Chapter 33

The guy in the cloak looked up, scanning the requests on the mission board, trying hard to find one that could be completed solo.

Just then, he felt an arm wrap around his shoulder.

"Huodun! Long time no see."

Huodun didn't turn his head, just twitched his black nose a few times before calling out the man's name, "Suoluo, your scent hasn't changed a bit; you still stink just as much."

"You've got some nerve saying that to me. Your fur is all matted, and you've lost a layer of weight—how long has it been since you last ate? Here, fill your stomach first, and then I'll tell you about this mission."

The monster hunter pulled out a loaf of black bread and handed it to the man named Huodun, who swallowed hard but still asked, "There aren't any raisins in this, are there?"

"Don't worry, it's just rye, bran, and oats. Might have a bit of sawdust mixed in, though."

Before he had even finished speaking, Huodun was already clutching the black bread and gnawing on it, his mouth making smacking sounds as he ate.

Suoluo led him back and introduced him to the others, "Huodun, a teammate I've worked with before. His strength is beyond question."

"Didn't you say you weren't going to look for people you knew who were strong?" Xia'er asked. "Because our budget isn't enough."

"Huodun doesn't count. Can't you see how starved the kid is? He'd do anything for a bit of money."

"But if he's so strong, why is he still starving?"

"Mostly because of his head, I suppose."

"Ah, is there something wrong with his brain?" Xia'er lowered her voice.

"No," Suoluo patted Huodun's back and said, "Take off your hood."

Hearing this, Huodun stopped eating. "Are you sure?"

"It's fine, everyone here is a friend."

Upon hearing those two words, Huodun's eyes lit up. He then took off his hood, revealing a furry dog's head.

Xia'er couldn't help but gasp. "A beastman? Is there actually a beastman hiding in Yingzui City?"

On the other side, the pair of adventurer siblings also placed a hand on their weapons, looking nervous.

"No, no, no. Huodun isn't one of those savage, low-intelligence races. He's a kobold, a member of the civilized world just like us. It's just that his kin mainly live on the West Continent; they aren't that common on the Leiwateleisi Continent."

Suoluo explained, "Huodun didn't come to our town of his own volition, either; he was abandoned here by his parents. Many people mistake him for a beastman and subject him to physical and verbal abuse. Now, you should be able to understand why this guy is doing so poorly."

After a brief silence, Mali was the first to speak. "Is your head that of a Shiba Inu?"

"I don't know." Huodun reached up to wipe the breadcrumbs off his nose. "I met a traveling mage last time; he had been to many places, including my hometown. He told me that kobolds have many subspecies, though not as many as beastmen, but I don't know which race I belong to."

"Anyway, I haven't met any dogs that look like me in Leiwateleisi."

"You should be a Shiba Inu. There were quite a lot of them in my hometown before," Mali said. "Your head looks exactly like theirs."

"Is that so?" Huodun was inexplicably happy. "That's great! Did you hear that, Suoluo? I finally know my race! Thank you, learned alchemist."

He thanked Mali as well.

"You're welcome."

"Come to think of it," the younger sister of the adventurer siblings spoke up again, "I can understand them calling you a dog-bastard and telling you to get lost, but why do they call you a dung-eater?"

As soon as she said this, Huodun fell into silence again, his white ears drooping.

Suoluo sighed and comforted him, "It's fine, most people know about this anyway, so it doesn't matter if you say it. The cause of the incident was that Huodun was once on a mission with a group of adventurers he wasn't very familiar with."

"At night, he was gotten drunk by that group, and then those guys smeared some of that—excrement—into his bread."

"You ate it?" The older brother among the adventurers looked at Huodun with sympathy. "Those people were truly excessive."

"That's not all," Huodun clutched his head in pain. "I even thought it was delicious at the time."

"…………"

Hearing this, everyone present fell silent.

After a long while, Suoluo coughed lightly. "It's okay, we all have some strange little quirks to some extent. Besides, we're just teaming up for a mission, not becoming each other's life partners, so there's no need to dwell on such things, right?"

As he spoke, he looked at the adventurer siblings.

The two of them were stunned for a moment before nodding.

"Alright, now that the manpower is complete, when are we leaving?" Suoluo asked Xia'er.

The half-elf girl was also in a daze. Once she recovered from the shock, she turned to look at Mali.

"Then let's go now," Mali glanced at his phone. "If we leave now, we should be able to get back to Baimu Cun before dark."

"What did you say?" Suoluo frowned.

Mali didn't answer. Just then, Lievre and Leini also walked in from outside.

After hearing that Mali and Xia'er planned to leave Yingzui City today, they immediately returned to the Golden Carp Tavern to retrieve their luggage.

The old alchemist had made up his mind: from today on, he would follow by Mali's side, listen carefully to his teachings, and study ancient alchemy.

Seeing that their side actually had two alchemists, the adventurer siblings' eyes also revealed looks of surprise.

Suoluo did some simple shopping for dry rations and wound medicine, and then the group walked toward the city gate.

The monster hunter had assumed Mali would hire a carriage, but the latter did nothing of the sort, walking straight out of the city gate. Furthermore, there were no empty carriages waiting outside.

The group walked all the way to a small hill, where Mali took out the trekking pole from the side of his backpack and adjusted it to the right length.

Suoluo finally couldn't hold back anymore. "Are we just going to walk to Baimu Cun like this? Don't forget the agreement in the mission: the round-trip time limit is seven days. For every extra day, you have to pay us an additional reward of one Silver Shield each."

"Mm, I know. I'll spend half a day getting you there," Mali said. "But for the return trip, you'll have to rely on yourselves. You should be able to walk back to Yingzui City in the remaining six and a half days."

"???"

Except for Xia'er, everyone was stunned upon hearing this.

Mali had already started climbing the hill. About half an hour later, he arrived in front of the cave where the G300p was parked.

The stones and branches he and Xia'er had piled at the cave entrance previously remained unchanged, which indicated that no humans or beasts had entered the cave during this time.

Mali signaled Suoluo and the others to help clear a path at the entrance, then told everyone to step back while he walked into the cave alone.