On their way, (Y/n) talked about some of Tripitaka's notes.
"Turns out it was Pigsy who stole it from you and ate it."
"I knew it!" Monkey punched the air a few times, which made her smile at how he was getting so worked up over such a little thing that happened years ago. "Why didn't he say anything?!"
"Apparently, he looked so hungry that he promised not to tell. They both knew you'd throw a fit."
"He was obviously acting! This pig is a walking stomach!"
"Dude, let it go."
He huffed, folding his arms. She chuckled.
"You know," she changed the subject. "I noticed that there was only defensive sutras in his notebook."
"Yeah, obviously."
"But, isn't it weird that there's nothing more...offensive?"
"(Y/n), we're talking about *Tripitaka*. He wouldn't harm or even bad-mouth anyone even if they insulted his mom."
"...I guess that makes sense."
"Plus, if anyone did insult his mom, I'd beat them up myself!"
She laughed.
In the distance, they saw a monastery nearby the bottom of a mountain. Since they've been walking for a while, they decided to stop here to rest. (Y/n) gasped and looked at Monkey.
"Do you think they'd accept to train me?"
"Heh, maybe."
Although he liked her enthusiasm, Monkey has been skeptical of that prospect ever since the first time she brought it. Monks were very strict, so the chances of them taking a woman under their wing would be slim. But if she could prove that she's Golden Cicada, they'd change their minds right away for sure.
She took off her japamala, putting it in her bag, and knocked on the large double doors while Monkey turned into his more human form. Soon after, the doors were slowly opened by a middle-aged monk. He was wearing a long coat hiding his robe.
"Good afternoon Sir," (Y/n) politely greeted, bowing. "we are two humble buddhist travelers in need of shelter to rest." she bowed.
The monk briefly looked back inside before looking at her.
"But of course, come come." he took a step to the side and gestured them to come in. "I'll take you to our Master."
As he led them to the main building, (Y/n) looked around, curious, as this was the first time she's entered a monastery other than the one that was her home. The architecture was similar but the clothing the monks around them were wearing were very different. She thought maybe it was a way to tell which monk comes from which monastery, so she didn't dwell on it. They were walking around with a quick pace, they must've been in a hurry to go inside where it's warm and cozy. But even once inside, they all went away in a hurry.
'Maybe they're late for class?' she wondered.
Finally, they stopped in front of a door. The monk knocked and opened it slightly to pop his head inside the room.
"Master, two buddhist travelers are asking for shelter." a voice responded to him. "Yes Master."
He closed the door and told them to wait a moment. After a short while a loud 'come in' came from the other side of the door. The monk opened it and gestured them to go ahead, they walked in but he himself didn't and instead closed the door behind them.
"Welcome."
The two companions looked ahead to see the head monk sitting at his office. They sat across from him, Monkey was cross-legged with a sloppy posture and (Y/n) was on her knees with her back straight. She took a long look at him, his robe looked more familiar than the others'.
"So you are travelers."
(Y/n) nodded.
"We come from very far away, and we wanted to rest and stack up on food. We don't have much to offer in exchange but we'd be happy to offer our services."
"If you got any demon problem, I'm the expert for the job." Monkey pointed at himself with his thumb.
"Demons? Oh my. We sure hope there isn't any lying about." he chuckled.
"May I ask..." she shifted in her seat, hesitant. "can I attend your meditation classes?"
"Meditation classes?" he paused, confused for a moment. "Oh! Do you want to be a nun?"
"No, you see-"
"She's just interested in that stuff and wants to learn." Monkey cut her off. "Is that so wrong?"
"Of course not."
There was a moment of awkward silence, during which (Y/n) looked at Monkey. He spoke so sternly, did he not like the head monk? She nudged him from under the table and tilted her head when he glanced at her. He discreetly made little circles with his index as a way to say 'I'll explain later'.
"You are buddhists correct?" the head monk asked.
"Um, yes, that's right." she nodded, looking back at the man.
"And you said you come from far away, where are you going? Are you on a pilgrimage perhaps?"
"Not exactly, we-"
"We're just paying a visit to an old friend."
She looked at Monkey again, frowning a bit.
"I see," he stood up and began to walk out. "there is a little town not far from here, you can go there to get food."
"Huh? What about-?"
"Would you like to pray to the Merciful Guan Yin before leaving?"
"Oh, actually yes, thank you." she said as her and Monkey followed him. "But, will you let us stay for a little while?"
"That could be arranged yes, but please try not to disturb my disciples. They are very focused on their training you see."
"Yes, of course."
'Does that mean they won't teach me meditation?' she looked down, bummed out. 'He never gave me a clear answer. He probably doesn't want to say no."
