Chapter 86: Can One Sing in Tune?

“Lord Keen, did you build all of this yourself?” Badi couldn’t help but feel his scalp tingle as he gazed at the densely packed arrow towers lining the city walls. He had witnessed the marvels of these towers firsthand: whenever a dangerous creature approached, they would automatically attack, while villagers freely wandered nearby without incident.

Though he couldn’t fathom how these wooden arrow towers, lacking visible mechanisms or operators, functioned, he chalked it up as another of Jia Zhengjin’s magical wonders.

“It took me an entire day—exhausting!” Jia Zhengjin said with a hint of pride. “But aside from the earliest ones, the rest are only Level 1 towers, so their attack power is fairly weak. Luckily, we have a whole month to upgrade them slowly. By the time the city guards arrive, they’ll be facing a formidable array of advanced arrow towers!”

“Kobold army, magical arrow towers, and the beasts of the Monster Forest—even if the city guards have priests supporting them, it’s nearly impossible for them to defeat us!” A fervent light shone in Badi’s eyes. “Lord Keen, you should be able to summon more wolf warriors, right?”

“Well... I can summon about one more wolfman with each full moon,” Jia Zhengjin replied.

“That’s more than enough!” Badi exclaimed, thrilled. “With Lord Wolf and now two wolfmen, we’re sure to win with all these defenses! The only thing left to consider is how to handle the lord’s personal guard, or even the king’s royal troops!”

“Your country’s people are truly something else—just a small conflict with a village chief can escalate into an all-out war with the entire nation. Honestly, I’m speechless,” Jia Zhengjin sighed. “All I want is to settle in this forest and enjoy my games. Going to war is such a hassle.”

As he spoke, the sound of kobold howling drifted over—the hunting party must be returning.

They had set out early in the morning, so they should have brought back plenty of prey by now.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, a strange voice called out in the foreign tongue, shouting, “Help! Save me!”

“Hm?” Both Jia Zhengjin and Badi turned, puzzled.

The kobold soldiers had brought back not only various wild creatures but also a young man, bound with ropes.

The youth’s long, fiery-red hair draped over his shoulders. He wore a silver-white circlet on his head and a loose robe embroidered with odd patterns. He was the one now calling for help, slung over the kobold’s shoulder.

“I sent you hunting, not to bring back people!” Jia Zhengjin scolded, pointing at the kobolds in exasperation. “Let him down, now! I have no interest in eating human flesh!”

With a thud, the red-haired youth was dropped to the ground, and the kobold soldiers quickly retreated.

Seeing how the kobolds obeyed Jia Zhengjin, the red-haired youth stopped shouting and instead looked up anxiously at him. “Sir… sir…”

“This is Lord Keen, our leader,” Badi reminded him.

“So, you are Lord Keen! All praise to you!” The young man looked up at him. “Could you untie me first, please? And might I ask where I am?”

“Badi,” Jia Zhengjin said, glancing at him.

Badi immediately stepped forward, drew his ornate sword, and sliced through the ropes binding the youth.

“Thank you! Thank you, Lord Keen!” The red-haired youth breathed a sigh of relief and cast a fearful glance at the fierce-looking kobold soldiers. “They…”

“Don’t worry, they’re under my command,” Jia Zhengjin said. “This is Monster Forest. Don’t you even know where you are?”

“Oh!” The red-haired youth clapped his hands in realization. “So this is the fabled dangerous borderland of the Empire of Xiongfeng—Monster Forest! No wonder the journey here was so perilous.”

“You’re not from Xiongfeng?” Jia Zhengjin asked. “Then how do you speak the language of this country?”

“Lord Keen, allow me to introduce myself!” The youth gave his left hand a flick, and an instrument resembling a guitar, but strung with strange threads, appeared out of thin air.

“Spatial magic?” Badi exclaimed, but then shook his head. “No, it’s not quite like Lord Keen’s spatial magic… Ah, I see! He’s wearing a spatial ring!”

“Spatial ring?” Jia Zhengjin glanced at the youth’s left hand, and sure enough, a finely wrought ring adorned his pinky.

The red-haired youth smiled, slung the ‘guitar’ over his left shoulder, and gently plucked the strings with his right forefinger, singing in a gentle, melodious tone:

“In the land covered by snow and ice,
Lives a people who cherish song,
With sweet music, friendships are born,
We are all children of Aipar.
The wandering bard Qiqi Lisimo,
By chance met kobolds in Monster Forest,
Bound in ropes, brought to the city,
Praise to the greatest Keen!
Qiqi Lisimo’s stomach is empty,
His body and spirit are weary,
O mighty Keen, master of this place,
Will you welcome a friend with kindness?”

“Oh, well sung!” Jia Zhengjin applauded. It was his first time hearing a song from another world. Though the melody hardly fluctuated, it was still quite pleasant to the ear. He clapped enthusiastically and took the bard’s hand. “Brother, do you know any other songs?”

“I am known as a walking library of music—I can sing countless songs. Among my people, I am called ‘Song King Qiqi’!” The red-haired youth smiled. “As for this spatial ring, it was a gift from Grand Magus Paridi, after I sang a song that helped him break through in his cultivation last year—a token of our friendship!”

“Do you know the song ‘Two Tigers’?” Jia Zhengjin, uninterested in the ring, asked Qiqi with a mischievous grin.

“‘Two Tigers’? What’s that?” Qiqi Lisimo blinked, looking puzzled.

“And you call yourself a walking library of music! Don’t even know a simple children’s song like ‘Two Tigers’.” Jia Zhengjin gave him a look of mock disdain. “I’ll sing it for you—let’s see if you can learn it. If you can, I’ll treat you well. If not… I’ll still treat you well, haha!”

“Alright!” Qiqi nodded.

“Listen carefully!” Jia Zhengjin took a deep breath and, smiling, sang in Chinese, “Two tigers, two tigers, so shameless! So shameless! One isn’t wearing clothes, one isn’t wearing underwear, running everywhere, running everywhere…”

Badi: “…”

Qiqi: “…”

“What’s wrong? Go on, sing!” Jia Zhengjin encouraged him with a laugh.

Qiqi hesitated. “Lord Keen, what language is this song?”

“Don’t worry about that—just sing it!”

“Alright! Two old monkeys, two old monkeys, catch chickens! Catch chickens! One not creative, one not crying, running hair! Running hair…”

To be honest, Qiqi’s rendition was already quite close, though the meaning was all jumbled.

“Brother, can’t you even sing it correctly?” Jia Zhengjin teased him, barely suppressing his laughter.