- Half a year later, the border of the Whispering Forest.

Eric Shirahoshi and his partner, the young Golia Morning Dew, walk through the border of the forest dyed with a golden sunset, and the forest at dusk will be a wonderful charm when you look from the outside of the forest, but if you are in the middle of the forest, you will understand that the forest light has become very dark at this time, and it is definitely not friendly to those who do not have dim vision.

Daily patrols of the forest frontier are a form of protection that the Watchmen have put in place for centuries to contain and deter human slave trappers who risk their lives for money. Although the villains hated by the elves have almost disappeared from the forest for various reasons, the tradition of the Border Patrol has been preserved for a long time as an important part of the kingdom's responsibility for the lives of its citizens.

Fortunately, as a formal military establishment, Eric finally does not have to be responsible for training those unreliable newcomers this time, and his partner in the past six months, Miss Gloria, is a rare experienced female ranger.

Although the elves have always advocated the idea of equal status between men and women, the physical strength of women has determined from the beginning that they are inherently weaker than their male counterparts in the status of rangers. Coupled with the fact that rangers are always busy moving from forest to forest, it's unlikely that most women who prefer to be clean and pay attention to their appearance will choose to join the rangers.

Relatively speaking, there were more women in the druids and sacrifices, especially the priests stationed in the temple, and the unique sensibility of women made most pious girls competent enough to serve as the mortal spokesmen of the goddess.

Approaching three hundred and fifty years old, Eric was no longer a young man, and there were many squad leaders who were much younger than him in the Ranger ranks. Like most naïve lads, he had hoped to marry a beautiful and empathetic goddess, but being single in his 300s was enough to show that Captain Ranger had failed in his own relationship problems.

In fact, there is nothing unsuitable about Eric's own conditions, you must know that cowardice and goblins who look like talents are not easy to find, but the elves of crooked melons and cracked dates have never appeared in this world - the wonderful power of the goddess makes every born elf have a healthy body and outstanding appearance, although handsome and beautiful in the usual sense will seem a little ordinary among the elves.

Captain Ranger had thought about his relationship over and over again, and then came to a conclusion that seemed to be quite plausible - he had a high opinion of himself in terms of mate selection criteria, but he was more shy and reserved in terms of emotions than most elves, so the girls who had a certain possibility with him passed him by.

Compared to Eric, who seemed to be a little lacking in interest in everything, his current partner, Miss Gloria, was much more enthusiastic. Although Miss Ranger is actually only an "old girl" at the age of 283, her attitude towards life is undoubtedly much more positive than that of her partner and boss, Eric. For example, Eric's exotic cooking skills, even if they are simply added to the barbecue or soup, are already very happy for the difficult conditions of the mission.

"Dearest Captain, has the menu for tonight been decided?" Although the entire so-called team consisted of only Eric and Gloria, Miss Ranger had nothing to taboo about her words. For a tedious task like border patrol, it was a good thing for her to have a captain with unique cooking skills.

"Stewed grouse. Eric shook the hapless prey in his hand that had been drained of blood, "Pepper is still very much...... If you can find some delicious mushrooms, the chicken soup will have a richer flavor layer. ”

"Honorable sir, leave such a simple matter to Golia!, make sure to complete the task on time!" and Miss Ranger, who was full of anticipation for dinner, disappeared from Eric's sight with her animal companion Abion like a gust of wind.

For his partner's fiery personality, Eric was naturally already surprised, he smiled helplessly, and began to use the boiling hot water to remove hair for today's dinner.

Tori, Eric's animal companion, a little red fox with chicken blood on his mouth, guarded his close companion like a loyal guard. The clever little one knew that he would be able to taste the delicious "grouse feast" again tonight, so he stood by the camp's campfire unlike his light-phobic kind.

......

By the time the aroma of the chicken soup wafted over the air, Tori was so hungry that he couldn't move his steps, but Leah, who usually acted quickly, still didn't come back. Just when Eric couldn't stand the stupid look of the usually shrewd and dexterous little fox, and was about to scoop some chicken pieces out of the pot for Tori to satisfy his hunger first, a terrible chirp made people feel goosebumps from far and near through the woods—it was the voice of Arya's companion Abion!

The brown owl that landed on top of the camp tent flapped its wings anxiously and let out a short, high-pitched cooing at Eric. In the face of this terrible scream that always made him laugh, Eric did not have any hint of joke on his face at the moment. Because he knew that Abion was here alone at this time, which means that Golia must have had an accident!

......

