Despite the cold river water rushing over his body, Jobtran remained silent.
He floated down the river and used driftwood to float to the vicinity of Feather River Canyon before reaching shore.
All his clothes were soaked, and the sea breeze blowing from Iceland from time to time made him feel icy cold.
However, after he got ashore, he did not immediately make a fire to keep warm. Instead, he ran along the river bank, looking for a place to hide.
After calculating the searching process of the eye of the High Priest of the Evil Eye, the astute Jobtran roughly guessed the weakness of his eye.
That eye could only detect the scene on the ground and had no ability to penetrate. But at the same time, Jobtran understood that the high priest might have an inhuman sense of smell, so the best way at this time was to find some natural deodorants or something with a strong smell to cover up his body odor.
Running on the river beach was not a spur-of-the-moment idea, but because Jobtran discovered traces left by a brown bear fishing by the river.
Following the brown bear's footprints, Jobtran came to where the brown bear lived, a natural cave.
Standing at the entrance of the cave, Jobtran smelled a strong smell of brown bear feces.
Brown bears like to smear their feces on their living territory to declare their sovereignty to outsiders, but they keep their living quarters clean.
Where better to hide if you are being hunted than in a brown bear's den
"Excuse me, lovely bear."
Jobtran said softly and stepped into the brown bear's cave.
There were a lot of fish bones and remains of small animals scattered on the ground on both sides, but they were all covered with bite marks.
The clean-loving brown bear deliberately placed the debris on both sides as decoration to scare away intruders.
In fact, brown bears will clean up from time to time to keep the environment clean.
"roar!"
At a corner, a fat brown bear jumped out.
It grinned threateningly at Jobutran and acted as if it was on high alert, but it did not take the initiative to attack Jobutran.
This action made Jobtran feel a little confused, because brown bears are creatures with a strong sense of territory, and they often fight among their own kind for territory.
Jobtran took a small tentative step forward and raised his hands to show that he meant no harm.
The owner of the cave took a small step back at the same time, but he never let Jobtran see what was hidden behind him.
“Ahhh.”
A fragile and immature roar came from behind the brown bear, and the brown bear in front of Jobutran stood up, a head taller than Jobutran.
It opened its two paws and roared loudly at Jobtrun.
"roar!!!"
But this action allowed Jobtran to see clearly what was behind the brown bear: it was a brown bear cub.
The cub was injured, apparently by a hunter's trap, and was dying.
Only then did Jobtran understand why the brown bear in front of him did not take the initiative to attack. It turned out that the bear was protecting its children.
"Holy Light, show your warmth."
Jobtran chanted softly, condensing warm holy light in his hands.
He carefully sent the holy light to the big bear.
The big bear's eyes were full of vigilance, but the warm and gentle holy light slowly made it let down its guard.
It touched it lightly with the tip of its nose, and the holy light turned into small dots of light that enveloped its body.
Its eyes changed, as if it saw hope, and it sat on the ground and made way.
Jobtran nodded towards the big brown bear and gently touched its thick fur.
"Look. I mean no harm."
Joe Butran said to the big bear.
Then Jobutran walked to the side of the little bear, and looking at the little bear with a large piece of its body damaged by the hunter's trap, Jobutran suddenly felt touched in his heart.
The little bear's chest heaved up and down. It wanted to move closer to the big bear, but the injuries on its body prevented it from doing so.
Large patches of beautiful brown hair were stained with blood, some of which had formed scabs, but the wounds had not yet healed.
Jobtran's heart softened, and he condensed holy light in the palm of his hand and pressed it on the bear's wound.
The flesh and blood of the wound were recovering under the effect of the holy light, but Jobtran, whose physical strength had not yet fully recovered, was overdrawn after drifting on the river.
He gritted his teeth and held up his body to prevent himself from passing out.
If the brown bear gets an unexpected action, you will become a delicious meal on its plate.
Jobtran, who had originally planned to seize the territory by force, now chose another path, a path of redemption.
He didn't know whether his bold gamble was the right one, but he didn't want to stand by and watch someone die.
Joet Brown felt himself gradually losing strength, and the wounds on the little bear's body were gradually healing.
