Horse hooves stepped onto cracked earth, large amounts of vegetation withered and dead. As far as the eye could see, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky for ten thousand miles, yet the ground was just as empty as the sky.
Aisley sat high on his horse waving, and after the soldiers received the news, they untied their luggage and set up camp.
Aisley lifted his leg and dismounted, one hand resting on his waist as he instructed the accompanying official about the division of the territory. His brows were tightly furrowed, his voice resonant and forceful, and he strode forward with his head held high, walking further and further away with the accompanying official.
Xingyuan, still on the horse: … His deer-like eyes were round, his expression dazed. This… he still hadn’t gotten down yet? Could it be that he was going to be left on the horse to starve to death?
Aisley had his back to the horse, his shoulders broad and thick, his figure tall and imposing. As he listened to the official’s report, he snapped off a dry blade of grass from beside him and put it in his mouth.
On the surface the accompanying official was speaking, but inside he was puzzled. The matters over there clearly hadn’t been dealt with yet, so why had my lord come over here? Just as he was thinking this, he saw their Lord Aisley look ahead, then lower his eyelids and smile. The dry grass at the corner of his mouth swayed, his eyes narrowed slightly, and his face took on a bit more of a rascally air.
There it was. The moment this expression appeared on my lord’s face, he understood that this fellow was, eighty percent likely, about to do something outrageous again.
Although this horse was taller and larger than an ordinary horse, it was still, after all, just a horse. Xingyuan himself was not short to begin with.
For Xingyuan, who had had smooth sailing since childhood, facing something like this, timidity was unavoidable. Xingyuan gripped the reins tightly, looking at the ground that was not exactly low, his body couldn’t help but lean back a little.
But thinking it over carefully, if he didn’t even dare to jump off a horse, what qualification did he have to say he wanted to become a general? Xingyuan gripped the reins even tighter, his eyes turned sharp, and he swung his leg over and dismounted.
On the surface, the young man made a beautiful dismount, which even looked somewhat aesthetically pleasing. After jumping down, he retreated a few steps but accidentally fell. The young man supported himself on a post and got up, moved his body a bit, and then walked off as if nothing had happened.
Aisley raised an eyebrow, feeling quite amused, and couldn’t help but smile.
After Xingyuan walked to where no one could see him, he pursed his lips and rubbed his own backside, his round eyes pressed into half-moons, his eyelashes slightly damp.
Ugh, next time he really needed to be more careful.
The nearby small town had been taken over by a new army, and the local residents held no complaints—in fact, after hearing the news, the town mayor’s aged eyes held more anticipation than before.
The town mayor’s nephew was the village chief of a nearby village. Upon hearing that a new army had arrived, he excitedly slapped his thigh and rushed to his uncle’s house through the night. “Uncle, this is wonderful, we’re saved!”
Upon hearing this, the town mayor pressed down on his cane. Though his tone was calm, the light in his eyes was impossible to ignore. “Yes! I heard the commander of this army is Lord Stahl. Their legion has always been one to suppress the strong and support the weak. Moreover, my lord has only just taken over here—with the strength of the legion, eliminating the bandits would be a simple matter that would also quickly and easily win the hearts of the people.”
The village chief slapped his thigh, “Looks like this group of bandits is done for. To think that, relying on the protection of those above them before, they did evil for so many years, making it so that everyone couldn’t even eat the grain they grew themselves. This time, we must beg my lord to root them out completely!”
Having said this, they immediately set off toward the camp where the army was stationed.
Aisley’s tent had already been set up by someone, and Xingyuan had also found his own bedding. He pursed his lips, his expression pained, rubbing his backside while finding a corner to begin making his own bed.
Just then, Xingyuan suddenly heard low voices talking.
“This tent was set up first, and there’s no one around outside either—this is exactly the good time for us to make our move!”
Xingyuan raised his head; his instincts told him the people outside did not belong to their legion.
“Why am I so nervous I can’t stand it? This is the army, you know. If something really happens, our whole hideout will be wiped out!” Clearly, the person who had just spoken had a companion.
The first person who had spoken cursed, “Are you stupid? Since we’re stealing, of course we can’t steal anything important, but we can still skim off a little bit of grease.” After saying this, the two of them walked in.
The first person had a cloth wrapped around his head, a thin dark body, and small eyes. He looked around the room, making tsk-tsk sounds with his mouth, “Bandet, look at this—just the fabric of that quilt alone is something we couldn’t afford to cover ourselves with.”
Bandet was built stocky and rough. Upon hearing this, he muttered. “If it’s obvious at a glance that this person’s status is out of the ordinary, then do we still dare to steal? Peioufuah, have you forgotten what the boss told us before? We’re supposed to lie low for a while, not stir up trouble!”
Peioufuah snorted coldly, “Better to burst from boldness than starve from timidity. How many days has it been since we’ve eaten a proper meal? Those damned peasants actually hid their food away! Once the army leaves someday, I will definitely get my revenge!”
Seeing strangers come in, Xingyuan instinctively hid in the corner. It was only when these people’s gazes swept over toward this direction that Xingyuan remembered—these two couldn’t see him. Xingyuan let out a breath of relief, and then became worried.
Were these two here to steal Aisley’s things?
Alarm bells rang wildly in Xingyuan’s heart. As a little rice worm himself, he already owed Aisley more than enough; guarding the house was something he ought to do. It was just that he wasn’t able to change anything about what happened here, and because of this Xingyuan grew anxious.
Suddenly, he had an idea. No matter what these people stole, he would follow along. If there really was something important among it, then later when he saw Aisley again, he could also help Aisley find it.
