Chapter 3: The Surprised Triton's Will

After hearing the priest’s explanation, all the warriors hurried over to kneel and pay their respects. “Great King Lin—Great King—” Now, it seemed they wouldn’t be eaten after all, and the wild warriors had no other choice! They couldn’t even run away—the tribe was here, and they would rather die than flee.

After the hundred or so men, women, and children of the tribe had knelt in worship for several minutes, Lin Shu finally allowed them to return to their caves. Once the tribespeople had left, only three wild men dressed in deerskins remained.

Apart from the priest and the chieftain, the strongest warrior in the tribe had also stayed behind.

The young warrior who remained was only 185 centimeters tall, making him one of the shorter among the wild warriors, but his arms were thicker than Lin Shu’s head, and his belly was as round as a pig’s.

His name was Ba, and Lin Shu gave him the title Commander Zhu Ba.

The old priest was named Hu Gu, whom Lin Shu called Priest Hu Bone.

The old chieftain had been the strongest warrior of the previous generation, but was now aged, and Lin Shu named him Tak.

There were several stone caves on the mountainside. Lin Shu chose a shallow one only a few meters deep—he had no intention of sharing quarters with the pungent wild men.

Once the wagon was parked in the cave, Lin Shu said, “Jingni, have them explain the situation with the neighboring tribes, and roughly how many people there are.”

“Lord Lin, do you really want to subdue these uncivilized wild men?” Most of the tribespeople could barely speak, and Jingni looked down on these beast-like people.

With only a little over a hundred under his command, Lin Shu was embarrassed to ask Jingni to call him King, so she addressed him as Lord instead, especially since he was clearly interested in her.

Seated cross-legged on the wagon’s platform, Lin Shu smiled and nodded. “Jingni, I want to subdue all the wild tribes in the northern snowfields. Why not stay and help me for a few years?”

There were few people in these icy lands, and Lin Shu did not want the young widow to leave once she recovered. He really couldn’t bring himself to touch the wild or dinosaur-like women here.

Great favors are hard to repay, and besides, Jingni had nowhere else to go. “Lord Lin, I’m willing to stay. But if my enemies come looking for me in the future, I’ll have no choice but to leave!”

Having been hunted for generations by the web of intrigue rooted in the Seven Kingdoms for over a hundred years, Jingni knew how terrifying it could be. Though Lord Lin was mysterious and powerful, she didn’t want to implicate the man who had saved her and her child.

Hearing that Jingni had enemies, Lin Shu felt relieved instead. “Jingni, don’t worry. Before long, my forces will only grow. If anyone dares to come, I’ll deal with them.”

He was confident he could stand against the world’s strongest. He figured that once the ox-cart was upgraded, no one would be able to break through the defenses of his flying ship-wagon.

Jingni nodded and gave a faint smile. Though Lord Lin was neither tall nor handsome, his youthful and kindly face was gentle and pleasant to look at. He didn’t seem like a demon, but rather a good man.

Uncle Chubby, already forty, was well preserved and looked only about thirty by Earth’s standards. In this world of early maturity and early death, he barely looked in his twenties. Judging by appearance alone, Jingni would never have guessed he was already a man of forty.

Through Jingni’s conversation with Priest Hu Bone, Lin Shu gained a rough understanding of the land.

Several hundred li to the southeast, the eastern side of the great mountains belonged to the Donghu territory, while to the south stretched a vast sea and lake. According to the mainframe’s calculations, they were probably in the northern Baikal Mountains above Lake Baikal.

On both the eastern and western slopes of the Baikal Mountains were hundreds of tribes, large and small. Priest Hu Bone’s tribe was only one of the medium-small ones.

“Zhu Ba, Hu Bone, Tak, go back for now. Prepare the warriors to set out with me at dawn,” Lin Shu said, itching to conquer the wild tribes immediately. But Jingni was already exhausted, and the wounded wild warriors needed time to recover.

As soon as the king spoke, the strong-minded Priest Hu Bone understood enough to obey. “As you command, Great King.”

When the wild men left, Jingni, her nerves stretched thin, lay down at last.

