“It’s that way… it’s that way…”
A mist welled up in the old man’s cloudy eyes as he struggled to remember. His withered fingers lifted, trembling as he pointed outside the tent.
Unexpectedly, it deviated from the main road of the refugee camp, and it was not in the direction of Quiet Sun Town or the Empire’s border.
“Around… around there, I think… It’s quite far. It was so chaotic then, screams everywhere—I just remember the carriage rushed out in that direction…”
Weiss followed the direction he pointed, his brows knitting slightly.
As for the area the old man indicated, his mind was a complete blank.
Though he often operated near the border, most of his activity was only around Wuzhen. He rarely ventured into the forested valleys of Quiet Sun.
He considered, then pulled out his phone and opened the map.
On the screen, the refugee camp’s current position was marked by a blinking dot, with the surrounding terrain roughly outlined.
However, the direction the old man pointed at was completely shrouded in an unexplored gray area.
It was just like the blacked-out map before a Divine Statue was activated—no terrain in sight.
Phone maps were convenient, but could only record places one had already visited.
Even with map data, if the real terrain was anything like Quiet Sun Valley—with sharp elevation differences—any sudden events might render it completely unreliable.
As for Lortissa and Fiya, who were with him,
Both had followed along from the Kingdom and knew absolutely nothing about the Empire’s geography.
For a moment, the air inside the tent turned heavy and still.
Just then, Weiswood, who’d been standing silently at the side, suddenly spoke up, her voice carrying a hint of suspicion:
“Old sir, are you certain it’s that way?”
Her gaze was sharp, locked onto the direction of the old man’s finger.
“That area leads straight to Blackwater Marsh… Why would any trade caravan go there?”
“Yes! Yes, that’s right!”
Old Jimurich seemed to awaken, a glimmer lighting up his cloudy eyes. He nodded repeatedly, his voice growing louder,
“It’s a marsh, a huge one, in the woods!”
“Blackwater Marsh… What kind of place is that?”
Weiss turned to Weiswood. At this moment, the proud knight became their sole source of information.
Weiswood lifted her chin slightly, finally finding an angle where she could regain the upper hand.
“Blackwater Marsh. The name alone should tell you it’s not somewhere you want to visit. No one in their right mind would wander into a place like that for fun.”
Her tone carried a soldier’s succinctness, mixed with warning.
“You’re a mercenary, you should know where Quiet Sun Valley gets its name.”
“The sun can’t reach into those deep ravines… and then?”
“Beneath those shadowed woods of the deep valley, there’s a stretch perpetually shrouded by black, poisonous miasma. Below the surface, it’s all flesh-eating mud and hidden currents. Take a single wrong step, and the whole person is swallowed—bones and all. That’s Blackwater Marsh. ‘Blackwater’ is just a descriptive term. If calamity had a shape, that’s what it would look like.”
She paused, her gaze sweeping over the three of them, as if to emphasize that none of these outsiders truly understood.
“Not to mention the monsters and manifestations that haunt the marsh. Far trickier than the usual wild beasts—most are highly poisonous. Even us reconnaissance knights are strictly ordered to avoid that area unless absolutely necessary.”
Old Jimurich’s face grew even more ashen, his lips trembling.
It wasn’t just the phrases “flesh-eating mud” and “highly poisonous” that terrified him; by the look of it, he might’ve witnessed those horrors firsthand.
Vannie also shrank back in fear, gripping her grandfather’s hand tightly.
Weiss pondered for a moment, digesting all this information before continuing:
“So, what exactly happened during the attack? Can you recall any more details?”
“The attack… It came out of nowhere…”
The old man fell into the throes of painful memory, his voice quivering.
“We were walking along the road, when suddenly, out from the woods rushed a group—a group of monsters, all bones, brandishing blades.”
“Skeleton soldiers?”
Weiswood interjected.
“No… Not quite… I know what skeleton soldiers look like, I wouldn’t mistake them. These things weren’t simple skeletons. They moved even more nimbly than living people, and the guards’ weapons barely hurt them at all.”
He shook his head.
“They burst out swinging wildly. The guards started fighting them at once, and chaos broke out. I clutched Vannie and hid under the wagon, all around us was the clash of steel and screams.
Then… then I heard the terrified screams of the horses, and the whole carriage rocked violently. By the time I peeked out, the young lady’s coach… it had already bolted madly—straight toward Blackwater Marsh.”
Weiss listened quietly, his index finger surreptitiously tapping the record button on his phone screen.
As if recounting those memories had drained all his strength, only the old man’s heavy breathing was left in the tent.
After a moment, Weiss spoke, breaking the silence:
“It sounds like one of the undead-type manifestations. Driven by hatred for the living, attacking automatically when disturbed.”
“Then… what do we do now…”
Old Jimurich was completely panicked.
“Mercenary, can you… can you really find Miss Kaderyxi? Please, I beg you!”
Vannie also ran over, her small hand clutching Weiss’s sleeve, her tear-stained face pleading:
“Big brother mercenary, please… please bring back Sister Kaderyxi… She’s always so kind to me…”
Weiss lowered his eyes.
The anxious urgency in the little girl’s eyes, the wordless pleading written in the wrinkles of the old man’s face.
He reached out, not brushing away the old man’s hand, but gently covering it, his warm palm conveying steady reassurance:
“Don’t worry. I’ve received your request. I’ll find her, I promise. Please rest here and wait for our news. Who knows, maybe we’ll all return to Wucheng together?”
“R-really?!”
Vannie’s eyes instantly brightened.
Weiss smiled easily:
“I never lie to children.”
They left the shabby tent, the chill wind outside clearing their minds at once.
But before they could walk far, Lortissa caught up to Weiss’s side.
“What now?”
She asked,
Though clearly concerned, her voice remained as cool and distant as ever,
“Are we going straight to Blackwater Marsh?”
Weiss stopped, raising his eyes to glance at the sun now hiding behind the thin clouds, deep in thought.
But before he could answer, a sharp female voice cut in from behind:
“You three are seriously thinking of going there?”
Weiswood had appeared at some point. She strode up to them, arms crossed, her face the very picture of disbelief.
“All this for money? You really don’t care about your lives, do you?”