The two bandits began rummaging through the boxes and chests. Aisley had two large chests, one of which was locked, and the bandits couldn’t open it. Knowing there must be something important inside, they didn’t dare touch it, and instead shifted their attention to the other chest.
Xingyuan’s bedding was close to them, and in the process of rummaging, the bandits carelessly kicked the bedding aside, leaving footprints on the corner of the quilt. Xingyuan gritted his teeth, but he understood that now was not the time to hold them accountable for this.
The two bandits rummaged through and took a few odds and ends of not-very-valuable items. Though it seemed like there wasn’t much to gain, in fact what they stole was just the right amount. These things looked trivial, the kind of items that wouldn’t be retrieved even if accidentally lost. But it was precisely because of this that the two bandits dared to feel at ease that the person they stole from wouldn’t bother expending effort to pursue them.
Just before they were about to leave, they suddenly caught sight of a few pieces of meat cake laid out on the table, and for a moment they couldn’t help but swallow their saliva. They looked down at the bag full of stolen goods in their hands, somewhat hesitant—though it might not look like much, in fact even everything they had taken so far probably wasn’t worth as much as a single piece of meat cake.
Truth be told, meat cakes were a rare delicacy these days; who knew how many people nearby hadn’t eaten meat cake in years.
They glanced around furtively with shifty eyes, thinking to themselves: It should be fine if they just stole a piece of meat cake, right?
The bandits’ hearts raced faster, and each of them took a piece. Smelling the rich meaty aroma, they felt both nervous and excited, their mouths wildly secreting saliva. But they couldn’t bear to eat it right away, so they tucked the meat cakes into their robes, planning to secretly take a bite later whenever they craved it.
The two of them prepared to leave, and Xingyuan immediately followed behind them. Watching these two take so many things, Xingyuan was almost furious. What if there was something especially important to Aisley among these things?
Where the bandits had gotten their horse from, no one knew. The horse in front of them didn’t look very good—thin, short, and lacking in spirit, utterly worlds apart from Aisley’s horse.
There was only one horse. They often robbed and plundered goods, and they had stolen too much this time to ride the horse back, so they had gotten a small cart and tied it, hitched to the horse. Xingyuan, who couldn’t ride a horse, breathed a sigh of relief because of this.
With a shout urging the horse on, the sound of hooves rose over the flat, open land. Under the setting sun, the silhouette of the black cart grew further and further away, until at last only a small dot could be seen.
****
Aisley was in the middle of inspecting the camp when he suddenly heard an aged voice. “I beg you, my lord, this group of bandits is truly hateful—so many people have been oppressed by them until they can’t survive…”
Fred, appearing much more serious than usual at this moment, said, “Please rest assured, we are just busy organizing the camp right now. Once everything is settled, we will immediately send people to eliminate these bandits.”
The town mayor bowed and said, “Thank you for the trouble,” and Fred hurriedly helped him up.
The village chief added from the side. “This group of bandits is very cunning. After they heard that the garrison here had changed, these past few days they’ve hidden themselves deep in the mountains, not daring to come out. Only a few good-for-nothing small fry are still wandering around outside.” Aisley stood outside and nodded. He looked toward the inside of the tent and exchanged a glance with Fred, then walked away.
In all his years of fighting wars, he had seen no shortage of similar things. Bandits were certainly detestable, and he naturally wouldn’t stand idly by. It was just that the scale of these bandits was too small to warrant the attention of the entire legion.
Aisley’s heart was calm as still water. At this moment, the only thing that interested him was probably that child in the tent.
Thinking of this, Aisley couldn’t help but smile. At the time he had dismounted, he hadn’t thought much of it, but now looking back, given that kid’s constitution, he must have fallen and hurt himself and just gritted through it in silence.
Aisley lifted the tent flap, having originally expected to see the young man with teary eyes lying face-down on the bedding, burying his body in the quilt. However, the disorderly chests made his smile fade, his eyelids lifting.
Where was the person?
He pressed his lips together and walked in. With his gaze lowered, he saw the messy bedding and unfamiliar footprints. Aisley looked around the inside of the tent; the surroundings were utterly silent.
His fingers moved slightly, the tips turning pale. So then… where was the person?
At that moment, Fred’s loud voice came from outside the tent, “Aisley, are you in there? The town mayor said he admires you and wants to meet you.” Aisley didn’t make a sound; he walked straight to the entrance.
Fred was about to speak, but sensitively noticed something was off, “What’s wrong?” His subconscious made him look into the tent, and he saw the disorderly chests at a glance. “You—why did you go through the chests?”
“It wasn’t me who went through them,” Aisley said slowly, closing his eyes.
“Ah…” Fred was about to ask further, when the town mayor beside him suddenly spoke up, “My lord, might I ask if you’ve been robbed by thieves?”
Aisley opened his eyes and looked at him, and nodded.
The town mayor slapped his thigh and shouted loudly, “Damn it! This must absolutely be the work of that group of bandits! They really have some nerve, stealing right from under my lord’s nose!”
Aisley had originally wanted to think rationally, but he found himself somewhat unsteady on his feet. Seeing this, Fred hurriedly caught and supported him. Aisley gripped Fred’s arm, his breathing gradually growing heavier.
“What’s wrong, Aisley?” Fred asked in alarm.
Aisley’s pitch-black eyes were half-open, he licked the tip of his teeth, breath surging up from his lungs, his voice thick and hoarse. “I’ll f*cking k*ll those bastards…”