Your Majesty's money, why don't you engrave my name on it?

An explosion occurred last night at the Old Mountain Forge in the town of Kiranda. The dwarven craftsman, Master Vondar, has disappeared and his whereabouts remain unknown.

But other than that, no one was injured. Fengdaer Banqiu's two apprentices decided to reopen their business after a break and continue providing high-quality tools and supplies to their neighbors.

However, all this has nothing to do with Reslaufer and "Buddy Antich" who had already left at night.

"Can you still feel someone watching us?"

Along the way, Angelita would whisper similar questions to Leslaufer from time to time. In her opinion, the "spies" who were loyal to the emperors of the empire were extremely difficult to deal with. Once they were targeted, it would be very troublesome to get rid of them.

But Reslaufer didn't think so. The pursuer was also human. Even gods weren't omniscient and omnipotent, let alone a group of mortals. Killing one of them would inevitably affect their pursuit.

Enough to keep them away.

"Instead of worrying about when they'll come looking for us again, we should think about how to escape when that happens," Leslaufer glanced at Angarita, who was helping him carry a lot of the luggage. "We haven't even seen the shadow of the Golinoto Mountains yet. We can be sure that those so-called 'spies' will come looking for us again before then."

The purpose of disguise was to avoid outsiders from getting involved, not to blind the eyes of the person who was specifically pointing at the meal. Leslough was very clear about this.

You can't expect the current "Buddy Antichi" to stand before His Majesty Richard and still not recognize his own daughter, right? If the emperor himself can do it, then his lackeys can definitely do it too.

"So what should we do? Kill them all as they come?"

"We should be mentally prepared that they still dare to follow us when one of their colleagues has already died." The mercenary shrugged the muscles of his shoulders and back, tilting the greatsword behind him to a more suitable position.

"Or you could consider avoiding the town altogether and heading back into the wilderness."

The wilderness is the most common place for outlaws to hide. In many areas, even noble lords with their armies may not dare to approach, let alone a few spies who are used to searching for traces in the city.

"How can I stay outside forever?" Angelita suddenly looked like she was about to cry. "Then I'll have to eat dry food every day. My pear wine and rose candy..."

"If you can't bear to part with these, I suggest you learn how to make them yourself," Leslough sneered. "Don't forget our destination. I can tell you responsibly that there are no spices or sugars from the Empire there."

In the Empire, these things are only slightly expensive, but over there they are real luxury goods.

"And caviar!" Angelita glared at Reslaufer, indicating that there was no way she could get it in the wilderness. But as Reslaufer avoided her gaze, the fugitive princess had no choice but to lower her head in frustration.

"Who am I kidding... I knew all along that these things would have to be thrown away, ah..."

It was just that the few days she spent in Kiranda reminded her of her time in the palace. If she really couldn't let go of these things, she wouldn't have run so far.

"Didn't I tell you you could learn to cook some yourself? Becoming a master chef isn't easy, but satisfying your own appetite shouldn't be too hard, right?" Reslaufer casually told Angarita about the mercenaries he knew. While a warband was always followed by a fearless merchant caravan, and even further behind were the families, some had unique tastes. To satisfy their various whims, using local ingredients was a mercenary specialty.

Of course, many of the methods used to collect the materials and the final results are not known to outsiders - at least Leslaufer believes that Angelita does not need to hear these.

Mercenaries who had traveled extensively throughout the world always had endless stories to tell, which made the young girl who had never seen the world yearn for them. They quickly got rid of all their negative emotions, but this situation could only last for a short time. As the two began to deviate from the path under the guidance of Reslaufer, and as their stomachs began to protest against the unfair treatment they were receiving, the bloodthirsty mercenary took off his two-handed greatsword from his back, which had been soaked in blood for countless years.

Not far ahead of him, a group of flightless birds with strong legs and huge wedge-shaped beaks were lazily enjoying the last rays of the sun. Faced with the mercenaries walking towards them with a clear goal, only a few of them slowly turned their eyes to Reslaufer, but did not take any other action.

They are a subspecies of the axe-beak, larger than the axe-beak but slightly more peaceful, and won't attack every unfamiliar creature they see - but that doesn't mean they're easy to get along with.

It was just a human being, and none of the birds thought that the other party was coming for their tender and juicy meat.

Angelita tried to force herself to observe the details of Reslaufer's attack on the group of large birds that were not easy to deal with, but when Reslaufer rushed into the flock of birds with his giant sword, killing the creatures with blood, flesh and feathers flying everywhere, she had to turn her head away when she saw the giant birds fighting back and fighting desperately with their huge beaks and claws.

