Chapter 5:

The cold night wind blew your cheeks, and the slight tingling and coldness pulled your consciousness back from the trance.
You find that you are standing on an empty street, holding an umbrella in your hand and holding a handful in your arms. The dark clouded sky is full of patters of rain, and the busy streets where people come and go are only left because of the rain. A few passersby panicking for shelter from the rain.
Ah, you suddenly remembered.
You are going to the east gate of the city to give your sister an umbrella so that she won’t go home again in the rain. Although your sister is always taking her own health into consideration, once she gets sick, in this different world with backward medical technology, Civilians like them who have no status or status do not have the money to seek medical treatment from the pastor, and basically can only rely on their own bodies and cheap restorative medicines on the market to survive.
With such a careless sister, as a younger sister, you are forced to become a caring little adult.
You sighed helplessly and walked on the rain-soaked street. When you passed a narrow dark alleyway, you suddenly found a small figure in the shadow of the alleyway.
It seems to be a child.
You hesitate a bit, hesitated, and walked towards him slowly.
When you get closer, you realize that this is a teenager who doesn't seem to be eleven or twelve years old. He keeps his arms around him, burying his head in his knees and motionless. The cloth on his body has long been wet by the cold rain, beautiful. His blond hair was also wet, and his body exuded a lifeless gloomy aura, like an abandoned, homeless puppy.
But you can roughly tell from the clothes he wears that the boy’s family situation seems to be quite affluent, and his body is also very tidy, does not look like an abandoned child, but more like sneaking out of the house to play Of the rich family.
"Big Brother..." You considered your tone, and softly persuaded you with the gentlest possible tone: "You will get sick like this, so go home early."
Hearing your voice, the young man paused and slowly raised his head, revealing a white face that was so beautiful that it was almost impossible to distinguish between genders.
You can't help being stunned.
But the reason you are stunned is not because of the boy's overly beautiful face, but because of the dead, numb eyes that don't look like a child at all.
It was as if the shell of the soul had been lost, without any vitality or light.
It's like a delicate puppet.
You noticed that the boy had a faint bruise resembling a strangle mark on the neck of the boy.
To a child...
Seeing the boy's dull and indifferent appearance, you couldn't help frowning, and tilted the umbrella a little in his direction, blocking the top of him.
The youth's golden eyelashes trembled, and he slowly raised his head to look at you, and the reflection of the dim and out-of-focus blue eyes showed the little you.
You can't bear it, but you can't help him as a child, and you have to pick up your sister now.
"Big brother, I'm sorry, I'm leaving now."
You pursed your lips apologetically, and tucked the handle of the umbrella in his hand.
"This umbrella is for you."
You turned around and wanted to leave, but someone grabbed your hand.
You lowered your head in surprise, and found that the blond boy who had not reacted at all just now was watching you with those beautiful blue eyes like gems. He grabbed your hand, and some of his bloodless lips moved slightly. Moved.
You didn't hear what he said, so you knelt down and approached him. "Big brother, are you talking about..."
You, who hadn't finished speaking, were suddenly embraced by the young man with his hands.
You feel as if you are being held tightly by a cold corpse, and you can't help but shudder in the cold.
"So warm..."
The young man almost murmured, and a vague, low-pitched sigh lingered in your ears.
"...Big brother?" You whispered hesitantly.
He didn't speak, he just held you motionless, and seemed to treat you like a small humanoid heater.
You can’t remember what happened later, you only vaguely remember that after that day, you fell ill and scared your sister very much. It took half a month to get better, but your careless sister Through this incident, I finally remembered the lesson, and I will never turn my body into a mess again.
You woke up dimly from your sleep and stared at the wooden ceiling for a while.
When your consciousness is fully awake, you will later realize that you dreamed about things from when you were a child, but the memory is too long. If it were not for this weird dream, you might have forgotten about it now.
What is the appearance of the teenager who had a brief social relationship with you now?
You can't help but think about it, but then you feel that you are too sentimental. Perhaps in the eyes of most people, you should be regarded as a kind-hearted girl, but in fact, your kindness is often very limited.
Just like you see an injured puppy on the side of the road, maybe you will heal it, and then find someone who can adopt it to take it in, but you will not take it home, it’s up to you Take care of yourself.
Because you know that you don't have more energy and patience to spend on it.