As they walked through the monastery, (Y/n) noticed that the monks' outfits changed and looked more like the ones they'd wear back in her monastery. Maybe they wear it only for their classes? Meanwhile, the head monk seemed to have taken an interest to Monkey.
"What is your name traveler?"
"Sun Wukong." he casually said.
'What?!' she suddenly glared at him. 'What's the point in having a human disguise if you're not even hiding your identity?!?!?!' she yelled on the inside.
"Like the monkey king?" he laughed. "Is it because you are as strong as him? You did say you were an expert in problems regarding demons."
"Nah, no one can ever beat the Charming and Handsome Sun Wukong. He's just unbeatable in every way."
'Indirectly complimenting himself...' she lightly shook her head. 'I don't know why, but this feels even more arrogant.' she smiled.
"Still, you look strong yourself." he looked at him up and down. "I'm sure my disciples would be delighted to see a demonstration of your skills."
Monkey narrowed his eyes.
"If I have time maybe." he replied as he looked away, wanting to end this conversation.
They entered a room where a shrine dedicated to Guan Yin was standing in the back with a tall statue of her. (Y/n) walked up to it and sat down, but when she looked up at the statue, she frowned.
"If you'll excuse me," she heard the head monk say. "I must attend to my duties."
"Uh...Yeah, thank you." she said.
She waited to hear the door closing before standing back up and walking up to Monkey. From his stand, with his back pressed on the wall, he was about to wait for her to be done and be bored while she prayed.
"Something's off about this place." she said in a hushed voice, leaning over a bit.
He raised his eyebrows and shifted in his stand, leaning over too.
"You noticed? What made it click?"
"The statue." she said as the two of them walked towards it. "It's slightly different from the one we had back in my village. It's sloppy, like the sculptor made it from memory. It also looks like it's made out of cheap material. And also..." she traced a finger on its surface before showing her fingertip. "It's really dusty." she looked at him, concerned. "No monastery would treat a goddess like that." she sighed. "And here I thought that by praying for Guan Yin by a proper shrine I could call out for her and maybe she'd respond."
"Ha! The gods never respond unless you threaten them (Y/n)." Monkey smiled. "Trust me, I speak from experience."
She just hummed, disappointed.
"What about you, when did you realize this place was strange? Was it when we met the head monk?"
"From the very beginning actually." he leaned on his staff. "You've never seen a taoist monk right?"
"Nope, never." she shook her head.
"Makes sense. Remember the outfits they wore when we walked in and they avoided us?" he gestured towards the door with a quick nod. "They thought we wouldn't notice, but it looked like some kind of mix between a taoist monk robe and a buddhist monk robe."
"Seriously?" her eyes widen, then she thought. "But the head monk..." she softly gasped.
"His disciple said we were buddhists and he told us to wait." he explained. "He probably took the time to alter his robe so he'd look more like one."
"And the monk!" she harshly whispered. "He didn't come in the room, he must've told the others that we were buddhists! That's why their outfits looked more familiar after that!"
Monkey nodded.
"But why-Oh."
"Well you know, I encountered my fair share of fake monasteries in my travels. It's all a facade for their real business."
"No, that's not it." she shook her head. "Monks are sometimes sent out to ask for donations, that's how they get their money. If they send a monk from each religion and pretend they're from different places, they can get twice the amount."
"Oh~." he slowly nodded.
For a moment, they didn't say anything, (Y/n)'s shoulders dropped, she looked baffled by what she just said.
"This place is shady!"
"It really is." Monkey nodded again. "What do you wanna do about it?"
"I wanna expose their ass of course!" he couldn't help but laugh at that. "Pretending to be buddhists and taoists, and at the same time?! That is so disrespectful, for both religions!"
"You wanna do that now?"
She huffed, but then calmed down.
"Let's go downtown and rest first." she said as she began walking to the door. "I think it'd be funnier to expose them right before leaving."
He snickered.
"Is that a mischievous side I detect?"
"No, it's the side of justice."
He laughed.
The two of them spent some time in the town's market place, buying food and snacks to eat on the way. The village looked pretty poor, luckily the food seemed to be of good enough quality, and the gloomy look on some of the people's face didn't stop them from having a good time in each-other's presence. But they didn't notice that they were being followed ever since they left the monastery.
"And because I was grounded, I was able to smell the fire just in time before it gets out of hand." (Y/n) was finishing her anecdote. "So in the end, I did help ruin the day, but I saved it too!"
"Wow, this Wu-peng guy sounds really reckless."
"Look who's talking!" she nudged him, he was unfazed by her attack. "And it's not that he's reckless, he's alway just looking for adventure. Also he was fifteen at the time, you know how kids are!" she chuckled.
