The First Order

Chapter 1114 If you have to ask, it was destiny

There were no longer any signs of activity from the bandits beyond the perimeter, but those who were within the carriage walls were still a little worried. They wanted to check on the situation on the outside.

In such times, keeping guard on the inside of the perimeter was absolutely pointless. Surely they weren’t going to remain on the defensive here for the next ten days, right?

Qian Weining considered it for a moment before ordering the trade caravan’s guards to pick up the arrows scattered around the camp. These arrows were the ones the bandits had fired over.

After they were done collecting them, those that were still intact could be reused as spares, while those that were damaged would have their arrowheads removed and the shafts used as kindling.

“Vice President Qian, there’s something odd about these arrows,” a guard muttered.

“What’s the matter?” Qian Weining turned around to look.

“Look, the ends of the fletching are very neat and tidy. We’ve all served in the royal army before. This is what arrows look like when they first come out of the workshop, right?” the guard said in a low voice.

He was referring to new arrows that were just drawn from the supply division. The feathers at the end of such arrows were pure white and had straight shafts fitted with brand new arrowheads.

Under normal circumstances, it would be great if the bandits got to use improvised arrows since not many of them had access to metal arrowheads.

Not only were the bandits who attacked them tonight using the finest quality fletched arrows, but the arrows also looked like they had just left the workshop. This made the guard suspect that something was not right.

Qian Weining took the fletched arrow from him and checked it carefully. Then he said in a low voice, “Don’t tell anyone, lest it causes panic.”

“Yes, sir,” the guard said. As they all used to serve in the royal army, they knew the purpose of such a gag order. The royal army was just the general name for the monarch’s troops in the Kingdom of Sorcerers. It did not mean they were troops who only guarded the capital. There were nine main armies in the Kingdom of Sorcerers, and they were all together known as the royal army.

In the Kingdom of Sorcerers, only a small number of troops were bestowed with special designations. For example, the sorcerer clans’ Knights of Radiance, Knights of the Inferno, et cetera. Every sorcerer clan had its own troops. For example, the House of Tudor’s troops were simply known as the Knights of Tudor.

A long time ago, the designation of “Royal Army” was synonymous with superior combat capability in the Kingdom of Sorcerers. But things were different now. Everyone knew the knights of the sorcerer clans were the most elite troops around. “Vice President Qian.” The guard said in a low voice, “There aren’t any royal troops garrisoned nearby. Could it be that one of the sorcerer clans’ knights impersonated the bandits?”

“No,” Qian Weining said.

Qian Weining recalled that there wasn’t really much strength in the arrows fired over by the bandits. He had come across many skilled archers in the military, and it was even possible that an iron arrow shot by such archers could pierce a carriage. Therefore, even though they knew there was a problem with the arrows, Qian Weining was quite sure they had been loosed by real bandits.

It looked like someone was making use of the bandits to stop them from journeying northwards.

Qian Weining instinctively glanced at Melgor and wondered if the bandits could be here for the lord sorcerer.

“Go retrieve your leather armor.” Qian Weining said to the guards, “I want everyone to wear their armor and follow me.”

With that, the guards of the caravan put on their brown leather armor and strapped a dagger to their thigh. After preparations were made, they slowly made their way out of the carriage wall perimeter.

Suddenly, a young man said, “If anyone still has strength left, let’s go together with Vice President Qian. We can’t simply let him and the troops risk their lives for us. If they get ambushed by the bandits, we can still provide some cover for them.” Then the young man took the lead and followed the caravan’s guards. Several other young men followed suit. Ren Xiaosu examined that young man. He was wearing a simple cotton shirt that was starting to yellow from washing. He was also wearing a pair of suspenders a commoner would usually wear.

However, the high-top leather boots he had on caught Ren Xiaosu’s attention. The boots looked very sturdy and did not look like something normal people would wear.

Moreover, Ren Xiaosu was sure he had not seen him before now.

