Chapter 50

The four young adventurers had a solid foundation, and their teamwork and trust in one another were excellent. They brought their abilities fully to bear and held out for quite some time, even against an opponent far stronger than themselves.

But that couldn't change the balance of power between them. As time passed and the spellcasters' strength continued to wane, the situation grew increasingly dire.

By the time the moon rose, they had finally reached their limit.

"My mana's almost gone," the sweat-soaked priest suddenly said. "I can manage one or two more healing spells at most. I can't do any more than that."

By then, the archer had long since run out of the arrows he'd brought along. He could only keep fighting by retrieving the arrows he'd shot earlier from the ground.

As for the mage, the youngest and weakest of the four, he had already exhausted his mana. He lay sprawled over a tree branch, panting with exhaustion. The dizziness and headache from running out of mana left him unable to speak. All he could do was give the others a pitiful, strained smile to show that he had absolutely no strength left to run.

The warrior gave a bitter smile. "Then let's do this. I'll hold them off while you two retreat. If you get the chance someday, kill this old bear and avenge us."

They were obviously very familiar with one another. They didn't even need to say any names to know who the other was talking about.

The priest immediately flew into a rage and shouted, "As a servant of the Lord of Glory, the human race's chief god, how could I abandon my companions and run away? Are you looking down on me?"

"It's only a temporary retreat," the warrior said, managing a weak smile as he tried to persuade him. "In battle, there are times to advance and times to retreat. I'm telling you to retreat because you have a chance of getting our companions out alive. If you stay behind while I retreat, I don't have that kind of confidence!"

The inarticulate priest was left speechless. He simply shook his head stubbornly, refusing to agree.

The two sides were at an impasse, but the giant bear wasn't going to sit patiently and wait for them to finish their discussion. Seeing that his enemies seemed distracted, it immediately increased the force of its attacks and seized the opening to launch a fierce assault. With a single blow, it sent the priest and his shield flying. Cracks even appeared in the sturdy shield, and the priest, unable to brace himself in time, had the wind knocked out of him and began coughing violently.

"Damn it!" The warrior was shocked. He hurriedly swung his sword, trying to draw the giant bear's attention and buy the archer time to help the priest. But the bear had also unleashed something like a berserk state, greatly increasing its strength for a short time. It slammed down with both paws and lunged fiercely. The warrior responded as well as he could, angling his shield to deflect the force of the attack, but even the remaining impact was enough to throw him off balance. He staggered backward several steps, then finally lost his footing and fell.

As he fell, his heart sank with him.

It was over!

The giant bear roared and charged toward him, but his whole body ached, and he couldn't summon even a shred of strength. All he could do was lie there and wait to die.

Just then, a cold laugh came from nearby. A gray figure covered at least several dozen paces in an instant, rushing ahead of the giant bear and blocking its path.

The giant bear roared, dropped onto all fours, and raced toward them. In the blink of an eye, it was right in front of them.

A flash of brilliant swordlight greeted it.

The swordlight flashed, and blood sprayed everywhere. The giant bear lost its balance mid-charge and crashed headfirst into a nearby tree. Its wound burst open, spraying blood like a fountain.

Only then did the warrior get a good look at the benefactor who had slain the giant bear and saved him and his companions. He was of average height and handsome, but there was something strangely perfect about his features that made him look more like a painting or statue than a living person. He wasn't tall, and he wore lightweight black leather armor. A spear was strapped to his back, and he held a bloodied sword in his hand. The armor, spear, and sword all gave off a faint glow in the darkness; it was immediately obvious that they were powerful, expensive enchanted weapons.

A spear, a sword, a charge—this benefactor was clearly a knight. But unlike the knights who wore heavy armor, he wore leather and was probably the kind who prioritized mobility and attack power.

Though he had charged such a long distance and slain the terrifying giant bear with a single stroke, the powerful knight didn't have a drop of sweat on his face. Even his breathing hadn't quickened. After letting out a long breath, he returned to complete calm, as if that astonishing scene had nothing to do with him and he'd merely been passing by to sightsee.

He walked over to the giant bear, which was still barely breathing, wiped the blood from his sword on its thick fur, and sheathed the blade. Then, without even looking their way, he headed straight off into the distance.

Saving people and killing a bear seemed utterly insignificant to him.

"Th-that knight... please accept our... our thanks..." The priest was the first to recover. Enduring the pain in his chest, he called out as loudly as he could.

The black-armored knight stopped, but didn't turn around. Instead, he waved at them.

"You did very well, but you'll need to be more careful in the future. Ask the veterans for advice and learn from their experience," he said in a clear, powerful voice. "Keep at it. One day, you'll be able to swing a sword like that too!"

With that, he continued on his way, leaving behind four adventurers filled with gratitude and admiration, and the giant bear, which finally breathed its last.

