Chapter 690: Chapter 690 - Taming the Fifth Year - Following - 2

Crossing the bridge took less time than Klein expected.

The structure was solid and wide, open and less strict now that Yano only had to worry about keeping trade routes open rather than defending against invasion. But there was still something unsettling about looking down, toward the crack that extended so deep the darkness seemed absolute even under midday sun. Like staring into an abyss that seemed to have no bottom, that fell forever into earth’s heart.

"Don’t look down," Zhao advised from behind, his tone casual but carrying an edge of experience as someone who could fly and understood the feeling too well. "Nothing good comes from thinking too much about falling."

Klein nodded and looked away, focusing instead on Ren’s back ahead of him. The boy walked with confidence that didn’t match someone entering new territory.

But then, for Ren, it probably wasn’t new at all.

Finally they crossed to the other side.

Yino spread before them, and Klein immediately noticed the differences from Yano’s familiar architecture.

The building structures were similar in function, serving the same basic purposes of shelter and commerce. But different in aesthetic, philosophy written in stone and wood. More curves, more ornamentation outside.

Ren hadn’t come to this side much before. The city he’d only visited during the battle, and those weren’t good memories for almost anyone who’d been there. Blood and corruption and crystallization created trauma that still haunted survivors.

Yet Ren appreciated certain materials from here, resources unique to Yino’s ecosystem. There were many things that could only be found on this side, things Ren had been buying rather than gathering personally because time and circumstance hadn’t allowed direct harvesting.

He hadn’t had time or occasion before now.

Today that would change.

They crossed through the outer streets, and Ren observed everything with silent attention, eyes tracking details others would miss.

Yino hadn’t done badly after integration, all things considered.

The adaptation had been abrupt at first, of course, transition never easy when accomplished through conquest rather than negotiation.

Many families had lost members who belonged to the army, soldiers who’d fought defending their homeland. And many had been crystallized during the conflict, frozen mid-battle in poses of attack or defense. Grief had been complicated in those cases by the fact they could see their loved ones still, bodies preserved but unreachable.

Frozen...

Trapped, possibly forever, perfect statues that reminded everyone of what had been lost.

But Julius and Arturo at the head had stabilized the situation surprisingly quickly through a combination of firm authority and compassion.

They’d adapted laws for Yino’s people, which had certain initial problems as legal systems collided. Yino’s people were accustomed to more flexible systems, more negotiable frameworks where rules bent to circumstances. Yano’s customs were different, straighter, more stoic in formal and governmental cases.

There had been friction from cultural collision.

There had been resentment from conquered people forced into foreign systems.

But finally it had been resolved thanks to the surplus of crystals that opening the chamber had brought, with the third part for the Dravenholms providing resources for rebuilding. And because they’d controlled and given work and social aid to those affected quickly, systems put in place to prevent desperation.

They hadn’t been left adrift... Hadn’t been abandoned to their fate like other conquered populations in history.

The people gradually adapted.

And despite being technically "second-category citizens" in terms of bridge crossing controls and certain administrative permits, restrictions that marked them as different... Apart from that they were basically free. Rights didn’t change too much from what they’d had before. They could work, trade, live their lives without constant oversight or oppression.

Ren noticed something while they walked, detail that spoke to deeper changes than administrative integration.

The houses.

Normally all were black outside and white inside, the traditional Yino style born from desire to oppose Yano in every visible way. But now, in some cases, they were beginning to change to the opposite structure. Black ornaments inside, white outside, colors inverting in quiet declaration.

Yano’s style.

A sign of acceptance, of real integration beyond just government mandates and forced compliance. Choice rather than coercion showing in painted walls.

’Coincidentally’ this had happened shortly after many of Ren’s methods were released for them too, though slightly more limited than what Yano received. Economic opportunity fostering cultural acceptance in ways a military victory never could.

Ren couldn’t help thinking whether Han and his sister would have liked seeing this, the peaceful integration they’d perhaps hoped for before everything went wrong.

Probably yes.

Though Ren thought Yino remained the same place where if you weren’t careful you ended up paying much more than what you wanted was worth. Some commercial habits were difficult to break, merchant culture persisting through political change.

The Strahlfang watcher followed them in silence for now.

Klein could feel the tension in the air like humidity before rain.

Behind them, still on the bridge or barely crossing, there were other teams. Not many, only five. But enough to matter... Teams that hadn’t gone toward Yano with the others, that had chosen to follow into uncertainty rather than pursue familiar safety.

Teams that had stayed.

Klein had heard rumors, whispers among certain noble circles, the same ones that wanted to push him to "help them with Luna", about under-the-table rewards for teams that hindered Ren’s progress. Nothing official, of course.

Just silent incentives from families that wanted to see Ren fail, that needed him to fail.

He looked back briefly. Several faces returned his gaze, and none were friendly.

This was going to get complicated.

♢♢♢♢

After crossing through the city and its outer markets where merchants called out deals in accents different from Yano’s, they reached the edge.

The plains were as always an inclined slope downward so it was easy and quick to advance, gravity assisting their pace.

Finally they arrived where the plain ended and the forest began.

And what a forest it was.

Klein stopped abruptly, staring with very wide eyes at something that shouldn’t be possible but undeniably was.

The spider territory was literally a wall.

A white wall of spider silk that extended so high and so wide it seemed impossible to be natural, a structure that defied belief in its scale. The construction covered everything, from the forest floor to well up in the trees, leaving only the uppermost canopy uncovered perhaps to allow trees to receive sun. Otherwise complete coverage, white silk replacing green as dominant color.

It was like looking at a rampart built by beasts instead of humans, defensive architecture that rivaled anything constructed by intelligent hands.

And it had holes.

Hundreds of them visible from their position. Maybe thousands if you counted the smallest ones. Passages that penetrated into the whiteness, disappearing into darkness that the webs barely allowed light to penetrate.

"We’re going in there?" one of the team members asked, his voice rising slightly in pitch with anxiety he couldn’t quite suppress.

"That’s right," Ren responded, already moving horizontally along the web wall rather than selecting an entrance immediately.

Not toward any specific tunnel yet.

Just... observing.

Like trying to choose the best hole to enter from dozens or hundreds of options.

"What are you looking for?" Klein asked, approaching closer than he’d been in months. It was the first direct question he’d asked Ren after so long of silence, barriers finally cracking under necessity and proximity.

Ren didn’t stop moving, his eyes scanning the structure while he walked with focused intensity.

"Signs," he responded after a moment, not elaborating immediately. "Weavers mark their territories in specific ways. Some zones are more active than others with constant traffic and fresh construction. Some are more dangerous with aggressive colonies defending claimed space. And some..." he stopped in front of a particular tunnel, certainty in his posture, "are perfect for crossing quickly, which is what we need."

The tunnel he’d chosen was one of the larger ones, size promising easier passage. Wide enough that two people could walk side by side comfortably without brushing against silk walls. The web at its edges was drier, less structured, with patterns Klein couldn’t decipher but that clearly meant something to Ren’s trained eye.

"This one," Ren declared with finality. "We enter here."