Chapter 17

“You… what are you talking about…”

Janie was a bit confused but forced a smile. She knew these people harbored some animosity toward Talli, but she couldn’t believe they would speak such rude and malicious words in front of Talli.

Talli’s face darkened.

On the other hand, Dusk, who had been somewhat disinterested and still carried some lazy weariness, suddenly became intrigued upon seeing the tense atmosphere. Its tail, which had been relaxed, now flicked upward slightly.

It stared intently at the black-haired girl’s face, unwilling to miss any slight change in her expression.

Unfortunately, things did not unfold the way it had hoped.

“I didn’t give it to you,” Talli didn’t get angry but her gaze turned cold, “whether she accepts it or not is none of your business.”

“Why wouldn’t it be my business? She’s our teammate,” the boy turned his face to Janie. His posture indicated he was the leader of the group, with a good family background and a “life and death” authority over the team. “You agree, don’t you?”

Janie’s face turned pale.

She had just arrived here and, though she had a good impression of Talli, she definitely didn’t want to offend anyone.

“I… I…” She seemed to be struggling with her decision, her lips trembling slightly.

“…”

Talli sighed, “If you don’t want it, then forget it.”

She kept it to feed Dusk.

“Sorry, Talli…”

Janie looked at her with gratitude, but Talli didn’t look back. She turned and bent down to pick up Dusk from the ground. “Let’s go.”

Dusk struggled briefly but soon lowered its head.

… This is boring.

“Hey, I didn’t tell you to leave.”

A voice came from behind, and with the last word of the sentence, a sharp sword qi rushed toward Talli’s back.

Accompanied by gasps and screams.

Talli reacted quickly, throwing Dusk off her and sidestepping. She drew a short knife from her side and blocked the opponent’s sword. The clash of weapons sent a jolt through her wrist.

“You waste, your reaction is pretty quick,” the opponent sneered indifferently and continued to strike, “Do you dare to spar with me?”

Talli was at a disadvantage at the start. After several consecutive blows, her expression turned cold.

There were shouts and voices of warning from behind, but the opponent ignored them. After cutting off a few strands of Talli’s black hair near her ear, he suppressed his voice and sneered:

“…I’ve never liked you, wild dog. You dared to make the saintess cry for you in front of everyone—you’re really asking for it!”

Some of the teammates behind them stood by, arms crossed, watching indifferently, while others were so frightened they started crying. Janie stood frozen, unsure what to do. She wanted to stop the fight, but couldn’t get close to either of them, unable to join the battle.

They didn’t notice that the black-haired girl, lying on the ground with a sword stabbed into the earth beside her ear, was slowly letting her gaze darken.

“…Enough.”

“What?”

The opponent didn’t hear her clearly.

“I said, that’s enough.”

How many more times would she have to clean up these messes for Theresa’s admirers?

Talli lifted her deep purple eyes, curling her lips in a sneer, her gaze showing a hint of malice. In a flash, she raised her leg and kicked the opponent in the abdomen. Before he could even react, she quickly sprang to her feet, her short knife gleaming coldly as she lunged for his throat!

“Ugh…”

The opponent’s face turned pale, completely unprepared for the black-haired girl to shift her attack and become so vicious.

“Ah!”

He clutched his injured, bleeding arm, cold sweat dripping from his forehead as he collapsed to the ground. “What do you want!?… Didn’t you say we were just sparring?”

“Who told you it was just a spar?”

Talli stood over him, holding the short knife, looking down from above.

“I, I—”

Before he could finish, half a word stuck in his throat — because the sharp blade was already pressed against his throat. Another move and he would bleed out on the spot.

He couldn’t even swallow his saliva.

“Now you’re trembling, scared?” Talli tilted her head. “Did you ever think this might be the outcome when you were holding a sword threatening others?”

