Chapter 72: : Captive

Xiao Lin held his breath; this was his only option at the moment. It was a gamble–he was gambling on the fact that the woman had a high position among the merchants and that the rest of them would not throw her life away so easily. Otherwise, Xiao Lin’s monthly test would probably end right there.

The woman had to be the strongest person among the merchants, as well as the only mage. The others were very average in skill. Xiao Lin was not doing so well himself though; he was already at the limit of his mental strength and could not use any more spells. In the collision of flame shields earlier, he sustained quite a bit of damage, and the rest of the students were mostly poisoned, so they were absolutely outnumbered. It was impossible to solely rely on Gu Xiaoyue as well.

Gu Xiaoyue looked like she was a bit nervous; she was worried that she did not properly convey the meaning, so she ended up repeating it a few times. Her clear voice was echoed in the cave.

The other Normans were apprehensive and held onto their weapons, not daring to move. Xiao Lin looked at Gu Xiaoyue and said, “Make them drop their weapon!”

Gu Xiaoyue did the translation and the Normans looked at each other with hesitation. A few of them suddenly shouted at Xiao Lin, aggravated.

“What did they say?” Xiao Lin asked.

Gu Xiaoyue went deep in thought, and shook her head, “I don’t really understand, they seem to be asking about our ancestors.”

“Go f*ck yourselves!” Xiao Lin shouted in anger, then added, “Oh, don’t translate that. Tell them I’ll count to ten, and if they don’t drop their weapons, this woman will die on the spot!”

Xiao Lin applied more force to the dagger and a line of blood began to flow down, causing more enraged shouts from the Normans.

“1, 2, 3…” Xiao Lin counted to three and realised something was not right. He coughed and said, “Gu Xiaoyue, you do the counting.”

Gu Xiaoyue rolled her eyes at him and started to count in their language.

All of their hearts almost jumped out of their throats; if these Normans decided to bet everything on one quick strike, or if the Norman woman was not as important as Xiao Lin thought, then this would be a losing battle.

“7, 8, 9…”

The numbers were said in Planet Norma’s common language; even though Xiao Lin was not very good at pronunciation, he could still make out the numbers. He heard Gu Xiaoyue make an especially long pause after nine, and he gripped the dagger even tighter. The Normans also looked to be in a difficult spot, but not a single person made any moves.

“10!” The last count was finally uttered.

After a very short pause, the closest man to Xiao Lin, who was very large and fit, threw his sword on the floor in frustration. Since someone who seemed to be of good standing started, the rest of them resigned themselves to their fates as they followed suit after the first man uttered a few words at them.

“@#￥%…&;*” The first man said as he looked at Xiao Lin in anger.

“Is he scolding me?” Xiao Lin looked at Gu Xiaoyue.

Gu Xiaoyue shook her head, “He seems to be telling you the woman’s status, and then he said some stuff I can’t make out. Basically, he’s warning you not to be reckless.”

Xiao Lin laughed coldly. “What bullsh*t! Oh, I’m talking about him. Ask them to stand back! Stand all the way against the walls and kneel down with their hands over their heads!”

Now that he had a clearer grasp on the situation, Xiao Lin started to be more confident. He moved the blade in his hand slightly away to pacify the Normans; things were about to go much smoother.

The rest of them had been observing at the entrance of the cave. They were initially very conflicted when Xiao Lin asked them to leave the injured and the poisoned behind, not knowing whether to be thankful or hateful. However, the situation had quickly reversed and they could now only stare in awe.

With the current situation, even the most stupid of them knew what they should do. The ones who could still move split themselves into two groups; one group took care of the injured, and the other went to collect all the weapons on the floor.

“What should we do with these people?” Lu Renyi asked, bearing the pain in his stomach.

“Find something to tie them down!”

“I’ve looked around; there doesn’t seem to be any rope.”

“Their clothes! Strip them and tie them up with it!”

“If their clothes are not enough, use their pants! Make sure you tie them up well!”

…

After busying themselves for about ten minutes, the short battle was finally at an end. Including the woman, there were 18 Normans still alive. All of them were stripped naked with both their hands tied up. There were three of them who were heavily injured, and looked to be at the end of their lives. Xiao Lin discussed with everyone, and even though one of the girls had some objections, he still moved the three heavily injured ones out of the cave. It was scorching hot outside, and their fates were pretty much sealed. Xiao Lin tried not to sympathize with them.

As for those who were poisoned, they quickly figured out the situation. Those Normans used juices from the wild fruit to poison them. It was quite common in the area, but the juices were mostly used to hunt.

Poison was not life-threatening, but they were very potent. The few of them who were more heavily poisoned were all in a state of half-consciousness. The merchants did not have the cure either, so they could only let them lie down for the moment.

Night was fast approaching, and even though there was still much to do, most of them were already at the brink of exhaustion both physically and mentally. The first thing they needed was enough rest. Once they had some food and water that they made sure was safe, they fell asleep within the cave.

Of course, Xiao Lin made sure to arrange shifts of two people to take turns keeping watch. One reason was to prevent those Normans from escaping; the other was to look out for potential soldiers from the Thunder Kingdom.

As the acting monitor, Xiao Lin proactively took the responsibility of standing guard for the first half of the night. Gu Xiaoyue surprisingly offered to accompany him.

Night time at Sunset Canyon saw two differently-sized moons hanging in the night sky. The difference in temperature from night and day was huge; it was scorching hot in the morning, and close to freezing at night. Right in the middle of the cave was a blazing hot bonfire, fueled by the plants that grew nearby on the cave walls. The leaves had a lot of fat in them, so the fire burned very fiercely, giving some warmth to the surroundings.

The Normans did not get that treatment; they were all tied up in the corners. The ice-cool walls were good for avoiding the heat during the day, but at night it only made them shiver in coldness, especially since they were all stripped naked. A few of them were unhappily causing a ruckus, but Lu Renyi beat them up and quickly quieted them down.

As for that woman, she was treated a bit better. Most of the team were not willing to be so rough to a girl, so they still gave her some clothes. Even though her hands were tied, she could still be near the bonfire and she was even given some food and water. However, when the woman woke up, she did not speak a word, nor did she eat or drink. All she did was stare at Xiao Lin and the rest of them with a hateful gaze.

“This woman doesn’t want to eat!” Xiao Lin bit into some bread as he talked to Gu Xiaoyue in a low voice.

After turning those Normans captive, they obviously liberated all the goods the merchants had as well. When they realized that, other than the dried meat, there was even a small amount of fragrant bread, everyone immediately gave up the rotten meat.