Bai Shi looked at Raya's youthful face.
He could tell from her expression that she was anxious, yet she maintained a polite demeanor as best she could.
He wondered if she would start crying if he harshly rejected her.
Of course, Bai Shi wasn't that cruel.
"You seem to be in a hurry. Tell me, what's the matter?"
Seeing that Bai Shi was willing to listen, Raya's joy was plain to see.
"That's wonderful! Thank you so much!"
"Hmm, where should I begin? Oh, right, I haven't told you my name yet."
"My name is Raya. I'm on a journey under my master's orders... A-achoo!"
She sneezed midway through her sentence.Raya's face instantly turned red with embarrassment, and she fidgeted, rubbing the toes of her shoes together.
It was so embarrassing and impolite.
Raya quickly took out a handkerchief to wipe her nose and apologized profusely to Bai Shi:
"I-I'm sorry. It's a bit cold around here, and I'm not used to it yet..."
Liurnia was full of cold lake water, a stark contrast to the temperatures at Volcano Manor where Raya used to live.
Bai Shi glanced down at Raya's long robes.
The hem of her robes and her shoes were completely soaked. Though not dripping, it was obvious they had been submerged in water.
She must have been wading through the lake since arriving in Liurnia.
Even resting in the gazebo hadn't been enough to dry them completely.
"Hold on a moment."
Bai Shi turned and rummaged through Torrent's saddlebags, quickly finding the item he was looking for.
Bai Shi infused a bit of magic into a fist-sized Warming Stone.
Once the stone began to radiate heat, he handed it to Raya.
"Use this if you're cold."
"When you're out alone, you need to be more careful about these things."
Raya felt a little embarrassed, but she accepted Bai Shi's Warming Stone nonetheless.
Her etiquette lessons told her it was improper to accept another gift when she was already seeking his help.
But she truly disliked the cold of the lake region; in fact, she found it rather unbearable.
If she were in her snake form, it would be fine. The water would slide right off, and she wouldn't be so uncomfortable.
But as a recruiter, Raya couldn't reveal her serpentine body.
If she showed her true snake form, the recruits she'd chosen would no longer listen to her.
But, to fulfill her mother's expectations, she would endure these inconveniences.
Raya cradled the Warming Stone, and the heat spreading from it made her feel a little better.
Although she preferred the scorching temperatures of Volcano Manor, the Warming Stone was a great comfort at this moment, warming both her body and soul.
"Thank you. You're a truly kind person."
"Please allow me to continue."
"This is truly important to me. I beg of you."
There were too few people in Liurnia, unlike Limgrave with its abundance of Tarnished.
If she missed this chance with Bai Shi, Raya didn't know how long she would have to wait.
So Raya had to swallow her pride and continue asking for Bai Shi's help.
Recalling what had happened, Raya continued to speak:
"After I arrived in Liurnia, I met someone who, like you, is a Tarnished. But I later found out he was a rogue."
"At first, he was very welcoming, but in the end, he tricked me, stole my precious necklace, and drove me away."
"It's something very important to me, so I must get it back, no matter what."
"I beg of you!"
But Raya hesitated, then added:
"It might require fighting a fellow Tarnished..."
"A kind person like you might not wish to fight one of your own. Please don't force yourself. I'll find another way."
Although she desperately wanted her necklace back, and as a recruiter she needed to find those willing to fight their own kind, she didn't want to force anyone, especially someone who was willing to help her.
Bai Shi nodded and agreed.
"Alright, no problem."
"Leave it to me."
Besides, a fight wouldn't even be necessary.
As for Raya's story, Bai Shi believed she wasn't lying.
As a recruiter for Volcano Manor, Raya's mission was to find Tarnished willing to turn their blades against their brethren.
But she wouldn't need to use such a precious personal item as bait.
Besides, Bai Shi remembered that the rogue, commonly known as Prawn Bro, would even say during conversation that "if you get tricked, it's the fault of the one who got tricked."
Hearing Bai Shi's agreement, Raya's face broke into a happy smile.
Raya bowed deeply once more.
"Thank you so much!"
