Chapter 16

Those eyes were brimming with amusement as they watched her. She shrank back, only to see the laughter in them deepen.

Ye Chuqi: Did she really look that funny?

Red Beard raised a hand to touch his cheek. The wound running across it was still obvious, and Ye Chuqi had bandaged it herself. Surely the scar wouldn't frighten her?

Seeing his gesture, Xiya quickly added, "Don't worry. I've already made a scar-removal potion. Once your wound has had a few more days to heal, you can use it. It won't leave a mark on your face."

Red Beard's smile turned helpless. "It's just a scar. It doesn't matter."

Jun Ruofeng let out a cold laugh.

Red Beard turned to him. "Ruofeng, laugh like that too often and you'll catch a cold. Now you know why you were always sickly as a child, right?"

Jun Ruofeng: "..."

"All right. Xiya, take Yezi to get some rest."

Xiya nodded.

Then Ye Chuqi's faint voice came from beside them. "Light..."

"Right. I'll stay out of strong light."

Ye Chuqi: ...How did he understand that?

When Ye Chuqi appeared before everyone the next day, she had a new look. Not only was she dressed in gender-neutral clothes, she had cut her hair short. Standing beside Xiya, she looked just like Xiya's younger sister. The resemblance was uncanny.

Ed cried out, "Who's that??"

Red Beard narrowed his eyes at Ye Chuqi. Her hair had changed color again, becoming the same chestnut brown as Xiya's, and her eyes were now pale gray. Her whole appearance looked much softer. If she hadn't still been so fair and adorable, he would have thought Xiya had secretly swapped her for someone else.

"All right, let's go."

After the group had ridden their Starhorn Horses for another half day, Ye Chuqi noticed that signs of other people had suddenly become much more common.

Red Beard took out a strip of black cloth and tied it over his eyes. Ed, too, vanished from sight among the group.

Ed was a thief who often served as a scout for the Elite Group. He usually handled tracking assignments as well.

Xiya rode beside Ye Chuqi, explaining what they saw along the way. "We've left the depths of the Ashen Wasteland. A lot more adventurers have been coming through this area over the past two years, but the wasteland has only just begun to recover. Resources are scarce, so most people leave empty-handed."

"Still, the Ashen Wasteland is a remnant of a Forbidden Spell cast by a holy mage. Mages love exploring it, especially fire mages. With the mercenaries hired to protect them, the area has gradually grown busier."

A fire-magic Forbidden Spell.

The war thousands of years ago had left an indelible scar on this land. That was why charred, dead trees remained across the Ashen Wasteland, with scarcely any other color in sight. What lingered most abundantly amid the ashes was probably the seething fire element in the air.

It was very different from spiritual energy, but both followed paths toward the same end. Ye Chuqi had sensed its presence from the start. She was badly injured, though, and hadn't dared experiment with it.

The mages Xiya spoke of were probably highly attuned to the fire element. In the Ashen Wasteland, they could deepen their understanding of it more easily and strengthen their magic.

Ye Chuqi read quickly, with San San translating beside her. The children's books had long since ceased to satisfy her, so she had borrowed a stack of travelogues from Xiya and read them as her Starhorn Horse carried her along. Starhorn Horses were neither especially clever nor particularly perceptive, but they were fond of humans. Fast and docile as mounts, they let Ye Chuqi give hers free rein while she read.

She flipped through the pages so quickly that everyone assumed she was only playing with the books. After all, she had been unable to read or speak not long ago. Could she really read travelogues already? No one believed it. Someone even suggested that Xiya find her a few picture books so the little girl wouldn't be so bored.

The moving images and subtitles San San provided were far clearer and more useful than any picture book.

No one had any objection to Ye Chuqi joining them. The Red Wind Mercenary Group already had plenty of children in its Reserve Corps. Red Beard had taken in most of them, and the others had been brought home by everyone else.

Once those children grew up, the capable ones could join the Mercenary Corps. Other work could be arranged for the rest.

As the Mercenary Corps' money man, Jun Ruofeng thought little of the pittance it earned from assignments. If those jobs hadn't raised its standing and helped it build connections, he would have talked Red Beard into disbanding it long ago. Most of the money that kept it running came from businesses Jun Ruofeng had established in its name.

Those businesses also provided all sorts of jobs for mercenaries who could no longer adventure because of injury or illness, for the families of those still out in the field, and for homeless children who lacked the ability to become mercenaries.

Red Beard was the leader of the Mercenary Corps, someone everyone admired and respected.

Jun Ruofeng, on the other hand, held their livelihoods in his hands. He was the one who decided whether they ate meat, made do with soup, or went hungry.

Worse, his underhanded methods were outrageous. While everyone else struggled to make ends meet, he was best at throwing money at a problem until he got the result he wanted, then earning every coin back from the people involved.

Who wouldn't be afraid of him?

There were still several days until payday! They couldn't afford to offend a man who would dock their pay at the slightest provocation. The members killed when Red Beard was attacked would need death benefits, the final payment on the Spatial Ring destroyed in the attack was still outstanding, and that wasn't even counting all the other resources lost. Jun Ruofeng had told Red Beard to pay for it himself.

After all, none of this would have happened if Red Beard hadn't insisted on taking this assignment.

The most staggering charge was the cost of making Jun Ruofeng come in person. Red Beard instantly became the most indebted member of the group.

Ye Chuqi knew none of this. As passersby grew more frequent, she noticed that they looked at her group strangely.

Rankings

|

Stories with pocket dimensions

Time-travel and rebirth romances