than I thought,' Zhen Liu thought to himself as soon as he fully digested the patronizing words coming out of Patricio's mouth. 'But I get the icky feeling this guys is about to say something that's going to make me want to shove my fist down his throat.'

^ It is highly recommended that you should leave while you are aware of the danger that is to come. However, we understand that you may refuse due to your…beloved being in those ruins. ^ Priest Patricio followed up, his voice grating against Zhen Liu's ears by the syllable. ^Which is why we want to make a deal. You can return back to Soot Snail and alert your friends about our crusade, but you cannot tell any of the townsfolk about our presence. Additionally, you must hand over a member of your party who appears to have lied about his standing in society.^

'Oh, this is going to be good…'

^A member of my party? Which one? ^ Zhen Liu asked in an innocent-sounding voice.

^That ignarii you're with, the one with purple flames? He is actually a most horrible brigand by the name of Olstenna the Mad Butcher,^ Priest Patricio shared. ^As long as you hand him over, and don't tell the townsfolk of our arrival, we shall let you and the rest of your party go free.^

"..."

^Well? Isn't it a good deal?^

Zhen Liu's decision to greet the offer with silence made Priest Patricio think he was ruminating on it and was about to accept it once he realized just how generous it was in the current situation. In reality, Zhen Liu was conferring with the kaijin about their next course of action.

Once he was done with the planning, however, Zhen Liu immediately decided to give his reply in a most…grandiose manner.

^Let me get this straight, Papa Patricio,^ Zhen Liu began, purposefully using a trick of Scorch Talk to make Patricio's title mean something else entirely. ^You want me to essentially betray a town that my fiancee just saved out of the goodness of her heart and turn over a guy who owes me a life debt after I had thoroughly kicked his butt twice, in exchange for letting me and my friends go…even though I'm pretty sure that means you're still going to shoot us in the back while we run away, or even during the conflict. Especially since it appears that guy right next to Bishop Olmen over there is some kind of sniper-like attacker?^

^That is...wait a minute, what the fuck?^

Evidently, Priest Patricio wasn't expecting to be called out in such a weirdly specific manner.

Then again, neither did the sniper.

As soon as it fully registered in the minds of those who heard Zhen Liu's rhetorical question, several members of the Punishing Hounds platoon started putting up their guards and preparing for the worst.

Which proved prudent.