Mount & Blade: Warband in the Sengoku period of Japan

Chen Daoyuan led a dozen or so warriors as they slowly made their way forward through the forest.

Only two old hunters with some courage were able to pass; the hunting dogs were out of the question. After that strange roar, those useless cowardly dogs lay on the ground and couldn't be pulled away.

According to the old hunters, the sound was likely from a bear, but they had never encountered a bear that could roar so loudly; it was probably a giant creature, like a mountain god.

Chen Daoyuan had no intention of hunting bears. His armor was fine for dealing with wild boars, but if he wanted to deal with a bear that was big enough, he would just be feeding the bear a can of meat.

But we can't just ignore these big guys in the mountains; we can only try to drive them away as much as possible.

Soon, Chen Daoyuan smelled a unique scent in the air.

It wasn't the stench of wild beasts, but the smell of blood... That unique rusty scent sent a shiver down Chen Daoyuan's spine, and his hand gripping the spear trembled slightly from the excessive force.

At this moment, Chen Daoyuan was filled with regret. The spear in his hand was not the complete version; it had been modified to be used in the mountains, with half of the shaft's shorter section removed. Although the length was indeed more suitable for use in the forest, the thought of facing a large bear with this short spear made his heart pound with fear.

After walking a few dozen steps further, the stench of blood in the air became even stronger, and the tip of my nose also caught the stench of wild animals.

Chen Daoyuan steadied his breathing and continued walking forward. After pushing aside a clump of bushes, the sight before him made his pupils dilate violently.

A huge, dark bear lay across a clearing in the forest.

Chen Daoyuan had seen North American black bears several times before his transmigration, but the black bear in front of him was definitely a whole size bigger than any North American black bear he had ever seen. Its broad back and terrifying body thickness... At first glance, Chen Daoyuan even thought that this thing might be a brown bear.

However, this behemoth has now lost its most important limb—its head.

The bear's blood was flowing down its neck and thick fur, pooling into a pool of blood beside it.

This scene did not make Chen Daoyuan relax. Instead, an unprecedented chill ran down his spine from his tailbone straight to the top of his head. His shirt inside the armor was almost instantly soaked with cold sweat, and his muscles were trembling.

What could possibly knock the head off such a big bear?!

Chen Daoyuan gestured for the warriors behind him to disperse into groups, and then cautiously approached the bear carcass.

The plump bear carcass still carried the lingering heat of its former stench. Chen Daoyuan examined the wound on the bear's neck... Although there were obvious tear marks, the left edge was somewhat neat, as if it had been chopped with a knife or axe.

Looking up at the ground around me, I saw a footprint not far in front of where the bear had fallen.

A deep human footprint, made of straw sandals.

Chen Daoyuan relaxed a little and walked over to compare the footprint with his own foot.

The footprint was much smaller than his own foot, so the owner of the footprint must have been a man shorter than him. Apart from this obvious statement, Chen Daoyuan couldn't analyze anything further, and he didn't understand forensic footprint analysis.

However, the footprint was two or three inches deep. The soil on the mountain was very hard, and even someone of Chen Daoyuan's weight would have difficulty making a clear footprint. One can imagine how terrifying the owner of the footprint must have been when facing the bear that stood upright and swung its knife or axe... It must have been an extremely skillful technique and a superhuman burst of power.

After circling the bear again, they finally found its head in the bushes. It wasn't broken, further confirming that the bear had been beheaded by a human, rather than being slapped to death by some monster.

With a somber expression, Chen Daoyuan carried the bear's head to the bear carcass, attempting to piece it together and see if he could discern any more details.

But just then, a clear, high-pitched shout broke the silence of the forest: "What are you doing? I killed that bear!"

Chen Daoyuan dropped the bear head and stood up. Looking back, he saw a girl standing at the edge of the forest clearing, staring at him menacingly.

The girl was wearing a wooden-colored linen garment commonly seen by hunters in the mountains, but it was currently wet and stained with faded red bloodstains. It clung to her body, revealing her lithe figure.

Chen Daoyuan had no time to care about those things; his attention was drawn to the girl's height and the weapon behind her.

The girl was taller than Chen Daoyuan's nose, probably the tallest person Chen Daoyuan had seen since his time travel. Behind her, besides a hunting bow, she was also carrying a "mountain thallium".

This is a type of knife commonly used by mountain people. Chen Daoyuan has seen many of them. The shape is similar to a woodcutter's knife, but it is much wider and longer. It is made of crude iron and uses its weight, which is similar to an axe, to complete various chopping and even digging tasks.

The sword the girl was carrying was definitely the longest and largest Chen Daoyuan had ever seen. It was slung diagonally from the girl's shoulder to her hip, with long sections sticking out from both ends. It looked about the same length and width as Chen Daoyuan's four-sided greatsword.

"Did you chop this bear down?" Chen Daoyuan tried to ask. The girl's accent was a bit strange, but he could still understand the two sentences she had just shouted.

