Shen Yu raised an eyebrow at the not-so-subtle discrimination, Kai also gave a noncommittal pause.
For a while, nobody spoke.
The guard gave them a cold look and muttered something under his breath, only to flinch when Kai returned the look with his own stare, nonetheless the guard wasn’t deterred from repeating himself, “The elf can’t enter.”
Shen Yu huffed, not knowing why the guard was so short tempered with them, “Why can’t I enter? Is it a law?”
The present onlookers, four guards behind the registering booth, were a bit dazed to see an elf so talkative, but the one who would register them didn’t even blink, “I don’t need a law to hold you up,” the guard snorted, lips twisting into an ugly frown. “You all are monsters; we don’t need you inside.”
“Then we will take our leave, why waste your precious time,” Shen Yu responded coldly, impulsively snatching Kai’s hand and tugging him away from the gateway, he simply couldn’t stand doing nothing.
It would be far better to just rest in the forest. He took a quick glance at Kai to check his attitude, and seeing those casual black eyes, he was relieved.
They were not welcomed, and it was very clear. Clashing with a bunch of locals was not good.
Not waiting to see what would happen next, Shen Yu turned away to leave, and thankfully, Kai also didn’t mind his abrupt decision.
Unfortunately, they weren’t fast enough, and a soft female voice halted their steps. “Please wait!” The voice was not loud, with a tinge of desperation and a gasp in it.
When the speaker came into view, she turned out to be a female guard, with some sweat on her forehead, her hair all windswept. One could tell just by looking that she had rushed to catch hold of them.
Although she held an air of authority to herself, her eyes withheld a pleading gaze, “Fortunately I noticed you both in time, forgive the guards for their lack of manners just now, I just knew they would mistreat you both because of this elven sir’s presence,” she smiled kindly at Shen Yu and then pointedly stared at the grumpy guard, who frowned when he had to take a step back.
“May I know if this elven sir has his own identity,” she asked Shen Yu rather than turning to Kai, maybe she had seen him speaking before.
“A friend,” Kai quipped, taking over the conversation from Shen Yu, he didn’t give any pleasantries.
Strangely enough, the guard lady didn’t seem to mind his attitude, she just looked rather embarrassed, “Do you have a special identity mister,” she asked Kai with an appeasing tone, “please let the guard register you. You can also submit your identity card to me, I will make sure to take care of the rest of the procedure for you. I apologize… for what happened here, please don’t mind them, we just have a bad rapport with the forest elves.”
Shen Yu took in the lady’s apologetic behavior, and considered her welcoming gestures, it didn’t seem fake, and to note above that, the guards here looked like they ate a flee as soon as she appeared in the picture. They instinctively detested her.
“It is good that I found you, if you are willing,” she hesitated, “can you come with me to discuss a certain matter, you are a good candidate.” She hadn’t seen Kai’s silver card yet, so she may have assumed that Kai was just a person with a big name. Not that the others didn’t notice it, but they seem to abhor Shen Yu, and in front of their hatred, there was no other clarity left in them.
When she said ‘candidate’, Kai gave her a short smile, “We haven’t even entered the gate yet, this lady, and you want something from us already?”
The lady guard looked embarrassed enough as it was, but Kai’s taunt really made her sweat under pressure, “…please, it is something of importance, I assure you, we aren’t bad people. Whether you are willing to help or not is a matter of kindness. I can accept a decline. I don’t mind.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Kai made a noise of amusement, but didn’t say anything snarky in return, while Shen Yu was curious as to what this lady wanted. She didn’t look like she had taken a fancy to either of them, neither was she overbearing with her attitude.
“Then?” Kai questioned when it looked like the lady would just shut down with her own thoughts, Shen Yu felt there was something wrong with her, but what exactly he wasn’t sure about, “I do need an accommodation for a night, but I don’t mind if you explain more to us.”
“Certainly.”
~
[94.3 Trillion Viewer Count]. [Barrage Heat: warm]
~
[Scherhb_WhiteBlack: For a minute there I was scared Hunter would kill those guards. shiver.jpg]
[RuaRua: I think there is some internal strife among these people, the way they look at the lady is not very friendly.]
[GernardFamily_seconddaughterwhite: I am afraid the things aren’t very simple here.]
[RichardBlack: I prefer some face slapping though. Wonder how the guards would react when they would see that silver identity card. haha]
[KiKi: The lady is cute.]
~
When registering their names, the guard looked very reluctant, but with the lady looking over his shoulder, he dared not complain. She was probably higher in rank than them.
Bored, Kai told his name and purpose very carelessly, and gave the silver card offhandedly, shocking the onlookers into stone. It also made the grumbling guard pale in fright, a rather big face slap.
Shen Yu believed that Silver Cards were widely known, but nobody actually got to see it, especially not this remote town.
The flashy card was enough to make them lose their pallor.
“Master Warlock, please come with me,” the lady guard gestured, keeping the silver card in her pocket very carefully
She thoughtfully escorted them inside the gate and took them to a place not far from the booth, crossing over a buffer of thick trees and fields of vegetation.
There was a small hut which stood alone in the middle of a floral garden, the smell of herbs so strong that it was somewhat bitter, “This humble abode is my grandfather’s place, you can rest here if you see fit, because our town has no inn,” the interior was rather empty, spare a bed and a dining, with a small kitchenette and bathing space adjoining the main parlor, “This town is all agricultural field, we grow herbs and fruits here, and some vegetables on the side. The grains come from exchange with another town.”
Shen Yu didn’t know if the lady was just talkative, or she had a purpose behind telling them all this stuff.
“If you don’t have any specific purpose and are just crossing from here, will you do me a favor before you leave?” Her eyes seemed a little guilty for being so straightforward, but she looked to be struggling between begging and asking for forgiveness. Oddly, she had enough courage to bring in a silver card warlock, so there must be something she could give in return.
