Chapter 203: Fight the Way Back
Translator: Udong Editor: EbonyFrost/Udong
"Not that necessary. Your money is like the hot potato, which I have no interest in." Duren Burg looked at Rayen with a cold smile. Just now, everybody could feel that Rayen had reverted his hostility to Qian Jin, and they were clear that opposing Qian Jin equaled to challenging the entire team.
"The daily rent is one hundred gold coins. Help me take the rental and give it to me when available."
Qian Jin whipped the horse, and marched ahead on its back, without casting a look to Rayen, who was motionless with a sullen face, looking at Qian Jin blankly. He just couldn’t understand how a retinue of the bloodline warrior could treat his master like that, as if they were of equal standing, instead of being in a relations.h.i.+p of hiring and being hired.
"Qian Jin had urged me to help him take the money. Three hundred gold coins for three horse. Thank you." Duren took the gold bars, and whipped the horse to accelerate it, "Wait for me, my comrade."
Sitting on the horseback, Rayen looked at Qian Jin riding away. A tortured look showed out on his face, and the halter in his hands gave out a strong creaking sound.
"Young master…"
"Dumba.s.s!" Rayen glared at the two guards beside him and cursed them in a low voice, "What on earth have you done in contacting these bandits?"
The two guards looked at each other in silence. In fact, the plot they had contrived was a perfect one, however, no one had counted on the appearance of four young warriors, among whom three were Demon Fighters!
"Oh, why!" Rayen uttered a long sigh to the sky, and then locked his eyes on Qian Jin’s back with a despicably atrocious look, "I had almost won, cause as long as the bandits caught Sung Xeon and I came out rescuing him, his beautiful twin daughters would have no way to go but ask me for help. And by that time these two beauties would be at my disposal. d.a.m.n these four expected warriors…"
Due to that fact that Sung Xeon was badly hurt and couldn’t suffer severe jolting, Qian Jin and his fellows were stopped from rus.h.i.+ng harshly. They entered a small forest before sunset and had the potential of reaching the Zence Empire if they went on traveling at night, however, Sung Xeon’s physical condition didn’t allow them to do so.
"I’m sorry to have slowed you down." Sung Xeon sat on the ground leaning across the trunk, on whose face there twinkled a guilty look that seemed even more emaciated against the flickering flame.
"It doesn’t matter." After tethering the horses, Qian Jin threw two wood sticks into the fire and looked around. As long as the four were gathered together, in the case of coming across any bandit group, they would have the chance of finis.h.i.+ng off those bandits, or things would be extremely troublesome. So in order to reduce the troubles, it was better for them to take a night’s rest.
Fanta Kunge hunted some wild animals to be coupled with the food they had taken with them and roasted them by the fire. For the time being, the only source of sounds amidst the silent forest was the cracking of the woods in the fire.
Given his rich experiences living in the wild, Sung Xeon made a cough to break the silence of the group, "I wonder where you four are heading for this time?"
"The Reventment Fortress, and then Oakland." Qian Jin rolled over the cony meat which was oozing oil over the flame, remained silent for a little while and said, "And next, Yulee."
Yulee? Rayen moved his neck slightly and flashed a smile filled with vicious intent against the dancing light of the fire. Yulee State? It would be such a good place! As long as you people entered Yulee, I would have endless ways to have you pay for what you have done to me today!
"Yulee…"Sung Xeon repeated what Qian Jin had said, and turned to Rayen with a worried look. The person in front of them was no one but the third child of Family Ray, one of the eight powers of Yulee. As these four warriors had humiliated this venomous child in the frontier today, their trip to Yulee might…
"Um, Punitive Expedition Academy." Duren Burg took away the roasted cony meat from the fire and laughed, "This academy’s history will be redefined as we four enter it…buddy, it’s my meat…"
Qian Jin threw his uncooked cony meat to Duren Burg as he started to gobbling the well-roasted meat from Duren, and he gave the latter a glare. It felt awful to be looked at furtively every now and then by two girls, which was given rise by Duren Burg’s talking nonsense.
Duren Burg shrunk his neck, and rolled over the meat with his two hands, "Alas, in fact, I cooked that slice of meat for you."
