Chapter 58
Chapter 58: Snow Wolf Mercenary Group
Looking at this little magician using the bottle to collect the venom from the zombie beast, Dardanelle and the other two Lister family members were shocked. This little magician collected this disgusting stuff as though he thought it was a treasure, and stored it properly.
Looking at the repulsive rotten meat, they all sighed and wondered if this unfathomable magician could do what others could not.
The gravely injured Sword Warrior and the guy who spit out blood would ride on Duwei’s sleigh and leave the forest. Duwei was tying the four malamutes to the sleigh. Since these dogs belonged to the old magician, Duwei just gave them away generously. In addition–because the path became increasingly arduous the deeper one went in the forest–they would have to walk, thus rendering them unable to use the sleigh.
However, before the two injured left, Duwei hesitated. Since both of them were injured, if they met any beasts on the way back, they would not be able to save themselves.
Duwei pondered this for a while; then, he gathered up the dragon poop powder that the old magician had spread on the floor the night before and used some paper to pack it well. While ignoring the strange looks from the injured, they applied the remaining powder on their body.
“This way, you won’t have to worry about being attacked by magical beats again on the way back.” Duwei said relaxingly: “You two have wounds and smell bloody, which I am afraid will indubitably attract the magic beasts.”
“What’s that stuff?” Dardanelle looked at the green powder. He made the same face as when Duwei asked the old magician about the powder.
“This…” Duwei smiled mischievously, “This is poop–Dragon’s poop.”
“Oh…” The three people were relaxed; not harboring any feeling of sickness or unease, they only felt shocked.
The sword warrior was, in fact, very happy and said, “Great idea! Haha, when we were in the northeast, we also spread Lion’s pee on the tent to repel the wolves on the grassland. Haha… but this is Dragon’s poop; a magician is really a magician! Can even get this precious thing…haha.”
It seemed like this guy thought that they had not received enough dragon’s poop; seemingly, these preferred wanted more of the substance.
After sending away the two injured, Duwei began packing the remaining things. The old magician’s items were too incredible; the bag he left contained many different kinds of magic medicine, even a small magic crystal. Duwei had a deep look: he could tell that these materials were used for setting up magic arrays. As a result, Duwei collected them all.
Dardanelle brought Duwei to their previous camp site. It was a disaster after being attacked by the zombie beast.
Dardanelle chose two arrow bags and carried them; then, he chose two swords from the dead bodies of his companions and did the same. Afterwards, he dug a hole and buried his companions.
They originally were an eight people group. Now only three remained.
There was a sleigh as well, but the malamutes had escaped during the attack last night. One was even bitten by the Zombie Beast. During the night, the body that remained had frozen.
The tent was messy, but Duwei and Dardanelle tried to find something useful in it. Finally, Duwei noticed the overturned sleigh.
The sleigh was broken already; in all likelihood, the zombie monster stepped on it last night.
Dardanelle was confused as he watched Duwei use a knife to cut the wooden boards from the sleigh. Immediately afterwards, Duwei cut some rope from the tent and tied two wooden boards to the soles of his boots.
“What’s that for?” Dardanelle asked, confused.
“These will help us to walk on the snow. You can try it. They are very useful.” Duwei said.
Dardanelle respected this unpredictable young magician very much. Although he didn’t understand what the boards were, he mimicked Duwei’s actions.
While on their way, he started to admire this young magician who could construct such useful paraphernalia.
As they went further into the forest, the accumulated snow became increasingly thick! When one stepped on it, the accumulated snow reach one’s knees. However, the width of the boards could resist the sinking force by spreading spreading the pressure over a larger area. So when people walked using the boards, their feet would not sink deeply into the snow.
Moreover, Duwei even taught Dardanelle how to ski on the snow using the boards!
Skiing was one of Duwei’s favorite sports in his previous life.
With the simple and rough “skis,” it was easier to walk.
“Right…Dardanelle, last night you said there were five people running. I saw that the person at the front ran away…Is he also a person from the Lister Family?” Duwei asked randomly on their way.
“Hum… the Lister Family doesn’t have such a coward.” Dardanelle disdained him and said,”That was a leather merchant from the Southern town. We gave him money to guide us in the forest. But that stupid jerk brought us and walked around in the forest for 3 days, but still could not find the thing we wanted. This time, after we return, I will kill him definitely!”
After a while, Dardanelle whispered, “We are different from the other adventurers. We are from the Lister Family and, thus, cannot force our way past the border patrol team. We cannot make any trouble for the Lister Family. So, using the relationship with that guy, we bribed off the officer of the patrol team to let us go inside. But now, it seems like that guy most likely pocketed the money.”
They kept on walking on the snow from early morning to afternoon. Even with the skis made by Duwei, under the freezing and windy climate and the snow, it was a harsh challenge for their physical strength and stamina.
