Chapter 147 Chapter 143 Human Prejudice is a Great Mountain
Jima did not know how many times she had been grateful for having George under her control. Otherwise, with George’s intelligence and abilities, she feared she would have long been reduced to a pile of minced meat.
She also understood that the strategy of having Beow chase her all the way to George had a significant flaw. Since she could fly and had intentionally deceived the entire army, she knew that Beow would show no mercy. After the battle, she could have simply flown towards George’s team or hidden away, avoiding conflict with Beow altogether.
As long as George’s head was not clouded by emotions, he should have been able to think of that.
But how come this guy had not lost his head?
Was it because my wing injury wasn’t deep enough? Was my wailing not tragic enough? Or was it too melodramatic? Was I acting too extravagantly?
Should I have appeared nonchalant, with a calm smile on my face to contrast with the wounds on my body to move George?
Just like those characters in novels that are specially designed to evoke readers’ sympathy?
But then that would not fit my usual image, would it? He would definitely become suspicious, right? This, too, would be a form of exaggerated performance.
Jima thought of many things, to the point where her head ached, but naturally, she showed no signs on her face.
In response to George’s statement, “Free is the most expensive,” she replied, “But there are more expensive things in this Dragon City.”
She was quite satisfied with her answer.
“Is there anything else?”
Jima realized that the old one-sided truth trick had failed, so she said, “The desire for power.”
“Is there anything else?”
“I am not a criminal, George.”
George nodded, saying nothing. Perhaps in his mind, he had already deduced the correct answer.
Jima’s tail flicked nervously from side to side, and just thinking about the consequences of being discovered, the possibility of not being able to return to Earth, made her heart ache.
At that moment, George reached out and said, “You don’t have to deceive me.”
Jima showed a look of remorse, her tail wagging faster: “Hmm.”
George’s hand rested on the wound of Jima’s wing, or rather, where it had been severed. The right wing of Jima was cut in half, and the wound was still smoking.
“Constantly tormenting yourself is painful.”
As warmth enveloped the wound, the pain faded away, settling in Jima’s heart.
For a moment, she almost couldn’t hold back her tears. Her wings were sprouting new feathers as Jima patted her wings and said, “Thank you.”
After saying that, Jima hugged George tightly, kissing him on the lips forcefully, and only after a long time did they part.
She didn’t know how long that “long time” was; she only knew that when they separated, the entire city was cheering, intermixed with the sorrowful cries of the ratmen fleeing.
They first moved outward to meet the Kisrliv Expeditionary Force.
Walking over streets littered with corpses and through the black smoke from burning bodies, they reached the outer edge of the first city wall. The corpses piled on the lava moat were burning, the fierce flames illuminating the ancient walls of Dragon City.
This ancient city had held out.
The firelight illuminated the cheering Kisrliv people as they scavenged for spoils, but when the dwarves wheeled out carts filled with bottles of wine, nearly all the Kisrliv people dropped whatever they were holding.
Forming a line to receive victory wine. They greedily picked up the wine jugs and poured it into their mouths.
The four of them passed through the Kisrliv people who were guzzling wine, heading towards the center of the celebration.
The bear-like general of the expeditionary force, glowing with health amidst the cheers of the crowd, clinked cups with the clan leader, who said:
“You are the most trustworthy and talented general I have ever known, brave and strategic. I was worried that your knights would not be able to defeat the ratmen army. I didn’t expect you to decisively eliminate that damned group of ratmen.”
The expeditionary general laughed heartily: “Hahaha, my drinking capacity is as strong as my military strength.”
Saying that, he downed a cup of wine and exhaled the fumes.
Several wing knights nearby sincerely praised:
“The general’s application of cavalry forces is truly genius.”
“That pile of ratmen formations would be hard to break even with a rear assault.”
“Directly stabbing into the enemy’s heart.”
Their voices reached Jima’s ears, but she had no reaction.
At that moment, George said, “Jima?”
“Hmm?”
“They are not lying; they are sincere.” George said, “But I see the cavalry forces were commanded by you.”
“Yes.” Jima said, “But I deceived everyone by donning the skin of the expeditionary general; otherwise, how could I command the troops?”
“But I saw you leading the wing knights in a surprise attack…” George recalled that moment.
Jima stood at the top of a slope, raising a branch axe spear, while the wing knights rushed down the slope like a flowing tide of fire to her sides.
At that moment, Jima was truly a savior.
George added, “You were not wearing the skin of the expeditionary general.”
“Oh, because I used my true face,” Jima said. “I donned the skin of the expeditionary general to command the wing knights to follow my surprise attack order.”
“What about the general himself?”
