IRM Chapter 108.2

The lively atmosphere here formed a stark contrast with the cold corner of the tavern. Finally, a monk in the Church group couldn’t stand it anymore. He smashed the plate on the table to the ground and demanded, “Didn’t you say there wasn’t enough food? Then what’s this situation!”

He kicked the dry vegetable pie on the ground out with one foot, while pointing at the delicious, aromatic stew on Ji Chi’s table.

The mercenaries’ attention was drawn over. At a glance, they saw the pie with footprints on the ground, and their expressions immediately darkened!

The Northern lands didn’t lack mineral resources or gold coins. For people living on the snowy plains, the most precious items were nothing more than food and fuel. They had been taught from a young age to never waste any food, and they also couldn’t stand watching others waste it.

Several hot-tempered mercenaries had already rolled up their sleeves, wanting to go teach them a lesson, but were immediately stopped by the man serving drinks. “Don’t be impulsive! Don’t cause trouble for Fourth Sister!”

He glared at the mercenaries warningly and walked to the monk, explaining in a good-natured way. “Snow vegetables aren’t abundant. People here prefer eating meat. What we prepared for you is already the only remaining ingredients.”

The monks, who had already been snubbed everywhere in the camp, became even more relentless. “Then that’s still your fault! Make me a new one. Look at this—is this something people can eat?”

He stretched out his foot and ground it hard on the dusty pie. A puddle of white, green, and yellow mixture immediately appeared on the ground.

The man’s eye twitched, and a tuft of gray wolf fur bristled at the back of his neck—a sign he was about to get angry.

The monk kept blabbering. “Heretics are just rude and barbaric! If you don’t accept the baptism of the God of Light, you’ll all go to hell—”

Before he could finish, there was a whoosh, and a dense, stinging pain spread across his cheek.

The monk froze, raised his hand to touch his face, and immediately felt it covered in fresh blood. He looked back in shock to find a black feather trembling on the wooden wall behind him.

A cold female voice rang out from the doorway. “How is it that I didn’t know your temper had become so good?”

The wolf fur at the back of the man’s neck immediately retracted, and his tone returned to calm.  “Wasn’t I just worried about causing you trouble?”

Ji Chi blinked and looked toward the voice. It was a woman dressed entirely in black. Her black hair was covered by a windproof hood, and when her neck turned, a strand would inadvertently fall—careful observation would reveal that strand looked like a long, slender feather.

“Fourth Seat mercenary, Black Crow…” A monk whispered in alarm and couldn’t help shrinking into the corner. “Why is she here!”

Black Crow glanced at them coolly, bringing the scent of wind and snow as she walked toward the corner.

“What are you going to do? We’re people of the Church of Light!” A monk shouted in harsh tones but with inner cowardice.

Black Crow’s right hand moved, and a small iron bow dropped from her sleeve. She lightly pulled the bowstring, using feathers as arrows. With several whooshes, she pinned the outspoken monks to the wall behind them.

Her steps didn’t stop as she walked step by step to the monk who had trampled the pie.

Black Crow grabbed the monk who was too frightened to speak with one hand. Her deep black pupils stared at him coldly, then she flung him to the ground—right in front of that mess of trampled pie—and raised her foot to step on his head.

“Eat it clean,” Black Crow said coldly. “If there are any remains on the ground after ten seconds, I’ll throw you all out of the camp.”

The faces of all the monks present changed. Being thrown out of the camp in a blizzard—the outcome was only death.

The monk on the ground flew into a rage, struggling and thrashing about, his neck stiff as he protested. “I absolutely won’t eat it! How is this something people can eat?”

Black Crow tilted her head. “Throw one out.”

A mercenary chuckled and stepped forward, grabbing a monk by the collar, restraining his hands from reaching for his wand, and dragged him toward the door.

The monk kicked his legs and shouted, “No! No! Don’t drag me out! Hurry up and eat! Do you want to get everyone killed?”

The other monks also began urging him with ugly expressions, their eyes containing both resentment and pleading.

“Ten, nine…” Black Crow began counting.

“I… I’ll eat!” Under the threats and complaints, the monk had no choice but to make a decision. His eyes turned red as he stared at the disgusting pile of pie on the ground. He squeezed his eyes shut hard and humiliatingly leaned down…

Black Crow watched coldly as he finished eating, finally removing her foot. Before leaving, she left one sentence. “If you dare vomit it out, the result will be the same.”

