Coda watches Scripp and Tula with a thoughtful expression, “It must be convenient to have tamed demons at your beck and call.”

These words are received with understandable frustration. Sae grabs hold of Coda’s collar and forces him to look back. In a very serious tone Sae corrects Coda’s thinking, “They are not demons and they are not tame.” He angrily shoves Coda away in disgust. “They are shadowkin and they are my servants.” Coda ducks his head and rubs the back of his neck as he’s harshly rebuked. “Not only that, but saying such things while they are walking next to you is incredibly rude. Just because they can’t speak doesn’t mean they can’t hear you. They only look like cats because that’s their preferred shape, they are as intelligent as I am. Definitely more intelligent than you are.”

Coda’s face turns red at this verbal lashing. He glances up once and spies Scripp watching him cooly with her white eyes. She turns and carries on playing with Tula.

Hona steps in next to Sae, “Coda spoke carelessly, he didn’t mean to offend.”

Sae snorts and responds with, “I'm sure.”

The party continues on their journey down the mountain in silence until after a time they come upon the encampment of non-virtuous men. The men initially make to crowd around the cultivators but quickly back pedal when they see Sae and his shadows with them.

Sae angrily pushes his way forward to the front to confront these men, “You lazy layabouts! Go get jobs! Stop hanging around on my mountain!”

As he and the men begin arguing Hona feels something against his calves, he glances behind him to see Scripp with Tula cowering. Tula not sure who to hang onto keeps one hand on Scripp and one hand tightly clutching at Hona’s robes. Hona decides to not make any motion and let the two continue to hide out of sight behind him.

Meanwhile the sordid men try to make excuses for their predicament. One argues, “We can’t leave the mountain so we can’t get jobs! Lift this curse and let us go free!”

Sae barks out, “If you had any real intentions of getting jobs the mountain would release you! Useless con artists! Get off the main path and stop pestering people trying to travel through! If I had my sword I’d chop you to bits and let the animals scavenge you!”

The men look to the cultivators for any support, but see that those three have no plans of interfering in this business. With much grumbling the men start to gather their things to move deeper into the forest and out of sight. When he’s sure that they are truly packing Sae gestures for the others to continue on.

Hona watches Scripp carefully as she lopes on ahead and quickly passes the encampment. “Would they have tried to harm that child?” He asks in a low voice. He understands now why Sae insisted on walking Tula down himself. Since his knee is hurt traversing down the rough terrain on the side paths would likely have resulted in further injury leaving no choice but for the child to take the main path leading right past the encampment.

“Mmm…” Sae’s expression turns very serious at this question. “Truthfully I don’t know. This group seem more interested in getting off the mountain as cheaply as possible. I wouldn’t put it past them to try and use Tula as a hostage and force my hand, but of course I have no hand to give. The spell is cast and I have no power over it. I’ve tried to explain this to them, but they just think I’m lying. They’re not as bad as a few of the other men who have been trapped here though.” He pauses as he recalls the unpleasant business, “I’ve had to kill two men who were trapped under the spell.”

Trae’s eyes go wide, “You've truly murdered people that you’ve imprisoned here?”

“Aye, but both cases were…” Sae shakes his head, “The first man attacked one of the village children who was playing on the mountain. Nearly killed the lad and he felt no remorse over his actions. When I demanded his explanation he said that he did it because he was bored. The other man I killed dared to lay hands on one of the sisters who was coming up to visit me. Luckily she managed to run away and find me before he could do her any harm.” Sae looks between the three cultivators, “In either case would any of you have done differently? They couldn’t leave the mountain and I daresay they never would have. What choice did I have?”

“The whole situation is ridiculous.” Trae asserts. “Why did you cast a spell so unpredictable?”

Sae shrugs, “I already told you it wasn’t my intention. I wanted to keep bad people away, not lock them in, but I found myself in such a strange state those words were the first thing that came to me. It’s not my fault either that the mountain is so wishy-washy about who is and isn’t virtuous. I already said that it even considers me virtuous and I’ve slain shadowkin, monsters, and men alike so clearly one’s propensity for violence has nothing to do with one’s virtue.”

The group falls back into silence as they think on those words. When they reach the entrance Scripp is waiting for them with Tula still clinging to her back. With a gesture from Sae she continues on into the village to take Tula home.

“The villagers aren’t afraid of your servants?” Hona asks with his eyes trailing after Scripp.

“No they’re used to them now. And Scripp often looks after the village children. She had a similar job in the Shadowlands before she became my servant. I don’t mind, it gives her something to do.”

The three cultivators stand in awkward silence for a moment before Coda clears his throat and says, “Then if you have no objects we’ll leave you.”

“Aye, aye.” Sae waves them off. “Go tell your family that if they want the mountain back then they can fight me for it. I accept all challenges.”

Trae snorts, “Who'd want this shitty mountain with it’s stupid curse and scoundrels trapped on it? Fucking idiot.”

Coda forces a smile, but it comes out pained looking. He nods his head in agreement with Trae. “Aye…”

The trio make to leave, but Sae quietly stops Hona by grabbing onto his sleeve. He leans in close so that only Hona will hear his words, “That hair ornament does suit you very well. Seeing you wear it makes me very happy.” He lets go and sees how his words have flustered Hona.

Hona’s hands immediately go to the end of his braid where the silver sits. “Oh, aye, thank you for this gift.” His face flushes slightly in embarrassment, but he still bows his head in gratitude before he hurries off after his two friends.

Sae watches the trio leave feeling mostly satisfied with the encounter. Strigg, standing tall next to Sae, bumps his shoulder against Sae’s to get his attention. “I think that went well.” Sae says in response to his servant’s expression. “I didn’t have to kill any of them and they completely believed me when I said that the spell was by accident haha.” At Strigg’s stern look Sae adds on, “I was the most feared general in Lord Sho’s army, a few humans don’t scare me. Even if they do catch on, there’s nothing they can do to hinder me.” He grins madly, “Just you wait, we’ll have the wrath of gods raining down around us sooner or later.” He laughs again and turns to make his way back up the mountain.

Strigg just sighs and falls back down to all fours as he follows after his master.