Chapter 95: No Big Problem

Facing Rayan's sudden increase in speed, the always skilled Duke was clearly caught off guard. He took several deep breaths, dodging while cursing, "You little rascal, keeping a trick up your sleeve! So, you've already trained to be this fast!"

"Then show your real skills!"

Rayan, while provoking, continued his fierce attack.

"Want to see real skills?"

Duke's lips curled into a mysterious smile, his arms crossed, and he shouted lowly: "By the command of Balance!"

Immediately after, his body completely disappeared from Rayan's view, blending into the shadows.

"Stealth!"

Rayan exclaimed in astonishment, his Crow Sword slashing aimlessly at the surrounding shadows.

Duke seized the opportunity, silently appearing behind Rayan, his arms, scarred like lightning, crossed to lock Rayan's throat.

Rayan struggled to counterattack but was helpless.

"Kid, do you admit defeat?"

Duke chuckled, "If you admit defeat, then today's sparring ends here, and I should go make breakfast—"

Before he could finish, an orange-red figure darted from a dark corner, like a desperate, fierce wolf, lunging at Duke.

Duke exclaimed in surprise, shrinking his body to dodge the attack, freeing a hand to grasp the attacker's throat.

"So, it was your little female slave."

Duke relaxed and smiled, "I didn't expect her to obey you so quickly."

Rayan gave a bitter smile, wanting to speak but unable to break free from Duke's hold, his throat only managing weak breaths, unable to make a sound.

sola, seeing the pained expression on Rayan's face, her orange-red pupils immediately burst into flames, her entire eye sockets ablaze.

"Damn!"

Duke was startled, "Your little female slave is self-immolating!"

sola let out a sharp scream, her body immediately entering a scorching state.

Duke quickly let go, but sola grabbed Duke, her high body temperature instantly scalding him.

"sola!"

Rayan managed to break free from Duke's hold, instantly rushing between them, placing the Crow Sword against his female slave's neck without hesitation, roaring like a wild beast, "Stop!"

sola promptly let go, then confusedly looked at Rayan, her burning eyes filled with grievance.

Duke was also startled by Rayan's fury. He checked the burn on his arm, found it was minor, and immediately showed it to Rayan.

"I'm fine, see, it's just a small burn, like getting splashed with oil while cooking."

Duke coaxed and persuaded, "Your little female slave cares about you too, she didn't realize we were just sparring, thought I was really going to break your neck, so you can't blame her."

Rayan also calmed down from his rage, realizing his behavior was somewhat uncontrolled, then slowly withdrew the Crow Sword from sola's neck, switching to a gentler tone, pointing at Duke, he said to sola:

"He, my boss, absolutely cannot be harmed, understand?"

sola's real flame in her pupils faded, returning to orange-red, but still filled with grievance and confusion.

"You speak to her in the royal common language, she definitely doesn't understand, better teach her common language quickly, otherwise there will still be trouble."

Duke slightly frowned, "I don't quite understand, she should hate you, why is she so obedient to you all of a sudden?"

Rayan then told Duke about the series of events in the Flame Cave.

After listening, Duke sighed, "So that's what happened. It seems this little female slave is lucky to have met you. Although she was stabbed by a sword, nearly dying, you helped her obtain a core of a mid-level fire spirit element. As she slowly merges with the fire spirit, she will surely grow into a powerful tribe leader."

Rayan nodded, "I originally planned to set her free after reviving her, to let her leave, but after bargaining with her fire spirit, I could only take care of her until she could truly control the fire spirit elemental forces—boss, sorry for causing you trouble again."

Duke waved his hand with a smile, "It's just another mouth to feed, and how much can a little girl eat? Let her eat with us. Moreover, the deal you made isn't at a loss, earning the revered reputation of the fire spirit element, all future fire attacks will be greatly discounted against you."

"This is all thanks to the boss's usual teachings." Rayan said earnestly.

"Stop flattering!"

Duke glanced at him, "Flatter, but so earnestly, it's making me embarrassed. Alright, it's getting late, I'm going to cook."

"Wait, boss—"

Rayan hesitated, his lips pursed, stopping short.

"Spit it out!"

"I want to learn…"

Rayan's voice was as soft as a mosquito, "that move you just did."

"Learn which move? The cross throat lock?" Duke smirked.

"Of course not!"

Rayan eagerly said, "I want to learn Stealth!"

Months ago, he had proposed to learn Duke's shadow transport, but was immediately rejected by Duke. To be honest, he just thought teleportation was cool, but as Duke said, it wasn't very meaningful in combat, studying shadow transport was just wasting time.

