The Silly Alchemist

“...What’s the hurry, no one will take your precious rabbit... Wait, you! Get that rabbit! I don’t want this kid taking our points!” Zhao Yarou suddenly remembered she was in a separate team. If Ye Lang killed it on his own, she wouldn’t get any points!

Although Zhao Yarou was just participating for fun, she didn’t want Ye Lang to earn points for nothing either.

“Zhao Yarou, I saw that rabbit first, don’t you dare take my rabbit! Or I’ll inform the organisers and you’ll be chased out!” Ye Lang yelled her name out of habit.

Then again, no one really cared, especially not Zhao Yarou. With a smile, she said, “So what if I take your rabbit? Call them then, I’ll see who dares chase me out!”

“...”

It was true. Which person from the Soaring Sky Empire dared chase Zhao Yarou out of the forest? That could be tried as treason!

“You’re an awful empress, bullying innocent commoners,” scoffed Ye Lang.

“...”

This fox kid was growing braver by the second, no one could believe he would call her an awful empress. Did he really think she wouldn’t kill him in a rage?

“I’m not awful, and you’re not innocent,” said Zhao Yarou.

“I am, I am a good person.” Ye Lang was very serious. However, to the rest, he sounded very shameless and sarcastic. This kid had been nothing but rude to the empress!

“You’re not from the Soaring Sky Empire,” said Zhao Yarou, not commenting on the ‘good person’ bit. The only thing important was that he did not belong to Soaring Sky.

“If I was, you would bully me just because you can?” said Ye Lang, drawing his bow.

“No, I won’t bully you, I’ll just lock you up.”

“Fuck, isn’t that the same.” Ye Lang released an arrow. The rabbit caught the arrow between its teeth and was now glaring furiously at him.

“What’re you looking at me like that for? I’ll kill you with my Nine Shooting Stars.” Ye Lang shot nine arrows in the blink of an eye. This time, he did not wait, every arrow flying directly at the rabbit.

The consecutive arrows came as quick as gushing water, flying at the Feral Rabbit. It collapsed unwillingly to the ground, feeling incredibly dissatisfied at the fact that it did not get a chance to show off what it could do before it died.

“That was great!”

Everyone present complimented his archery skills including Zhao Yarou.

They could tell this shot did not involve any douqi at all, just muscle strength. To be able to kill a level 9 magical beast like this was impressive.

However, they believed it would not be as easy to kill a human without douqi. The person would just dodge the arrows.

“It’s nothing,” said Ye Lang with a grin. He skinned and prepped the rabbit in a swift motion, then searched for a spot to start a fire.

“What are you doing?” asked Zhao Yarou.

“Rest? It’s almost time. Your Majesty, you should go ahead without me, I won’t be seeing you off,” he said, still smiling.

Looks like you can’t wait for me to leave, huh? Then I’ll stay just because you want me to go!

“Everyone, let’s rest here,” commanded Zhao Yarou as she sat down next to Ye Lang.

“Zhao Yarou, you’re so weird today.”

“I’m weird today? Have we met before?” she asked, looking at him.

“I’ve seen you a few times. You’re the empress, of course I’ve seen you before. Everyone says you’re psychotic but today, I think that was a compliment,” said Ye Lang.

“Are you saying I’m not JUST psychotic? That I’m the craziest of the craziest?” asked Zhao Yarou, staring at the freshly started fire.

“I’m not denying that.” Ye Lang did not feel like lying.

“I was forced to be like this because of all of you...” Zhao Yarou’s voice became faraway and empty, as if no one could understand her.

This was an emotion she had never shown to anyone. However, everyone present had already developed immunity towards this for they’d seen her do many surprising things today.

“You forge your own path, who has the power to force you down a path you don’t want to take?” he asked mildly.

“Yes, even if I was forced to, this was also a path I chose for myself. I do not regret it.” Zhao Yarou’s words were thought-provoking, though no one was sure what she was referring to.

“Then let’s hope you’ll be able to continue with this path. You don’t have the right to say you’ll be a good sister, or a good daughter anymore but you still can be a good empress.” Ye Lang had his eyes on the rabbit roasting on the fire, it sounded as if he wasn’t even concentrating on the conversation.

“Will you support me if I become a good empress?” she looked at him, waiting for an answer.

“Me?” Ye Lang was stunned for a moment, then asked immediately, “Is it that important what I think? I’m just an outsider.”

“What if I said it’s important?” asked Zhao Yarou.

“Then my answer would be no, I will not support you. This is just a value, a principle I uphold,” said Ye Lang very honestly.

A principle he upheld? Was it because he wasn’t a citizen of the Soaring Sky Empire? Everyone, including Li Yue, thought it must be.

“I knew it. You wait and see, I’ll show you how dumb you are,” said Zhao Yarou, still looking at him.

“Yay, it’s ready!” Ye Lang did not continue the conversation, slicing a piece of cooked rabbit with his dagger. He started to eat.

“I hope you choke!” cursed Zhao Yarou. The plain childishness in this one act left everyone stunned.

“Li Yue, have some rabbit!” Ye Lang gave her a thigh.

“Are you going to say it’s so my legs have strength again?” huffed Li Yue, knowing why he gave her the piece of meat.

“Yeah.” He nodded, with no intention to deny this.

“Let me tell you, I’m like this right now all because of you. If you abandon me, I’ll kill you with my sword.” Li Yue looked at him while brandishing her sword.

“Great weather today, I don’t think it’ll rain tonight.” Ye Lang changed the topic so suddenly it was obvious he was changing the conversation topic.

“...”

That night, Ye Lang slept out in the open while Zhao Yarou and the rest slept in their tents. As the empress, she obviously came prepared and Li Yue had the fortune of being summoned to spend the night in one.

Ye Lang really wanted to go meet Coldblood Five but he knew the current circumstances would not allow it. There were just too many people around. All he could do was talk to her through secret messages again.