Rayen, his accompanying guards, as well as Sung Xeon and his daughters, were watching what was happening between Qian Jin and Duren Burg in great surprise, wondering how dare a retinue grapple for food with his master bloodline warrior! The retinue had no sense of his status! And what surprised them more was that the bloodline warrior surrendered to the challenge of his retinue!
Duren Burg turned out to be a jellyfis.h.!.+ Looking this craven up and down, the sneer on Rayen’s face got further intensified. This person in front of him was really compelling when fighting with the enemies on the battlefield, but was really poor at managing his team! If such things happened to Rayen, he would slap the disobedient retinue to let him know who the center of this team was.
What if this jellyfish was pressed by the external powers? A light of comfort shone on Rayen’s sneering face, as he was sure that Duren would collapse completely in the face of external pressures! It proved to be such an important finding! As long as they arrived at Yulee, he could exert his family power to suppress Duren to give up his rich and repugnant retinue.
What about posing some pressures on him now? Rayen shook his head, as it was the right time now! It would be highly disadvantageous to irritate a bloodline warrior under such a circ.u.mstance. As father once said, one had to ponder seriously before taking actions, and if things didn’t go smoothly he had to suffer in silence for a while.
"Uncle Song, where do you intend to go?" Duren Burg asked while aimlessly rolling over the baked meat.
Sung Xeon frowned and contemplated this question, "I haven’t thought about this. If possible, what about having us join you?"
Qian Jin smiled and nodded his head, feeling strong admiration for this veteran warrior. As he was hurt, it was not suitable for him to protect his pretty twin daughters, let alone carry out any missions. Following Qian Jin’s group turned out to be the best choice for him for the time being.
After dinner, Sung Xeon went to sleep to conserve strength, while Qian Jin climbed onto the tree out of habit to catnap with vigilance. The forest became diametrically silent.
It was frozen cold in the evening in the frontier. Even the naughty bandits would find someplace warm to take a rest.
A peaceful night pa.s.sed. After breakfast, Qian Jin and his fellows went on with their trip. Once in a while they would run into some bandits, who didn’t plunder or attack them, but took a short cross-examine, asked several gold coins from them and let them go.
The bandits weren’t amok after all, for who robbing some daily necessities were quite enough. Only the Black Wind Bandit Group would carry out slaughters.
"The Reventment Battlefield is over there." Looking at the small fortress appearing above the horizon, Qian Jin exhaled a long chill. It was fortunate for them to have not run into any dangers on their way.
Sitting on the horse, Rayen looked at Qian Jin’s back and felt puzzled about his decision. Why did he insist on heading for the small Reventment Fortress?
After riding for several miles, the door of the Reventment Fortress was opened suddenly, and a scout rushed out toward them on a warhorse, flinging waves dust from the ground.
"You…you…" The scout on the war horse wore an extremely surprised face and looked at Qian Jin blankly, "You are still alive…"
Sitting on the horseback, Qian Jin scratched his head embarra.s.sedly. No news had been delivered since he went out, and at the same time, the Dark Group released their order for arrest. It was no wonder that the people of Reventment Fortress thought that he had died.
"Great! Great!" The scout turned the horse around, and said while whipping it hard, "Come on! The general is worrying about you."
Rayen looked at Qian Jin and the other three warriors in great surprise. Could the so-called general be relative to some of them? But so what? It was nothing but a trivial captain of the small Reventment Fortress which was overshadowed by our Family Ray a hundred times! We were one of the eight powers in Yulee! No one dared overestimate such eight powers, except the decadent Torrent Battle Fort.
After the scout went back, the door of Reventment Fortress was opened completely to both sides. General Wind walked out of the door in a s.h.i.+ning armor, arms opened wide.
Seeing Qian Jin jump down from the horse, General Wind gave him a big bear-hug, and patted his back hard, "It’s so good to have you back. So good."
General Wind then hugged Fanta Kunge and Duren Burg. When he saw Cech Flet, he observed him inquisitively as he could feel the vigilance worn by this young warrior, which could be called hatred.
