In Nash's mind, the Pharaoh was definitely not a good person.

"Look over there! The Yaren women are gathering herbs!"

They saw the women working hard.

"The allied forces' raid destroyed most of the herbs, which are their primary source of income."

"Wait..." Felix suddenly rubbed his eyes in disbelief. "Am I seeing things, or is that someone familiar among the Yaren women?"

Nash immediately recognized Nina in the midst of the women. She had managed to fit in quickly, even chatting happily with them.

Most of these women hadn't received any formal education and spoke their native Yaren language. The younger ones could speak a bit of the common language. Nina seemed to be able to communicate with them quite well. Nash glanced at Felix. "You're not seeing things."

Felix was shocked. "What? Ma'am followed us all the way to the Yaren territory!"

Nash pressed his lips together and corrected him, "From now on, call her Miss Nina."

"Understood, Captain," Felix replied.

Despite his words, Nash added, "The mountain path is rough. We'll escort them down later."

"Got it."

Nina had dug up a herb that, if dried, could fetch a few hundred bucks in their market. However, the price they could get here was much lower, and the herbs were hard to replace. She placed the herb in her basket.

"Nina, hurry up! I'm digging up bamboo shoots! This one is huge and needs some help. If we get it out, I can cook wild boar with bamboo shoots for you tonight!" Arin called out excitedly. Wild boar meat was precious and often preserved like cured meat. "Coming!" Nina shook the dirt off her herbs and put them in the basket before heading over to Arin.

When she reached Arin, she was surprised to see the size of the bamboo shoot.

"Are all your bamboo shoots this big?" It was as thick as a python.

"Not all, but this one's pretty big. Let's pull it out together!" Arin replied.

"Why not use the hoe to dig it out?" Nina asked, readying the tool.

"No, you'll break the most tender part if you dig too deep," Arin explained while loosening the soil around the shoot. "There's a technique to it."

"Got it. This one shoot could be a whole meal," Arin said, her eyes shining at the prospect of wild boar.

Nina followed her lead, and they both pulled together.

"One, two, three!" they counted in unison.

"One, two, three!" they tried again.

Nina stood behind Arin, but their combined strength still wasn't enough. The shoot was loosening, but it wasn't coming out quickly enough. Determined to speed things up, Nina used all her strength. "It's coming out!" Arin cheered.

But Nina pulled too hard and lost her balance, falling backward.

Oh no!

Suddenly, strong hands caught her around the waist, pulling her, bamboo shoot and all, into a firm embrace.

She was momentarily stunned and found herself looking into Nash's eyes. His expression was stern, but his gaze was steady and strong.

"You okay?" he asked.

Nina, flustered, quickly stepped out of his arms. "I'm fine!"

Nash helped her steady herself, immediately noticing her soaked pant legs. "Your pants are wet."

Tip: You can use left, right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.Tap the middle of the screen to reveal Reading Options.

If you replace any errors (non-standard content, ads redirect, broken links, etc..), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report