Chapter 29: The Carriage (4k)

This was an abandoned, dilapidated carriage left behind in the thickets.

The carriage body was crafted from a type of reddish-brown wood—hard in texture, warm in hue, and coated with a layer of clear varnish that made it look exceptionally glossy.

On both sides of the carriage were hollowed-out circular windows, currently half-ajar. Guided by the sunlight filtering through the tree canopy overhead, one could faintly see a complete emptiness inside.

The roof curved slightly like the ridge of a house, and the wooden eaves extending to the left and right were carved with intricate patterns. However, the specific details of the imagery had been damaged and worn away by some external force, making them impossible to recognize.

“This is it!”

Haian stood in the clearing some distance away from the carriage, a faint trace of excitement showing in his expression.

“This traditional design style, revealing elegance through simplicity, is exactly the same as that piece of wood!”

He tightly gripped the pitch-black token in his hand, feeling as though he were one step closer to the truth.

Xia Nan stood to the side without making a sound, his expression calm.

Inside, however, waves of emotion crashed over him once more.

His knowledge of history wasn’t deep; even the knowledge points he had spent days and nights bitterly memorizing from textbooks back in his student days had long been mostly forgotten during his dull and exhausting corporate life.

Therefore, relying merely on a few design styles and material details, he couldn’t judge the general era of an object.

But even so, just like with that wooden token earlier, Xia Nan could perceive the strong “Middle Continent” characteristics of the carriage in front of him with just a single glance.

“Wait, that’s not right!”

Just as a few members of the squad were letting their imaginations run wild because of the carriage’s appearance, Larry, who was always blunt and outspoken, suddenly spoke up:

“How could there be a carriage in the Mist Forest? It’s surrounded by massive trees—how did it drive in here?”

His words instantly snapped everyone on the field out of their thoughts.

Larry was right.

The Mist Forest was a gathering place for dangerous magical beasts. The ground was almost entirely covered with tough, troublesome briars and brambles, not to mention the towering trees so dense they occupied nearly every corner of one’s vision.

In such an environment, even an experienced adventurer squad could usually only travel on foot, carefully and with great difficulty.

Even if there really were a driver with “superb driving skills” who managed to steer a carriage into the forest, the massive commotion caused by the carriage’s movement would be enough to attract every magical beast within a few hundred yards.

“And look…” Haian, gradually coming to his senses, also spotted the discrepancy. He pointed a finger and frowned, saying, “There are no wheel ruts on the surrounding ground.”

“It’s as if this carriage simply dropped into the forest out of thin air.”

Wood—who was closely guarding Haian’s side like a shadow and had remained completely silent until now—suddenly spoke up to add:

“Normal wooden materials would quickly rot and decay under the erosion of the magic power filling the air of the Mist Forest.”

“Yet the material of this carriage isn’t an enchanted material, there is very little dust, and there are still remnants of usage marks. It was clearly parked here recently.”

“That shouldn’t be possible. If it was recent… how could there be absolutely no traces around?” Haian’s brows knit tightly, the confusion on his face deepening.

The interior of the carriage was completely empty, leaving no possibility for hidden magical beasts; the surrounding bushes and tall grass had also been checked over once, confirming it was safe.

The group cautiously drew closer.

Although the entire carriage was battered and broken as if it had been T-boned by an owlbear, an occasional detail here and there still reflected its original exquisite and luxurious decor.

For instance, the hollowed-out flower lanterns hanging beneath the wooden eaves on both sides, and the soft, smooth curtains on the inside of the windows embroidered with elegant patterns…

“Ah!”

A sharp scream, suppressed to a low volume in the very next instant, suddenly rang out by their ears.

Xia Nan, whose mind was already tense from the high-pressure environment inside the Mist Forest, couldn’t help but shudder in fright.

Frowning, he looked over.

On the edge of the squad, the blonde girl, Doris, was covering her mouth with one hand due to accidentally making a sound, while her other hand pointed toward the shadow beneath the carriage’s shaft.

“Scor… Scorpions!”

Larry shielded her behind him, originally intending to pull off a classic move of “saving the beauty,” but when his gaze followed the direction of Doris’s finger, the fat hanging on both sides of his cheeks instantly trembled a couple of times.

Sha… Sha…

It sounded like countless grains of sand pouring over the ground.

What Xia Nan heard first was a bizarre noise compounded from countless sharp, tiny movements.

Then came a “black current” bubbling out from beneath the carriage like a surging spring.

It was countless scorpion insects, each the size of a finger joint, with bodies entirely jet-black!

“Holy shit!”

Xia Nan only felt a blast of cold air rush straight from his tailbone to his crown.