Within expectation, she took out a small golden bead that was shining with an unnatural luster.
“This is a mermaid’s tear, and not any tear, a mermaid gave this to our family a very long time ago. Our ancestor helped her once and this was the parting gift.” The lady Guard dropped the golden tear in a small jade jar, giving the jar to Kai, “This is very precious, it can save a life from brink of death, please consider this a return for your favor.”
Kai took the jar with a careless attitude, but he didn’t seem to mind doing the favor. “This is a rather expensive reward for our help,” he remarked, making Shen Yu snort internally, “What is it that you want us to do.”
“This sir…” the lady guard hesitated at this point, “I have a family at home, my husband is very ill and my child is only two. I can’t leave them behind even if I want to. But my father went missing not long ago and my grandfather went out in search of him. Can you please bring them back, even if it is their…b-body,” the lady choked, looking like she would cry, “I have sent many subordinates after them but there is no news so far, one guard even died on journey, and it had a negative impact on my status in this town, you might have noticed it.”
Shen Yu was reminded of the ill-intentioned guard just earlier, no wonder he didn’t seem to like her, “I am begging you, kind sir,” she grieved, “please find their whereabouts, even if you can’t bring back their bodies. I have no more relatives, seeing that my husband is an orphan. At least I will know they are no longer around and end this search for them.”
She looked very honest and sad, her authoritative figure from earlier was nowhere to be seen. Seeing her this miserable, Shen Yu felt a little moved, but he wouldn’t really sympathize with her, she was a stranger, being too emotional towards a stranger was not Shen Yu’s personality, he just couldn’t find it in himself to care about others, but certainly, he looked at her in a new light. Her reward was also rather generous.
“Where did your father go missing, what was he doing?” Kai asked in a comforting tone, his tense muscles relaxing as he let go of his scrutiny. Seeing him taking interest, the lady guard looked relieved, a small smile gracing her lips. “Honestly, I didn’t expect you to consider my request.”
“…I do have a bit of a presence in my community, if I can, I will help with this matter.”
Her eyes teared up when she heard this, looking much more humane than before. “Thank you, this sir, thank you…”
Kai gave a short nod, although he didn’t comfort her, his casual air from before had receded into a serious one when he looked at her. It made her confident in him.
She believed he could really help her.
At least that’s what one would see if they looked at him right now.
Shen Yu watched him act, as Kai looked at the jade jar and honestly gave it back without reluctance, surprising the lady. “When I find your family, give this gift to me then. Taking something so valuable before even fulfilling my promise, that is not a principle I follow.”
The lady looked a little astonished, but there was relief and gratefulness hidden within, “This sir is kind. My father is actually a middle man, one who buys grains and seeds from the next town ahead and he sells them in this town at a reasonable price. He went to buy the crops, the same time and same route as usual, which is, once every week. But this time he didn’t return. We waited for two days, and when nobody heard any news from him, my grandfather went looking for him. As of now, neither of them have returned, it has been three days since. We believe it is the forest elves… but who can be sure.” She didn’t raise her eyes to look at Shen Yu, but he felt a little hesitant when he thought her father and grandpa might have died because of his kind’s craziness.
“Then we will leave at once, there can be no delay in saving a human life,” Kai said.
“But you are tired, and you can’t just roam outside at such an hour, it is not safe-”
“Just tell me how I would recognize them?” Kai didn’t intend to listen at all, so the lady stopped and followed up hesitantly, “Yes that…” she brought over a small portrait, and Kai noted down the faces of the old and the new, they were both tall and sturdy males, with tanned skin, and bearded faces. Very distinct yet recognizable.
“I will take you to the side gate, it is easier to exit from there,” then she reminded again, “But if you want to eat something before-”
“For now, we will just do the scouting of the area outside,” Kai added, “will come back before mid-night.”
She smiled in relief when she heard the plan, and shook her head in surprise, “How can I thank you enough, I am sorry for disrupting your-”
“It’s fine.”
It didn’t take them long to really leave through the second gate, the town was only so big and there was nothing but farmland and small huts scattered within the boundary.
Bidding a temporary farewell to the lady guard, one elf and one warlock followed the muddy trail of wagon wheels crisscrossing the rough dirt road.
As usual the forest surrounding this trail was thick and lush, but the woods looked rather haunted than vibrant. And considering the sundown period, it really did feel stranger than during the day.
No doubt one could get snatched from this trail if they weren’t cautious enough.
Although Shen Yu was a little tired from all the walking, he didn’t complain about it. It was difficult to tell what Kai was thinking, taking up this service, was the golden bead so important to him?
“Did Malcum ever visit this town?”
Kai shook his head in response, “He didn’t, he took another route.”
“I see, then is there something wrong with this route?”
“We will find out soon enough.”
“…but I am hungry.”
Kai gave him a quick glance and then took out a small pink peach from his pocket, “Eat this until full, it is better to not step into that town again.”
Huh? Why?
Looking at his confused frown, Kai snorted coldly, “That woman was lying to us the entire time, who could say what she planned for us? And a town that hates your race, do you think it is safe living with them even for a day?”
~~
[A/N] – This was Friday the 14th update. Wait for this week’s update. Thanks for reading!!
🤔 I bet there was something else to that mermaid’s tear and jade jar
I thought that seemed fishy. Thanks for the chapter!
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
Something is quite fishy in that town
Weird r…
I caught up😭
This novel is really innovative and fresh. I sincerely hope the author continues writing it as I am really enjoying it very much.
Hello, author! It’s been a while since your last update, and I’m still waiting. I really like your story. 🤗❤️❤️
They will eat our cute alive if not for Kai 😭
That whole situation was sus