Chapter 4 Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The Vampire Hunters traveled on foot. Despite their excellent physical condition, reaching O City would take over a week.

To accommodate the injured Gu Si, they had intentionally slowed their pace.

—Gu Si pieced this together from Archer's increasingly unpredictable attitude toward her.

They took two breaks each day: one at noon and another for camping overnight. With her neck injured, Gu Si felt somewhat low-energy over the past couple of days. Every time she rested against a tree, a golden-haired figure would suddenly drop down, hanging upside-down before her eyes. Archer would cross his arms, narrow his bright green eyes, and give her a creepy grin.

Gu Si was scared half to death, stammering and shrieking like a strangled duck. Her reaction seemed to amuse the boy, who burst out laughing and then tossed her some bloody prey he had hunted from who-knows-where.

They were small animals like skinned wild rabbits and birds. As she wiped her tears, Gu Si got the feeling that Archer was using these creatures to frighten her.

Knowing Archer disliked her, Gu Si usually avoided this little tyrant. Unexpectedly, during dinner that evening, he walked over, his handsome face dark, half-crouched, pinched her mouth open with his thumb and forefinger, and his gaze lingered dangerously for half a second on her tongue, which had stuck out when she gasped for air.

Then he stuffed the half-raw, blood-streaked meat he was holding into her mouth.

Gu Si gagged and choked, her small face flushing bright red, her eyes welling up with tears.

"Swallow it all," he covered her mouth, his ears flushed red with anger, he threatened, his voice low and rushed, "If you dare spit it out, I'll kill you."

Wh-what... Gu Si thought dizzily, was he punishing her because she ignored his provocation this morning?

Did he hate her to this extent?

It was exactly like the behavior of the street punks she'd seen in TV dramas in her previous life! With his little braid and a bunch of trendy silver trinkets...

Although Gu Si roughly understood that Vampire Hunters generally carried as much silver on them as possible to deal with vampires. The most exaggerated hunter she'd seen was Loki, who wore a silver cross necklace and several ear cartilage piercings, while Miu Li had almost no silver accessories on him.

Archer's food—if it could even be called food—was salty and undercooked, not tasty at all. Still recovering, Gu Si disliked eating anything too strongly flavored, so she never touched meat. The milk was only that small bottle, and she got by each day by nibbling on dry biscuits.

For the past two days, perhaps due to a lack of salt or some other reason, she often felt a gnawing hunger, but the smell of meat would make her nauseous.

Archer's threat, for better or worse, got some decent fat into her. After getting past that wave of nausea, Gu Si's dizziness and chills actually lessened considerably.

Gu Si chewed very slowly. She ate for as long as Archer loomed over her, watching, until Gu Si shook her head.

Seeing his disbelief, Gu Si steeled herself, grabbed his other hand, and pressed it against her slightly rounded belly, indicating she couldn't eat any more.

Archer jerked his arm back as if burned, standing up abruptly.

Gu Si fell back onto the grass, looking up at him in confusion, while the other hunters nearby also cast concerned glances.

"What's going on?"

Loki walked over with some grilled fish. He had been the one taking care of Gu Si these past two days.

The red-haired man had a frivolous air, but he was very considerate toward girls. Loki was the only one who cared for her, found herbs to treat her wounds, and coaxed her to sleep at night, reminding Gu Si of her mother.

"Today I stuffed some wild vegetables into the fish belly, so it shouldn't be fishy anymore," Loki said, then noticed the red marks on Gu Si's face from being pinched, and chuckled, amused. "Looks like someone beat me to it?"

Gu Si shot an apologetic look and pointed to where Archer had been standing.

Loki shrugged with a laugh, waving his hand teasingly. Gu Si was momentarily stunned before realizing what he was laughing about—where was there anyone? Archer had long since disappeared.

Having neither vomited nor developed a fever all night, Gu Si got up on the third morning, her spirits revived.

Loki came as usual to check her wound. After unwrapping Gu Si's bandage, the hunter removed his gloves. When his sword-calloused hands touched her, there was a distinct roughness.

"Cold, or hurting again?"

Loki lifted his eyelids, looking at her.

Gu Si gasped. She didn't know how to describe the sensation. There was a weirdly sensitive spot on her neck, very close to the wound. The touch made her want to giggle, but it was mixed with another, harder-to-place sensation.

Gu Si had never known her ticklish spot was there. She didn't want Loki to touch that area but didn't know how to say it.

So she gestured helplessly for a bit before stammering out the word "itchy."

"That's normal. I need to apply medicine, or the wound won't heal properly," Loki sighed with a laugh as Gu Si started dodging again, tapping her forehead with his knuckle. "You've gotta work with me here."

That wasn't what she meant...

It took Gu Si a great deal of effort to make Loki understand she didn't want anyone touching near her chin. This also made Gu Si reflect: her expressive ability was limited. Was there any way to make others quickly understand her meaning?

Ah, she could try writing!

Although she was an orphan, the original body attended church services weekly and had learned to write her name and common phrases from the priest. The original's memories had mostly merged with Gu Si's, so she wasn't illiterate.

This morning, while washing up by the lake, Gu Si saw her reflection and noticed her current features were about eighty percent similar to her appearance in her previous life. The only difference was her hair had become a dazzling gold, like strands of sunlight woven into golden threads, the ends slightly curled.

In the original's memories, in the Kingdom of Augusta, golden-haired women were held in high regard.

Because of this God-given beautiful hair color, several couples had actually wanted to adopt the original body, but they all met with accidents—either dying suddenly at night or abruptly moving to other villages, never to be heard from again.

Now traveling with four warriors, Gu Si was covered in dust and exhausted all day, and this beautiful long hair had also gotten pretty tangled and rough.