An indescribable feeling of nausea forced her to squat on the ground to prevent herself from vomiting.

Occasionally, after Leslough had lured and killed the pack of wild wolves, Angelita had tried to reflect on herself. Perhaps she was the one who was crazy, not Leslough? Perhaps a normal person would be more resistant to seeing a human-like creature die in front of them, rather than the other way around?

But soon, Angelita shook off the thought: Maybe she was indeed not quite right, she might even be crazy - but Leslough was definitely a lunatic! He did not object to either, and even enjoyed it!

Angelita sighed. She felt like she might be under the influence of a madman. She was actually starting to doubt herself. She needed to be independent as soon as possible to escape. But she couldn't bear to watch the beasts' desperate struggles in their dying state. It was hard for her to even watch from the sidelines. How could she set out alone? This was an unsolvable knot! This was a vicious cycle!

While Angelita was struggling, several giant bird corpses that had not yet cooled down were lying at Reslaufer's feet. As he moved between the beaks and claws, Reslaufer felt that his spirit was greatly relaxed. He really had this need, both materially and spiritually.

However, just as he was about to chop down the giant sword in his hand again and reap another joy before the flock of birds began to flee in all directions, a tough muffled sound came from the sword blade, and a wooden stick stretched out from nowhere and abruptly blocked his attack.

The remaining flightless giant birds scattered in a rush. Reslaufer subconsciously wanted to scold the guy who had disturbed his interest. However, when he looked closely, a pair of emerald green eyes glared at him from behind the oak stick. A slightly hoarse female voice suppressed her anger and shouted before Reslaufer could speak:

"enough!"

Chapter 36: The Weird Druid

Angelita, who was standing by, opened her eyes wide and looked at the scene in disbelief.

The giant birds had already fled without a trace, leaving only five or six still twitching corpses lying in a pool of blood. A little higher up, a woman held up a long oak stick with both hands, desperately resisting Leslough's sword.

Angelita had no doubt that it was because Leslaufer did not chop down with all his strength. In most cases, this mercenary did not prefer to fill his void with human lives. If this woman had not been mixed in with the flock of birds just now, he probably would not have swung his sword at her.

By the way, how did she get into the flock of birds? Angelita's thoughts paused for a moment.

Those birds were a subspecies of the axe-beak. She had learned from books that these large birds would never like humans to mingle among them. What was wrong with this woman? She had only heard of people herding sheep and horses, but never heard of people herding birds!

"Leslaufer..." Angelita tried to call the mercenary over and just compensate the woman with some gold coins. After all, this was someone else's livestock... probably.

However, the mercenary ignored her completely. "Druid?" he asked.

Leslaufer was very sure that he had not seen this woman at all just now! Either she was invisible, or she might have been one of these giant birds!

"Why do you want to harm these poor creatures?"

The woman was wearing a garment woven from plant stems and leaves, adorned only with very rare animal skin and textiles, leaving large areas of her wheat-colored skin exposed to the air. Her teeth were clenched, not only because she was trying to resist the oppression of the mercenary's huge weapon, but also because of her inner anger.

"They live here without being disturbed by anyone. How could you separate their relatives like this?"

"I need food, Druid," Raslaufer said with a nasal voice, but he put away his sword. "Move aside, these are my prey, and they are already dead."

"Are you going to let us starve for a few corpses?"

"No matter how hungry you are, there's no need to kill so many!" The druid angrily slammed the ground with his stick. "Do you hear that? The wilderness is crying! Nature despises your actions and words! You're lying! You're not a hunter, you're just a butcher and an executioner!"

Angelita's heart suddenly trembled. Among the eight realms officially recognized by the empire, the gods of the natural realm have never been well-received by the upper class, so she had only heard some unfounded rumors about druids.

I didn't expect this woman to be so perceptive!

"Why do you and your nature think I don't need it?" Reslaufer retorted, "I'm a warrior! And this young man behind me is still growing! We're about to enter the wilderness, and who knows when the next prey will appear? We can only prepare food in advance!"

The mercenary pointed at the giant bird carcasses on the ground and said, "Look! There are only four...five of them here! It's just bird meat! What good is bird meat? We'll have to kill other animals soon! Is this fair to them?"

"You're quibbling!" Her long reddish-brown hair danced in the wind, and her green eyes stared coldly at the mercenary. "These wedge-billed birds are much more peaceful than their relatives, the axe-billed birds, yet they are hunted like the latter. Their population in this area has declined to only a few forty individuals in the past, and has only recently stabilized somewhat!"