Qian Jin shook his head with a smile. Though Cech Flet held a hatred toward the royal family of the Demons, he had been living in the Demons’ territory, which cultivated his hatred for the Zence Empire. It was similar to his impulse of pulling out his sword to chop the Demons when he was in the Demons’ territory.
"General, this is a friend of ours." Qian Jin stood in between General Wind and Cech Flet, "He feels uneasy with the strangers."
"Oh…" General Wind nodded his head in a drawling voice and kept looking Cech Flet up and down, feeling that there was something wrong with this young warrior, yet he couldn’t really figure out what was wrong. He even felt tempted to pull out his saber and chop down this young person.
What was wrong? General Wind frowned in puzzlement. Such impulses only showed up when he was confronted with the Demon Warriors in the past, why did he feel this way in the face of a human? Did it mean that I had killed too many Demons? That I couldn’t suppress my desire for slaughter?
General Wind turned his look to Rayen, and glanced through the two guards standing by Rayen’s side, "And these people are…?"
Rayen jumped out of the horse, flicked away the dust on his body, clenched his fists on his chest, bent over a little and wore a slightly proud look, "Nice to meet you, General. I’m Rayen from the Ray Family of Yulee State. And these two are my guards arranged by my family."
"Ray Family?" General Wind opened his eyes wide and looked Rayen up and down once again, "The Ray Family of Yulee?"
Rayen stood straight and raised his jaw slightly, the proud look on his face thickened. The influence of Yulee State was not limited to the state itself. Strictly speaking, the Revenetment Fortress and Oakland were also the controlled parts of Yulee.
However, the central city of Yulee State was called Yulee City, where the residents believed their dwelling city to be the center of Yulee State. Whenever they were asked to introduce themselves, they would say that they came from Yulee.
Turning around, General Wind laid his arms around Qian Jin’s shoulder, while patting on Duren Burg’s shoulder and casting a look to Fanta Kunge, indicating him to come into the Fortress with him. And without paying a look to Rayen, they walked toward the Fortress along with Sung Xeon and his two daughters.
What the…Rayen watched General Wind walking away in astonishment, wondering how could this man treat him like this after knowing that he was from the Ray Family of Yulee? Was I, the third child of Ray Family, overshadowed by a retinue of a bloodline warrior?
Coming to the military camp, General Wind ordered several of his close soldiers to watch out the camp door so that n.o.body could break in. The smiling face went sullen all of a sudden, "Why didn’t you send me a piece of news of peace! You know what? Ever since the Dark Group released the order for arrest targeting you, I had been feeling repentant for having dropped on you! You ought to have a bright future, but I…"
Standing behind Duren Burg, Qian Jin took out the testimony of Two Star’s death from the warrior dimension, "It was highly dangerous at that time, and we had no way to send you a message. While here is the result of the mission."
"Is this…true…" General Wind took over the testimony and looked at Qian Jin in great astonishment, "When the Dark Group said that you killed one of their members, I thought that they were lying as they were given a bit by you. Have you people really killed off a member of the Dark Group?"
"Luckily, it was only a Two Star." Qian Jin sat down on the furry carpet, "If it was a Seven Star of the Dark Group, we couldn’t have survived."
"d.a.m.n the Army!" General Wind tamped on the desk hard, "Someone was trying to kill me."
"General, remember to apply for military merits for us." Qian Jin said smilingly, "We count on this to be the castellan in the future."
"No problem! On no case will I forget that! It can be deemed as a big merit to have killed a Two Star." General Wind tucked away the testimony smilingly, and sat down on the furry carpet, "You know what? The farce you had made was a big one, of which one team of the Black Dragon Guards of the Zence Empire was launched and had a fight with the Dark Group in the frontier."
Duren Burg lit up a cigarette and took a deep inhale, "Who won the fight?"
"No winner in that fight." General Wind put on a happy face soon, "But strictly speaking, the Dark Group was defeated. It was said that when they were taking a rest after fighting with the Black Dragon Guards, they ran into a powerful person called b.l.o.o.d.y Blade by the Demons!"
"b.l.o.o.d.y Blade?" Qian Jin took over the cup handed by Duren Burg, "A ferocious name."
