Being Alive, Happiness Matters Most

At Village Chief's house, the respected elders were locked in a heated debate.

They weren't debating whether to surrender. There was nothing to discuss on that score. Once they confirmed it was the Holy Legion coming, they had unanimously decided to flee instead of surrendering.

What they were debating—or rather, fighting over—was who would stay behind to cover the retreat. Every one of them wanted to lead the rearguard.

What a hot-blooded bunch. No wonder they threw everything into fighting the Holy Legion to protect Lilina in the story. Even after their village was massacred, the survivors didn't regret a thing.

Pan Long admired them in silence, but said nothing.

Who led the escape and who stayed behind were internal matters for Luna Village. His job was to deal with the empire's troops.

He listened a little longer. When the elders continued arguing over the same thing, he yawned and went upstairs to sleep.

He had something to do tonight, so he needed an early night.

When he woke, the sky had gone dark and the arguing downstairs had stopped. He took his time going down and ran into the Village Chief, who was coming up to call him to dinner.

Dinner in Luna Village was ordinary fare: toasted bread, vegetable salad, and wild-greens soup. The soup had a little oil and salt in it, so it went down well enough. But there wasn't a scrap of meat, which took a little getting used to for Pan Long, who normally ate meat at every meal.

The Village Chief's family, meanwhile, was startled by his enormous appetite.

The Village Chief had meant to invite the elders to dinner, so he had baked several extra loaves. He figured the villagers could take whatever was left for the journey, but Pan Long polished it all off as though it were nothing. Then he plainly waited a while for more soup. Only when he realized that was gone too did he smile awkwardly and put down his bowl.

Pan Long felt a little embarrassed himself. At his previous meals, he had deliberately held back, knowing the Village Chief's family wouldn't have prepared much. This time, they had clearly made plenty, so he had decided to eat his fill—only to run out of food when he was barely halfway full.

But what could he do? He had a big appetite...

Unless a martial artist entered the Innate Realm, he needed to eat a great deal. Strength did not spring from thin air; even True Qi came from digested food. The stronger the martial artist, the more he ate. Pan Long could put away a whole dou of rice and ten pounds of meat in one sitting without breaking a sweat.

His appetite wasn't even that remarkable. His uncle in the Lineage, Pan Meng, had been stuck at the threshold of the Innate Realm for nearly ten years and could eat forty or fifty pounds of rice and flour in a single meal. To break through that bottleneck, the uncle had taken up Buddhism and stopped eating anything greasy, living entirely on rice and flour. He was a living, breathing rice barrel.

To cover his embarrassment, Pan Long didn't bother waiting until he was full to speak. He found a topic at once. "The Holy Legion's coming for you, isn't it? And those missionaries from before... The One God Religion seems awfully interested in your village."

The Village Chief's face fell. He sighed and was about to explain, but Pan Long cut him off.

"You don't need to explain. I don't want to know what your village has that attracts them." His voice was calm. "I'm an adventurer, not an information broker. I accepted what you offered and took the job of protecting this village. I'll see it through."

He paused, then added, "Let's be clear: I'm not playing nanny. The most I'll do is cover your retreat and cut people down."

The Village Chief was overjoyed that Pan Long was willing to cover their retreat. He certainly wasn't going to refuse.

Yesterday, he had guessed Pan Long was a skilled fighter, though he hadn't known just how skilled. After watching him train today, it had been easy to see that he was far stronger than even the best hunter in the village.

With this expert's help, they could hold up the Holy Legion longer and give their fleeing neighbors a better chance.

How much longer? The Village Chief didn't care to dwell on it. He had already prepared himself to die in this fight.

Still, he was an honest man, so he explained the danger facing the village in full.

As it turned out, Luna Village had once been at the heart of the faith of the Moon Goddess. When the Grand Moon Temple was destroyed, the high priestess fled here with the holy maiden, who was only three months old. The villagers sheltered them. Not long afterward, the high priestess died of her wounds. The villagers raised the holy maiden as their own child and concealed her identity, keeping the secret until now.

"I thought we could keep it hidden forever. But when those two missionaries from the One God Religion arrived yesterday, I knew... we hadn't managed to keep it secret after all." The Village Chief sighed. "We've agreed that everyone will pack tonight. Tomorrow, before daybreak, they'll head east into Mondo Forest. The Holy Servants who escaped the battle at the Grand Moon Temple established a temporary refuge there. It's crude, but everyone can live in peace there for the time being. As for me, I'll stay in the village with some of the others. One way or another, we have to find a way to hold the Holy Legion up..."

"With just one village, how do you plan to do that?" Pan Long asked curiously. "Do you have tunnels so you can wage a tunnel war? Or did the Moon Goddess Church leave behind enough magical traps for you to wage a mine war?"

The Village Chief gave a dry laugh. "I meant we could try to reason with them..."