"If everyone kills like you, who knows how long it will take for them to recover and flourish! They might even disappear from the world forever!"

"So, your duty is to protect them, and I let you fail in your duty." Raslaufer's nonchalant attitude made the druid tremble with anger. "I thought you were really worried about the balance of nature—"

"How dare you question my beliefs?!"

Before Reslaufer could finish his words, the woman could no longer endure such humiliation and swung her stick towards Reslaufer: "You will see the wrath of nature!"

"Bella's wrath from the Quiet Creek Society!"

The druid's oak stick seemed ordinary, but as it gradually approached Reslaufer, leaves began to fall from it, which made Reslaufer alert and cautiously deal with the stranger's attack.

But as the greatsword and the wooden stick clashed back and forth, the mercenary soon discovered that the druid seemed to be no match for him at all. The power of the greatsword could not help but increase by several points. In just a blink of an eye, Bella, who had just been fighting with Reslaufer with full of anger, felt unprecedented pressure.

"Is that all?" The druid heard the sneer from the other side's hateful voice. "Then don't blame me for taking them away."

"Dream on!" Bella suddenly withdrew her hand, and the wooden stick she held in one hand was immediately chopped off by the sword and stuck into the mud not far away. However, the next moment, a long thorn whip like a poisonous snake suddenly broke free from the druid's hand and stabbed towards Leslaufer's eyes!

"What are you doing? Are you crazy?!"

Bella was satisfied to hear the liar's scolding and see him making a defensive move, but the thorn whip in her hand was just a feint. As his body retreated violently, two stones bounced out from between Bella's fingers.

One was deflected by Reslaufer's sword with a loud bang, while the other hit the mercenary's knee squarely, and it was Reslaufer himself who made the shout.

"Is that all?"

Bella responded to the other's rudeness with a triumphant smile, but of course, this smile only lasted for a short while. After a chaotic burst of exclamations, shouts, and fighting, when Angelita, unable to bear the bloody scene, finally opened her eyes, Leslough had already pulled the woman's reddish-brown hair and dragged her in front of her.

"Let me go! You murderer! Let me go!" Bella struggled in the mercenary's hands, but the difference in power between the two meant that she would not be able to escape.

"It was you who started it! You poacher! Butcher! Cook!"

Angelita shrank her neck. The other party continued to curse in the same way. It was the next diner's turn.

"As if you'll care if other hunters prey on them—behave!" Reslaufer rubbed his knee with his free hand in frustration. He could tell without even looking that it was bruised. "Even axebills have their own natural enemies. Are you going to chase them away one by one?"

"But they only eat one at a time!" Bella's eyes were red, half of her eyes were sad for the birds, and the other half was because she was beaten. "And how do you know I didn't chase them away?!"

"Um?!"

Chapter 37 Wrong Path

"You won't let other animals eat them?" Reslaufer was really shocked this time. He hadn't met many druids before, and had only heard of a few extreme ones and most of the less extreme ones. But no matter what, they shouldn't interfere with the so-called "natural balance".

For druids, there are various unstable balances in nature: the balance between the four elements of air, earth, water and fire, the ecological balance between plants and animals, the balance between life and death, etc. They must do their best to maintain these balances and monitor those who destroy nature.

Before, Reslaufer was caught by these guys and he could only think that he was unlucky. After all, druids were rare, and not every group of animals had a druid guarding them. But now it seemed... that was not the case?

"I've never heard that predation between natural organisms is 'destroying the balance of nature'."

Leslaufer let go of Bella's hair, and the latter immediately jumped away, picked up the wooden stick that fell beside her, and looked at Leslaufer with hostility, but at least, she would not try to attack again after suffering a loss once.

"Which god do you believe in? The old oak tree? Or the deer-headed god?" Reslaufer thought the latter was less likely. Maybe it was Silvanus, the father of the oak tree?

This belief is widespread in the harsh environment of Ampyri, where Silvanus is seen as a cruel and ruthless father who commands floods and droughts, fire and cold, life and death in the wilderness. But in the Empire, as far as Raslaufer knows, the more popular nature gods seem to be the goddess of resurrection, Korrashir, and -

"Eldath, the Serene One, the Guardian of the Jungle, the Mother of Water," Bella's eyes dimmed slightly. "Those you mentioned also count. We worship the First Order, and every god of nature deserves the same worship. I just personally prefer Eldath."

Like is a rather subjective word. However, based on Reslaufer's limited understanding of various religions, the gentle god who advocated peace and avoided conflict did have reason to be loved, and the Empire established him as the archetypal deity of the natural realm.

