novelraw Chapter 152: Weir Province
Chapter 152: Weir Province
When Li Wei's group finally pushed their wheelbarrows and continued on their journey, it was already the seventh day of this month; almost a quarter of the month had passed.
Although Clyde, Liu Zhongyuan, Collas, and the others wouldn't raise objections and didn't care whether they successfully purchased materials or not, at this time they all felt that Li Wei was truly too dilatory. Occasional prudence was fine, but excessive prudence was an illness that needed to be treated!
"Ahead is the King's Highway leading from Kakh City to Weir Province. This was named in the name of the King, so the Lords of the various provinces in principle cannot set up checkpoints and collect taxes on this road. But this is actually also a golden road for robbers."
"So you must absolutely rouse your spirits (stay alert). Otherwise, not knowing when, a single feathered arrow could take your little lives."
"Along the way, no loud clamoring is allowed, no horseplay is allowed. Conserve Stamina. I will walk in front and scout to see if there are any ambushers."
Before entering the main road, Li Wei specially enjoined repeatedly.
He could also tell that the group had dawdled for almost seven days on a journey of less than two hundred li. Throughout this journey, apart from hearing the howling of wolf packs in the mountains, they couldn't even see the shadow of a robber, so they had all become a little dismissive.
This wouldn't do; they had to be strictly warned!
Sometimes, many things are lost in the details.
"Understood, My Lord!"Clyde replied solemnly, and the four Mercenaries also answered loudly. Then they watched as Li Wei, like a nimble leopard, vanished into the forest ahead.
At this moment, even Liu Zhongyuan and Collas—two Three-Star Mercenaries with Level 1 Awakenings in all attributes—had to utter a word of praise. Just this nimbleness, like a leaping hare or a swooping magpie, was indeed not something ordinary people could achieve.
Casually tossing out a One-Star Conspiracy Card, Liu Zhongyuan chuckled in a low voice toward Clyde: "Hey, brother, has your boss already achieved Level 1 Awakening in all four attributes?"
"Why shouldn't it be a Level 1 Awakening in all attributes? I think George is very strong. Master Liu, in how many bouts do you think you could take him down? Ten seconds or five seconds!" Pang Wu interjected, very gossipy.
"You shut the hell up!" Liu Zhongyuan turned his head and glared! He reprimanded in a low voice. Although he indeed felt joyous at seeing a worthy opponent and had the intention to compete with Li Wei, were these words something that could be spoken aloud?
"Everyone say less. Pay attention to our surroundings! Especially the sky." Clyde frowned; he truly didn't want to chat with these four Mercenaries.
These days, whenever Li Wei went out on his own to wander (or take risks), these four Mercenaries would immediately start their chatting mode. A One-Star Conspiracy Card costing 300 points of experience was truly treated just like their chat software.
"Forget it, Clyde. Are there robbers nearby or not, aren't you clearer on that than us? On the first day we could still say heighten vigilance, but this is already the seventh day. We Swaggered ostentatiously, digging soil, chopping trees, and building houses on the mountain—how huge was the commotion? Do you really think those robbers and bandits are all stupid c*nts!"
"What's more, your boss is an outstanding scout himself. Do you think him drilling into mountain ravines when he has nothing to do these past few days was to find a female goblin to vent his lust? F*ck, he was clearly searching for bandit lairs—discovering them secretly, and then leading us to charge in and kill them. We Mercenary players are more familiar with this routine than you Lord players."
Collas whistled quietly. When speaking, he also deliberately lowered his voice, just winking and making faces, being highly comical.
Clyde no longer wanted to speak. He shut his mouth; communication was simply impossible.
These few Mercenaries actually thought they came out to find robber lairs. Although he also felt Li Wei's advancement method was overly rigid, belittling it like this certainly had no meaning.
Seeing that Clyde wasn't cooperating, Liu Zhongyuan instead began whispering with Collas. As Mercenary players, combat was instinctual. They didn't have as many requirements as Lord players. Upon seeing a powerful target, feeling joyful at encountering a worthy opponent, if they didn't think about how to defeat him or delve into combat techniques, were they supposed to chatter about women instead?
Moreover, we don't need to scheme against each other, engage in mutual deception, or hypocritically play roles.
Combat is everything for a Mercenary player; this point will never be wrong!
"Agility definitely possesses a Level 1 Awakening, including Stamina and Life. I won't be wrong; this kid runs with particular vigor," Liu Zhongyuan analyzed.
"Right, you noticed it too? I feel this is an area we need to study. Although you and I have both ground our Agility attributes to Level 1 Awakening and can also run very fast, we just don't have that feeling of vigor," Collas said with a frown. Beside them, Clyde, Charles, and Pang Wu all pricked up their ears to listen; these were words of experience.
"Yes, this is also where I remain perplexed despite a hundred bouts of thought. If it were on a flat running track, I feel I could run faster than him. But in this mountain forest, I bet I would be shaken off in less than 30 seconds. It just feels like he grew two extra eyes on the soles of his feet."
Liu Zhongyuan's description was very apt, making both Pang Wu and Charles unable to hold back from laughing out loud. Clyde also wanted to laugh but couldn't. He glanced at Liu Zhongyuan and Collas, who were still analyzing, and thought to himself: I wonder if you guys could survive a head-on strike from that Bloodthirsty Spear?
The short-range burst damage of this little brother George could only be described as terrifying.
Can that Three-Star white board tower shield of yours without traits withstand it?
He and Leon had actually reviewed that day's battle at the Quarry. The conclusion they drew was that if it were them, they absolutely wouldn't have survived.
