"Gods mercy, are you still alive?!"

The big hand that was tightly clamping on Sha Ting's neck went limp, and she inhaled heavily, the buzzing in her ears stopped, and her eyes could see. It was a young dark-haired man with a handsome and resolute face and black eyes staring at Sha Ting.

Sha Ting's first reaction was that the bandit with a meaty face still has accomplices! But she didn't have anything on her anymore that could be used as a weapon. Immediately afterward, she noticed that the fallen bandit had a dagger stuck deep in his back, and then she relaxed when she noticed the look of concern in the young man's eyes.

"He recognized the wrong person, and if he didn't get any money from me, he was going to kill me."

The man kicked the body away with his toes, and he saw the hairpin around the man's neck. He took out a shirt from the backpack behind him and crouched down beside Sha Ting, helping her wipe the blood from her head and face. Sha Ting saw that his arms were strong and his fingers were slender, but the wiping movements were gentle.

"Do you have a wound on the head?"

"No, it's all the blood of that beast." Sha Ting replied.

The wiping action stopped, and the man stared at Sha Ting.

Sha Ting suddenly regretted that she was too rude when she spoke just now!

"How old are you?" The man asked.

"Fourteen, I'm almost fourteen." Sha Ting replied.

"I'm about the same age as my daughter, and I had to go through this kind of thing." The man frowned at himself. "Have you prayed to the god of war to kill?" He asked Sha Ting.

Sha Ting shook her head.

The gods oppose killing, but allow people to fight for life, dignity, or justice. Pray to Mars before the battle that the jealous god of war will make the wicked pay the price of death and absolve the victor of the sin of blood on his hands.

She knew that, but she hadn't fully recovered from her horror, and besides, this wasn't the Isle of War, and the school wouldn't teach students the prayers to open the killing ring when they were twelve.

"It happened suddenly, and now the man is dead. We have to make up a short ritual. Do it with me, so that the gods will leave a way for us in times of crisis. ”

The man approached the corpse, pulled out the dagger and hairpin, wiped it clean with the shirt on his hand, and placed it on a rock in the woods. Sha Ting knelt down after him, saw him put his hand on his forehead, the back of his hand to his eyes, and heard him reverently recite the prayer.

"Gods, guide me so that I do not stray from the right path. Let me be grateful when I don't get what I need, let me continue to persevere when my efforts are not rewarded, and let me continue to do good when my good intentions are misunderstood. Let me have the courage to fight for irreplaceable treasures, give me the strength to protect my true love that will last until death, and give me the determination to give my life for the glory of the supreme God. Thank you, Mars, the god of war, for blessing me from the wicked who disobeyed the oracle unscathed, and ask Mars, the god of war, to guide his lost soul to the Eternal Forest, where we will finally be reunited after the return of the Calamity. The gods are merciful. ”

Sha Ting took the back of her hand away from her eyes and stole at the man.

His black hair was tied up at the back of his head, the loose ends of his hair rested on his left shoulder, and the upper half of his face was covered by his hands, and only the angular lips could be seen opening and closing slightly. As she listened, the man's voice in the first half of the prayer was soft and clear, and in the second half it was deep and deep, and she was so fascinated by his voice that she hastily covered her eyes and recited it in unison at the last phrase, "Mercy of the gods."

Hearing the man stand up, Sha Ting followed suit. He withdrew the dagger from the rock, and Sha Ting hurried forward to retrieve her hairpin. She opened her mouth to say something, but the man nodded at her, turned and left along the way down the mountain.

Sha Ting stood there blankly, savoring the residual smell of blood in her mouth and the deep sense of loss in her heart.

But the man reappeared in a blink of an eye, the hair on his forehead was scattered because of the running, he returned to Sha Ting, shoved something into Sha Ting's hand, and said, "Be careful on the way back!" ”

This time he was really gone.

Sha Ting bowed her head, the dagger in her hand, but it was unsheathed. The sheath has intricately carved lines, the handle is inlaid with fine diamonds, and the dagger is drawn and the sharp blade glows coldly.

After that, she returned with her mother-in-law and found the bodies of Gülen and Caron in the grass in the distance. It seems that the man ambushed and killed Gülen, and then killed Caron, who was deaf and defenseless.

Alone, she pulled a wooden tricycle and made three trips back and forth to bring the three bodies back to Granny Tin's house.

The mother-in-law paid her fifteen silver rings. Five of the silver rings still had blood on them, which had been recovered from the dead thieves.

It was the first time in her life that she had gotten so much money.

"Five silver rings for a corpse, once or twice a month, not needed for three months when the snow is covering the mountain. That's the price. The mother-in-law told her coldly.

Grace needs to autopsy the corpse for study, and Satene takes over the work that her mother and Gülen had done during their lifetimes.

After this happened, her mother-in-law also began to teach Sha Ting martial arts in earnest, in case there were any more thieves ambushing along the way or even going up the mountain to rob.

Are these good things that come after bad things?

Sha Ting looked up at the statue of the sun goddess.

The goddess has different postures and manners in the thousands of temples on the five islands. In this temple on Jifukushima, a white statue of the deity stands in a giant shrine with a slight smile on his face. Perhaps it was the carver's limited skills, or perhaps it was because of Sha Ting's mood at the moment, and in her opinion, the slightly upturned corners of her mouth seemed to express disdain for the weakness of her admirers.

"Mercy of the gods!" Sha Ting knelt down in front of the idol and prayed, "Please leave a way for me in times of crisis." ”