BXBX NOVEL Chapter 72 - Dare March Against The Kalhas
"Your name please," The lady behind the counter inquired with a respectful tone. She gazed at the figure of Re\'Kha standing before her, feeling shocked internally, \'Is she an heir to a Clan?\'
Before, Re\'Kha was fully drenched, covered head to toe in water with a mixture of dirt. Moreover, the clothes covered her entire body, preventing one from getting a proper look at her features. If it wasn\'t for the professionalism of the staff managing the inn, they wouldn\'t have allowed her entry.
But, they had been amply trained. In their society, a lot of people travelled and battled on a daily basis. So, torn clothes and a muddy exterior wasn\'t uncommon. After their travel, they usually entered an inn to refresh themselves and change into a new set of clothes.
That was another reason the inn had a tie-up with a tailor store. They had received a lot of customers similar to Re\'Kha before. Among their competitors, one of the inns refused a customer entry based on his shabby appearance. The servants even chided the customer, publicly shaming him.
The very next day, the inn was in ruins and all the servants had been killed; their heads were lined up at the entrance. Only then did people find out that the person who tried to enter the inn the previous day was a powerful Harmoniser from the Vi Clan who had just returned after battling a Sha.
His Tikka jewellery had been damaged in the process and was in tatters. It was part of the reason they belittled him and embarrassed him out in the open. Otherwise, just the glow of the Tikka jewellery\'s gem would have been obvious.
This was precisely the reason the lady before Re\'Kha had been courteous to her all along. For, the glow in her Tikka jewellery\'s gem was the brightest she had ever seen. Either she was a notable figure from a water clan or a figure of authority among the army. Offending such a figure was a fool\'s errand, something the educated lady dared not do.
"I\'m Re\'Luk," Re\'Kha stated her alias. The lady didn\'t know if she was from Burfuna City or not, so she left the origin city blank. There were numerous times when Harmonisers didn\'t give their origin cities. It might either be because they were moving in secret or just didn\'t want to reveal their identity.
After all, thanks to their naming structure, there were many people with similar names. The only distinction that filtered them out a bit was their origin cities. If Re\'Kha wished to find one, she could find at least one or two with the name Re\'Kha. But, there was only one Burkurel Re\'Kha.
As her Clan was the only water clan in Burkurel City and had a limited number of members—Harmonisers—that never surpassed a certain margin, they mostly avoided naming two people with the same name.
"Thank you, my lady. If you have anything else to ask, please do so." The lady behind the counter said with a mild bow.
"I\'ll be resting now," Re\'Kha smiled, "I don\'t need any food for today. I\'ll be eating the food in the Aeki once my training finishes. Bring breakfast to my room tomorrow."
"I\'ll make note of it," The lady bowed, making eye contact with the servant to see her nod in return, showing that she would handle it well. The servant then led Re\'Kha back to her room and returned soon after, muttering in the lady\'s ears, "She\'s not anyone among the wanted posters. It seems she\'s really covering her eyes and head for training."
"That\'s good then," The lady heaved a sigh of relief, "We don\'t have to worry about anything now."
Re\'Kha sat on the dining table, eating food while activating her Wind Qi perception at regular intervals, spying on the people in the inn first. She started with the ones in the three rooms surrounding her.
The first room had a group of three girls, young, judging by their statures. As she heard their tone and manner of speech, Re\'Kha determined their age and purpose, "They are barely 13 and are probably here to visit the market."
She then saw three grown women in the adjacent room, acting stealthily as they listened in on any sounds echoing through the corridor. Judging by the way they acted and the conversations they shared, they were either the mothers of the three girls or were their guards.
The girls were either part of one of the five clans or hailed from a wealthy merchant group. They were dressed in commoner clothing now, so Re\'Kha was unable to pinpoint their status accurately.
Every city had five powers governing it: the four elemental Clans and the Royal Clan. The Royal Clan in each city was a branch family of the royalty governing the country from the capital. They were descendants of their race\'s Celestial Emperor.
Each branch family governed a City since its establishment. Moreover, just based on the power at their disposal, every Royal Clan had the same military strength as all the four elemental Clans in their respective City combined.
From time to time, members of the Royal Clan disguised as commoners and roamed the streets and markets to get a feel for their city and see any lacking parts in governance. That was how they prevented and kept the four elemental clans and other powers in check.
Re\'Kha then peered into the final room on her floor, gazing at the scene of a man and a woman wrestling. She when she was about to retract her perception from their room, the woman\'s words caused her to pause, "Dear, please be safe when you head to Burkurel City. Even the Kalhas had been spotted numerous times around it. A lot of lives had been lost because of them."
"I am not part of the frontlines," The man kissed her forehead, whispering with a calm, slightly nervous tone, suffused with care, "Our army would dispatch tonight and we would reach Burkurel City by morning. The Burfuna Re Clan has predicted that it would be raining continuously tomorrow."
"It\'s because of the rain that we dare march against the Kalhas in the first place."