Swords, magic, and martial arts

Rod felt still dizzy and couldn't stand up. Faced with Piltover's thrust, he instinctively reached out to block.

The longsword pierced Rhodes's hand and got stuck inside, causing Rhodes to scream in pain.

With his jaw crooked from the blow, Pilt drew his longsword and shakily raised it, preparing to deliver a fatal blow to Rhodes.

Rod used his injured hand to pull the battle axe out of his other arm, and with all his might, he swung it at Piltover's stomach.

Blood splattered, Piltover's blood covering Rhodes' face. Piltover, enduring the pain, tried to kill Rhodes before he died. He brought his sword down, but just as it was about to reach Rhodes, he was knocked to the ground, and the sword fell to the ground.

Piltover opened his eyes wide, trying to see who had bumped into him. A foot landed on his face—it was Aya…

……

With Aya's help, Rod treated his injuries using the system's external wound treatment medicine.

Black Jade Bone-Mending Ointment: A unique secret medicine of the Vajra Sect, it is black in appearance and has a fragrant and cool aroma. Its medicinal properties are extremely miraculous. If an ordinary person suffers severe injuries to their hands, feet, or joints, resulting in disability, applying this ointment can still heal the injury and gradually restore normal activity.

Unlike high-grade wound medicines that can be used three times, this medicine can only treat one external injury.

After applying the medicine, Rod felt much better, though he was still a little dizzy. He was worried that the axe might disfigure him.

After discussing it with Aya, they decided to stay in the cabin for a few days until Rod's injuries had healed somewhat before leaving.

The cabin contained food, water, and even a fireplace and an iron pot.

Rod and Aya spent an afternoon cleaning up the body in the cabin, stripping it of its intact clothes and valuables, and dumping the body in a ditch some distance away from the cabin.

The body was moved out of the cabin, and there was still a strong smell of blood inside. Rod was too exhausted to continue and fell asleep on the only bed.

Rhodes didn't feel any guilt even though he had killed so many people for the first time.

Is this just who I am, or is it because of my physical body that I'm not afraid of killing?

Before falling asleep, Rhodes kept thinking about this question. He believed that these people deserved their fate, not knowing how many people they had enslaved or turned into playthings, and that he had killed them to do justice.

The laws of the Kingdom of Nord also state that killing a slave trader is not a crime, and if one captures him alive and hands him over to the lord, one can receive a reward of ten silver coins.

If Baron had killed all four of them, he'd probably be feeling sorry for the forty silver coins he lost...

When he woke up, it was already dark. He slowly sat up in bed and found that the bloodstains in the cabin had been cleaned up. A fire was burning in the fireplace, and a pot was on top of the fire. The aroma of meat soup wafted from the pot, and Aya was stirring it with a long ladle.

The aroma of the broth made his stomach rumble involuntarily.

"You're awake," Aya said, turning to Rod. "We'll eat soon. I found some cured beef in their backpacks, and I made a soup with it."

"Is there any water to drink?" Rod asked, more thirsty than hungry.

"Here you go." Aya walked over and handed him a water bottle, which Rod picked up and gulped down.

"I washed their water jugs clean in the stream and then filled them all up again," Aya said as Rod drank.

Rod wanted to ask him why he left without saying goodbye and stole the dagger, but he was too embarrassed to speak.

After Rhodes put down the kettle, Aya brought him a bowl of meat soup. "This is my first time cooking. I don't know how it tastes."

"So let me test the poison first?" Rod joked.

"I didn't poison you, I really didn't poison you. If I wanted to kill you, I could have just cut your throat after you fell asleep," Aya quickly explained.

"You're thinking of killing me?" Rhodes looked up and asked, feigning fear.

"No, no, I'm saying all this just to say I don't want to kill you," Aya explained. "The soup is a bit hot, you can try a piece of beef first."

"So you want me to test if their marinated beef is poisonous?" Rod joked again.

"No, if you think it's poisonous, then don't eat it," Aya said angrily. He reached out to grab the bowl from Rod's hand but failed, and then glared angrily at Rod.

Rod laughed out loud. He thought Aya was a bit silly. He could never tell when Aya was joking. A few days ago, no, yesterday, Baron said he was going to eat him, which scared him to tears.

Rod tasted Aya's cooking, took a bite of meat with his fork, and put down the bowl. "I think you should cook it a little longer."

"If you don't like it, then don't eat it." Aya was still angry.

"You're a girl, aren't you? You're so petty," Rod said.

Aya, who was still stirring the pot with a ladle, paused for a moment. "You're the girl, you're the one who's petty."

"How old are you?" Rod asked again.

"Twelve," Aya said without turning her head.

Looking at Aya's back, Rod felt that he was like an eight or nine-year-old child. A twelve-year-old shouldn't be that young. Thinking about it carefully, I am only sixteen. Although Baron always thought he was short, he is still over 1.8 meters tall.

"Did you often go hungry before? I'm only sixteen too," Rod said.

"You're the one who's always hungry! You're lying, how can you only be sixteen? You look so old, you're at least twenty-six, you can't grow any taller anymore, while I can still grow taller!" Aya turned around and said loudly.

Do I look old?

Rhodes touched his face. He hadn't looked in a mirror since leaving Icestone City. He used to think he was quite handsome. Along the way, he only met one person who could barely compare to him, that arrogant noble knight. He had forgotten his name. He had even fought with him and beaten him. Only after that did he start to have confidence in his strength.

Could it be that he used his own life force to heal the female knight's injuries when he used the dark green flame last time? If so, he lost out big time. Why didn't Baron and the others tell me this?

"Do I really look old?" Rod asked in a low voice.

Aya chuckled. "You're really stupid. I was just joking with you, and you actually believed me?"

Rod was taken aback, not expecting Aya to joke and even make him believe it, which made him overthink for a long time.

Aya came over, took Rod's bowl, and poured it back into the pot.

"What are you doing?" Rod asked curiously.

"Didn't you say it wasn't cooked through? I'll pour it back into the pot and cook it again," Aya replied without turning her head.

"Oh, but there's my saliva in it, don't you mind?" Rod reminded her.

Aya slowly turned around and said expressionlessly, "Why didn't you say earlier that there was your saliva in it?"

"I'll only know if it's cooked when I eat it. How could someone as smart as you not think of that?" Rod replied.

Aya's chest heaved with anger, and then her eyes reddened and tears streamed down her face.

"You're not really a girl, are you? You cry so much." Rod quickly got out of bed. "I ate with a fork just now, and I didn't put the fork back in the bowl... I'll cook dinner."

……