"Hey, you two!" a woman rushed towards them in a panic. "You can fight right?" she gestured towards Monkey's staff. "Please help us! My brother is in serious trouble!"
"Oh my lord!" (Y/n) exclaimed. "Yes of course, lead the way!"
She followed the woman without hesitation, Monkey walking behind her. She led them to an alleyway and then stopped. (Y/n) looked around.
"Where is he?" she asked.
She didn't respond. Monkey caught up to them and placed a hand on (Y/n)'s shoulder as he walked passed her.
"Stay behind me." he pointed his staff at the woman with a grave expression. "Now tell me: What's a demon doing in a poor little town like this?"
Her eyes widen and she looked at the woman as she faced them, her behavior didn't seem to have changed.
"I really do need your help!"
"Don't play dumb with me. I can tell you're a demon."
"Yeah I figured!" she turned back to her original form, a horned demon. "Listen, you come from the monastery by the mountain right?"
The two companions exchanged a quick glance before Monkey looked back at her, his eyes narrowed.
"Yeah? Why?"
"A while ago, my brother and I were passing by and I was hungry so he told me he'd go there to..."
"To get you one of the monks." Monkey said it for her.
"No! To ask for food! But y'know..." she looked down. "with the rumor that Golden Cicada is out there somewhere, maybe we'd get lucky and become immortal!" (Y/n) gulped at that. "Anyway, he went in there...and he never came out."
Monkey and her looked at each-other, perplexed. She stood beside him to face the demon.
"When did that happen?"
"A couple of months ago."
"And you never once tried to break in there and threaten to kill everyone if they don't hand your brother back?" Monkey asked, lowering his staff but still suspicious of her.
"You dont understand, my brother is super tough. If they were able to beat him, I'm not risking anything!"
"Oh so you want us to risk our lives for you?!"
"I-It's not just a me problem! Almost everyone in the village is a victim!"
"What do you mean?" (Y/n) asked.
"Surely you noticed that there are very few men here."
She thought back to the towns people, it was true, there were mostly women, children and elders.
"What I mean is," she said in a more hushed tone. "that sometimes, men walk in there and they never come back."
"And no one suspected a thing? I know humans are stupid but that's a bit underestimating don't you think?"
"Obviously the monks lie and pretend they did left! A lot of people here blindly believe them, they are monks! Or at least they pretend to be. And those who don't believe them just can't get any proof that they have anything to do with this! You just got here, you don't know a thing about how things work!"
They glared at each-other for a moment.
"Monkey..." (Y/n) tugged on his sleeve.
He turned towards her, looking up at him with furrowed eyebrows. He rolled his eyes, trying to resist but he eventually sighed.
"Fine." he exhaled.
The demon relaxed, relieved.
"Thank you. If you need any info I can-"
"No need, we can handle this." Monkey waved his hand and walked away. "Come on (Y/n)."
"Oh..."
Without a word, (Y/n) followed him. She looked back at the demon, turned human again, and slowly nodded as a way to say goodbye.
"We spend the night there, if we don't find anything more suspicious, we're out." he said as they walked.
"Sounds like you don't believe her."
"I don't trust her." he sternly said. "I saw no demons in there, nor sensed anything out of the ordinary, it's just a normal monastery. Her kidnapping story doesn't add up."
"Why would she ask for our help then?"
"...That I don't know."
"And even if we are being tricked, this shady place is up to no good for sure," she looked forward, frowning. "so we have to do something."
They went back to the head monk and made up an excuse to stay for the night. He said he didn't mind but he also tried to come up with any excuse for them to spend the night at the town's inn instead. Thankfully, our two protagonists were used to deal with stubbornness (given the time they spent with each-other), so in the end, they were offered a room. There were some ground rules, basically a mean to prevent them from being nosy, and they both behaved well during the evening.
Right now, it was dinnertime, the only meal offered was only a bowl of rice and an apple. Because Monkey didn't eat rice, (Y/n) gave him her apple and in exchange he gave her his bowl.
'Looks like a meal people *think* monks have on the daily...' she thought. 'Or maybe the cook we have is just special, he does say he's 'built different' all the time, whatever that means.' she smiled to herself before discreetly observing the people at the table.
They quietly ate, but she noticed they moved slowly, and when someone was served, their face would twist slightly. As if they were used to something more copious. She glanced at Monkey, looked like he noticed too.
"Master." a monk entered the room. "Um, they're here to see you."
The head monk briefly looked at his two guests before speaking. They took notice of his moment of hesitation.
"Tell them we can talk tomorrow."
"Are you sure? It might be important." (Y/n) said as his disciple nodded and left.