"Oh, I apologize, I still haven't asked your name, benefactor. How rude of me again."
Bai Shi waved his hand, telling Raya not to mind such trivial matters.
It was clear Raya had received plenty of etiquette training from her mother at Volcano Manor.
Perhaps because she was still young, she hadn't quite mastered it, but that somehow made her even more charming.
"Just call me Bai Shi. Where is this rogue you mentioned?"
"Right, do you have a map?"
Raya silently repeated the name Bai Shi to herself. She felt as though she had heard it somewhere before.
But getting her necklace back was the priority. After all, it was a precious item, carved with an image of her mother.
Raya took out a map of the Liurnia region, on which the buildings were clearly marked.
Raya pointed to a spot on the map, then stood and pointed in the direction with her finger.
"That rogue should be resting in that vacant shack over there. I'm counting on you."
—
Under Raya's hopeful gaze, Bai Shi set off in the direction she had indicated.
Since there was no Site of Grace nearby, Bai Shi couldn't ask Melina to draw the map for him. He decided to memorize it for now and deal with it later.
But after a quick glance at the map, Bai Shi had a rough idea of where he needed to go.
Once Bai Shi was some distance away and there was no one around, Melina's voice sounded by his ear:
"That girl... she doesn't seem as simple as she appears on the surface."
"It's hard to describe this feeling. It seems her appearance is just a disguise, but strangely, it doesn't feel like it's fake either."
"Hmm, it's rather hard to explain. But she doesn't seem like a bad person."
Bai Shi was a little surprised by Melina's sharp perception.
This had happened several times before, but wasn't Melina's intuition a bit too accurate? Was her Arcane stat particularly high?
Raya should be able to switch between human and snake forms.
And both forms were her true body. Though her snake form was primary, 'disguise' wasn't the right word.
Melina was likely sensing the other form she kept hidden.
However, since Raya was a pure-hearted child, even though Melina sensed something was off, she didn't get a bad feeling from her.
"Indeed. But everyone has their secrets."
"A child who can travel the Lands Between with confidence must have something extraordinary about them."
As he was speaking, a jet of water suddenly shot toward Bai Shi at high speed.
Bai Shi casually summoned a storm to block it and looked over.
In the deep water beside the main road, a giant lobster crawled out from the mud.
The jet of water that had just attacked Bai Shi was spat from its mouth.
Not only did the lobster spit a jet of water, but it also waved its claws threateningly. At the same time, other lobsters began to appear in the area.
These lobsters were no joke. In his past life, they were known as the dreaded Lobster Kings.
While not as ferocious as the Runebears, they weren't far behind.
They especially loved to spit jets of water at passersby, and countless Tarnished had been inexplicably knocked off their horses by them.
Bai Shi didn't expect to run into this situation in this life, but this time, they had picked the wrong person.
Bai Shi raised his spear, preparing to teach these insolent lobsters a little lesson with lightning.
Several jets of water shot toward Bai Shi, only to be scattered into droplets by the storm.
Bai Shi broke through the curtain of water and charged toward one of them, gathering a blade of air on his spear, ready to unleash it.
However, something unexpected happened on his way.
Gray smoke suddenly materialized out of thin air, and a figure gradually emerged from within it.
The person was filthy all over and carried a pickaxe used for mining. His once-shiny bald head was now dull, covered in a layer of dust.
It was Patches, who was supposed to be in the mines serving his punishment.
"Haha, I've finally escaped!"
The moment Patches appeared and saw the open space, so different from the mine, he shouted in excitement.
Then he saw the giant lobster facing him.
"What?! A lobster!?"
Patches frantically tried to raise a weapon, but then remembered all his gear had been confiscated.
Forget his greatshield and spear; all he had now was a mining pickaxe.
"No, no, no! Just my luck! Why do these unlucky things always happen to me!?"
Patches panicked. Facing such a massive beast in the wild, he stood no chance without his weapons.
After racking his brain, Patches realized he was helpless.
Patches began to slowly back away, hoping the lobsters would let him off the hook.
