The horizontal length of the ravine they crossed behind may have been far beyond their imagination, because it was not until they ran forward for a long distance that the war horses finally began to lose their strength and could not even maintain the cruising speed and could only walk slowly. The pursuers no longer appeared in sight.
The tension intensified the perceived level of fatigue. Even though this distance was covered by horseback, and being chased by an enemy who far outnumbered me and had to run wildly, my heart was still beating loudly, and my whole body was shaking. He was dripping with cold sweat, as if he had been fished out of water, and his hair was wet and stuck to his forehead and cheeks.
"Huh-huh-" Mira struggled to control her breathing. The swordsmanship and fighting system that Henry taught her included a concept called "Zanshin"1, which refers to the process of defeating the current enemy or defeating the current enemy after the battle is completed. After swinging a sword, you still don't relax and don't let down your guard - this applies to any other life-threatening matter. The most important thing is to be careless. Throughout history, you think you have escaped and then immediately relaxed or committed suicide. There are countless cases where people become complacent because they think they have a winning chance, only to quickly collapse.
In the process of escaping, this moment when it seems that the other party has been abandoned and it seems that the person has escaped from exhaustion is actually the most dangerous moment. Most people who have caught big fish or hunted large creatures know this plan: if you use brute force to pull hard, the fishing rod and fishing line will probably not be able to withstand the break, so you will pull for a while and then let go of the fish. The line makes the big fish struggle, and the correct approach is to continue to repeat this process of retracting and retracting until the opponent's strength is exhausted before closing the pole.
The hunting of large buffalo on the grassland and the practice of dealing with armies in the civilized world for many years are exactly the same. They ambush and harass, but then quickly restrain themselves, making the opponent relax their vigilance and then attack again. Once the opponent reacts, they immediately withdraw and repeat the above process. ——The configuration of light-armored cavalry perfectly complements this set of tactics. Countless mercenaries and merchants from the civilized world have died at their hands over the years, and naturally our sages and their party do not want to follow in their footsteps.
Maintaining this "broken heart" state and knowing the routines that the prairie cavalry is good at is one thing. Even if you are more alert in other situations, you will never harm yourself. It's just that there is still a big difference between this kind of calm vigilance and the nervousness of the wind, just like a frightened bird. Mira looked at Lina behind her. She was frightened by the arrow before, even though she was protected by armor. Still not small. Since the ponytailed Luoan girl met Henry, at least the people she had come into contact with were soldiers or mercenaries somewhere, so much so that she had almost forgotten how ordinary people would react when encountering such a situation. .
That kind of calmness and naturalness comes from not being surprised. Unknowingly, she has become accustomed to the people around her. When encountering similar situations, there is at most a difference in the degree of reaction, but she is not at a loss. Mira became nervous when she saw Lina. When her face turned pale, she felt as if she had seen the powerless version of herself before. However, the situation was still urgent, so she didn't have much time and energy to speak to comfort the other person. She only had one free hand to hold Lina's hand and hold her in her arms. The palms on his waist achieve a certain level of comfort through simple movements.
Perhaps her thoughts were conveyed, and Lina behind her subconsciously began to calm down her breathing: "Appropriate behavior is in line with the behavior of a royal family." Mira heard her whispering behind her. These two sentences are pronunciation. The pure Luoan language may be something that the Countess and others who are no longer here have been telling her, so the pronunciation is much more precise and rounded than usual communication - in any case, Her Royal Highness the Princess used this Trying to cheer myself up again with inner support. And our white-haired girl with a ponytail also has her own things to do. Although she still doesn’t understand the sage’s true thoughts due to a series of reasons, she has more or less guessed that Mira may be It's due to her blood, or maybe it's driven by the seriousness that has always existed in her character. She doesn't say it, but deep down in her heart, she is determined to protect this girl of her own race.
Time passed by. In order to save the physical strength of the war horses, the three men and two horses chose to move at a slow speed but always kept moving to prevent being suddenly attacked. They walked for more than half a day. As more and more rock oaks were exposed on the surface, This area also gradually began to appear different from the monotonous duet of soil and weeds deep in Absera. Apart from this area, only the original Loan Kingdom and the Takzenstein Wasteland further south were represented by withered shrubs. The tumbleweeds that could be seen created a desolate scene under the dusk sky, and in the girl's eyes, the sage, who was riding a horse and walking in front with a big sword on his back, seemed to be walking all the way into the orange field because of the backlight. Among the colors.
