Chapter Eighty Visitation

  More than a month later, on a clear morning, over a hundred miles away from the Fire Fortress, the vast gray highland was covered with several layers of thick snow, becoming a snowy land. At a fork in the road, two young men wearing black cotton robes were riding horses and talking about something.

  "Are you sure you want to go now, or should we wait until after the Beast God Festival? I'll go with you then." A brown-haired Earth Bomber with a puzzled expression looked at the golden-haired Golden Bomber in front of him.

  "It's okay, I just want to take a look before the Beast God Festival, you go back first, Di Geng. There are only two days left until the Beast God Festival, and your home is not close from here either." Huang Jinbi covered his mouth with his sleeve and let out a warm breath, warming up his frozen hands despite wearing gloves.

  This kind of weather makes no one willing to go out for a trip, but these two seem not to mind this weather at all. On the contrary, there is a hint of joy in their eyes, especially the excitement in the eyes of that big land is quite strong.

  "Alright, tenth day after the Beast God Festival, I'll be waiting for you outside the Earthfire Fortress." The ground was firmer than Mong's unshakeable will, and that was a compromise.

  "Be careful on your way." Huang Jinbi responded with a sentence, then urged the horse under him to move forward along a fork in the road towards the north. The other Da Di Huang also rode his horse silently towards the west.

  These two young men were Liu Yu and Di Geng. More than a month ago, Liu Yu received an order from the Military Affairs Department of the Beastman Kingdom, which was conveyed by his battalion commander, allowing him and Di Geng, as well as four other officers and soldiers, to take a month's leave to return home for the Beast God Festival.

  Liu Yu was perplexed when he received the order, thinking that this wasn't like his previous life where there was still a winter break. The head of the military affairs department was his father Gaiya, and Liu Yu began to wonder if Gaiya had thought of his son and used his authority to give himself a holiday, and also gave holidays to several other soldiers to avoid any gossip.

  But thinking back, this is not Father Gaia's style at all. Gaia is also a very proud person and would not stoop to doing such things. Fortunately, when returning to the Earth Castle, Dike, who was traveling with him, dispelled his confusion.

  It turned out that everything was still because of the officer rotation in the spring of next year, Liu Yu, Di Geng and four other Bimon on vacation were all eligible to be promoted or become officers next year.

  After becoming a low-ranking officer, for the next three years, they are basically not allowed to leave the army except on official business. Therefore, regardless of whether they can become officers next year, as long as they have the qualifications to participate in the competition, the Kingdom Military Affairs Department will give them a holiday in advance.

  Liu Yu urged his horse to head north while organizing some information in his mind. He was going to meet two comrades, two comrades he wanted to see alone.

  As the time moved to noon, Liu Yu stood quietly in front of a black stone monument buried in the snow under the warm sunlight. He silently looked at the black stone monument that was only as tall as his waist, with no emotional fluctuations on his face.

  Behind Liu Yu, a few meters away, stood three Daerbimons wearing black cotton robes. Among them, one male and one female Daerbimon appeared slightly older, their faces showing that they had passed middle age. The female Daerbimon leaned weakly on the male Daerbimon's shoulder, seemingly a married couple.

  There was also a young Da Di Bei Mong, who was seven or eight years old. The three of them all lowered their heads and looked at the stone tablet without saying a word.

  "Fadi Pogao, died in battle on the border conflict between the Kingdom and the Empire of Fanuo...". After a long time, Liu Yu read out the words on the stone tablet in a voice that only he could hear.

  After reading the text on the stone tablet, Liu Yu pulled out his own sword with one hand and stretched out the other hand in front of him. The golden hilted sword was placed on the thumb of the outstretched hand, and a drop of fresh blood fell onto the snowy ground in front of the stone tablet, staining a small area of snow red. At the same time as the drop of blood hit the ground, the sound of a woman's sobbing could be heard from behind him, and soon changed from quiet weeping to loud wailing.

  "Uncle, aunt, I should go." Liu Yu stood still for a while, then turned around and bowed to the two middle-aged people with a low voice.

  "Stay and have a meal, you're Fadi's comrade, which makes you a friend of the Bogu family. We don't have much wealth, can't take out anything good, please don't be disgusted." The middle-aged man, Bimon, said politely to Liu Yu while holding his crying wife, Bimon, who had fallen into his arms.

  "It's all right, Uncle. There is another comrade not far from here whom I must go and see." Liu Yu replied with a bow.

  "Oh, is it Geli of the Regen family?" Middle-aged Bimon asked in a low voice.

  "Yes, uncle." Liu Yu's attitude remained respectful.

  "Alright, you can go now. The Regen family is still some distance away from here, and it will take you two or three aisus to get there on horseback. Uang, bring some dried rations." Middle-aged Bi Mong hesitated for a moment, speaking to Liu Yu while gesturing to the young man Da Di Bi Mong standing beside him to go fetch the dried rations from the stone house not far away.

