Ch. 35 - That Was a Damn Good Scolding

As the shattered debris of the cargo wagon scattered across his back, Tang Qi pinched his own thigh hard, letting the brief pain dispel his terror as he hastily rolled to the side.

From the dusty ruins of the wagon, a figure suddenly burst forth.

Black Snake leapt forward, landing right in front of Tang Qi. Without time for lengthy explanations, he barked:

"Give me the chisel!"

Tang Qi noticed that the cangue on Black Snake's shoulder was already badly damaged.

With just a shrug of his shoulders, he cast off the broken wooden boards—

In the instant the spiked club smashed into the wagon, as Black Snake dodged aside, he'd borrowed the gale force generated by the swinging weapon to shatter the cangue on his shoulder.

Though his hands were still bound tightly by shackles, he was far more mobile than before.

Tang Qi hurriedly fumbled through his pack and tossed him the chisel. Black Snake caught it hastily and first pierced through his own leg irons.

With a "snap," he jammed the chisel into the connecting point of the shackles, forcibly breaking the chain between them.

Using the same trick, after smashing off the leg irons from both Tang Qi and Kuru, he directly issued commands:

"Go find the keys to these shackles and bring me my damn blade!"

"ROAR—"

The moment Black Snake finished speaking, the dust kicked up by the flour finally settled.

Before the troll's eyes, two figures—one tall, one short—now stood clearly visible.

It roared like thunder.

But before it could charge forward, arrows already loosed from behind cut through the powder, tracing silver-white arcs as they flew toward them.

Their force was considerable, their speed swift—yet not swift enough to catch Black Snake now freed from his leg irons.

The instant he identified the arrows' trajectories, he'd already twisted at the waist and flipped away, dodging them narrowly.

Tang Qi's internal alarm bells rang frantically.

But lacking Black Snake's agile techniques, he could only grab the edge of the kobold's cangue and hold it in front of himself as a shield:

"Rua!?"

Though the kobold was small in stature, the wooden boards framing its body could serve as the perfect shield.

Thanks to Tang Qi's [Alertness], the arrows seemed to trace predetermined trajectories in his mind, allowing him to predict their paths.

Several barbed arrows that came flying stopped mere inches from Kuru's skin, thudding into the wooden boards with successive "thunk, thunk" sounds.

Kuru was scared half to death, tears glistening at the corners of his eyes as he cried out pitifully:

"Humans, bad!"

"Don't dawdle—an iron chisel can't pierce its hide!"

Black Snake called out this warning as he bent low and charged forward at full speed.

He moved so swiftly that he left only an afterimage in the white mist.

Though his hands were restrained, gripping a single iron chisel posed no hindrance.

The troll's spiked club whooshed past, the wind pressure it generated forming visible tracks even through the white fog, falling beside Black Snake's ear and vibrating his eardrums.

He wasn't particularly alarmed—he bent into a sliding tackle, slipping right through the troll's crotch.

Holding his breath, he ignored the stench of rot and decay emanating from its body. Standing on his toes, he leapt into the air, stepped on its shoulder, and drove the iron chisel hard into the back of its skull—

"Squelch!"

This strike solidly penetrated its skull. As he withdrew and retreated, thick blood splattered across his nostrils.

If he'd been facing an ordinary human, this would have been more than enough to take their life.

But the troll merely roared wildly, seemingly completely unaffected, swinging its club around to swat the flea off its shoulder and back to the ground.

Taking advantage of the moment before it could turn around, Black Snake landed lightly and caught sight of the bloody hole pierced through the back of its skull—the flesh inside the wound was beginning to writhe inward. He couldn't help but curse darkly:

"Did you eat your fill before coming here?"

Trolls had voracious appetites—a single meal could easily see one devour a four- hundred-kilogram wild boar.

Their food intake didn't just result in bloated stomachs, but also nearly undying regenerative abilities.

The second head on this troll before him had likely regrown after its original head had been severed—

Only by burning or corroding their wounds could one interrupt the healing of their flesh.

Tang Qi, fleeing toward the camp, watched as Explosivewolf sliced off a troll's arm, only for yellow-green tumors to immediately surge up from the gaping wound.

He likewise understood that regeneration required energy consumption—the higher the healing efficiency, the stronger their sense of satiety.

