Chapter Thirteen: Who Brainwashed Whom (Part One)

Wei Wuji hurried along the highway at a pace like flying. He did not use his light-traveling technique; though faster, it would almost certainly cause him to lose the trail. Still, relying solely on the Daoist Horse Talisman technique, his speed was scarcely inferior to a galloping steed.

After about an hour, he arrived at the first relay station on the road from Valencia to the Gaul Plain—or, more precisely, at what looked like a relay station that had been looted by bandits. The doors had been forced open, the horses in the rear yard exchanged, and the station staff—a manager, an attendant, and a stableman—were all tied up together like a bundle of reeds.

Wei Wuji freed them and learned he was indeed on the right track. The station had been robbed by two figures: a black-clad swordsman with a long blade and a black-robed sorcerer.

He immediately recalled the two he had encountered near Hegel’s Gate. The swordsman was called Gamio, the sorcerer named Layard.

Wei Wuji exhaled slowly, understanding now how they had managed their escape. There were two of them, and it was unclear whether Mr. Hegel could drive a carriage, but with two or three people taking turns, they could keep the coach going without rest, day and night. To maintain peak speed, they abandoned the advantage of hiding their trail or confusing pursuers with illusions, choosing instead the straightforward tactic of exposing their path and seizing fresh horses by robbing relay stations. By traveling non-stop for twenty-four hours, even if Valencia dispatched their swiftest special units or warriors, catching up would not be easy. And even if the pursuit succeeded, the fugitives—rested and taking turns at the reins—would hardly fear exhausted Republic hounds trailing behind.

Wei Wuji called the three hapless station workers over. “You understand, I trust, how much trouble you’re in now that the station’s horses are gone. Even if the horses were swapped rather than stolen, the consequences are enough to cost you your jobs.”

“Sir, thank you for saving us, but do you have any suggestions?” the station master ventured, picking up on Wei Wuji’s implication.

“It’s simple. From now on, no matter who asks, you never admit there was any robbery. I imagine your superiors keep track of the number of horses, not their color. Do you understand my meaning?” Wei Wuji replied.

“I understand. No robbery occurred here, and no horses were lost. We’ll restore this place to normal as soon as we can. As for the door, it was broken today when these two quarreled,” the station master responded, catching on quickly.

“Exactly. And remember, I was never here,” Wei Wuji said with a smile, backing away and vanishing into the misty road.

———

About half a day later, five riders in varied attire arrived at the relay station. Wei Wuji would have recognized two of them: the red-haired swordswoman who had once fought the two Commonwealth agents, and the monk with half his chest scarred. The other three were a white-robed mage, a lightly armored knight, and a handsome archer with pointed ears and emerald-green hair.

The knight was clearly their leader. He questioned the station master closely, who, as instructed, denied any unusual incidents. The knight seemed disappointed but produced an order from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, requisitioning the horses in the rear yard. The monk and the knight exchanged their own mounts for fresh horses.

“Strange; didn’t they take this route?” the red-haired swordswoman asked.

“The station master says nothing out of the ordinary happened. Though I did notice the door’s broken—apparently, his two subordinates got into a fight yesterday,” the archer remarked, sensing something amiss.

“So, what now, Euclid? Do we keep following the road, or split up? If we do, I’d rather not be paired with Ullega,” the swordswoman said, glancing at the monk with evident displeasure.

Euclid pondered before replying, “For now, we stick together and continue down this road. We’ll see if the other relay stations can offer more clues. They stole a carriage during their escape. Once the horses are spent, their speed will drop. These two Commonwealth agents are formidable, but don’t forget the Hegel family are ordinary folk—two of whom are women. Forcing them along the road won’t be easy.”

“But what if they abandoned the carriage early on, or risked driving it off-road through the mountains and forests?” The green-haired archer, carrying a massive emerald bow strung with thick sinew—possibly from some unknown beast, the strands nearly as thick as two thumbs, glossy as black jade—asked. The bow was fiery red, engraved with runes and magic sigils.

“That’s not a problem. If they abandon the carriage, their progress will slow drastically. We’ll overtake them simply by keeping on. If we find no trace of them further ahead, we can always double back and search again,” Euclid replied.

“Fine, no objections,” the archer said, his hand resting on a beautifully crafted short sword at his side, shrugging and acquiescing to his leader.

“Let’s move on, then,” Euclid commanded.

———

At dawn, a thick fog rose over the sea. Within the mist, a dolphin bore a beautiful young girl to the surface.

Stroking the dolphin’s head, the little princess of the Siren tribe smiled happily, then grew solemn. “Thank you. I’ll be leaving the ocean for a while. I want to see what’s so wonderful about the land—why my royal brother and father always long to conquer it. And I’ll find Wei.”

She confided her plans to the dolphin, including her search for Wei. As for why she was seeking him, or what she’d do once she found him, she wasn’t concerned with that just yet.

The dolphin’s dorsal fin slowly rose, and the little princess began reciting a spell she’d learned from her uncle, channeling magic. A searing pain flared from her tail fin, spreading throughout her body.

Helen, unaccustomed to such agony, clenched her teeth and endured. As a high-born Xifeixi of the ocean, she had no real need to use this spell. The sea folk were lords of the ocean; even if they could never walk on land, it would be no great loss. This spell, while able to transform a high Xifeixi’s tail into legs, had a flaw: when Helen lost consciousness or fell asleep, her legs would revert to a fish tail. Her uncle had been exposed this way, discovered by the woman he loved, and so a budding romance was buried, her heart turning to a rival.

PS: This weekend’s update may be paused, as I’m preparing to organize the list of transmigrated characters into a simple reference card. In this novel, each transmigrator generally uses their post-transmigration name, and only reveals their original name when their true identity is exposed. I feel a bit guilty for borrowing some friends’ names, heh. I’ll also compile the magic system—today I went to check the Book of a Thousand Spells.