The four adventurers walked up to Xia Ya's campsite and stopped dead in their tracks.
The blond swordsman in the lead changed color slightly. At once he raised a hand and barked, face full of vigilance: "Halt! Someone's been through here!"
There was a thread of cold arrogance in his voice. His blue eyes shifted this way and that, taking in the ground around them: "There are signs of a fight here. Hmm — look!"
He pointed off into the distance. There on the ground lay the wreck of the giant wolf — only the hide had been stripped away and the bones taken apart, leaving a heap of mangled meat.
Then he strode quickly to a pile of firepit ashes, crouched, and touched the ashes with his hand. When he rose again, wearing a trace of haughtiness and self-satisfaction, he pronounced his conclusion under the eyes of his companions: "Hmph. The firepit's cold. They're long gone."
Up in the tree, Xia Ya heard this and felt a flicker of doubt. Huh, that doesn't sound right.
The firepit's cold, so they're long gone? In an ordinary mountain forest, that might well be true, but... this was Wildfire Plain!!
Camping in an ordinary mountain forest, people would keep the bonfire burning all night, using the flames to keep the wild beasts from daring to come near.
But an experienced adventurer on Wildfire Plain would absolutely never do that... because magic beasts weren't afraid of fire!!
At night, if you dared light a fire out on Wildfire Plain, you might as well be announcing to every magic beast for miles around: Come and get it! There's a hearty dinner waiting for you here!
So the night before, Xia Ya had put the fire out before he slept.
If this blond swordsman could still feel any heat when he touched those ashes, now that would be a wonder.
To someone like Xia Ya, who had made his living out in the wilds year after year, there were far better ways to judge whether someone had passed by, or how long ago they had left: the trampled grass and turf, the dew on the grass roots, even a check for droppings left nearby...
To judge by nothing but a feel of the ashes... that seemed like something only the greenest pretty boys in minstrel tales would do...
"Hahahaha!" The burly giant of a man immediately let out a deep, booming laugh and said in praise: "Geli, you're still the sharpest of us."
The swordsman called Geli looked rather pleased with himself, but deliberately put on a lofty air: "Hmph. Surviving in the wild, a man naturally picks up a few tricks. It's nothing much."
Just then the fellow in the leather coat and hood ran off to one side, bent down, and scooped up a big handful of dry black powder from the ground: "What's this stuff?"
His eyes went to his companions. The blond swordsman and the big man immediately closed in, and the three muttered together for a while, apparently unable to identify it. The blond swordsman, Geli, seeing that his companions were all looking at him, deliberately paused to think, then said with an air of great assurance: "Probably some kind of potion the people camped here used. Ah — that's it! I'm certain it's a powder for driving off mosquitoes. I've seen this sort of thing before."
With that, he glanced at the one in the black robe: "Honored mage, you're the most learned of us all. Please tell me whether I'm right."
A mage?
Was this fellow in the leather coat really a mage?
The short, thin mage pondered for a moment, picked up the powder, brought it close, and sniffed hard, seeming still unsure...
Hidden in the tree, Xia Ya frowned. What's so interesting about that? It's arrow porcupine dung.
The arrow porcupine was a low-grade magic beast too. A single one wasn't all that deadly, but they lived in herds, and when they met an enemy they were in the habit of attacking in a swarm. Generally speaking, even magic beasts stronger than they were were unwilling to provoke the creatures lightly.
Arrow porcupine dung had a very peculiar smell. The night before, Xia Ya Leiming had sprinkled some around so that other magic beasts, catching the scent, would think this was arrow porcupine territory and keep away — and the two of them would be safe while they slept.
Plenty of people on Wildfire Plain did this. Any wilderness adventurer with a bit of experience could recognize it at a glance.
But then something strange happened.
These four well-equipped adventurers clustered together, looked and looked, and for a good long while could not reach a conclusion. The swordsman said it was bug-repelling powder; the big man said it was charcoal ash.
As for that "mage," after thinking it over he actually dipped a fingertip in, put it in his mouth, and sucked on it...
At the sight, Xia Ya nearly fell right out of the tree.
The "mage" tasted it carefully for a while, lifted his head, and said in a low voice full of authority: "Hmph, what is there to argue about? This is plainly a seasoning discarded by whoever camped here. Mm, it's even a little salty."
Xia Ya: ………………
Watching that "mage" smack his lips over the taste, Xia Ya felt every hair on his body stand on end. His hands and feet went weak, nausea rose in his throat, and he nearly threw up on the spot.
Since the learned "mage" had pronounced judgment, the big man planted his battle-axe in the ground and laughed in his rough voice: "Don't know what kind of fool would just toss his seasoning around. Just as well — our seasoning's run out, so today we don't have to gnaw on that bland white roast meat!"
As he spoke, he casually picked up a stone and flung it into the woods.
Flap-flap-flap — a flock of birds in the trees, startled by the stone, burst into the air all at once. The big man laughed. "Nice bunch of beasts. Masha, quick, shoot one down — it'll do fine for lunch!"
The blond swordsman beside him clapped and laughed too: "That's right, Masha! You're what we all agree is the 'new Goddess of the Dark Moon.' Come on, show us your wondrous archery!"
The woman archer called Masha gave a reserved smile with a hint of pride in it, quickly unslung her longbow and drew out an eagle-fletched arrow, stepped forward, bent her knee, and drew — the pose was exceedingly pretty, and with a single pull she hauled that black iron-frame longbow into a full moon! Hidden in the tree, Xia Ya glanced over and his heart jumped!
