60: Inikaka

“Then why haven’t you gone yet?” Ning heard Hyesi say.

“Why haven’t I done what?” he asked.

“Why haven’t you left us?” Hyesi asked.

“Not yet. That demonic snake is blocking my path. I must defeat it before I can leave this island and go to other places,” Ning said.

“Do you really know?” Hyesi asked.

“Of course, otherwise why would I waste my time here?” Ning asked.

“But Inikaka, you can disappear anywhere. In the blink of an eye, you can reach the next island. Is the demon really blocking your way?” Hyesi asked.

“I…” Ning was momentarily speechless. With his current power, he could leave immediately and disappear a thousand miles away. Why hadn't he left yet?

“You can do many miraculous things. You can live in stones, big and small, and you can create anything you want out of thin air. I don’t understand how someone who can create so many miracles can be trapped on such a small island by a snake demon,” Hyesi said.

“Furthermore, you call yourself, what? A trickster. Someone who only acts for his own benefit. Yet you taught a whole village of illiterate idiots how to read and write.”

“You taught us extraordinary things like Qi Cultivation and helped us restore our original cultivation methods. You specifically traveled to a new island and stayed there for several months just to bring food to us Villagers.” “Even an insignificant child like me has been nurtured to this point. Are you still going to tell me that my becoming stronger is also your doing?” Hyesi asked.

“I… no,” Ning said. The world he had built in his mind, where the Villagers were merely stepping stones, had completely collapsed. He needed a child to tell him what he was doing.

“But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m a coward; I can’t help you at all,” Ning said.

“Who isn’t, Inikaka?” Hyesi said. “Do you remember the first time you made me train, and we encountered the demon Fofuriki? I fled from that place faster than ever before. But you held your ground. You must have done something to get such a severe headache. Compared to me, you are much braver, Inikaka,” Hyesi said.

“I became braver only after I became stronger. You still have a long way to go, Inikaka. I believe that one day when you become stronger than you are now, your courage will naturally manifest,” Hyesi said.

Ning fell into deep thought. Every word this child said had a certain truth to it.

Although he was too afraid to fight the demon, he still persisted in checking the demon’s information even when the child told him to run away. “I held on. That’s right,” he said aloud.

He felt a great weight lift from his heart. He took a deep breath and said, “Thank you, Hyesi.”

“I’m glad I could finally help you, Inikaka,” Hyesi said happily.

“You’ve been helping me since the first day I arrived,” Ning said. At this moment, he also smiled. “And, stop calling me Inikaka. I’m not the sun. You can call me Ning,” he said.

“Ah, Inikaka, you seem to have misunderstood something,” Hyesi said. “Inikaka doesn’t mean sun.”

“It… it doesn’t? But I thought you prayed to the sun, to your Inikaka, every day?” he asked.

“No, Inikaka is just what we call our benefactor. Because the sun is our benefactor, in most cases, we call it Inikaka. Although, at some point, we stopped using the name ‘sun’ and just called it Inikaka. But the fact remains that Inikaka is just what we call our benefactor.”

“Initially, we thought you were the incarnation of the sun, so we kept calling you Inikaka. Now we know that you have nothing to do with the sun.”

“However, that still doesn’t change the fact that you have helped us greatly.” “Whether you are the sun or not, you are our benefactor. You are still our Inikaka, and all of us unanimously agree to continue calling you that,” Hyesi said.

“Is that… is that so?” Ning was surprised to hear this. All this time, even with his mastery of intermediate Kravian, he seemed to have received incorrect information.

“Anyway, Inikaka, are you hungry? Do you need food?

I believe the Villagers will make something for you if you just ask. They’ve been waiting for you to come back since you left this morning,” Hyesi said.

“It’s fine, I ate some fruit from another island. You go eat,” Ning said.

“Okay, Inikaka, if you say so,” Hyesi said and turned to leave. He stopped, turned around and said, “Also, Inikaka. Be sure to come to the village tomorrow morning.” “Morning? What’s wrong?” Ning asked.

“For your lessons, of course,” Hyesi said.

“You still want that?” he asked.

“Of course. Yesterday, you had a headache, and the Villagers were eager to miss a day of lessons, and today you left without a word. We were bored all day because there were no lessons,” Hyesi said.

Ning smiled and said, “Okay, I’ll come tomorrow and teach you some new things.” Hyesi also smiled. “I’ll inform the Villagers.” “Also, Inikaka…” he said.

“Hmm?”

“I’m really glad you’re back.” Hyesi finished and ran off.

Ning remained in the room, laughing at himself and saying, “I can’t believe I let a child convince me.”