Chapter 213: First Fortunate Encounter

Without a word, Zaelyane began to take out items needed for the sorcery, and Dora asked with a dumbfounded expression, “Why are we hiding?”

Yuura had a similar expression, and Rion answered while circling his raised finger, “All around us, they are the only humans. What will we tell them once they ask where we are from?”

Yuura nodded in understanding, and Dora remarked, “Lord Arok gave us these clothes to blend in with the adventurers… so can’t we just pose as them?”

Rion smiled. Shaking his head, he answered, “Yes, we can, but as I said, they are the only humans. Which means there are no adventurers either… what if saying that causes issues for us?”

He looked at Zaelyane, who was drawing a circle onto the ground with white ash and said, “Adventurers are supposed to take risks, yet none of them is here… there has to be a reason behind that.”

“Wouldn’t it be better for us to just ignore them?” Dora muttered with a frown.

A chuckle escaped him, and he commented with a greedy grin, “And give up on a possible fortunate encounter? Heh. It’s rare for you to suggest something so stupid…”

She sighed. “I’ll never understand how you think…”

“You would once we live together long enough,” he commented.

At the same moment, Zaelyane finished drawing the circle around them.

Crouching beside the edge of it, she took off her forehead accessory.

Her spirit eye, which now looked like a gemstone encased in a golden eye case, opened and began to emit a blue glow.

A dim blue light moved from her forehead to her throat, and she invoked, “hO, rehtoM! ediH eniht nerdlihc morf eht dekciw seye!”

(Oh, Mother! Hide thine children from the wicked eyes!)

The ether around her and within her twisted at the tip of her tongue and drifted into the white ash circle.

The circle glowed blue for a single moment before the ash vanished with a faint hum, and following it, a thin membrane-like barrier covered them, hiding them from the gazes of everyone else.

“Whoa!” Yuura, Dora and Rion voiced in unison, and Zaelyane simply picked up her bag and stood silently, her gaze fixed on the incoming humans.

Rion curiously stared at the barrier for a few moments before shifting his attention to his possibly fortunate encounter.

“They are seven in total.”

“Four knights who are mounted on some kind of beasts, most probably horses, that their mother talked of. The teenager and the old man are within a carriage, and the last person is driving it…”

Hearing his words, Dora tilted her head and asked, “What’s a carriage?”

Rion’s lips fell shut, he looked at Dora with a puzzled expression, and then it dawned on him, ’Ah! They have never seen or heard about a carriage… I know of carriages because of my mother and my past life’s memories, but they are hearing that word for the first time!’

Zaelyane looked at her and answered flatly, “A carriage is a wooden structure drawn by one or more beasts. It allows long-distance travel without walking or riding a mount. It is guided by a driver, while the passenger sits within and waits…”

Yuura and Dora looked at her with dumbfounded faces.

Rion chuckled and said, “You’ll see what a carriage is once it reaches here.”

Both of them nodded, and their gazes stilled towards the direction of the carriage.

Meanwhile, Rion focused entirely on them.

“Are you sure about this, young master?” The old man, whom Rion believed to be the butler of the noble boy because of his attire, muttered with a worried expression.

The teenage boy nodded, looked outside through the window and answered while brushing his blonde hair, “Jamie, you are worrying too much.”

Sweating profusely, Jamie frantically shook his head and commented, “I wish I were, but young master, have you forgotten Master’s words?”

The boy sighed, slumping in his seat. He said, “No, I remember Father’s words.”

He forced a cough and spoke while imitating the voice of his father, “You stupid boy! Do you not remember that those mountains are cursed?! Let alone them, even the forests nearby are out of everyone’s bounds!!”

Jamie took out a handkerchief and mumbled while wiping off the sweat from his face, “Then why are we going to those stupid mountains?! You even forced four of the silver lion knights to come with us!!”

The boy smirked and stated with a prideful glint in his eyes, “I am doing this to prove to my father that — I, Calvus Barley, am ready to join the academy.”

Hearing those words doubled Jamie’s worries, and he said, “Young master, do you really think that this is the right way to prove yourself?”

Calvus let out a chuckle. Shrugging, he said, “Our house borders these mountains, and because of Father’s unshakeable grip over the politics, there is nothing else that I can do to prove myself.”

Jamie fell silent for a few moments. He had been with Calvus from the day he was born and knew that his dream was to promote the county to a marquisate, and to do that, he needed to go to the capital.

Sighing, he asked, “How are you going to prove yourself?”

Calvus smiled, leaning forward, he stared into Jamie’s light brown eyes with his dark grey ones and said, “I have heard that Lady Liensa of house Rayfield is looking for a rare herb called yellowspint for her daughter…”

Understanding dawned on Jamie, and he mumbled while rubbing his short grey beard, “So, young master plans to find the herb and give it to Lady Liensa…”

“And by doing that, I would earn a favour from Marquis Rayfield… I believe that alone would be enough for me to prove myself, don’t you think so, old man?”

Jamie nodded. Rubbing his forehead, he commented, “I finally understand your vision, but young master… how are you going to find that herb within this vast forest…?”

Hearing those words, Calvus’s lips stretched into a wide grin.

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