Chapter 319 - Chapter 319: Chapter 303 Seeking Salvation (1/2)

Chapter 319: Chapter 303 Seeking Salvation

At last, the village chief finally made a decision; a total of four villagers would set out together, and the leader would, of course, be the composed hunter Ebner.

Everyone trusted Ebner deeply, after all, he was the most skilled archer in the village. It was said that he had a small amount of orc blood, which gave him much greater strength than the average person.

There were simply no such things as carts in the village, so the group shouldered their food and set off on foot from the village.

On the way out of the village, Hunter Ebner’s expression became grave, and he said with all seriousness to everyone:

“Glenborough has been quite chaotic recently, everyone must be careful and vigilant, constantly on the lookout for bandits.”

There was no doubt that the drought would lead to food shortages, and food shortages would in turn lead to survival difficulties, causing many ordinary farmers to have no choice but to leave their homes, eventually becoming bandits and robbers wandering from place to place.

They had now become a major scourge in Glenborough Province, and even though the local Extraordinary nobility and churches conducted periodic clean-ups, they could never be completely eradicated.

After all, as long as the root cause of the food shortage wasn’t resolved, bandits would continue to emerge, or rather, every farmer on the verge of starving to death in their hometown could become a potential bandit.

The group of four quickly began to cross mountains and passed through areas without paths, a very difficult process during which their food supply dwindled.

A villager sighed and said:

“If only we had a railroad here too… I heard that in East Coast Province, there’s something called a railroad that allows people to sit on something called a train, a large cart that moves very fast!”

Ebner shook his head and said calmly, “The railroads and trains the outsiders talk about, I think those are nothing more than stories, how could such incredible things exist? They must all be exaggerated.”

The other two villagers, excluding Karno, looked at each other, feeling that it could indeed likely be the case.

If you think about it carefully, how could there possibly be trains that travel between two cities in a short time?

What kind of powerful horses would it take to pull it!

Karno smiled and stayed silent from beginning to end.

The resupply of food quickly became less and less, and they looked as though they were going to starve.

Fortunately, they had the experienced hunter Ebner, who used his bow and arrows to kill several wild rabbits, successfully enriching the food supplies for the four of them.

However, while camped and eating roasted rabbit, he would frown and say, “It’s just our good luck… Many hunters who have starved to death didn’t lack skills, but rather there wasn’t enough game…”

Karno had always been reticent during the journey; now his face was covered with stubble, not even close to the handsome charm he had three or four years ago, yet his demeanor and appearance remained quite outstanding among the others.

Every night when they made camp, Hunter Ebner often stared at him.

“What is it?”

Holding a stick for roasting meat, Karno turned to Ebner with a smile on his face.

The light of the campfire pierced the darkness, casting his gaze deep and mysterious, and also making the expressions on his face more vivid.

Ebner shook his head and said firmly, “Nothing, it’s just that I’ve found you a bit strange this past year.”

He waved his hand and continued to say:

“You don’t really look like a farmer, though.”

Under the faint firelight, where shadows intermingled, the contours of Karno’s face were outlined.

“If you say I don’t seem like a farmer, what else could I be then? Ebner, what exactly do you think I look like?”

Ebner furrowed his brows, feeling increasingly that the young man named Karno was odd.

He did not respond immediately.

Karno, beside the campfire, continued speaking calmly.

“Ebner, do you believe ‘identity’ is shaped by culture and social background? For example, is the identity of each person determined by their group, society, and cultural environment… Put simply, if someone is born a noble, must they necessarily only be a noble?”

Ebner seemed puzzled and asked back, “Isn’t that the case?”

Karno smiled, his eyes holding a detachment from the mundane.

“Perhaps we could see it differently—each person’s identity is established through their actions and choices, not by external factors.”

“How a person is born does not decide who they are. Instead, it’s the various decisions they make throughout their life that ultimately determine who they become.”

He looked into Ebner’s eyes and went on:

“So between these two diametrically opposed views, which one do you think is more correct?”

Ebner stayed silent for a long time, then slowly shook his head and said:

“I don’t know, but now I suddenly realize who you remind me of—you’re like the old witch living near another village, who often speaks of fate to strangers, also speaking in riddles that are hard to understand, just like you.”

Karno laughed out loud and nodded, “Alright, alright, hahaha, I actually thought you might say I resembled a philosopher.”

Ebner was silent for a while and then asked back, “What’s a philosopher?”

“A bunch of people who’ve eaten too much.”

Ebner firmly shook his head and said with conviction, “Then you’re definitely not one, given the privations you’ve endured; even the woman who followed you left because of that.”