"Oh trust me, they regularly come here for a-a blessing." he smiled. "But I still have a lot to do, so they'll have to wait until tomorrow."
It was pretty obvious he was lying, but they didn't say anything and kept eating.
"Head monk," Monkey said without looking up from his apple. "you got a stain on your robe."
Everyone, including the man, looked at his robe. There was indeed a little black stain that would've easily go unseen unless you were looking for it.
"Oh my." he said before trying to wipe it away.
But it only spread it more. Monkey recognized it, it was coal.
"Playin' with fire lately?" he glanced at him.
He chuckled and gave up on trying to make it go away.
"A little mishap in the kitchen, nothing more."
(Y/n) slightly narrowed her eyes. The head monk never steps foot in the kitchen, and even if he did, they're no way there would even be a 'mishap' if they wanted to make them believe they cooked rice everyday. Her and Monkey made sure to tell each-other what they noticed once they were alone.
It was when nighttime came that they decided to act. While everyone fell asleep, Monkey planned to look around without being seen.
"I could come too." (Y/n) said in a hushed voice. "We could cover more ground if we split up."
"No, you have to stay." he said in a similar tone. "Just in case one of the monks comes by, you'll have to cover for me." he gestured towards the pillows under his bed sheet and opened the door just a little bit. "I'll be back within an hour."
"Be careful."
He smirked at her.
"Don't need to be." he said and turned into a fly before buzzing out of the room.
Now alone, she sighed. Now all she had to do was wait.
To keep herself occupied, she tried learning Tripitaka's sutras, glancing at the door from time to time. Then she heard noises outside the opened window. She peeked out into the courtyard and saw the head monk walking out. She quickly blew out the single candle illuminating the room before observing him. He walked across the courtyard towards the front doors, in a rush. He opened them but stayed in the doorway. He started talking to someone and (Y/n) had to lean over to hear him, though she still couldn't hear the other person.
"Yes I know-I know, tell your superior I am so sorry for not letting them in. But, I have travelers staying here until tomorrow - Well, that is if we don't hire one of them." she frowned when he said that. "S-so you see, I couldn't let you in, what if they found you?" there was a pause. "No...No I didn't know demons had this power-Well, I knew they could transform but not into humans." her eyes widen. "I know, I know, I am so sorry. I hope this won't affect our partnership."
'Partnership?' she thought.
"R-right, tomorrow then." he said before closing the door.
She quickly went back inside her room as he passed by, he looked troubled. She let out a long sigh when he went back inside, wondering what this all meant.
One of the ground rules said they weren't allowed to go in the west wing, so obviously this was were Monkey headed first. There were shrines dedicated to taoist gods, but nothing more. So far (Y/n)'s theory was still standing. He spotted one of the monks walking down one of the hallways and followed him closely. The man tried to make this 'fly' go away but it swiftly dodged his hand. He stopped by a door and knocked on it. Another monk opened.
"You got 'em?" the first one asked.
He nodded and handed him a bag of oranges while he was holding a whole piece of ham. The two of them walked away while carrying the items and Monkey stood (well, flew in place) there confused for a moment, but he quickly shook his head before following them again, circling around their heads.
"Can't believe we have to stay up late to do this." the first monk said. "I swear, once we make this deal, I'm out of here."
"Ha! You really think the boss won't screw us over and take the most money for himself?"
"If he does, I'm planning a coup!"
"Well, with those travelers, the deal's been postponed apparently."
He groaned.
"When are those travelers leaving?!"
"They said they'd leave tomorrow, but hey you saw that guy, the boss seemed interested in hiring him."
"I guess, he looked like he could handle it. But what about the girl?"
He shrugged.
"Either we make up an excuse, or we get her to stay too."
"This damn bug! I can't!" he waved his hand around.
"I got'chu!"
Suddenly the monk used the ham like a bat and swung it towards Monkey, hitting him towards the wall. Now, it would be very embarrassing to die as a fly, by a piece of ham no less, so he was only stunned for a moment while the two monks walked away and entered a room at the end of the hallway.
After he recovered from this, Monkey quickly went for the door and turned himself into a little mouse before sneaking in.
"Huh?" he let out.
It was a normal recreation room, but there was no one there.
'They *are* humans right?!' he frowned. 'How can they just disappear like that?! Not even Tripitaka could turn invisible!'
He looked around, he was certain they came in here. But again, he didn't see nor sensed anything out of the ordinary here. Once again he was stunned. He wanted to look more but he knew there was still much to inspect, so he reluctantly left the room.
