Lian whistled cheerfully as she rode. Beside her, Iyue matched her pace, their horses walking side by side.
The members of the Ranger Corps followed behind them on foot.
The Ranger Corps generally didn’t need mounts… because their usual mode of travel was leaping nimbly from tree to tree.
The reason they were walking on the forest path now was largely to accommodate the two riders.
“Sigh… are the people from the company really okay?”
Seeing Lian’s radiant expression, Iyue couldn’t help but smile too… She spoke up, asking Lian.
“Of course they’re okay. They said it themselves, they have plenty of places to go… don’t worry about it.”
“I never expected you to do something like this for me. I’m really happy.”
“I-It’s not all for you! They did that kind of thing to you, they can’t just get away without paying any price, right? I’m upholding justice!”
Lian told Iyue about her actions in the village… but omitted a certain part she felt wasn’t necessary to mention in detail.
“Right, right… for justice.” Iyue looked at Lian’s slightly flushed profile and smiled, narrowing her eyes. “Then for justice, can you perform that again for me?”
A small question mark appeared above Lian’s head.
“That righteous, hands-on-hips declaration, ‘You don’t think you can do this to my sister and get away with it,’ and ‘My sister didn’t punish you… I don’t think that’s acceptable.’ Those two lines.”
“You… you were eavesdropping with those long ears?! You long-eared monster…!”
“Ah, a red apple, a red apple~ For your big sister, your cuteness truly is justice. Do it again~ I want to hear it.”
“Cute my foot! I won’t…! I’ll never say it again…! And don’t reach your claws over! Aren’t you riding a horse?!”
The Ranger Corps members traveling with them stared blankly at this interaction.
They had never imagined that the great elven hero, the legendary Lady Iyue, could be so intimately close with a human girl.
Reiya’s voice broke the silence of the Ranger Corps members. She quickly ran to Iyue’s side, then spoke up with an extremely serious expression.
“Athesia Alne, applying to join. This one also wants to be the instructor’s little sister! Please, Instructor, pinch this one’s face… no, I beg you to pinch this one’s face—”
“This idiot captain…!”
Two members of the Ranger Corps rushed forward and dragged her back into the rear ranks.
The group proceeded at a leisurely pace along the ancient forest road.
“Ah… finally some quiet. The spirits’ complaints are right—places where humans are active are really noisy.”
“You weren’t much better just now…”
After being ‘persuaded’ by her companions, Leiji returned to her proper demeanor. Walking beside Iyue, she sighed with such feeling.
As Leiji said, the surrounding forest had returned to its original state.
There were no tree stumps from logging on either side of the road, only rows of deep green trees.
Vines coiled around branches and forks hung down naturally, and tree roots bulged beside the path, half-buried in the dust.
“I remember this is your Ranger Corps’ common spirit summoning technique, right?”
Fortunately, both their horses were intelligent enough… After getting used to the environment, their steps became quite steady.
This gave Iyue the leeway to chat with Leiji beside her.
“Mhm. The nature spirits we summon tell us what’s happening in the woods… For a thousand years, the Ranger Corps has relied on this technique of summoning them to pinpoint the location of incidents… but only the location. After all, they’re just ordinary spirits.”
“…But even these ordinary spirits are very sensitive to the sound of those firearms.”
A member walking near Leiji interjected… her eyes fixed on the gun holster at Iyue’s waist.
“So… the spirits heard the gunshots and told you, that’s why you rushed over?”
Lian asked with some interest.
“…Yes. Ever since you humans were permitted to carry firearms into the Sea of Trees, reports like this from the spirits have increased. Just this month, our squad alone has handled more than five such reports.”
This elven member answered Lian’s question briefly with a slightly dissatisfied tone, then turned her face away.
“…Is that so? Do humans often fire guns in the woods?”
“Yes, Instructor.” Facing Iyue’s question, Reiya showed a helpless, bitter smile.
“You might not know… not just the Jingfeng Forest Region, in recent years, almost all towns and villages throughout the Sea of Trees have been continuously leasing or selling their forest lands to humans from Yilansiya. And those humans use these woods as hunting grounds or sources of raw materials—many are legal and compliant, but poaching and illegal logging have inevitably appeared too.”
“…But your spirit summoning technique probably can’t distinguish whether the humans’ actions are legal or not, right?”
“That’s exactly it. So every time the spirits report to us, the Ranger Corps has to go and confirm. For humans breaking the law, we confiscate their weapons, punish them, and expel them… I thought we’d finally catch a group of those humans this time, but instead we met you.”
On Reiya’s face, regret and joy were equally mixed. Looking at her expression, Iyue felt a complex mix of emotions.
She now understood—not just Quiet Wind Village, the entire Sea of Trees had been swept into the tide of the advancing era.
And the Ranger Corps members before her, including Leiji, were clearly not very accustomed to this change… or rather, disgusted was more accurate.
“…You’ve really had it hard. You mentioned earlier you were going to Fenglin City for a meeting?”
“Right. We are the Captain General’s attendants. Besides us, there are two other squads with her. We’re on our way to rendezvous with them now.”
Reiya explained to Iyue and Lian as they walked. When talking about her duties, her expression and tone became more serious… finally looking a bit more like a Forest Ranger.
“Our original station is in Jingfeng City, the capital of the Jingfeng Forest Region. Usually, we patrol, arbitrate disputes, and deal with human lawbreakers scattered across the region in squad units—ah, the Captain General’s camp is right ahead!”
She pointed ahead to the faint white smoke from cooking fires visible at the end of the forest path, then added,
“Speaking of which, the Captain General is also from the Nairf family.”
“The Nairf family?”
Iyue’s expression changed… but Reiya clearly didn’t notice the implication. She continued explaining:
“Yes. The Captain General’s name is Alexis Nairf. Do you know her?”
“Iyue… do you have some grudge with this person?”
Lian looked at Iyue with some concern.
“No… I know her. But we’ve only met once. Leiji, do you know what meeting she’s going to attend?”
Iyue waved her hand at Lian, then asked Leiji.
“Well… the Captain General didn’t say.” Leiji smiled sheepishly, then answered honestly, “But it’s also possible it’s something someone of my rank shouldn’t know. If you ask her yourself, she’ll definitely tell you!”
“…Mhm.”
Iyue didn’t press further. Soon after, the group arrived at the temporary camp located beside the road.
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.