Chapter 185

185 Blood to Verify Herself

(Jane’s PoV)

“Please, excuse our rudeness in interrupting your sleep. We just wish to visit a place inside.” I said to it politely.

After I said so, the air shifted again but this time the pressure had lessened by a lot. It was a sign for us that we could continue our travel.

“Thank you, Elder.” I bowed down a bit before I gestured for the two men to get going.

“Bless you, lad.” I heard a heavy voice in the forest, but I couldn’t see the form. Even so, it didn’t bother me.

I smiled, but didn’t say anything. Our travel went strangely smooth, nothing disturbed our way. Probably it was because of the Elder that we met before. The men from the army had been dismissed before we started walking, so there was no way it was because of us. I also had reminded the two hot-blooded men to control their power in case they attracted any unwanted disturbance.

We might not face any disturbance on our way, but it didn’t mean we saw nothing.

As for me, I saw many entities that I had never seen before. Their forms were not human like, rather, they looked like monsters in the movie. They looked scary, looking like villains and the underlings, preparing to besiege us. But, I didn’t feel any negative vibes from them. Instead, their presence calmed the forest. The already cold atmosphere didn’t feel uncomfortably cold, but it felt good-cold. Instead of feeling uneasy with my surrounding, I felt contentedly safe.

Even so, I didn’t let my guard down.

.....

We walked further and further into the forest. I really had no idea where this Hidden Village was, so I just walked aimlessly. Kind of fool, I know, but I really had no idea.

When the sun started to go down and created red and orange streaks on the blue sky, I started to question the words my father told me.

“Well...” I huffed, gasping for my breath. The thick oxygen mixed with the damp smell really made my lungs worked harder, but somehow I felt fresh. “Is the village still far ahead? Or should we turn left? Or right? Where do we go?” I asked as I turned my head to scan my surrounding.

“No idea.” Tom and Sanji shook their heads.

Great. We were three fools, going into the forest without knowing where to go.

“Well, let’s think about it. It’s a Hidden Village. Unless someone brings us in, I think we couldn’t get in no matter what. The thing is...my father did say that as long as it was his bloodline coming to this village, the village would show itself and accept the person.” I tried to remember what my father told me. Reviewing from the beginning might help when I was stuck in a place.

“But...” I looked at those two silent men who were listening to me attentively no matter how ridiculous the thing I said. “What if this village doesn’t recognize me? Should I announce that I’m Farid Harris’ one and only daughter? Is that even possible?”

“Well, those shadows recognized you on first glance, I doubt the whatever system this village has was any lesser than those shadows.” Sanji voiced out his opinion.

“Exactly.” I nodded at him, feeling proud that he could catch on what I meant to say.

“You don’t have to drip your blood to verify yourself, do you?” Tom suddenly expressed his inner thought. To be honest, I didn’t think that far.

Should I try it?

“I suggest you not to do it. It’s forest. Blood can attract any unwanted animals or things. It’s not as if we are going into an evil cult, right? There’s no need for you to shed some blood over it.” Sanji hastily denied that idea.

I frowned. That made sense. But, I really had no idea how and when we would get to the village.

“Let’s keep walking. If we can’t reach this village after the sun sets, we will camp for the last time here and return first thing in the morning tomorrow.” I told them.

“What about the creese, then?” Tom asked.

“Well, we will gather some information first before we enter the forest again. If my father really came here, there must be some people who know my father. He is such a chatterbox that I doubt he didn’t make friends here.” I said casually as I continued my steps.

“Are you even allowed to say that your father is a chatterbox?” Sanji chuckled.

“He is not here, is he? And it’s only between us. I doubt both of you will tell my father about this.” I smirked mischievously at them. “Also, I didn’t say it like it was a bad thing, so I refuse to feel guilty.” I laughed at my own stupid reason.

“Well, I didn’t hear anything.” Obviously, Tom was playing deaf. But from the way the corner of his lips curled up a bit, I was sure he really wanted to laugh.

“Don’t just save yourself!” Sanji slapped his shoulder in fake annoyance.

“What? What are you talking about?” Tom flinched and moved away from Sanji in a fake oblivious expression.

I laughed even harder seeing these two’s interaction. Their fake expressions were so obvious but they went with their bantering. It looked so funny, but I knew they purposely did that.

The atmosphere between us had just started to feel tense. It was hard to maintain our sanity after staying in the forest without any idea where our destination was. That’s why the joke was needed to help us relax our tense nerves.

The sun was leaning towards the West horizon quickly. I couldn’t see it in this dense forest, but at least I knew that the sky had started to darken. In less than thirty minutes, the sky would entirely darken up. We needed to find a place to set our tents before it became darker.

“Hm?” My eyes caught something not too far away from us. “I think I saw a clearing.”

“Let’s go! We need to hurry before it becomes dark.” Sanji hastened his steps, followed by Tom and me.

I did see a clearing. Therefore, I rushed forward to lead them to it. However, as I got closer to it, my steps flattered as amazement filled my mind.

Sanji and Tom were seeing what I was seeing and they, too, stopped in their tracks. We approached the clearing that I saw with eyes full of expectation. There was worry as well as fear inside, but there was also anticipation in our eyes.

However, as we got closer, I was stunned. Did we really find the right place?