Chapter 73 - 71: Hi

Chapter 73: Chapter 71: Hi

"You’re a good person."

The bushes and branches were damp with the late-night air. Filtered through the canopy, only a few bleak wisps of moonlight slipped through, chiseling faint patches of light onto the ground covered in rotting leaves.

Although flames can drive away beasts, they also attract more intelligent monsters. That’s why Adventurers rarely light torches when traveling through the forest at night.

They only light a torch when they’ve already encountered a monster and need the light to fight.

Mirana’s voice was calm. That classic line, "You’re a good person," was her assessment after hearing Bai Ya’s story.

And it was a sentence Lu Wei had heard from many people’s lips.

He was supposed to be a "Crafty Merchant," yet the most common evaluation he received was "good person." He wasn’t sure if that counted as a failure.

In any case, Lu Wei considered himself quite successful.

After all, according to the first rule of the *Rules for Crafty Merchants*, he at least *looked* like a good person... which was always better than looking like an actual Crafty Merchant.

"I am indeed a good person."

Nodding shamelessly, Lu Wei summed himself up, "And an honest merchant."

"Hmm..."

Mirana hesitated for a moment, then turned to look at him. "Right, there’s something I think I need to apologize to you for."

"What is it?"

"A few days ago, when we were attacked by the Kobolds, I was actually using you. I’m very sorry about that."

"Oh, that."

Lu Wei pursed his lips. "It’s in the past. Besides, I didn’t really take it to heart."

Mirana paused, surprised. "Really? You don’t think I’m treacherous?"

"Heh."

As Mirana stared at him blankly, Lu Wei seemed to suddenly get angry. He turned his head away with a cold smile and muttered under his breath:

’Unbelievable. What’s she showing off for...’

...

...

"That thicket on the left. There’s probably something inside. Let’s go around."

「About four hours later.」

A rustling sound, barely audible, came from deep in the darkness. It was faint even in the silent forest.

It was likely some kind of small animal, like a squirrel or a rabbit.

Or it could be a snake or a lizard.

In any case, going around was definitely the right move.

Having offered the casual warning, Lu Wei, walking in front, didn’t break his stride. He could already faintly see a small clearing ahead through the gaps between the tree trunks.

Mirana immediately skirted the thicket and once again remarked with heartfelt sincerity, "High Perception really is useful."

’Duh, you think?’

"Yes, it saves a lot of unnecessary trouble at least."

Lu Wei glanced back at her. "It’d be even better if you talked less."

"I don’t believe I talk very much."

Mirana frowned. "Besides, talking occasionally while traveling is an effective way to relieve fatigue."

’Right, right, right, I knew it...’

Lu Wei turned back, speechless, not bothering to say anything more.

Based on their recent interactions, he’d suddenly discovered that Mirana seemed a bit "paranoid," or perhaps "extremely controlling," and couldn’t tolerate any form of questioning.

The moment you said she was wrong about something, or that anything was amiss, she’d immediately find all sorts of reasons to refute you.

’Democratic on the surface, but a total dictator underneath... Hail, Hitena!’

’Please lead us in exterminating the cruel, greedy, and despicable inferior race of goblins!’

"Leader, we’ve arrived."

After another ten minutes or so, when the two arrived at Moon Creek Forest, Lu Wei, acting uncharacteristically attentive, held back a branch for Mirana. The title he used left her completely baffled.

"Why are you calling me that?"

"Just a little dark humor."

Lu Wei shook his head and quickly surveyed the surroundings of the forest clearing, finally choosing a spot on slightly higher ground near the stream to make camp.

Soon, a bonfire was lit. The orange-red flames drove away the late-night chill and allowed their tense moods to relax a little.

Compared to Dome Pillar, Moon Creek Forest was closer to the Lost Basin in the center of the forest. Strictly speaking, it was a large river flat washed out by the stream.

The ground was covered in river stones and pebbles, with no trees growing on it. This made the entire clearing seem like a small hole in the green canopy covering Gelan Forest, allowing a full view of the sky just by looking up.

