After a long time of complete darkness, the rain finally stopped, and the woods fell silent. Fern was glad that the rain had stopped before they went to bed, otherwise the sound of the rain would have been a great danger to them, as it would have disturbed the night watchman's hearing. Most of the wet clothes had been baked and dried, and the most important thing was that the heavy cloaks of the four people were almost dry, and although they were still a little damp to the touch, they could at least sleep with them covered. The night would not have been good without the cloak, and this unusual spring was even colder than the winter that had already passed, and Fern even felt that winter had not yet passed.

That night, except for Quiai, the other three took turns keeping vigil. The vigil in Dayton was much easier than in Sarah, there were no hordes of dark tides, there were no beasts in the woods closer to the road, and the mages were unlikely to search the woods at night, the only thing they had to watch out for was a handful of demons.

Enoch insisted on his own second shift, and the result of being caught in the middle was that he could not sleep for a relatively long time, but the warrior took on the drudgery. When he and Fern were changing shifts, Fern chatted with him for a while, and drank some wine along the way.

"In Doyle, even women have to do the same work as men? I mean, vigils, scouting, or something. Fern glanced at Miruria, who was sleeping soundly, and suddenly felt that she was pitiful compared to the girls of the South.

"You're sympathizing with Miruria, but there's no need for it. Enoch hadn't fully woken up yet, and slowly drank to relieve his fatigue. "In Doyle, no, not only Doyle, but also Sara and Altoona, women have long been accustomed to doing the same work as men, the only difference is that some of the hard work still has to be done by men, but like the vigil, it is usually genderless. ”

"But you have to know that there is still a difference between women and men, and it is still not suitable for women to do such drudgery as vigils. Fern tried to convince the warrior to change his mind.

Enoch laughed. "It's useless for you to persuade me, you have to persuade Miruria, I don't think she'll listen to you, and besides, you'd better not tell her about it, for to her you're belittling her, and she'll not be grateful to you, but will be angry with you. ”

"It seems that I was thinking too simply. Fern patted the warrior on the shoulder and stood up. "I'm going to rest, be careful. ”

Enoch nodded, drank the last bit of wine from the bottle, and climbed a poplar tree, alertly watching the movements.

The next day the weather was better, the sun shone through the branches of the trees, and the chirping of all kinds of birds in the woods, and Queai was awakened by the sound and rubbed his eyes and sat up. Fern and Enoch were still asleep, and the night watchmen never slept enough, and no amount of loud birdsong could wake them. Miruria was practicing archery not far away, and she practiced it in a similar way to Quiai, carving circles into the trunk of a tree and shooting her bow and arrows into the circle as much as she could. Quiai stood up and walked over to the scout.

Miruria glanced at the mage, a hint of pride flashing in her eyes, and continued practicing. As a Tempe, Quiai was already much better than the girls further south in terms of fighting skills, but in Miruria's eyes, all women from non-frontier countries were the same, weak and vulnerable.

Queai saw what was going on and decided to give her some color. "Would you like to give it a try?" saw Miruria look at her puzzled. "I mean archery. ”

The scout lowered his bow and looked at the mage with his chin slightly raised. "How do you compare?"

"It's very simple, I'll carve two smaller circles in that circle, and then shoot three arrows each, whichever is closer to the innermost circle, and whoever is closer wins. Quiai pulled the dagger from his belt and pointed at the trunk.

Miruria looked at the mage in disbelief, but didn't refuse. "Well, I'm not going to give in just because you're a mage. ”

"That's exactly what I want. Queai smiled and walked over to the trunk.

The circles have been drawn, and with the addition of the large circle that existed before, there are now three circles nested on the trunk. Miruria looked at the trunk of the tree, not taking Quiai into the slightest. "Do you want to come first? or am I going first?"

"You go first. Quiai smiled, not nervous at all.

Miruria skillfully took three arrows from the quiver at her waist, thrust two of them into the earth, and then lifted the remaining one on the short bow. The scout only looked at it for a moment, and the bow and arrow flew out with a whizz, nailing exactly into the second circle of the trunk. Without the slightest pause, the scout quickly drew his bow and arrows from the ground, and shot them all neatly at the trunk of the tree. Three arrows were fired, and the nearest one was almost half an inch away from the smallest circle. The scout shook his head, seemingly unhappy with his results.

Quiai had retrieved his bow and arrows from his horse, and carried his quiver behind him, the mage's bow and arrows had a pale blue tail feather, which was well distinguished from the scout's white tail feathers. The mage was not in such a hurry as the scout, but slowly took out the bow and arrow from his back, placed it on the bow, and slowly aimed at the trunk of the tree. The sound of the bowstring sounded, and the bow stopped in the second circle, only two inches away from the scout's innermost arrow. Miruria's eyes widened unconsciously, she would never have imagined that a mage's archery skills could be equal to hers.

Quiai quietly took out the second one, still carefully aiming, and the bowstring sounded again, this time, the pale blue tail feathers almost attached to the scout's arrow, but unfortunately only on the periphery. Miruria became nervous, and she watched worriedly as the mage took out her third arrow and aimed it meticulously, already thinking about what she would do if she lost the match.

The bowstring rang out, along with the cry of Queai, and the last arrow was so mistaken that it almost missed the trunk of the tree, and was nailed above the top of the three circles. The mage sighed, dejectedly took off the quiver, put it in his hand, and walked towards the trunk. "I lost. ”

Miruria figured out the situation, and she stopped Quiai, and the mage turned his head and waited. "Thank you, Quiai. Miruria's words of thanks came from the heart, and Queai smiled back with a friendly smile, and the distance between the two disappeared in an instant.

Fern woke up groggy and raised his eyebrows at the two girls who were making breakfast not far away, and the mercenary nudged Enoch, who clenched his sword in alarm.

"Is there a situation?" the warrior kept blinking, trying to come to his senses quickly.

Fern shook his head and pointed in the girl's direction. The warrior looked in the direction of the mercenary's finger and was speechless in surprise. I saw that Queai and Miluria were like sisters, talking and laughing and preparing breakfast, and the scout, who had not been smiling before, seemed to be a different person at the moment.

"I've never seen her like this. Enoch rubbed his eyes, unable to believe that the person in front of him was Miruria.

"I told you earlier, you should realize that she's a girl. Fern smiled and stood up. "Let's go over and see what they have made. ”

Enoch followed Ferne, still muttering, "She even makes breakfast, will it be delicious?"

But by the time the two men had approached a dozen paces from them, Miruria had already returned to her usual appearance, and sat down uninhibitedly, watching Queai busy.

Enoch didn't dare to ask, but sat on the sidelines and watched silently. Fern didn't have so many taboos, and quipped to the scout, "Why did you change back when you saw us coming?"

Miruria ignored the mercenary and stared at Quiai with a slightly embarrassed expression, and Fern had no choice but to give up and sit down next to the warrior. "Women are strange creatures, we should never guess it. ”

Enoch looked at the scout thoughtfully, and whispered his feelings, "So I've never tried to do this, and even tried to avoid it even closely. ”

"That's not going to work. Fern held up the bottle again. "Even if you get hurt, you should try it and maybe you'll find out how cute they are. ”

The warrior shrugged his shoulders indifferently and began to drink.