Chapter 33: then title translation, then ===GLOSSARY=== with JSON list of named entities appearing in these lines

They carefully made their way through the forest; many trees in the forest he didn't recognize, and many were tall and thick, some astonishingly thick—she thought even if everyone in their party joined hands they couldn't encircle it—also astonishingly tall, she couldn't see the top. Sikaiges Island also had many jungles, but the trees there weren't that tall or thick; hearing her Dad say, long ago those trees had been cut down to make ships. Now only on some high mountains do such thick trees grow.

Although the trees amazed her, they also limited how far she could venture out on her own.

The forest was unlike open country; it was hard to keep everything in sight, so she mostly stayed with the party. In the woods, Mountain Cat Uncle mainly led the way, and after each stretch he would observe the leaves, ant nests, and tree trunks. He had summed up many methods for judging direction—for example, the leaves on the south side of a tree are lush, while the north side is sparse; ant nests mostly face south, and the south side of the trunk is also smoother.

Sha Sha knew that generally the side with less snow is south, the side with more snow is north, but not everywhere in the forest has snow. So she learned from Mountain Cat Uncle, reporting the direction to the party as she walked. Actually, most of the time they could see the sun, enough to judge direction, because in winter most trees have shed their leaves, leaving only branches and trunks, which cannot completely block the sky.

During her journey she hadn't encountered heavy rain, which she felt lucky about, but it had surely rained not long ago, and now many places in the forest were damp; after walking a short while in the woods she felt her shoes were wet again, but these difficulties were nothing compared to exploring here.

She had discovered many strange things here.

Some trees had tangled roots, stubbornly gripping the stones underfoot and wrapping them tightly, as if the stone were their precious heart; some trunks were crooked, and when their party passed, everyone had to bend their necks to get through—even the tall unicorn had to bend its knees and shuffle forward; still others were completely wrapped in vines, moss covering the whole tree, with black wood ear and various-colored mushrooms growing all over it, and she wasn't sure why these things could grow in winter here.

The ground was also miraculous.

Some patches of forest ground miraculously sent up various tender shoots probing upward; she thought they weren't grass but some kind of fungus, and whenever she walked over they would shake their heads repeatedly. Sha Sha curiously pulled a handful, but when she smelled the shoots' strange odor she threw them all away.

She felt the forest's atmosphere was richer than the wheat fields, and the sounds far more complex. She heard various bird calls, which made her feel safe; she asked Mountain Cat Uncle if that was right, and he had no objection: "Birds are friends; they often warn of approaching beasts, well, sometimes they are foes, alerting hunters to prey."

Besides bird calls, she also heard various insect sounds. She even saw a few wild chickens standing and calling "gua gua," seemingly looking for louder insects. Once they noticed Sha Sha, they immediately ran far away.

"The forest here is nothing like ours!" she said. She felt the forest here was far richer than that of Sikaiges Island—at least, the island's forest wouldn't have this many bird and insect calls in this season.

"No two forests are the same," Cavalry Ivan concluded. He sat high on his unicorn, looking like a lord on patrol.

"I prefer their forest," Sha Sha announced.

In a slightly open area, she mounted the unicorn again and continued to explore ahead on her own, but she didn't dare go too far.

She stopped before a pine tree, dismounted from the unicorn, picked up many spherical fruits on the ground and put them all into the leather bag beside the unicorn, then discovered a beautiful antler behind the tree and slipped it into her hide bag, instantly making the bag round and bulging.

She glanced back at the large party; they were heading toward her.

So she continued forward.

A small mud puddle appeared ahead; Sha Sha thought there was no dirtier pool than this. Mud flew at the edges, clearly beasts had been wallowing in it, and all around the pond were clusters of footprints—she knew at once it was a wild boar's activity spot.

She silently checked the dagger at her waist and the bow on her back.

She waited here for the main force to catch up.

After Mountain Cat Uncle pointed her in a direction, she skirted the pool and continued onward that way.

Along the way too many things attracted her: trees bearing huge pods, slender trees hanging withered unknown fruits, and a patch of dark little shrubs with bright red small fruits on the outside, but she dared not eat them.

After passing a lone boulder, she spotted a plump squirrel dashing up a sentinel tree in the distance. She rode the unicorn, sped forward in pursuit, and stopped beneath that tree.

