“Leader, do you know that Ursus doesn’t only have cold winds? Sometimes the sun also comes out to take care of the poor.”
“Sunbathe, warm up.”
“I heard a warrior say that he thought, if there was warm weather, no Inspection Officer or any war, and if possible, another bottle of good wine, finding a place to sit for an afternoon, then he would die without regrets.”
“He also asked me if I could help him find a bottle of wine, saying he really wanted to drink. But Patriot doesn’t seem to let them drink.”
“However, he didn’t wait for me to bring the wine.”
Yelena closed the door, leaving the two inside the room.
Today was a rare good day, the sun had already crossed half the sky, lazily casting its light down.
Yelena shielded the sunlight with her hand, squinting her eyes, feeling the long-lost warmth. She truly didn’t know when there would be such weather again.
She sighed, stretched, and prepared to spend this beautiful afternoon productively.
So, what to do next? There haven’t been many things lately.
Perhaps I’ll wait for Miss and the others to find a place to watch the sun. The last time we watched a sunset was when Miss was 10 years old.
What lovely weather.
Yelena sighed again. She looked ahead, an old man was slowly walking on the path.
“Grandpa, why are you only coming home now?” Yelena called out to the old man in the distance. The old man raised his hand and waved, a greeting.
“I heard you were looking for Talulah?” Yelena curiously asked the approaching old man.
“Ah, yes, look at my memory, how could I forget about Talulah. But it’s nothing important, little Yelena doesn’t need to worry so much.” The old man just waved his hand again, looking towards the village entrance.
“Grandpa, I’m already thirty, I’m not a little girl anymore.” Yelena corrected with a smile.
“Alright, alright, I won’t call you that anymore. Three years, Yelena is still so young.”
The old man lamented that time spares no one.
Suddenly, his brows furrowed, his eyes filled with surprise and anxiety.
“Grandpa?” Yelena saw the old man’s eyes fixed on the village entrance and couldn’t help but look that way.
A tiny black speck was imprinted in her beautiful eyes.
A black bug, Yelena thought first. Grandma always complained that they would chew up crops and said they even bite people.
But Yelena looked closely, and it wasn’t a bug at all. It was a person, it was an Inspection Officer.
“Grandpa, quickly go back inside, the Inspection Officer is here again, I’ll…”
Yelena turned to look back, the old man beside her had already walked towards that black bug. She could only follow behind the old man.
The Inspection Officer saw an old man, and his eyebrows beneath his mask clearly furrowed together, looking very impatient.
“Hey old man, routine inspection. If there are Infected, hand them over. If I find out you’re hiding any, hmph, hmph, all of you will go dig mines.”
But clearly, this Inspection Officer wasn't there to catch the Infected; his greedy gaze was not even concealed.
Yelena stood behind the old man, wary of his actions.
It wasn’t strange for these Inspection Officers to do anything. Once during an inspection, that Inspection Officer kicked Grandpa for no reason, causing Grandpa to be bedridden for half a month…
The Inspection Officer took a step, wanting to bypass the old man, but this old man, whose body was trembling, blocked his way.
“…Old man, if you want to die, you can just say so.”
The Inspection Officer threatened sarcastically, “You don’t have many years left to live anyway. If you don’t want to die, get out of the way.”
The silent old man spoke, “Sir… there is nothing left. Jewelry, money, and grain have all been taken.”
“There’s always something secretly hidden. You all try every possible way to hide things. If you block me again, I don’t have the habit of respecting the elderly, especially scum like you who only barely survive on Ursus’s territory. You’re not worth pity.”
A cold glint flashed in the Inspection Officer’s eyes, but the old man didn’t move aside.
“Grandpa, don’t be reckless. If you get hurt again, you’ll truly be stuck in bed.” Yelena stared at the Inspection Officer, reaching out to pull the old man away.
But this precisely attracted the Inspection Officer’s attention. Only then did he see the woman behind the old man.
Greedy eyes met clear ones.
Those eyes lingered on Yelena’s face, then were drawn by something and looked down.
They landed on her hand, on the sapphire glove.
Yelena’s gloves were always hidden during Inspection Officer checks.
But today, she hadn’t taken it off when she went out. Yelena hadn’t expected this group of Inspection Officers to come back to plunder again only a week after the last inspection. Her concern for the old man also overshadowed her vigilance.
“Hmm, a glove. It doesn’t look like something a commoner should have. Hand it over, and I won’t take you to dig mines.”
The Inspection Officer knew well that commoners wouldn’t have the chance to get close to nobles, so he was absolutely certain that this girl, who was only a teenager, would be scared.
The Inspection Officer reached out to grab the Elafia girl’s hand, but to his surprise, the old man actually grabbed his hand.
“Hmph, old man, it seems you’re really tired of living.”
With that, the Inspection Officer kicked him hard, sending the old man tumbling to the ground.