The big brown bear approached him from behind, but he didn't have the strength to resist.
Joe Butran fell back, laughing at himself.
“So I’m a goody-goody?”
He fell into a coma, and in his last moment of consciousness, he saw the big brown bear's paw in front of him.
——
Opening his eyes tiredly, Joe Butran found that his body was warm and his face was wet.
It turned out that I was lying next to the little bear.
The little bear looked at himself curiously and licked his face with his tongue with soft thorns.
The dark, round eyes looked at him, as if celebrating that he was able to wake up.
“Ahhh!”
The little bear cried out twice in a childish voice, and placed a small wild fruit next to Joet Brown with his tiny paw.
"Is this for me?"
Jobtran smiled weakly and gently touched the little bear's head twice.
He put the fruit into his mouth and took a bite.
The sourness, comparable to that of lemon, stimulates Joet Brown's taste buds, but this wild fruit has a lot of juice, which can replenish the water needed by Joet Brown's body.
Joet Brown suppressed his nausea and forced himself to finish the good gift from the little bear.
At this time, the big brown bear slowly returned from the cave by the river, holding two fish in its mouth.
Seeing that the little bear had recovered his spirit, the big bear happily dropped the fish in his mouth, strode over to the little bear and rubbed against him a few times.
The little bear was pushed to the ground by the big brown bear and started to howl a few times.
Seeing this scene, Jobtran smiled from the bottom of his heart.
"Don't be so rough, the wound might split open."
Joe Butran patted the big brown bear on the back and spoke softly.
The big brown bear turned around and pressed Jobtran to the ground.
The exhausted Jobtran naturally couldn't struggle and let the big brown bear rub against him.
"Now I smell like a bear."
Joe Butran said with a smile.
The big brown bear went to the cave and brought in the fish, threw one in front of the little bear and the other to Jobtran.
Joet Brown shook his head.
"I don't eat it raw, you eat it."
He walked out of the bear cave, collected some herbs and a sharp stone near the bear cave, and then returned to the bear cave.
The big brown bear and the cub looked at Jobtran in confusion, not knowing what he was going to do.
Joet Brown smashed the herbs with a stone, took off his clothes and tore off a small strip.
Then Jobtran picked up the sharp stone and walked over to the cub.
The big brown bear seemed to think that Joe Butter Brown might hurt his children, so he began to grin and warn Joe Butter Brown again.
"The hair near these wounds needs to be cut off, otherwise it will grow into the flesh and be very uncomfortable."
Joet Brown spoke soothing words, but he didn't think the big brown bear could understand.
Before the big brown bear made any move to hurt itself, Jobtran quickly cut off the hair around the little bear's wound and picked out some rotten meat.
The bear cub felt pain and bit Joet Brown's calf.
Although the little bear was small, its teeth were not small. It almost broke Joet Brown's leg bone with one bite.
Joe Butran groaned and tied the herbs to the bear's wound.
"This is difficult."
Joe Butran said with a wry smile.
The little bear seemed to know that he had done something wrong, so he lay on the ground with his paws holding his head, but he secretly glanced through the gaps between his paws to see if Joet Brown was angry.
Although the big brown bear didn't understand, it knew that Jobtran had no ill intentions.
Joet Brown slowly sat down with his back against the cave wall, blood oozing from the wound on his calf.
He quickly wrapped it with the remaining herbs, and then urged the holy light to heal his injuries.
Between the choice of being exhausted and exposing his whereabouts, Jobtran chose to be exhausted.
He didn't know whether the smell of the brown bear could cover up the bloody smell of his new wound, but he seemed to have no choice.
After resting for a while, with the combined effects of herbs and holy light, the external wounds of the new wounds had healed, although the internal structure was still somewhat damaged.
This time he did not refuse the fish that the big bear offered him. He took a big bite of the fat belly of the fish.
“It turns out that raw fish is also delicious.”
Joe Butran thought to himself with self-mockery.
After eating a full meal of fish and replenishing his water with sour wild fruits, Jobtran fell asleep again.
It was already night when he woke up.
The moon was high in the sky, and the water on the river bank was flowing rapidly, with the sound of rushing water.