After teaching the monks a lesson, she walked near Ji Chi and sat at a square table not far away. “Give me a mug of ale.”

“Fourth Sister, drink this honey wine instead. That little brother over there treated us to it!” A man fawned forward, holding up a cup of untouched wine.

Black Crow didn’t like sweet things. She waved her hand with considerable distaste, but her expression softened somewhat as she nodded slightly at Ji Chi.

Her eyes were like a bird’s—the black pupils occupied most of the eye sockets, making it difficult to tell where her focus was.

Ji Chi saw her staring continuously in his direction and looked down at himself in confusion, thinking his clothes had gotten stained.

Soon, a black shadow flashed past rapidly. The girl who had just been several steps away was instantly sitting beside Ji Chi, staring unblinkingly at the white, fluffy bundle in the pot.

Oh, she was looking at that stupid rabbit.

The stupid rabbit had actually managed to finish the whole pot. Its already round body had become even rounder, lying on its back in a spread-eagle position at the bottom of the now-empty pot, its gaze blank and staring.

The rabbit took quite a while to recover before turning its eyes, immediately meeting Black Crow’s gaze.

Sila’s face turned red. It quickly flipped over, covering its belly—he was a gentleman rabbit, after all. How could he be discourteous to a lady?

With the fluffy white belly gone, Black Crow concealed her regretful expression. She glanced at the monks whispering together, then turned to Ji Chi and said, “The Church holds grudges. Since you didn’t help them today, they’ll definitely find a reason to arrest you for ‘purification.’ However, this time you were implicated by us, so the mercenary group will take responsibility.”

She handed Ji Chi a black crow feather. “When you encounter difficulties, you can take this to the group to seek help. We’ll solve one problem for you free of charge.”

Ji Chi didn’t think he would need to use it, but he still thanked her and accepted it.

The blizzard continued blowing until evening before gradually subsiding. The Church monks didn’t wait for the wind and snow to completely calm down before hurriedly leaving the camp, as if wolves were chasing them.

Ji Chi didn’t want to travel the same route as them, so he rested at the camp for the night and didn’t bid farewell until the next morning.

Sila looked back at the tavern repeatedly with eyes full of reluctance. In the coming days, it would have to keep company with dried meat again.

Ji Chi retrieved his little deer and sled. Little Deer had rested for a night and was energetic and spirited again. The sled had been fitted with a layer of sturdy metal by the goat old man. The appearance didn’t actually seem to change much, but Ji Chi knew it had changed quite a bit.

Before leaving, many mercenaries ran out to see him off. The beastmen’s friendship was simple and direct—eating and drinking together made them good brothers!

Before getting on the sled, Ji Chi hesitated, then looked up at the crow perched on the camp gate, curving his lips to say, “Please pass a message to Tang for me: the group is excellent, and the mascot will protect you all.”

The crow was stunned, watching Ji Chi’s departing back for a long time without being able to react.

“Fourth Sister! Isn’t it cold up there? Come down and eat something!” Someone in the camp called to her.

Black Crow came back to her senses. After thinking for a moment with her head lowered, she flapped her wings and flew toward the sky. “I have something to do. I’m leaving first.”

“Where are you going—”

“To headquarters, to find that stupid panther.”

On the sled, Sila bounced around excitedly, stepping here and there, but found no changes. Disappointed, it curled into a ball. “Fifty gold coins was still a loss…”

Ji Chi laughed leisurely. “I think it was quite worth it.”

Sila bounced onto his leg, its bright rabbit eyes full of curiosity. “Tell me quickly!”

Ji Chi closed his eyes, pretending he was going to rest.

The rabbit got angry and bit his sleeve, leaving two tiny tooth marks, muttering, “What kind of person are you? Is it fun to hide things from a one-year-old baby?”

Ji Chi curved his lips but said nothing.

The weather after the blizzard was exceptionally clear. The sky was a washed-clean azure blue. The sun shone on the snowy ground, illuminating the surrounding scenery brightly.

Sila boredly chased its own short tail in circles. Suddenly hearing faint human voices, it quickly jumped to the side of the sled and poked its head out.