“Did you not see him waving his hand to lead the wing knights to turn and retreat?”
“Wait, was that not an illusion?”
“At least he himself is not; he thought the wing knights following him were real.”
At this time, the celebrations grew louder.
The expeditionary general downed another cup of strong liquor. Nearby, the wing knights and dwarves raised their hands and cheered the expeditionary general’s name, shouting: “Long live!”
“The bravest among warriors!”
George couldn’t help but ask, “How can this be? A coward receives the treatment of a hero, getting the most credit.”
“I made a deal with him,” Jima said nonchalantly. “Once the illusion shattered, he should receive the letter I left for him, saying that the credit all goes to him; I only want the ratmen dead.”
“But how can he be at ease with that?”
“Calm down, George, calm down. We’ve come this far; don’t think about exposing the truth; it’s not good for anyone, really.”
George said, “I know.”
“This is the famous George!” A wing knight noticed George, beaming with a warm smile, exclaimed: “What an honor; these are the strong people who have held firm in Dragon City.”
The drinking wing knights all turned towards the “Savior Squad.”
“Hey, I’ve heard of you,” someone came up enthusiastically and said, “I’ve heard that you killed that stitched giant with one sword and cut off the other head’s hand.”
George responded, “Yes.”
The wing knights chattered excitedly:
“As expected of the hero who has slain dragons.”
“Glad to meet you.”
“Here, George, here’s a drink for the warrior.”
George replied, “No, I don’t drink.”
“You Holy Paladin is just like the legends; I see that Beow is always talking bad about you, but he can’t compare to you at all.”
Amidst the enthusiasm, George’s gaze found Jima among the crowd.
Unlike the others who were treated as heroes, Jima was being shunned; everyone kept several meters away from her, even though she possessed extraordinary charm, they could not hide the disgust on their faces and maintained their distance.
She stood there quietly, pulling up her hood and keeping her head down.
George asked, “She is also a hero and contributed greatly to this victory, why has no one toasted to her?”
A tipsy wing knight blurted out, “She deceived all of us with her wicked power.”
“She impersonated the general!”
“She led us into danger.”
George was baffled: “Rescue is certainly dangerous.”
“But she put us in even more danger,” another wing knight exclaimed passionately. “She thought we were moving too slowly with the supply convoy and had us leave it behind so that a few sneaky ratmen could sneak in and burn the entire supply convoy, and we would starve here!”
“We only brought supplies for three days, and by the time we got here, there was only one day’s worth of food left. If we lost, we wouldn’t even be able to return to the surface.”
George suddenly understood, in order to speed up the march, Jima had risked the entire army’s annihilation.
If the attack faltered, the Kisrliv Expeditionary Force might not even be able to withdraw.
“But didn’t we win in the end?”
“Yes,” the wing knight said. “Thanks to the general leading us to quickly defeat the ratmen army; had we been stuck for half a day, the entire force might have fallen apart due to food shortages.”
After saying this, he looked at the expeditionary general with admiration.
Another wing knight raised a glass and said: “Praise him.”
“Wishing him long life.”
Yet it was clearly Jima who led them to victory.
George opened his mouth, remembering Jima’s warning, and refrained from saying anything.
The celebration continued, and the clan leader celebrated briefly before leaving to rest. The dwarves had not had a good night’s sleep in a long time.
George found Jima, who yawned and said, “It’s so boring. Do you want to do something fun for both of us?”
“Jima, open the barrier.”
“Wow.” Jima looked at the bustling crowd around them meaningfully, looking at George: “You are really getting worse.”
After saying that, she clapped her hands and opened the tranquil secret barrier.
George said, “They are being unfair to you…”
He told Jima everything that had just happened, finally exclaiming, “Human prejudice is a great mountain; even if you command the troops’ credit goes to the general, your performance on the battlefield is also evident.”
“Just this?” Jima waved her hand dismissively: “Let them say it; I never expected praise from others, so why care about their slanders? I have already gotten what I wanted.”
“Do you want to go back now?”
“Of course,” Jima said. “I wanted to go back a long time ago; the victory banquet here has bad food.”
“Okay, I’ll call the others; that’s the only thing I can do for you.”
“Let’s go together.”
Jima retracted the tranquil secret barrier and firmly grasped George’s wrist—she really had gotten what she wanted.
The Savior Squad quickly departed, and the entire process took less than an hour.
After resting for a night.
The next morning, the dwarven messenger brought good news.
Thanks to the ratmen’s overnight explosions, the dwarves had built a relatively solid tunnel at the cave entrance, which might collapse at any moment, estimating that they could break through the tunnel by night.
After spending many days in Dragon City, the Savior Squad could finally continue their journey.
