The next second, Qiu Meng’s foot slipped, and she fell into the water with a “plop.”
Her reddish-white hair clung wetly to her cheeks and neck, strands hanging down to her collarbone. Her linen shirt was thoroughly soaked, the thin fabric clinging to her body, outlining her curves. Large patches of skin were faintly visible through the wet clothing.
Her short skirt was plastered tightly to her legs, water streaming down her calves. Through the wet skirt, the faint outline of her white underwear could be seen.
Qiu Meng sat by the stream, stunned for a moment, then belatedly looked up at the bank with a dazed expression.
“…I’m soaked.”
Her voice was tinged with grievance.
Shalin sighed and walked over, pulling her up from the water.
“Honestly, Xiao Meng, be more careful…”
As she spoke, she raised her finger, and a gentle wind magic flowed slowly from her palm, carefully drying Qiu Meng’s hair and clothes.
Dante was still flipping the fish, but when he heard the commotion and turned to look, the corner of his mouth twitched violently.
He was clearly holding back a laugh.
And it was a very strenuous effort.
Qiu Meng saw it immediately.
She first blushed and looked down, then turned her gaze back to the water, staring at the fish still swimming around, her eyes gradually turning dangerous.
“Damn fish…”
She clenched her fist.
“I will eat it!”
Shalin couldn’t help but laugh.
“Alright, once your hair is dry, Xiao Meng can go get your revenge~”
So, a few minutes later, a freshly air-dried Qiu Meng charged back to the riverbank.
This time, her gaze was resolute. She was determined to grill that fish.
Soon, she spotted another fish. She had learned her lesson. She carefully waited for it to get close to a rock, then suddenly cupped her hands and scooped it up decisively.
The fish tried to thrash and escape.
But Qiu Meng didn’t hesitate. She turned and slammed it against a nearby rock.
Smack!
The world was silent.
The fish finally stopped moving.
Qiu Meng put her hands on her hips and lifted her head.
“Heh heh… Stupid fish!”
Then, she eagerly carried the fish back to the campfire, wanting to personally grill that stupid fish.
However, the real problem only appeared then.
She set the fish down, trying to imitate her father, and focused on the flow of mana in the air, attempting to summon even the most basic fire element—even just a tiny spark.
But in the end, nothing happened.
Qiu Meng was silent for two seconds, then tried again stubbornly.
Still nothing.
“…I see.”
She lowered her hand and let out a soft sigh.
‘I don’t have any of the cheat abilities that reincarnated people supposedly have…’
This feeling of helplessness was even harder for Qiu Meng to bear than falling into the water.
So she just picked up the fish and silently shuffled over to Dante, intending to mooch off his fire.
Dante looked at her, was silent for a moment, then reached out and patted her head.
“Don’t make that face. You’re not completely useless.”
Qiu Meng’s eyes lit up. She looked up at him.
“Really?”
“Really.” Dante nodded seriously. “At the very least, the way you fell into the river just now was exactly like your mother when she was young. And you showed off your figure better than she did.”
“…”
Qiu Meng stared at him expressionlessly for two seconds.
Then, without a word, she turned and walked with a very solemn, deliberate pace towards Shalin.
Dante still hadn’t grasped the gravity of the situation. He was even in a good enough mood to keep flipping the fish.
Until the next moment—
“Mom.”
Qiu Meng stood beside Shalin and relayed what her dear father had just said.
“Dad said that me messing up and falling into the river is a genetic trait from you, and that you… have small breasts.”
The air went still.
Leize politely tipped his hat and averted his gaze, pretending he hadn’t heard anything.
“Oh my… sir, you’d better pray for mercy.”
The movement of Dante’s hand instantly froze.
He slowly lifted his head, meeting Shalin’s gaze as she turned to him.
“Is that so?”
“No!” Dante immediately denied it, his speech incredibly fast. “Absolutely not! This is a malicious misrepresentation! Taken out of context! A slander—”
“Do you think I believe you?”
