At night, Dan Feng and the other two found a relatively open spot to rest for the evening.
Dan Feng started a campfire and continued roasting the leftover pork from earlier in the day.
"Ahh, traveling like this is actually quite pleasant," the bard said with a sigh of admiration as she looked at the scene before her. She then placed her hands on the strings of her instrument and began to play.
Along the way, the bard had bombarded them with questions, but Dan Feng rarely responded to her, and Roxy Migurdia only answered when she had no choice.
Roxy Migurdia had told the bard her own story, and then recounted the events she had experienced together with Dan Feng.
The conversation had gone something like this:
"Little Roxy, are you a demon? Did you come from Rikarisu Town?"
"Little Roxy is actually an A-rank adventurer? That's amazing!"
"So, Little Roxy and Mr. Dan Feng—are you two lovers?"
Roxy Migurdia's head was spinning from so many questions. She finally shouted loudly, "No!"
After Roxy Migurdia shouted that, the bard indeed stopped asking questions. Having learned everything she wanted to know about Roxy Migurdia and Dan Feng, she began composing lyrics and melody in her mind.
It was only just now that she had finally finished writing the poem.
"In the small heart of the young girl lies boundless hope, yearning to fly free from her homeland~"
"She meets three young adventurers~"
"At just twelve years old, she has already become an A-rank adventurer~"
"Hey, hey, isn't that a bit exaggerated?" Roxy Migurdia immediately interrupted upon hearing this.
"Little Roxy, interrupting a bard during her poetry time is very impolite, you know~" The bard showed no anger at being interrupted. On the contrary, she looked extremely pleased with herself.
She seemed extraordinarily satisfied with the piece she had just created.
Once Dan Feng finished preparing the meat, the three of them began eating dinner.
After dinner, they discussed and decided that Dan Feng would take the first half of the night watch, and Roxy Migurdia would take the second half.
This time, rustling sounds came from the bushes again. Three men emerged from within.
"There are actually people here! Perfect!" The man with shifty, rat-like eyes said as he looked at Dan Feng and the others.
"We were chased here by monsters! Please let us stay for a while!"
"Yeah, please help us out!"
The three men pleaded desperately with Dan Feng and the others, as though their lives were entirely in their hands.
However, regardless of whether Dan Feng and the others agreed or not, the three men shamelessly plopped down right beside the campfire, acting as if the place belonged to them.
Dan Feng's brows furrowed tightly. His gaze remained fixed on the shifty-eyed man.
That man's eyes were like they were magnetically drawn—they never once left the bard.
Dan Feng's suspicions grew deeper and deeper. He couldn't help but become wary of these three men who had suddenly appeared.
It was already so late at night, yet they had managed to approach so quietly despite supposedly being chased by monsters. And that greedy look in their eyes made Dan Feng feel that these three were absolutely not good people.
Dan Feng thought to himself: these three factors combined made the men appear even more suspicious.
"We don't welcome you here," Dan Feng finally stood up. His voice was ice-cold, devoid of any emotion.
His calm, unruffled face gave off an intangible sense of oppression that made it impossible to ignore his words.
However, the three men seemed completely unfazed by Dan Feng's cold attitude. They continued talking among themselves, but their hands slowly moved toward the hilts of the knives at their waists.
Seeing this, the bard revealed a confident smile. She lifted her instrument and began to play.
"The shifty-eyed Treasure Bandits will be instantly crushed by the righteous duo~" As the bard's song rang out, Dan Feng and Roxy Migurdia finally understood who these three were.
They were members of the infamous Treasure Bandits active in this region—exactly the same kind of people as the group they had encountered on the Millis Continent.
And this bard had clearly seen portraits of these three on the request board at the Adventurers' Guild, which was why she remained so calm.
"Woman, you're in such a hurry to expose us? Just wait to be taken down by us." The shifty-eyed man was the first to draw his knife—but how could their speed possibly outpace magic?
In an instant, Roxy Migurdia unhesitatingly unleashed a powerful Ice Lance Blizzard.
The might of this upper-rank water magic was immense. The three men, completely unprepared, had no way to resist.
In the blink of an eye, they were swallowed by the violent ice lances and blizzard, their bodies rapidly frozen into ice sculptures.
Roxy Migurdia had not instantly killed the three of them. Whether to finish them off or not would depend on what Dan Feng decided.
That was what Roxy Migurdia thought. Because of Dan Feng's presence, she had gradually and unconsciously begun to rely on him, wanting to hear his opinion on everything.
However, Dan Feng beside her seemed to have a different idea.
"Dan Feng, are you planning to kill them directly?" Roxy Migurdia turned to look at Dan Feng. The staff in her hand still emitted a blue-white glow.
Dan Feng stared expressionlessly at the three people who had already been frozen into ice sculptures and slowly raised his hand, as though considering something.
"Do you three have anything left to say?" Dan Feng asked without expression, but the three frozen men obviously could not respond. They could only glare at him with eyes full of defiance.
Seeing this, Dan Feng decided to increase his mana output. He cast an even more powerful earthen fortress spell, tightly encasing the three ice sculptures. Just before it fully closed, Dan Feng tossed in a burning wooden stick from the campfire.
"Wow, Dan Feng, you look so handsome, yet you can be this ruthless?" The bard, who had witnessed Dan Feng's actions, couldn't help saying in surprise.
"The Treasure Bandits have done enough things for money to deserve death several times over. Killing them directly would actually be letting them off easy."
"That's true," the bard agreed with Dan Feng's words.
On the request board, these three were wanted for one Asura gold coin each. Their crimes were too numerous to count—child trafficking, arson, murder, robbery—they had done it all.
"We should leave this place quickly. It's too ominous," Dan Feng said as he picked up his backpack.
Roxy Migurdia and the bard both strongly agreed, so the three of them set off again in the middle of the night.
"Etrill, are there a lot of Treasure Bandits like this on the Central Continent?" Roxy Migurdia asked the bard, who had spent much more time on the Central Continent. (As for the name, Roxy Migurdia had asked her earlier in the day.)
"Lots of them, especially in the Conflict Zone~" The bard thought for a moment before giving her answer.
"But near the kingdoms themselves, there aren't many. Places like the Asura Kingdom and the Ranoa Kingdom are pretty rare for them."
Only after the three of them had traveled far from the previous spot did they stop to continue resting.
This time, no Treasure Bandits came to disturb their rest.