"Gu——" The two people who had not finished the lunch at noon let out a grumble at the same time. With the sun as the direction, it was impossible for there to be a leak, and with the bushes and hay, a bonfire would be lit here. It was not that difficult to come, but they had lost all their equipment including tents, cooking utensils, seasonings, spare food and a series of supplies, and the land here was growing because of more rock oaks. The vegetation is not lush, so there is no need to think about the creatures that can be hunted.
""
This piece of land between the grassland and the tropical forest area is a desolate and barren land, as conspicuous as a bald spot on the head of an elderly uncle - this of course cannot be natural, in fact it was in the past This land is full of shrubs and jungles just like the southern border. It is human factors that make it so barren in the end. This period of history was recorded in the books that Mira bought when she was in the southern border. First, the Lamanites migrating westward cut down a lot of wood to make temporary homes and use it as fuel. Then there were the various wars that never stopped between the Thoratins and the grassland people. As siege equipment, fuel, wooden temporary castles, and even surrounding the enemy in the woods and setting them on fire directly, the cannibalism between humans eventually turned this land into this kind of virtue - no People are the winners. The kingdoms and city-states in the south of Thoradin have always fallen victim to chaos and poverty, and the grassland people have also had to give up this land that could have provided many supplies for survival and was far flatter and easier to navigate than the southern border. .
Speaking of books, except for the book on swordsmanship and combat instruction written by the sage for her, Mira was hanging on the side of the saddle along with the soft leather water bag, the others were all discarded behind her along with the iron pot. somewhere. Thinking of their value and the fact that she hadn't finished reading them yet, the girl began to feel pain in her heart again, and at the same time she had to feel an unreasonable anger towards those who were chasing them.
But in the end, all this was no match for the feeling of hunger, and after running such a long way, it was time for the war horses to take a good rest. They chose a place to stop. The weakness caused by fatigue and hunger made the girl even For a moment, she had the idea of just lying on the ground and doing nothing, surrendering without resistance even if the prairie people came over. However, she quickly regained her energy and tried hard to continue her actions.
"You two have a rest, I'll look for something to eat nearby." He didn't have much lunch, and he had been running all the way, but the sage still seemed to be fine. He asked the two girls to dismount and find a large rock nearby to sit on. Then he walked to the side and started collecting shrubs, dead branches and the like.
Although the geographical environment has been changed by humans, life has not been completely extinct. With the last glimmer of light, the sage managed to find some short shrubs. The berries growing on them could provide a feeling of satiety that was better than nothing, but it was obviously not enough to feed three people, so he searched for a while, and then Another bush was discovered on the other side with some rather plump looking pods growing on it.
"" Henry picked them. The reason why such plump fruits were not eaten by creatures such as prairie dogs was that the beans were poisonous. Even after being cooked, the toxicity was only slightly reduced. The correct way to eat it is to soak it in live water such as a stream for more than a week to filter out the toxicity, but there is no such time now, so peel off the shell and crush it, rinse it with water, roast it on the fire, and crush it to make bean powder. Try to reduce the toxicity as much as possible. As long as you don't take too much, there won't be much of a problem.
When he walked back with these, the sky had completely turned into dark blue. Mira and Lina were already drowsy due to fatigue. Henry noticed that there were some scattered firewood on the ground here, obviously. The two stubborn girls also tried to help, but in the end they were still weak and rested against each other on the big rocks.
There was no bonfire to drive them away, and some blood-sucking bugs were buzzing around them, but the presence of these bugs was actually a good thing, because it meant that there was likely to be a water source nearby.
Exhausted but unable to rest amid the harassment of mosquitoes, coupled with the weakness caused by hunger, when the sage came over and put down their things, took off their armor and started to prepare, Mira and Lina woke up because of the movement.
"Dig a pit, put firewood in it, and cover it with stones so that the flames won't jump too high and can be seen from a distance." Henry explained to them while doing this, this is a kind of The act of keeping the two girls awake, after all, if they fell asleep now, the consequences would be very bad.