Shalin smiled as she flexed her wrist.
A bead of cold sweat immediately slid down Dante’s temple. He instinctively reached for his sword. But the moment he moved, several threads “swished” and coiled around the sword’s hilt, sealing the weapon in its sheath.
“Wait, dear, let’s talk about this—”
“Too late.”
The next second, Shalin pulled her wrist back.
Dante was forcibly dragged towards her.
Qiu Meng obediently crouched off to the side and started stealing the cooked fish.
Behind her came a very prominent scream from a certain father.
“Spare me—!!!”
The scene that followed was quite lively.
First, Dante was thoroughly tied up with threads. Then he was hit with a gravity spell, immediately flattened and unable to move. Shalin’s posture while beating him was still elegant, but that elegance made it all the more terrifying in this context.
Leize sat nearby, quietly preparing his own fish, occasionally glancing up.
“The young lady is still the same as always…”
He murmured softly.
Qiu Meng, munching on her fish, thought vengefully in her heart.
‘Let you laugh at me for falling in the water.’
‘Stupid old man.’
By the time she had gnawed a whole fish down to just bones and had also grilled and eaten the one she caught, Dante’s beating was finally drawing to a close.
Qiu Meng licked her lips contentedly, looking very pleased, and said:
“Thanks for the meal.”
Dante turned his head to look at the empty fish-grilling rack. His expression slowly cracked.
“Daughter!”
He said, bitterly.
“How could you not leave any for me—!”
Qiu Meng blinked, looking very innocent as she hid behind Shalin.
“I thought you were too busy getting beaten to be hungry.”
Dante: “…”
Leize finally couldn’t help it and let out a low chuckle.
This escape, which had been tense to the breaking point, was unexpectedly lightened by such an incident.
After the break, everyone mounted their horses and set off again.
This time, Qiu Meng obediently held onto Shalin’s waist, her cheek resting gently against her mother’s back. The horses walked slowly along the dirt road, their pace much slower than when they were rushing through the forest.
“By the way, how much longer?”
Qiu Meng looked up, peering ahead.
“Almost there,” Dante replied. “At this speed, we should be in Vilindros by today.”
She hummed in acknowledgment and began curiously examining her surroundings again.
Although it was a plain, it wasn’t a complete wilderness. The roadside was dotted with rows of oak trees at regular intervals, clearly not natural growth. They were most likely planted as roadside trees or windbreaks.
Just then, Qiu Meng’s gaze suddenly stopped.
In the distance, on the horizon, a group of figures was moving slowly among the low hills and trees.
She squinted, then instinctively felt something was wrong.
“That’s…?”
Qiu Meng pointed into the distance.
“Dad, Mom, it looks like there’s a group of bandits up ahead.”
Upon hearing this, Dante immediately reined in his horse, pulled out a spyglass from his pocket, and looked in the direction she had indicated. After only a moment, his expression darkened.
“You’re right.”
Leize also frowned slightly.
“I don’t believe a frontal engagement is a good choice.”
“Take a detour?” Qiu Meng asked. “Or some other way?”
“Let’s just kill our way through.”
Her mother’s answer was crisp and decisive, without a moment’s hesitation.
Dante: “…”
Her father couldn’t help but let out a long sigh.
“Dear, isn’t your way of solving problems a bit too direct?”
“But it’s effective.”
“A detour would be best,” Leize said, raising a hand to press down on his hat brim, his tone calm. “These mountain bandits aren’t necessarily just ordinary bandits. If some of them have fused magic stones, it’ll be a much bigger problem.”
After thinking for a moment, Qiu Meng said,
“I think a detour is better too…”
After she finished, she looked at her parents with some concern.
After all, in their group, her father had expended a lot of energy in last night’s battle, and his stamina probably wasn’t at its peak. And while her mother wasn’t injured, she had been riding all night. No one knew what could go wrong if they got into another fight.
