Northward

The lectured elven sissy found Chen Jinyang, staring at him with teary eyes and pouting in extreme grievance: "You all bully me! You're not good people! Waaah!" The effeminate display made Chen Jinyang feel so nauseated he wanted to retch. "Am I really that annoying? Bad William! Stupid William!"

"It's not that you're annoying! It's that you're disgusting! A grown man looking like such a sissy is truly revolting! Look! Look! You're doing it again! Don't come over here!" Chen Jinyang frowned and stepped several paces away from the elf.

"Oh! How hateful! You made me so angry I forgot I'm currently a male elf! Tee-hee! How abominable!" The little elven sissy patted his small head, breaking into a smile through his tears. He then pulled a small, silvery-white metal mirror from his little pouch, pursed his lips, and admired himself. "Ooh-wah! I'm so cute! Where is there anything disgusting?"

Watching the "super sissy-trap" admiring himself in the mirror, Chen Jinyang's sense of revulsion grew even stronger. He simply turned his head to avoid looking, walking around the other to head back, but a fresh, fragrant breeze washed over him. Immediately after, a soft, delicate pair of lips pressed against his. The little elven sissy hopped away after pecking Chen Jinyang's mouth, leaving behind only a trail of silver-bell-like laughter.

Chen Jinyang smacked his lips, tasting a hint of fruit, and then his face turned pale. "Ugh!" Realizing what happened, he collapsed to the ground and vomited until he felt like the world was spinning.

In the distance, the little elf clenched a delicate, jade-like fist and declared triumphantly: "Abominable big devil William! Please accept the revenge of the great elven maiden Aelf Star-Night from the High Forest! Wahahahaha!"

After obtaining the Hell Hound, Elrago returned to Longsaddle that very evening under the protection of twelve family guards, leaving behind four members who had not yet recovered from their injuries and five non-family mercenaries, including the elf Alafil. He entrusted Chen Jinyang to join the grain transport caravan as the new leader and continue toward Mirabar.

The next day, a sallow-faced Chen Jinyang appeared before the group. The moment he saw the smiling Aelf Star-Night waiting outside, his cheek twitched uncontrollably, and he could only turn his head to ignore her. The little elf didn't mind his rudeness at all, following behind Chen Jinyang with a hop and a skip, flashing her little white teeth.

Feeding the horses, eating, and hitching the wagons—the mercenaries efficiently packed everything up. Chen Jinyang folded his belongings and stowed them into his magic bag. The magic bag was indeed a miraculous item; as long as it didn't exceed its set volume, anything that could fit inside could be stored, and it even reduced some of the weight. Of course, one magic bag could not be placed inside another.

Phinia and the two little ones also set out with the caravan; Chen Jinyang didn't feel at ease leaving them alone at home. When he went to retrieve the giant wooden pole he used for training, he discovered the poor thing had already been hacked to pieces by someone.

Furious, Chen Jinyang stormed toward the elf in a rage, shouting: "Sissy! You bastard! How dare you destroy my..." The elf, who had been keeping a close eye on Chen Jinyang's every move, didn't wait for him to get close. She immediately leaped away, pulled a face at him, and blew a big, loud kiss. Having been traumatized by yesterday's "ambush," the man's face turned black, his stomach churned again, and his burning rage dissolved into cold sweat.

Chen Jinyang truly wanted to beat this pervert to death! Really! But his remaining sanity forced him to suppress the riot in his heart. Elves from the High Forest were not to be trifled with; that was common knowledge in the North. Besides, the sissy's crime didn't warrant death, and Chen Jinyang didn't want to bring big trouble upon his family over such a small matter.

Following the usual custom, the caravan left a batch of flour and vegetables for the Gnome Village to store in their cellar and sealed the village entrance with logs. Everyone, including the wounded, boarded the wagons and set off on the road to Mirabar.

According to the agreement with Elrago, a mage from the Habel Family would soon head to Mirabar, at which point they would take little Alos back to the south together and send him to a suitable Archmage for study.

The wagons were wooden carts without any suspension, and the road was a bumpy dirt track. Traveling in such conditions was a disaster. Before long, no one wanted to stay in the wagons, and the uninjured mercenaries helped the wounded walk. Phinia followed behind Chen Jinyang carrying her giant axe, while Alos and Mishaer ran around the caravan joyfully. Of course, there was also the little elf Aelf Star-Night, the prank-loving disguised maiden, who went wild with the two little ones, occasionally remembering to tease the frustrated Chen Jinyang.

Sometimes, when the little girl was tired from running, she would climb onto Chen Jinyang's back, her helmet-topped head bobbing back and forth, occasionally showing off to the elf.

Tangled trees, dirt slopes, small hills, mud—the difficult, rugged road combined with the burden of the wounded meant the entire caravan had traveled less than ten miles by the time the sun set. Bright campfires rose on the dark brown earth after the early spring snowmelt. Surrounded by the circle of wagons, everyone sat on the ground by the fire. The caravan's picnic pot was stewing lamb chops, and long, thick pieces of hard bread were being roasted on thin sticks.

"Hey! William! Remember me? I'm Gosa!" The middle-aged, bearded man who seemed to be the mercenary leader approached cautiously.