Impressive! An iron-frame bow like that — an ordinary strong man might not even be able to draw it! This woman archer's arm strength is terrifying!!
Not only that, Masha smiled proudly, lifted her chin, and declared in a bold tone: "Watch. I'll shoot the left eye of the third bird from the middle."
Such panache was enough to make a man's heart bow.
Xia Ya was still admiring her when he heard the bowstring thrum, and a sharp arrow traced a graceful arc through the air...
Swoosh!!!
Accurate, all right... yet to Xia Ya's eye, something about it looked very strange?
A thought flashed through his mind, and he understood at once what was wrong!
Accurate, sure — but the power's way off! That arrow came flying over all limp and soft!
Force like that would be plenty to shoot a sparrow or a pheasant. But these birds were a kind of fowl found on Wildfire Plain called mountain geese — savage by nature, not much inferior to an ordinary hawk.
Sure enough, when this goddess of archery loosed her arrow, the mountain goose in the middle seemed to regard the incoming shot with contempt. It gave a call, spun in midair, and pecked at the limp arrow with its beak, knocking it right off.
And then, just to be spiteful, it screeched a few times straight at Masha.
The goddess of archery's face went purple on the spot. She tried hard to look composed and gave herself a way out: "You beast! I meant to spare your life, and you dare to mock me..." She whipped out another arrow and loosed it.
Swish!
This time the mountain goose simply turned and dodged it easily...
The goddess of archery had had enough! Mortified and furious, she grabbed the eight arrows remaining behind her and, without a care for anything, loosed all of them in one breath!
Xia Ya was hidden in the tree, a good twenty-odd paces from where the flock was wheeling. He had been watching the goddess's archery with keen anticipation, but who would have thought that once she flew into a rage and sprayed arrows every which way, one of them would come plunging into the brush where he hid — and before Xia Ya could even react, it had grazed right past the tip of his nose!!
There he was, peacefully enjoying the show — who could have expected an "ambush" like this? He had no guard up whatsoever, and who would have thought this "master archer" could miss by a mile?
When that arrow grazed his nose, Xia Ya broke out in a cold sweat! Even that bloodthirsty mad wolf hadn't managed to kill him — and a wild shot from this woman had nearly ended his life?
Xia Ya went cold all over.
Damn it, and with archery like that she calls herself the Goddess of the Dark Night?!
Hell! She can miss a bird by seven or eight meters — if she's a goddess of the night, then yours truly is Achilles, God of War!!
Masha was panting heavily. She lowered her bow, gasping for breath, her face flushed crimson — whether from exertion or from shame and fury, it was hard to say.
Her companions were dumbstruck for a moment, until the blond swordsman Geli finally came back to himself. He cleared his throat, walked over to Masha, patted her shoulder, and said, his face full of tender affection, softly comforting her: "It's all right, Masha. You... er, you were just worn out from all that walking, your strength gave out — a slip now and then, that's all."
Masha lowered her head and said in a wronged voice: "I don't know what's wrong with me. Usually I hit sparrows just fine..."
The blond swordsman glared at the big man: "Niguer, this was all your bright idea!"
The big man Niguer gave an embarrassed chuckle. It seemed the blond swordsman was the leader of the four, and he didn't dare talk back. He turned his head to the mage and changed the subject: "Mage Bidar Duo, have a look here — aren't we nearly at our destination? Didn't that crooked merchant on Black Street say the lion beasts ranged around here?"
The mage chuckled heh-heh and said nothing, but pulled a sheet of parchment with a map drawn on it from his robe, then took out a compass and studied it for a while. He looked at the lie of the land, pointed east, and said with full confidence: "Mm. Right over there."
In the tree, Xia Ya sighed inwardly. Idiots, it's backwards! It's the west... if you really dare head east, tonight you'll get a good look at those adorable goblin faces of yours.
Then he took his hand off the poor wretch's mouth, flexed his arms a little, patted the wretch's cheek, and said with a low laugh: "Hey. We can't leave just yet — there's work to be done."
"Uh? What work?" the poor wretch asked in a low voice, face reddening.
"Down there... four fat sheep." Xia Ya rubbed his chin. "Looks like the heavens have decided it. Yours truly is going to moonlight as a bandit today."
With that, he set the poor wretch on a branch: "Sit tight. Don't fall off."
Then he leapt down from the tree.
The four experts were in the middle of discussing something when they suddenly saw a man drop out of the sky and land in front of them. All four were startled!
"Who goes there!"
The blond swordsman Geli immediately drew his longsword. Rubies were set in the hilt, the blade was keen, and even the sword's guard was made of silver.
"Haha!!" Xia Ya gave two deliberate laughs, tossed his black hair full of wildness, raised the rust-covered hatchet in his hand, drew a deep breath, swelled out his chest, and glared:
"This mountain... er, this mountain wasn't opened up by me! This tree... mm, this tree wasn't planted by me either, goddammit! If you want to pass through here, leave your toll money!" At this he forced a ruthless look onto his face: "And if half a 'no' slips out from between your teeth — heh heh — I kill, but I don't bury!"
Xia Ya kept his face tight, and inwardly let out a breath of relief — There, done. I'd only ever heard minstrels say that line; took me ages to memorize it. Hmm, I got it right, didn't I?
The four experts regarded this bandit who had dropped out of the sky with very strange expressions:
A robe so ragged it could have qualified him as a Beggar's Sect elder, a rusty, beat-up axe... hmm? He was wrapped in bandages, too?
And the funniest part — those bandage strips had been tied into a pretty, dainty little bow on his chest...