"Movo upano mita! (Meat gathered!)"
Led by a Mitachurl, two Hilichurl Fighters and a Hydro Samachurl returned to their encampment, carrying a bountiful harvest of fowl.
"Odomu! (Friend!)"
However, upon seeing the Hilichurl Shooter lying on the lookout tower, the Mitachurl immediately went on high alert and unslung the massive stone axe from his back.
Though the craftsmanship of this stone axe was crude, getting hit by it caused extraordinary pain.
Even within the Knights of Favonius in Mondstadt, there were those who could not stand against it.
"Yaika! (Enemy!)"
The Hilichurl Fighters behind him also went on alert instantly, drawing their wooden clubs. They aggressively lit their torches and charged into the camp behind the Mitachurl.
Only the Samachurl, muttering strange tunes that even ordinary Hilichurls couldn't understand, huffed and puffed as he dragged his rickety old legs to follow them inside.
Inside the camp, the comrades who had stayed behind were lying in a heap, strewn all over the place.
However, they didn't appear dead; it looked more like they had fainted. A few were still groaning in pain.
"Odomu! (Friend!)"
The Mitachurl approached a comrade who was still somewhat conscious and lifted him up.
It was evident that this Mitachurl was furious. If he found out who had hurt his partners, he would absolutely not let them off.
Unexpectedly, the barely conscious Hilichurl didn't speak. Instead, he tremblingly raised his hand and pointed at the water jar not far away.
"Dala? (What?)"
The Mitachurl looked at the water jar and immediately understood: his partner wanted water.
So, he looked at the Hilichurl Fighter beside him.
The Fighter was quite clever; he fished a chipped wooden bowl out from his tattered leather skirt, trotted eager over to the water jar, scooped up a bowl of water, and brought it back.
But he didn't notice the flocculent matter floating in the water, looking just like the pulp of some fruit.
"Odomu!"
The Mitachurl took the bowl and handed it directly to his comrade, who couldn't even lift his arms.
But looking at the bowl of water, his comrade didn't drink it with gratitude. Instead, his eyes were filled with resistance.
As if... the water was deadly poison.
With the Mitachurl's intellect, he naturally couldn't understand his comrade's meaning. He thought his partner simply lacked the strength to drink.
So, out of the kindness of his heart, he lifted the bowl, pried open the other's mouth, and poured the entire bowl of water down his throat.
Halfway through the bowl, the poor Hilichurl rolled his eyes back and lost consciousness.
"Todo, todo. (Rest easy/Leave it to me.)"
Seeing his comrade "fall asleep," the Mitachurl finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He looked at the Hilichurls who had gone hunting with him and signaled them to prepare dinner.
As for these unconscious comrades, he would naturally carry them into the huts himself.
As the most muscular existence in the tribe, manual labor suited him best.
However, just as the Hilichurls carried the fowl to the bonfire, they let out a series of strange cries.
Startled, the Mitachurl thought the attacker hadn't left yet. He hurriedly grabbed the stone axe he had set aside and ran over.
But when he arrived, the scene before him nearly made him black out.
Their cooking pot, milk, fruits, vegetables, firewood, and other items had all vanished.
Only a small bowl of milk was left, sitting lonely on the ground.
Even the stove they had built was gone. The bare ground bore only a trail of human footprints.
"ROAR—"
With bloodshot eyes, he let out a furious roar toward the sky. The desolate sound even caused the soldiers at Kujou Encampment to turn their heads.
What's wrong with those Hilichurls? Screaming like they just got sodomized.
However, the soldiers didn't have time to worry about Hilichurl matters. A major incident had occurred in the barracks today: many people had become very strange after drinking the camp's water.
Even the newly arrived General Kujou had fallen victim to it.
Upon investigation, it turned out there was a problem with the water source.
For some unknown reason, the water fetched by the mess squad was terrifyingly sour. Especially the water containing fruit pulp—a single sip was enough to make one lose their reason.
The new General Kujou was already handling the matter, and no one knew if they'd get a hot meal tonight.
...
Casually stuffing the firewood at hand under the pot, Bai Luo smelled the aroma of the fish soup inside.
Mmm, delicious.
"My Lord, this little one is fine. It feels more like she's fallen asleep."
Tatyana had already checked Sayu's physical condition and incidentally removed her mujina outfit, hanging it by the fire to dry.
Otherwise, wearing wet clothes might make her sick, illuminated by the firelight, she looked like a tanuki that had been caught and placed by the fire to roast.
Tatyana didn't understand why the Lord Harbinger wanted to keep such a little thing with them.
If she remembered correctly, this creature called a "ninja" belonged to Inazuma's intelligence organization. Wasn't this openly delivering intelligence to the Inazumans?
But the other party was her superior, after all, so she could only obey his arrangements.
Lord Instructor must have a profound meaning for doing this.
At least so far, every step this Lord Harbinger seemingly took at random had never gone wrong.
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."
He knew perfectly well how Sayu had ended up "broken."
Compared to other fruits, his Sunsettias were indeed a tadbit sour, but not enough to kill anyone.
So far, aside from Guoba, who swallowed a whole Sunsettia in one bite, and Beisht, who got the juice squeezed into her eyes, no human lives had been lost.
It's just a Sunsettia, what's there to be afraid of?
"Fish soup is ready!"
Pouring the fish soup from the pot into a prepared ceramic basin, Bai Luo looked at the large jar Tatyana had carried back.
The jar was full of fresh milk collected by the Hilichurls.
On the principle of "since we're here," he decided to take some.
So he scooped out one bowl to leave behind and had Tatyana carry the rest back, jar and all.
But after carrying it back, he regretted it. It seemed the two of them couldn't drink this much.
Most importantly, this stuff wouldn't keep. Leave it too long, and it might turn into "sour milk" (yogurt).
If worse came to worst, he'd just have to feed it to Sayu. She drank quite a bit of water by the stream today, so her stomach capacity seemed decent.
She's a kid, after all. Just trick her by saying drinking more milk makes you grow taller, and she probably won't mind where the milk came from.
Seeing Tatyana still tending to Sayu, Bai Luo took out three brand-new ceramic bowls and served the soup.
After serving, he happily picked up a bowl, sat on a small stool nearby, and started eating.
First, a sip of soup.
Mmm~ Delicious.
Then a bite of wild vegetables.
Tastes good. The Hilichurls have decent taste.
Finally, the fish...
Just one chew, and Bai Luo's expression stiffened.
Only then did he remember where these fish came from.
It seemed they were... thoroughly marinated.
"Forget it, let's give the benefit to Sayu. After all, she's a growing child."
After dumping all the small fish from his bowl into Sayu's bowl, Bai Luo sat back down on his small stool.
He looked at the vegetable leaves and fish soup in his own bowl, then at the mountain of fish meat in Sayu's bowl.
"I really am a great person."
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