IRM Chapter 109

The moment Ji Chi saw the Countess, his brain nearly exploded. He truly found it difficult to imagine what connection the extravagant and pampered noble lady of Saint Trilley’s royal capital could possibly have with this vast and harsh snowy frontier!

Especially with that profile so similar to Brandon’s—it inevitably made him think of the young master’s delicate and pampered appearance.

The rabbit hadn’t noticed Ji Chi’s abnormality and was still hopping around madly beside him. “Wuwuwu—she pursed her lips! She dismounted! She’s so amazing!”

Ji Chi simply couldn’t stand it anymore. He dangerously glanced at the box on the sled, considering whether or not to stuff it inside.

Silvia had long since become immune to people’s gossip. Right now she needed to steel her nerves to face her own older sister. Sure enough, the moment the Countess saw her, she unceremoniously looked her up and down from head to toe and asked, “Are the items I left for you enough?”

Silvia’s expression stiffened. She nodded with a stern face. “They’re enough.”

The Countess looked at her with a half-smile and raised her hand to gently rub her frizzy hair ends. “You haven’t used any of them, have you? I only left you a few days’ worth. You should have answered that you’d used them up long ago.”

Silvia: “……” Tsk, a miscalculation.

The invincible, imposing female general felt somewhat embarrassed, but her presence remained. She coldly avoided her sister’s affection and waved her hand behind her.

“Thud thud!” More than a hundred soldiers behind her simultaneously stepped to both sides, clearing a path in the center of the formation wide enough for two people to pass through. The crisp sound of hoofbeats came clip-clopping, and an equally vigorous and handsome black horse trotted lightly to the Countess’s side, lowering its head to nuzzle her and neighing softly in an affectionate manner.

The Countess stroked its smooth and lustrous mane, her upturned lips never falling. “All right, all right, I missed you too.”

After speaking, she lightly pulled the reins and sat on the horse’s back with practiced ease.

Silvia looked up at her sister, pressed her dry lips together tightly, and reached out to remove the other sword hanging at her waist and hand it to her.

It was a broadsword with a black scabbard. She wore it along with her own silver sword, carrying them both day and night, which led many soldiers to believe she used a two-handed sword.

However, these two swords were indeed a paired set of two-handed swords, and Silvia carried it while waiting for her right hand to return.

The Countess took the sword and likewise stroked it with nostalgia. “Seven years apart again, and you’ve taken such good care of them both.”

Silvia lifted her chin and snorted lightly. Seven years—it really was too long… Just as she was thinking this, she suddenly felt warmth on top of her head. The Countess leaned over and ruffled her hair. “What about our little Silvia? Have you taken good care of yourself too?”

Silvia’s eyes instantly reddened. She hurriedly turned her head away, raised her long legs and mounted the white horse, saying stiffly, “Let’s go.”

One black and one white—two fine horses walked side by side on the street, the two figures on their backs intimately close to each other, as if about to merge into one.

A merchant beside Ji Chi suddenly let out an “Ah!”. “Oh! I remember now—there’s always been a legend in the frontier town that every seven years during the Tidal Moon, the beast god’s soul within General Silvia will manifest physically to fight alongside the general, repelling beasts and protecting the fortress… Could it be that lady—”

“No no no! The general is the most amazing one! Don’t talk nonsense!” The rabbit jumped onto his face and shrieked.

Ji Chi swiftly pulled it down and, without giving it a say, stuffed it into the box.

But this small commotion still attracted the Countess’s attention. She turned her eyes slightly and immediately spotted the vivid red that stood out incongruously against the snowy plains.

When she made out that person’s features clearly, the Countess’s eyes widened, revealing a trace of surprise.

“In recent years, more and more frenzied beasts have been breaking into the fortress. Even the usual numbers are quite alarming. I’m worried that this year’s Tidal Moon—what are you looking at?” Silvia frowned in dissatisfaction and called the Countess’s attention back.

The Countess turned back to look at her. “I understand. I had this premonition during the last Tidal Moon. But don’t worry—we will definitely protect Nors, won’t we?”

Silvia: “Of course. Just think about whose bloodline flows through us… No, wait, who have you been looking at? That red-clothed adventurer? How stupid to come to the snowy plains in this season?”

The Countess covered her lips and smiled. “He’s not stupid. His power… Forget it, wait for me a moment. I’m going to say a few words to him.”

After seven years, Silvia had finally gotten to see her, and though her face wore an indifferent expression, her body very honestly followed along step by step.

At this moment, the snow-white bundle of rabbit was still struggling desperately in Ji Chi’s palm, gnawing at his palm with teeth the size of rice grains.

“Let me out! Ji Chi! I’m going to get angry! Do you know I spent half my life, made half a lifetime of preparations, just to see her once? How can you treat me like this!”

Ji Chi gave a scornful, mocking expression. Only one year old in total—why talk so tragically?

“Ji Chi, what are you doing here? If he’d known your destination was Nors, Brandon might have hung around my neck to follow along.” The Countess rode forward somewhat amusedly to ask Ji Chi.

Ji Chi looked up, smiled, and greeted her politely. “I apologize. This journey of mine is somewhat dangerous, so I didn’t tell him.”

The Countess nodded. “You did the right thing. With his neither-here-nor-there swordsmanship, following along would indeed bring you quite a lot of danger.”

Ji Chi gave a dry laugh. Truly his real mother—criticizing her son without hesitation.

“Would it be convenient to say where you want to go? I won’t interfere with your itinerary, but it’s not very safe these past few days. Following the army will reduce a lot of trouble.” The Countess looked at him warmly.

