They all started to walk to the harbor. A giant monster of a ship towered above the buildings, mightier than any temple. Yecao Cao could understand the fear of the locals as he could only imagine that this ship must be able to carry an army for invasion. The giant sails were like clouds in the sky and he could see people climbing them like spiders truly making Yecao Cao fear for their lives.

But what had Yecao Cao in shambles was not the giant ship but the people. They all looked like true people of Tiandi. But incredible fair. Long hair reached their waist though unlike the people of Tiandi none of them wore their hair in any other fashion than lose. The only thing that decorated the hair was small braids with what seemed to be gold or bronze!

Was it truly such a commodity in Diamanas that common sailors could have bronze in their braids? They wore silken shirts with strange scale-like vests in bright colors often in green or gold making them look illuminating. Only their clothes made them a stranger to the people of Tiandi, the rest of them looked like the locals. Black hair, dark narrow eyes and lean bodies.

Only one of them had an uncharacteristic feat which was snow-white hair. He looked like a dragon that has descended from the heavens and his bright blue eyes turned to the three guests. The man ordered the sailors to continue working before he went down from the ship to greet them.

He had a slight smile on his lips but the eyes were sharp like the edge of a sword. “Welcome, honored guests. What might I do for you?”

The man’s eyes turned to the Wang and he saw his royal pin and the smile widened. “Such distinguished guests. A prince…” The eyes turned to Shu Qiang who stared back with spite,” the son of the governor.”

Then his eyes turned to Yecao Cao who was munching on a sweet cake. “And a panda?”

Shu Qiang snorted and hid ill hidden glee while Wang Yu Jían frowned,” No need to-“

“Oh, you flatterer,” Yecao Cao gushed with fake embarrassment.”Do I really look so cute?”

Shu Qiang looked like he was about to choke. “He called you fat!”

Yecao Cao’s eyes narrowed,” are you calling me fat?”

“What? No, he-“

“Then why did you assume that he meant I was fat and not cute? Pandas are cute!”

“That’s not… It’s obvious-“

“How dare you insult the Zhiji?! The Emperor will hear of this slight. A slap on the Zhiji’s face is a slap on the Emperor’s,” Yecao Cao yelled loudly and tried not to grin when Shu Qiang eyes darted at all the people gathering.

“I- I did not mean-“ Shu Qiang looked over at the Wang with pleading eyes as the Wang hid his chuckle behind his fan.

“I’m sure that Ling Qiang is apologetic for his slight. He will be more than willing to give gifts as an apology.”

“Of course! I… What?”

“Then it’s settled. I want a bunch of cakes and I want you to give me the best teahouse in Dongzhou!” Yecao Cao huffed and puffed up his cheeks proudly. Shu Qiang’s eyes almost bulged out of their sockets.

“You-“

“What? Do you think that a slight against the Emperor deserves any less as an apology? You sure have courage!”

“I- I will see to it,” Shu Qiang muttered and averted his eyes who was filled with rage.

“Good, good!” Yecao Cao said with a bright smile and turned to the man who Yecao Cao assumed was a Van, assumingly the leader as he was covered in gold jewelry. “Do you have any exotic cakes?”

The man raised an eyebrow and Yecao Cao looked around before turning his eyes down to his harvest. “I will share some of my cakes in exchange!”

The Van looked down at Yecao Cao’s harvest before turning to the Wang who waved a bag of silver behind Yecao Cao’s back. The Van’smile widens and he gave Yecao Cao a polite bow that was nowhere near suitable for Yecao Cao’s high status but he did not care. He did not expect the Van to bow at all so he was pleasantly surprised and returned the bow.

“My name is Shue,” the Van said and Yecao Cao pouted as he pondered the Van’s words. Shue was a word from Tiandi. It meant snake. It could hardly be the Van’s true name. Shue chuckled as he could clearly see Yecao Cao’s thoughts written on his face. “My true Vanian name is Anguis un Valles. It means the snake from the valley.”

“Anguish un Vallesh?” Yecao Cao stumbled over the letters with a grimace. “No, that is wrong. My apologies.”

“No need, few other people can pronounce our names. We have as a tradition among my people to take a name in the country we visit. I have as such, many names. All of them mean snake. Here it becomes Shue so I would be honored if you called me as such.”

“I see, my name is Yecao Cao.”

The Wang chuckled from the background but Yecao Cao ignored him. Shu Qiang, on the other hand, wanted revenge and said ruthlessly, ”His court name is Mei yu Huayuán.”

“Mei, isn’t that a fruit?” Shue asked after a while. “I remember buying some the first time I traveled here. I had hoped to grow it on the mainland but alas, they did not grow in the rough soil of Diamanas.”

“It means Plum of the Imperial Garden,” Shu Qiang clarified gleefully but was disappointed when it left no expression on Shue’s face. The Van’s had no concept of the two-faced meaning of the words in Tiandi.

“A strange but powerful name. A fruit growing in the Imperial garden is well protected and of high class. Are you of royal blood? But-“ Shue perused Yecao Cao but saw no jade pin with the Imperial dragon seal.

“He is the lover of my nephew, The Emperor,” Wang said and petted Yecao Cao’s head like he was a child. “Imperial Garden is another word for the harem, and plum is, well-”

“It means fatty!” Shu Qiang hollered from the background.