He checked the bedrooms, nothing out of the ordinary. The head monk was absent from his, suspicious, but he took the opportunity to turn back to his original form, it was easier to investigate this way. On the night stand was a little crystal. Monkey hovered his hand above it to check if it'd react in any way. It didn't. He picked it up to take a closer look. It was transparent, like it was made of glass. He hummed and put it back. Outside of this rock, his research remained fruitless.
He heard footsteps coming closer and turned into a mouse again, then he hid in the shadows as the door opened. The head monk walked in and sat on the edge his bed, rubbing his face. He let out a long heavy sigh and looked at the little crystal on his nightstand. He picked it up, looked down at it for a moment and Monkey kept observing him in case he does something with it. Instead, the man just sighed.
"Things were simpler back then." he said as he put it back. "Sometimes I wish we could go back to that."
He then laid down to sleep and Monkey left.
He walked in and turned back, sighing. (Y/n) quietly rushed towards him.
"You're back! What did you find?"
They both sat down, facing each-other, he explained what happened on his end.
"They disappeared?" she frowned and tilted her head. "Are you sure you didn't just lose them?"
"Sure!" he sharply whispered. "There were no seal, no circle or whatever!"
"Weird that the same people who didn't know that demons could turn into humans can disappear out of thin air..."
"Right?! It makes no sens- Wait, what do you mean?"
"Yeah, it gets weirder. Listen to this:..."
She talked about what she witnessed.
"He talked about how demons could turn into humans," she said. "do you think he found out about you?"
Monkey folded his arms with a hand on his chin, thinking.
"Nah," he shook his head. "it's most likely that the person he was talking to was a demon themselves, that's why he sent them away when we were having dinner. He didn't want to risk us seeing his 'partner'."
"And what is this partnership he talked about...?" (Y/n) also put a hand on her chin. "Probably something that has to do with what they're hiding."
"The two monks talked about a deal. So it must be a business partner." Monkey nodded.
"So, your theory was the correct one."
"Come on now, both our theories were correct. Why else would they pretend to be two religions?"
She smiled at the fact that he was trying to not make her feel bad. But her smile soon faded and she looked down.
"Business... Kidnapping... I don't like the sound of that."
"What about the demon?"
"What about them?"
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but since we've been here we've only seen one other demon."
They looked at each-other for a moment. (Y/n) frowned.
"Her? That wouldn't make sense. Again, why would she ask us for help then?"
"To lure us of course. Are you the demon expert?" he raised an eyebrow.
She just hummed, still a bit skeptical. Monkey spoke again:
"I say we go visit her tomorrow for a little interrogation."
"Fine." she sighed as they stood up to go to bed. "I'll trust your guts on this one."
The next morning, they went back to the village and looked for the horned demon woman. When they spotted her they asked to speak privately in the same alleyway they went to yesterday.
"What is it?" she asked. "Did you find anythin-"
She suddenly gasped as (Y/n) placed one of her paper seals on her chest and she fell limp on the ground.
"Wh-what the hell?!"
"Sorry, safety first you know?" she crouched down. "Could you tell us if you went out last night?
"What?!"
"Answer her!" Monkey grabbed her by the collar. "Were you lying to us this whole time? Were you the demon who went to the monastery the other night? What's that partnership with the head monk?"
"I'd tell the truth if I were you." (Y/n) calmly said, playing the good cop. "He'll be able to tell if you're lying."
"Oh yeah," he smirked. "I got a sharp nose for that!"
"I swear I told you the whole truth yesterday! I don't know anything about a partnership!" she paused. "You-you talked about a demon right? I saw him!"
They glanced at each-other.
"Okay then." Monkey said with a grave voice, setting her down. "Talk."
"Could you remove this first?"
"You can still talk with it. Don't worry, it just paralyzes you." (Y/n) sat beside her. "Go ahead."
She pursued her lips and huffed, still she talked.
"I was up late and I saw this bird demon leaving the monastery, so I went to him and asked for help."
"After you asked *us* for help?" Monkey frowned.
"I figured a fellow demon would be more willing to help." she glared at him. "He was gentler for sure, you humans still don't trust me."
"Yeah, because you're really suspicious. Also it doesn't mean anything," he turned back to his original form. "since I'm also not a human."
"What?!"
"Please continue." (Y/n) said.
"Are you also a demon?!"
"Nah, I'm a human."
"What's a demon traveling with a-"
"She said continue." Monkey pressed. "Don't make her repeat herself."
She frowned.
"...He asked me to describe him, I did and then he said 'okay, then we'll make sure to take him on our way out'. And then he left."
"Do you know what he meant by that?" (Y/n) tilted her head. "What are they planning to do there?"
"I don't know, I don't care! All that matters to me is that I get my brother back!" she paused. "Now can you please let me move!"