Under dynamic conditions where both friend and foe were initiating a charge with extremely fast speed, to still be able to compress one's throwing accuracy down to one centimeter—what kind of concept was this?
The iron bucket grand helm of that Three-Star fallen Garrison Knight was specially made, and its Quality was even Three-Star with traits. The area in front of both eyes wasn't a single slit, but a row of minuscule grilles only one centimeter wide. If it had deviated even slightly, it would have been deflected off.
Moreover, whether it was an illusion or not, Clyde felt Li Wei's speed and flexibility these past few days were superior to a month ago.
——
Li Wei didn't know about the crowd's idle chatter. He was leading them by a full few hundred meters; how could he possibly hear it?
Furthermore, he was truly closely paying attention to the surrounding trees and grass. Every piece of terrain had to be inspected carefully. For others, taking even one extra glance might be considered excellent.
But he definitely had to inspect carefully.
Aside from relating to that kind of observation experience, it was also because others could afford to lose, but he alone could not.
Hathaway, Ron, and Old John were undoubtedly three terrifying competitors. The suppression they imposed on him bordered on a dimensionality reduction strike.
He had no better methods. He could only use the simplest, yet also most difficult method: which was to ensure he was sufficiently meticulous, and absolutely never made a mistake!
As a result, this journey was quite quiet; there wasn't even a hair of a robber.
Walking forward along the main road like this for about over thirty li, the way ahead suddenly opened up, appearing as though they were about to walk out of this mountainous area. Is Weir Province ahead?
Li Wei smiled silently, not feeling that he had done useless work on this journey. Finding a large tree situated on high terrain, he leaned his back against the trunk, closed his eyes, and began to recall the alignment of the mountain ranges and peaks he had remembered and observed from the southern peaks a few months ago. Subsequently, he supplemented it with the terrain contours he saw when he went to the eastern mountain ranges last autumn.
Finally, adding the landscape and landforms of this time.
By piecing it all together like a jigsaw puzzle, a relatively three-dimensional topographical map could be formed in his mind.
Mm, this sounded a bit cool and dazzling, but in reality, it was built on the premise that Li Wei had walked past and surveyed too much.
It was just like an ordinary person casually being able to simulate the environment around their own home with their eyes closed.
Is this person a genius?
Only because of familiarity!
At this time, Li Wei compared the distances of his two trips to Kakh City as reference alongside the travel distance of this time, roughly allowing him to deduce some results.
For instance, using his current position as the starting point, about one hundred and twenty to thirty li South should be the location where the black-robed Witch ambushed the prison carts that day. This number might be more or might be less.
And the distance to Kakh City should be around one hundred and fifty to one hundred and eighty li; perhaps even two hundred li.
As for the family Camp, it should be toward the southeast. The straight-line distance from here should be between eighty and one hundred li, but if walking, it would require at least 150 li.
If his expectation was not wrong, this mountainous region was the intersection between Weir Province and Kakh City. As for which province Kakh City belonged to, that remained uncertain at present.
While pondering, Li Wei suddenly heard a burst of shouting coming from the east, very chaotic. He immediately scrambled up the large tree 'three down, five divided by two' (swiftly and neatly). Looking towards the east, he saw that about six to seven hundred meters away, over a dozen figures were walking down from a hillside, very disorganized and slack.
And in the forest behind them, vaguely three to five more figures continuously walked out. Occasionally, flashes of light refracted by sunlight could be seen.
It was weaponry.
Good going. He didn't want to suppress bandits, but as a result, he genuinely bumped into bandits and robbers.
However, these bandits and robbers didn't seem to have discovered them; instead, they were crossing through a forest and heading towards this road.
Was there a merchant caravan about to drop by here?
It didn't feel like they were going to rob them, and moreover, they were far too disorganized and slack.
Seeing that those people were about to cross through that forest, Li Wei didn't have time to think closely. He quickly jumped down the tree and went back to notify Clyde and the others to pay attention, and to replenish food and fresh water to recover their Stamina.
Dodging them? Non-existent.
The reason they didn't travel light, the reason they only walked half a day every day, the reason they pushed wheelbarrows, was precisely to conserve their Stamina.
At this time, following Li Wei's command, the crowd wasn't nervous, nor were they excited. They put down the wheelbarrows and took out their weapons from under the tarpaulins.
Swords were unsheathed, bows were strung.
Each of them sat on the ground, drinking water and eating dried meat, chewing thoroughly and swallowing slowly. Especially excessive was Liu Zhongyuan; as he ate, he actually started snoring and fell asleep.
Just like this, almost half an hour passed. There was no movement ahead; no shouts of killing, and certainly no merchant caravan charging over. It was as if everything had been an illusion.
"Let's go. We'll go ahead and take a look."
Li Wei stood up. He was also quite curious; what was going on ahead?
The group of six slowly pushed the wheelbarrows forward like this, walking along the road. Soon, they saw that gang of mountain bandits and robbers.
But bizarrely, there was no战斗. Instead, these mountain bandits and robbers were panting and digging on the road, seemingly setting up roadblocks. Among them were even half-grown children and women. The robust men only numbered seven or eight, and only two were wearing Leather Armor. They seemed to be soldiers?
But they weren't repairing the road; they were destroying it.
So what did this count as?
Li Wei and his group were all stunned. Soon, those people also noticed Li Wei's group of six.
At this moment, both sides were in a dazed state, unsure of why, bewildered on the spot. It wasn't until someone on the opposite side screamed that this gang instantly scattered with a whoosh—running lightning fast like rabbits. In the blink of an eye, they drilled into the mountain forest and vanished without a trace.
Even those two suspected soldiers ran very fast.
What is the meaning of this?
(End of this chapter)