  "Thank you then, Uncle." Liu Yu knew that refusing his good intentions again would be impolite, so he accepted it calmly.

  After a while, Liu Yu rode his horse and bid farewell to a small village composed of many small stone houses. The man who was much taller than Meng stood at the entrance of the village and saw off Liu Yu.

  "I feel that my words are weak and powerless, unable to comfort your sorrow. May heaven ease your pain of losing a child, and may you always remember the loved one who has gone far away..." Liu Yu on horseback suddenly remembered the middle-aged woman in white mourning clothes who had been crying bitterly, and this passage of text inexplicably appeared in his mind, as if he had read it somewhere before.

  In Liu Yu's heart, Fadi died to save him, so he avoided Di and came alone to pay his respects to Fadi. The middle-aged couple were Fadi's parents, and the young man was Fadi's younger brother. When Liu Yu saw Fadi's three closest relatives, he always felt a sense of guilt in his heart, as if their pain had something to do with him, so he didn't want to stay.

  "Come, come, let's have a few drinks together." The winter sun sets early, and by the time it was dark, Liu Yu was already sitting on a stone bed with a large Mongolian barbecue plate. Across a small wooden table, they each held a piece of roasted meat in one hand and a large cup of inferior millet wine in the other. Although their mouths were full of nonsense and their hands were greasy from holding the roasted meat, it didn't affect their spirits at all, and they chatted quite happily.

  Of course, the one sitting opposite Liu Yu was his former superior, Ge Rui. It had been several months since they last met, and Ge Rui's current state took Liu Yu by surprise. As soon as he arrived at the village where the Ge Rui family lived, he introduced himself to the members of the Ge Rui family and stated his purpose for coming. Before long, Ge Rui appeared, leaning on a walking stick.

  This man was not only excited but also proactively invited Liu Yu to his bedroom for food and drink, without any of the depression he had shown in the wounded soldiers' room.

  Just as Liu Yu was wondering what had changed this old soldier, a young Mongolian woman wearing a red long gown and being somewhat sturdy in build brought roasted meat and wheat wine to Liu Yu and Geli. Seeing the virtuous appearance of this Mongolian woman and Geli's concerned eyes, Liu Yu understood.

  "It's still the charm of a wife, we three have been talking to you for several days and you've been dull and lifeless, but as soon as you see your wife, you're fine after just a few months." Liu Yu said with a smile while eating roasted meat, speaking to Ge Li.

  "Alas, after I finished my military service and barely had enough merits to become a Fire Guardian, I got a month's leave and returned home, only to find out that my family had already arranged a marriage for me. She has been married to me for two years now, but I've always been busy in the army and didn't have time to accompany her, feeling guilty all along. Now, I finally have the time to spend with her every day." Geli said warmly as he looked at his wife who was tidying up the house beside him.

  "Haha, when did General Geli become so gentle?" Liu Yu couldn't help but feel delighted seeing Geli's affectionate gaze. In fact, Geli was not very old, only in his early twenties, and it was because of the difference in their ranks that Liu Yu had been more reserved around him in the military. Now that they were no longer bound by those formalities, Liu Yu felt free to joke with him without restraint.

  "What are you laughing at? You'll be like this even after you get married, kid. Whether it's the Wei or Lin family, I'm sure they've already picked out a girl for you to marry, and maybe when you go back this time, they'll start discussing wedding plans with you." Ge Li responded nonchalantly.

  "Huh." Liu Yu, who had just taken a sip of wheat wine, almost spat it out when he heard this, but fortunately he reacted in time and forced the wine down his throat, though the feeling was not pleasant.

  What made him feel even more uncomfortable was Geli's words, he just remembered that in a few days he would be eighteen years old. In the Bei Mong tribe, this is not young anymore, it's the age for marriage. And the Weilin family has many affiliated families, and intermarriage between these families is indeed very normal, maybe tomorrow when he returns to the Earth Fire Fortress, he will face that kind of thing.

  Seeing that Ge Rui's wife had a more robust physique than the average Fano De soldier, Liu Yu thought of the female Bimon he had seen before with hair all over her face, and his heart skipped a beat.

  "What's wrong with the drink? This is a wine brewed from the grains saved by Lina, and she's quite skilled at it. How can it not be good to drink?" Geli asked in surprise, looking at Liu Yu's expression.

  "No, no, I choked." He hastily shook his head, Liu Yu sorted out his thoughts and decided to ignore the marriage for now.

  "All right, seeing you like this makes me feel at ease. Di Qing will probably come to see you too after the Beast God Festival." Liu Yu deliberately changed the subject so as not to let Ge Li discover his abnormality.