A Failure's hopeful Journey

You Xi Wang and the group stood in front of the inn and a huge signboard was staring at them from above, the signboard was written 'The Indi Inn.' in bright yellow and the background was very colorful for the dark air of Sahasa town. The group exchanged glances and finally entered the inn by pushing open the door.

The interior was so bright that it made all of them blink for a second, when they opened their eyes, they saw a semicircular counter laying at the end of, what it should be, reception hall, a chandelier was hanging low from the ceiling it lit up the whole reception hall dazzling. The walls were covered with paintings of battles and above the reception counter, two talwars were placed crossing each other, the sheaths were engraved with symbols of peace and nonviolence. There was a staircase on the right-hand side of the reception.

Neo Paul went forward and knocked on the counter. A hoarse, tired voice sounded from the staircase, "Just a moment." and after a few seconds, an old man wearing a turban and a long shirt with clean white paint came into the sight of the group. The old man walked with the help of a cane. He had a long white beard. His face was wrinkled yet his eyes were focused and calm, he had two scars on his face, one was a vertical slash on his right cheek and another was on his nose, a horizontal slash.

He came behind the counter and asked, " I am Kripan, the owner and manager here. What can I do for you kids?" he was trying to sound nice and familiar so that the group doesn't get scared by him.

Allan took a step forward and said, "Sir, we need a place to spend the night so we asked someone and they pointed us here."

"Okay, please scan your IDs and I will arrange rooms for you guys." the old man replied.

The group followed his instructions and scanned their ID bands, Kripan then asked, "These kids, they do not have IDs?"

You Xi Wang had noticed this early on and said, "I found them outside and they will get their IDs tomorrow, is it possible to have them stay here tonight with us?"

Kripan smiled faintly and said, "You are a kind one, boy. But the council rules are very strict if any person without ID is found using services, it will put the provider in trouble. So, I can not really do anything about it."

You Xi Wang asked, "Is there any solution to fix it?"

Kripan thought for a bit and said, "I can make an exception if someone from the council can vouch for them. This way they can stay here with no worries."

You Xi Wang turned to Ushijima Yuki, and she nodded as she understood his intention. She called her father by her Holo-phone, a few moments later the call connected and Ushijima explained everything to him and then put the call on speaker, a symbol engraved on the strap shined and a domineering voice of Takeshi Kinben was heard, "Mr. Kripan, My name is Takeshi Kinben and I am a fifth-grade enforcer of the council. I vouch for the two kids Chris and Celestia with my honor of a council official."

Kripan was stunned as he knew how high fifth-grade enforcer's power and authority was, he nodded and allowed the kids to stay for the night. You Xi Wang asked Kripan to get two sets of the best food in his place for all of his friends. They collected the room access keys and headed to rest.

Celestia was following behind You Xi Wang like a tail, leading Chris by his hand who followed behind them. They entered the room. All of them had separate rooms for themselves. Celestia and Chris were asked to choose who they wanted to stay with, the former choose You Xi Wang while the former wanted to stay with Neo Paul as they both liked to talk, but Celestia gave him no chance.

They entered the room. There was a bed in the center and two windows on the wall opposite the entrance, showing the bustling dark streets of the town. A bathroom was also attached to the room. You Xi Wang looked around and nodded as the room was immaculate and clean.

He turned towards the kids and asked if they can take a bath by themselves or need help with it. It was not weird at all. They are kids. Celestia shook her head and Chris said, "Big brother, I can ask brother Neo to help me, you cannot help both of us together, right?" You Xi Wang knew that Chris wanted to be with Neo Paul very much and hear the stories of the world outside of this godforsaken place. He dialed Neo Paul's Holo-phone and called him over to take Chris with him.

Celestia was holding Chris tightly by his sleeve, You Xi Wang understood that she was afraid to be alone without him. He walked towards her and knelt in front of her. He stroked her hair with an affectionate smile on his face and said, "Do you trust me?"

Celestia nodded, You Xi Wang spoke again, "Then do not worry, I have taken a blood oath to not harm both of you, right?" he received a nod from her. She also followed his instructions and let go of Chris but held onto You Xi Wang's sleeves.

Neo Paul picked up Chris and brought him to his room, You Xi Wang then led Celestia to the bathroom, and he took her clothes off and sat her in the bathtub, he rinsed her hair with water and then rubbed her face, the water was warm and clean but when You Xi Wang applied shampoo on her head and poured water on it. Celestia hissed in pain and grabbed You Xi Wang's hand, He looked confused and then turned her around to see her back. He was shocked as he saw lash wound scars all over her back, there were some scratches over her back which were new and formed because of sleeping in the streets, his shock turned to anger, he poured water over the wounds and used his spiritual energy to heal it, slowly the wounds healed and the scars also faded a bit.

He asked Celestia, "Do you know who did this to you?" the girl shook her head, You Xi Wang asked her, "Celestia, now do not resist okay, big brother will heal your wounds, close your eyes for me, okay?" she nodded with a smile as she closed her eyes, You Xi Wang held her face in his palms and spoke in his mind, "System, I want you to search her soul without harming her anyhow, got it?"

[Yes, master] The system replied and started searching the girl's soul