The sky dyed in flaming red, orange, and a layer of dark blue. The forest were filled with shadows and lights mingled and intertwined in contrast. The night had yet to fall, but danger already came.
The reverberated sound of colliding metal had yet to halt. The sound was neither so far nor close. If the three just hurried home they might be able to avoid being caught up in the fight, yet following the twins pace they simply walked as leisurely as always.
As they strode through the dry path, they were still absorbed in their own thoughts, especially Venrie. When he heard the sound of the sword fight, the danger inevitably reminded him of the twins contradiction. Previously the twins said that they could handle the monster just fine, yet they also said they couldn't help the villager. It might be a mere courtesy, but their expression that time were sincerely bitter it were too good to be an act.
Also usually the twins had an unbelievably indifferent and nonchalant demeanor, as though nothing concerned them. Yet when they were separated for a split second back at the village, they looked obviously anxious and apprehensive. It was simply mysterious and incomprehensible it piqued Venrie's curiosity, but he restrained himself from asking and became reticent, he felt bad to pry at people that had saved and taken care of him.
Venrie was dazed while the corner of his sight catches a glimpse of a bright red thing up on the trees. It was an apple, one of his favorite food. Actually he hadn't eaten anything beside vegetables, rice, and buns since he arrived here. He was longing for fruits yet the twins have none.
He stopped and stared at the apples with his lustrous sparkling eyes, "Hey.. Ah-shun, Ah-shi.."
(ah- intimate way to call a younger person)
The twins also stopped and turned back to look at him.
Venrie pointed up to the trees, "could you wait for me a bit? i want to pick those apples" he said with a longing expectant expression.
The twins set their sight towards the direction Venrie pointed at, their eyes immediately shines, "Apples! yes yes yes! we like it too! we will help pick them too!" the twins turns out to be just as excited as Venrie. In fact, previously they had stocked lots of apples but because they liked it too much hence it depleted way faster than they predicted.
The three had sparkling excited eyes as they jumped right to the trunk. Venrie was slightly startled, not expecting the twins to have such agility, but he ignored it and shifted his attention to the apples right away.
In this world, Venrie also learned about magical items for daily use. One of them was a magic bag. It looked just as small as a book, but inside was a dimension with 8 m3 volume. It was so convenient Venrie gritted his teeth out of envy, his world didn't have such item and bringing things were simply heavy and troublesome.
The twins gave him one before they departed. And he used it to stuff his harvest, a whole lot of apples from three trees.
After they satisfied harvesting from tree to tree, they met up under a tree and simultaneously nibbling messily on their apples. If not for their good looks and elegance, one would have a hard time differentiating them from a pack of monkeys. Even the previously anxious and thoughtful Venrie had totally became a clueless nonchalant monkey, apple was all it needs to turn him stupid.
The night had fall and it reminded Venrie of the monster. The stupid apple effect had ceased hence the sword fight sound that had been muted unconsciously could be heard again, "Let us return quickly."
The twins nodded while chewing their second apple.
Suddenly a whirling thing flashed right in front of Venrie's nose and snatched his apple. It stabbed his apple into a tree beside him. Venrie was dumbstruck, his body hair stands on its ends, his veil had ripped. He glanced at the thing,
it was a f**king sword! a real, sharp sword!
"Wh- what the-.. Who the fu*k throw this!?" Venrie raged.
"What luck! you miraculously escaped death!"
"Cool! if you walked even one step earlier that sword would have stuck on your head Venrie!"
The twins were making excited and amused comments, Venrie grinded their heads hatefully only to be met with cheerful laughter.
All of a sudden, a figure flashed pass them headed straight into the deeper woods. It was fast but they managed to catch a glimpse of a cute horned girl dressed in a bloody crimson robe.
A second later, the previous sect people they had met at the village ran towards their direction. When they reached them, they stopped and one of them pulled the stuck sword out of the tree. Even the lax bulky man from before was also with them.
"Oh! the young men from before! we meet again!" The bulky man said merrily to the three, then he gulped his alcohol straight from the jugs, "Did you three seen any girl pass here?" he asked.
"Hmm.. yeah! She goes that way" Zhang Shun pointed at the direction she had ran towards, "But why do you chase her?" he asked.
"Could we listen to them Shixiong?" one of the men asked timidly to the bulky man.
(shixiong- elder brother, like senpai.)
But the bulky man didn't answer any of the question and instead gulped a heavy amount of alcohol, he didn't swallow it, he stepped forward, pointed his index and middle finger to his throat, and to everyone surprise, blasted a powerful scorching fire from his mouth to a considerably far distance forward.
Everyone was dumbstruck. It was hot even for them who were several feet away from him. The trees which were on its way were burnt to charcoal.
"Tsk, that didn't catch anything, but it's getting fun! Wen shidi, Lu shidi, chase her! Use the earthly beast technique! Follow her smell!" The bulky man clicked his tongue and commanded his men excitedly, as though happily hunting some pheasant.
(shidi- junior brother, like kouhai.)
"Understood!"
Wen and Lu, heeded the command and started to flexibly stretch. They slightly jumped then their legs were covered and illuminated in a dim blue light. The light changed its shape to that of a slender big cat and a wolf. Their body leaned forward, hands gripping sword, then they ran to chase the girl with their shining animal legs in an unbelievable speed.
Venrie was stupefied, his eyes widened, too much things to process in such short time. Blasting fire and changing body shape were not even an imagination in his previous world.
Venrie clung to the twins, gripping their shoulders anxiously, he was engulfed in too much of a surprise.
