Mars and Luke were lurking in the angle between the two carts. A bonfire not far away cast a shadow, providing them with the best cover.
It was mealtime, and there were too many people coming and going. The two of them dared not show their heads, and could only wait quietly for the opportunity. But for an assassin, this was nothing. In this line of work, those who were impatient had already died.
"Mars, I didn't expect these slaves to be so well behaved. We've been here for such a long time, and no one fought or snatched food." Bored Luke knelt on one knee on the ground. He carefully changed legs without making any sound.
"Hey, do you think those heads belong to Bai Shu?" Mars raised his thumb and pointed behind him. A few dozen meters away, there were several poles with several disheveled heads stuck on them. "And they seem to have divided dozens of people into teams, and there are special people to watch over them. Naturally, no one dares to move."
"I'm worried that these people are being watched too closely, and if they set a fire, the noise won't be loud enough to attract the magician. That would be troublesome." Luke added, "This camp is so weird, I feel uncomfortable all over."
"Slaves are slaves. Once the fire starts, you'll understand. It's useless to camp in this way! Soon, there will be people running away everywhere. As long as we blend into the crowd, no one will notice us." Mars said.
The two waited for a while. Mars saw that fewer and fewer people were walking around and everyone was going back to sleep. He said, "It's almost time. I'll go set the fire. You find a hidden place and wait for the magician to appear."
Luke licked his lips, picked up his crossbow, and said excitedly, "Well, my favorite part of the hunt is finally about to begin."
Mars walked through the shadows for a while and approached a place where hay for horses and cattle was stored. He found that there were more than a dozen carts of hay and beans piled together, which was a perfect starting point for the fire. What's even better was that most of the people sleeping around here were women and children. It would be great if these people didn't cause trouble, let alone put out the fire. However, the hay was surrounded by a fence, with torches lit all around, and four or five people equipped with spears and crossbows guarding it.
Mars was quite surprised. It was just a transportation of slaves. Why did they have to make it more serious than a war? However, such a battle could not stop him. He took out a small crystal the size of a mung bean from a small bag in his clothes and slowly injected his fighting spirit into it.
Slowly, the crystal emitted a little red light and became scorching hot. Mars used his cloak to block the light and used his fighting spirit to protect his hands until the crystal completely turned bright red. He flicked his fingers and sent it into a haystack.
In the blink of an eye, a few wisps of smoke, followed by flames and thick smoke, rolled out of the haystack. The person guarding the hay soon discovered the fire and shouted to wake up the people sleeping around. Some people pushed away the unlit hay, some hurried to the river to get water, and some ran to report to the manager.
Mars threw off his black cloak, revealing a very ordinary linen suit, blending in with the crowd. He hid his dagger and the bag of crystals under his clothes, followed the crowd, and continued to look for opportunities to set fire. He knew that Luke had hidden in the shadows and could shoot a fatal arrow at any time.
When Mars set the fire, Luo Ling was in the tent with Elena.
The other elves had been picked up by the elf rangers who had arrived a few days ago, and only Elena did not leave. She made a request. She hoped to follow Xiao Chen and his group back to the school to take a look. Her reason was hard to refuse: the elves were willing to trade with Xiao Chen, the magician who had saved their people, but before that they needed to get to know their trading partners clearly.
Xiao Chen and the others discussed it and agreed to this request. Because Elena's background was mysterious, in order to reduce prying and trouble, Luo Ling had been letting her live with her these days.
"Your clothes are really unique." Elena knelt on the cushions at the bottom of the tent, slightly sideways, with her green hair tied into many tiny braids, which were then delicately coiled together, revealing her slender neck. Most elves are thin, and so is Elena. Sitting there, she looked like a daffodil.
At this moment, she did not look too sad. Allen's death seemed to be a thing of the past. In any case, in Luo Ling's opinion, she was in good spirits these days and was curious about many new things she had never seen. Was this because her life was too long
Luo Ling had just washed her hair, so it was still wet. She simply tied it into a ponytail, with her bangs sticking to her forehead. She didn't wear a loose wizard robe, but a shirt and a short jacket on the upper body, and a pair of dark blue jeans on the lower body.
"Just ordinary clothes from my hometown." She smiled and sat on the ground opposite Elena. One hand was on the ground, and the other hand was on her bent legs, looking relaxed and casual.