"Right." Admiration appeared on General Wind’s face, "He used to the idol of numerous ordinary warriors but disappeared suddenly and obscurely. It was said that he went to serve as a guardian of a small city. It was unbelievable that Mr. Fabreidis got suddenly enlightened to show up in the frontier and chopped two members of the Dark Group. What a thrilling thing! Pitifully…I didn’t enjoy watching the scene in person…"
"Fabreidis?" The cup in Qian Jin’s hand trembled lightly, "Guardian of Oakland City?"
"Yes! Guardian of Oakland City!" General Wind kept nodding his head, "It was such a pity that I didn’t witness Fabreidis’s charms with my own eyes! It was said that on hearing that Fabreidis was there, the majority of the Dark Group lost all their desires for fighting and fled instantly, only leaving two members to be of pa.s.sive defense."
Hearing this, Qian Jin even forgot to drink but started recalling Fabreidis, who, in his mind, used to be so composed as if nothing could ever get him wrong. He couldn’t believe that Fabreidis could become so violent that the members of the Dark Group were frightened to flee away!
"That means Fabreidis is still on the frontier?" Qian Jin swallowed a sip of water and asked.
"Yes." General Wind again nodded his head, "Several batches of people have come to persuade him into coming back earlier, as the frontier is a hazardous place, where the Demon Warriors of the Dark Group are difficult to be dealt with. After all, compared with the Demon Warriors, an ordinary warrior is…alas! However, he seems to be looking for something, and has to remain there…"
Qian Jin was so moved that he kept rubbing the cup in his hand. The truth that the other people were hidden from was that Fabreidis was looking for him.
"General Wind, please send more people to the gra.s.sland, and tell Fabreidis that the one who is going to forge swords for him has already come back at the sight of him."
General Wind looked at Qian Jin and asked, "So he is…he is looking for you?"
Qian Jin laughed embarra.s.sedly. If it was convenient for him to get touch with Fabreidis in the frontier, he wouldn’t ask for others to help him with that.
Given the complicated situation of the frontier, the information the troops and military could collect was much more dependable than an ordinary warrior apprentice.
"No problem! I will do it now!" General Wind hurriedly stood up and walked toward the camp door. Suddenly he stopped and turned to Qian Jin, "One more thing. Your teacher was worried about you on his departure and urged me to tell you to come back to Oakland to prepare for the general exam. However, it turns out that…you will be late for the exam."
"The general exam? Let it go." Qian Jin stood up and shrugged his shoulder, "I have to go back to the frontier."
"Back to the frontier?" General Wind frowned hard, "For what?"
"Fabreidis is anxiously looking for me outside, how could I be sitting here waiting for him to come back?" Walking outside the camp, Qian Jin said, "My joining in will add to the chances of finding him."
General Wind leaned across the camp, opened his arms wide and looked at Qian Jin, "As the frontier is desperately immense, your joining in will not influence the search result…"
"General." Qian Jin raised his head slightly and looked at the tall and st.u.r.dy General Wind, "If you were me, would you sit here aimlessly waiting for him?"
...
General Wind shook his head silently. On hearing that someone else was fighting for you regardless of his own safety, any real man wouldn’t be sitting calm waiting for the guy. Unless that man had no b.a.l.l.s!
"So, thank you." Qian Jin softly pushed away General Wind’s opened arms.
"So how about you?" General Wind opened his arms again, and separated Qian Jin from Duren Burg and the others, "The one Fabreidis is looking for is Qian Jin."
"We..."
Duren Burg laughed, seized the clothes over his chest and stripped it to both sides. The thin and coa.r.s.e clothes couldn’t bear such compelling force, and split with a dull sound, exposing his robust chest muscles.
"Here, here, here, here and here!" Duren Burg kept pointing his fingers at his chest, "Look at these parts! They were broken when I was carrying out the mission handed by you! I couldn’t stand up or even crawl! Without Qian Jin, I could have died a hundred times. And I won’t be standing here in front of you! My entire life was saved by Qian Jin, on what ground do you think I will let him go to the frontier by himself?"
Looking at the unswerving look of Qian Jin and Fanta Kunge, General Wind quivered slightly. Yes! He also used to be a vigorous young boy! If he was confronted with such a thing, he would also make the same choice!