Remote town.
In a shabby guest room.
Xi Mu laid Letixia, who was on his back, on the primitive bed and squatted down to inspect her ankle. Blood had stained her foot red and was dripping onto the floor, drop by drop.
Despite the situation, Letixia maintained the composure of a princess, the only sign of distress being her pale complexion.
"If we don't treat it in time, the follow-up treatment will be more expensive," Xi Mu said, gripping her pale foot with a serious tone, "I need to pull out the arrow and use a magic potion to treat it."
"Okay," Letixia naturally wouldn't refuse, as the knight before her was the only one she could rely on, which meant she had to trust him.
Xi Mu nodded, grasped the arrowhead, and held Letixia's foot tightly in his hand before yanking it out forcefully, blood splattering as a result.
Letixia's beautiful eyes widened as she instinctively wanted to cry out in pain, but she quickly covered her mouth with her hand, her toes curling tightly.
She soon felt a cooling sensation on her foot, briefly alleviating the pain, followed by the feeling of gauze being wrapped around.
Looking down, she saw the knight in silver armor, his movements both skilled and swift, wrapping gauze around her wound, she wondered where he had obtained it from.
"This is just a simple treatment," Xi Mu said, raising his head and glancing at Letixia's wrist, where another arrow he had shot was embedded.
"Sir Ahtal, this is already a splendid treatment," Letixia said with a pursed-lip smile, despite the sweat beads of pain still on her pale face. She extended her hand to Xi Mu, knowing that now was not the time to delay.
Xi Mu nodded, took Letixia's palm firmly, grasped the arrowhead with the other hand, and pulled hard.
"Hmm!" Suppressing a moan of pain, Letixia's eyes widened, but she still watched Xi Mu's actions. After he pulled out the arrow, he immediately poured a magic potion onto the wound and then quickly wrapped her wrist with gauze, winding it round and round.
The entire process probably took less than half a minute.
Could this knight be accustomed to treating wounds, otherwise how could he have such skilled movements?
However, before she could ponder any further,
Xi Mu had already let go of her hand, his gaze shifting to her shoulder, then as if embarrassed, he averted his head.
"Letixia, can you handle the wound on your shoulder yourself?" he asked with a slight hesitation, to which Letixia surprisingly unbuttoned her upper garment with great openness, revealing her shoulder.
The scene was not one of allure; the blood-stained skin merely brought about a sense of shock when it clung to her fair complexion.
And in accordance with this game's official puritanical male personality, if Letixia were to pull it down just a bit more, an immediate "Holy Light" censor would be triggered to prevent anything inappropriate.
"Please, Sir Ahtal," Letixia said, slightly embarrassed, she averted her gaze from Xi Mu as he tended to her wound.
In response, Xi Mu nodded, internally mocking the game officials' prudish standards, while efficiently bandaging Letixia's wound.
As an experienced player with many playthroughs, he was very proficient in various skills and could now bandage a wound without triggering any "Holy Light."
Soon enough, he finished treating the wound and stood up calmly, turning his back to Letixia, "Get ready, we need to hurry and evacuate."
"Okay," Letixia nodded lightly, pulled her slipping garment back up over her shoulder, tidied her clothes, then hopped on one foot to lean against Xi Mu's back of her own accord.
Xi Mu didn't say much, just carried Letixia on his back and set off toward the next village.
Indeed, with his battle experience as a seasoned player, as long as he made sufficient preparations in advance, it was possible to eliminate all the pursuers that followed.
However, this would lead to Letixia's favorability towards the player increasing at a slower pace, making it harder to obtain hidden equipment later on.
Therefore, experienced players had long since figured out that if you want to quickly boost Letixia's favorability, during the early stage when you're being hunted, it's best not to immediately kill all the pursuers. Maintaining a sufficient sense of crisis can make NPC Letixia's favorability increase faster.
Common hardships often make it easier to strengthen a bond.
After some time.
The door to the room was kicked open, and several men in black entered, exchanging glances with each other. One of them came to the side of the bed and crouched down.
"Bloodstains, not yet completely dry." A finger gently traced the blood on the ground as one of the men in black made a judgment, "She hasn't escaped far, hurry up and pursue her."
The men in black looked at each other, quickly left the room, and headed out of the village in pursuit, carrying a deep obsession with killing Princess Letixia.
Even though the second princess had already covertly seized control of the country, as long as her sister, who went to visit the God of Plague at the temple, was alive,
the second princess could not be considered the rightful heir to the throne.
In the power structure of this world, rule is bestowed by the divine. No matter who the king is, their authority must be recognized by the deities.
And the person representing a kingdom to pay homage to the deities often signifies that they are the heir to the throne, possessing the highest form of legitimacy.
So, no matter what… Letixia, the elder princess, must die, or at least she must not be allowed to visit the deities at the temple.
Otherwise, the living elder princess, who successfully paid homage to the deities, would carry enough legitimacy to garner the support of all the nobles, mages, and commoners.
In this world, deities hold such authority.
However, as long as elder Princess Letixia could not meet the deity while alive, it would mean she was not favored by the divine.
Then the second princess' claim to the throne would have some degree of legitimacy.
...
…
"Don't make noise." Xi Mu covered the mouth of the man in black, twisted forcefully, and with the sound of a spine breaking, the man in black seemed to be drained of all strength, slumping lifelessly to the ground.
He glanced down at the corpse of the man in black, then walked toward Letixia sitting on a stone by the riverbank. On his way there, he also pulled a hefty broadsword out of the ground.
"Letixia, why are they so adamant about killing you?"
"Perhaps my sister does not wish for me to live," Letixia replied, her hand gently sweeping her golden locks beside her ear, revealing a somewhat helpless smile.
"For power, even sisters will turn against each other."
"It seems I've gotten involved in quite the troublesome affair," Xi Mu lamented, and Letixia nodded upon hearing this, looking at the silver-armored knight holding a heavy sword across from her.
"Do you want to abandon me?"
Xi Mu cocked his head, seemingly puzzled as he asked, "Do you want to die?"
"I don't want to die, but it's okay if you give up on me," Letixia maintained her smile, her green eyes expressing sincerity, "I won't hold a grudge against you for it, and I would still be grateful for all the help you've given me so far."
This girl is really easy to deceive.
Xi Mu thought quietly to himself. But it was precisely because she was so gullible, and carried characteristics almost impossible to find in the real world, that she was so popular among players.