However, the druid in front of her seemed to go against her god.

"I never knew that followers of Eldath would often adopt such a radical attitude," Angrita couldn't help but say, "Doesn't your god want everyone to live in harmony?"

"It's all life!" Bella immediately corrected the half-elf. She frowned and said, "It was your companion who destroyed it first! I'm just maintaining balance!"

"According to your balancing act, all carnivores will starve to death," said Rathlough sarcastically. "Does your balance only include prey life?"

"But as far as I know, animals like axe-beaks eat insects and other small things in addition to fruits and grass. You won't let them eat them?"

"This is exactly what I'm looking for!" Bella immediately puffed out her fairly broad chest. "I've lived with them for two months and have successfully persuaded them to stop eating small animals!"

Angelita couldn't help but roll her eyes. "What about plants? As a druid, don't you admit that plants have life too? They're innocent too!"

Bella looked at Angelita in surprise, but she wasn't about to stop. "And these birds were persuaded by you because they can eat fruit. What about big guys like lions and tigers? Are you going to make them eat grass, too?"

This seemed to touch the druid's sore spot. Her face flushed with embarrassment and she shouted, "I tried it! I first found a black bear for testing, and after it was successful, I found the black panther Barut! But he was taken away before my testing cycle was over!"

"Taken away by other druids?" Reslaufer folded his arms across his chest. "It seems there are still some normal people in your society."

"You—" Bella pointed at Leslaufer with hatred, but after a stalemate, the druid withdrew his hand in frustration and threw the stick to the ground, "Damn it! Damn it!"

"Why do even outsiders like you think Rufo and the others are right?! Isn't it clear that Eldas's teachings hope for peace and a lack of conflict?"

"It's about avoiding disputes, not resolving them," Angrita sighed deeply. "At least, as far as I know, that's what Eldas teaches."

"What's the difference?" Bella's eyes flashed with great doubt. "As long as we change the lives of those who may cause disputes, wouldn't we be calming the disputes at the source? If disputes don't arise, wouldn't that mean we have avoided them?"

"But Rufo and the others actually called it sophistry and kicked me out—no, they actually told me to reflect on myself in nature! I don't even know where I went wrong!"

"Your mistake is—" Leslaufer opened his mouth to speak, but in the end he chose to take a step back and give the right to negotiate to Angelita.

"Your mistake is that you shouldn't be a druid." The mercenary whispered.

"You're right. Many people do choose this path to seek peace," Angelita thought for a moment and said, "Sister Bella, please think about this: is this approach in accordance with nature?"

"You serve nature, not the other way around, right? This is one of the things that sets druids apart from most people, but you're clearly violating the laws of nature."

"Cats eat mice, mice eat cheese, it's part of nature, and yet you want to change it."

"Cats don't necessarily eat mice, and mice don't have that much cheese..." Bella retorted subconsciously, but the anger and confusion in her eyes gradually faded. "Have I violated the laws of nature..."

"But if that is so, why am I still a druid? Why hasn't Eldath taken back her gift? Why hasn't Nature taken back the favor she bestowed upon me?"

"Perhaps the gods of nature are all broad-minded."

Angelita shrugged and stopped trying to persuade him, letting him fall into deep thought.

It would be best if she could just realize that "Raceloff and Angelita need to eat bird meat," so that they can take the prey on the ground without any further trouble.

Time passed minute by minute, and the two people, who were looking forward to a richer meal, waited patiently for Bella's answer. Finally, the druid who met by chance sighed softly, bent down and picked up her oak cane from the ground.

"It seems I was wrong. Rufo and the others were right. They treated me the same way," the druid bowed to Angrita. "Thank you, brother elf. If it weren't for you, I'm afraid I would still be on the wrong path."

"Half-elf." Angrita hadn't forgotten her fake identity as "Buddy Antich." Her disguised ears and human face didn't allow her to transform into a true elf. She nodded reservedly, but she and Reslaufer didn't move. The three of them remained in a stalemate in the wilderness.

"Um, are you two lost?" Bella finally had to speak first. "Do you need me to be your guide? The main road is not far from here."

"We came down from the main road," Angreta was too embarrassed to say it directly, so she could only hint a little with her language skills, "to... follow the arrangements of nature."

Of course, Reslough's bloodthirsty needs and her unwillingness to eat solid food were "natural arrangements"... right?

"I understand," Bella said, her expression suddenly enlightened. She immediately made room between Reslaufer and the other two and the giant bird corpses. "Please, not all people have to be vegetarians, just like cats don't have to eat mice."

"But I have a small condition."