The middle-aged man carrying a pack and a longsword turned to glance at the four men who had crossed the bridge on horseback, then casually sat down on a roadside rock to rest his feet.
"Riding horses—now that's impressive."
"Man, this journey's really been exhausting. Still, making it back home alive after serving corvée labor counts as pretty good luck, I suppose." He sat carelessly and wiped the sweat from his head with his sleeve.
It was already May, and the weather had clearly begun to heat up.
"Come to think of it." The middle-aged man looked south, then up at the sky. "Can I reach the next village before the day ends? Traveling at night... tch."
It was around ten in the morning. He had set out before dawn and had walked south from the north all the way until now.
"Forget it. I'll check out that village north of the river first. But that mountain's pretty tall. Do we even have mountains that high around Pei?"
After taking two swallows of water, the middle-aged man wiped his mouth, stuffed the waterskin back into his pack, and stood up.
I don't feel like chewing on dry biscuits at noon anyway. Besides, if I become the chief of Sishui Pavilion, the villages around here will count as my territory. Might as well take a look in advance!
Having made up his mind, the man stepped onto the bridge once more and headed from south to north, toward Zi Family Village at the foot of Pang Mountain.
Meanwhile, in Zi Family Village, the Tiger Lord Wine Festival, which had continued for centuries, had already begun.
The first part of the Tiger Lord Wine Festival was the Tiger Lord Dance.
Each of the three villages sent eight people, for a total of