Chapter 4 Questioning
The one favored by God was a man of his word. Shortly after the other party left, Nova successfully obtained clean clothes and softer bedding.
After changing his clothes, the black-haired young man pushed open the door and was covered in the face by a long wind banner - he half closed his eyes, pushed aside the cloth, and was startled by a strange-looking creature that rolled past his toes.
Is that a...baby Earth Fire Dragon?
It was about the size of a calf, with four strong and flexible claws, a bulbous lump at the end of its tail, and its body covered with rough, rusty scales. The only thing on its back was a row of extremely bright orange spikes, and a pair of small wings.
The young dragon had been chasing the long banners fluttering in the wind with its claws, but it tripped and fell, rolling on the ground for a few rounds. As it got up, it saw the stiff, black-haired stranger. The young dragon immediately lowered its body and tilted its head toward Nova, adopting a hunting stance, making strange, eager noises in its throat.
“Dada!”
The Natalin man standing at the door shouted to stop him. The young dragon snorted in dissatisfaction, and his cold and bright eyes like golden rubies stared at the two humans.
Soon a child came running over, hugged the reluctant dragon cub by the neck, and dragged it away.
Nova was still in a daze when Natalin next to him said something to him.
Perhaps it was coincidence that the other person was the warrior Nova had seen when he woke up, who introduced himself as "Lambda" - or was it "Ramla", or "Ramna"? The professor decided to translate according to his own habits - so far, the ordinary Natalin people he had met had shown a great unfamiliarity with the common language, making the strangeness of the God-Favored One even more conspicuous.
Nova was brought by Lambda to the door of a more spacious and sturdy earth and stone house. On the arched door frame hung the skull of a giant narwhal. The fine, yellowed fangs still shone with a cold light, vaguely showing the former power of the overlord of the ocean.
The room was dimly lit, and the smell was indescribable. There was a cacophony of voices, and everyone seemed occupied. Some were leading long-wool sheep, some clutching sacks of potatoes, some carrying iron tools, and even an elderly fire dragon, sprawled on its belly, napping under the counter. Lambda dragged him through the crowd and over to the wooden counter. A massive, sinister-looking sea fish lay on top of it, and a Natalin man beside it proudly patted the fish's body and muttered something.
Seeing that many people were crowding over to watch with great interest, he simply used a knife to cut off a small piece of beautiful light pink fish meat and held it high so that people could appreciate the beautiful texture of the fish.
Nova watched the scene with great interest. It seemed that at least three buyers wanted the fish. They argued for a while, and then the lady behind the counter divided the fish into three parts and collected the head and tail.
As for the piece of fish that was for people to admire, it was taken away by the old dragon, and the people of Natalin seemed to be used to it.
"Oh, don't worry, Old Kaz is very friendly - in fact, the dragons that live in the valley are very friendly to people. Little Dada is just not familiar with your smell."
Lambda comforted the black-haired young man again. The other looked at him and nodded slightly. He no longer avoided old Kaz and slowly came over to sniff the trouser legs of the two men, then lay down on the ground again.
"Hey, Lambda!" The proprietress who had finally cleaned the fish head came over with satisfaction, looking curiously at the black-haired young man who, even though he was wearing traditional clothes, still looked out of place here.
"Is he also the one rescued from the sea by the God's favored one?" The Natalin man who was holding potatoes at the side was no longer in a hurry to count the potatoes, but came over and interrupted.
"Yes, I brought him back to life myself!" Lambda announced proudly.
More people gathered around. Even the Natalin people, who had long been accustomed to the faces of the God's Blessed, could not help but sigh that the other party was indeed an impressive young man.
At first, Lambda enthusiastically answered the tribesmen's questions, but soon he couldn't hold on any longer. He simply pushed through the group of overly curious people, squeezed to the front, and shouted to the proprietress, "Aunt Bana, I want three silverback fish and a bag of mamu fruit - oh, and give me a bottle of ointment for sprains!"
The lady boss grinned and said, "Okay, I'll put it all on your account."
"No problem!" Lambda patted his chest and said with a grin, "The hunting team has had quite a good harvest these past few days. I got a large share of points!"
"Yes, and within three days you had replaced all of it with mead."
A female voice interrupted coldly, and the other Natalin people laughed and pushed each other to make way for the red-haired female warrior.
"Lamina..."
Lambda scratched his head with a wry smile.
The female warrior ignored him, looked around seriously, and raised her voice, "The hunting team will be back soon. Don't block us here. Do what needs to be done!"
Although she was young, her words carried great authority. Soon, the others resumed their work, and Lamina dragged the two of them out to a less-traveled corner.
Lambda tried to strike up a conversation to ease the inexplicably tense atmosphere: "Lamina, didn't you go out with the hunting team today? Where are the others?"
