Chapter 162 — Dust Settles

In an instant she understood what had happened. Tom had said he was going to look for mushrooms, but he must have secretly taken the bow and slipped off, meaning to risk a hunt deep in the woods. He had bagged no game, nor been eaten by the hungry beasts of the forest—instead he had landed in a far worse predicament. That reckless fool had attacked the lord's knight and soldiers with his bow!

The world swam before Joan's eyes; her body went limp and she was about to collapse, giving Light, who had just finished treating her, a terrible fright: "By the Holy Light! Surely my healing art hasn't gone wrong?!"

The young man at the forest's edge had also caught sight of his sister, and of the state of the camp inside and out. He still had no idea what had happened here, so he cried out: "Sister?! What's going on here?!"

"You two know each other?" Gao Yang waved a hand, signaling Philip Qian to let the scrawny young man come over. "Why did he attack my men?"

"Tom! You've landed yourself in terrible trouble!" Joan seized Tom's arm, squeezing so hard she nearly tore the flesh from his bone. "You attacked the lord's soldiers!"

"I... I thought they were bandits..." Tom's face was a mask of terror. "I heard them talking about how to deal with the bodies..."

Gao Yang's mouth twitched; he had more or less grasped the situation.

"Then it seems this was a misunderstanding," he said, glancing at the confiscated hunting bow. A crude weapon of that quality could only be used against beasts in the woods; against Cecil's enchanted-armored combat troops or a knight like Philip, it was not even a toy. "Philip, who was attacked?"

One of the arcane infantrymen stepped forward: "Reporting, my lord—it was me, but I'm fine!"

"My lord, this does appear to be a misunderstanding," Philip offered of his own accord. "A knight ought to be lenient. I think there's no need to hold this young man overly to account—so long as he remembers the lesson and doesn't act so rashly again."

Gao Yang was liking Philip more and more—this habit of picking up the thread, playing along, and offering a way out, all without ever realizing he was doing it...

"Since it was a misunderstanding, I won't punish you severely. But you did attack someone unprovoked, so some appropriate punishment is still in order," Gao Yang said, looking at the red-nosed young man. He noticed that at these words, the young man and his sister both flinched at once, their faces tight with dread—clearly they knew well what "appropriate punishment" meant from a noble's mouth. But on Gao Yang's side, so-called appropriate punishment really did mean nothing more than appropriate punishment. "You'll work to make up for your error... Tell me, can you and your sister find other refugee settlements?"

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