Boiling Beast Bloodline
Chapter 196 - 7_1

Chapter 196: Chapter 7_1

In Baojia’s adventure team, Bauman’s position remained essentially a maid-like logistic staff. She was not even required to cook. All she had to do was to do some cleaning work to the best of her ability on a daily basis.

This position had been a mutual decision amongst all team members. It was not that the other female members were deliberately being unfriendly to Bauman, or that they were particularly outstanding, if criticism was called for, it would be seen as general attention towards Bauman.

After all, this is an adventure team where non-combatant positions are extremely limited. Given Bauman’s health conditions, the most suitable role for her might only have been for her to stay and rest at an inn.

Though Baojia is the Star of Hope, his adventure team was mostly a typical scenario of abject poverty. At home, his silver-eyed-noble title only comes into play during the participation in dances. Usually, he couldn’t even obtain credit in remote small towns. If the financial resources of the entire team were to be provided by him, they couldn’t afford much and they would have to spend most of their time camping in the wild.

Baojia himself was poor, truly poor, so much so that he couldn’t afford the legendary sword "Frost’s Sorrow" - even most of the other silver-eyed people were equipped with. He would never wear the hereditary armor of his family on adventures. An exaggerated legend circulated around him that he was audacious, that except for the original Overlord’s Four-piece Set, he wouldn’t deem it worth it to wear anything else due to it not matching his status or providing much additional defense. But Bauman figured out that this was far from the truth--she knew since childhood that the inherited armor had been grinded down to almost the transparency of Bioluminescent Shell Coins.

Baojia usually dressed in full black - a black hat on his head, a black mask on his face, a black cloak on his body and a black bodysuit. The clothes were nothing special except for being dirt resistant, and if he prepared several sets to rotate, he wouldn’t have any problem spending the entire year travelling. Later on, the outfit was popularized by a Demon Dragon Prince and there had been countless imitators ever since, but none of them could capture Baojia’s unique vibe of the old days.

The reason was simple, it was because there were quite a few women in the Zorro adventure team. Baojia normally only needed to engage in combat, or he did not even need to do anything else. All other responsibilities including finances, lifestyle, and social activities were all taken care of by the female members of the team. For example, Baojia’s black cloak, if he were to do it himself, it would probably be fake velvet. But after being handled by a certain lady from the team, the cloak became exquisite, resembling ancient fire silk material.

Most of the ladies in the team had been helped by Baojia in the past, or planned to develop an innocent romance that could be sang in songs - this was also why they could more or less accept Bauman. In their eyes, Bauman was just a trophy Baojia once acquired whilst aiding the weak against the strong. Everyone in their squad has had similar experiences and stood at the same starting line, so there was no need for any keen competition.

As for Baojia, he could refuse any personal aid from team members, but how could he refuse the ladies attempting to improve their life quality?

During battles with mutant beasts, if Baojia chose melee combat, Lich ladies could join the battle with abominable knights, even the Dungeon archers could strengthen their enchanted spears. Although it is quite rare to have female Death Knights or Winged Knights in the team, they had a wide range of acquaintances, it wasn’t a problem at all to invite a lady knight with a full Div Crystal set to join. A guest warrior blocking the monster, if this sort of thing happened several times, Baojia couldn’t refuse to upgrade his equipment.

Then there’s food and lodging. In the cities, male adventurers can spend their time in taverns, while the female members can go to socialize in tea houses. When having a meal together as a team, if you eat a man-tou, you couldn’t stop others from having a luxury dish. And accommodations are even simpler, while men can make do with a large shared room, it is natural for ladies to have a bathroom with hot water supply.

In the wild, where conditions are harsh, it is a prerequisite to establish a temporary camp near the mountains and water. The captain can light a bonfire while female members can bring their Magic stove. The captain can find a pile of hay to lay down, while the female members can sleep in a two-layer travel tent...

As for the Skeleton Sacred Box, it was not necessary for Baojia to buy one for himself as team members kept themselves busy just setting up the antenna.

Baojia is a noble, and as an educated nobleman, satisfying the needs of the elegant ladies is their first priority.

