### Chapter 31 Four People
Tap, tap, tap…
The sound of leather boots crunching on rocky sand echoed clearly in the spacious cave. I held up a lantern in one hand, my other hand resting on the hilt of my dragon-claw sword, and stepped over a giant lizard’s corpse. The flickering light illuminated most of the cave, while the humid air was thick with the stench of rot and bl**d. All around me were the sprawled bodies of more giant lizards, each d*ath more gruesome than the last.
“Uh… cough, cough, cough.”
The pungent smell made my stomach churn, and I couldn’t help but cough a few times. As I took slow steps, my gaze swept over the nearby dead lizards, and my frown deepened.
These lizards sure died in all sorts of ways…
For example, the one on the left had its head cleanly sliced off just like the last one. A swift chop and—poof!—d*ath, no need for a second swing.
But lying next to it was another one that had been roasted alive, its body charred black with scales split from the intense heat, exposing many black bones… This didn’t quite seem like a result of infernal fire; anything burned by that would turn to ash, not leave behind remains like this. That’s the power of flame order for you.
Decapitated, incinerated…
Most of the corpses on the left side of the cave bore such fates, while on the right, a few were sprawled in a sand pit—though they had some sword wounds and burn marks, they didn’t look singed. Just from the sight of their stiff, belly-up postures, it was obvious they’ve been zapped by lightning… Yup, that’s the power of lightning order.
Roughly glancing around, there were at least a dozen giant lizards lying dead in this spacious cave. It had clearly once been a big lizard nest, but someone beat me to it and wiped them all out.
Darn…
Who on earth?
Stole my dinner…
I walked to the center of the cave and kicked at a lizard carcass that looked like it had been shot full of holes, my lips pouting in frustration.
Suddenly, I noticed a mound of ashes on a slightly elevated area not far away, which seemed to have been burned recently. I climbed up the dirt slope to check it out, squatting down in front of the ashes. I set my lantern aside, picked up a bit with my fingers, and took a whiff.
Charcoal dust…
Someone had a bonfire here.
Around the ashes, there were round stones moved from who-knows-where. I put on my thinking cap and counted: one, two, three, four… Four stones arranged around the bonfire, likely for sitting. Each stone had chewed lizard bones tossed about, and not far away lay a lizard with its tail cut off, presumably cooked and eaten.
There were four people resting here…
But they had already left…
I stood up and called back down the path I came from: “Betty, come out!”
Moments later, slow footsteps echoed, followed by a startled “Ah!” from the darkness. Then came a “thud” as the little girl seemed to trip over a lizard’s corpse. She screamed, “D-Dead! Wow… so many dead ones!”
“Shh! Keep it down.”
“It stinks… Ugh—”
As the little girl yelped, sand started raining down from above. I brushed my hair out of my face and saw Betty rushing towards me into the glow of the light, at which point she appeared to relax slightly, her shoulders sagging. However, she was soon overcome by the cave’s stench and bent over, dry heaving at the foot of the dirt slope.
“Betty.”
I picked up the lantern and made my way down to her side, gently patting her back and handing her the lantern, “Let me ask you. The two who claimed to be knights that came to the town before, you saw them, right?”
The little girl instinctively took the lantern, looking a bit bewildered as I patted her back, staring at me with her big eyes: “Betty saw them from afar…”
“Tell me about their appearance and characteristics.” I prompted.
Although Old Man Robert had filled me in once, I wanted to see if I could get a more detailed description from Betty.
“Hmm…”
Betty looked down and thought for a moment: “I remember there were two… a young woman and an old man. They were wearing Eastern Continent clothing—not armor, but it looked very fancy, great fabric, with swords at their waists… The old man had a sword, the woman didn’t. The woman had red hair, like wine-red…”
“Anything else?”
“Oh, and she had a really big chest, like, really really big…” she mused, her expression serious. “She had a stern face and didn’t talk much, looked kind of fierce. The old man, on the other hand, wore a smile, probably about the same age as my grandpa… maybe a bit older? He looked pretty ordinary—not at all like a knight—but if you said he was one, it wouldn’t seem strange… Err, isn’t that a strange feeling?”
As she rambled on, the little girl seemed to get lost in her own thoughts.
“…That’s it?”
“Yup, that’s all… Betty just caught a glimpse of them from a distance and can’t think of anything else.”
“Alright then.”
I patted her on the head, lost in thought.
A big-chested redhead and a genial old man…
Hmm…
Definitely not anyone I recognize, and I hadn’t heard anything like that before. Couldn’t wrap my mind around who they could be.
But if they really are knights, they surely can’t be just regular church knights—that much is certain…
“Are you sure there were only two of them?”
I asked her again. The little girl nodded earnestly, replying, “Betty only saw those two.”
Two, not four…
But I can’t rule out the chance that they might have some other buddies waiting elsewhere. I was suspicious that these folks were the ones who had come here, killed all these giant lizards, and by the time I arrived with my stomach growling, there was nothing left to eat…
What rotten luck.
You better remember this.
“Forget it, Betty, let’s move on…”
Just as I was about to say more, I suddenly heard a rustling noise from outside the cave.
!
Something’s coming… from all directions… not human, and definitely not alone!
“Big Sister, what’s wrong?”
The sounds were getting closer, and Betty hadn’t caught on yet, looking at me with a puzzled face. I quickly scanned the surroundings and drew my dragon-claw sword again: “Quick, hide.”
The rustling sounds came closer and I felt a rush of excitement. My mouth couldn’t help but curl into a grin, but Betty began to panic, “Wh-wh-what’s going on…?”
“Dinner’s coming right to us.”
I pushed her back a bit, and at that moment, from the shadows on the other side of the cave, a massive purple beast emerged! It was another giant lizard! Its head stepped into the firelight, while the rest of its gigantic form was still hidden in the shadows. It lifted its head and, upon making eye contact with me, hissed, flicking its tongue, with its throat bulging as if about to spew something out of its mouth.
“Ha!”
I laughed out loud and threw my short sword straight at it!
Whoosh—thunk!
The sharp blade sliced right into the lizard’s head, and as scales shattered, the huge beast let out a wail, rolling around in agony. Green, poison-like liquid spewed from its mouth and splattered on the ground.
“Betty, close your eyes!”
In the next instant, I leaped more than three meters into the air, my left hand gathering black mist. In a blink, I dashed forward, pulled out my short sword, and slapped down on the giant lizard’s head. Dead smoke enveloped it, quickly devouring the creature. The fallen giant lizard twitched a few times before quickly disintegrating into ash.
The bluish-white light and smoke entered my chest, and a rush of power surged through me just as more rustling sounds filled the air—one giant lizard after another rushed in from all directions, encircling both me and Betty with their flicking, snake-like tongues.