Bai Shi, riding Torrent, leaped over Patches's back, passing over his bald head to slice the lobster in two.
Patches finally breathed a sigh of relief, a smile returning to his face.
It seemed he was saved.
"Haha! It seems fate didn't want me to die here after all."
However, when Patches got a clear look at the person who had saved him, the smile froze on his face.
He never imagined that the one who had just saved him would be Bai Shi.
This was awkward. To run into the man himself right after escaping.
"You're right, you're not fated to die here. After all, you still have several years left on your sentence."
Bai Shi looked at Patches, who had suddenly appeared before him, and felt an inexplicable urge to laugh.
He actually dared to escape. He really had guts.
But this entrance... it was so quintessentially Patches, wasn't it?
He would deal with these lobsters first, then figure out what was going on with Patches.
After all, they were just wild beasts and posed no threat to Bai Shi.
Soon, Bai Shi had dealt with all the lobsters.
Bai Shi rode Torrent and slowly approached Patches's position, raising his spear to put it away.
But Patches seemed to have misunderstood something. Seeing Bai Shi's movement, he immediately dropped to his knees.
Patches knelt on both knees, stretching his hands out in front of his head.
"Whoa! D-don't! Let's talk this out! Don't kill me!"
Bai Shi walked up to Patches and told him to raise his head.
"I never said I was going to kill you. You really have a wild imagination."
"I'm more curious about how you suddenly appeared here."
Seeing that Bai Shi had put his spear away and didn't seem to intend to execute him on the spot, Patches quickly got to his feet. His expression was normal, as though he hadn't knelt at all just a moment ago.
"Oh, um... it's a long story."
—
Patches was digging with all his might in the mine.
With a crisp clang, his pickaxe struck the rock.
A sharp Smithing Stone was dislodged from the rock face.
Patches tossed it into the basket on his back, which already contained many other Smithing Stones.
However, there were also a few things in the basket that didn't belong there.
These were the curious materials he would need later.
Although he had obediently come here to serve the punishment Bai Shi had given him, Patches had no intention of staying here forever.
Crafting a transporter trap was his tried-and-true method.
Though it required some rare materials, he had unexpectedly found them in the mine.
So, he planned to use this method to teleport out.
Although he couldn't set specific coordinates for the destination, a random teleport to a general area was perfectly feasible.
So, every day, Patches mined while collecting the various materials he needed.
Finally, today, Patches successfully gathered all the materials and built the teleportation device.
"Hmph, hmph, hmph. As expected, there's no prison in this world that can hold me!"
"An eagle like myself, every feather on my wings shines with the light of freedom~"
"Freedom can't be killed!"
Patches carefully selected a direction for his teleportation.
Since he couldn't choose a specific destination, only a vague direction, the choice was critical.
Patches thought for a moment. He had met Bai Shi on the way to Caelid.
Bai Shi was surely heading to Caelid for something, like the Radahn Festival.
In that case, he would choose the opposite direction this time and head toward Liurnia.
In the vast Liurnian lake with its mists and forests, no one would be able to find him.
As for his minions, haha, Patches believed that life would find a way.
And compared to wandering around with him, working as miners for Bai Shi wasn't a bad deal.
At least they had food and shelter; their living conditions were even better than before.
With resolve, Patches used the teleporter.
Patches successfully teleported to Liurnia.
Patches met Bai Shi. It was over!
—
Above is what Patches had been through during this time.
Bai Shi was silent after hearing the story.
He really wanted to laugh.
He hadn't expected Patches to be so unlucky.
Of all the times, he just had to run into Bai Shi when he was heading to Liurnia, and at that exact moment, no less.
But in a way, it was also because of this that Patches was saved from the lobsters.
Bai Shi looked at Patches, who stood before him, pretending to be calm and whistling a tune, and contemplated how to deal with him.
There was no one around to escort Patches back.
And it would be too much of a waste of time for him to take Patches back himself.
He couldn't just let Patches go either, since his punishment wasn't over.
In that case, perhaps I should let him follow me for now? It would be easier to keep an eye on him.
But Patches doesn't have a horse. He runs too slow.