Retreating violently, he held the Beheading Longsword horizontally across his chest.

The half-elf reacted even faster. With his silver hair fluttering, he took a few steps back into the tall grass behind him—as a marksman whose primary method of output was the bow and arrow, pulling away the distance the very moment a battle began was beyond correct.

Larry’s performance was somewhat unexpected. Though his face turned pale with fright and he appeared exceptionally panicked while retreating—even nearly getting tripped by a tree root on the ground and staggering a few steps—he still tightly shielded Doris by his side, choosing not to flee the field.

In the blink of an eye, Wood was the only person left standing on the field.

Looking at that solitary figure in front of the carriage, Xia Nan gritted his teeth and stepped forward again.

Retreating was merely the first reaction driven by survival instinct. Although he was a newcomer, the next second he realized his role in the squad, he pushed himself back to the front line.

He wouldn’t drop the ball at a time like this.

The cold, uneven touch of the hilt came from his palm. Inside, however, he still felt waves of numbness.

In his hands, he held a well-crafted longsword scavenged from a blacksmith shop; in his backpack, he had prepared wondrously effective healing potions; and on his body was hard, expensive leather armor. His stamina was abundant.

Xia Nan was confident that even if he faced twenty goblins alone, he could hack his way in and out. But facing the black scorpions surging like a tide beneath his feet, he felt completely at a loss as to where to strike.

Right at that moment, Wood suddenly extended a hand, signaling him to stay back and not come over.

Directly after, from the pouch he carried close to his body, Wood pulled out a palm-sized, brown earthenware jar.

He hurled it violently!

Bang—

The jar struck the ground and instantly shattered into pieces.

A viscous, lusterless, ink-colored liquid, mixed with turbid dust, poured out and splattered everywhere.

Then came a spark of fire.

Fwoosh!

A wave of heat surged, and the orange-red firelight reflected in Xia Nan’s pupils.

A scorching blaze erupted abruptly!

In an instant, it swallowed the countless scorpion insects along with the entire carriage.

The swirling flames seemed to arouse a fear buried deep within the bloodlines of these insects. The insect swarm, which had been densely packed like a tidal wave, instantly dispersed, turning into countless “tributaries” that vanished into the nearby bushes and grass.

Crack.

Exoskeletons cracked under the high temperature, and a foul, burnt odor filled the air.

“Where did so many scorpions come from? Scared the life out of me!”

Larry’s pale face was covered in cold sweat as he spoke with lingering fear.

The half-elf Haian’s figure also gradually emerged from the grass. A wooden arrow was already notched on his bowstring, his face solemn.

Xia Nan’s heart beat violently, and he let out a slight sigh of relief. Slowly sheathing his sword, he felt fortunate.

Thank goodness there was a professional in the squad who actually carried this kind of molotov-cocktail-like item on him. Otherwise, facing so many tiny insects, he really wouldn’t have known how to handle it.

Glancing at the retreating swarm before him, a thoughtful look appeared on Xia Nan’s face.

He wondered if this kind of throwable item was sold anywhere in Rivervale. Once he returned, he should get a few bottles; they might have a miraculous effect when going out on missions in the future.

If all else failed, he could look back at his somewhat blurry memories of his past life and research it; he might be able to make a rough approximation:

A bottle, alcohol, flammable cloth… what else was there?

Xia Nan shook his head, dispersing the thoughts that were beginning to drift. He would think about it later; now was not the time to consider such things.

His line of sight followed the firelight.

Seeing that the fierce fire continued to spread along the weeds on the ground after driving away the insects, showing signs of growing wilder, the cognitive understanding from his past civilized society and the values formed under the flushing of massive amounts of information made him instinctively resist this developing natural disaster that could consume a vast stretch of forest.

Without thinking much of it, he subconciously asked out loud:

“Is this fire… going to be okay?”

It was originally just a casual remark, and he didn’t expect the others to respond.

To his surprise, Wood—who had consistently maintained a wary posture toward him ever since he joined the squad—replied quite seriously this time, a departure from his usual demeanor:

“The magic power inside the Mist Forest is dense. As long as it’s a normal fire, it’s basically impossible to cause a forest fire.”

“A fire of this scale right now might look like it’s gradually expanding, but in reality, it’ll just burn the surrounding bushes and weeds. It might not even touch a single tree before extinguishing on its own.”

Xia Nan’s behavior of actively stepping forward when facing danger earlier seemed to have changed the guard’s opinion of him slightly. Of course, since they had only known each other a short time, it was merely to this extent.

Having said that, Wood stopped responding and instead actively stepped closer to the flames.