"...Alright." Monkey stood up, turning into a human again. "Thanks for the info."
"By the way," (Y/n) looked at her. "what's your name?"
"Huh?"
"Yeah, I forgot to ask." she smiled, a bit embarrassed. "Plus, then we can tell your brother who sent us."
"...Li Jing." she said after a short moment. "Call for Minsheng."
"You got it." she nodded as she removed the seal and helped her up. "Nice to meet you."
"Come on now," Monkey called out as he walked away. "we gotta act quick."
She waved at her before joining him.
"...Humans." she sighed. "They're so weird."
"The human trafficking theory still stands," (Y/n) said. "but there's a piece that still doesn't add up."
"You're talking about the coal?"
She nodded.
"He's not a real monk, maybe it really was a mishap in the kitchen." he shrugged. "What still doesn't make sense is their little disappearing stunt!" he growled, still worked up about it.
She thought for a moment.
"What if *I* go take a look at that room?"
"Why? You think you'd get a better chance on finding something?"
"I do."
Monkey blinked twice, taken aback by her bluntness. She chuckled at his reaction.
"And why's that?"
"Because this isn't a demon matter, this is some human shenanigans, and I know about those." she smiled. "Now it's your turn to trust me. Won't you?"
Monkey couldn't help but smile back.
"'Course. But if we're doing this now, we'll need a distraction."
They looked at each-other, having the same idea.
Monkey would never pass out an opportunity to show off, especially to an audience, so he gladly accepted the head monk's request from yesterday to demonstrate his skills to his disciples. (Y/n) said she'd stay in their room to "start packing up". Thankfully, Monkey was so impressive, everyone has gathered in the courtyard to see him, so she had open field. Still, she didn't want to waste any time and rushed over to the recreation room and started to look around.
Like he said, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She thought for a moment then she went towards the wall and tapped it around with her nails. She kept doing that as she walked alongside the walls and around the room. On the third wall she stopped, on a specific spot, it felt different, hollow. And the spot in question was as large as a doorway.
'There it is.' she smiled.
She pressed her hands around it, looking for a way to open it, but nothing happened. She took a step back.
'If there is some kind of mechanism, it should be nearby.'
Her attention was then caught by a little Buddha statue placed on a little table. She crouched down to take a closer look. Like the statue of Guan Yin, it didn't look very faithful to the original. She wanted to try and pick it up but she didn't want to risk leaving anything out of place. Looking at it from different angles, she then noticed some kind of engraved circle around the Buddha's raised hand. Trusting her guts, she reached for it and rotated it. Suddenly, a doorway opened and she stood up. There was a staircase going down into the earth. (Y/n) let out a giggle of excitement, felling a certain pride in her achievement. But now, she looked back and forth between the secret staircase and the room's door. Should she keep going, or should she wait for Monkey?
Just as she asked herself this question, she heard footsteps coming closer, someone must've forgotten their coat here. Panicking, and not knowing there was a button inside the secret room to close the door, she turned Buddha's hand again and quickly went inside before the doorway could close. She pressed her ear on the wall and listened closely. The footsteps became a bit louder but faded away soon after. (Y/n) let out a sigh of relief and turned around. It was dark, stripes of light coming through the little cracks framing the doorway, they allowed her to see the oil lamps at her disposal. She took one, lit it up and went down.
Once at the bottom, she walked through a long hallway. On her way she stumbled upon two rooms. The first one was a "kitchen". The word is in quotation because really all there was there was a stock of oranges, a stock of ham, on a table was knifes to cut the ham and a pile of plates. The second room was filled with big bags, looking inside one of them, she let out a little 'oh~' when she saw it filled with coal. She checked inside another one and was a bit more perplexed. It was filled with transparent crystals of various shapes and sizes. She took one that was as big as an apple and took a closer look at it. Didn't look like much, like it was made of glass. Turning towards the opposite side of the room, she saw a table, on it was a scale, little bags filled with tinier crystals and tools to carve them.
'It's not human trafficking.' she thought. 'From what I can tell, we're under the mountain. This is a mine!'
She kept going and as she did she heard noises of hitting metal. She stopped when the hallway expanded into a system of caves, karts were being filled with coal and crystals by men chained together, then they'd push the karts to other chained men sitting at tables to separate the coal from the crystals. There were a few guards keeping an eye on their workers.
'So these are the men missing from the town.'
She quickly went to the kinda-kitchen and took a bag of oranges before going back to the mines. She took a deep breath before walking in. A guard noticed her and asked what she was doing here.