And the young man you saw in the rain is the same to you. You think he is mistreated by others, but you don’t have the ability to help him. What you can do is just pass him. It's just a dispensable umbrella.
After that, you are just completely unrelated strangers.
Perhaps the umbrella you gave was just to satisfy your weak feelings of guilt.
Rubbing the still groggy forehead, you feel a bit thirsty in your throat, so you get out of bed and light the oil lamp, walk to the table, pour a glass of water, and take a sip in your hand.
Looking out the dark window shrouded by night, you know that there is still some time before dawn.
It's weird. In this time period, your sister should have gone home long ago.
A few days ago, your sister told you that the head of the caravan took on a task of escorting supplies to a caravan. Originally, you wanted to go with you, but your sister asked you to rest at home. You think that your destination is not far away, and you go. The road is relatively safe, so I feel at home and wait for them to return safely.
Yesterday, it was hard to coax that enthusiastic and overly big person away. You felt exhausted and wanted to rest for a while. As a result, you fell asleep as soon as you touched the pillow, and you missed the time.
Originally, according to the estimated time, the mercenary group should return to the city yesterday evening, but now there is no message at all, and your heart suddenly squeezes like a pain.
When you feel panic and anxious because of purposeless guessing, a small black shadow flies in from a gap in the window.
You are shocked, and when you take a closer look, you discover that the black shadow is a small furry bat.
"Miss Mey, good evening." From the bat's mouth, a deep and elegant male voice that could almost be called the template of the mainland lingua franca came out.
You hesitately said, "Are you... Mr. Aleuros?"
Some races in this world can drive magical creatures or other similar magical creatures, so you are not shocked to see this little bat who can only talk.
"Yes, I'm sorry." The other party confirmed your guess. It seems that it was because of scruples. The devil rarely hesitated for a moment before continuing: "I think this matter may be related to you, so I thought about it or let you know. A sound is better."
"Yesterday I received a message about a caravan cooperating with our shop. They were attacked by Medusa midway yesterday, and the members of the mercenary group they hired were also badly injured..."
...
With a pale face and loose long hair, you stumbled towards the gate of the city like a lost ghost.
Because you ran too fast, you didn't notice the uneven stone road under your feet, knocked your toes on the raised stones, staggered and fell head-on.
Severe dull pain quickly spread to the whole body from the toes and the scratched elbows and knees.
You tried to stand up again, but failed.
Only by clenching your teeth, can you stop the desperation and whimpering from deep in your throat.
Because you know crying won’t solve any problems.
The only thing you can rely on now is yourself.
"What are you doing here?"
A calm male voice came from above your head with a bit of astonishment.
Sitting on the ground, you raised your head blankly, and from the other person's eyes, you saw a black-haired girl with red and swollen eyes and a panic.
"Please!" As if you had caught a life-saving straw, you firmly grasped the corner of his clothes and pleaded: "Please take me to the forest outside the city. I will pay you no matter how much it is. "
The post hasn’t opened at this time. It’s difficult to rent a carriage or other means of transportation. You are not a wind or space mage, and there is no way to reach the destination you want as quickly as possible. .
But as a canine sub-orc, he runs at full speed, almost as fast as a griffon flying in the sky.
The other party frowned and looked at you for a while, and then without asking anything, he bent down and put you on his back, which was almost relieved.
"Hold me tightly." He said in a deep voice.
You blinked your sore eyes, quickly wrapped your hands around his neck, and your body pressed tightly against his back.
As if feeling a strange touch, the sub-orc's body tightened unnaturally.
"Mr. Doberman?" You whispered in a dumb voice, with obvious urgency and anxiety.
He recovered quickly and rushed in the direction you pointed out.
The physique and strength of this sub-orc are exceptionally strong and vigorous. When his feet jump up from the ground, even the towering city gates can be easily crossed. When he runs at full strength, the scenery on both sides of his body The blurry picture flashes quickly, giving you the illusion that you are riding on a four-legged dog-beast mount.
The strong muscles on the back and shoulders of the suborc canine are like hard rocks. Your arms and chest hurt, but you have to hug his neck tightly and bury your face on the side of his neck. , Can barely let myself be bumped down.
An extremely uncomfortable experience for you is also a kind of painful torture for the male suborc who is rushing through the jungle with you on his back.
