Chapter 90: The Deergirl Feya

“Meow~ Her? She doesn’t seem like it,” Liuli mused, her spirits lifted after Wu Qingsong had praised her.

Having expended little energy in the battle with the tree creature, Liuli remained in her current state a bit longer. Wu Qingsong gave her some dried meat and fish provided by Ling and then brought her back to the unconscious deer girl.

Ever since Wu Qingsong’s order, Angus’s dagger had stood at the deergirl’s neck. A houndman tossed a handful of snow onto her head, and she woke up within seconds.

“You…” she immediately started to struggle, but Angus applied a bit more pressure with his dagger, and she stopped.

“Who are you? Why did you attack us?” Wu Qingsong asked.

“You bad people!” the deer girl retorted loudly.

“You’re the bad one!” Liuli quickly shot back.

Startled momentarily by Liuli’s appearance, the deergirl regained her courage, defiantly saying, “You’ll get what you deserve one day!”

“You will!” Liuli shot back again.

The pointless argument could have lasted all day if Wu Qingsong hadn’t stepped in, asking Ling to take Liuli aside. He then turned back to the deergirl.

“You must be mistaken about something,” he told her. “We only arrived here yesterday, we haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Pah, bad guy! You think I’d believe you?” retorted the deer girl.

Wu Qingsong tried to persuade her but to no avail. Then he switched to having Beck come over to scare her, but although she was frightened to tears, she still didn’t say anything.

This left Wu Qingsong in a dilemma.

If she had been more fierce, sleazy, or even a tad more conventional, Wu Qingsong wouldn’t have hesitated to instruct his houndmen to employ harsh interrogation tactics. But faced with a naive girl, such methods were not appropriate.

“Sir?” Angus was also at a loss but continued to carefully watch the girl for any sudden use of special abilities.

“She can’t have come from far,” Wu Qingsong noted. “Her village must be nearby. Let everyone take a break, then search in the direction she tried to run.”

The deergirl’s panic upon hearing this convinced Wu Qingsong that her abilities were uncommon, perhaps even unique. Otherwise, her reaction would have been more defiant, along the lines of, “Fine, if you want to meet your demise, I won’t stop you–not fearful.”

“You can still speak up,” he said to the deergirl. 

Seeing her tearful face, he felt somewhat reluctant to push too hard. Yet, he couldn’t simply release her without understanding the full situation.

Although the encounter hadn’t resulted in any casualties, if it weren’t for his timely discovery and Ling’s intervention, he would have been safe, but Ling and Liuli might have died, and his houndmen would have faced significant losses.

Being endearing couldn’t negate any wrongdoing, especially when those endangered were the people Wu Qingsong held dearest in this world. Faced with a choice, he’d rather be an executioner to protect those he cared for.

“You… you bad people…” The deergirl finally burst into uncontrollable tears, her despair palpable. “It was… all my doing… don’t… wuuu…”

“Wu?” Ling, showing signs of softening, unexpectedly appeared behind Wu Qingsong and gently tugged at his clothes. Turning, he found Liuli asleep again.

“I know what needs to be done,” he softly assured Ling. “Some actions can’t be taken, but others are necessary.”

“Tie her up and gag her,” he directed Angus. “Bring her with us.”

Dawn was yet to break, but darkness posed no hindrance to the houndmen, only Wu Qingsong.

The houndmen spread into the woods to search for a potential deer village. Wu Qingsong had emphasized caution against possible ant creatures and treants. Their priority in danger was to retreat and save themselves, then focus on the mission.

However, the likelihood of encountering danger seemed low. Ant creatures wouldn’t likely be active in heavy snow, and judging by the deergirl’s reaction, the chance of someone else in the village knowing that kind of magic was almost non-existent.

The group proceeded cautiously, and just before dawn, a houndman soldier returned with news, “Sir, we’ve found a recently devastated village ahead. It appears the villagers fled to a cave nearby during the insectoid disaster. We saw fire at the cave’s entrance.”

At this, the deergirl began struggling wildly.

“Did you alert them?”

“No.”

“Alright, gather everyone, rest, and eat. Await my orders,” Wu Qingsong directed.

To the deergirl, Wu Qingsong must have seemed like a terrible demon. Despair and helplessness filled her eyes, so pitiful it could thaw ice. Yet, Wu Qingsong hardened his resolve and had Angus remove her gag.

“Please… don’t… I’m begging you…” she cried out in plea.

“Answer my questions truthfully,” Wu Qingsong said firmly. “First, what’s your name? I want no lies and expect answers.”

“I’m… Feya,” she replied amidst sobs.

“Why did you attack us?” Wu Qingsong continued.

“Because… because you killed Bart.”

Wu Qingsong sighed heavily, understanding the likely cause of this misunderstanding. This was an unwelcome burden to bear.

Feya, still tearful, then narrated the events that led to the attack.

The villagers were originally under the jurisdiction of the Saint’s Eye mercenary group, tasked with growing medicinal herbs in the forest.

When the insectoid disaster erupted, no one thought to alert them for evacuation, nor did anyone consider protecting them. Fortunately, their tribe had always been cautious about the outside world. They fled to a nearby cave before the insectoids reached their village and had been surviving there since.

However, the food they brought in haste was insufficient for all the villagers, and the elves showed no concern for their fate.

After the first heavy snowfall, they bravely returned to the village in search of any food left by the ants and ventured beyond the village to find food. That was when Bart, one of their villagers, tragically encountered a mercenary group seeking treasure and hunting insectoids.

“They killed him?” Wu Qingsong asked.

The deergirl nodded in grief.

“We’re not with those people,” Wu Qingsong said, though he knew such assurances were unlikely to convince her at this point.

“What did you use to keep the insectoids out of the cave?” he asked, getting to the heart of the matter. “Was it a treant? How did you do that?”