"You aren't even asleep. How are you already dreaming?" Pan Long shook his head. "They're coming to wipe you out, and you want to reason with them? You're a man of your age. How are you even more naive than I am?"

"Reason? What counts as reason? A bigger fist is reason. A faster blade is reason. Superior numbers are reason. If I'm standing and you're lying down, then I'm reason!" he said forcefully. "Don't waste your breath tomorrow. When they arrive, I'll go up and cut down their leader first. Then you and the villagers can help me cut down the rest. One comes, we cut one down; two come, we cut down the pair. Get plenty of blades ready. When one goes dull or breaks, switch to another... In short, cut them all down. You can take your time reasoning with them while you bury their bodies."

At that, he grinned. "They'll listen obediently then. Whatever you say, they won't argue."

This speech, so thoroughly Northerner in style, left the chief and his family staring open-mouthed, unable to say a word.

Silence filled the room. Everyone stared blankly at Pan Long.

They had imagined all sorts of possibilities. The one thing they had never expected was that this helpful adventurer meant to face the attackers alone and kill the entire Fres Army.

And... from the sound of it, he seemed quite confident.

"Um... are you sure you can do it?" the Village Chief's son Xi'an finally asked.

"How could I be sure of something like this?" Pan Long shook his head. "I just don't have a choice."

He looked at them all and spoke with complete candor. "The Holy Legion is coming to massacre you. You hired me to help you. That means I have to cut them down. It's that simple."

"It's not that I don't want to reason with them. They're the ones who've decided not to reason with us. If they were sending an official and a few messengers instead of an army, I'd back you all the way. You could talk to them for as long as you liked!"

Pan Long sighed too. "What do you think I am, a monster? An immortal? No one could be sure of beating an army alone. I simply don't have a choice... I promised to help, so I have to keep my word. Otherwise, even if I ran away and survived, I'd never be happy for the rest of my life."

"What's the point of being alive? To be happy, isn't it? Happy or unhappy, you still get one lifetime. Spending it miserable just to live a few more years isn't worth it!"

His words bristled with martial spirit. They were typical of a Northerner.

Northerners lived in a harsh land where no one knew if they would survive to see the next year. It had made them decisive and blunt, sometimes to the point of roughness. Once a Northerner had given his word or made up his mind, you would have to talk so sweetly you could fool him into walking with a limp to change it. Otherwise, force could not make him bow, wealth could not tempt him, and poverty could not sway him. Often, Northerners didn't have enough twists and turns in their heads to dwell on complicated schemes. Trying to pull tricks on them was like making eyes at a blind man.

Pan Long was more than half a Northerner himself. Given a choice, he had no patience for tricks either. The direct approach felt best.

Still, Pan Long didn't actually intend to test whether he could cut down two or three hundred men alone. He planned to set out tonight, find the approaching Holy Legion under cover of darkness, and harass them so they couldn't rest properly.

There were two benefits to doing so. First, it would thin the enemy's ranks: every one he killed tonight was one fewer to kill tomorrow. Second, if the enemy slept poorly tonight, they would have to spend some of tomorrow resting, giving the villagers enough time to retreat.

All in all, it would kill two birds with one stone.

The approach was part of a rich, well-developed system that had been renowned in his previous world. Even when he had crossed over, many people still treated it as a handbook for fighting enemies stronger than themselves, with good results. Time and practice had tested it; blood and fire had proved it.

Hearing his plan startled the Village Chief again. After so many shocks in such a short time, the old man looked as if his jaw might come unhinged.

"Will... will that really work?"

"It should," Pan Long said. "The Fres Army won't expect anyone to attack them in the middle of the night. Even if I don't accomplish much, I shouldn't be in much danger."

The Village Chief thought for a long while, his eyes gradually brightening.

"You're right! Attack in the middle of the night, then run as soon as you strike. They'll never expect it. Even if they give chase, they won't catch you in the forest!" he said happily. "How many people do you need to help? We have a few hunters in the village..."

Pan Long quickly declined. It wasn't that he didn't want help; he just didn't think those hunters would be much use.

Besides, a great many villagers would be fleeing into the forest tomorrow. They needed those hunters to protect them along the way. How could he rob the hunters of their rest?

Once Pan Long pointed this out, the Village Chief realized he had been rash. He praised the adventurer's good judgment several times, then asked whether he needed any other help.

"If you want to help... Have the people staying behind tomorrow make some Fire-Tipped Javelins tonight. Bind brushwood and pine pitch to the tips so they can be thrown like torches." Pan Long thought for a moment, then recalled what his father had once told him about the autumn hunt. An idea struck him. "They might come in handy tomorrow."

Huh? Why did I get a contract notification? Didn't I sign a contract years ago? Does the Qidian system need an update or something...

(The end of this chapter)