If she hadn’t dodged that first blow, she would have died in a place like this, where no one would even notice. After all, in the illusion, as long as everyone around her was on her side, if they bit her to death and no one had seen it, they wouldn’t have to take responsibility.

“I…”

The boy’s pupils contracted in fear, his body stiff as he desperately feared that the knife would press in just a bit further.

“I thought even if you killed me, it would just be a dog dying,” Talli pressed closer, nearly touching his nose, and lightly asked, “How does it feel?”

“…”

Just as the boy seemed like he couldn’t hold out any longer, Talli slowly withdrew her knife. The noble boy immediately collapsed, his body giving way. He was caught by a teammate who rushed forward, his face as white as a sheet.

“Stay out of Theresa’s business and don’t provoke me.”

Talli coldly dropped the words, “I can ignore the gossip behind my back, but if someone blindly walks into the line of fire, that’s not within my scope.”

—

She turned her back, walking away, and her figure slowly faded into the distance.

After helping the team leader boy to rest under the tree, the voices of discussion started chattering.

“I didn’t expect her physical skills to be this good.”

“Obviously, our team leader is too weak. He’s a second-year student, bullying a first-year is just too shameful…”

“The first-year’s ability to adapt on the spot has reached this level, I actually admire her a bit.”

“She even managed to catch so many prey. Is this something a human can do? Only one night!”

“To be honest, even without magic talent, just based on those moves, she definitely shouldn’t be called a ‘failure’… Speaking of which, I wonder who started spreading that nickname. It seems like it suddenly spread all over the school…”

“Do you think I can secretly grab a deer? I don’t think the team leader will notice, right?”

—

After Talli left, she suddenly remembered that her prey had been left behind.

She had originally planned to go back and get it, but after wandering around a few times, she realized she had gotten lost again and had to give up.

It seemed like Dusk was a little unhappy because it couldn’t get any meat.

To be honest, if it had just been that situation, Talli could have managed it. The noble boy who practiced swordsmanship relied too much on flashy moves and liked fancy, ineffective techniques. Even Carl, known as a “swordsmanship prodigy,” wasn’t immune to these distractions when practicing swordsmanship.

But when it came to true threats, it was definitely Kristen.

Occasionally using these people to practice her skills wasn’t bad. Talli had openly challenged Kristen before, and someday, she would face the undying knight.

She couldn’t always act cautiously.

However, what had been bothering her was…

It seemed that ever since the fight in the camp earlier, she had felt some vague gazes following her.

These gazes followed her like shadows, never revealing themselves, yet always lingering in the dark.

It was starting to irritate Talli.

The gazes seemed to have originally been intended for observation, perhaps to confirm something, but they also carried a faint murderous intent.

Talli’s strong intuition made her believe that those following gazes were from humans.

Someone wanted to kill her.

But for some reason, they hadn’t made a move yet.

Unlike the petty fights from those who admired Theresa, these people came with a strong sense of determination and purpose.

A sense of crisis hung over Talli’s heart, like a dark cloud that wouldn’t dissipate.

At times like this, Dusk’s usual lethargy didn’t make Talli focus too much. She sometimes even walked a distance before realizing that the one following her had taken a wrong turn, forcing her to go back and find Dusk.

Recently, Dusk’s synchrony with her had been good, but this was the first time it seemed so preoccupied.

Talli recalled that ever since entering the illusion, Dusk had been somewhat distracted.

She could only grab its collar and keep it obediently in her backpack.

That night, after having stayed up all night, Talli was truly exhausted. As soon as the sun set, she quickly set up a campfire and ate a meal without much appetite, simply going through the motions.

“I wonder when we’ll find the temple.”

Talli murmured softly, patting Dusk’s head. “…Tonight, I’ll leave it to you.”

Not even half a minute after she spoke, the girl, whose head was buried in her knees, had already started breathing evenly, falling into a deep sleep.

The evening breeze was gentle.

