Chapter 016: It’s Just That Much

Thanks to the wolf meat, Du Fan glanced toward Snake Valley, which was like a treasure mountain. But the thought of that eerie white snake made him give up on the idea. Business first! With that in mind, he prepared to leave.

On their way back, they didn’t need to look for poison anymore, as Du Fan had already gathered enough. As long as the wolf meat was useful, he might be able to enter the army. However, he planned to sell only three of the five pieces of wolf meat, keeping the rest for himself.

Since they no longer needed to search for poison, it took them only three days to exit the swamp. As soon as they stepped out, they saw Liana standing there, furious. Du Fan didn’t care about this young lady, and Liana didn’t dare trouble him. As for the others, they kept quiet about the wolf meat—what if the lady had some wild idea of using it to venture into the swamp? If nothing went wrong, it was fine, but if something did, speaking up could get Miss Liana in trouble. If it were a group’s fault, it might be okay, but if it was one person’s fault, even though they were strong, they couldn’t withstand the wrath of the Beiba family!

So, as soon as they saw the young lady, they all followed Du Fan, seeking his protection. Du Fan watched these top fighters with amusement—they weren’t afraid of the monsters in the swamp but were afraid of a little girl. It was truly amusing.

Du Fan looked at Liana and said, “Why are you angry? I didn’t want you to follow. What do you want me to do? I gave the medicine to Walwei, and I told him to leave you here. Do you have any objections?”

Liana pouted. How dare she!

Du Fan ignored her and pointed at the group behind him, saying, “The Firefruit has been obtained, and these people behind me have nothing to do with your family. From now on, they belong to me, Du Fan. You just need to give them the remaining money.”

With that, Du Fan led everyone away. Walwei said, “Could you ask your lord to do a favor?”

Du Fan turned and looked at Liana, saying, “You want me to take her to my territory first? Aren’t you afraid? There’s war going on there.”

“I’m a third-level swordsman!” the girl protested indignantly against Du Fan’s claim that she was a burden.

“Third-level,” Du Fan said mercilessly. “Third-level means nothing in front of me! Even another third-level swordsman could kill you easily!”

Du Fan’s words were a bit exaggerated, but they angered the young girl greatly. Still, Du Fan agreed, “Come and pick her up within half a month. As for your worry that the Fire Fruit might be stolen… I’ll say that I happened to get it for you while adventuring in the swamp. See who dares to steal it then!”
Du Fan owed Walwei a huge favor. Although he didn’t do anything but say a few words, his strength and status were undeniable. If he had said nothing, they would have stolen it anyway, but since he made a declaration, others wouldn’t dare to steal it—what difference would it be from stealing from Du Fan himself?
So naturally, Walwei owed Du Fan a favor, and in future business dealings, they wouldn’t dare to approach him with an attitude of helping him. And Du Fan suffered no loss.
But they reached a consensus without asking the girl’s opinion.
“I won’t go! I don’t want to see rocks and trees! I refuse to go!”
Du Fan glanced at Liana sideways. “If I say you go, you must go. Can you really question my words?”
Although Du Fan didn’t use any combat energy or mental power to suppress Liana, just that glance was enough to scare the inexperienced girl. Liana bit her lip, knowing her protests were futile, and glared at Du Fan resentfully. Walwei said, “Thank you first, Duke. In the future, our Beba family will serve you wholeheartedly!”
Walwei naturally booked a hotel for Du Fan to rest. There was no conversation that night. Du Fan took Liana and her three guards back to Doha City without even taking a carriage.
But Liana was just a young girl. After riding for days in a row, how could she endure it? In less than a day, she started complaining. The three guards also felt pity for her—after all, she was a delicate young girl. Although Liana was a bit willful usually, she was kind-hearted. They pleaded with Du Fan, though they didn’t think a duke like him would give in to them.
“Duke,” Du Fan called one of the guards as he ate something and prepared to set off.
“What is it?” He already knew what it was after seeing Liana’s pale face; he just asked deliberately.

Lena had grown up among merchants, so she naturally had some understanding of how to interact with people and handle situations. When Du Fan asked that question, she understood what he meant, and her expression turned unpleasant. Though she understood, she was still too young and couldn’t help being willful. Du Fan’s words deeply angered her.