Running non-stop, Eric chased after the owl that kept flapping its wings in the low air, and finally saw Gloria sitting under a large tree under a small hourglass, seemingly unable to move. Thankfully, Miss Ranger was obviously still conscious, and she smiled weakly when she saw Eric, but the pale smile in Eric's eyes couldn't help but make his heart tighten.

"What's going on!?" Eric quickly checked his partner's physical condition, but found no visible injuries or blood.

"It's the red ring. Miss Ranger's full lips were unusually pale at the moment.

A stout red and black serpent, apparently dead from its claws and sharp beak, lay on a fallen leaf not far away, apparently Miss Ranger's animal companion who launched a retaliatory attack containing anger after she was wounded.

Identifying and guarding against poisonous insects is the foundation of the Ranger course, as these humble little things are often the most threatening creatures in the forest. All large beasts have a certain amount of intelligence, and the elves who are protected by the goddess often do not take the initiative to attack, but those snakes and insects under the wisdom often launch a deadly counterattack once they are frightened. When moving in the forest, guarding against those places that may hide poisonous snakes is the common sense that every elf has been taught emphatically, because once bitten by a poisonous snake and unable to get timely treatment by divine magic, the end often means death! Although such accidents rarely occur in the forest, there are always some elves who are negligent in guarding against them and are injured by poisonous snakes every year. Goddess priests and druids are permanently stationed in all elven villages, so civilians are usually able to get timely treatment.

But this is a low-level and fatal mistake for the rangers who patrol alone in small teams on the border, which is dozens of kilometers away from the nearest elven village!!

Looking at the basket stacked with all kinds of mushrooms next to his partner, Eric couldn't help but ask in annoyance: "Why are you so careless!!"

“...... Didn't you say last time that dried mushrooms are more delicious for soup? I couldn't help but pick some more...... You see, there are a lot of black matsutake mushrooms in it. ”

Although Golia's face was still smiling, Eric understood that her situation at this time was definitely not optimistic, and now it was less than half an hourglass before Arya was bitten, but his partner had become pale, obviously the snake venom had already begun to attack early in the morning, and counting the general resistance of the elf physique to snake venom, Eric had only one conclusion at this time - Golia's poisoning was very deep, even if her physique had delayed the onset of some snake venom, but the next few hourglasses were the most dangerous time for her life!

"Where did you get bitten!?" Eric, who began to calm down, understood that from now on Golia's life was in a stage where every second counted, and if he didn't want his cheerful partner to never see the light shining on the earth from the other side of the horizon through the branches, he would have to make the most of all the knowledge and solutions he had learned about snake venom!

Only in this way can Miss Ranger, who has been deeply poisoned, have a slight chance of being saved.

Reluctantly raising his pale right hand, Eric helped his partner roll up his sleeve, revealing the obvious red mark on his forearm, and the Ranger Captain regretted why he didn't insist on acting with his partner this time! Although the elves' treatment of snake venom has always relied on the divine skills of the goddess, Eric, who had participated in militarization training in Andrari, has specially designed special measures to deal with all kinds of snake bites from His Highness Andrei! But now that so much time has passed since the toxin invaded the human body, it is very likely that the methods of His Highness Andre will no longer be effective!

"I'm sorry Captain...... You promised to invite me to Andrari for a big dinner after this inspection, but I was destined to miss the appointment......

Miss Ranger's delicate but pale face was imprinted in Eric's pupils, but it only made him feel extremely worried! If he could have mentioned His Highness's emergency measures in passing when he introduced Andrari's prosperity to his partner, then Gloria's situation would not have been so bad by saving himself...... No, you can't give up yet, even if so much time has passed since the poisoning, it doesn't mean that His Highness's methods have no effect at all, for the sake of the lives of his companions, any effort is worth it, even if it has little effect!

Eric slashed open the wound on her arm with a dagger in his surprised gaze, sucking the blood from the wound and spitting the saliva blood aside. After a few repetitions, Eric took out the camping rope from his backpack and tied it tightly to Arya's right arm near her shoulder.

Frustrated that he hadn't informed his partner of the emergency treatment he had learned from Andrare, knowing that it was too late to use physical means to eliminate the snake venom at this time, Eric was still doing his best to take responsibility for the lives of his teammates.

"Captain......

"You must make it through! as long as you get through, I will treat you to a lifetime dinner in Andrari!" Eric did not realize that there was some inappropriate element in his oath of urgency, and began to try to recall Andrew's various studies of snake venom and the possible methods that had not yet been confirmed to be effective......