Shalin stared at the group in the distance for a few seconds, then finally shrugged.
“Hm… fine.”
So the group temporarily changed course, veering to the side through areas with more trees.
After traveling for a while, they saw through the gaps in the woods another, larger camp. Crude oak palisades, temporary watchtowers, patrolling figures, and mounts tied nearby all indicated one thing: this group of bandits wasn’t just a few people; it was a full-fledged gang.
“That…”
Qiu Meng looked at the camp, her voice dropping a little.
“What do we do?”
“Looks like we can’t avoid it.”
Leize was the first to dismount, his movements clean and decisive.
The next second, he had already drawn his rapier. The silvery blade gleamed coldly in the sunlight, clearly ready for battle.
“One person is enough,” he said. “You all go on ahead.”
“Leize…”
“On the honor of the Orcas family name.”
He spoke these words in a low voice, but with a nearly solemn gravity.
“Young lady, you go on ahead. I’ll catch up.”
Qiu Meng was stunned for a moment and instinctively looked at Shalin.
She thought her mother would at least try to talk him out of it, but instead, Shalin just looked at Leize and let out a slightly helpless laugh.
“Leize… you still fight with such chivalry. Those mountain bandits aren’t going to challenge you to a knight’s duel one by one.”
With that, she also dismounted, pulled a dagger from her sleeve, and twirled it deftly between her fingers.
“I’ll stay too.”
Qiu Meng was startled, then stared at her mother.
“Do I have to fight too?”
“You don’t.” Shalin turned to look at her, her gaze firm. “Dante, take Xiao Meng and go on ahead. Here, Leize and I are enough.”
She paused, her tone even carrying a hint of a mischievous smile.
“And besides…”
“At the very least, we need to earn some travel expenses~”
Qiu Meng said nothing, just fell silent.
‘I feel like Mom is more of a bandit than the bandits themselves…’
Dante didn’t waste any more words. He quickly dismounted, pulled Qiu Meng in front of him, and settled her in the saddle.
“I’ll leave this horse for you,” he said. “I’ll take my daughter and go on ahead.”
“Understood, sir.”
Leize gave a slight nod.
Shalin raised her hand and waved.
“Alright~ You two go on ahead.”
The next moment, Dante spurred his horse and quickly left the woods with Qiu Meng.
The wind roared past her ears again.
Qiu Meng looked back and saw Shalin and Leize standing still in place, one holding a dagger, the other with a sword held horizontally before him. They were like two pegs driven into the road, ready to hold back any pursuers and danger.
“I hope nothing happens…”
She murmured softly, her fingers unconsciously clenching Dante’s clothes.
“Don’t worry,” Dante said in a low voice. “Your mom is much fiercer than any bandit.”
That sentence was indeed a bit reassuring.
By the time they had completely left the forest belt, the scenery ahead changed dramatically.
What came into view was no longer grasslands and woods, but a massive ring-shaped city wall stretching along the coastline.
Qiu Meng stared at the sight, dumbfounded.
The wall wasn’t the grayish-black stone wall common in border towns. It was made of huge blocks of white marble, gleaming with a cold, clean luster in the sunlight. The gate wasn’t the traditional wood-and-iron structure either, but a combination of steel and stone. The heavy steel door frame was clad in white stone.
Even more impressive was that the surface of the steel frame was densely carved with intricate runes. These weren’t decorations; they were genuine magic formulas.
A pale blue light flowed slowly along the grooves of the door and wall, forming a complete, coherent defensive network. Extremely fine wind blades even flickered continuously along the edges of the wall. The moment a blade of grass got close, it was silently shredded. Occasionally, an insect would fly into them, only to be turned to dust the next second.
“That’s amazing…”
Qiu Meng looked up, her gaze fixed.
“So this is a big city…”
“We’re going to enter the city, daughter.” Her father’s tone also slowed down a bit. “The last time I was here was during the ‘Dark Decade.'”