She nocked an arrow onto the bow, sure to hit it the moment it appeared.

That night she would eat the game she hunted.

The squirrel was very alert, refusing to show its head again, while her little unicorn grew impatient waiting, letting out a low "moo"; Sha Sha had to lower her bow, then glanced back at the large party still behind her.

With them making noise behind, no animal would dare show its head.

She simply checked the direction herself, cautiously advancing a distance farther out. She turned her head, confirmed the main party needed a bit more time to catch up, then stopped and began to look around.

Birds called from all sides; she couldn't tell where they were, and they had too little meat for her to consider them as prey. The unicorn also shook its head, not knowing whether it disdained birds or simply disliked their calls.

She stroked the unicorn to calm it, then hid behind a beech tree to see what animal might run into her sight and bow range on its own.

While waiting, she spotted another thin little bird on a branch ahead calling at her; she endured it, ignoring it, but soon another flew in. Then she gave up, deciding it was a bad bird acting as an enemy.

Only when the main party approached again did she prepare to continue forward exploration.

After several rounds of waiting and setting out again, she finally found a huntable animal—a seemingly lone young boar. She lightly patted the unicorn to urge it forward, charging in, but the young boar ran along the low bushes; she drew her bow and shot an arrow, hitting its neck directly from behind. She happily dismounted, ran over, grabbed its tail, and pulled the still-struggling boar out, then slit its throat with the dagger; the young boar ceased struggling.

After sheathing the dagger again, she whistled to call the unicorn near, but it completely ignored her, so she tossed the boar aside and drew the bloody dagger once more.

She looked in the direction the unicorn was guarding. A boar much larger than Sha Sha came charging at her, grunting, while she gripped her dagger and stared fixedly at the dark shape. The black boar, as it neared her, was knocked over by her little unicorn's shove and fell into the bushes; then the unicorn kept lunging forward, touching the boar with its long sharp horn, as if shocked, the boar could only collapse again, this happening several times. But Sha Sha noticed the boar recovered faster each time, realizing her unicorn was still too small, so when the boar finally began to lie down trembling on the ground, she rushed forward, used her body weight to twist one hoof with one hand while stabbing its neck repeatedly with the dagger in the other hand, until boar blood spattered her face. She then straddled the boar, waiting for its twitching to subside.

Sha Sha was convinced that if her unicorn were a bit bigger, it would surely flop to the ground and struggle, saving her all this trouble.

She saw her little unicorn beside her, bellowing excitedly yet exhausted, just like her.

This boar was still too big for the two of them.

After a brief rest, Sha Sha drew her dagger again, knelt on the ground, and ruthlessly tore open the boar's belly, rummaging inside to take out the liver, which she held up to the unicorn; it sniffed, then began to gulp it down in big mouthfuls.

By the time the main party arrived, she felt the pig blood on her face had dried. Axe Jieao stared at the boar on the ground and bared his teeth at her; she returned the grin. Cavalry Ivan hehehed, making his unicorn let out a loud moo toward her; her Dad stretched the corners of his mouth, which Sha Sha naturally knew meant he was pleased.

This wasn't her first boar harvest, but the previous ones had never been this large.

She tossed the young boar to Hong Li Yu. Hong Li Yu handed her a bag filled with various nuts, which she gladly took and brought to the unicorn's mouth; it ate with great relish.

Afterward they marched through the forest singing together. When it got later in the afternoon and they passed a Heart Tree, they stopped. Sha Sha knew they would camp that night in the clearing beside the Heart Tree. Her only wish was that, while she slept, the crows on the Heart Tree wouldn't be as noisy as they were now.

At dusk they lit a bonfire before the Heart Tree. Hong Li Yu alone roasted the young boar, hanging its tiny entrails on the Heart Tree, and the crows all scrambled for them.

The large boar was still butchered by her Dad, divided into portions according to their numbers. Only the boar's head, four feet, entire hide, and the remaining entrails were piled beneath the Heart Tree.

After the bones were cleaned, they gave the smaller bones to the crows and threw the larger ones into the fire as an offering to the fire god.

Mountain Cat Uncle offered his pancakes for the first time at this bonfire; Sha Sha tried a few bites, noticing a strange taste inside, though the aroma was special, she didn't find it very tasty, and she began to look forward to the bread of Lin Dong City.