William's remaining memories were only like scattered pictures, allowing Chen Jinyang to know people or things he was familiar with, but he had no impression of this adventurer. Chen Jinyang shook his head and asked: "Gosa? I'm afraid I've forgotten you. Have we met before?"

"Of course! I used to travel this road often, and every time I'd go to Old Sailu's for a few drinks! A strong boy always leaves a deep impression, doesn't he?" Gosa sat down next to Chen Jinyang as if they were old friends, breaking off a piece of bread from the fire and chewing it heartily.

"Maybe so!" Chen Jinyang also took a piece of bread, tearing it into small bits to put in his mouth. "As an adventurer, what kind of things do you usually do?" He was curious about the mercenaries of this world, wondering how they differed from the mercenaries of his past life.

"Uh! Adventurers, as the name implies, must endure all kinds of dangers: accepting commissions to guard caravans, transporting goods, hunting down evil monsters, exploring unknown regions like caves, cities, ruins, labyrinths, and so on. We also participate in intelligence gathering and scouting. Sometimes we are hired to participate in wars between lords, or to defend cities, or to attack enemy territories." The mercenary leader spoke quite frankly.

"Mr. Gosa! Do you go to slay evil dragons?" Little Mishaer, who had been listening with great interest, couldn't help but interject. "I heard that brave adventurers prove their courage by killing evil dragons."

"Hahaha!" The little girl's words made Gosa laugh out loud. He swallowed the rest of his bread and said: "Dragon slaying? My cute little Mishaer! Dragon slaying is no fun. Unless a dragon attacks a city or a country, who would provoke such a powerful existence, aside from the overly greedy and foolish? Even the gods wouldn't be bored enough to provoke a dragon for no reason. Perhaps only in those boring knight novels do fools appear who slay dragons to prove their courage."

"Adventurers? If it weren't for the pressures of life, who would be willing to join such a dangerous profession! Aside from those powerful lunatics obsessed with dangerous experiences, most adventurers come from ordinary commoners who can barely survive, having lost their homes to monster attacks, or who were conscripted by a lord and are no longer allowed to be farmers unless they can no longer fight." Gosa's words made the surrounding atmosphere heavy.

Chen Jinyang found it hard to understand his meaning and asked: "Why wouldn't a lord allow an adventurer to become a farmer? A farmer who provides him with food should be more valuable than a wandering adventurer, right?"

"It's simple! Here, the overly fertile land only needs a few farmers to produce enough food. But the endless stream of monsters is the biggest trouble the lords face! It's much cheaper to keep an adventurer than to keep a soldier."

The problem was worthless once explained. Keeping a soldier required paying wages and equipping them with weapons and armor, which was the biggest expense, and if they died in battle, one had to pay a pension. As for adventurers, they were a group that brought their own rations; you only needed to pay a relatively insignificant commission when you needed them, and you could even drive them away after using them.

He hadn't expected such a strange thing to exist! Chen Jinyang's mind couldn't quite wrap around it, but he abandoned the topic and asked instead: "Then where did you learn your combat skills? Are there any institutions like academies?"

Gosa smiled self-deprecatingly and said: "That's a funny question! You really are the clueless old William! How could such a good thing exist in this world? Most adventurers start out as farmers who just put down their hoes. The lucky ones might have had some basic training in a military camp. So-called combat skills are all figured out through experience during one's own adventures. Of course, some lucky young people might get pointers from experienced older adventurers, and their strength will appear a bit greater."

"But William! How did you get so strong? Don't tell me you also received guidance from some old adventurer?" Gosa asked the question he had been harboring for a long time.

Chen Jinyang laughed it off vaguely: "Not at all! It's just that my limping old man taught me some things when I was a child, and I never forgot them!"

"True! Old Badier was once a renowned adventurer in the North, and many young adventurers used him as a role model back then. What a pity!" Although he knew William wasn't telling the truth, Gosa didn't dwell on it and asked again: "Why did Mr. Elrago abandon the caravan? And return to Longsaddle overnight?" This was the question the mercenary leader ultimately wanted to know.

"Yeah, yeah! I want to know too!" The elf, who had been sneaking around listening, also leaned in curiously.

Chen Jinyang spread his large hand over the elf's face: "Adults are talking, children shouldn't interrupt!" He pinched her cheek and gave it a tug. The elf lost her balance and fell to the ground. Chen Jinyang felt as if he had peeled a layer of skin off the elf's face, but when he looked down, it was a moon-white mask.

Holy crap! A living transformation! The sissy turned into a beauty in an instant! Oh, a beautiful girl! Everyone around was stunned! The elven maiden was also stunned for a moment as she fell to the ground, but then she immediately stood up, snatched the mask from Chen Jinyang's hand, swept a glance at the dazed crowd, pouted, and said fiercely: "What are you looking at! Haven't you ever seen a good-looking elf?" In everyone's eyes, the elf's tone and expression didn't seem fierce at all; instead, they felt even more adorable.

The elf's beautiful, light green eyes glared at Chen Jinyang, and she said hatefully: "Abominable! Bad William! I will never admit defeat! Hmph!" She wrinkled her little nose and turned to walk into the tent set up nearby, while Chen Jinyang could only smile helplessly.