Chapter 6: Number, 6, … The Fourth One? – translated by Doza
The three of them walked for an entire day and only slowed their steps when it was close to evening. Cale was very surprised that Silvie hadn’t cried out in agony, as he felt that the latter seemed like a person who couldn’t bear hardships. If not, how could he have such fair skin from head to toe, and appear as if bells were jingling from his clothes when he walked? Basically, he did not appear like someone who would venture outdoors.
Carol’s appearance, on the other hand – trousers plus a cloak – is what makes up a normal traveler’s outfit, right?
However, the color of that cloak was dark red and simply not a color that a normal traveler would wear, as red was not a very effective color for blending in with the surroundings. In fact, it was pretty effective in making Carol stand out.
Carol walked to a large stone by the side and sat down, then took a roll of sheepskin out from a cloth bundle. She frowned as she looked at the map, then raised her head and yelled, “Silvie, come here.”
Silvie walked over, and Carol thrust the map at him, asking, “Where are we?”
Silvie looked at the map and even had to turn the map up, down, left and right before he finally found the correct orientation. Frowning, he said, “This map is very crude. What kind of map is this?”
Carol said flatly, “A map of the forest where the elves live. The herbs we need to pick are distributed very closely to the place where the elves live. We need to be careful to avoid them, so as to prevent angering the elves.”
“Aren’t you acquainted with the elves?”
Carol glared at Silvie. This fellow always used every possible excuse to hear about the relationship between her and the elves.
“Being acquainted doesn’t mean I want to get in contact with them, and the elves I’m familiar with do not live here. Now, have you understood the map yet or not?”
“I don’t understand it,” Silvie said honestly. “The map is too simple. Also, I’m not familiar with this area.”
At that moment, Cale moved up closer to them, took a few glances at the map, then used his finger to point at a spot, saying, “We’re here.”
Carol looked at the map and thought deeply for a moment.
“We should be able to see the herbs after another half day of walking tomorrow. Silvie, there is a river here. Take Cale over there to light a fire and set up the tents in advance. Leave OhmyG.o.d with me, and I’ll see if there is anything nearby that I can hunt to add to our food supply. Then, I’ll meet up with you guys again.”
“Also!” Carol spoke in a warning tone, “You better pay attention to the road. Even if you want to die, you shouldn’t drag others to die with you!”
Silvie immediately nodded frantically.
Carol grabbed OhmyG.o.d from Silvie’s head, roughly stuffed it into her cloak, then turned around and left.
Silvie and Cale stood motionless in their original positions, as if respectfully seeing off their immediate superior. Before the superior departs, how could the subordinates dare to turn around and leave first?
The two of them waited until Carol had disappeared into the middle of the thicket before they started to head towards their destination.
Without Carol and OhmyG.o.d, Silvie was at long last serious about truly paying attention to the road conditions. It was rare for Silvie not to open his mouth and talk incessantly. On the contrary, it was Cale who opened his mouth first to ask, “Why take OhmyG.o.d away?”
“Without OhmyG.o.d to lead the way, Carol will have to spend a long time finding the road.”
Cale cried out in astonishment, “That guy has no sense of direction?” How can this be? It would be more reasonable to say that Silvie has no sense of direction!
“Oh, I wouldn’t really consider it lacking a sense of direction, just not that good at finding the way! Carol always has to spend twice the amount of time before arriving at the destination.”
That means no sense of direction!
“Ahhhh!”
Cale helplessly watched as Silvie tripped again. Without OhmyG.o.d, he fell down quite hard this time and even lay on the ground groaning and panting when he could not get back on his feet.
After much difficulty, he crawled up and, with a single glance, the two of them saw that the culprit who had caused Silvie to fall down this time was…
“Eh?”
Carol walked back to the camp, still holding OhmyG.o.d in her hand. OhmyG.o.d’s body was wrapped around several spherical objects, bird eggs she intended to use as an additional dish.
