Chapter 143: The Weeping Girl
Beside the campfire.
Soren placed the light-as-a-feather girl by the fire because she was completely invisible to the n*ked eye; he could only set her down a bit farther away to avoid burning her. The Invisibility Spell was a Second Tier spell, but the Greater Invisibility Spell was a Fourth Tier one, and the effects of the two spells were vastly different. Unless Soren took off her clothes, there was no way to see her; even then, all that would be visible would be her clothes. This was one of the most commonly memorized spells by many wizards, and wizards above Third Tier generally replaced the Second Tier Invisibility Spell with the Greater Invisibility Spell.
Even if the spell was used for attack, the target wouldn’t become visible; only a blurry silhouette of movement would appear.
It was a very perverse spell!
Soren didn’t have the ability to see through invisibility nor to dispel the invisibility spell; he could only sit beside her and continue eating.
About half an hour later.
The girl still showed no signs of waking up, and he seemed a bit impatient. He reached out and pinched her nose, then pressed down heavily on her chest a couple of times.
Still, there was no response.
Soren raised his hand and slapped her face. The force wasn’t very strong, but it still didn’t wake her up.
He didn’t know if it was due to supernatural factors that she was unconscious, but he felt her over from head to toe and found no wounds. The problem before him was twofold: one, whether to leave her here since she hadn’t woken up, or two, whether to take her with him. Leaving her here would be equivalent to giving up halfway; it would be better not to have rescued her in the first place. Soren wasn’t someone who liked to give up midway.
But waiting for her to wake here was not an option!
Since the girl was invisible, she also knew her identity was unusual, and she was under several spells while unconscious in the wilderness. The trouble behind this was probably considerable.
Staying here for long would easily attract danger!
Soren hesitated slightly but still started moving. As a Wanderer, he was skilled in wilderness survival, and he began to erase all traces left by the two of them, including the spot where she had first appeared. The Frozen Kingdom was advantageous in this respect; the difficulty of tracking here was much higher than in the southern regions. As long as he erased their traces, even if someone tried to track them, it would be futile. It took him a while to clean up the traces, then he completely extinguished and covered the campfire.
Next, Soren picked up this invisible girl and walked into the mountains covered with ice and snow that stretched for hundreds of miles.
The stronger the monster, the more perilous its dwelling.
Dragons wouldn’t randomly run to the plains; they lived in steep cliff areas, as they were flying creatures. There was no way to deal with these beings without entering the mountains; their hunting range rarely extended into very open areas. The snow-covered roads were a bit difficult to traverse. Holding a woman, Soren wasn’t moving quickly and also had to erase the footprints left behind.
Snowflakes fell from the sky. In no time, everything was covered.
Soren reached out and felt her breath; her breathing was still stable, indicating that she either had a very good constitution or had special equipment. However, the right side of her face was slightly swollen, not knowing if it was due to the initial slap he gave. Regardless, he didn’t use much force, and it was surprising to see such easy swelling; the girl in his arms looked very spoiled. Her resistance to impact was simply too poor.
He walked for half a day.
Soren didn’t know how far he had walked, but he had definitely entered the ice and snow-covered mountains. The sky had already darkened. He found a spot sheltered from the wind to camp. The winds inside the mountain were strong; even hiding behind rocks, he could hear howling sounds. Soren began to take out supplies to set up camp, placing the girl who was still unconscious and invisible in a corner. He had no idea what spells were cast on her that could last so long; he even had the thought of stripping her clothes off to take a look.
Soren set up a campfire.
Then he took a few sips of water, recalling that the girl beside him seemed to have gone a whole day without drinking. He reached out to her head, then pried her mouth open carefully and poured a bit of water inside. He pressed down on her chest a few times, and it seemed she swallowed.
“Cough!…”
A weak cough suddenly sounded. With that, a flurry of colors danced before his eyes, and the girl who had been invisible for nearly a day finally revealed her original appearance.
She looked quite young, about fifteen or sixteen years old.
She wore a very exquisite long dress, decorated with intricate embroidery, clearly a skillfully crafted piece. It was undoubtedly very lovely, with long eyelashes and skin that appeared very fair and delicate, clearly a pampered young girl. The only unattractive feature was the red mark on her right cheek, five clear fingerprints, and her cheek was slightly swollen. Soren felt a bit awkward upon seeing this, as he had really not used much force—just a light slap.
