Border (3)
Mi emerged from her hiding place, leaping through the broken city wall into the air. She dodged a flying stone axe by bracing her toes against an approaching arm. She jumped onto the shoulder of the nearest troll, flipped over, and thrust her dagger towards its eye. At such close range, Mi could almost hear the faint cracking sound of the troll's eyeball being pierced. The troll roared in pain, shaking its shoulders. Mi pulled out her dagger with one hand and used the other to brace herself against the troll's raised arm, flipping in mid-air and thrusting the dagger downwards again. The other eye also made a "plop" sound. The troll howled, flailing its arms and violently pounding its head and shoulders. Mi quickly jumped off the giant's back, keeping a distance from the enraged creature. She then took a running start and sprinted up onto the back of another giant. Just then, a strange bird call came from afar. The giant suddenly stopped attacking and turned its back to the city wall. Mi, who had just climbed onto the giant's head, didn't care that the giant had turned around. She raised her dagger and with two "thuds," blinded another giant. The giant shook its head in pain, and Mi took the opportunity to retreat back onto the city wall. The unharmed giant put away its axe and retreated back to the wasteland they had come from.
As Mi watched several familiar black birds flying over the distant wasteland, the mustachioed captain, who was temporarily without an opponent, walked over and said, "Those are the sacred birds of the Sand People."
Mi watched as several intact giants thrashed into the depths of the wasteland, making the same thumping sounds as when they arrived. Several giant corpses lay on the ground, arrows lodged in their eyes. Mi jumped down, dodging the blinded giants that were circling around, and pulled out an arrow. She returned to the city wall, picked up her bow, nocked it, and fired, shooting down two black birds. The birdsong ceased, and the giants, who had already run some distance, stopped. They turned back to look at the city wall, raised their arms, and hurled their massive stone axes at her. Mi watched the flying axe and continued picking up arrows from the ground, firing one after another. The mustachioed captain's arrows were larger and stronger, and soon the running giants were also blinded. They began to wrestle with each other.
The blind monsters roared like thunder, swinging their stone axes incessantly, oblivious to what they were hitting. They pounded their axes wildly, a chaotic melee erupted along the city wall, and the few who had fled in the distance also tangled up in a fight. Gray dust rose into the air, obscuring the figures of the monsters wrestling together.
Mi and the mustachioed captain exchanged a glance, then both picked up their swords and headed towards the several blind giants locked in a fierce battle. The final battlefield almost became a contest of who was more agile between Mi and the mustachioed captain. One giant after another fell, until the last giant collapsed. Only then did the mustachioed captain, exhausted, fall to the ground and burst into laughter. Seeing this, Mi couldn't help but laugh along.
The soldiers only emerged from the doorway after all the trolls had fallen. Little Krus had two holes punched in his arm from a rock, and hadn't even had time to bandage his wounds. Hugh's arm was dislocated; a troll had pulled it off while he was wrapping the rope around it. Kabir was the only one left, seemingly able to move freely, though his leather armor was riddled with holes and his body was covered in bruises and wounds. The mustachioed captain stood up, helped Hugh's dislocated arm back into place, and then asked, "Where's that guy?"
"Anto got hit on the head by a rock and is dizzy," Krus said with a laugh. "He's alright."
"What is this?" Mi looked at the giant's corpse on the ground. It was three or four meters tall, with arms and legs as thick as stones. Arrows were still stuck in the giant's eyes, and brown liquid was flowing out. The monsters with their ears pierced lay on the ground with their huge mouths open, their sharp teeth as long as fingers, and an indescribable strange smell permeated the air.
“These are natives of the wasteland; they call themselves the Sandmen,” the mustachioed captain said, taking out a knife and cutting off the giant’s ear. “They’ll be coming soon.”
"Why?" Mi pondered the words of the mustachioed captain. How could the natives of this desolate plain support such a large group of people? Every Sandman lying here was over three meters tall, and their mouths could easily swallow a person's fist. The boundless wasteland was only teeming with prey a few days after the rains; the rest of the time, they could only drink the wind and sand.
"For food," the mustachioed captain hummed a folk song.
In the dictionary of the Shari people
The food is defined as "non-Sari".
Their diet is interesting
Almost all of them were non-Sari people
Captain with the mustache cut off all of the Shari's ears and, together with several soldiers, dragged the Shari further into the wasteland. "The Shari's corpses are a good deterrent; the Shari won't come back until these corpses are gone."
"disappear?"
“The Shari eat everything in this wasteland except themselves, and everything in this wasteland also devours the corpses of the Shari.”
All of this was beyond Mi's comprehension. The mustachioed captain clearly didn't intend to say much. The three wounded soldiers supported each other and staggered back to the border post. Half of the city wall had been broken off. The Shali had smashed more than a meter off the three-meter-high wall. One Shali had one leg across the wall and sat there, becoming the 17th medal of the border post.
Most of the houses inside the city walls had collapsed, and there were two large holes above the kitchen. A stone axe from a Shali man smashed the chimney that Mi had repaired, half of the wall of the woodshed collapsed, burying all the firewood, and only one wall remained of the room where Mi was imprisoned. The entire border post was a mess.
Captain Mustache hesitated for once. He scratched his head, looked at Mi, scratched his head again, and finally went to the woodshed, moved aside the collapsed wall, and took out firewood. Hugh's arm was too weak, Kabir was applying medicine to Krus's wound, and Mi went into the kitchen. The casserole was still there. She poured half a casserole of water, kneaded a dough, sliced a large bowl of meat, and cooked a casserole of noodle soup.