"Yes, hi!" she said, ignoring her fast beating heart. "I'm one of the travelers who got here yesterday, my friend just got hired here -he's upstairs right now- and I volunteered to work here too. Uh, and because that put the boss in a good mood he was like 'oh oranges for everyone'." she paused, a tensed smile on her face. "You know how he is."
"Mmh, that is how he is." he extended his hands. "Alright."
"Oh no no." she walked passed him, patting his shoulder. "You're already doing such a good job, I don't wanna give you more work."
"Okay. Hey, since he's in a good mood, could you ask the boss if he could allow us more breaks? I miss the sunlight."
"No problem." she gave him a thumb up as she walked away.
'He must be a really bad boss.'
She gave out oranges to the workers/prisoners. She could tell they were in terrible conditions, what with the way they gobbled their snack like it was a luxury. Those guys were already living in poverty and now they were slaves. She asked one of the guard for a certain demon.
"The demon?" he said before gesturing to one of the caves. "In the back. Why?"
"He gets an orange too."
"Oh~ trying to bride him again I see."
"...That's right." she nodded.
"Let's go then."
"Huh? Oh no I can-"
"Hey, better be safe than sorry right?"
"Right..."
The two of them walked into the cave. At the end of it was a cage, and in it was a tall and muscular horned demon sitting down, his arms, legs and neck chained to the wall. He looked exhausted. As she walked closer, she wondered: how in the world will she get him out of this? The guard opened the door and they both walked in. With his back turned against her, she thought fast and pressed the tip of her finger on his back. He froze, his whole body tense, thinking she had a knife or some kind on weapon.
"Free him." she sternly spoke, mimicking Monkey's bad cop attitude.
"Wh-why?"
"Now." she slightly pressed her finger on his back, making him flinch.
"Okay okay!"
He quickly removed the chains with shaky hands. As soon as he did that, the demon punched him in the face and the guard was instantly out cold. He stood up and shook his arms, he looked glad to be able to move again. (Y/n) hesitated for a moment but she eventually broke up the silence.
"Minsheng?"
He didn't respond, he just looked down at her.
"Your sister Li Jing asked to save you."
His eyes widen.
"She told you her name...? Is she okay?"
She nodded.
"She's really worried about you." she paused. "Could you tell me what happened?"
He sighed through his nose and folded his arms.
"I was just going to ask for food because she was hungry." he looked down. "But I came at the worst time ever, there were other demons here and they defeated me. Then those worthless fake monks trapped me in here, saying that if I won't work for them they'll kill me."
"Why didn't they do it?"
"Heh, oh they tried. Takes more than that for a human to kill a big guy like me." he smiled, but it soon faded. "So, during their new trade, their business partners will finish the job."
"Trade? Is that what they do?"
"Yeah, the crystals. And coal too sometimes."
"What's up with those crystals? They don't look like anything special."
"Not in their natural state they're not. It's the hot new thing on the market these days; it's used as a vessel for your powers. Depending on the type of energy you put in them, it can pretty much do whatever the owner wants. They sell like hot cakes."
She wondered, were those the same crystals that trapped Monkey? And the same one that was used to detect him back in the king's palace?
'Like hot cakes... And they're hiding this mine from the poor town.' she frowned. 'What a bunch of greedy scums!'
"Thank you for telling me." she nodded. "Say, will you help me save the other men?"
"If I say no...?"
"I won't do anything. I still gave my word to your sister, so as long as you go back to her, that'll be okay."
He looked at her for a moment before smiling.
"A'ight, I'll help you out."
She sighed, a bit relieved.
"I won't be able to keep an eye on you all the time though, so I can't guarantee your safety."
"Don't worry about me, I got a few tricks up my sleeve." she smiled, showing the handful of paper seals she had in her pocket.
Monkey bowed to the applause of his audience. He did a few poses, flexing his muscles with a large smug smile.
"Oh my traveler," the head monk went up to him. "your skills are like no other!"
He giggled, rubbing the underside of his nose with his index.
"Say," he leaned over a bit. "I understand you have somewhere to be but... would you be interested in a position here?"
Monkey's eyebrows raised, getting inside would be the easiest way to know what's really going on here.
"Go on~?"
The two of them started to walk together, but just then another monk rushed over.
"M-Master, they're here. And they're pissed, I-I couldn't stop them."
"Oh boy." he turned towards Monkey. "Stay right here, I'll be right back."
The two men ran away, Monkey jumped on the roof and followed them. Walking in the monastery was a group of demons. They indeed looked pissed, and the head monk was trying to stay on their good side.
"Where's the merchandise?" the demon leader asked, like she didn't have time for his shenanigans.
"I-it's inside, follow me." he said as they started to walk together. "You'll be surprised on how much care we put into it, it's safely and meticulously stored, such dedicated work we di-"
"GO GO GO GO!"
