The next day.
With the addition of Clark, the group continued their journey south into the Dark Forest. Clark's involvement made it much easier to deal with the various magical creatures along the way.
Clark deliberately showed off his skills in front of Fanny, and with his help, two Windblade Wolves and a Frost Eagle were easily dealt with on the journey.
Whenever a magical creature was killed, Han Shuo would quickly appear and immediately remove the creature's core. He would then, of course, hand it over to Lisa for safekeeping, treating it as if it were his side's spoils of war. Even the pelts of the Windblade weren't left behind for Clark.
Clark wanted to win Fanny's favour, so even though his heart was bleeding inside, he forced a smile, played along with Han Shuo's actions, and didn't fight for the magical creature pelts.
The crew built a campfire at dusk and the task of barbecuing the meat fell back to Han Shuo. Clark deliberately stayed with Fanny, chatting wittily with her. Off to the side, Gene watched Clark and kept interjecting and using words to ostracise Clark.
The other students all scattered, either to rest, laugh and chat, or to silently organise their belongings. Only Lisa stayed by Han Shuo's side, watching him turn the pieces of meat with ease.
"Bryan, I've noticed that you're becoming more and more of a villain, and that you're very different from before!" Lisa held a bright red wooden stick in her hands as she carelessly stirred the campfire. Her bright eyes landed on Han Shuo's body as she spoke.
Han Shuo glanced at Lisa before replying weakly, "Is that so? I'm fine... I just felt that I was living too hopelessly and stupidly before and wanted to change. Is there anything wrong with that?"
Lisa shook her head and said, "No, no. I just feel that you're different now. I don't know how to describe what's going on. Maybe it is because I cast the Agony of the Soul upon you and made things the way they are."
Laughing involuntarily, Han Shuo thought that he wasn't Bryan at all, so it had nothing to do with the soul torment. Whether it was Lisa, Fanny or even the other students and teachers, it was quite funny that they all thought that the Agony of the Soul was the reason for his changes.
"Aren't my changes good?"
"Very good, you're much better than you were before. I was really angry to see you so cowardly and timid before, so I was mean to you, hoping you would shape up, but you always accepted whatever life threw at you, and didn't resist no matter who bullied you. I felt that you were quite pitiful then and that life was quite painful for you. It would have been better for you to die. In fact, I used the Agony of the Soul on you because I didn't want to see you living so miserably anymore. Lisa thought for a moment and then looked at Han Shuo
With a furrowed brow, Han Shuo looked at Lisa in confusion. He asked, "Are you saying that you were helping me out of the goodness of your heart when you used Soul Torment on me?"
"Of course!" Lisa's neck arched as she explained, "Although I had taken you before for magic practice, I treated you much better than the other students, but you were disappointing and living your days so hopelessly. I couldn't stand it any longer and wanted to free you from this life. Look at you now, you've changed so much I hardly recognise you.
Shaking his head, Han Shuo said nothing more, but in his heart, he approved of Lisa's methods. That pitiful Bryan really did live such a hopeless life, and he'd wanted to kill himself for a long time, but he just lacked the courage to do so. Han Shuo still could not forgive Lisa for helping people to end their lives.
"Bry... Bryan. I think we can barbecue our own meat and don't need to impose on you." At that moment, Bach, Bella and a few others came over from a distance and looked at Han Shuo with a bit of fear as they spoke.
In those days, Han Shuo would grill extremely delicious meat for Lisa, Fanny, Amy and company, and horribly disgusting meat for Bach, Bella and a few others. After a few days of torture, Bach, Bella and co. had already suffered from diarrhoea for a few days.
They had been cursing and complaining to Han Shuo, but after witnessing Han Shuo's berserk performance yesterday, these people didn't even dare to complain and curse at him. They were afraid that Han Shuo would suddenly lose his mind again.
Now, they really were a little afraid of Han Shuo.
Smiling dumbly, Han Shuo said with some embarrassment. "How can that be? I'm an errand slave for the Necromancy Major, and preparing food is one of my duties. It wouldn't be appropriate for your noble and delicate selves to do such tasks, would it?"
"Appropriate, absolutely appropriate! While we're training, we should try everything. Not to mention that you saved our lives yesterday. We shouldn't let you take on so many more missions... Wouldn't you agree, Bach?" Bella laughed vigorously as she spoke.
"In fact, we should barbecue our own food and not rely on you for everything!" Bach's stomach had already been suffering for a few days and he knew that if he were to eat Han Shuo's barbecued meat again, it would definitely be half raw and half cooked. He hastily smiled, paused and opened his mouth. "Bryan, I was wrong before. Please don't hold a grudge against me. If you hate me and come to me when you suddenly go crazy, when you suddenly lose your rationality, then I would be screwed!"