"But I've never seen it. I'm really curious about where your hometown is." When Elaina said this, she looked Luo Ling up and down with her beautiful eyes, her lips slightly curled up, not knowing whether it was with interest or appreciation. Luo Ling felt a little embarrassed, and she said: "The continent is so big, some things with special styles are not very normal. I really like the textures of the leaves and flowers on your clothes, it really feels like they are growing out."
"Although the continent is huge, there are very few things that elves don't know." When Elena said this, she didn't look arrogant at all, and it seemed as if it was a matter of course. "We elves have long lives, and we especially like to record beautiful things. Poets and rangers wandering around the continent will record those beautiful things and share them with us. Even many islands far away from the continent have their footprints. I'm not exaggerating. We who live in the forest know about the new trends in the empire much faster than the small nobles in the countryside. I'm 230 years old this year. The changes in clothing in those human countries in the past two hundred years are all stored here." Elena tapped her forehead lightly, "But there is no one like you."
"I said, we come from a very distant continent." Luo Ling shrugged.
"But you have the same writing system as us." Elaina pointed to a few books beside Luo Ling, opened one and read, "Analysis of the various social classes in China... China is your country, right? Look, these are all magic words. The oldest books of the elves are written in these words. It's hard for me to imagine a kingdom that has a common writing system with ours but has no connection with us."
"This..." Luo Ling was thinking about how to answer, when she suddenly noticed some movement outside and noisy voices.
Elena's long ears moved. "It's on fire."
"Let's go out and take a look." Luo Ling stood up and opened the tent, almost bumping into Shi Hao and Kalanda who were about to come in.
"What's going on?" Luo Ling walked out of the tent and saw flames in two corners of the camp. "Someone set the fire?"
Shi Hao and Kalanda looked at each other and said, "I'm afraid so. Two fires at two places far apart at the same time must not be an accident."
"The person who set the fire must be trying to take advantage of the situation. Have you sent anyone to protect Xiao Chen?" Luo Ling asked.
"Xiao Chen?" Shi Hao asked in surprise, "Old Chen led his men to put out the fire, and asked Roger to take his best men to ambush the arsonist at the grain cart. He said that the arsonist would most likely want to burn the grain. Could it be that someone wants to deal with Xiao Chen?"
"Xiao Chen is our external face. Everyone thinks that he, the magician, is our leader."
"Damn it! From what you said, Xiao Chen is indeed in danger..." Shi Hao said anxiously.
"Okay, no more nonsense, you two should take people to find Xiao Chen." Luo Ling said decisively.
"Then what will you do? In the eyes of those people, you are also a magician." Shi Hao said.
"Then leave one soldier with me, and the others will go find Xiao Chen!"
"I'll stay!" said Kalanda.
Xiao Chen actually discovered the fire at about the same time as Luo Ling, and everyone had finished telling their stories by then. Xiao Chen was listening to the captain of the squad, an imperial soldier, telling about his tragic experience. When he talked about how he was captured by the kingdom's army and sold as a commodity in the slave market, he suddenly stared at the sky in a daze.
Xiao Chen followed his gaze and saw that the sky behind him was red, obviously on fire!
The people around also saw this scene, and many of them became panicked.
Xiao Chen immediately stopped these people, telling them not to run around and shout, and asked them to wake up the people in the surrounding groups, gather them here with him, and wait for arrangements in the camp.
There was nothing wrong with these arrangements, but he didn't expect that these actions would allow Luke, who was hiding in the dark, to quickly discover him.
A young black-haired magician with a magic sword.
In the firelight, Xiao Chen, dressed in a wizard's robe, was very easy to recognize.
"Finally found you!" Luke licked his lips, like a predator seeing its prey. He covered his crossbow with a piece of rag, blended in with the crowd, and slowly walked towards Xiao Chen.
"Don't panic! The fire is still far away from us and poses no threat to us! Everyone gather here first, and I will make arrangements after the people I send out understand the situation. Now everyone sit down and rest in this open space!" Xiao Chen repeatedly shouted to the people who gathered one after another.
Xiao Chen's previous image of being decisive and ruthless in the slave camp still remained in many people's minds, so his prestige was still quite high. Everyone who came obeyed his arrangements and sat on the ground.
Catalina was also shouting for him, but she suddenly discovered that there was a person not far away who did not sit down like the others, but leaned against a tree stealthily. The person stared at Xiao Chen while lifting a piece of cloth in his hand, and under the cloth, there was something strange hidden.
Crossbow! It was a black crossbow! Catalina felt like all the hairs on her body were about to explode.
"Assassin!" She screamed and used all her strength to pounce on Xiao Chen.
By this time Luke had already pulled the trigger...