Chapter 128: The Funny Wolf Pack
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Along the journey, Hao Ren found out that the young girl, who seemed to be wandering alone in the world, was called Becky. She was a freelance mercenary in her own words.
A freelance mercenary was a military occupation that required individuals to travel the length and breadth of the country. It was quite a common group of people in this world. They had their own organization but, were loosely structured so they were hardly considered as ‘armed groups’. They were active in the society and undertook all work according to their ability. Although Becky did not reveal too much to a stranger, Hao Ren speculated that the group dabbled in everything from murder to finding an old lady’s cat, depending on what the employer paid them for.
This sounded like an incredible profession. Hao Ren spent a long time trying to figure it out using human logic yet, he still could not understand how this group of people could appear openly. He also could not understand why the authorities would allow the existence of such a group. However, Becky was standing alive in front of him. He could only accept it as a fact. Perhaps the world had a special social structure which allowed the existence of free mercenaries. Anyway, this group of strong people was really active around the world.
"Although I look young, I’m a second-class mercenary. I’ve started working since I was 14 years old to make a living." Becky was kind of casual. She was probably very confident of her strength and her occupation made her a talkative as well as broad-minded girl. She started to talk even more after confirming that Hao Ren was not a threat to her. "I’m familiar with 80% of the places in Holletta. I’ve also been to the Empire and I’ve ridden across the prairie alone. Do you believe it? Ha! I came to the prairie just for a small task. Didn’t expect to meet quite an interesting guy… What’s your name again? Hao Ren? This name is weird to me. It doesn’t sound like the names of people in Holletta."
Hao Ren would break out in cold sweat every 15 minutes during the two hour journey with Becky. He just realized that he was indeed an honest man. He was bad at lying face to face when he was within a two-meter radius of the person (it was easier to lie on the phone or without seeing the person). Every time he talked to Becky, he was afraid that he would expose himself and be stabbed by the lady. He could not be stabbed to death. He would not be able to easily meet a free tour guide the next time or she could be gone. It was certainly not going to be so easy to deceive a local for some information again. Therefore, he was trying to listen more and not speak a word. He was disguised as an academic research talent who stayed at home all the time. This way, even if he said something wrong, he could still use bad communication as an excuse to fool the lady. It is a truth that the less you speak, the less mistakes you make.
"My name belongs to the minorities...Haha." Hao Ren said with a hollow smile as he tried to remember the bits of information leaked in the conversation with Becky. Now, he knew about the place he was heading to. Lamberg was a small border town in the southern part of the prairie, which belonged to the Holletta Kingdom. It was also Becky’s hometown. He also knew that there was a new empire on the northern side of the prairie called the Hognar Empire and Becky knew little about it. Due to the long distance between the two countries, they were unable to attack each other. Hence, the two countries were remotely winking at each other, trying to present themselves as peace-loving countries on the international stage. However, they also beat down all the small countries around them so, the credibility of their winks was not very high.
These were all information leaked by Becky during their chat. Hao Ren was very curious as to why this girl was so talkative. It was like there was nothing in the world that she did not know. Later, Hao Ren thought about it and realized that Lily was even easier to get along with compared to Becky. That time when he and Lily took a bus to her new home, they chatted about things from local food prices to the American Civil War along the way. The husky was obviously more skillful in small talk...
"What are you, anyway?" Becky asked while she tilted her head slightly. "I have seen a lot of wizards. Even the most common wizards wear a robe to look graceful despite the hot weather. You look more like a commoner tourist. Are the wizards in your country all dressed up like this?"
Hao Ren thought that he was really here for traveling. He blamed his brain fade for promising to accept the task from the lady boss with an even bigger brain fade. He had to travel to a primitive planet which was 800 light-years away; had to stand the sea breeze for half a night and then fall into The Plane of Dreams from a height of 10 stories. This was indeed a journey that would cost him his life. However, he just smiled and said, "It’s my personal hobby. You won't know the place where I come from even if I tell you. I actually come from the Empire."
Becky just mentioned that she did not know much about the country across the prairie so, it made sense to relate himself to the Empire. And the statement, "come from the Empire" was literally not nonsense. The Xi Ling Empire was indeed an empire…
"Wow, you teleported from the Empire to the prairie?" Becky almost fell off the horse. "How many crystals did you smash on the teleportation array? I don’t think you are a nobleman. You dissipate all of your fortunes just to experience landing on the prairie with your face?"
Hao Ren, "... I don’t know. I fell and hurt my head. Now, I’m confused. Don’t ask too much, please…"
"Look, I said you broke your brain but you don’t believe me," Becky said and shook her head. "I’ll take you to the border anyway. And then you have to figure out the way back on your own. Tsk, I’m a little worried about how you’re going to go back. You have to cross the prairie to reach the Empire of Hognar. You only have one flying music box which can be sold for some money and it’s mine now."
Hao Ren could not help but feel a little sorry for her. The music box was just to cheat her. However, seeing her looking forward to it; it made him feel a twinge of regret in advance.
Just as Hao Ren speculated about how long much longer it would take to see the border town, Becky suddenly pulled the reins and stopped the horse. Then, she got Hao Ren dismounted and said, "Wait, something happened there."
Before Hao Ren could understand what was going on, he had already been pulled down by the strong girl, who pressed his neck against the leeward side of the hill. He moved his head vigorously and asked, "What’s wrong?"
"The wolves… are fighting for territory." Becky lowered her voice and used some kind of gestures to get her horse to step aside sensibly. "Let’s see, maybe there’s a bargain... Ah, would you be a burden to me?"
Hao Ren stretched his neck, popped his head in and took a look. Indeed, he saw two packs of black wolves fighting at a concave ground in the distance. They were the kind of mighty beasts which could only exist in The Plane of Dreams.
If this situation was placed before ordinary people, anyone would have probably tried to hide far away. However, when Becky saw that two wolf packs were fighting, she actually stopped excitedly, ready to ‘take advantage of it’?!
Hao Ren did not know how strong the humans in this world could be. However, he had met the funny alpha wolf on the prairie once. He could roughly understand the combat hierarchy of humans and wolves. He knew that ordinary people were just food in front of these wolves. So, if Becky was in her right mind, then it meant one thing: This is a bizarre world where the gap of strength between an average man and a fighting professional was huge.
The setting was getting weirder.
"One... Two... Three... A lot of... And lots of them." Becky counted the number of enemies and said, "Well, we’ll ambush them when they’re almost done. That should settle them. They will fight to the death when fighting for territory. Hey, I’ll make a big fortune this time. The bony plates on their bodies are precious. Eh, you won’t be a drag, right?"
Hao Ren really wanted to hit his head with the grass nest. This lady seemed to always to be a little paranoid and she was also the kind of person who kept talking to herself without listening to the others’ explanation. She still insisted that Hao Ren broke his head when he fell down. However, Hao Ren did not have time to explain to her anyway because he was suddenly attracted by the two packs of black wolves in the battle.
The two groups of black wolves were not completely engaged in a melee fight. Only those in the front line were fighting. A large number of wolves lingered on the rim of the alcove, not entering the battlefield. And among those wandering wolves, there was a black wolf whose waist bone plate was broken. A few black wolves were grinning and exposing their broken teeth. There was one large head wolf that looked exceptionally familiar.
He met his acquaintance... Oh no, acquaintances! Are they not the funny pack?