Gu Si didn't care much about appearance. She smoothed her hair with her fingers; as long as it looked presentable, that was enough.

In the morning, a sudden incident cemented Gu Si's decision to communicate through writing.

The cause was that while traveling through the forest, they startled a group of Subspecies hiding from the sun in a cave. The hunters engaged them in battle.

A Subspecies attacked from Loki's right side. Gu Si clearly saw it but failed to warn him in time, nearly getting herself scratched by the Subspecies's claws.

"Useless, can't you even scream?!" Archer shot a silver arrow, piercing the Subspecies's heart, and scolded her fiercely.

Gu Si felt a bit hurt.

She lost her voice when nervous; it was a psychological issue.

During the noon break, Gu Si found Miu Li. The Clergyman of the church belonged to the literate class in this world. She had seen this Saint reading under the shade of a tree and occasionally holding a pen to write something. Come to think of it, Gu Si had yet to see him fight or hunt, yet his word carried a lot of weight within the team.

He never drew his sword; that weapon seemed more like a symbol of his status.

Saints held the highest position among priests. Since they both belonged to the church, did that make Miu Li the superior of the Vampire Hunters?

Miu Li quickly understood Gu Si's sign language and the single words she managed to utter, obliging her kindly. Gu Si received a quill and several sheets of letter paper stamped with the church's emblem of the Truth Scales. She confidently wrote down the common phrases the old priest had taught her.

Because she spoke haltingly, Gu Si always felt she couldn't fit in with the group.

With a new way to communicate, things should get better, right?

The first person Gu Si approached was Worster.

Gu Si had originally intended to find Loki but happened upon the werewolf as he was setting up a campfire. He wore a wide-brimmed hat, his clothes stirring as if from a breeze, as if catching a scent, his tail twitching slightly beneath his garments.

They stood there frozen, neither one moving for a moment.

A moment later, Worster turned around. Even though he remained seated, he was still half a head taller than Guth, who was standing stiffly.

Guth looked at the silver-haired young man with his ruggedly handsome features and felt herself go stiff. Fortunately, he didn't move a muscle, which allowed Guth to let her guard down and slowly approach him.

Keeping a polite distance of a few feet, Guth raised her head and politely held up the note in her hand, showing it to him.

[Hello, can we shake hands?]

Worster glanced at the paper, then lowered his head to stare at her.

Guth’s eyes sparkled as she continued holding up the paper, trying to look friendly.

After staring at her for a while, Worster furrowed his thick brows. His full lips parted, and his voice was low and magnetic as he asked, “…What?”

Guth froze.

A thousand thoughts instantly flashed through her mind. She thought in despair, was her handwriting too ugly?

“I don’t know much about human culture,” Worster’s tone was gentle and slow, mixed with a slightly shy, canine rumble. “…Sorry, you can use other ways to ask me to do something for you.”

Guth: …After all that planning, she never expected the big dog—the werewolf—to be illiterate.

Guth couldn’t help but blush. She fiddled with the hem of her shirt and slowly extended her hand toward him.

“Shake…” Guth’s lips moved slightly as she whispered expectantly.

Hearing this, Worster paused.

Guth nervously held her breath, only then realizing something was off.

Worster was a werewolf, and his seated posture was relaxed and comfortable, much like a wolf or a dog. Guth was giving him an instruction—

Wasn’t this just like a trainer teaching a big dog to shake hands?

She cautiously observed Worster’s reaction, afraid he might be offended. Worster pondered for a moment, then slowly extended his large hand, gently wrapping around her fair, delicate hand.

“Is this it?” he confirmed.

Guth smiled and nodded excitedly. She didn’t notice that the hem of Worster's clothes was swaying a little faster.

Worster’s race and physique had always made Guth hesitant, but she suddenly realized that the werewolf didn't have a fierce temperament—he also enjoyed interacting with humans.

Through shaking hands with Worster, Guth felt like she had established a preliminary friendship with him. After communicating with Loki, she decided to find Archer. She stood under the tree where he was resting, tiptoed, and held up the note high toward him.

[Hello, can we shake hands?]

The boy had his hands behind his head, his right eye slightly open as he shot an indifferent glance at the base of the tree.

As if feeling sleepy, he pulled down his hood, the falling shadow covering his beautiful, sinister face. His long eyelashes fluttered slightly, like a sleeping elf.

[Hello, can we shake hands?]

There was still no movement from the tree. He lazily turned over.

[Hello, can we…]

Guth persisted, standing there until almost the end of the lunch break. When she saw Archer jump down, her arms were so sore from holding up the paper that she could barely lift them, her face a picture of distress.

He'd yelled at her for being mute, so she went to learn how to write. He didn’t want to come down to see her right away, so she really stood under the tree until now.

…So clingy.

“Who wants to play house with you?” Archer, who had ignored her all noon, passed by her and pinched her cheek, taunting, “So stupid.”

Guth stomped her feet in anger, mumbling incoherently, struggling even to scold him. Seeing Guth so animated because of him, Archer laughed a few times, then waved his hand triumphantly and left.

Like a lynx in a good mood, tail held high.

Guth realized that Archer was just that kind of detestable, self-centered boy. In the following days, she indeed ignored him and no longer held up that ridiculous note for him.

Unexpectedly, just two days later, Archer hauled her up into the tree.

“Daring to ignore me, are you tired of living?” He pressed his boot against the girl’s waist, squeezing her face menacingly, baring his fangs. The smile he pieced together seemed to drip with malice.

Guth: …

When she came to find him, he didn’t want to pay attention. When she didn’t come, he got angry.

What does he even want?!