Canine creatures’ senses of smell and hearing are notoriously sensitive and sharp, which means that they must always endure the slight, rapid, moist gasping sound of you in his sensitive neck, and feel your weak boneless body. Rubbing the warmth and softness of allowance behind him, as well as the slender and smooth arms tightly around his throat, like an intensive torment.
In the corner you can't see, because of excessive restraint suppressing instinct, sharp canine teeth that reveal the nature of the orc are looming in the lips, and the tough face also shows a slightly distorted hideous excitement.
"Mr. Dubin..." I caught hearing the sub-orc's gasping and faint groaning, and you said laboriously: "If you can't hold it any longer, please let me down. I can..."
"Stupid." The canine suborc mocked your innocence coldly, and the dull voice revealed a slight tone of hoarseness, as if it was forced out of the throat. "Do you want to be eaten by beasts without bones?"
Perhaps he is the most dangerous beast that wants to skin her and eat her most.
The Orc Canine laughed at himself and pulled the corner of his mouth.
You don’t really understand why the other party is so angry suddenly, some of you opened your lips, "Sorry..."
"You only have this sentence?" The canine sub-orc tries to lure you into distracting him by saying more with the soft and lovely voice like a small animal, lest he can't control the tumbling in his heart at this moment. The upwelling filthy. Flowing thoughts.
You tightened your lips a little unpleasantly, but at this moment you still need his help, so you did not respond to his provocation, just stopped speaking, and quietly said nothing.
You vaguely heard the other party's curse, almost annoyed.
But fortunately, your awkward atmosphere did not last long, because you have seen your goal.
It was a team that looked extremely miserable. There was almost no intact carriage. The wooden frame outside the carriage was covered with traces of being bitten by the claws and teeth of wild animals, and the wheels were also covered with dark red. The blood stains, the wounded in twos and threes supported each other, and the expressions on everyone's face were abnormally numb and dull.
At a glance, you saw the young woman in a riding attire in front of the convoy. When she saw her tired but safe face, tears of joy suddenly overflowed your eyes.
"Sister—" You yelled, then ran towards her quickly.
"...Mee?" Your sister Shalena opened her eyes in astonishment when she saw you suddenly appeared, "How could you..."
You threw into her arms and hugged her tightly, and burst into tears without any scruples.
Shalena was also a little at a loss, but when she saw your crying face like a child, she suddenly laughed, "I really miss you, I haven't seen you cry like this for many years."
"Hey, don't cry." The woman lovingly patted your crying thin shoulders with the hand that held the sword all the year round, her tone of soothing expression, "Isn't sister back safely?"
At this moment, your heart is occupied by deep fear and the joy of regaining the loss. You can't imagine that if your only relative in this world really leaves you forever, then how you will spend your future life alone.
You lifted your tearful, red and swollen eyes, and looked nervously at the injury of your sister, "Sister, you..."
You, who hadn't finished speaking, were surrounded by the rest of the team.
"Miss May, please save my brother!"
"My arm is about to break, I don't want to be disabled!"
"My injury is the most serious! Don't rob me!"
As the only light mage with healing ability among the seven elemental magics, not only the number is the most scarce, but most of them are junior apprentices, not even a formal light mage.
But even so, even light-type mage apprentices are very popular. After all, most of the light-type mages have been divided by the court and the Holy See. The few exposed light-type magicians are unwilling to join with meager rewards. In the busy and messy mercenary group, and the occupational risk is still very high, they only need to help people in a safe place to take care of some minor injuries and get a lot of money. Why bother to be a mercenary It.
Therefore, mercenary groups with light mages are also very popular. After all, if you are injured, go to the treatment center to find a priest for treatment. The cost is not affordable for ordinary people, so many mercenaries who don’t have money to heal their injuries rely on The self-healing power of his body is overwhelming and he does not want to go to the treatment center.
It is no exaggeration to say that the reason why your mercenary group has gathered a lot of senior mercenaries with good strength is mostly because you are a light mage.
Seeing that Shalena is still alive, you finally feel relieved and start to treat the wounded.
There are too many wounded, even though your magic power is at the upper-middle level among mages of the same rank, after helping them heal almost, your magic power is almost exhausted.
You wiped the dripping sweat from the corner of your forehead, breathed out gently, and looked around, but did not see a certain figure, you looked at Shalena suspiciously, "Sister, Larut Where?"
After your voice fell, there was a moment of silence around you.
"If it weren't for the mixed race, how could we be attacked by Medusa!"
Some people spurned bitterly.
