Ch. 85 Passing the Gate, but Please Don't Slay the Generals...

“Hey, you’ve forgiven me, right?”

As soon as Mia and Melina finished their conversation, Patches shamelessly leaned in.

Thump.

Mia’s stargazing staff knocked against Patches’ head.

“Ow—”

A red mark immediately appeared on his shiny bald head.

A good sound, a good head!

“What now?! Didn’t I already apologize and offer a gift?”

Patches pulled a long face, full of resentment.

Mia, however, urged him: “What do you have to pack? Hurry up and finish organizing, we’re moving on.”

Hearing this, Patches smacked his lips.

Looking at the things piled up in the grotto, he showed an incredibly hesitant expression.

It was the kind of expression someone makes when they want to have their cake and eat it too.

Mia suddenly remembered something.

“By the way, how was that treasure chest trap of yours set up?”

She was asking about the treasure chest trap that spewed smoke.

Such treasure chest traps were distributed throughout The Lands Between, and that smoke wasn’t just smoke that could blind someone’s eyes.

Rather, it was a trap that would teleport anyone enveloped by it to a certain location.

“That thing…” Patches rubbed his head.

The red mark on his crown throbbed with pain: “It’s a one-time-use item, I found it earlier.”

“Do you understand the principle behind it?”

Mia pressed further.

Patches gave her a puzzled look.

“It looks like just smoke, the principle… should be simple, right?”

As soon as he finished speaking, he hurriedly added: “Just to be clear, I really didn’t set that thing up. Aside from knowing that chest was suspicious, I had no idea what was actually inside!”

“After all, I should be glad you destroyed that box.”

Ah.

This was Patches; no matter how vigorously he argued something, no matter how hard he tried to make himself look trustworthy.

He would always leave people suspicious.

Even Mia was no exception.

She practically had the words ‘Really? I don’t believe you’ written on her face.

“That was Teleportation Magic inside; do you really not know how to set it up?”

It was precisely because Mia was interested in this unfamiliar knowledge that she wanted to ask.

The chest’s teleportation trap had absolutely no fluctuation of mana; it looked like something even an ordinary Soldier could make.

Patches shook his head violently.

If he had hair, he would probably look a lot like a mushroom right now.

Well, in that case, a new nickname was born.

Pat-Slug-Snail-Skinned Frog-Mushroom-ches.

“I have no idea what kind of trap that was at all!” Patches argued desperately, resisting the topic.

“I’m very sorry for letting you trigger the trap for me! I’ve also given you an apology gift, can we just move past this?”

Mia curled her lip.

Either this guy refused to tell her, or he really didn’t know.

As for the first possibility, maybe another threat or another beating could get it done…

But forget it, beating and threatening people at every turn was too vile.

And if he really didn’t know, there was nothing to be done.

She wondered if she could find a craftsman who could set up this kind of teleportation mechanism later.

“Tsk…” Mia clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction: “Hurry up and let’s go when you’re done.”

“Yes, yes, yes…”

Patches responded reluctantly.

He rummaged through the pile of junk, picking and choosing for a while,

Then he looked up and gazed at Mia with a mournful face: “I can’t bear to leave it! You have Storage Magic, right? Help me take it all!”

The tip of Mia’s staff began to glow—

“I’ll give you money, I’ll give you money, okay!” Patches hurriedly explained: “I’ll give you half of my savings.”

“Hmm…” Mia rubbed her chin: “How much is it?”

Patches warily scanned Melina and Wilden beside Mia.

Then he held up three fingers and mouthed the word ‘thousand’.

“…” The girl looked at him speechlessly.

Caring about not revealing his wealth in such a bizarre way at a time like this?

Something was wrong with him…

“I’ll give you half!” After mouthing the words, Patches added: “As long as you help me take all these things away!”

No one would turn down money.

Thus, Mia readily agreed: “Sure.”

They stepped out of the cave once more.

The group looked just as they did when they entered, unburdened.

Three Spirit Wolves crouched at the entrance, waiting for them obediently.

After the four came out, Lappland wagged her tail happily.

“Let’s keep going!”

Near Mengliu Cave, there was a path that led to the top of the river valley.

They didn’t have to wind through narrow and rugged goat paths for several hours like they did when they came.

The rushing waters of the Mongliu River were swift; as it flowed through this narrower channel, the current washed against the cliffs and boulders on both sides, making a booming sound.

It seemed it had been this way since ancient times.

—

About forty minutes passed after the four left.

A man wearing a massive Iron Bamboo Hat stopped in front of Mengliu Cave.

He held a blade that was outrageously long.

Just like the few people who had paused at the cave entrance not long ago, he stared into the pitch-black, deep mouth of the cave.

He lowered his head and walked in silently.

However, before long, he walked back out of the cave, again clutching his long blade.

“They certainly have some skill.” His face was hidden beneath the iron hat as he murmured to himself: “I wonder if we are fated to meet…”

He looked left and right.

He walked in the exact opposite direction of Mia’s group, heading toward the upper reaches of the Mongliu River.

—

They crossed the turbulent Mongliu River quite smoothly.

It took the four of them some time to find the main road again.

But afterward, the journey returned to its normal track.

The incident at Mengliu Cave was but a small diversion for a journey that had already lasted a week since starting from Waystation Street.

For the vast majority, even ninety-nine percent of the time, the group just traveled steadily, looking at scenery that could no longer stir their hearts.

Having traveled for so many days, they were already unfazed by the occasional signs of human life.

The ‘occasional’ here meant a frequency of once every ten hours or more.

Whether it was someone coming from ahead on the main road or catching up from behind, as long as they weren’t Soldier, there was no need to avoid them.

Sometimes, the four of them would just swagger past a group of wandering The Everliving.

There was no need for hostility between them.

There wasn’t even a need to glance at each other.

As Mia watched them, swaying as they walked past, or crossing paths from ahead, or perhaps originally in front and now left behind.

Their wandering must have once had a purpose, but they had almost forgotten it themselves.

Aside from the The Everliving.

Sometimes there would also be tall Kadan people, some wearing armor, some not.

They would watch them from afar on the distant grassy hills.

But they wouldn’t approach; they would just watch for a while and then go back to their own business after finding no interest.

The edge of the forest reappeared in their sight.

Counting from Mengliu Cave, on the third day of walking.

It rained.

In the rain, the landscape of the earth became blurred and soft; the distant grasslands and undulating hills were shrouded in rain and mist, looking quiet and mysterious.

The grass in the cracks of the road and the unknown wildflowers by the roadside were all shivering in the rain.

Not for the first time, Mia marveled at the carefree nature of the environment, completely unrelated to everything on this land.

Even though it was raining, they continued their journey.

This was a good time to practice Prayer.

Mia turned her left palm upward, and a burst of flame appeared in it, then rose, going high above her head.

Then, as if hitting something, it spread out in mid-air like an umbrella.

The temperature was highest at the very top of the flame, evaporating all the falling rain, while the flame close to Mia’s body also kept her clothes dry.

Melina, leading the horse, had turned translucent.

The rain passed directly through her body, pitter-pattering onto the ground.

Yet she was still able to hold the reins properly.

Wilden and Patches didn’t have such convenient skills.

They were wrapped in tent fabric, using oil-soaked linen to block the rain and cold.