The Bow-Bearing Youth

On the grassy bank beside the stream, Xian was facing off against three enormous wild wolves.

Of course, calling it a face-off was giving him too much credit. "Surrounded" would have been more accurate.

The three wolves, each standing over half a meter at the shoulder, had their muscles taut as they formed a semicircle around him. The largest and strongest among them, clearly the leader, leaned forward slightly, letting out low growls as it slowly advanced to test his limits.

Faced with such danger, Xian's face turned pale with tension, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

He knew very well that an unarmed adult still had a chance against a single wolf. After all, humans were large animals too.

But facing three vicious wolves that worked together flawlessly, wolves as large as North American Wolf specimens—bring Tyson here, and he would still end up in their jaws today.

Not to mention that he was merely a College Student who spent his days sitting in a chair studying at a desk and was even trying to lose fat.

"What do I do? What do I do?!"

Xian's mind raced, but the only solution he could think of was fleeing into the stream behind him and hoping the running water would make the wolves hesitate.

But that was unrealistic. The stream was far too shallow, reaching only his knees. It clearly would not make these starving beasts give up food already at their mouths.

Awoo—! As if sensing Xian's bluff, the three wolves let out piercing howls together, startling flocks of birds into flight.

Then they stopped waiting. Baring their fangs, they slowly pounced toward Xian from different directions.

"Ah!"

He had no time to think. Determined to drag at least one beast down with him even if he died, Xian roared, curled all ten fingers into claws, and prepared to gouge them deep into the wolves' eerie green eyes the moment they lunged.

Whoosh! Just as the battle was about to erupt, a feathered arrow tore through the air from afar at astonishing speed. Its sharp tip lodged with perfect precision in the lead wolf's left eye.

Awoo—! Time seemed to freeze in that instant. With a muffled, agonized wail, the lead wolf's massive body jerked violently. It stumbled about wildly for several steps before collapsing limply onto the ground.

The light of life swiftly faded from its remaining right eye, leaving only dead silence behind.

The other two wolves, just about to leap at Xian and tear into him, immediately halted when they saw their leader fall. Like frightened puppies, they fled in a panic.

In cruel nature, beasts had no concept of revenge. Survival was above all else.

"Huff... huff!"

Having survived the disaster, Xian finally relaxed after being wound so tightly, gulping down breaths of air.

But as he looked at the massive body of the lead wolf before him, dead after an arrow had pierced its left eye and entered its brain, he quickly realized that now was absolutely not the time to relax.

Since the person who had fired that arrow could hit the left eye of a lead wolf rushing at high speed, they could certainly hit his head just as easily.

At that thought, Xian did not dare slack off in the slightest. He hurriedly turned toward the direction from which the arrow had come and raised both hands high like a brave French soldier.

"Thank you! Thanks! Merci! Arigatou!"

He expressed his gratitude in several languages in a row, doing his best to appear harmless.

Under his nervous gaze, a figure rose from the bushes and slowly approached.

It was a young boy dressed in ragged clothes that looked as though they had been cut from coarse burlap. He carried a quiver on his back and held a bow.

His face was lean yet resolute, his gaze sharp and his expression cold, making him seem rather difficult to approach. Besides that, two lines of equally strange writing floated above his head.

When the boy came close enough to see the words above Xian's head clearly, his cold expression finally broke as though he had witnessed something utterly absurd. It was replaced by overwhelming shock and disbelief.

Just as Xian had done when he first saw the words in the stream's reflection, the boy rubbed his eyes over and over with such force that Xian briefly wondered whether he was going to squeeze his eyeballs out.

"Hello."

Xian was about to greet him when the boy hesitated for a moment. His lips moved as he spoke a language Xian could not understand, then he lowered his head heavily and dropped to one knee before him.

Xian: "???"

At the bizarre sight, his mind crashed for a moment.

Why was this boy, who had clearly saved his life and could easily kill him, kneeling before him?

And why were his clothes so ragged, worse even than those of beggars back home? His language did not sound like any language from Blue Star either.

His mind full of questions, Xian was about to speak when his vision suddenly went dark. His head swam, his body abruptly collapsed to the ground, and his consciousness gradually blurred.

After being knocked unconscious and brought into the forest, he had not had a drop of water. Then he had gone through a life-or-death crisis. Both his body and mind had long since reached their limits.

Thud! Hearing the sound, the boy raised his head. Seeing Xian collapse, he hurried over. Only after checking and confirming that the other man had merely fainted did he finally let out a long breath.

"If such an important person died here, I'm afraid not a single person in the entire village would be left alive," the boy said fortunately, his face pale from fright.

Then the boy's gaze shifted repeatedly between the unconscious Xian and the enormous corpse of the lead wolf. At last, a look of obvious heartache appeared on his face.

He pulled the arrow from the lead wolf's left eye, washed it clean by the stream, and returned it to his quiver. Then he shifted the quiver from his back to his chest before carrying the unconscious Xian on his back and walking forward along the stream.

After not going far, the boy turned back to look once more at the lead wolf's corpse, his eyes clearly filled with reluctance.

This hunt had been an exceptional performance. He had killed the Gray Wolf by shooting an arrow into its eye, preserving its pelt intact.

If he could skin it and sell the hide to a fur merchant, he could fetch at least thirty-seven Copper Sol! That was enough to pay half a year's Hunting Tax.

Unfortunately, such precious prey could only be left behind, soon to be gnawed apart by other beasts.

After all, the most urgent task was to get this important person somewhere safe.

The boy sighed, turned back around, and continued onward.

He's so heavy. He weighs more than a big gray wolf.

Beneath the gradually darkening sunset, the boy, his quiver hanging before his chest, struggled step by step into the distance with a man taller than himself on his back.

Later generations of bards sang it this way: When the supremely noble, kind, and beautiful Holy King, Mingyu Xia, first arrived in the world, he encountered the Dragon Hunter Berg Chu being hunted by a pack of wolves. The Holy King generously extended a helping hand and carried the mobility-impaired Dragon Hunter out of the forest.

The rescued Dragon Hunter was moved to tears and fell to both knees, swearing to dedicate his life to the Holy King. From then on, he became the Holy King's right-hand man in changing the world and bringing light to the entire continent.