Chapter 300: The Beast

Chapter 300: The Beast

After staying in Aru Village for three days and replenishing a batch of goods, the caravan members were ready to set off. Now, the tension disappeared from everyone's face, replaced by confidence and excitement.

As the protector and representative of the village, Candice escorted these foreign visitors to the village entrance, then stood on the last stone slab on the road at the entrance, watching them leave with a smile.

"Goodbye, Miss Candice!"

"See you next year!"

...

Several young mercenaries in the team couldn't help but turn around and shout, but they quickly turned their heads and plunged into the vast sea of ​​sand. They were about to head to the next tribe.

Kavi's mind was still on the library building drawings he had just delivered. The time was too tight and some details had not been considered. Although Candice and Village Chief Anpu both praised his design, he still felt very regretful.

Once again exposed to the scorching sun and sandstorms, most of the caravan members inevitably missed the peace and comfort of Aru Village. Harold knew this, so he deliberately slowed down his pace.

There were no emergencies that day, but the caravan only traveled 70% of the distance as usual. However, Harold knew that this was necessary. This adaptation period could help the mercenaries regain their senses and avoid sudden illness.

Before night fell, the caravan set up camp under a sheltered rock slope. After building the temporary camp and eating, some mercenaries began to become active. The day's journey did not exhaust their energy, and they decided to organize a wrestling match before going to bed.

Harold and the merchants were no longer surprised by this, as they had long regarded it as an entertainment activity after a meal and a drink, but the new members, Jade and Gabriel, were quite surprised by this.

Jade had never been exposed to this kind of sport and was eager to try it. Gabriel stared at the two people fighting on the sand without saying a word, as if he remembered something.

The game in front of the bonfire had now entered a white-hot stage. The mercenary with curly hair grabbed his opponent's legs and threw him to the ground. He immediately pressed him down, pinning him down with his entire body weight so that he could not turn over.

The mercenaries and merchants watching could not help but cheer loudly. Jade excitedly clenched her fist and took a step forward. Gabriel saw Jade's excitement, he patted his daughter on the shoulder and whispered:

"The wrestling rules of the desert people are very simple. There are no taboos except that you cannot use props. Jade, you watch their moves. After two rounds, it's your turn."

"Okay!" Jade's eyes lit up and she watched the game more attentively.

The curly-haired mercenary won two rounds in a row and shouted with great fighting spirit: "Come on, next one!"

"Next!"

The people around kept making a fuss and repeating this sentence.

"Me!" Jade said and jumped into the circle.

Amid everyone's surprised gazes, she calmly rolled up her sleeves, bent down to check her shin guards, then stood up, tilted her head, and smiled confidently.

The new opponent made the curly-haired mercenary feel unprecedented pressure: she was too young, probably only twelve or thirteen years old, and others could easily see the difference in height and physique between them. Fighting against such a player, whether winning or losing, would not look good.

The onlookers who had been making a fuss also quieted down at this moment. Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what to do. The mercenaries on the field even cast their eyes on Harold, hoping that the team leader would come out and call a halt to the competition.

Gabriel, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up: "Jade is very strong. When she was ten years old, she could hunt red eagles alone."

As soon as these words were spoken, both mercenaries and merchants showed astonishment. To hunt red eagles, one either needs the strength to fight against such birds of prey, or the ability to throw accurately. No matter which one a ten-year-old child can do, it shows that she should not be underestimated.

If she had caught the red eagle with a trap, they wouldn't have been so shocked, but Gabriel used the obviously more aggressive word "hunting".

Only then did they realize once again that these two people were "helpers" invited into the team by the team leader himself, and this younger one was not a burden.

Jade on the field raised her chin slightly, obviously very proud of her father's evaluation of her.

"Kellermann!" Harold called out.

"Yes!" The mercenary on the field gave Harold a surprised look. He expected the team leader to immediately stop the game that put him in a difficult position.

"Come on, don't lose." Harold continued with a smile.

The small group of mercenaries who were incorporated into the team by Harold and trained with Jade and Gabriel all looked ready to watch a good show.

The others also laughed at Harold's words.

"Come on, Kellerman!"

"Don't lose!"

"It's not shameful to lose, the opponent is too strong!"

...

Hearing the cheers of the crowd, Kellerman had to cheer himself up, staring at Jade with a serious look, and assumed a fighting stance.

Jade kicked her legs casually, looking relaxed.

The referee mercenary saw that the two were ready, so he threw the stone in his hand upward with all his strength. The small stone rose up in the night sky and fell rapidly. Clerman and Jade stared at each other, and their feet began to move in small and regular steps.

The blue stone fell into the sand, and the crowd instantly let out a short cry:

"on!"

"Come on!"

"Come on!"

Kellerman and Jade rushed towards each other amid the shouts of the crowd. Kellerman aimed at Jade's right leg. He had to squat to do this, but the girl opposite him was smaller in stature and quite agile. The moment her body touched his, she slid under his armpit like a sand eel.

Kellerman's heart sank. Although he had not underestimated the enemy, despite the warnings from Gabriel and Harold, he found that he had underestimated Jade. The tentative attack and the action of lowering his body made him passive in an instant.