Jobtran held onto the cave wall and staggered out of the bear cave.
He seemed to hear human voices.
Although it is far away, it seems to be getting closer.
The light of torches could be seen faintly in the mountains and forests, like fireflies dancing in the woods.
Knowing that he might have been exposed, Jobtran returned to the cave and gently removed the cloth from the bear cub to prevent it from being discovered by the evil eye attendant.
Walking out of the cave again, he looked back at the two brown bears, one big and one small, who were sleeping soundly.
"Live well."
The little bear slept sweetly that night. In his dream, he had lots of honey and a very gentle person.
Jobtran picked up a long stick and used it as a crutch; the time had come to travel through the night.
——
"Mouse, how long do you think it will take for Lord Jobtron to arrive?"
The fat director sat on the ground, bored, fiddling with the fire and turning over the sweet potatoes that were roasting in the fire.
"It took us half a day to get here at full speed. Lord Joe Butran shouldn't have been that fast, right?"
The mouse said uncertainly.
"I have sent someone to the fastest merchant ship to take a letter for help, but the fastest round trip will take more than two weeks. What can I do?"
The fat director said with a sad face.
"I don't know, but according to what Lord Jobtruan said, the breakthrough point should be at Katla volcano."
The mouse glanced at the Katla volcano in the distance, which was emitting thick smoke, and his mind cleared.
Ever since he came into contact with the mysterious man, Jobtran, he became more and more doubtful whether he would return to his ordinary life.
When his life was no longer ordinary, the mouse felt like he had opened the door to a new world.
The line between what is real and what is imaginary is becoming increasingly blurred for him.
He couldn't help but think of all the legends in Iceland, all the bedtime stories he had heard as a child, and all the strange folk tales.
“Is this all real?”
The mouse couldn't help but think so.
He stretched out his hand and pointed it at the campfire in front of him.
After a while, still nothing happened.
I seemed to hear a whimpering sound of laughter, and when I came to my senses, it seemed that one sweet potato was missing from the fire.
The mouse laughed at himself, thinking that maybe he was crazy.
"Rat! Rat! The sweet potato ran away by itself!"
The fat director patted Mouse's shoulder in surprise and said.
"What's the fuss? What's wrong with a natural spirit eating a sweet potato?"
The mouse turned around and gave the fat director a look of contempt.
“If only the spirits of nature could protect Iceland and prevent these evil-eye servants from doing evil.”
The fat director hugged his knees dejectedly and sighed.
"I hope so."
The mouse looked at the stars in the sky and the bright moon, and a feeling of loneliness arose spontaneously.
"What are you talking about?"
Joe Butran's figure appeared from the dense forest in the distance, and he looked a little embarrassed as he was leaning on a crutch.
There were a few leaves hanging on his head, his upper body was naked and covered with a thick layer of mud. If it weren't for his silver hair, neither the mouse nor the fat director would have recognized him.
"My lord, you are here."
The fat director immediately got up from the ground and went forward to support Jobtran.
"It's okay, I can walk by myself."
Jobtran waved his hand and walked over to the campfire.
"Where are the pursuers?"
the mouse asked cautiously.
"It seems they don't dare to get close to the Katla volcano, and they haven't resolved the issues within the investigation bureau yet, so they stopped chasing halfway."
Joe Butran told the two people in front of him about his discovery.
"So is Katla really the key to breaking the impasse?"
the mouse asked curiously.
"Well, I even suspect that the legend of Catra has been misinterpreted."
Jobtran looked up at the volcano that was roaring all the time, his eyes revealing awe.
"Is there anything to eat? I'm starving."
Joe Butran sat down by the campfire without any hesitation, put the sticks aside, and asked the two men.
"Here, sweet potatoes cooked to perfection."
The mouse used a wooden stick beside him to scoop out a sweet potato and handed it to Jobtran.
When Jobtran broke the sweet potato with force, the sweet aroma of the sweet potato came to his face.
The orange-red sweet potato flesh exudes an attractive color, and it is even more eye-catching under the firelight.
Joe Boutrang took a bite and couldn't help sighing,
“It smells so good.”