"You need to recover properly. Don't get too worked up. Once your wounds have healed and you return to the ranks, you'll take on even more important duties in the White Bone Battalion."
The Ancient Dream Saintess smiled as she comforted Meng Chao. "When that time comes, we can fight together for all ratfolk and the Great Horned Rat God!"
"I will, Saintess, I definitely will!"
Tears of excitement welled in Meng Chao's eyes as he cried hoarsely, "Those runes the Rat God bestowed upon me helped me survive the raging flames. I'll recover as soon as possible and smash myself to pieces, spill my liver and brains, for the Rat God!"
The Ancient Dream Saintess had already shifted her attention to the next severely wounded soldier.
Yet the words, "Those runes the Rat God bestowed upon me," made her pause slightly and turn back.
"What runes?"
Interest gleamed in her eyes.
Several ripples of Spiritual Energy were hidden in her voice as well, as though seeking to stir the depths of Meng Chao's brain.
"The runes I saw when I fell off a cliff as a child. Ancient Dream Saintess, that must have been a blessing bestowed upon me by the Rat God, right?"
Meng Chao paused, pretending to have suddenly realized something. "Right, I've never told anyone about this—when I was young, my family lived in a small mountain village surrounded by towering mountains and dense forests.
"Though Mandala Fruit covered the hills and plains, there were far too few hands to harvest it. And the Warrior Masters who ruled the village demanded that we pay the Mandala Tax in the highest-grade Golden Fruit, forcing every man, woman, old person, and child in the village to venture into the deep mountains and ancient forests again and again, until