Wang Xi feigned weakness, shuffling laboriously toward the castle gate.
Two guards in iron armor and pot helmets looked on, rather surprised. After exchanging a glance, they raised their hands to stop him.
"Lord Gai, Master Bato has given an order. You are currently unwell. It would be best for you to remain in the castle and rest."
"I'm just going for a walk around the villages in the domain."
Wang Xi smiled.
But the guards shook their heads, showing no intention of lowering their hands.
"..."
Wang Xi took a deep breath. 'Looks like I'll have to try my idea,' he thought.
Just then, a young girl in a simple long dress and white headscarf poked her head through the archway, her voice full of pleasant surprise.
"Gai!"
This drew the attention of both Wang Xi and the guards.
He looked at the unfamiliar girl, thought for a moment, and beckoned her over.
The two guards didn't stop her, allowing the girl to run inside. As long as Lord Gai didn't leave the castle, they wouldn't concern themselves with much else.
Wang Xi led the village girl to a corner of the curtain wall.
"Gai! I heard you were captured by the Northern People. I've been worried sick this whole time! But I couldn't get into the castle, so I had to keep coming here to see... Are you all right?"
The girl asked with concern the moment they stopped walking.
Wang Xi shook his head.
He chose his words carefully, asking tentatively,
"Who are you?"
"Huh?" The girl froze, a panicked look crossing her face. "Gai! You don't recognize me?!"
"Ever since I got out of the dungeon, I can't remember many things."
Wang Xi said with a sigh.
The girl was startled.
"Has the Ice Heart Curse acted up?!"
"You know about that?"
Hearing this, Wang Xi felt a glimmer of hope.
The girl stared at him for a moment. Once she was certain he truly didn't recognize her, her spirits fell.
"We used to play together all the time when we were children, Gai..."
She began to explain in a small voice.
The girl's name was Goddalir, and she was Gai's childhood friend. However, the disparity in their social status meant that as they grew older, they gradually drifted apart.
According to the girl, when they were very young, they had been playing in the countryside near Randall and met a minstrel resting by the side of the road.
He had seen the latent Ice Heart Curse in young Gai with a single glance and had kindly warned them.
Ice Heart People were extremely rare to begin with, and most people considered them mere legend. Naturally, the two children paid it no mind.
But a few years ago, as Gai's swordsmanship declined and his strength plummeted, Goddalir, who had been watching him from afar, realized something was wrong.
After making many inquiries and seeking confirmation, she was sure the minstrel's original judgment had been correct.
Unfortunately, the castle was the Count's residence and the heart of the domain, and its defenses were strict. As a mere commoner, Goddalir had no right to enter.
Furthermore, Gai's engagement to Sierra made it difficult for her to approach the man she held dear.
She never expected that when they finally met again, he would be so haggard and not recognize her at all.
This made Goddalir's heart ache as if pierced by a knife.
"Do you remember what the minstrel said?"
Wang Xi asked the girl in a low voice, as if grasping at a final straw.
"Yes." Goddalir nodded. "He said the Ice and Snow Queen on Kingdom Snow Mountain would know what to do."
'The Ice and Snow Queen?'
Wang Xi was taken aback.
"I've been to Chuck Castle with a merchant caravan a few times over the past two years and picked up a clue... Rumor has it that Queen Xianna of our Stag Kingdom is the Ice and Snow Queen's sister."
Goddalir said.
"Maybe if you go to the Royal Capital, you can find a way to break the curse..."
"Thank you, Goddalir."
Having obtained this crucial information, Wang Xi smiled.
He leaned closer to the girl and lowered his voice.
"Don't worry, I'll definitely go."
Goddalir looked up, her cheeks flushing red as she stared at the young man so close to her.
She hesitated for a moment, then said,
"But, Gai, what about you and Lady Sierra...?"
"Why would they ever be interested in an Ice Heart Person?"
Wang Xi shook his head.
Goddalir froze, then gave him a look of profound sympathy. After a few seconds of silence, she glanced around and said in a quiet but determined voice,
"Let's leave this place together, Gai. I... I'll go with you to the Royal Capital! We can break your curse, and then find a peaceful place to live."
Wang Xi looked silently at the girl before him.
She wore no makeup. Her long, flaxen hair was a bit dry and messy, and her skin was rough from constant farm work. But her features were delicate, and her eyes, in particular, were clean and pure.
'What a good girl...'
Wang Xi lamented inwardly.
'I can't be the one to ruin her.'
He didn't want to get entangled in matters of the heart and repeat the mistakes of his past life.
And so, the little version of Wang Xi in his mind pulled out the *Shrimp Head Bible* and opened it to a page—
Paternalistic Preaching.
"I'm glad you're willing to help me, but I don't like the idea of you coming with me."
Wang Xi shook his head, rejecting her cruelly.
"You're too weak, Goddalir. Rather than risk your life with me, you'd be better off staying here in Randall. It's for your own good."
"Gai, you..."
A flash of pain crossed Goddalir's eyes.
"You think I'm a burden!"
All her years of silent devotion had earned her nothing but a lecture. Her sense of grievance turned to tears, which streamed from her eyes.
"I hate you, Gai!"
With those words, the girl lifted her skirt, turned, and ran out of the castle, heading for the fields and villages beyond.
Wang Xi didn't follow, merely stood his ground, calmly watching Goddalir's figure retreat into the distance.