“Um!…”
The girl slowly opened her eyes, and upon seeing someone in front of her, she obviously shrank back a bit. Her gaze showed some fear, and as soon as she noticed Soren approaching, she rushed at him without hesitation, trying to bite his arm. It was surprising to see that though her body was small and delicate, she had more strength than Soren, knocking him straight to the ground and biting his arm. It was clear she was putting in real effort, causing him to grimace in pain. He considered knocking her out, but seeing her pale complexion, he worried she wouldn’t wake up for a long time if he did, so he simply pinched her nose with his fingers.
“Um… um… um…”
With no air flowing through her nose, the girl’s mouth finally loosened a bit, and Soren’s reflexes were lightning-fast as he clasped her jaw and pried it open. Initially, he thought about dislocating her jaw, but taking into account that this could be a reflex action of waking up, he showed her some mercy.
It was obvious she had no combat experience.
Where was the sense in trying to bite someone’s arm as a form of self-defense? If you were going to bite, you’d aim for the throat, not the arm—what use was that!
Were you a dog or something?
The girl momentarily stunned by Soren’s grip on her jaw, was just getting ready to pounce again. Her demeanor suggested she was as fierce as a cat ready to fight, but suddenly she seemed to see something, her gaze sweeping past Soren’s curved blade, and with an incredulous tone, she said, “It’s you!… It’s actually you!… Did you save me?… Do you remember me?… That day you were unconscious in the snow!… I was the one who brought you back to the city!…”
Her words sounded slightly incoherent, and her expression and gestures were somewhat comical.
However, Soren still understood the gist of what she was saying and was a bit startled, saying, “You were the one who brought me back to the city that day? What a coincidence!”
The girl seemed to want to stand up, but frowned and sat back down, suddenly feeling weak from the release, her voice weak, “I saw you fainting in the snow, so I sent someone to take you to the city for medical treatment. I originally intended to bring you along, but Granny Greena disagreed…”
“Granny Greena… she… she’s dead!… Carlo… Keynes… they are all dead!…”
At this point, sadness appeared on the girl’s face, and tears began to drop from her beautiful large eyes, her shoulders trembling slightly as she started to sob uncontrollably. Soren slightly frowned; just from the girl’s words, he knew the trouble was considerable. Still, he cautiously walked over and gently patted her back.
“Wuwuwu!…”
This gesture of comfort seemed to have a greater effect; the girl immediately fell into his arms, crying with tears and snot streaming down her face, looking like a pitiful little kitten.
Those who said girls looked beautiful when they cried were absolutely delusional; believe it or not, having a mess of tears and snot on your chest was not a pleasant sight!
She cried for quite a while before gradually stopping.
With red and swollen eyes, she looked somewhat pitiable. Soren’s chest was wet; due to her crying, she was getting choked up, and almost couldn’t breathe from sobbing, leaving a scene that had no aesthetic value, only evoking one’s sympathy. Sympathy for the weak belonged to the realm of morality, and Soren clearly had his own moral standards.
“I’m… I’m sorry!…”
The girl glanced at the bloodstains on Soren’s arm, her voice slightly choked.
That was caused by her bite; she had indeed applied some strength. If it hadn’t been for Soren’s quick reflexes, she might’ve bitten off a piece of meat from him. The girl wiped her cheeks and removed the tears from her face. It seemed she felt the swelling on her right cheek, but said nothing, just sitting there dejectedly. It was obvious she was a girl who had been too pampered; she probably had never seen bl**d before, and now facing a serious situation, she couldn’t quite cope.
“Alright.”
Soren was momentarily at a loss for words. He patted her shoulder and said, “I’ll prepare some food for you first. You must be starving.”
“After you eat, let me know what’s going on. Since you saved me, I will try my best to help you this time!”
The girl lifted her small head, her eyes red, with a glimmer of hope in them, her voice choked, “Thank… thank you!…”
Soren appeared somewhat silent.
Just by instinct, he knew things were complicated, and getting involved in such matters would be troublesome. He took out ingredients to grill over the fire and glanced at the girl beside him. Any detail about her indicated that her identity was quite noble. Any enemies daring to act against her were definitely not simple. He was not a person with overflowing sympathy, yet if someone had saved him, he couldn’t just leave her here.
He was a principled person, sometimes even stubborn.
Soren chopped off a segment of the king crab and then asked, “How did you recognize me? I don’t look quite the same as I did back then, do I?”
The girl continued to sob quietly. She had cried so fiercely that she found it hard to stop. Upon hearing his question, she looked up and said softly, “Your… your kn*fe…”
Soren’s kn*fe was quite unique.
In the Frozen Kingdom, curved blades made from elven scaly-patterned steel were rare, and the beauty of the scaly pattern on the curved blade left a deep impression.
……………(To be continued ~^~)