But the inside of her thighs really hurt so much that she couldn’t move. The thought of the pain there made her face turn red. She knew it was from riding a horse, but if others didn’t know…

Du Fan looked at Lena. “Didn’t she say she was a third-level swordsman? A third-level swordsman would still ride a horse to travel, right, rather than take a carriage?”

Upon hearing this, the redness from Lena’s face vanished instantly. She grunted heavily and, with the help of the guards, mounted the horse. Yet when the saddle touched her legs, the pain made her face turn pale.

Du Fan wasn’t unaware of how to show mercy to women, but for a lady like Lena, if her sharp edges weren’t smoothed out, she might act recklessly against him.

With such thoughts, Du Fan seemed not to notice Lena’s pained expression and continued on their journey. By nightfall, they finally arrived at a small village. It was so remote that only a few people lived there; otherwise, it would have been raided by thieves many times, rendering it uninhabitable or completely destroyed.

Although they could finally rest, Lena couldn’t sleep all night due to the pain in her thighs.

Before setting off the next day, Du Fan ordered his guards to find a cart. A cart, in this context, referred to those with only two wheels and a flat platform, usually pulled by oxen.

But this broken cart was placed on a horse, and Lena was asked to sit on it. The guards watched her worriedly—how could such a cart compare to a carriage!

Yet they had to obey Du Fan’s orders. Before Lena sat on the cart, the guards had already laid several layers of straw mats on it. It was so poor that aside from the cart and straw mats, there was nothing else available.

Du Fan watched them without saying anything to stop them or offer comments. Later, fearing the cart might break under the bumps, he even applied a rather luxurious stabilization spell to ensure it wouldn’t fall apart. After all, Du Fan had promised Walwei to ensure Lena’s safety—if she got injured, it wouldn’t count as fully protecting her.

This might have been the most expensive cart ever. Just the scroll containing the stabilization spell used on the cart was worth a fortune—wasn’t that enough to make it the most expensive cart?

Du Fan intended to deal with Lena properly; otherwise, given his wealth, he could have added spells like levitation to the cart, so that it wouldn’t jolt Lena to the point of vomiting. Moreover, Du Fan was a wind mage. But since Du Fan didn’t order it to stop, no one else dared say anything.

Although Lena’s legs didn’t hurt today, she felt even worse. In just two days, she had already lost a significant amount of weight.

Fortunately, Du Fan remembered his promise to Walwei, and he also had a bit of compassion for her. After tormenting her for a while, he cast a few levitation spells on the cart, and only then did Lena feel a little better, collapsing half-asleep on it.

The three guards also recognized Du Fan’s tactics. From start to finish, he hadn’t used any noble tactics, yet he had brought their lady under complete control. They all thought Du Fan’s methods were truly powerful—only no one voiced their thoughts.

Du Fan glanced at the nearly unconscious Lena. They had arrived at one of the southernmost cities, one of the eight major cities. Thankfully, there were still people here, and Elsic had already sent people over; construction was in full swing. Du Fan watched the bustling crowd and found a place to stay. It was closest to the swamp, so it was still quite lively, with adventurers everywhere. Du Fan and his group could finally get some rest.

Du Fan ordered the three guards to find a carriage for Lena, then asked the innkeeper to heat some water for a bath so Lena could rest properly.

Seeing the steaming bath water, Lena suddenly burst into tears out of sheer distress. Since she had received money from Du Fan, the innkeeper naturally took good care of her, soothing her softly. After a while, a gasp came from inside the room. Du Fan had little interest in Lena—not only because of her appearance, which didn’t appeal to him, but also because she simply wasn’t his type.

If Du Fan had been an ordinary man, it might have been different, but he wasn’t. He was lustful toward women, but he didn’t sleep with just anyone.

After a long while, the innkeeper came out, gave Du Fan a slight nod, and left. After bathing, Lena emerged, still steaming, somewhat shy, but also looking at Du Fan with a hint of pride.

Du Fan raised his head and took a quick glance. He could tell that although Lena’s face hadn’t changed much, her skin was a bit fairer than before, her eyes a bit larger, and the spots on her face were gone. Overall, she was quite beautiful. As for her figure, Du Fan had already experienced it before—curvy in the right places. Lena’s long legs were faintly visible beneath her bathrobe, having just gotten out of the bath. But as mentioned earlier, Du Fan wasn’t someone who would be flustered by anyone; he could handle even more beautiful women, let alone just a girl! Du Fan snorted, “It’s just so-so.”