The twins glanced at Venrie, the expression revealed by the gap of the ripped veil was full of anxiety and alertness. Zhang Shun heaved a sigh and smiled, he held the hand on his shoulder softly, attempting to comfort him, "It's ok, if anything happen we will protect you. Such technique is quite normal here, so you don't have to worry"
Zhang Shi tiptoed and tried his best to reach and pat Venrie's head by the bamboo hat. "There there.. It's ok, we don't have any business with them, no need to be afraid" he comforted Venrie and smiled so sweetly, as though coaxing a frightened kitten.
Venrie felt so underestimated yet at the same time also felt so touched. He hugged the twins and rubbed their cheeks to his. After squeezing the twins, he lift the corner of his lips, "Thanks, sorry to make you worry, i was just startled! I've simply never seen such thing before."
"Hmm, is that so.. Then let's return!" exclaimed the twins cheerfully, they held Venrie's hands side by side.
"Yes!" With a good mood, Venrie nods to the bulky man and company to bid them farewell, because he basically had no business with him, thus the folk just let them leave as well.
The twins waved their hands to them and again were returned by the bulky man, the guy is actually quite cheerful and easy going in spite of his dangerous outlook. It's a pity they didn't dare to dawdle around to do some introductions, they were worried that Venrie would become anxious again if they stay any longer, better go before anything happen and be caught up in the mess.
The twins actually really liked Venrie they almost got attached. Venrie was one of the rare people the twins deemed as 'not boring'. Venrie was simple and honest, with no facade or superficial acting, he was fun to play and talk with, yet he was not shallow. It gave them a fresh feeling.
The three walked leisurely to the pavilion's direction. The lush greenery was shaded dark and everything was almost pitch black because of thick clouds covering the moon, it practically felt like being blind if not for the night pearl the twins held.
This night pearl was also an item that invites the dark feeling of envy to Venrie's heart. The night pearl emitted light akin to daytime, its light was strong enough to illuminate the path of several meters around. The function was basically the same as torch but much more clearer, stronger, and more importantly, convenient.
The three keeps bantering casually along the way, until a red figure catch their sight. It was not an apple like before, but a girl, it's the previous chased girl. They halt their steps and looked at her.
The girl already noticed their presence from the beginning, however she didn't ran away, in fact, she couldn't. She was crouching weak beside a tree, her crimson red robe was particularly eye-catching amongst the dark greenery. Her figure was cutely petite and delicate, her jet-black silky hair was styled into a twintail and bun on each side. When she lift her face to look upon the three, she revealed an angry expression, her large obsidian eyes glistened with killing intent, as if telling them not to get near and not to mess with her. However she only looked like an angry frightened kitten.
The three thought that with such a cute face and delicate figure, who would actually dared to hurt her? basically every men would instinctively protect her.
Yet nevertheless, she was injured. Her crimson robe was acting like a camouflage for all the wound and blood on her body. The smell of blood wafted from her, even the side of her mouth showed signs of hastily wiped blood. She tried to look firm and imposing yet only her miserably frail state was displayed.
Venrie was very concerned about her injuries, but he was afraid that she would ran away if he gets any closer.
She frowned and gritted her teeth, she braced herself to speak, "What are you doing there?! Go away!" her voice was severely cute and clear, it would totally melt people if she were to talk spoiled.
The twins that were standing still for quite some time now looked at each other, again sending a private signal. They shifted their sight to the girl, "Who are you? Why were you chased?".
"What does it matter to you.. Just go away!" she exclaimed angrily while accidentally spitting some blood, she wiped it hastily with her sleeves.
Venrie and the twins frowned, they were all worried but the girl was just too stubborn.
"Geez.. We might help you if you answer" said Zhang Shi.
"Huh? You brat? help me? scram!!"
The twins were internally raged, they really hate being underestimated or get called 'brat', however considering the girl's injuries they tried their best to be calm and suppress their anger, "Really, it's hard for those people to catch you here because this place is surrounded by illusion, our place have a barrier to protect you so you could recuperate safely. Just answer, it might be hard to catch you here but its not impossible, we don't have much time."
The girl frowned, but her tone was calmer than the previous one, "Why would a brat like you have something as extravagant as barrier?", she glanced at the twins shabby clothes.
that's it, the twins reached their limit, "Brat brat shut up! You are a brat! Your father's a brat! your whole family's a brat! You are badly hurt! We are gentlemen so we offered to help you! Need help or not!? Answer it quickly you ungrateful brat!" they raged while pointing at the girl.
Venrie had to settle them down so he squeezed the twins in his arms and plug their fuming mouth with his palm, "Ahaha.. it's alright, we won't do you any harm really. So how about it? won't you tell us who you are?" Venrie coaxed the frowning girl with an incredibly gentle and soothing voice.
Hearing the gentle voice, the girl let her guard down. She gritted her teeth and looked at Venrie with clear confused eyes, "You really won't hurt me?"
"I wont" Venrie answered immediately with a firm voice.
The girl said cautiously, "M-my name is Ningyu.. I was chased because.. Because they got the wrong person" this is why she didn't want to explain it, who would believe her?.
Venrie nods, "I see.. Then Ningyu, i will tend to your wound first before we enter the barrier, is that alright with you?" he asked with a melting gentle crystal clear voice, any other girl would have lost herself already.
It was not much different with Ningyu, she gazed at Venrie and nods unconsciously as if bewitched.
The twins thoughts to themselves, what a dangerous lady-killer, thank god we are as straight as a stick.