"Hmm, what do you want to do?" The girl was very wary, her right hand already on the hilt of the knife on her shoulder.

Chen Daoyuan quickly opened his arms in a friendly gesture: "I'm just curious, how did you manage to kill such a big bear all by yourself?"

The girl's guard remained high. Her almond-shaped eyes swept across the woods. The warriors behind Chen Daoyuan had already surrounded them. However, even as she was gradually surrounded by a dozen warriors, the girl showed no fear. She didn't retreat even a step, but instead gripped the hilt of her sword tightly on her shoulder, twisting her body as if preparing to draw her blade: "Who are you?"

"I am the lord of the foot of the mountain, and today I have brought my men up the mountain to hunt mountain whales." Chen Daoyuan raised his hand and waved, signaling the warriors behind him to calm down.

"Oh." The girl hesitated for a moment. "But this isn't a mountain whale, it's a bear. What are you trying to do standing next to my bear?"

"I told you, I was just curious. Did you kill such a big bear?"

"Yes, I killed it. Alright, what are you trying to do, still standing next to my bear?"

"Uh..." Chen Daoyuan was taken aback. What kind of logic was this girl? "Okay, then I'll step aside first."

With that, Chen Daoyuan took a few steps back, keeping a safe distance from the dead bear: "Alright, I won't stand next to your bear anymore. Can we talk?"

The girl took two steps forward, plopped down on the dead bear, pulled the huge halberd from its back, and held it in front of her: "What are you talking about?"

"What's your name? Where are you from?"

"My name is Xue, and I'm from these mountains." The girl's wariness seemed to be only about preventing Chen Daoyuan and his group from stealing her prey; she made no attempt to conceal her identity or origins.

"Living in the mountains? Where in the mountains?" Chen Daoyuan asked.

"It's in the mountains." A strange look appeared on Xue's face.

"Living in the mountains? Did she escape from the foot of the mountain into the mountains?" Chen Daoyuan understood; this girl must be the so-called wild person.

During Japan's Sengoku period, the oppressive policies of various lords were so outrageous that a large number of people fled to the mountains to hide, and these people were called "Yajin" (wild men).

"I don't know how we ended up living in the mountains. I was born in the mountains. But Uncle Quanbingwei said that the lords down in the mountains are all bad people, so we have to live in the mountains."

Ah Xue said that none of the lords down the mountain were good people, but when she looked at Chen Daoyuan, there was no ill will in her eyes. Her tone was as if she were saying something was not tasty, very ordinary.

Chen Daoyuan sighed inwardly, looked at the bear, reached into his pocket, and pulled out two gold coins: "How about this, I'll buy this bear, and then you can go home and bring your family down the mountain with me. I'm willing to take you in as a samurai, so your family can live in my castle town, and you'll have plenty of rice every year."

Before the girl could speak, a warrior behind Chen Daoyuan whispered, "Sir, do you want to recruit a woman as a warrior?"

Chen Daoyuan glanced back at him, pointed to the large bear lying on the ground and the girl sitting on its corpse: "Why don't you go and fight her?"

The samurai trembled, quickly lowered his head, took a step back, and said nothing more.

The girl looked at the two golden beads in Chen Daoyuan's palm with a puzzled expression: "What are these? What is a samurai? What are the castle town and rice? Are you trying to trick me out of my bear?"

Chen Daoyuan was speechless: "You don't know what gold and rice are? What do you usually eat?"

"Meat, whale meat, bear meat, venison, and taro that everyone in the valley grows together."

Chen Daoyuan sighed again, turned around and pulled the talkative fellow over, took the pouch from his waist, which contained dry rations for the trip up the mountain: two rice balls.

Chen Daoyuan picked up one, returned the other to the samurai, then took two steps forward and handed the rice ball to Ah Xue: "This is a rice ball made of rice, have a taste."

This rice ball is made with high-quality rice from the Kitakami River Valley, which is far better than the brown rice ball made by Makibori Torajiro. In addition to pickled plums, the rice ball also contains some pickled salmon roe. The snow-white rice mixed with the golden salmon roe looks very tempting.

Ah Xue looked at Chen Daoyuan, then at the rice ball. After hesitating for a while, she picked up the rice ball with her free left hand, brought it to her mouth, took a bite, chewed it carefully a few times, and her eyes suddenly lit up.

"Isn't it delicious?" Chen Daoyuan asked with a smile.

"Mmm." Ah Xue chewed her rice ball and nodded vigorously.

Chen Daoyuan then displayed the two gold beans, each weighing one qian (approximately 3 grams): "Here, these are gold beans. Down the mountain, two of these gold beans can buy one shi (approximately 150 grams) of rice." (*Note)

"One stone?" Clearly, Xue didn't understand these units of measurement either.

Chen Daoyuan could only gesture with his lips: "It's about the same weight as this bear. Enough for you and your family to eat for a long time."

Ah Xue's eyes widened immediately.