"Something unexpected happened, so I came back early." Lamina snorted softly, crossing her arms over her chest, and coldly examined the black-haired noble standing not far behind her brother. The other man was leaning against the wall with one hand, his expression not looking good, but he still met her eyes calmly.
"Why did you bring this guy to the barter station?"
The female warrior didn't take her eyes off Nova's face.
"Bring him here in exchange for some food and medicine. His ankle is injured..."
"I mean, why did you bring him here?" Lamina interrupted him bluntly, emphasizing the word "bring him here."
"Uh, didn't the God's Favored One say that he could be released?" Lambda muttered, his voice becoming lower and lower.
He glanced at the black-haired young man, who immediately glanced back sharply. Under the gaze of those smoky gray eyes, even though Lambda knew he had no idea what they were talking about, he still felt guilty.
"Just because you can let him out doesn't mean you can let this guy wander around freely, you—" Lamina was still scolding her erratic brother when she heard someone ask in a strange tone.
"At sea, rescued people?"
“……?!”
The brother and sister turned their heads in unison, staring at the cold-looking black-haired young man as if they had seen a ghost.
The culprit was completely unaware of how shocking his sudden words were. He stared expressionlessly at the two similar-looking alien warriors and repeated, "People rescued from the sea."
This time he spoke more fluently, and slowly added another word: "Where."
The two people opposite him still didn't answer his question, which made Nova begin to doubt whether he had misjudged the meaning of those words - but the next second, the red-haired female warrior suddenly jumped up and threw him heavily to the ground, with a sharp and cold scimitar across his neck.
"You can obviously speak our language!" Lamina gritted her teeth and pushed the blade closer. "Why are you pretending not to understand? What do you want to do?!"
Lambda anxiously advised from behind: "Wait, Lamina, calm down first. Is there some misunderstanding here? You'll kill him if you do this—"
"Where are they? The people rescued at sea."
Even lying on the ground in a mess, the black-haired young man's expression remained unchanged. He repeated it again, and Lambda suddenly understood something. She grasped her sister's arm and pulled her up.
"Lamina, he doesn't speak our language."
The other party growled angrily: "Are you kidding me, he——"
"He's just imitating." Lambda whispered, "Listen, doesn't his accent sound familiar?"
The black-haired young man half-raised himself, coughing softly into his hand. It was no wonder that the Natalin warriors worried he would die easily. His slightly curly black hair framed the young man's skin, which was almost sickly pale. His lips were a worryingly pale color, and between his brows ran a faint mark, the result of years of frowning.
It just so happened that the other person also had a pair of extremely sharp and distinct smoky-gray eyes. When he looked at people, his eyes were like a delicate scalpel, reflecting an undisguised, fair and indifferent scrutiny and analysis, revealing a weirdness that did not conform to the secular rules. This made him, despite his outstanding appearance, feel particularly difficult to approach.
To be honest, it's a bit scary—especially since this guy managed to accurately deduce and extract the information he needed from an unfamiliar language in less than five minutes of chaotic conversation...
Lamina suddenly understood why the God's Favored One cared so much about this person.
…
Finally, the Natalin people took him to see the imprisoned sailors. All three were imprisoned in the same place, and none of them was ill-treated. Apart from being frightened, they all seemed to be in good condition.
"Professor Brody!"
Captain Scarpo carefully looked at the young, thin, dark-haired nobleman and breathed a sigh of relief when he found that the other party had no additional injuries.
"Those damned barbarians, those damned dragons!" He complained harshly, his eyes darkening. "Last night, there was a dragon outside that kept scratching at the door. I shouted for a long time, but no one paid any attention to us. I almost thought I would never see the sun the next day!"
"No one came to see you?" Nova stared at him thoughtfully, and after receiving a negative answer, he blinked slowly.
"I think this has something to do with me," he said, slowing down his speech for once, and considering vaguely, "I need some evidence."
The other party might vent his anger on his fellow sailors, and a normal person would feel guilty about this and act cautiously.
Captain Scarpo, who was unable to deal with the professor's bizarre train of thought, immediately became alert: "...Wait, what are you going to do?"
This time the other party responded quickly: "I can confirm some of my suspicions, but I can't tell you at this time."
"...will it be dangerous?"
"Perhaps, because in the eyes of the Natalin people, we should be one," Nova replied calmly. "But I have a plan. I will teach you how to threaten those people in the worst-case scenario. I have a high chance of getting them to let you go, so don't worry too much."
"That's not what I'm talking about, Professor. I'm worried about your safety." Captain Scarpo grinned helplessly, not knowing whether to complain about the four old, weak and sick warriors who "threatened" an entire tribe and a ferocious Windrunner being too arrogant, or to wonder what the hell "Natalin" was.
"Because you saved my life, I don't want you to lose your life here." He simply used the simplest and most brutal sentence structure.
"...I understand now." The black-haired young man opened his mouth dryly and fell silent again.
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