With OhmyG.o.d’s help, Carol did not have to waste any effort to find the location of the camp. It always knew Silvie’s exact position, and though this was not particularly normal, Carol did not want to think too deeply about it.
In many aspects, OhmyG.o.d was indeed very useful. It could be used to find their bearings, it could turn into a rope, and it could even wrap things as a cloth. It was much more useful than Silvie and did not cause trouble! It was even very quiet!
If not for the fact that OhmyG.o.d would never leave Silvie, she should keep OhmyG.o.d and then throw Silvie away.
The moment she walked into the campsite, Carol noticed something wrong with both their expressions. Silvie’s expression was always easy to read. Every time he did something he wanted to hide, he would deliberately pretend to be busy and not look at her. Right now, he was looking down as he made soup and did not even call out a greeting when she entered the camp. He was obviously concealing something.
On the contrary, Cale’s worries were all over his face. He was not even hiding them.
Carol threw OhmyG.o.d, along with the bird eggs, to Silvie. As Silvie was not looking at her, there was a moment of fl.u.s.tered movement before he managed to catch them. However, he did not even utter a single word of complaint, and instead busied himself with taking the bird eggs out from OhmyG.o.d’s body.
As expected, he was hiding something from her. Carol pondered for a moment. Nevertheless, she would wait until mealtime to interrogate them. She walked towards the tent, intending to set down her luggage and cloak first. When she lifted up the tent flap…
“Silvester Uriah Nate!”
Silvie covered his ears tightly, as if doing so meant he could treat the bellowing as something that was not actually happening.
Carol furiously rushed over, growling, “What is that thing in the tent?!”
Nervous, Silvie replied, “I-I’m also not sure what his race is… He looks a lot like an elf?”
“I’m not asking about his race! Where did he come from?”
“We picked him up from the undergrowth!” Carol’s furious expression was so terrifying that Silvie was close to tears. He hurriedly hung his head and pretended to be remorseful as he said, “He had fainted in the undergrowth, and I tripped over his leg and fell down. It was so painful…”
Carol angrily roared, “Who cares if you fall down ten times a day! Who allowed you to bring him back here? Is an OhmyG.o.d and a Cale still not enough?”
So it turns out that I’m on the same level as OhmyG.o.d? Cale silently thought.
Deeply afraid that Carol would throw out the elf-like person, Silvie anxiously said, “But he’s hurt! How could I have ignored his plight and left him?”
Carol really wanted to blurt out the words “Go throw him away,” but then she thought about the relationship between her and the elves. She truly could not allow Silvie to throw him away. She immediately suffered an incessant headache.
Shouldn’t these sorts of creatures, like elves, be hiding deep in the forest, so that even if you searched you could not find them? How could Silvie have picked one up simply by falling down?
“Carol, is h-he really an elf?” Silvie asked cautiously.
“No.” Carol carefully recalled the shape of that person’s ears and decided, “He should be a half-elf.”
“A half-elf?” Cale exclaimed, “Are you saying that he has mixed blood and is born from a human and an elf? Do those sorts of people with mixed blood truly exist?”
“Yes, but very few, even fewer than pure elves.”
Carol walked back to the tent, lifted up the tent flap, and looked at the delicate and pretty half-elf lying inside. His green hair was shoulder-length, and his body was slim and slender. Based on her estimation, he should not be too old… in terms of an elf’s lifespan. Elves below a hundred years were all considered children. Half elves within sixty to seventy years old would also be considered children.
This made her even more puzzled. Although elves are unwilling to come into contact with other races, they should accept half elves. Why is this young half-elf running around any old how in the wilderness by himself?
Carol walked back to the side of the campfire, sat down, and said, “Silvie, cook a separate pot of stew with egg, bread, and cheese. Elves don’t like the stench of meat.”
Silvie blinked, then happily said, “Oh, oh! Alright!”
As long as Carol did not throw away the half elf, he would not mind even if he had to cook ten different pots of soup!