When he was considering a location for his general store, this place had originally been one of Lu Wei’s backup options.

But he’d given up on it after thinking it over more carefully.

First, he was worried it was too deep in the forest and thus more dangerous.

Second, he was concerned about the inconvenient access and that the customer traffic wouldn’t be as high as at Dome Pillar.

Third, he was afraid that if it ever rained heavily, the stream would swell and flood the area.

"Let’s discuss our plan for tomorrow."

Sitting by the bonfire, Mirana spread out a map. In the flickering firelight, she pointed to a "(O)"-shaped symbol.

If he didn’t have the relevant memories, Lu Wei could have racked his brains and still never guessed that the thing was supposed to represent a Tree-man.

That’s right. On the maps of this world, all sorts of monsters were marked with corresponding simplified symbols.

And they were extremely abstract.

(O) is a Tree-man; the ’O’ in the middle is the body, and the parentheses are the arms.

⋚ is a Kobold; the top is the head, and the bottom is the tail.

^O^ is a giant bat; this one’s pretty on the nose.

$ is a goblin...

’Seriously, are they for real with that last one???’

"What plan?"

He asked the question, but his eyes were still fixed on another "$" symbol on the map. ’The creator of this symbol certainly had a sense of humor,’ he thought.

Mirana didn’t notice his distraction and simply continued speaking in a serious tone:

"Intel says there are four active Tree-men in this area. That’s not a lot, so I think we can tackle this task first."

"Tree-men are slow. Their defense is high, but they pose almost no threat to us."

"The only danger is that some of them might have the [Activation] Skill, allowing them to animate surrounding trees to attack us for a short time."

"So we need to make it quick. You’ll be responsible for finding their locations, and leave the rest to me."

"Just one thing to note: we can’t get too far apart. We need to keep the battlefield as small as possible to prevent them from activating too many trees."

After quickly laying out the plan, Mirana looked up at Lu Wei and asked seriously, "Do you have anything to add?"

’Great, here comes the fake democracy again.’

"Heh, no, I completely agree."

Lu Wei gave an indifferent yawn. He didn’t think a few Tree-men would cause them any trouble.

After all, a Tree-man’s combat ability relies almost entirely on [Activation], and less than one in ten of them have mastered the skill. So, the odds were that none of the four tomorrow would be a "Tree-man Mage."

Besides, he wasn’t afraid even if they did run into one.

His Agility wasn’t exceptionally high right now, but after equipping "Confession," it was at 14 points.

Dodging a few branches would be more than easy enough.

"Then that’s the plan."

Mirana put the map away and looked up at the moon’s position.

"It’s about three hours until dawn. You get some rest. I’ll take the first watch, and we’ll switch in an hour and a half."

"Hmm... I’m not sleepy. How about I take the first watch?"

Lu Wei still didn’t fully trust Mirana, so after a moment’s hesitation, he decided to test her attitude toward him.

Mirana, on the other hand, didn’t seem to give it a second thought and nodded immediately.

"Alright then."

"..."

The stream rushed on tirelessly under the soft, light, and unobstructed moonlight.

In the lawless Adventurer’s Lands, "keeping watch" was the greatest test of a partner. Especially when two people took turns, it was something that could generally only happen when they trusted each other completely.

For Mirana to agree so easily, given the intelligence she’d shown so far, there were only two possibilities—

1. She already trusted Lu Wei completely.

2. She was willing to trust Lu Wei.

Either way, it proved she probably didn’t have any "crooked ideas."

After all, besides Brother Huaqiang, no one else dared to hand their gun to the person they were about to cause trouble for.

In short, Mirana’s actions finally put Lu Wei’s mind at ease.

As for Mirana, she had already opened up her sleeping bag, proving with her actions that she wasn’t just all talk.

Loosening the straps of her Leather Armor slightly and unfastening the top button of her shirt, Mirana deftly slipped into the sleeping bag.

Before even closing her eyes, she even said, very politely—

"Good night."