Book 3: Chapter 30: Going To A Place That Shouldn't Be Gone To
After a night of rest, I continued bringing Aleya and slime “six fishballs” northwards.
It’s worth mentioning that Aleya’s swordsmanship has indeed improved. She currently still has no means of handling a demonic creature surpassing Level 6, so every time a monster of that level comes into my perception, I make an excuse that I need to use the bathroom, stealthily run over to clear it, and leave the demonic creatures near Aleya’s level for her.
But a problem immediately arises. Even though I can kill demonic creatures above Level 6, I’m unable to bring back their material. If I do and Aleya sees, she’ll most likely become suspicious. In introspection, I’m afraid that there’s one core issue.
I don’t want Aleya to know that I’m very strong.
On one hand, it’s because my power mainly comes from the experience I’ve accumulated in my past life as well as how exceptionally gifted this body is, so my power has nothing to do with hard work. What I’ve taught Aleya is that you have to work hard and fight harder if you want to become strong. If I let her know that her long years of working hard can’t even catch up to my lazy ***, then she’ll become very depressed.
On another hand, it’s only when I’m weak does Aleya have any value in being my bodyguard. Since she’s my bodyguard, the way she achieved self-worth is through protecting me. This being so, I would rather create risky situations and give her opportunities to protect me rather than showing off for no reason and taking complete charge.
It’s not always a good thing for one person to be powerful. While a sharp stab might make enemies shrink back, it can also reach the people by your side as well. The purpose of taking care of others is to let the person being looked after feel happy. This sometimes requires you to show a vulnerable side to let the person in care feel their usefulness.
Obviously, what I said above isn’t the main reason. The main reason was due to one word: laziness. If Aleya can protect me, then why the hell should I need to work hard. Is it ever bad when a day comes that food comes to your mouth by simply opening it or your clothes get put on just by simply stretching out your arms? Feel your conscience and speak; I feel that it’s amazingly good! It’s practically the ultimate goal that I’m trying hard to achieve.
After careful deliberation, I decided to let the slime follow me. Every time I was forced to stealthily kill Demons over Level 6, I would let the slime consume the corpse so that there’s no wastage.
After all, slimes can’t speak human words, so this secret will forever be buried within its stomach.
Approximately Level 5 demonic creatures, Aleya killed three more.
Level 6 Demons, I killed two, Level 7, I killed one.
After a while, we couldn’t attend to our personal hygiene. Bloodstains littered Aleya’s and my bodies. Demon blood would dry quickly after splashing onto our bodies, so we eventually stopped caring.
After approximately a week or so later, the three of us brushed away the thicket. Just as we were preparing to step into the woods, we suddenly heard the scream of a hysterical girl:
“Help!!”
Aleya’s spirit was roused and her hand was already on her sword’s hilt before I knew it. She didn’t move, however, instead turning her gaze to me and seeking my opinion.
I knit my brows, wondering why we would hear the sound of a human’s cry for help in this wild, mountainous area in Demon Race Territory. But after a quick check with my perception, I could sense that the power emanating from the directions of the sound wasn’t too strong. At most, it was a Level 3 or 4 Demon, not much of a threat to us. Therefore, I gave Aleya a nod and indicated that she should go save the person.
Aleya dug her feet into the ground, then took several steps to go deeper into the thicket.
By the time I and the slime on my shoulders arrived at the scene, a wolf-shaped Demon was already lying on the ground with several bloody holes on its body. It was dead-er than dead. Aleya didn’t sustain any injuries; she was quietly wiping the blood off her sword. She pays heavy attention to weapon maintenance. Even if bloodstains cover her body, her sword must be as clean as can be.
In contrast, there was a half-grown little girl sitting paralyzed on the ground.
She appeared 14 or 15 years-old with a flax-colored braided pigtail hanging behind her and held a small wicker basket in her hands. Inside the wicker basket were some herbal medicines, but they were sprinkled on the ground at this moment. Her looks could only be said to be ‘not bad’ and it appeared that she was some big family’s little servant girl. The clothes she wore were some plain cotton clothing and skirt that were already dirty and old at this time, and her face had several wounds from branches.
After seeing me, the little girl hastily scrambled backwards several steps and peeked at me timidly.
****, do I really look so scary.
Without waiting for me to say anything, the little girl asked timidly:
“My name is Tila. I am sister Thirteen’s maid, you guys are……?”
Thirteen……Fang Thirteen??
I was extremely shocked upon hearing this. Why did Fang Thirteen’s person sneak into our territory? Undercover? Mole? Ace spy? Holy ****, how did this happen, how come our army didn’t detect or something like that ahead of time? Moreover, this little girl clearly isn’t very strong. Could it be that she’s like me and trains in the kungfu of hiding strength?
But in that instant I thought of kungfu, I facepalmed and understood.
****, it’s not that other people have sneaked into our territory, it’s us who’s arrived in the Demon Race Territory west of the Overlord of Zhao Chen’s territory.
At the time, in order to detour the Demon Race army west of West-Resisting City, I brought Aleya and the slime with me on a journey northwest. Sometimes we would walk westwards, sometimes we would walk northwards, but I didn’t expect that after walking for so many days, we would walk into Zhao Chen. Moreover, I didn’t expect that we would casually rescue that blind and crippled Fang Thirteen’s maid. What kind of situation is this, sigh.
Upon seeing Aleya and I not speak, a look of utter fright appeared on Tila’s face and she hurriedly hugged the wicker basket close to her chest as she said:
“You guys……I, I’m really unable to give you life-saving money. You guys can take my life if you want, but these herbal medicines are ones that sister Thirteen urgently needs, you guys can’t have it!”