This was the happiest day of her journey. In the following seven or eight days, Sha Sha managed to catch only five squirrels.

When she first walked out of this forest, she saw neat pastures and manors, the boundaries clear, but the pastures had been abandoned and the manors destroyed.

She didn't know why the Northern Border people had abandoned such a fine place.

"Dad, will Lin Dong City be better than here?" she asked.

"Of course. This is a ruin; any castle in the Northern Border would be better than this."

"Better than Ke Laer's?" she pressed.

"Any Northern Border castle is better than Ke Laer's," he answered.

"Lin Dong City also owes its existence to hot springs; I've heard the spring water flows between the castle walls, making every room warm and cozy, though I don't know if their hot spring pool is bigger than ours," Ivan said.

"How much longer until we get there?" she asked. She missed her home's hot spring pool terribly, as well as snow mountain pears, yak barley milk, and the ice lake fishing spot—ah, the unicorn also loved the ice lake fishing spot.

"Once we reach the King's Road, maybe another ten days?" Mountain Cat Uncle replied.

"How long until we reach the King's Road?" she asked.

"I don't know," he answered honestly.

This answer really made Sha Sha feel downcast. She had no choice but to continue riding her unicorn ahead to scout on this wide plain.

The main force immediately followed.

When A Sha was scouting on the second day, she saw a village that seemed to have people, she quickly returned to report the information, but actually, the village was so obvious that they could see it just as well from a distance.

"I saw someone running out of the village!" Sha Sha added.

"How many people?" Red Carp asked.

"I only saw one. He was riding a horse."

"Riding a horse, that's great." Red Carp said, he tossed up that piece of crescent gold again. The gold had been rubbed by him until it shone brightly.

"But there's not a wisp of cooking smoke in the manor. Perhaps, like the manor we saw before, it's also been abandoned." Sha Sha felt sad, that someone would leave such a nice place.

"Ivan, take Bu Za, Ka Long, and Grey Hand to scout again. Fu Tou, you lead Luke and Fermi to stand guard outside. Red Carp, Sta, and Wildcat, you stay with me on the other side. Sha Sha, you warn us of anyone coming from other directions."

They all went their separate ways. Sha Sha had no choice but to rush to the front again, hanging far to the southwest of the manor to watch for approaching people. She saw Cavalry Ivan ride his unicorn disappear into the stone wall, then followed by three spearmen.

"No living people found." Cavalry Ivan quickly came out and shouted at them.

Hearing that, Sha Sha felt relieved. She patted her unicorn and headed for the manor. Outside the manor, she saw the stone wall still stained with blood, and there were still radishes drying in the sun. The courtyard indeed had no one, but bloodstains were everywhere, very obvious, and she even felt she could smell a stronger stench of blood.

At that time, her father also followed her into the courtyard.

After gunner Sta entered, following his father's instructions, he together with several other spearmen pushed open the stone and smashed the locked door.

After Sha Sha walked in, she found ten corpses laid out in a row—old people, women, children, youths, middle-aged—all present.

"Dad, were they killed by someone?"

"Looks like it."

"Why were they locked inside the house?" She thought someone did this to prevent the killed corpses from being eaten by wild dogs, and because they were unwilling to burn down the manor.

"I don't know."

"Who did it?" she asked.

"I don't know." Then he began giving orders: "Let's go. Night watch starts today."

Sha Sha had no choice but to follow them away.

When they left, until they could no longer see the manor filled with corpses, Sha Sha took the lead on a road that looked like it might be the King's Road. She waited here for the main force to arrive.

"Dad, this is the King's Road, right?" She felt very happy. If so, she only needed ten or so days to reach Winterfort City.

"Looks like it." His father's gaze did not follow the direction the road extended, but instead passed through Sha Sha and looked toward the other side of the road.

Sha Sha turned her head, following his gaze, and far off saw a large group of people rushing out from the west, numbering sixty or seventy. Sha Sha felt afraid for the first time.

"Are they northern border people?" Cavalry Ivan asked.

"I don't know, but they are definitely enemies." His father replied, "Sha Sha, ride your unicorn south all the way to Winterfort City." He pulled something from his chest, then glanced at her and handed it over, saying, "Take this with you, don't lose it."

Sha Sha glanced at the sheepskin bag, not quite understanding.

"It's a token." he said.