Sword Among Us Chapter 22: Mini Storyline

In World of Martial Arts, training hidden weapons was the hardest, and it was even harder than practicing the bow. 

Arrows and bows determined how much force was delivered when an arrow was fired. But for hidden weapons, the user's qi, sight, and technique were all required to be able to hit the target. Also, the amount of money required by hidden weapons was much higher than that of bows and arrows. 

There were thirty-six knives in one set of lancet knives, and workshops would charge ten taels of silver crumbs to have them made. It was much more expensive compared to buying a quiver of twenty arrows for one tael of silver crumbs. Happy had dumped nearly all three thousand taels of his silver crumbs into making the throwing knives before his Lancet Knife Throwing Technique reached the eighth realm. This meant that he had thrown nearly ten thousand knives, and investing and subsequently using up this amount of money was something that was very burdensome to a new player. 

However, since he had already done so much for this skill, Happy did not intend to stop just like that. No matter what, he had to make money to push his Lancet Knife Throwing Technique to the ninth realm. 

For the time being, there were certain dangers to the higher missions and quests that would give loads of money. For a new player, those were too hard, so most of their income came from the wild beasts outdoors and the quests given to them by their sects. 

The amount of money awarded by the sects for a completion of a quest was high, but the number of quests they issued were few, and Happy did not intend to snatch the very limited resources known as wild beasts from the new players. This meant that he had no choice but to cast his eyes on the rather dangerous areas outside the city!

There were fearsome beasts and mountain bandits there, and Happy's target was the mountain bandits because there should not be many people who dared to challenge them. 

After all, while the value of fearsome beasts was much higher, the loot they dropped would occupy space in a Universal Bag, and it was extremely inconvenient for Happy to transport his loot back and forth. It was much better if he dealt with mountain bandits. When they died, they would almost certainly drop pieces of silver or silver certificates. The high-class ones would even drop martial arts manuals, and it was much more convenient to collect such things. 

Once he went out of the city, Happy came to Suzhou Creek, which was about three miles away from the city…

There was a small boat at the riverside. A healthy old man with a bamboo hat resting at the back of his neck sat with his back toward the riverbank. He was fishing to pass his time. 

"Mister boatman."

"Here! My dear customer, do you wish to cross the river?" The boatman quickly put away his fishing equipment and got down the boat to push it over. 

"Yes. I'll have to trouble you."

Happy placed his fist in his palm and expressed his gratitude while he got on the boat. 

"Hehe, you're far too polite."

The boatman had pretty good skills with the boat. The boat traveled very steadily across the river. When they reached the middle, the honest old man seemed to be in good spirits and began to sing his heart out.

Happy smiled and continued to sit cross-legged in silence. As the small boat rocked about, he listened to the song. 

The boatman did not sing any gorgeous songs that were pleasant to the years, and there were no gentle or heroic tunes either. However, his honest voice drifted about the calm and peaceful river, managing to touch other people's hearts in another manner. 

Boatmen rowed their boats for decades. 

Perhaps occasionally singing their songs was the only past time and entertainment for these honest people. 

But who could tell whether this was a sad thing or whether it was a blessing that normal people would never be able to find and obtain?

There were plenty of rules in the world, and other people had plenty of thoughts regarding all sorts of matters, but the boatmen did not care about them, and neither did they need to care. 

As the boat swayed and the boatman sang happily, Happy felt that his mood instantly lightened. He gradually unfolded his legs and leaned against the boat in a relaxed manner. With his sword in hand, he stared at the calm surface of the river. The ends of his hero's headband fluttered behind his head along with the wind, and it brought joy to him that he could not put into words. 

Before long, the boat reached the other side of the river. 

Once Happy paid the boat fare, he made preparations to disembark.

At that moment, a girl suddenly ran up the river port while sobbing. She was covered in dirt and staggered along the way. When she saw the boatman, she ran headfirst into his bosom while he stood transfixed on the ground, and bawled. 

"Young Huan? Why didn't you stay at home? Why did you come here?"