Trolls only had the will to actively hunt for food when hungry.

Thus, Tang Qi clicked his tongue and quickened his pace:

"Could there be someone else behind them!?"

The mercenaries under Explosivewolf's command were well-trained, and with Starshine maintaining the situation, aside from scattered arrow volleys, the camp's interior hadn't yet faced any real threat.

Tang Qi relied on his [Alertness] to seek fortune and avoid calamity, dodging arrows as he burst into the camp's most luxurious tent in one go.

"Who goes there!?"

The instant he realized Tang Qi had intruded, Steward Huss immediately drew a rapier from his waist, holding it behind his back with one hand, ready for battle.

Though his birth wasn't noble, he'd inherited his father's profession, serving the Merle family loyally and receiving the finest education in return.

With his back ramrod straight, he'd naturally practiced excellent courtly swordsmanship.

Tang Qi had no desire to conflict with him and immediately stated his needs:

"My sincere apologies for disturbing you both, my lords, but the situation outside is urgent. I require fire gel, the keys to these shackles, and Black Snake's curved blade."

Steward Huss furrowed his brow tightly, stepping protectively in front of Melade:

"How did you manage to break free from your leg irons!? And what do you intend to do by requesting weapons?"

He'd heard the troll's roars but didn't consider them trouble that the mercenaries outside the tent couldn't handle.

Thus he remained relatively calm, instinctively refusing Tang Qi's request.

Tang Qi understood his attitude and patiently explained:

"That pack of trolls is being controlled by someone—they might even just be the vanguard..."

"Impossible! Dawnmist Forest is thick with fog—without seeing through illusions, how could an army possibly appear?

Do you think this is the southern battlefield?

Those are clearly just trolls that got hungry and came out to hunt for food. They couldn't possibly be a match for the mercenaries."

Tang Qi lacked sufficient evidence to convince him.

Too lazy to waste more time, he simply said:

"You can save your bullshit for after everything's over."

"You bastard, mind your language!"

"Strum, strum—"

He swept two fierce chords from his lute without warning, then immediately sang:

"Fuck your stupid ass, I don't need you deciding what I do!

No one's gonna bear the consequences of your stubbornness—so answer my damn question now!

Tell me where the keys and weapons are!"

"You!"

Tang Qi's 'lyrics' were truly crude. Having been cultivated in aristocratic refinement, how could Steward Huss possibly tolerate being cursed at by another person?

He was about to raise his rapier.

But the moment he locked eyes with the poet before him, he felt that this poet somehow had the warmth of an old childhood friend?

In the blink of an eye, he seemed to return to his boyhood.

Back then he'd still been a mischievous student, learning the most basic etiquette for serving nobility under an old steward's tutelage.

For failing to position his knife and fork correctly, he'd been severely scolded by that kindly instructor.

When he'd realized his mistake, he'd felt utterly ashamed.

Now, that sense of guilt surged up in his heart once more.

To the point that Tang Qi's cursing no longer seemed crude and grating.

Perhaps this was what the old steward had meant by 'honest advice sounds unpleasant to the ear.'

"You! You—"

Steward Huss stammered, lowering his rapier and tossing a ring of keys to Tang Qi.

"My friend, that was a damn good scolding—it has woken me up.

I cannot risk going out to verify the truth at the cost of endangering the young master.

But I can tell you're also thinking of the young master's safety—

That prisoner's curved blade should still be in that mage lord's tent."

Kuru blinked his confused eyes.

He knew what 'stupid ass' meant.

So calling nobles 'stupid asses' made them obediently listen?

Humans were really strange...

Steward Huss actually wasn't clear about the situation outside.

Which meant Tang Qi's [Friendship] had influenced his judgment, making him realize the urgency of the situation.

Tang Qi didn't care if this steward held a grudge afterward:

"Which direction?"

"The one furthest from the bonfire. He said he needed a quiet place for studying ancient texts."

"What about the fire gel?"

"In the box by the bonfire."

Tang Qi roughly oriented himself while using the keys to unlock Kuru's shackles:

"Kuru, I'll go get the fire gel.

You can't find your way in this fog, so don't think about running off. Hurry and fetch Black Snake's blade.

Then we'll leave this damned place together!"

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