Bursting out from the monastery was (Y/n), behind her was a horned demon and a little army of men in raggedy clothes. All of them were wearing bags of either crystals, oranges or ham, sometimes all three of them.
"Uh-ho!" her and them stopped when they saw the group of demons, she looked back. "Go through the back door! We'll hold them off!"
"What about you lady?!" one of them said.
"She'll be fine." Minsheng said, he faced the demons and gasped. "You!" he pointed at the leader, glaring at her in anger.
"You're still alive, good." she smiled. "Come on now, your sister's waiting for you."
"Like hell am I gonna follow the people who trapped me here in the first place!"
"Calm down." (Y/n) raised her hand. "There's a way we can settle this without killing each-other."
"Oh?" the leader raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"
She put the bag she was holding on the ground.
"You're trading with us instead, take the stupid crystals, pay, then leave!"
"What the hell?!" the head monk exclaimed. "What is going on?!"
"I'll tell you what's going to happen instead:" she glared at him. "you're going to stop pretending to be monks and instead give the mine to the whole town! It's not fair to leave them poor while you're kidnapping their men and stuffing your pockets!"
"Like we're gonna let you do it!" the monks complained. "Do you know how hard we worked on kidnapping those guys?!"
"If you wanna complain, step up!" Minsheng sent them a death glare. "I'm still hungry."
They got quiet after that. The demon leader chuckled.
"Very well." she walked up to (Y/n), a little bag of money in hand. "I like you, you have more attitude than that ass-kisser."
Surprisingly enough, all they asked for was a crystal as big as an apple. So after closing this sweet deal, the demons left and (Y/n) let Minsheng get some revenge to the guys who trapped him here. Meanwhile, Monkey walked up to her and whistled that little 'I'm impressed' tune.
"Did you really planned a coup?"
"What's a coup?"
"I have no idea, but I feel like it fits in this context."
She laughed. Then she saw Minsheng dragging the head monk away with him.
"What is he doing?"
"He's probably gonna kill him and eat him."
"What?! We gotta stop him!"
Monkey grabbed her shoulder before she could got to him.
"I don't think he'll listen even if we force him to." he calmly said. "He's been trapped here for months, away from his sister. I say let him have this one. Plus the guy's a bastard." he removed his hand. "If you let demons die yet save the unworthy humans, that'd be a bad look for you."
"...I couldn't care less about how I'm perceived." she slowly stepped back. "But it's true that'd it'd be hypocritical of me."
Still, she didn't like it. She looked forward, Minsheng was gone. Her eyebrows furrowed.
"I think I'd rather save both humans and demons instead of letting both sides die."
"Who are you, Buddha? You can't save everyone." he noticed the look of pain on her face and suddenly felt bad. "Hey, that's okay. You're just a human- wait no, I don't mean that humans are-!" he sighed. "Look, (Y/n)," he placed a hand on her shoulder, more gently this time, she looked at him. "all those men? You saved them. That should be celebrated instead of focusing on the negative! Come on!" he suddenly wrapped his arm around her neck, making her yelp as she hunched over and he started to walk out of the monastery. "I'm sure the whole town is singing your praises right now, since you pretty much saved their economy! Make sure to give me some credit though! You would've never planned this coup without me!"
"You don't even know what that means!" she laughed.
Indeed, once everyone was back in town, a big party was held, it wasn't luxurious but it was very joyful. The demon siblings weren't there but (Y/n) saw Li Jing and her brother at the edge of the town, waving at her, she waved back, wishing them a safe travel. She gave the money to the mayor and talked about the mine, only for a bit though because right now was the time to party!
"Still I gotta know," Monkey said. "what did you do in this mine?"
"Well, after Minsheng knocked out the first guard. We started freeing the other prisoners, a guard ran towards me but I managed to stopped him with my paper seals." she scratched her cheek. "After that I panicked and just started yelling 'go go go'," she laughed. "and I guess they all just went with it!"
The two of them laughed.
Meanwhile, the group of demons began traveling back to their HQ. They passed the town, walking around it so as to not be seen.
"Man, what an event this was huh chief?" one of the demons laughed. "Looks like they're having a party too? How 'bout we crash it?!"
"Leave them be." the chief said. "They had a long day, and we don't have time for that. We have to bring this crystal back to our Lord."
It was then that she noticed that one of the humans, laughing with the girl who planned the coup, was wearing a familiar crown around their head. She burst out laughing, ignoring the other demons who sent her a confused look.
'How ironic!' she thought, wiping a tear away. 'Helping bring your own demise, that is so hilarious!'