The girl actually climbed onto his back and sat on his neck, using her weight to push him lower. He had to put out his hands to support himself to prevent himself from falling, and at that moment, he could see her legs spread apart because they were touching the ground.

After finding the fulcrum, Jade immediately grabbed Kellerman's head and pressed him to the sand. Due to her lack of experience, she did not take the initiative to control her opponent's hands. Kellerman did not miss this mistake. He supported himself with one hand while holding Jade's ankle with the other.

Jade instinctively stopped what she was doing, and instead sat sideways on Kellerman's back and kicked his wrist with her foot. She didn't know that the wrestling matches here were slightly different from those in the desert tribes:

In this entertaining activity, everyone would avoid making the opponent unable to move, so her worry about her ankle being crushed by the strength of an adult would never happen. She could have clearly ignored Kellerman's actions and knocked him down.

The moment Kellerman felt his head and neck loosen, he immediately realized what had happened. Delighted, he simply gave up his support, hugged Jade's ankles with both hands, and rolled on the sand with the slender girl.

Jade was caught off guard and swallowed a few mouthfuls of sand. Just as she reacted and wanted to fight back, she was pinned to the ground.

Jade was facing the sand, with her knees and elbows tightly clamped. Kellerman roared and pressed down with all his strength. Jade struggled hard amid the shouts and countdowns of the crowd, but was unable to break free from the shackles.

"zero!"

Hearing this number, Kellerman finally breathed a sigh of relief. He immediately let go of Jade and got up from the ground, but he did not shout like he did when he won before:

Although the match just now ended very quickly and the stalemate period was very short, he knew that he could be relaxed because Jade was not familiar with their agreed-upon "rules", otherwise he would have fallen into a disadvantage thirty seconds after the start of the match and it would have been very difficult to turn the situation around.

Jade also got up from the ground at this moment. She untied her hair tie and shook her head to get rid of the sand on her head. She did not feel sorry for the mistake just now. In her opinion, this was just a game, and she liked this feeling very much.

"Let's do it again. Play with me again, uncle. I feel I can win the next one!" Jade happily approached Kellerman.

The mercenaries also cheered: "Compete with her!"

"Compare with her!"

Kellerman shook his head repeatedly: "No, no more competition. I'm going to lose the next game."

His quick surrender filled the team with a happy atmosphere. Many mercenaries looked at Gabriel with envy. In the desert, a place that advocates the use of force, strong people will be respected by everyone.

Kellerman hurriedly jumped out of the circle and mixed in with his partners to prevent Jade from wrestling with him again. Jade was the only one left on the field. Jade was a little confused and said to herself: "Should I get off now?"

As she was hesitating, she saw a young mercenary in his twenties staggering into the circle.

"Who pushed me!" He turned his head and bared his teeth at the crowd, "Who pushed me?!"

His companion gave him a "come on" gesture.

"I give up, I give up!" The young mercenary raised his hands high, shouted and jumped out of the circle before the referee threw the stone. His movements were so fast that it seemed as if the small circle under his feet burned his feet.

Now this competition has completely turned into a skit, and Jade has gained a lot of opponents because of it, but few of them are serious. Many of them just want to feel Jade's power, but those who don't believe in it are eventually knocked to the ground by Jade.

They had fun until midnight, when Harold, as the team leader, called a halt to the activity. Since then, Jade had never lost a game since the first competition, and everyone in the team began to look at her and Gabriel in a new light.

"After I finish this trip, I will go back to the tribe and get married!" said a mercenary beside Gabriel seriously.

Harold twitched his lips when he heard this: I just pulled the flag off Gabriel's head, and you're starting to raise flags again?

Gabriel paused for three seconds before realizing that the other person was really talking to him, so he replied: "I wish you happiness."

"Yes, yes. I hope my child can be as good as your daughter!" The mercenary spoke incessantly for a while, and finally shouted, "I will come back in four years! Brothers and sisters, if my skills are not good enough by then, please take care of me!"

"Haha, definitely!"

"You can tell me when you can recognize me!"

...

All the caravan members rested well that night, including Xia Ni from Aru Village. She thought that the strange sound would come as expected in the middle of the night, but it didn't. She slept very soundly and slept until two o'clock in the afternoon.

After fifteen hours of sleep, she heard voices outside the house. The increasingly loud conversation woke her up. She slowly opened her eyes and let out a happy murmur.

...Where am I? What time is it?

Two seconds later, she regained consciousness.

...Ah, what a comfortable sleep!

Shani thought happily, she stretched, got out of bed, and subconsciously walked to her loom.

Looking at the empty loom, she realized that she had completed the work and exchanged it for a jar of spices and some dried chicken from the caravan.

Phew, that’s great, the work is done and that strange sound has disappeared.

Shani nodded with satisfaction, but then she seemed to realize something and shuddered: The night that the voice appeared seemed to be the night after Miss Candice said that the caravan would stay in our village for three more days?

Was the strange noise made by the caravan members? So when they left, the noise disappeared?

If so, what were they doing so late at night? Did Miss Candice know? If she did, why didn't she stop them?

The more Xia Ni thought about it, the more frightened she became. But soon, she shook her head and put all these conjectures behind her:

What? It turns out to be a wild beast in the distance.

[First exam next week, no updates for one week]