The boatman was a man covered in wrinkles. He was alarmed when he saw the bawling girl, and as if realizing that something bad had happened, he quickly questioned her.

Happy could tell at first glance that he had walked straight into a mini storyline in the game, and he had triggered it with a stroke of 'good' luck. He frowned, but he was not in a hurry to leave. 

The girl, Young Huan, raised her face with a heartbroken expression. While crying, she revealed a piece of bad news in a faltering voice. 

"Sob… Grandpa! Mother… Mother was captured by bad people! Father was also injured by those people, and he's still coughing up blood… Sob… Grandpa, those bad people even said that if we reported this to the officials, they would burn our village next time… What should I do? I want my mother…"

The boatman was troubled greatly. He stomped his feet repeatedly. 

"It must be those thrice cursed bandits from Black Wind Mountain. They must have come here to bring harm to the villagers again. 

"Xiu Niang… Oh, what are we supposed to do with Xiu Niang [1]?!"

The honest boatman who had only rowed his boat all his life was also a little stupefied for a time. He simply did not know what to do, so he just held his granddaughter and cried. 

"Are you willing to help save the boatman's son and Young Huan's mother?" Just as expected, the system sent Happy a notification and made things hard for him. 

He frowned deeper. 

If he were to only kill a few bandits, he could do it. He could also easily save the boatman's son with just one Jinchuang Ointment, but if he were to go to Black Wind Mountain to save Young Huan's mother…

Honestly, up to this date, there had yet to be a player who could survive going to Black Wind Mountain on a rescue trip!

There were at least eighty-to-one-hundred strong men in the mountain stronghold. Even if the fame of the Blue-robed Noble Sword User spread far and wide in Gusu City, it was still impossible for him to single-handedly take care of a group of mountain bandits whose abilities were on par with those of the rascals. Besides, there were also quite a number of high-leveled mountain bandits who were already in Gate Realm among them. 

Logic told Happy that… he should not accept this mission. 

But if anything were to be blamed, then the design of World of Martial Arts had to be blamed, because everything in the game was too real. Happy just could not harden his heart enough to ignore Young Huan despairing cries and sadness or to leave the old boatman weeping helplessly. 

Black Wind Mountain!

If that were the case, then he might as well try. 

'Fortunately for me, I have some extraordinary skills. Let's see… I have Shaolin's Long Fist, Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Sword, and Lancet Knife Throwing Technique.' Happy tried to comfort himself in a rather self-deprecating manner. 

He walked to the duo who held each other and wept and said, "Old boatman, Young Huan, please, get up first! Black Wind Mountain has done evil to your village. As a disciple of the Murong Clan, I, Happy, cannot just ignore it. How about this? Bring me to your village first. I will first save Young Huan's father, and then, I'll think of a way to save her mother."

"Re-really?"

The old boatman wiped off his tears. The great fame of the Murong Clan gave him a bit of hope. 

Young Huan also stretched her neck out from the old man's bosom. She stared at the blue-robed boy with his sincere expression and resolute gaze, and a delighted expression appeared on her face. She nodded her tiny head vigorously. 

The only person who was not happy was Happy. 

While he was on his way, he had to figure out how to handle some eighty-to-one-hundred mountain bandits in Black Wind Mountain. 

"…Those thrice cursed mountain bandits!"

"The gods must be blind!"

Under the old boatman's lead, Happy came to a small village that was near the river. There were only about twenty families in it, and there were people surrounding one house at that moment. From the distance, Happy could hear all sorts of curses that criticized the world. 

"The mayor is here, make way!"

The people at the door quickly moved back and made way for the old boatman and Young Huan, who had expressions of dejectedness and grief. 

Happy entered the house after them. A man who had a bloodless and agonized face lay on the bed. He stared at the roof with unfocused eyes, and by the looks of it, he was Young Huan's father and also the man who had lost his Xiu Niang. 

Translator's Note:

[1] Xiu Niang: is actually supposed to be seamstress, but my gut is telling me there is no way the old man is going "Oh, what are we supposed to do without the seamstress?!" so I think it's a name.