Anto has woken up, but he has symptoms of concussion and is constantly dizzy. He vomits everything he eats and can only lie down and rest.
After finishing the noodle soup, the three soldiers surrounded the fire and kept thanking Mi: "Your cooking is absolutely amazing, this is the best I've ever eaten."
"Why would an adventurer like you want to be someone's cook?" the mustachioed captain said. "I think you'd be more than capable of running your own restaurant without having to be managed by anyone. Those noble gentlemen are not easy to serve."
“Yes, yes, I’ll eat at your restaurant every day,” Kruse nodded vigorously from the side.
"What are you thinking?" Kabir, standing next to Cruz, slapped him on the head. "Her restaurant must be in Sun City, a place we'll never be able to go to in our lifetime."
Krus lowered his head, then raised it again and said, "It's alright. We'll go repair the city wall later. You stay here and cook. We'll eat as much as you cook."
As the evening breeze gradually subsided, Captain Mustache lit several more bonfires. He and three soldiers carried back the scattered stones one by one and piled them up under the city wall.
Looking at the room with only one wall remaining, the mustachioed captain said to Mi, "The Sari won't be back anytime soon. Go and rest in Krus's room." Krus's room was slightly better than the mustachioed captain's, with two walls still standing.
Anto lay in the kitchen, occasionally taking a small sip of noodle soup, resolutely refusing to leave the casserole dish. The mustachioed captain and the other three busied themselves back and forth, and the broken stones on the city wall quickly piled up into a small mountain. The blue moon hung in the sky again. If it weren't for the sandman on the city wall, if the houses hadn't collapsed, tonight would have been no different from any other night.
Mi sat in front of the firewood, took out a dagger, and pieced together pieces of wood, quickly making a two-meter-long canopy bed. After finishing one, Mi made the next one. Overnight, Mi made six canopy beds, which were placed along the last remaining wall of the room where she was imprisoned.
As the sun rose, the sandstorm picked up again. Krus was delighted to see the canopy bed. They moved the bed to the open space between the two walls and the kitchen, and hung a straw curtain between the kitchen and the walls. A bedroom without a roof appeared again.
After breakfast, everyone lay down on their bunk beds to rest, and soon a chorus of snores filled the air. Mi wasn't sleepy. Her first time killing someone with her own hands, and the battle with the Shali, hadn't brought her any serious consequences. Perhaps it was because the Shali's appearance was so different from ordinary humans, or perhaps it was because they lacked true bodies, but Mi could now completely control her every word, action, and thought. The Shali's emotions were simple; they only had one word in their minds: "food," "food." When she killed them, Mi didn't understand what it meant, but now she did.
Mi walked to the edge of the city wall and observed the last remaining Shali man at his feet. His skin was rough, and his hands had six fingers, each with three joints. His entire hand was as wide as a fan, and only such large hands could grasp a two-meter-long stone axe. The Shali man didn't wear shoes, and the soles of his feet were covered with thick calluses. His six toes touched the ground, covered with a thick layer of dust.
Mi took two steps back before realizing that the Sandman was wearing leather clothing—a very thin, soft leather. The mustachioed captain walked over and said, "You'd better not look anymore; that's human skin." Mi withdrew his hand, his stomach churning. The mustachioed captain took a rope, tied it around the Sandman's head, then went outside the wasteland and pulled hard on the rope. The Sandman, who had stood there all night, collapsed onto the wasteland with a thud. No more Sandmen remained on the city wall.
Mi climbed the city wall. In the distance, a dozen or so Shali corpses were lined up in the wasteland. The once quiet wasteland became lively. Various animals came from all directions and surrounded the Shali. The air was filled with a stench. Mi suppressed her nausea and walked down the city wall, hiding in the kitchen. In the days that followed, she and Anto could not eat anything.
The mustachioed captain and his three soldiers were constantly repairing the city walls and roofs. Mi finally understood why these soldiers were all so tall and thin; life on the border, besides the sandstorms, required endless work. Several large buckets sat against the wall in the kitchen. Mi had always assumed they contained water, but now he realized they were glue—used to patch the walls and houses. Large stones required two people to lift them up to the top of the wall, then glue was applied to secure them. Next, appropriately sized stones were used to fill the gaps, and another layer of glue was poured on top to fix them in place. All of this had to be done hastily from evening until the wind died down at night—building the walls at night and patching leaks during the day. On the third day, Anto got up and joined the wall-repairing team. Mi worked alongside them for three days, then the water truck arrived.
The day after the water truck arrived, the mustachioed captain returned Mi's remaining belongings to her and allowed her to enter the country. "Your things are all here. Leave tomorrow," the mustachioed captain said, placing Mi's package on the stone table where they usually ate.
Mi rummaged through the package, taking everything edible and usable, especially some pills and a small knife specially made by Annie. The package contained a letter from the Adventurers' Guild, two sets of clothes, and a bunch of marigold coins. Mi raised an eyebrow and took out five coins, placing them on the table: "Thank you for your kindness, these are for the brothers to drink."
The mustachioed captain collected the gold coins and tossed them to his men. He then pulled out a handful of silver and copper coins from his pocket and placed them on the table. "You don't need gold coins for everyday things. Take these and hire a carriage. You can walk all you want," the mustachioed captain said, looking the dark-skinned, thin man up and down. "You could walk until your legs give out and still not get to Sun City."
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