Bending down and pinching a fleeing scorpion by its tail with his fingertips, he picked it up from the ground.

Examining it, his brows knit slightly.

“What is it, Wood? Did you find something?”

The pungent burnt smell in the air made Haian look uncomfortable; he was currently lowering his arrow and asking.

“Young master, things here… are indeed a bit strange.”

The Mist Forest was vast and boundless, and the abundant magic power in the air made it a habitat for countless species of creatures. No matter how experienced an adventurer was, they wouldn’t dare claim to recognize every single type of magical beast within it. This was even truer for ordinary animals that had numerous subspecies under special environments.

Therefore, Wood didn’t feel strange because of this unfamiliar scorpion he had never seen before.

But at this moment, looking at the black scorpion pinned by its tail in his hand—still raising its pedipalps in a warning posture—he felt as though their group of a few people had invisibly been drawn into a massive whirlpool, sinking deeper and deeper.

Wood suddenly turned his head, looking back at Haian, who was looking at him with a face full of concern.

In a flash of daze, the sight overlapped with the figure from many years ago who had rescued him from a slum filled with foul water and garbage.

Those familiar silver-grey eyes, those equally smooth and lustrous silver-white hair strands…

Opening his mouth, countless words flowed through his heart. In the end, however, he only left behind a dry sentence:

“Let’s bypass this place first, young master.”

“It’s time to set up camp.”

…

…

Night fell very quickly in the forest.

Sometimes, you thought it was still early and that you could make some progress using the sunlight spilling through the gaps in the tree canopy overhead. But within the span of just a few steps, the dark night would envelope you.

Wood’s judgment of the timing was very precise.

By the time Xia Nan and the others somewhat unidentifiably laid out their sleeping bags, piled the tree branches they had gathered from the woods together, and ignited them with a flint to light the campfire, the once-bright sky had already turned into a blanket of twilight.

Crackle—

The fire burned.

The orange-red firelight reflected in clear eyes.

Haian sat by the campfire, his hands rubbing that pitch-black wooden token, his expression appearing somewhat dazed.

Wood had already finished setting up the alarms and traps around the camp early on. Seeing his state, Wood hesitated for a moment before speaking slowly:

“Young master, as you know, it was the lady of the house who gave me a second life.”

“Although the lady passed away when you were very young… I stayed at the Wycliffe house for many years.”

“If I may speak frankly, this piece of wood in your hand does not match the style of High Elves. The lady in the past…”

“Shut up!” Haian’s emotions suddenly became agitated; even his fingertips holding the token turned faintly white from exerting too much force.

But in the next instant, he realized he shouldn’t behave this way and immediately calmed down.

“I’m sorry.”

It was still that same level and gentle tone, but Haian’s gaze only stared at the fire pit in front of him.

Wood stopped speaking as well, keeping his head lowered. Just like in the past, he sat quietly within the half-elf’s shadow.

The air fell into silence, leaving only the muffled pops made by the burning fire.

Xia Nan sat on the other side, wiping the longsword in his hands without looking sideways, his pricked ears already quietly pulled back.

He had no intention of interfering in other people’s family matters. But since they shared the same squad and the other party showed no intention of hiding it, it was perfectly natural for him to pick up some context along the way.

Furthermore, Xia Nan was actually a bit curious himself.

Unlike the reckless Larry, the half-elf was clearly much more meticulous in mind, and based on the attitude of how the group interacted, he came from a higher background as well. Yet he had dared to penetrate this deep into the outer fringes of the Mist Forest with only a single guard—even if that guard was a professional—to search for an unknown target; he was clearly hiding something.

(He himself had dared to enter alone only because he clearly knew the location of the Firefly Garlic Vines belonged to the outermost edge of the outer fringes, where there was basically no danger, and the round trip took no more than a day and a half—a route he had even walked beforehand—coupled with a tight mission time limit.)

Since he couldn’t glean anything at the moment, he stopped paying attention to it.

The twilight was heavy and dim. It was as if even the thin mist in the air had taken on a hint of laziness, drifting leisurely.

Doris seemed to have been thoroughly frightened by the scorpions, and Larry’s soft words of comfort beside her were indistinct;

Haian and Wood sat by the campfire, enveloped in smoke and shadows, their atmosphere silent;

Xia Nan sat alone in a corner leaning against a tree trunk, his brows and eyes lowered, cradling the iron-grey longsword in his arms.

A day filled with twists and turns seemed about to end just like this.

But just like a post-credits scene in a movie, as an adventurer walking on the edge of a knife, you had to be ready at all times to welcome those unexpected “surprises.”

(End of Chapter)