'Sorry. Right now, I just want to be a good person.'
...
...
「The next morning.」
In a patch of woods about two kilometers from the village, within Count Randall's Domain.
Seven or eight tall figures ambled through the trees.
They were dressed in leather or chain armor, covered by blue-and-white crossed tabards symbolizing Randall, with longswords hanging at their waists.
These were the guards of Count Bato.
"Dragged out here by the steward first thing in the morning. I thought it was something important, but it turns out we're just escorting someone on a hunt..."
A guard with a scarred lip spat, his face a mask of impatience.
He glanced ahead.
Not far off, a young man, also in standard-issue leather armor, was scanning the woods with a hunting bow in hand.
"Heh, you still don't get it?"
Another guard, this one with a thick beard, chuckled.
"This Lord Gai of ours can't accept reality. He still thinks he's the tournament champion he once was. He wants to use this to prove himself to the master and the young lady..."
As he spoke, they saw the young man draw his bow and nock an arrow.
WHOOSH—
An arrow wobbled a dozen meters through the air before plunging into a bush. A fat gray rabbit shot out, ran a short distance, then stopped and looked back.
The young man stood frozen, hand trembling as he panted for breath.
"How pitiful."
Seeing this, several of the guards shook their heads.
The oldest of the guards, a middle-aged man, looked away and said flatly,
"Pay him no mind. The steward's orders were just to make sure he doesn't get hurt or wander off. Just think of it as keeping Lord Gai entertained."
Wang Xi sighed as he watched the rabbit scamper away.
While there was an element of acting to his failure, the truth was he really didn't know how to shoot a bow.
A look of disappointment still on his face, he turned and walked toward the guards.
"Still at it, Lord Gai?"
The scar-faced guard grinned, patting his shoulder where a crossbow was slung.
"How about you take a rest and let us handle it?"
"No!" Wang Xi refused with a frown. "I can get one myself. That was just a miss!"
Seeing him trying to act tough, the guards' contempt for him grew.
Wang Xi turned his head and peered into the distance.
Through the sparse branches, he could see square wooden houses clustered around a hill. At its peak stood a majestic castle.
It was the Count's Castle, the place he had just left.
'This distance should be about right...'
Wang Xi thought to himself.
He pulled his gaze back and looked at the guards.
Tags slowly materialized above their heads.
[Randall Guard Captain · Richie (Light Green/One Star)]
[Randall Guard · Tomasso (Light Green)]
[Randall Guard · Evan (Light Green)]
[...]
Of the eight guards, only Captain Richie had reached One Star. The rest didn't even have a Star Level.
The light green color of the tags also indicated that they were friendly units.
Wang Xi took in all the tags at a glance.
He took a leather waterskin from one of a guard, opened it, and took a sip to moisten his chapped lips. Then he asked casually,
"I've forgotten a lot since I woke up. Captain Rich, where's the nearest town to Randall?"
The middle-aged captain frowned slightly at the question.
But the scar-faced guard beside him pointed.
"Buchanan Town is twenty kilometers that way..."
"Are there merchant caravans in the town?"
Wang Xi handed back the waterskin and wiped his mouth.
The bearded guard chuckled.
"Of course. If there weren't, how would the people there get food and clothes? Lord Gai, it seems you've forgotten quite a bit."
As if not hearing the sarcasm hidden in the man's tone, Wang Xi simply replied, "Thank you."
Just then, the middle-aged captain spoke in a grave voice,
"Lord Gai, why are you asking about all this?"
'Why?'
'To make a run for it, of course!'
'What else am I supposed to do, wait for you to call in the cavalry?!'
Amidst their confused stares, Wang Xi offered a polite smile.
Then he punched the captain of the guards right in the face.
POW!!
The punch was premeditated and vicious. Before anyone could react, the middle-aged captain collapsed, knocked out cold.
"Lord Gai?!"
The remaining guards were still trying to process what was happening.
Why had Lord Gai suddenly attacked someone... and knocked out Captain Rich with a single punch!
He didn't look weak at all. This was the bearing of the former tournament champion!
BAM! BAM! BAM!!
Without a word, Wang Xi launched into action, knocking out the nearest guards with a flurry of punches and kicks.
Only the scar-faced man and the one with the beard remained.
"Lord Gai! What are you doing?!"
The bearded guard shouted, a mixture of shock and anger in his voice.
The scar-faced man, however, seemed to realize something, and his expression changed.
"He's trying to escape!"
"Correct. Your prize is a punch."
Wang Xi took a step and darted forward, his iron-hard fist striking the scar-faced man's chin with vicious speed.
CRACK.
The man's eyes rolled back in his head as he fell board-stiff to the ground.
The last man, the bearded guard, let out a roar and charged.
He didn't dare draw his sword, trying instead to subdue his opponent with hand-to-hand fighting.
But Wang Xi, empowered by the Iris Body Technique: Battlefield Fighting, had no reason to fear him.
Ducking under the man's grapple, Wang Xi drove his right fist upward, straight into the bearded guard's stomach.
"OOF!"
The powerful blow punched through his leather armor and cotton gambeson, making the big man's face contort as bile rose in his throat.
Wang Xi followed up with a palm-heel strike to the back of the man's ear.
THUD!
His opponent pitched forward, face-first into the dirt, kicking up a cloud of dust.