Dardanelle was a warrior; he was much stronger than Duwei. But since he was hurt last night, and although the wound was cured by the magic medicine, the lost blood could not be replaced by magic. In other words, his body was inexorably weaker than before.
Duwei was very tired, too. Although he was stronger than before after doing the exercises that the old magician taught him, since he was only 13 years old, his body was not extremely strong. Without the skis, Duwei probably could not have made it.
If he knew flying magic, it would have been better. Duwei murmured a bit, but looking at the freezing wind, he sighed.
Even knowing flying magic, with his magic power, it was not sufficient for him to fly a long way under this level of wind.
They were heading to the north and went deeper into the forest. Dardanelle knew more about surviving in the wild than Duwei. From their conversation, Duwei surmised that Dardanelle was in a mercenary group when he was young. But he hadn’t come to the Frozen Forest before. When he was young, he had been the guard of a leather merchant in the Northeast Grassland.
He was used to living in the wild.
Since the title of Marquise Lister was not hereditary, she could not have her own territory and private soldiers. She could not even recruit private warriors and armed forces as other nobles did.
Therefore, the people being sent to the forest were the servants of Marquise. Dardanelle was the vice captain; the captain died last night while protecting his companions.
“We didn’t bring many people here as this place is too dangerous. People with normal skills would probably die or even become a burden.” Dardanelle’s nose was red because of the freezing climate. He stopped and rested for a while. In actuality, he was not tired: he just wanted this little magician to have some rest.
Through their conversation, Duwei construed that Dardanelle was a passionate and congenial individual, and he also treated Duwei with much respect. After he came to this world, he hadn’t made many friends. He quite liked this passionate warrior.
Dardanelle grabbed some snow and put it in his mouth. After letting his warmth melt the snow, he drank some water.
After quenching his thirst, Dardanelle looked at the sun in the sky and said, “Dear Magician…”
“Please use my name.” Duwei smiled, “No need to use honorifics, Dardanelle. There are only the two of us and we are traveling together now. Furthermore, I am younger than you.”
“Ok, Harry.” Dardanelle refreshingly smiled, “I guess the afternoon just passed. In this northern area, it gets dark sooner than other places. We better hurry up and go forward, and hope that we can find a place to sleep before dark. Also, if I may ask, do you still have any dragon poop remaining?”
“I may have enough left.” Duwei laughed.
“That’s great.” Dardanelle’s eyes had a flash of sadness and whispered, “It’s a pity… if we had met you one day earlier and you had that dragon’s poop, we wouldn’t have been attacked by that monster and the captain would not have died.”
“He will rest in peace, my dear Dardanelle.” Duwei comforted him, “We have to continue his mission. As long as we find the golden eye python, the dead’s sacrifices will not have been in vain.”
Dardanelle cheered up a bit and said, “Right! Harry, your words are reasonable… Magicians are talented and possess quite some knowledge, right? Let’s talk more about you. You are so young. To have become a magician at your age is very impressive! Let me know more about your background, are you from a great family? I ask because only rich families have the chance to meet magicians and learn magic.”
Duwei remained silent.
He was regretting that he’d lied at the very beginning. Being faced with this guy’s smile, Duwei felt sorry and just said few things, then moved to another topic.
In the evening, at sunset, they finally found a place that was in a lower area. In this location, one would not encounter any wind.
But when they left the forest, they found that this place was occupied by others already.
“Warning!!”
There was a whistling sound in the forest. Suddenly, two men dressed in white emerged from the top of trees. Duwei looked at them carefully. These two people were wearing white coats, and the people at the back were fully armed! Some of these men were wearing coats whereas others were wearing leather armor. They also had different weapons on hand. Some of them carried knives, some carried swords, and some even carried axes.
The people at the back were carrying bows and arrows, targeting Duwei and Dardanelle.
They were humans, not beasts. The watchmen relaxed a bit.
“Great, two humans. Seems we met some interesting fellows.” The person who seemed to be the captain came out and laughed, “Oh, it’s rare to see people who can get so far into the Frozen Forest!”
Dardanelle was holding his shank, alert to these people. Duwei smiled and shouted, “Who is the leader of your group?”
“I am.” The leader looked at Duwei with contempt, “Oh, it’s a kid…oh, I know, you two are looking for a place to sleep? I am sorry, this place is occupied by us. If you don’t mind, we can allow you to stay in the campsite next to us. But be careful, don’t intrude on our circle.”
“No no no…” Duwei shook his head, “encamping in the forest, we don’t want to be dinner for the magic monsters! Let us in please. Can we join you in your campsite? It’s only two of us, we won’t occupy much space… and you are a mercenary group catching magic beasts, right? Perhaps, we can help.”
These people looked around and suddenly laughed loudly. The leader looked at Duwei with contempt and said, “Kid, how can you help us? Are you going to wake up in the middle of the night and help us go urinate? Ha ha…go away! Since you are fellow adventurers in this Frozen Forest, I won’t make any difficulty for you as long as you don’t give me trouble.”
