"It's quite lively."
After the stream flowing nearby had simply tidied its surface, I returned to the place where I had decided to spend the night. From afar, I saw Miyuki still sitting in the same spot, a sword and a knife leaning against her chest, her arms wrapped around her knees. If it weren't for Hikari's cheerful, rabbit-like figure bustling about preparing for bed nearby, her figure alone would have given off a rather lonely air.
Do you envy them?
I tried to strike up a conversation with her, but all I got was a cold glance: "Swords don't experience feelings of envy."
"But you are a living, breathing person, not just a sword."
“…” Miyuki was silent for a moment, then looked away. “I don’t know.”
“Then let’s change the subject.” I sat down beside her, maintaining a comfortable distance. “If you hadn’t become our companion, what were your plans before? I’ve heard some rumors that you took down most of the mercenaries in the transit hub city. Were you planning to continue fighting them like that?”
Shen Xue nodded: "That was my original purpose."
"To hone one's skills, appropriate challenges are necessary."
"If defeating all the self-reliant people in the city is not enough, then I will move on to the next city and continue the process, just as I have done on my previous journey."
"Was that why you went to the domed hall?"
"Yes, after all, that's where the most people gather on weekdays, and there are especially many idiots who don't deserve to have brains. Of course, I also wanted to find out if there were any worthwhile missions to take on." She hesitated for a few seconds, then explained in a low voice, "Mainly for travel expenses."
It was both funny and sad.
Come to think of it, when we first met she claimed to be from the frozen capital of the far north. As far as I know, that place is said to be extremely cold and lacking in resources. If it weren't for the nearby ice-free port providing support for fishing and trade, it would have probably perished in the freezing cold long ago.
How could someone from such a city, without much skill and means of making a living, manage to travel alone to a transit hub located in the lower part of the continent?
“If it weren’t for meeting you all,” Miyuki continued, “I might have chosen to take on one of the most famous commissions in the city recently.”
I thought for a few seconds, then precisely extracted the corresponding memory from my recollection: "I seem to have heard of some. There was a quest to subdue a troublesome monster called a flower fairy?"
Shen Xue nodded, casually breaking off a blade of grass from the side and tossing it into the steadily burning flame in front of her. She watched it hiss as it burned away, turning into wisps of smoke. "Yes. But rather than calling it an evil spirit, it's more like a widespread phenomenon of living plants. It's just that those who have seen it claim that the plants have blossomed with many flowers and that they occasionally hear auditory hallucinations that sound like a woman's laughter, so they simply use the term 'flower spirit' to describe it."
"Has it been confirmed what caused this? While it's rare for plants to simply become demonized, there have been a few documented cases of this kind of activated plant. What these cases have in common is that they all have a single core, and that they can be killed simply by destroying it or reducing its life force. The worst-case scenario is that someone is manipulating things behind the scenes," I said.
"I don't know. No one has seen its true form yet, so the city sent what they claim to be the strongest mercenary group. Otherwise, I would have liked to try and challenge it to see how much I differ from them." She shook her head, seemingly with some regret, and adjusted the position of the sword she was holding. "Of course, I'm not very interested in the Flower Fairy's request. My target is the Thunder Wolf Dragon."
"A creature qualified to end with the word 'dragon'—I wonder if its abilities are truly as terrifying and powerful as the rumors suggest, and whether it can bring me any inspiration or even a breakthrough."
That's a really crazy idea.
Aside from the earth dragon, which is contemptuously called a "false dragon" because it prefers to eat grass, has a docile temperament, and has little fighting power, ordinary people would turn pale at the mere mention of its name, tremble at the sound of its roar from afar, and be too afraid to approach at the sight of its form. It is a nightmare-level terrifying creature. In her eyes, however, it is merely a worthy opponent, and she even showed a bit of impatience and excitement, almost ready to grab her blade and rush to chase after every trace of it.
“You are different from other monks I have ever met.”
Shen Xue suddenly turned to me.
Half of her face was illuminated by the firelight, while the other half was shrouded in darkness. Her icy eyes gleamed with an unpredictable light: "Most of the mages I've met are very arrogant. Even if they don't have much knowledge, they are used to carrying wooden staffs that are much taller than themselves and looking down on people."
"While they didn't show any rejection towards martial artists like us, they also didn't show any respect. They regarded us as a lower existence, and they themselves were divided into different ranks. On the one hand, they fawned over those in higher positions, and on the other hand, they secretly tripped each other up. But when they became those in higher positions, they would quickly forget everything in the past, like a face changing, and actively suppress those below them. Occasionally, they would pretend to be enlightened, spreading favors downwards and taking in those who paid more tribute as their nominal apprentices."
“The kind you’re talking about should be the monks who pass on their knowledge through an apprenticeship system. We categorize them as the wild monks.” I explained, “This old-fashioned form is prone to creating barriers, disagreements, and shortsightedness among people. It also easily leads to the loss and distortion of knowledge during its dissemination. Therefore, it was replaced by the academic school a long time ago.”
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