Deritz lowered its head, sitting by the campfire. It watched the girl, who seemed extremely tired, blink, and in an instant, she fell into a heavy sleep, slipping into a dream.

She didn’t sleep peacefully, however. Her arms wrapped tightly around her knees, and her knuckles turned white from the pressure.

She might have been tormented by a nightmare.

If that were the case, even if something happened, it would be hard to wake her up for a while.

The campfire crackled as it burned, and the air was warm. Deritz raised a paw and gently placed it on her forehead, nudging her slightly. It saw that even while sleeping, the girl’s brow remained furrowed. Her eyelids fluttered rapidly as her eyeballs moved underneath. Sweat beaded on her pale skin, and her lips turned white.

Deritz carefully studied her appearance with its eyes, then loosened its paw and gently bent down.

Everything seemed to happen in the blink of an eye.

The blue fox half-knelt on the ground, quickly transforming into the shape of a girl. She had a delicate and small frame, with Talli’s face, but her eyes were sharp and menacing, unhuman and full of intimidation.

She slowly lifted her head, slightly curling her lips toward the dense forest ahead, and stood up.

Taking a step, she walked into the shadows. She glanced back at Talli, then made her way toward the concealed spot where the murderous intent had come from during the day.

She didn’t move fast, in fact, she walked leisurely, but every few steps she left an afterimage, and her figure would suddenly appear elsewhere without any warning.

In the darkness, she moved like a ghost stalking in the shadows.

It wasn’t until she approached the assassins holding weapons that they sensed her presence. By then, she was only an inch away from them, yet they hadn’t heard a single sound of her footsteps.

The small girl raised her hand, and blood exploded beneath her palm.

“One.”

She moved like a shadow, weaving through the group of people.

“Two.”

“Three.”

—

“Ah, ahhh!”

The shrill screams echoed, and the assassins widened their eyes, their pupils constricting. They didn’t know what had happened, they only knew that their comrades, who had been hiding around, tracking the illegitimate daughter of the Witch family, were falling one by one. The deaths were gruesome. One assassin turned to flee, only to see the girl approaching him like a ghost.

“Seven.”

She raised her hand, blood still fresh on her cheek, and her eyes were as terrifying as a demon lord ruling hell. She looked at him as if he were a dying, struggling ant.

The assassin heard a loud cracking sound, and then everything went dark. His body went limp and collapsed.

These were the death soldiers sent by the political enemies of the Fred family. If they weren’t dealt with ahead of time, it would cause serious problems in the future.

During the day, she had wanted to part ways with Talli, intending to deal with these small fry on her own.

But Talli, as sharp as ever, always managed to bring her back.

…Finally, the opportunity had come.

Deritz left only two or three assassins alive in the end.

They still didn’t know what had happened. They only smelled the thick scent of blood and heard the screams ahead. They immediately thought of their target and, fearing something might have gone wrong, rushed forward.

Their target—the second daughter of the Fred family—was running ahead!

“We’ve been discovered!”

“Damn it… Let’s deal with this now!”

—

Talli felt as though she were trapped in a nightmare, sinking in quicksand, unable to wake up.

She could feel something cool on her neck, water dripping from the collar, and the wind had turned damp and cold. The campfire seemed to have gone out.

Had it started raining?

Suddenly, a sharp pain forcibly pulled her from the nightmare’s grip!

It was as if she had surfaced from near-drowning in warm water. Talli quickly opened her eyes, gasping for air, her shoulders and neck aching at the slightest movement.

Looking down, she saw that her wrist had been bitten hard by Dusk, blood slowly oozing from the wound.

The pain came to her in waves. Talli’s lips trembled slightly, and she wiped the rainwater off her face, about to speak, when a black-feathered arrow brushed past her cheek!

Talli instantly understood. She quickly got up, grabbed her backpack, and shouted, “Go!”

Behind her, the black-robed assassins had just emerged from the dense forest, seemingly no longer trying to hide. They drew their bows and fired at her!