“I want a bakery as well!” Yecao Cao hissed and Shu Qiang closed his mouth before he was indebted to the point of bankruptcy.

“Ah, round and sweet as a plum. You know, plums are very popular in Diamanas who consider them a rare beauty. If plums are not appreciated here they can always visit my homeland,” Shue said with a wink. Yecao Cao grinned at the man shameless flirting. He did not mind though he was surprised as such open flirting was uncommon in Tiandi.

“I might consider if you have the sweets suited for my delicate taste,” Yecao Cao whispered with the same kind of shameless display of flirting as it seems a custom of the Van’s to do so. When blind, follow the lead of those in front of you.

Shue chuckled, clearly satisfied with Yecao Cao’s reaction and showed them the sweets. Some of them were hard candy while others were soft as mushrooms. All colorful like berries making Yecao Cao’s eyes sparkle as he wanted to taste them all. And the fruit! Many of them were simple in shape but filled with tender sweetness.

Shue turned to Wang Yu Jían who gave him silver for each thing Yecao Cao ate. “I guess you are not here only to taste our merchandise. It’s too much of a coincidence so close to-“

“I have heard of your spy networks. I’m sure that you already know of the investigation,” Wang Yu Jían said politely.

“So we are suspects.”

“Of course you are,” Shu Qiang snorted but quiet down with a glare from the Wang.

“No, they are not,” Yecao Cao said with his mouth full of candy. He did not even look at them as he was too occupied by his new harvest. “I doubt that you could hide this ship in any mist. Not to mention if they attacked, the damage would be far more devastating. Not only is the ship’s size uncomparable to ours, but I am also seeing signs of some kind of spell. Most likely ice spells, but no charms. These cakes need to be kept in the perfect temperature for them to survive the journey over the sea and that demands a large amount of magic. So you will have at least a few different kinds of witches aboard. All of them are capable to burn the city to the ground.”

Shue looked over at Yecao Cao with a pondering look,” All correct, we have four Maguses on board. All command ice.”

“Do they need any objects to cast magic?” Yecao Cao asked curiously.

“No, magic can be taught to all who have mana.”

“Even me?”

“If you have enough it.”

“Do I?”

Shue smirked at Yecao Cao’s attempt at prying information out of him.”Maybe.”

Yecao Cao clicked his tongue in annoyance but did not ask again. “Can the titans use the same kind of magic as you.”

“No.”

“You sound sure.”

“That is what defines them. They have no mana to use magic. We Vans have an abundance. Hence we are enemies. They are jealous of our power and we fear their ingenuity to create magic from nothing.”

“You mean tools like charms.”

“They call it runes.”

Wang clicked his tongue. This was a fascinating discussion but one for another time. Though he was surprised by the willingness of Shue to answer Yecao Cao’s questions. He had asked previously but had gotten vague replies at best.

“This was not why we came here.”

“I assumed so, why are you here?” Shue asked.

“We need information about the attack and we thought as outsiders, you might be able to give us a better perspective on the attack. Especially since you were in the harbor at the time,” Yecao Cao said lightly.

“How did you know that they were in the harbor at the time?”

“I didn’t. I wanted to see his reaction but you answered in his place making my plan void,” Yecao Cao said and threw a cake at Shu Qiang who looked like he was about to get a heart attack from the anger.

Yecao Cao just ignored him and looked over at Shue who touched his lips with his thumb.

“We were in the harbor. The locals don’t like us to enter the city without escorts so we tend to avoid doing so.”

“Then did you see the ships?” asked the Wang.

“Yes and no. We saw shadows but…”

“But what?” asked Shu Qiang impatiently which made the Wang grimace behind his fan. This child was far to rash to be of any use.

“I do not think there were many ships and I do not think they fired on the city.”

“I thought so as well,” Yecao Cao agreed with a nod which left Shu Qiang speechless.

“Are you daft? Of course, the city was attacked. The buildings burned down.”

“True, but did you notice the angles? They were all small buildings among larger once. Some of them were in the way of the attack. Not to mention that hardly any other buildings in the surrounding area were harmed. An explosion from a ship attack would not have been able to achieve that. They all burned down but the walls had not been harmed in the attack that consists not with an attack but-“

“Arson?” the Wang said and looked over at the places where the fire started to measure how the attacks would land. The exploding rockets which the people of Tiandi use would not have been able to go that far. Maybe foreign weapons could but to not harm the surrounding buildings… “Yecao Cao is right. This must have been staged.”

“So what?” Shu Qiang asked in confusion.

“Not the brightest, are you?” muttered Shue. “What they are saying is that there was no attack from the sea. It might even have been only one ship.”

“Most likely, when I notice the positions of the shops I noticed something else as well. All of them were storages. Everything from cloth, food, and weapons. They used the ship as a diversion, put some random buildings on fire. When everyone’s attention was on the harbor, they stole everything in the storages before setting them on fire to ensure that no one notices the missing goods. We will need to investigate the sights but this was most likely a robbery, not an attack,” Yecao Cao explained to the silly fool who gawked at Yecao Cao. His eyes narrowed suspiciously and Yecao Cao turned around to avoid his glare.

“Cakes!”