In summary, by the time Bauman joined the "Zorro" adventure group, Humphrey Baojia was not the simple young man she remembered. He had not had any emotional entanglement with any female teammate, but after a handful of conscious or unconscious transformations, he had gained a unique adventurer’s mark all over his body, excluding the Jade Violin he used as a weapon.

The black suit was woven with special materials through a secret method, offering astonishing magic resistance. The seemingly unremarkable trinkets all over his body either increased his power or replenished his magic, even the worst ones were Div Crystals. Intimate contact with a handsome man in combat was a dream of every noble lady in the Demon World. The income just from live broadcasting through Div Crystals could almost sustain the expenses of the adventure team.

The violin was unquestionably Baojia’s own choice. Although it was made of ordinary jade and the strings weren’t metallic, they were precisely spun from a special type of crystal. The bow was constructed from a superior Osteo Wand and the tail of a nightmare horse, which could be morphed into a long whip under a specific incantation.

The reason Zorro, the gallant thief, became a sensation in the Demon World was not only due to Baojia’s personal qualities but also to the unrelenting hype generated by the numerous female members of the team. Be it rescuing young girls who had lost their way from the clutches of mutant beasts, or freeing oppressed, delicate women from the hands of fallen nobles, all these deeds forged a remarkably positive image for Zorro’s adventure team.

Even the incident Bauman personally experienced was one of these events, albeit it seemed like an ordinary act of assistance on the surface.

Despite the physical proximity, Bauman felt more and more distant from Humphrey. The charming smile in her memory was no longer solely for her, and the tender whispers were now lavished on others. Every time Baojia was immersed in lively conversations with fellow squad members, Bauman, dressed in her maid’s uniform, serving tea and snacks, felt her heart twist in pain, yet she had to maintain a gentle smile on her face. This, without a doubt, was a form of cruel torment for her.

If Humphrey had enjoyed her company because she loved to sing, every girl in the group now seemed to have a captivating voice. They could not only hum incredibly difficult arias, but also spontaneously harmonize in an impromptu light choir or sing rousing hymns together.

But it didn’t stop there. Bauman, who had learned bits of piano in the mansion, felt that the illegitimate daughter of the manor was a presence she could never aspire to be. But on joining Zorro’s squad, she came to realize that every girl here mastered the art of a musical instrument, whether it be bamboo flute or recorder, saxophone or waist drum. There was even a Lich lady: while gracefully following the squad herself, she had her abomination warriors lug along a harp, allowing her to perform at any time.

Even though these girls had astonishing skills, none of them showed off. As if learning music wasn’t to please anyone or to perform in front of an audience. Music was probably just a small part of their daily entertainment, for their own enjoyment, for the team, or for Baojia.

Feelings of discontent and anxiety piled up in Bauman’s heart and she didn’t know when she might lose control and explode. The poor Lich girl didn’t dare think that she was in a state called love. She presumed her malady had worsened, manifested in an increased heart rate, difficulty breathing, and darkness clouding her vision whenever she saw Baojia with other women...

"I don’t know if my illness will infect others," the innocent Lich girl thought, "Everyone in Zorro’s team treats me so well, even though they treat Humphrey better. But Humphrey is worth it. I probably shouldn’t stay here anymore. If my illness spreads to everybody in the team, it will be terrible. Especially Humphrey, he is so dazzling, so promising, how could I ruin him just for a little peace of mind?"

During a subsequent camping trip, Bauman planned to make her escape. It was past rest hours, but Baojia was still visiting every tent, occasionally stopping to chat with the members before moving on to the next. Bauman’s tent was the first he checked. Normally at this time, Bauman would already be fast asleep after a day’s fatigue, so Baojia would never return for a second visit.

However, on that day, when Bauman sensed the far-off sounds of laughter, her heart hurt more than ever before, and she realized it was time for her departure.

She had prepared her luggage in advance: a tiny bundle that could be taken on a moment’s notice. Inside that bundle was the sheet music the lady of the manor had gifted her, although Bauman hadn’t found the time to learn it yet.

The two moons, Xiang Pa, still coldly illuminating the night sky.

Stumbling through the jungle, Bauman didn’t know which direction she should take.

What she didn’t know was that behind her, several pairs of malicious green eyes had already started to flicker.