"All right, since you are all so kindhearted, I thank you. Come on, you guys grill the meat, I hope you have a great time." Han Shuo felt damn good inside as he stood up with an honest smile. He took some of the cooked meat, gave a huge piece to Lisa who had been eyeing it for a while, and took the rest of the meat to Fanny.
The tantalising smell of meat spread slowly. Fanny had been listening to Clark and Gene put each other down with an impatient expression on her face when her eyes suddenly lit up and her tongue darted out to moisten her lips. A charming smile appeared on her lips.
"Master Fanny, Master Gene, um... and Sir Clark the knight, these are your barbecued meats!" Han Shuo laughed lightly and handed the meat to the three.
"Ooh ooh... blech! Bryan, how come today's wasn't fully cooked, this is too disgusting!" Fanny suddenly squealed and spat out the piece of grilled meat she'd eaten.
This time, due to Fanny's poor eyesight and the fact that Han Shuo hadn't given her the meat individually, as well as the fact that she was in a hurry to eat, she had already eaten one of the pieces Han Shuo had prepared for Gene and Clark before he had had a chance to remind her.
"Uh... Master Fanny, this isn't yours, this is!" Han Shuo didn't know whether to laugh or cry as he thought you were seriously in too much of a hurry.
Then he quickly handed over the piece of meat he had painstakingly prepared, grabbed the half-raw, half-cooked piece from her hand, and pulled out a dagger to cut off the piece she had bitten off. He smiled merrily as he handed it to Clark and said with some embarrassment, "Noble Sir Clark, this piece is yours. My cooking skills aren't quite up to scratch and although Master Fanny has already taken a bite, I hope you don't mind?"
Clark said, "Er... I'll just have bread."
"Now how can that be allowed, bread doesn't increase physical strength and you're a knight who really needs a lot of physical strength. You need to eat lots of meat. Are you disgusted by Bryan's lack of cooking skills or because Master Fanny has already taken a bite?" Gene had long known that those who weren't nice to Bryan would suffer greatly when they ate something he had prepared. Gene chuckled inwardly as he tried to convince Clark with a righteous and dignified look on his face.
"No, I didn't mean it like that. Just that, just that..." Clark had a face of resignation as he clumsily spread his hands. He shook his head, but didn't know how to explain himself. He'd seen Fanny take a bite and spit it out, and of course he knew that piece of meat wasn't very tasty.
"As a noble knight, Sir Clark cannot want to eat something that others have already bitten into. I understand. Master Gene, how about you take this piece?" Han Shuo had a look of I-gotchu-man as he first insinuated that Clark despised Fanny and then passed the hot potato to Gene.
Gene panicked at Han Shuo's words. He laughed shamefacedly and said, "No, absolutely not. How could I take something from Sir Clark? Besides, this piece is mine, I'm going to eat it now."
With vague traces of sweat visible on his forehead, Gene spoke frantically and hurriedly took the other piece of meat, which was also half cooked and half raw, He walked in Bach and Bella's direction as if on the run, obviously intending to recook the meat again.
"Mater Gene is such a modest person! Looks like this piece of meat is still yours to dispose of!" Han Shuo smiled stupidly and planned to give the piece of meat to Clark by force.
Clark had a pitiful look on his face as he smiled wryly and then suddenly spoke as if he'd suddenly remembered something. "I forgot something, excuse me."
Clark did the same as Gene as soon as he'd finished speaking and walked away as if he was trying to get away from something. He had disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye.
"Bryan, you're getting more and more rude. No wonder Gene and Bach have been suffering from diarrhoea the last few days. You were behind it, weren't you?" Fanny found it both infuriating and funny as she glared at Han Shuo and lectured him.
"You've only just realised it Master Fanny? Bryan really is different from what he was before and has become naughtier than all the other students." Lisa chuckled slightly and then looked at Fanny strangely. "Right, Master Fanny, you obviously know that Bryan is deliberately teasing them, so why don't you stop him?"
"Because I also find Clark and Gene too irritating. They hover around me, chattering incessantly, making a constant racket and dragging me into it. It's so boring, but Clark has helped us a lot and he really is a good person!" Fanny laughed wickedly as she explained to Lisa.
Han Shuo gloated inwardly when he heard the first part of Fanny's words, but that gave way to anger when he heard Fanny say that Clark was a good person.
"So that's the case, hehe. Master Fanny, I know of a large pool of water nearby. Its water is clear, bright and clean. We haven't had a bath or shower in a few days, shall we go for a swim tonight?"
"Lisa, you didn't like swimming before. Why do you suddenly like swimming these days?"
"Eh... because swimming exercises the body!" Lisa's delicate face reddened at Fanny's question and she quickly replied after turning her head to look at Han Shuo.
Han Shuo's face wore a strange expression as he thought that although Lisa had seemed indifferent on the surface the last time he told her how to develop her breasts, she had secretly taken action. He found it funny, and his understanding of the female mind deepened even further.
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