"Remember to dig two pits that are connected to each other so that the airflow can come in." He completed all this quickly in the darkness, then took out the flint he always carried with him from the small leather bag on his armed belt, and used The impact of the iron tool caused sparks.
“It couldn’t be done in Abu Serra because the ground is all wet during the rainy season. If you dig a pit to burn a fire, the evaporated water will raise huge and choking smoke, and the heat of the flame will basically be absorbed, so there is no need to do so. You can't burn things." Henry put the lit hay into the pit, and then added the firewood little by little. After confirming that the flames were starting to burn, he took the freshly picked berries held in leaves from the side: "Eat this first." He said, and the two people who saw the food through the light of the fire immediately became energetic. After taking it, he devoured it without any ladylike manner. The sage shrugged and took out the poisonous beans he had collected.
"Help me find a flatter slate, wash it, and put it on the fire pit." He said this, then picked up the simple torch he made while digging the pit, put it into the fire pit, lit it, and headed in the other direction. Go and find water.
After a while, Henry came back after cleaning the beans. Mira and Lina, who had regained some of their energy, were looking after the bonfire. They obviously understood what Henry wanted to do. The sage put down the peeled and washed beans, ground them on another stone slab, and then patted the whole bean flour cake onto the flat stone surface on the fire pit.
The sound of "sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssingsingsings" is heard, and the heated stone slab is the best natural cooking utensil. The water in the beans is quickly dried, and a burst of astringent burnt aroma comes out, which makes people feel uncomfortable. The two people next to them who were not full to begin with looked even more hungry.
"Wait until the edges are burnt. This is poisonous. Don't eat too much." Henry warned as the breeze blew slowly. Finally, after tasting the soybean flour biscuits with no seasoning and only a burnt and bitter taste, and arranging the shift, this The night passed like this.
The fatigue and hunger were still not completely eliminated, but they were somewhat relieved. The next morning, the next morning came again with the feeling of weakness in the limbs due to lack of nutrition and little rest. After filling the fire pit and packing up some remaining biscuits wrapped in leaves and taking them with them, the three men and two horses headed north again.
There may be fish in the creek that Henry found near the big rock where he stopped yesterday. If they can get this kind of meat, their physical strength will be greatly supplemented. But even the sages couldn't catch it in the night, and during the day, considering the time consumed, they could only hold back their hunger and continue on their way.
There is not much food and other things that can be collected here, but they do not have the time and leisure to collect them one by one at the moment. Survival in the wild without supplies is already quite difficult, plus the presence of pursuing soldiers. , I spent two consecutive days starting from this morning, and when I could not get enough rest and food, the only thing that could be called fortunate was that the unpalatable biscuits made from beans were not there. It probably didn't cause any gastrointestinal discomfort to anyone in the team.
After all, the last thing they needed right now was for someone to get food poisoning and become even weaker.
Time passed by, and in the blink of an eye, three days had passed since the supplies were discarded. Fortunately, the pursuers of the prairie people still did not appear in the field of vision, and exciting things finally began to appear. Walking through this area in the distance A forest appeared on the horizon.
"We've arrived at Thoradin," the sage turned around and said in a calm tone as always, while Mira and Lina let out a long sigh in unison.
Note: Canshin: Well, I don’t want to use such gentle words if possible. This term comes from kendo, and as explained in the text, it refers to a state of not letting down your guard even after achieving your goal. This thing is not unique to the Japanese. European swordsmanship, many other fighting systems and even military training in the world have similar concepts. However, due to my own poor knowledge reserve and search ability, I was not able to find another one. A concise and concise word is used to replace it. (In other words, various combat systems in various countries have such a concept, but no one puts it forward directly like the Japanese. It is just a subtle statement.)
This situation also occurred in the chapter 31 of Volume 1 describing swordsmanship. At that time, the word I made up by myself was called edge line. This word is actually not quite right, although the English word "edge" -line can indeed be translated in this way, but at the same time, the place used to refer to the separation between the sword surface and the bladed part is also called the blade line in Chinese professional terminology, so I made this up myself The words are actually very loose. But just like other things, I can no longer change these published things, so the errors that have occurred so far should be regarded as a warning of my own shortcomings.
Avoid arrogance. u
(:,()!: .