At some point, more and more traces of activity had appeared around them. Every so often, a sled would whoosh past Little Deer. The originally smooth ground also showed crisscrossing wheel tracks.

The rabbit looked forward in surprise. A majestic and magnificent city appeared there. The uneven city walls were covered with traces of wind and frost. Several dignified, rough beastmen stood guard under the city gates, wearing silver-blue armor with badges on their chests engraved with a gleaming Guardian Sword.

“Snow Plains Expeditionary Army…” The rabbit murmured in disbelief. “We’ve arrived at the Fortress City?”

“That’s impossible!” The rabbit shrieked. “We should still need at least five days to get here. Could it be…”

Sila stared at the sled under its feet, as if trying to stare a flower into existence.

Ji Chi smiled. “Congratulations, you found the twenty gold coins.”

The rabbit’s mouth fell open. “It’s really because of the sled? What else! What else changed?”

Ji Chi: “Ah, get off quickly. We need to be inspected.”

The rabbit was furious. “Ahhh, Ji Chi! You hateful human!”

One person and one rabbit weren’t carrying cargo. The Expeditionary Army sniffed them, observed them carefully, and let them enter the city readily.

The Northern Fortress City couldn’t compare with the exquisite Saint Trilley Royal City. The feeling it gave was more one of desolation and grandeur. Every rock in the buildings hadn’t been carved, and the rough, jagged surfaces told of ancient history.

This place was only a day’s journey from the fortress. Fast magical beasts or beastmen could reach it in half a day.

“Make way! Quickly make way! The General’s army is arriving!” Someone shouted at the street entrance.

Sleds on the street hurriedly moved aside. The magical beasts paced uneasily, as if smelling the scent of blood and slaughter.

Following everyone else, Ji Chi had Little Deer stop by the roadside. He turned sideways, like everyone else, focusing his gaze on the end of the long street.

“The General! It’s General Silvia! Is she here to select new recruits?”

“You’re thinking too much. New recruit selection isn’t in this season.”

“Oh, alright… but that’s strange. The General usually stays at the fortress year-round. Why did she suddenly return to the city?”

“Hey, now that you mention it, I remember! The General suddenly returned to the city before too. At that time, she… seemed to be welcoming someone? Ah, never mind. Quick, look! She’s here!”

First, a snow-white steed appeared from around the corner. Ji Chi’s eyes widened in shock—

The magical beasts he had seen on the Demon Sword Continent all differed from those on Earth, but this steed was exactly the appearance he was familiar with. Even someone like him who knew nothing about horses could tell it was exceptionally beautiful.

As the white horse drew near, the clanging of footsteps became clearer. A hundred-person army marched in neat, orderly formation, their expressions solemn, carrying an unstoppable momentum.

The figure on the white horse also became clearer. General Silvia’s face was stern, her gaze resolute. The red cloak fluttering behind her carried the scent of gunpowder smoke and war.

Her expression unchanged, she accepted the people’s love and praise. The silver armor on her body glowed with a shallow red light, like indelible, scalding blood.

Ji Chi glanced at her once, then withdrew his gaze, silently looking at his own shoulder.

On his shoulder stood a white rabbit so excited it was trembling, pressing against his neck and shaking, its mouth nervously gnawing on its paws.

“What’s wrong with you, being so frightened?”

Sila glared hard at him. “What do you know! That’s a General! General Silvia! My goddess! I’ve finally seen her, wuwuwu—”

As the rabbit cried with excitement, Silvia had already arrived at the city gate, waiting in place. She gazed at a luxurious enclosed sled slowly approaching and unceremoniously rolled a huge eye roll.

The rabbit: “Wuwuwu—she rolled her eyes! So amazing!”

Ji Chi: “…That’s enough.”

The luxurious sled stopped in front of Silvia’s white horse. A hand wearing snow-white gloves elegantly pushed open the carriage door. Ji Chi’s eyelid twitched—this scene felt extraordinarily familiar.

A graceful figure stepped down from the carriage, carrying an air of refinement and luxury. The Countess wore a snow-white, flawless fox fur coat and curved her lips at Silvia. “Not greeting someone is very impolite, you know~”

Silvia pursed her lips, dismounting handsomely with clear reluctance. “Sister.”

The Countess smiled with narrowed eyes. “Good~”

Ji Chi: “???”