Li Jun stared with a shocked expression as he looked at his dirty hand. The thing he had seen soar through the sky like a shooting star wasn't a meteorite ore or even a legendary valuable treasure but a silver ring.
"What kind of useless treasure is this?" He frowned as he looked at the plain-looking ring. It was a simple silver band with a red gem set into it. It didn't look like anything special, and he felt like the heavens had cheated him.
He had hoped there would be some kind of life-changing riches, but it was just a silver ring.
"A ring this small couldn't possibly cause all this damage." He said as he turned and looked at all the smoldering trees. There had to be something else. He quickly put the ring into his leather pouch and began searching again.
He walked to the very center of the crater and began to dig with a single arm. But no matter how much dirt he dug out, he couldn't find anything. He checked again, scanning with his eyes to see if they could catch anything sparkling or anything gold, but it seemed that there was nothing else here.
"Did someone beat me to it?" He thought. He was pretty close to the forest when he saw the burning star-like object fall from the sky, but what if someone was even closer than he was and snatched up all the good things?
"Surely not. Why would anyone else be this far out of town?" He muttered as the sounds of hooves thudded along the path he had come from. He turned to see the city guards making their way towards him and thought about hiding.
Although he had only found a silver ring, what if they decided to take it from him? He wouldn't even be able to sell it. But he wasn't really in any state to run away. They were also on horses, and it wouldn't be hard to catch him.
In a moment of pure instinct, Li Jun pulled out the ring, put it on his finger, and dropped to his knees again. He began to shovel the dirt once more, dirtying the ring to make it look like he had worn it all along.
Soon, the city guards made their way through the forest and found the crater. But they were surprised to see a young boy in the middle of it.
"You! What are you doing here!?" One of the guards shouted upon seeing someone had beaten them to the impact site.
Li Jun turned and saw a group of ten city guards staring at him with anger.
"I—" Li Jun stuttered as he put on an innocent act. "I saw something falling from the sky, so I followed it. I thought I might be able to get rich if I found something." He said with a stutter, hoping they would buy his act.
As he spoke, one of the guards who had helped him find a doctor three days ago recognized him.
"You're that kid that was attacked. What are you doing out of bed? You shouldn't be moving around with an injury like that." The man said with concern.
"I—" Li Jun stuttered. "I work in Mister Bai's fields. I help him with harvesting. I wanted to see if I could still help."
He couldn't think of anything else he could say. He knew that no one would investigate his injury unless he accused someone of harming him. But he didn't want to create more questions by saying he was out to find his sword.
The guards stared at him for a moment before the guard that had previously helped him climbed into the crater.
"I'm taking you home before you get yourself hurt again. Honestly, kid, you should be in bed until you fully recover." The man said as he lightly grabbed Li Jun's functioning arm and pulled him back up to the top.
Just as he was about to take him back to the path, the guard captain held up his hand.
"Wait a minute." He said with a blank face. It was impossible to guess what he was thinking.
"Yes, sir?" The guard asked as he looked back to his Captain.
"Search him. Whatever fell from the sky has got to be worth quite a bit of money. Since it has fallen on the city lord's private property, whatever is found out here belongs to the city lord. Whoever takes the city lord's property will be convicted of theft." Said the guard captain with a stern expression.
"Are you serious?" The guard asked.
"I am very serious. The great Hao empire will not tolerate thievery." Said the guard captain with a dark look in his eyes. He stared at Li Jun indifferently. He didn't care that he was just a kid. To the Captain, rules were rules that had to be followed.
"Do you mind if I search your pouch?" The guard who had helped Li Jun asked with a sigh.
"It's fine. I didn't find anything anyway. Whatever landed here probably burned to ashes like the trees did," he said with frustration as he handed his leather pouch to the guard.
The guard searched through his belongings and pulled out a few silver coins along with the hilt of a sword. As he held the hilt, the Captain's eyes honed in on it for a moment.
"What is that!? Did you find it in the crater?" He asked sharply.
The rest of the guards looked nervously at Li Jun. There was no telling what kind of power a sword that fell from the sky could have.
"No, my dad gave me that years ago. You can see my family name engraved on the blade over there." Li Jun said as he pointed at the rest of the sword that he had dropped before entering the crater.
"Confirm what he said!" The Captain ordered.
One of the guards picked up the rest of the blade and inspected it.
"Sir, it appears he is a child of the Li family." The guard shouted back.
"Li, huh? Very well. You may go on your way." Said the Captain, his attitude changed completely at the mention of his name.
Li Jun sighed as the guard that had helped him returned the pouch and guided him out of the forest.
"You should be more careful." The guard said. "If your father knew of what happened to you, I bet he would have torn the entire city down to get to the bottom of it. Not to mention if he saw the Captain's disrespect just now." He sighed.
"You knew my dad?" Li Jun asked as the guard walked him toward one of the horses.
"Not personally, but I sure knew of him. There isn't a person in the empire that hasn't heard of him." The guard smiled. "I had the pleasure of watching him fight once, and it was spectacular. It's a scene that will be burned into my mind for eternity."
Li Jun looked up with a slight grin. He had, of course, heard the stories his father had told him of battling hundreds of enemies on his own. But he always figured he was just exaggerating to show off. It felt nice to see someone look up to his father the same way that he did.
"It's a shame though." The guard said as he patted the back of his horse and helped Li Jun up. The saddle was only big enough for one person to sit on, and he didn't feel right letting an injured kid walk all the way back to the city.
"It's fine. I can walk." Li Jun said, but the guard shook his head.
"I'm not letting you walk. Go on up." He said.
Li Jun nodded his head and climbed up onto the horse's back. The guard began to walk, guiding the horse by its reins.
"What did you mean by 'it's a shame?'" Asked Li Jun.
"It's a shame your old man isn't around to kick the so-called nobilities asses back into order. The city is dying without someone to hold them accountable for their actions. Sure, the Captain is all about rules and whatnot. But he's only like that because he wants his son to marry the city lord's daughter."
Li Jun laughed a little.
"I shouldn't have told you that." The guard muttered. He found it hard to keep his thoughts to himself.
"I hope you can keep what I said a secret. I don't want my head on a block for treason."
"You didn't lie, though." Said Li Jun as he agreed with what the man said.
The two of them chatted as they walked back to the city.
"By the way." The guard said hesitantly. "Your family never submitted a request to investigate who attacked you."
"That's right." Said Li Jun.
"So I'm guessing it's something personal and not some maniac attacking kids working in the fields?"
Li Jun didn't say anything, but he didn't have to. The look on his face told enough of a story about what happened.
"If you ever need help, come and find me. If I'm not at the gates, I'll be guarding the city lord's mansion." He said as they reached the entrance to the city.
"You seem like a good kid; you have your whole life ahead of you, so don't go getting yourself killed over petty grudges. Now go back home and rest." The guard said as he helped Li Jun down from the horse.
"Thank you." Said Li Jun as the guard jumped onto the horse's back and took off running back toward the crater.