But Stealth was different. If he learned Stealth…

Duke saw the longing in Rayan's eyes, chuckled, then deliberately stretched his tone, "Oh, no one has made me a fire lizard blood potion to treat my burns."

Rayan immediately said, "I'll go to the storeroom and make one for you!"

"Hmm, that's more like it." Duke nodded in satisfaction.

"What about learning Stealth?" Rayan held his breath.

"Didn't I already start teaching you?"

Duke raised an eyebrow, "Otherwise why would I show off in front of you? Alright, we'll continue tomorrow morning, I'm going to cook now."

Saying this, he casually waved his hand and walked down the stairs.

Rayan stood excitedly on the spot, speechless for a long moment. sola, not understanding what had happened, still looked at him tensely.

"You go back to sleep. I'm going to make the medicine, I'll call you when it's time to eat."

Rayan pointed at sola's bed, motioning her to return, then he walked down the stairs into the storeroom.

sola, seeing Rayan leave, immediately followed, almost not leaving his side.

Rayan frowned, wanting to send sola back, but then thought it might be good to go to the storeroom together, they could learn the language through the book "Snow Love".

The only problem was, "Snow Love" was a completely erotic book. However, sola was young, only twelve or thirteen, probably didn't understand the explicit descriptions, just using the book as a language textbook, the problem... wasn't big.

After all, they needed to live together, and language communication was the most important. Even if the learning method was somewhat improper, it wasn't a big deal.

Thinking this, Rayan no longer stopped sola, instead letting her follow him like a tail to the storeroom.

Rayan first pulled out the "Snow Love" from a pile of books, his face cold as he tossed it to sola, "You read it yourself first, after I finish making the fire lizard blood potion, we'll—uh, talk about it."

After speaking, he ignored sola's reaction, busying himself with the alchemical apparatus.

sola, confused, looked at Rayan, then down at the book's title page, recognizing the familiar tribal script, immediately exclaimed in delight, then held it in her hands, excitedly flipping through it.

Making the fire lizard potion wasn't difficult, just needed a slight adjustment to treat burns. But Rayan deliberately gave sola more time, to observe if she had any adverse reactions after reading the erotic book, only to find sola engrossed, even secretly wiping tears at certain passages.

Rayan puzzled over the plot of "Snow Love", besides the explicit erotic descriptions, he really couldn't remember any deeply moving scenes. However, he soon thought of sola's identity, indeed resonating with the male slave in the book.

They both left their homes, became slaves to others, and had to strive to adapt to their master's life...

Rayan packed away his alchemy tools and walked over to Sola. He picked up "Snow Love" and randomly selected one of the less explicit verses to read: "The transparent silk half-conceals her soft chest, cherry blossoms adorn the snowy peaks, yet my gaze does not linger in the valleys but travels downward, further down, plunging into the dense honeyed thicket—"

"I really can't read on..."

Rayan returned the book to Sola and pointed to the passage they had just read, saying, "Repeat after me."

Sola grasped Rayan's intention and, with a frown of concentration, struggled to repeat, "Tuo mian de—"

"Transparent," corrected Rayan.

"Tuo mei de."

"Transparent."

"Tuo—"

"It's not 'tuo'!"

Rayan couldn't help but raise his voice, "I really want to pull out your tongue and hammer it a hundred times on the blacksmith's anvil! Transparent!"

Sola's lips trembled as she stammered, "Tuo..."

Rayan, resigned, tapped his forehead with the palm of his hand, "Alright, let it be 'tuo'."

"Tuo what?"

Duke appeared at the door with a mischievous grin.

Rayan quickly snatched the book from sola's hands and hid it behind his back, "No, it's nothing, we're just studying language."

If Duke saw that he was using such an inappropriate book to teach sola common language, knowing Duke's personality, he would definitely mock him about this indecent matter every day.

"Come on, it's just 'Snow Love'."

Duke spoke dismissively, "When I was young, I could recite the entire book from memory."

"Boss, you..."

"The poetry in it is truly beautiful, unforgettable for a lifetime—"

Duke reminisced for a while, but couldn't recall a single line, so he laughed dryly, "But I read the abridged version, I heard the original content is too indecent to behold, tsk, really, to think that someone could write such a poignant emotional story and yet be so indecorous to the bone."

Clearly, the version Rayan held was the original.

Rayan nervously swallowed, "Boss, let's just eat."

"Right!"

Duke gestured grandly, "Let's eat!"

"Tuō méi de..."

sola was still earnestly practicing her pronunciation. Rayan put down the book, took her by the hand, and followed Duke into the kitchen.