“You’ve worked hard, Jingni. Get some sleep. I’ll take good care of Xiaoyan—don’t worry, I still have plenty of pure milk,” Lin Shu said. Jingni’s body was covered in wounds, and she couldn’t feed the child herself.

Taking a bottle of milk with a straw, Jingni finished it quickly and relaxed. “Thank you, Lord Lin.”

After watching her child for a moment, she lay down and closed her eyes. Who would have thought that someone so cold and ruthless would thank another so often?

When her entire clan was massacred as a child, and she survived the training camps through slaughter, she believed all people could be killed. She hated Heaven, hated everyone, and especially hated men. Yet this year, fate had sent her the help of the two best men she’d ever met! The nameless swordsman chose to die to save her and her daughter, and now this mysterious Lord Lin had saved them again and again.

Once Jingni was asleep, Lin Shu quietly said, “Xin Ying, lift us up, and bring out my soft mattress.”

The wagon’s platform was two meters wide and three meters long—enough for a two-meter mattress.

[Yes, Commander.]

Without a sound, the sleeping mother and child floated up. Once the mattress was in place, Lin Shu put away the sheets and tucked the quilt gently around the young woman. Though the ox-cart had air conditioning, he still tried to save power.

After eating some dried food and having a drink, Uncle Chubby moved over beside the young woman. He’d been busy all day and was tired as well.

Before night fell, Jingni woke again. After moving the hand from her chest, she fed Xiaoyan a little milk and went back to sleep.

With the bioelectric therapy from the ship, Xiaoyan was calm and quiet—otherwise, neither of them would have gotten any rest.

Uncle Chubby also woke twice during the night, but he was loath to leave the cozy bed. Just breathing in the faint scent of the young widow was a special pleasure. The only regret was that Jingni was no longer an untouched maiden! But a widow had her own unique charm. Though Lin Shu had always avoided married women, he couldn’t help himself—he was smitten.

No wonder the infamous Cao thieves of the Three Kingdoms were so obsessed with married women.

Before dawn, Jingni—recovering with astonishing speed—was already wandering by the cave entrance with her daughter. All night, the chubby man had been holding her, making her both angry and unable to scold him.

The charcoal fire at the cave mouth still glowed red, and several wild warriors kept watch outside, adding firewood.

As the sky began to lighten, Lin Shu was awakened by the noise outside.

“Hey! Why are you out of the wagon? Are you feeling better?”

Lord Lin was no taller than Jingni’s ear, but his concern and worry made her heart warm. “Lord Lin, I’m used to such wounds! Besides, your medical skills are extraordinary!”

Jingni felt she would be able to wield a sword in a few days and would no longer fear being attacked by the wild men. Though they were very respectful now, she didn’t trust these beasts and dared not stray far from the wagon.

“That’s good. I’ll make you some noodles.” With that, Lin Shu took out the gas stove from the wagon.

With a pop, he lit the fire seemingly out of thin air, startling Jingni.

Outside, Zhu Ba saw the Great King conjure fire from nowhere and cried out in awe, “King—King—!”

Hey, miss, you’re amazed and curious now, aren’t you? Lin Shu smiled to himself and took out noodles and eggs.

Just a simple bowl of egg noodles, yet to Jingni, it tasted like the finest food in the world.

“Lord Lin, I think I ate too much!” She realized she had eaten more than half the pot herself.

“It’s fine. You need to eat more to recover. Later, I’ll have them bring you some fresh meat for nourishment.” Lin Shu, having slept most of the day, wasn’t hungry and felt satisfied enough.

He had Jingni get back in the wagon and cover up, then they set off again. Forty wild warriors followed under Zhu Ba’s command, while the elderly Priest Hu Bone rode on the cart behind the ox, giving directions.

A divine ox—truly divine! The priest marveled. The ox could understand his words, even when he spoke the tribal language.

After a day of collecting and comparing, the mainframe Xin Ying could already translate most Donghu and tribal dialects. With its help, Lin Shu could now understand the language of the snowy lands without Jingni’s translation.