The old man just forced a smile and advised,
“Sir, you see we are so poor we don’t even have food to eat. What could be sold has been sold, what should be given to you has been given. How could there still be something that looks so expensive? It’s just that my child envies a sir like you, so she made it herself with stones from who knows where. Maybe it’s some kind of fragment. It wouldn’t be good if it hurt you.”
Upon hearing this, the Inspection Officer quickly retreated two steps cautiously, but then remembered something.
“No, Originium fragments don’t look like this. But either way, give it to me, I’ll see for myself.”
The old man wanted to say something more, but Yelena pulled the old man over at this moment.
“Grandpa, it’s alright… This glove isn’t that important.”
Saying this, she placed her hand on her other hand.
“Very good.”
“You’re very pleased with yourself, Inspection Officer.”
At this moment, a familiar and warm hand gripped hers.
“Talulah?”
Yelena turned her head, Talulah was standing beside her.
Talulah had the sword she brought from the Duke’s Mansion at her waist, looking angrily at the somewhat surprised Inspection Officer.
“Hmm, where did you get those clothes?” The Inspection Officer seemed to shrink back a little, looking at Talulah’s weapon, his hand resting behind his waist.
Before the Inspection Officer could react, Talulah rushed forward and knocked him to the ground with her sword.
The tall man was thus struck to the ground.
“Get up!” Talulah shouted, “I haven’t broken your leg yet!”
Yelena watched the Inspection Officer stumble to his feet, his mask knocked off, revealing a ferocious face, he pulled at his mouth.
“How dare you hit me! You… you… don’t think this is over.”
“Alright, then I’ll cut out your tongue right now.”
Talulah said, directly stepping forward with her sword. Seeing her stance, the Inspection Officer scrambled to his feet and ran in the direction he came from.
Talulah seemed a bit angry, wanting to chase after him. Yelena grabbed her sword-wielding hand.
“Yelena?” Talulah turned her head, seeing Yelena’s somewhat sorrowful eyes.
“Don’t chase him, Talulah.”
Yelena shook her head, let go of his hand, and turned to help Grandpa up.
“Grandpa, are you alright?”
The old man shook his head, sighed, and said to Talulah,
“Talulah, look what you’ve done! Oh dear.” The old man sighed again, “Talulah, in a few days, we’re moving the village, and you even hit an Inspection Officer… This is big trouble!”
Talulah retorted, “But is it okay to just let him keep hitting you? He even tried to steal Yelena’s…”
“Talulah, it’s not worth it, it’s just a tool.” Yelena, supporting the old man, lowered her head, “Give it to him if he wants it. Grandpa too, don’t be reckless… for a tool… it’s not worth it.”
Talulah fell silent. She picked up her sword again.
“But it’s already too late. I’ll go kill him now, he can’t have run far. By the time others find him, we’ll have already moved.”
Talulah thought for a moment, then added, “But running like this isn’t a solution either. Once the Inspection Team gathers, they will definitely come looking for us again, and they might even retaliate against us.”
The old man said, “Then why did you hit him! What should we do!”
Talulah comforted the old man, saying, “It’s alright, Grandpa. The Inspection Team is only looking for Infected. They don’t know yet.”
“Don’t know what?” the old man asked.
“Hmm, they don’t know about the big thing I’m going to do.” Talulah vaguely replied.
The old man did not press further.
“Yelena, let me help him.” Talulah walked to the old man’s side and supported him.
“Come, Grandpa. This leg of yours will need some good healing.”
Talulah helped the old man walk towards home.
But one person remained rooted to the spot, looking in the direction the Inspection Officer had gone.
“Yelena? What’s wrong?”
Talulah turned and asked.
Yelena said, “That Inspection Officer…”
Talulah sensed the unease and worry of the person in front of her.
“It’s alright, Yelena, I’m here.”
“No, it’s not that.” Yelena shook her head.
Their daily interactions made her understand this was the truth, and Talulah was a little confused.
“Miss…” Yelena hesitated a little.
Even though she had changed how she addressed her, Yelena would still forget about it sometimes.
“Yelena?”
“Miss, can you promise me…”
“What?”
Yelena looked earnestly into the Red Dragon’s eyes, burning with fighting spirit.
“Promise me, please don’t slaughter for the sake of slaughter, and don’t sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice.”
… … … …
But you still didn’t keep your promise, Leader.
You might know that I cherish that pair of gloves very much, but there were also some reasons for me to give them away. When Miss first arrived, perhaps someone was jealous of me, and while I was secretly sleeping with her at night, they stole them.
I don’t know who did it. The Duke’s Mansion is so big, where could I even look?
But, on the second night, it was placed back on my bedside.
On the third day, I heard Shasha say that a maid died at the entrance of the pawn shop, reportedly stabbed to death in the street by a madman.
So, actually, it didn’t matter much to give them away. But thinking about it now, I still have some regrets, Leader.