Translator: Wuxia Dog Editor: Wuxia Dog
Miss Keeley ran into Han Jin’s arm and nearly fell in a faint due to the strong stinking odor. Her legs softened. Han Jin held her.
She looked up and asked in a tremble tone: “Are they…all dead?”
Han Jin nodded.”Who would kill them all?”Cessacioun frowned his eyebrows.
“Don’t know. The killers may be from outside the corp, but it’s also possible they killed each other within the corp.” Han Jin replied in a low voice: “At least we’ve known they had a wizard.”
Miss Keeley’s face was pale without a trace of blood. All the past months were torment for her. When the others were still enjoying the laid-back life in the forest, she was desperately eager to leave and to find the Morgan Commercial Corp. But she was just an ordinary soldier with neither strength nor money. It’s impossible for her to survive alone, not to mention other things. And, she was beautiful. Beautiful usually means danger. She knew that clearly.
She was sure something must have happened to the Morgan Commercial Corp on the day she revealed her identity in the Eleventh Town but no member from the corp came to see her. She wished her friends would protect her and help her to put down the rebellion within the corp. But she couldn’t ask them to do this. Anyway, she had never made any contribution to the group. They took good care of her, that’s already very kind of them. She couldn’t expect them to risk their lives for her.The enemies of her were obvious much more powerful than them.
Now she knew there was a wizard. It was more hopeless for her.
Just then, little Joseph rushed in with his long sword. He must have heard the thunderous sound. “What happened, my Lord.” He asked.
“I thought you’ve already scared away, boy.” Han Jin laughed.
Little Joseph’s faceblushed: “How is that possible… You aremy employers now and I have responsibility for you!” This said, he got close to the hole. A strong stinking odor wafted to his nostril.”What’s the smell?” He asked with his hand covering his nose immediately.
“You’d better not know. It has nothing to do with you.” Han Jin replied.He gazed at Miss Keeley: “Let’s go back, shall we?”
She pushed him off softly and nodded.
***
They were all depressed after coming back to the hotel, especially Miss Keeley. Shewent upstairs to her room directly without greeting to anyone. Han Jin didn’t want to waste any of his time.He sat by a table randomly and took out the prepared wood, starting engraving with all his concentration.
Late in the evening, Sunier hadn’t come back. Cessacioun was worried about her and went out with little Joseph to look for her. Han Jin felt himself sluggish, so he didn’t go with them. He went upstairs, stood with his back leaning on the chimney, and looked at the night scene of the city.
The word “cultivate” in the phrase “cultivate one’s body and mind”has its profoundness. Friars are found of living in mountain forests to cultivate their minds. They pursue a natural state by sitting alone, watching the flowing of clouds, and listening to the melody of tide rising and falling. As for the saying ‘To live in a forest for personal seclusion, to live unknown to public in a city for great ambition’, it’s just an excuse for pedantic scholars to make preparation before being discovered and excavated, but not real cultivation. If one really enjoys a secluded life, nowhere else will be better than living in a mountain forest.
Han Jinseldom left the city since he started his cultivation due to various reasons, but he formed himself a habit, that was to spend some time sitting alone in a high place, watching the bright starts overhead and a myriad twinkling lights underfoot. He needed to calm himself down and experience the feeling of isolation and loneliness at the top, and to get himself rid off the worldly uproariousness. This would be helpful for his cultivation.
A faint scent was inhaled by him. A figure sitting beside.
“Why do you come back so late?” Han Jin asked lightly.
“I released a lot of tasks and waited there for along time.” Sunier replied. Shehanded over a bag to him: “All are third grade magic crystals with earth elements. The other fourth and fifth grade magic crystals have been stored by me.”
Han Jin took the bag and gauged its weight in the hand. “So many!”He exclaimed.
“Three hundred or more.”
“How much did you spend on them?”
“Not very much, earth-serial magic crystals are very cheap. It cost me only one hundred golden coins for all of them, including those fourth and fifth grade magic crystals.”
“Sunier, you… are you a celebrity in the Wild Willow City?” Han Jin asked with a smile. No ordinary person would consider one hundred golden coins as not much.
“Don’t ask me this. I don’t want to talk about it.” She changed the subject: “All members of the Morgan Commercial Corp were killed, weren’t they?”
“Yes.”
“What’s your opinion? Shall we… keep helping Miss Keeley or not?”
“What about you?” Han Jinmade no reply but asked back.
“I talked with her about her family affairs just now. In accordance with their provisions, she can have access to the interior of the commercial corp only after she has passed her examination. Which means, she’s just a green hand at present and unable to provide help for us at all.”
“Yes, I understand. The problem is not we want to help her or not, but whether we can achieve anything if we choose to help her.” Han Jin replied with an expression of approval: “If we are doomed to fail even if we’ve tried our best, what’s the meaning of taking such risk? Her enemies are much stronger and better informed than us, no matter they are from the Holy Crown City or the internal of the corp. What good can we have to confront them?”
Sunier fell into silence. It would be cruel for Miss Keeley if they decided not to help her just after a small talk without letting others know. But Han Jin didn’t consider himself wrong. It’s worse to be cruel to the whole group than to one person.
“We need a thief.” Sunier whispered:”If we can get a high grade thief and a high grade soldier, our team will be perfect. At least we can find out what happened in the Morgan Commercial Corp.”
“I remember Moxinke said the same thing as you.” Han Jin replied in a slow voice: “How about…we recruit one from the Association of Mercenaries?”
“It’s not practical.” Sunier shook her head: “You don’t understand how hard it is to have a good team. What if the guys we employ are narrow-minded persons good at making mischief? They may destroy the whole team of us. For instance, the space ring on your finger, they may disagree to let you have it, unless they get benefit from you.”
Han Jincast a glimpse of his space ring unconsciously, his lips curled into a smile.
“But…” Sunier suddenly remembered something: “we can buy information! How about I release a task tomorrow to gather the information in relation to the Morgan Commercial Corp? If it’s possible, we can give Miss Keeley a hand. You didn’t see her just now. Her eyes were swollen due to tears and she looked so pitiful. But if it is dangerous…”
“Okay.” Han Jin shrugged. At least the enemies of Miss Keeley had a wizard. That was dangerous enough, what else danger can they confront? But since Sunier changed her idea, he could only let things go in its way instead of refuting her directly.