Duwei stepped forward, “No, I insist in my request.”
The leader got a bit angry, “Oh, do you want to make some trouble? Kid…”
Dardanelle pulled Duwei a bit and whispered, “I know the badge of these men, they are the ‘Snow Wolf Mercenary Group.’ They have many people here so we better not make any trouble.” Dardanelle looked at the badge of the leader and said, “We will move to a different place.”
Dardanelle had adventuring experience from when he was young. He knew the famous mercenary groups on the continent well, and he knew that he should stay away from this mercenary group in particular… because all of their members were Outlaws!
During their adventures, some of these people even fought against one another
It was common occurence!
Luckily Duwei and Dardanelle hadn’t brought many things along. These guys knew that Duwei and Dardanelle were not armed, so they didn’t pay much attention to them.
If Duwei and Dardanelle had brought many possessions…these mercenaries would most likely have wanted to kill them or rob them!
It’s not wise to have conflict with them. Although the little magician was quite powerful, these ten people were only the guards on the outer layer; there might even be over a hundred people in the campsite.
Just the two of them were not enough to fight against these mercenaries, so it was better to not make any trouble.
“Hey, Dardanelle, listen!.” Duwei was excited, he was so sure that the old magician was there nearby…
Duwei made an expression of pride deliberately and looked at the leader. He was wearing leather armor and had an outstanding weapon. However, he probably he had just a small role, “Oh, you are the Snow Wolf Mercenary group, right? You, should be the little leader, can you possibly represent the whole mercenary group?”
Duwei was right, this guy was only a little captain who was responsible for the alert nearby. He frowned, “Kid, what are you going to do? If you want to suffer a bit, I don’t mind to stretch my body a bit.”
Then he held his sword with a weird smile and walked towards Duwei.
However, after a few steps, he froze!
Duwei was still standing there with a smile. But he lifted his right arm with his palm facing up, and made a burning fireball!
The people in the mercenary group were not idiots! They looked at this smiling kid who easily made a fireball!
“Snow Wolf mercenary group, are you going to treat a magician in this way?” Duwei smiled with contempt, “Ok, I will remember that.”
After Duwei completed his words, he pulled Dardanelle, “Let’s go, my friend. Seems like these people are very strong and they don’t need a magician. In this dangerous place, they even don’t understand the rules of mutual help.”
Magician! This kid was a magician!
All the people were shocked including that leader. He looked at Duwei, not with contempt, but respect!
“Go away! A bunch of idiots!” There was a yell coming from the forest and there was a very tall and strong man coming out.
He was wearing rhino leather armor. His shoulders were exposed in such cold weather. His muscles explained everything. He also had on a white cap, and had a yellowish beard. He seemed very strong. He wasn’t carrying any weapons. But when he walked out, the patrol people moved back, “Commander!”
That commander stepped forward immediately and stared at the leader, “You are such a shame, my bro, move back.”
Then, the commander ignored his men and walked to Duwei and smiled, “Mr. Magician, my subordinates were so rude! I apologize for their rudeness!”
Duwei smiled, “You are?”
“This is the commander of the Snow Wolf Mercenary Group, Bein Heinrich!” A mercenary shouted. His voice was loud and contained a little bit pride.
Dardanelle’s eyes were blinking and he whispered, “This guy has a nickname – he’s called ‘Son of the Storm’. He is a famous person in the circle of mercenary groups in the north continent. He is one of the three heroes of the northern mercenaries. I’ve heard his name before.”
Bein Heinrich laughed a bit and said, “Son of the storm–this name was only given by others. Ok, the introduction is complete. Dear Magician, may I know your name?”
“Harry Potter.” Duwei answered. “I don’t have a magician gown or badge, but this is common in this area, I hope you can understand.” He looked at the eyes of the commander, Duwei said, “I and my companion don’t have any bad purpose, we have our things to do in this Frozen Forest. I believe, in this area, if there is a magician joining your mercenary group…maybe for a couple of days, it’s mutually beneficial, right?”
“The Snow Wolf Mercenary Group always welcomes the joining of a magician!” Bein Heinrich laughed, “I am always preoccupied whenever I come to this place. Those magic monsters are so annoying. If we have the help of a magician, our business will get substantially better!”
Bein Heinrich looked at Duwei and looked forward to his answer.
“I am willing to provide some help.” Duwei answered Bein Heinrich happily, “Mr. Commander, as you see, we only have two people. It’s better to have more companions in this area, right?”
“Please bring Mr. Magician to our campsite at the front, there are two nice wines in my tent.” Bein Heinrich laughed and led the way enthusiastically.
Dardanelle frowned and Duwei pulled him to the side and whispered, “Dardanelle, stop saying that! This is our first time coming to this Frozen Forest! We don’t know this place! But these guys are frequent visitors to this place! They understand the landscape and the environment in this place well! It’s better than searching aimlessly in this area by ourselves!”