Chapter 28: The Reason

Bang!

The one-handed hammer, gleaming with a metallic luster, smashed down violently.

Accompanied by the dull, delayed sound of a hard object colliding with flesh, the long green snake—which just moments ago had been coiled up with its head raised in a warning posture—instantly turned into a twitching, writhing lump of meat.

“Are there always this many snakes in these woods?”

Larry, the fat guy in the tight-fitting short outfit, complained as he somewhat disgustedly shook off the blood droplets clinging to the face of his hammer.

By now, several hours had passed since Xia Nan joined the squad.

The complex environment of the Mist Forest, choked with dense bushes and tall grass, made their journey feel less like walking and more like trudging. Their steps were heavy, and their physical stamina was draining rapidly.

Faced with the constant threat of a sudden encounter battle, Xia Nan and the others couldn’t afford to burn all their stamina just on traveling; they needed to maintain a certain level of combat readiness.

Therefore, they had found a relatively safe spot to take a temporary break and recover their strength.

Xia Nan leaned against a tree trunk, sitting in a corner of the camp.

The iron-grey Beheading Longsword rested at an angle by his side, positioned where he could grab it at a moment’s notice.

Holding a piece of gauze dampened with a bit of water, he was wiping down his leather armor.

Although he hadn’t been injured during the life-and-death struggle with the duo earlier, the enemies’ blood had splattered all over him.

It wasn’t out of clean-freak tendencies.

It was just that the smell of blood easily attracted danger, and being covered in a sticky mess made him feel uncomfortable. Now that he had some downtime, he took the opportunity to clean up.

“Xia Nan, when you usually do missions, are there always this many snakes?”

Tossing the snake—which had been hammered into a mushy pulp—into the nearby bushes, Larry asked casually.

Since they were now part of the same squad, they had naturally introduced themselves by name.

Xia Nan looked up and glanced over, forcing down the urge to rush over and rip out the snake’s gallbladder.

Recalling his own experience when he traveled here, he couldn’t help but feel a bit puzzled himself.

There really do seem to be a bit too many different kinds of snakes along the way.

Back when I was with the Bottom Feeder Squad, I didn’t see this many snakes in the forest.

He thought this to himself but didn’t say it out loud. After all, this was only his second mission, and he wasn’t much more familiar with the Mist Forest than Larry was. He simply spoke up:

“Maybe this area is just special? As you know, the Mist Forest is filled with strange things everywhere. No one can say for sure what you’ll run into.”

“Oh? Strange?” The ambiguous phrasing piqued Larry’s interest. “Is it the rare kind of magical beasts? Or giant plants that eat people?”

“I heard my cousin say that these kinds of ‘large-scale magic accumulation points’ can even contain fortresses and dungeons left behind from ancient times, according to legends!”

Discussing a topic that interested him, Larry’s voice grew a bit louder. The blonde girl beside him also pricked up her ears faintly, seemingly looking forward to a story from this newly joined adventurer.

But without a doubt, the topic had veered way out of Xia Nan’s scope of knowledge.

Not knowing how to answer, he simply twitched his mouth and said helplessly:

“I’m just a newcomer too. I don’t know much about what you’re talking about.”

“A newcomer?! The way you performed just now didn’t look like a rookie at all!”

“Why don’t you ask Wood? His experience is obviously much richer than mine,” Xia Nan shifted the topic somewhat stiffly.

Hearing this, Larry first shrunk his neck, looking around stealthily to both sides. He then remembered that the guy had already left the camp to scout the path ahead.

Leaning in closer and lowering his voice, he whispered:

“Him? Usually, except when he’s looking at Haian, he looks at everyone else like they’re a corpse. Who would dare ask him anything?”

“He can’t squeeze out a full sentence in half a day. No matter what you ask, he just gives you a couple of cold stares. If it weren’t for…”

Cough, cough.

Haian deliberately let out a dry cough, cutting off Larry’s speech.

His expression carried a hint of helplessness:

“Don’t listen to his nonsense. Wood is very competent.”

Xia Nan actually quite agreed with that.

Being able to feel the guard’s wariness toward him didn’t get in the way of his recognition of the man’s professionalism.

His mind was still preoccupied with that wooden token. Earlier on the road, he hadn’t had the chance, but seeing that they were actively talking, he followed up by asking about its origin.

“That thing?” Larry actively took over the conversation. “I bought it last month when I went out hunting for goods. Back then…”

According to the fat Larry, the wooden token had originally been picked up by an adventurer inside the Mist Forest. That adventurer thought the token, which was steeped in an exotic style, could fetch a good price, but to his surprise, not a single shop in Rivervale was willing to take it.

In the end, it was sold at a low price to the owner of “Griffin Department Store” in Newm, where Larry eventually discovered and bought it.

“Originally, I wanted to hire that adventurer to come along as a guide, but he absolutely refused under any circumstances. In the end, I just spent a few gold coins to buy the location where he discovered the token from him.”

“Just you guys? Why didn’t you bring some guards along?”

Xia Nan spotted the blind spot in the story and couldn’t help but frown.

Even if wealthy young masters went to the countryside for a trip, they would at least bring a few personal bodyguards. From his clothing, accessories, and behavior, Larry didn’t look like someone short on money. Under these circumstances, he hadn’t brought a single personal guard?

Xia Nan didn’t understand.

If it were him, he might not even show up personally. Since it was just the outer fringes of the Mist Forest, spending some money to hire dozens of professionals who did this for a living would be both safe and greatly increase the probability of finding something.

To this, Larry just grinned foolishly and scratched the back of his head.

“My dad has never liked… bank account… all eyes… secretly…”

Muttering incoherently, his gaze subconciously darted over to the blonde girl resting on the side.

“Tsk.”

Xia Nan curled his lip and shook his head, his curiosity fading. Since things had already reached this point, whether for him or for Larry, whatever they ran into was their own choice.

“Then what’s so special about this piece of wood that made you guys run all the way here from Newm?”

As for Xia Nan, the source of the token’s attraction to him naturally didn’t need to be elaborated on further. But what about these native denizens of this alternate world? They weren’t archaeologists. Risking their lives to enter the monster-infested Mist Forest for a token of unknown origin simply wasn’t worth it.

Larry stopped talking.

Haian, however, let out a silent sigh and explained:

“I’m the one leading the team.” He lifted his head, his silver-grey eyes unique to half-elves staring at Xia Nan in front of him.

“It’s not convenient for me to go into specifics, but I suspect this wooden token… has a connection to the disappearance of one of my relatives.”

Hearing this, Xia Nan couldn’t help but knit his brows.

Just as he was about to open his mouth, a rustling sound suddenly came from the tall grass beside the camp.

He stood up instantly, subconciously grabbing the Beheading Longsword by his side, completely prepared for battle.

A moment later, Wood’s figure, dressed in black leather armor, appeared before everyone’s eyes.

His gaze swept across everyone’s faces, finally resting on the face of the half-elf Haian:

“Young master, there’s a discovery.”

(End of Chapter)