Chapter Nineteen: Encounter (Part Two)

The assassin in black was in dire straits, as wave after wave of water projectiles flew at his back. Fortunately, aside from his ruthless knife skills, his speed and agility were also his strengths. Had he initially targeted the young girl rather than the crow, his chances of success would have been greater. But now that the girl had seized the initiative, it was his turn to suffer. At least there was some consolation: the spell she cast produced water bullets—painful when they struck, but not as lethal as water blades, which could rival ordinary swords or knives if they pierced vital spots.

The crow was not idle either. At that moment, the frozen swordsman’s icy sculpture shattered, and, with fury blazing, the giant sword radiated a bright battle aura as he launched a wild assault on the crow.

This time, however, the crow wielded neither the Desolator nor the short blade he'd used previously, but drew a greatsword nearly equal in weight to the swordsman's own.

Greatsword against greatsword!

The two massive blades collided with a resounding crash. The swordsman’s battle aura was clearly earth-aligned, glowing yellow. The crow, ever knowledgeable, instantly recognized it as the Rage of the Earth—a battle aura renowned for its power in both offense and defense, ideal for strength-based swordsmen.

Though the crow was erudite, he had not mastered every battle aura; so he employed the fire-aligned Blazing Aura. If the red-haired girl from the Inspectorate saw this, she would surely be unconvinced, for the crow dared to pit his Blazing Aura head-to-head against the swordsman’s Rage of the Earth. She herself might not have risked such a clash, though in terms of sheer attack power, Blazing Aura surpassed Rage of the Earth. However, Rage of the Earth provided both offense and defense; unless the red-haired girl could overwhelm her opponent quickly, the swordsman would only grow stronger in a prolonged battle, ultimately triumphing.

Yet in the crow’s hands, he simply collided with Rage of the Earth head-on. The swordsman roared in anger, knowing full well that it was not Blazing Aura overpowering Rage of the Earth, but that this bounty hunter before him was terrifyingly skilled. He had mastered swordsmanship to a degree that surpassed the swordsman himself. Amid their seemingly ferocious clashes, the crow always deftly avoided the sharpest edge of Rage of the Earth, thus holding his own in the endurance battle.

"Stop, stop!" The assassin in black, battered and fleeing from the water bullets, finally managed to dodge the girl’s wrath and found a chance to call for a halt.

Unexpectedly, the two greatswords immediately separated. The crow and the swordsman politely withdrew their blades and stood apart, while the girl continued to vent her anger.

"We... we are attendants of Lord Warrenheit," the swordsman explained a bit sheepishly.

"I know. When I went to see him, you were there too," the crow replied magnanimously with a wave. The swordsman was embarrassed; he hadn’t expected the crow to recognize him after just a brief meeting, especially since both he and his companion had remained in the background at the time, yet the crow remembered clearly.

The girl finally stopped, seeing that the crow had already ceased fighting. The assassin in black approached and said to the crow, "Don’t take offense; we only wanted to test if you had the ability to protect the lord."

"And the outcome?" the crow asked coolly.

"You surprised us," the swordsman replied. Indeed, it was unexpected. The crow’s use of the Desolator to block or defeat him would not have been surprising, but instead he had fought the assassin in black with a short blade and then clashed with the swordsman using a greatsword.

"You are absolutely qualified. We’ll report to the lord; he admires you greatly," said the assassin in black, extending his hand to the crow. They shook hands.

"My name is Abigail," the swordsman offered his hand as well, then pointed to the assassin and added, "He is Arnold."

The swordsman and the assassin, both astonished, delighted, and a bit disheveled, departed. The girl, who had grown impatient, finally had the chance to vent her rage again.

But before she could, the crow surrendered, saying, "You can’t blame me. I paid rent to that farmer as well."

"How could you?!" The girl’s eyes widened. Though this wasn’t the first time she’d been deceived, the last person who tricked her was someone she hoped to see again—and secretly liked—while this time it was just a greedy farmer.

"Let me introduce myself: I am the Crow. We’re all equally unfortunate," the crow said with a hint of helplessness.

"I... I’m Helen," the girl hesitated, but finally spoke her name.

The crow nodded. "You seem to know magic or possess spell-like abilities?"

Seeing the girl unwilling to respond, the crow spread his hands. "It’s come to this. There’s no point in confronting the farmer; he can’t conjure another house. Where are you headed?"

"I... I’m here to find someone. I’m looking for someone named Wei Wuxi," Helen replied with a troubled expression. She had come from the sea to the land, her pearl blouse already dismantled. Thankfully, Uncle Hermes had taught her some common sense; she hadn’t foolishly traded the entire pearl blouse but first stole some clothes from fishermen to wear, then broke the blouse apart and used the pearls as currency. With this, she had journeyed by carriage from Herda Sin to near Valencia. On the way, she encountered a few would-be swindlers and petty thieves, but as an adult siren, she was a natural water mage.

Her experiences in the human world over the past few days had taught her some worldly wisdom, which made her both happy and excited. Her only regret was not yet finding Wei Wuxi; whenever she asked about him, no one knew, and a human trickster had even stolen a pearl from her, claiming he knew where Wei Wuxi was.

"Wei Wuxi?" The crow was astonished, for if he wasn't mistaken, he knew that name. However, if it was the same person, he ought to be thousands of miles away in the far eastern kingdom.

"I know someone named Wei Wuxi, but he shouldn’t be here—he’s in the Far East," the crow said after some thought.

Helen suddenly looked up, delighted. After so many failures, someone finally knew of Wei Wuxi’s origins; it seemed the crow truly knew him.

"That’s him! He’s from the Far East. We met at sea," Helen said joyfully, then recounted her unusual meeting with Wei Wuxi to the crow.

The crow pondered. If Helen was telling the truth, then Wei Wuxi really had arrived here.

"I think we’re talking about the same person. But I haven’t seen him recently; we were good friends back in the Far East. If he’s really here, I’d like to meet him too, but I’m currently on a mission and won’t be able to search for him for a while. You don’t seem too familiar with the continent; if you don’t mind, you can accompany me, and after some time, we’ll look for him together," the crow told Helen.

And so, the Crow encountered the siren princess who had come to seek Wei Wuxi.