After a long while, the warrior, his heart still pounding, couldn't hold back and exclaimed, "I've decided! When I get back, I'm going to keep training hard so I can learn to swing a sword like his as soon as possible!"

"I'll train hard too, and help others more often, just as selflessly as he helped us!" The priest gripped his holy symbol tightly, his heart full of wonder at the goodness and beauty of the world.

"I'll do my best too! If I don't work hard enough, I won't even deserve the chance to repay him someday!" the archer said with a smile. "It's not my style to leave a life debt unpaid!"

Finally, the mage, still sprawled over the tree with no strength to climb down, shouted, "I... I'll do my best too!"

The four friends looked at one another. Though they were all in a sorry state, they saw a light kindling in one another's faces and eyes.

"If those four youngsters survive, they might accomplish great things one day." Lei had been silent the whole way. After they returned to camp, he didn't hurry to rest, but spoke in a low voice. "I can tell they have real talent!"

"How does it feel to save someone and have them thank you?" Sui Xiong asked with a smile.

Lei thought for a long while, then shook his head. "A little boring. But meeting four promising young people wasn't a waste of time."

With that, he wrapped himself in a blanket, lay down, and went to sleep.

Sui Xiong floated in the air, watching Lei's unmistakable display of "sleeping," and couldn't help laughing again.

He cast the Eye of Alignment Appraisal once more. Lei was still wreathed in red light, but its color was much fainter than when Sui Xiong had first seen him. It was no longer so fierce and menacing; instead, it had grown a little gentler.

The next day, they made it safely out of the Gray Stone Mountains and entered the Gold Coin Federation.

The Gold Coin Federation was a great nation in the western part of the Main Plane's continent. It was built on commerce and had begun as a nation of merchants. Its people traded with the beastfolk of the Wilderness Empire, the scaled folk of the Ancient Wood Marsh, and the merfolk of the Boundless Sea. They even traded by sea with the Thunder Duchy, the Arcane Tower Federation, and the Daka Trade Alliance, thousands of miles to the south. Since the Four Northwest Towns had developed, they had also added the pioneers who had settled along the borders of the Ash Forest and the Desolate Mountains to their list of trading partners.

The country was made up of dozens of noble estates, large and small, but merchants held just as high a status. In fact, if a merchant in this country had as much wealth as a baron, he was treated as a baron; if he had as much as a viscount, he was treated as a viscount; if he had as much as an earl, he was treated as an earl; and if his wealth rivaled a marquis's, then of course he was treated as a marquis.

A duke was an exception, since the country had no dukes.

From top to bottom, everyone in this country was driven by a desire for wealth. This had given rise to countless brave souls eager for adventure and exploration, but it had also left the common folk struggling under all manner of exorbitant taxes. Most of the pioneers Rod was gathering were made up of these two groups.

However, Rod was recruiting pioneers in the north of the Gold Coin Federation, while Sui Xiong and Lei were now at the federation's easternmost edge, a long way off.

After entering the Gold Coin Federation, their living conditions were indeed much better than they had been in the Gray Stone Mountains. That night, Lei laughed with satisfaction as he finally slept in an inn bed. Sui Xiong took the opportunity to shower him with words of encouragement, going on at length about the wisdom of being content with what one had.

Whether it was because he was in a good mood or because the words had genuinely touched him, Lei didn't argue this time. He smiled and slept peacefully.

But the next day, when he saw several emaciated corpses on the road, his brows drew together again.

"The lord of this place isn't doing his job," he said.

Sui Xiong silently shook his head too. He knew that, given the level of productivity in this world—similar to that of medieval Europe—people starving to death was inevitable. Still, seeing the stiff corpses with his own eyes was deeply upsetting.

The floating jellyfish drifted slowly toward the emaciated bodies and waved its tentacles. Blue-white light fell over them, turning the final remains of these people, who had suffered terribly in life, into tiny ice crystals that eventually sank into the earth.

Their souls were long gone. Even a great god could do no more than lay their bodies to rest.

They walked on a little farther, and more corpses appeared by the roadside.

Lei's brows furrowed even more deeply. He looked around at the fairly lush farmland, and anger even showed in his eyes.

"The fields are clearly good, and there are forests and mountains nearby. How could so many people starve to death?"

"Looks like the local lord has a problem..." Sui Xiong buried these victims too and said quietly, "Why don't we look into it?"

"What's there to look into?" Lei asked with a cold laugh. "If we investigate and find that a brutal lord rules this place, are you planning to punish him yourself, Your Majesty the Void Mask? Let me be clear: I won't oppose a lord for that reason. That would be tantamount to provoking all the nobles, and I'm no fool!"

"You're willing to provoke even gods. What are you afraid of?"

"Provoking all the nobles is a lot more trouble than provoking one god..."

As they walked and talked, they gradually approached a river flowing out of the forest. Just as Lei was looking for a bridge to cross, they heard cries for help again...