After all, he had gone around the caravan twice during the day. The young man’s appearance stood out with his sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, so if Ren Xiaosu had seen him before, it would be impossible not to have any impression of him. Even if his memory was not as good as Wang Yun’s, he would not forget a person like this.

Therefore, the other party must have been hiding in the carriage during the day. And the only carriage that remained shut belonged to that suspicious woman.

Ren Xiaosu had a rough idea of what was going on. As such, he followed the caravan guards and walked out of the carriage wall perimeter.

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The group slowly made their way into the darkness with the guards leading the way. Everyone was holding their broadswords on their hips, ready to spring into battle at any moment.

Ren Xiaosu was not particularly nervous because he knew there were no more threats outside. But as he followed slowly, the young man who led the volunteers suddenly spoke to him. “Hello, my name is Chen Cheng. What about you?”

Ren Xiaosu replied with a smile, “My name is Ren Xiaosu.”

“Mhm, pleasure to meet you.” Chen Cheng’s smile was bright and dazzling. If it were any other person who interacted with him, they would probably have an immediate good impression of him.

However, Ren Xiaosu was different. The moment the other party opened his mouth, he immediately understood. Oh, so it turned out this person had a motive for getting close to him.

Who would have the free time to try to get close to him? Ren Xiaosu could roughly guess who was hiding in that carriage. Chen Cheng, the middle-aged woman, and the young sorceress, An’an, were all extraordinary people. In the past, they could even avoid the magus order’s tracking by changing their identities and concealing their whereabouts. Therefore, they felt it should not be a problem for them to deal with a minor individual like Ren Xiaosu.

But in terms of combat experience, there might not be anyone in the entire Kingdom of Sorcerers who was more experienced than Ren Xiaosu.

Ren Xiaosu did not say anything more to Chen Cheng. He was sure Chen Cheng would try to talk to him again.

Gradually, the group found their way to where the bandits’ corpses were lying. When they saw the tragic state of those bandits, they gasped.

Other than a few bandits who were struck by arrows in their chests, the rest had an arrow sticking straight out of their forehead between the eyes!

Immediately, everyone looked at Qian Weining in silence. This caused Qian Weining to feel a little uncomfortable. “Why are you all looking at me?”

A guard said with a laugh, “Vice President Qian, we know where our capabilities lie. It’d be good enough if we managed to hit anyone in the dark. So we’re sure we didn’t kill most of these bandits.”

“Yeah, and since it’s not us, it must be you!” Ren Xiaosu applauded and praised, “Vice President Qian, your archery is amazing. Every shot that you fired landed straight in the center of their foreheads. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call you a sharpshooter.”

Qian Weining was dumbfounded. In his mind, he was quite sure he was not the one who landed these shots. But who else could it be? Furthermore, these arrows did belong to the York County Chamber of Commerce. The feather fletching clearly identified them as such.

Qian Weining hesitated for a long time. Then he finally said with an awkward laugh, “Ahem, I just got lucky, that’s all.”

“How could that be just luck?” Ren Xiaosu earnestly corrected him, “It’s not right for you to continue acting so humbly. Being overly humble is really just another form of pride!”

On this ordinary day, the title of Greatest Sharpshooter in York County was created.

Ren Xiaosu remembered reading in a book that there was an ancient high-ranking official who was a keen angler. However, his fishing skills were not that great.

One time, his colleagues and he agreed to have a fishing competition. As such, he arranged for his subordinates, who were extremely good at swimming, to dive underwater and secretly hook fish on the end of his line. In just one day, he caught more fish than all of his colleagues combined. In an instant, his reputation skyrocketed, and he was even respectfully addressed as the Master Angler by his colleagues.

The Master Angler and Greatest Sharpshooter titles were almost of the same caliber. The only difference was that the Master Angler knew how he got his nickname while the Greatest Sharpshooter, Qian Weining, believed it to be the arrangement of fate.

If you have to ask, it was destiny.