"That mixed breed is a disaster, we must drive him out of the mercenary group!"
"Yes, he must be driven away, otherwise he will kill us sooner or later!"
The others were also exasperated with indignation.
Medusa is not a person's name, but a snake-tailed human body, who is good at deceiving and seducing, and represents a dark monster of disaster and despair.
It’s strange that there are only males and no females in this group, but they are all very beautiful and gorgeous. Their eyes have strange magical powers, which can confuse all the creatures that are seen. Only the strong-willed can not be deceived. The living creatures they tempted will gradually lose their minds and become puppets. Even if their flesh and blood are torn, their limbs will not be able to restore their minds.
Once encountering such a terrible monster, whether it is an adventurer or a mercenary, the chances of surviving are extremely small, and Medusa is extremely licentious by nature. If they encounter their favorite prey, they will inevitably play it and kill it. It will be eaten later, especially the women who fell into the hands of Medusa are particularly miserable. While enjoying the beautiful body of women wantonly, Medusa will treat the female she likes as a mother to reproduce offspring and lay snake eggs for him. Nurturing the next generation of Medusa larvae.
And I don’t know why, Medusa especially likes mixed prey of aliens and humans. The adventurers and mercenary groups that are usually attacked by Medusa are mostly because of the human mixed members of the team, so when recruiting members , They are usually shut out.
Larut is a hybrid of human and Yanlong. When he was born, because he couldn't control the tyrannical nature of Yanlong blood, his human mother couldn't stand the pain of childbirth, so he opened his stomach and dug him. Came out, and his mother died of bleeding.
The people in the village believed that he was the son of an unknown doom, and sold him to a passing slave trader.
The slave trader sold him several times, but he was eventually returned because Largot went crazy and injured the buyer. A slave trader who did not make a profit but posted a lot of money angrily tied Largot. On the wooden stake, let him expose him to the hot sun, and beat him with a poisonous whip every day to warn other slaves who wanted to escape or were disobedient.
Then the mercenary group that you belonged to happened to pass by that day, and saw the dying little dragon man covered in bruises. You moved with compassion and bought him from the slave trader with a small amount of money.
After healed his injury, you let him choose to stay.
After staring at you for a long time with those vigilant and icy golden vertical pupils, the dragon man asked your purpose in a hoarse voice with a hint of immature.
In his world, there is no kindness and dedication without asking for return.
He thinks that you save him only to use him to get something more valuable.
You have no way to explain clearly to him, so you have to ignore him.
But the dragon man thinks that this is another lustful trick of yours. After you leave, he still follows you closely, wanting to see what you will do.
Later, inexplicably, he followed you and became a member of the mercenary group.
You have never restrained him, and you have never asked him to do anything.
Maybe one day he loses interest in you, so he will leave by himself.
You think so naively.
But no matter when you look back, you can see his silent figure hidden in the dark, as well as the pair of golden vertical pupils that have never been removed from you, completely different from human beings, focusing on almost paranoid distortion.
"Enough, shut up!"
Shalena's face was cold, and she reprimanded in a deep voice: "If Largot desperately saved us, everyone would die in Medusa's hands. I don't ask you to thank him, but at least give him what he deserves. Respect, now that you are going to take revenge and want to drive him away, I am the first to disagree!"
After Shalena's words fell, the irritated people finally calmed down, and some people still had dissatisfaction on their faces, but they did not speak again to cause riots.
You breathed a sigh of relief, and cast a grateful look at your sister.
Then you stand up and search for Gaert's figure nearby.
When Shalena saw this, she pointed out a direction for you.
You nodded and walked in the direction she pointed. After a while, you saw a tall figure standing in the pool with your back facing you.
His limbs are covered with bright red scales in the shape of dragon scales, and his hair is red and hot like flowing magma. The muscles stretched out on his back are well-proportioned and smooth, revealing a tension in the waist. It sank deeply.
A little down from the waist, in the clear pool water, it seems that a thick and long tail that is not human, with dense scales, similar to a lizard, hangs quietly.
As if to feel your arrival, the red-haired man standing in the water slowly turned around. The handsome and three-dimensional features that resemble a human male revealed a deep gloom and hostility, and a flame-shaped monster filled the tail of his eyes. The different magic patterns, like the chilling golden vertical pupils unique to reptiles, staring straight at you.
This gives you a shuddering feeling of prey being watched by a snake.