Ji Chi thought for a moment and accepted her kindness. “Then I’ll trouble you, Madam. I’m also going to the fortress this time.”

The Countess frowned slightly. “Is it something very important? I’m not trying to stop you, but going to the fortress right now isn’t a good idea.”

In a flash, Ji Chi changed his mind. He raised his eyes and looked deeply at her. “Madam, can I trust you?”

The Countess was startled. “You can. Go ahead.”

Ji Chi said softly, “I’ve come to end all of this. Including the frenzied beast tide of the Tidal Moon, including the traitorous Northland Wolf King, and also including… the Beast God who died at the fortress.”

The Countess’s pupils trembled. Sharp, vigilant eyes stabbed straight at Ji Chi’s eyes. “Who exactly are you? Why would you know…”

Ji Chi thought of the final main storyline quest. The quest’s timeline should be set several years in the future. At that time, the Northern Kingdom would be filled with gunsmoke and devastation everywhere, with countless beastmen warriors flooding to the fortress, using their flesh and blood to block the frenzied beasts from trampling the land.

Those frenzied beasts would endlessly cross the fortress, destroying houses, attacking civilians—cruel slaughter with no end in sight.

And the player would play a hero saving the Northern Kingdom from peril. Their task was to kill the Northland Wolf King who commanded the beast horde.

By that time, the Wolf King, having long since killed the Beast God, would have finally devoured the deity’s corpse completely. With just a period of absorption, it could obtain supreme power.

The player needed to kill the Wolf King before it absorbed the power, rescuing the entire snowy plains from the beasts’ fangs and obtaining a God-Slaying Sword the Wolf King had used.

When doing the quest, Ji Chi hadn’t thought much about it. At the time, he’d already gotten quite fed up with going through the storylines and skipped many scenes when he could. His purpose had been very direct—he’d gone for the only legendary equipment from the main storyline, the quest item [God-Slaying Sword].

And now, his main purpose was still to obtain that sword, and incidentally save the Wolf King who might very well be innocent, and also incidentally save a large number of living lives in the Northern Kingdom.

Because they were no longer NPCs who tragically died in background summaries, but hearty brothers who had drunk and eaten meat with him.

Thinking of this, Ji Chi’s pitch-black eyes grew deep and dim. He gently shook his head. “I apologize. Right now I have no way to explain clearly to you, but please believe I have no ill intent. I just… want everything to end.”

Ji Chi suddenly felt somewhat weary. This was actually only his second playthrough, and he already felt mentally exhausted. But for deities like Harvey and the Demon King, under the control of the false god, they had walked through repeated cycles of rage and despair, unable to break free or resist—what a terrifying thing that was.

The Countess seemed to sense something. She fell silent for a while, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “All right. I believe you. I trust the intuition of beastmen even more. I will do my best to help you.”

Ji Chi smiled. “Thank you.”

Silvia hadn’t heard their entire conversation. She looked at her sister inquiringly. The Countess also returned her gaze, indicating they would talk about it later.

Silvia also understood now wasn’t a good time and didn’t press further. She said to Ji Chi, “Then just follow behind us. Don’t get separated, and if you discover any beast tracks, tell me immediately.”

Ji Chi was very satisfied with this unexpected outcome. If he had the Expeditionary Army’s help, things would indeed go much more smoothly for him.

He released his hand to pull the reins on Little Deer’s body and momentarily forgot there was still a rabbit in his hand. The rabbit, freed from restraint, finally saw the light of day again and hurriedly hopped onto the side of the cart, immediately coming face to face with Silvia who hadn’t had time to leave yet.

“Hic—” The rabbit’s heart stopped. It directly fainted from shock.

Silvia caught it with quick reflexes, frowned, cupped it and brought it to her ear to listen for breathing, her face showing an uneasy expression. “Did I scare it? I didn’t know there was a rabbit here, otherwise I wouldn’t have come over.”

Silvia’s true form was a snow wolf. She usually paid careful attention to avoid some beastmen with delicate spirits, but today her attention had all been on her sister. She’d inevitably overlooked other presences and thought the rabbit had been scared unconscious by her. She felt quite remorseful at this moment.

“No, it’s absolutely not like that. It’s just too happy.” When being serious, Ji Chi wouldn’t sabotage his teammates. “It spent most of its life planning to come to the fortress to see you once. If possible, please spend some time with it.”

Silvia was struck by the weight of “most of its life”. “I don’t mind though…”

Ji Chi quickly kicked the white rabbit ball over to her. “Then thank you very much!”

Silvia touched the soft, vulnerable little life in her palm, finding it rather novel. Many people claimed to adore her, but it was more respect and awe. They would absolutely never run into her palm to lie there so vulnerably.

This experience was her first time encountering such a thing.

Silvia cleared her throat lightly and carefully held the small bundle of rabbit stiffly, commanding the army, “Move out!”

Ji Chi smiled cunningly and controlled Little Deer to follow the army.

The Countess also looked at them with amusement, but soon she put away her smile and replaced it with a worried expression, gazing at their backs.

She and Silvia were descendants of snow fox and snow wolf. They were born one after the other, and compared to most twins, they were even closer and more easily able to sense each other’s true feelings.

As a fierce and battle-loving wolf, Silvia rarely thought about future troubles, so her current unease was actually influenced by the Countess.

When Silvia couldn’t see her, the Countess shed her relaxed and composed disguise, knitted her brows in thought, and looked deeply in the direction of the fortress.