Chapter 24: On the Way (1)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe
The baron’s plan was based on the fact that the Saladin Empire would invade the castle tonight. The sun had not set yet, but it was getting dark. The sky looked beautiful while the sun going down. Outside the castle, the baron was standing by a large stone in the training ground. He was looking towards the west, and it was where he sent the sentries to. The others already packed up their belongings and there were three large carriages on the road. About twenty people were just standing there and waited.
Angele asked the leader of the guards, Mark, about the route to the Andes Alliance. Cecilia was standing beside them, and looking at Angele. She was sold to the family, and there was nowhere for her to go back.
“I heard the Andes Alliance is a very different country than the Rudin Empire?” Angele asked.
Mark was in his mid-forties, and had some thick beard on his chin. His face looked like yellow wax, and one of his ears was broken. He lost half of that ear to a Saladin Soldier during the early war.
“Yes, I have been there once, and I was escorting Miss Maria to her new home. It was a great trip.” Mark said.
“Empires such as Rudin and Saladin put all the power in the king’s hand. The Andes Alliance has a king too, but they also have the house of commons. The king could not do whatever he wants. Also, the Marua Harbour is a very nice place to stay. It’s much better than our territory, and it might even be better than the Candia City!” Mark said, and he looked excited.
“The streets there were so f*cking clean. Many races lived together, and you could buy whatever you wanted. There were many stores, and crap ton of ships. The place was… probably the most beautiful city I had ever been too.” Mark said.
“Really?” Angele got curious, and people around were also attracted by Mark’s description.
“If we get on the road right away, it will take us about half a year to get there. It is pretty close actually. We need to travel across the Anser Plain, and we will see the border there. We have the baron and Young Master Angele in our team, and we could easily deal with the robbers on the way.” Mark got very excited and said.
“There are robbers on the way?” Angele scrunched his eyebrows and asked.
“Yea, not many. The situation is much better now.” One of the guard on the side said.
“I am from the Andes Alliance. When I arrived here a long time ago, I encountered several robbers on the way, and they killed half of my team.” He kept saying.
“Well, it sounds dangerous.” Angele said with a light tone.
“It doesn’t matter!” Someone said, and people looked over to the direction the sound came from. The baron was walking here with a serious face, and a guard was following behind him. The guard looked very tired.
“Get ready everyone! Those Saladin skunks already crossed the border, and they will be here in 15 minutes!” The baron yelled.
Angele grabbed his long bow and quiver, and checked his sword on his waist. He was ready.
The three large carriages started to move on the road. Angele and the baron sat on the first carriage, and they were the only people in that one.
“Father, it would take us half a year to get to the Marua Harbour? How far is it from here exactly…?” Angele wondered. Angele could travel through the whole Asia on the earth for half a year. He was really curious about the size of this world.
“Yea, it took me about six or seven months last time.” The baron scrunched his eye brows, and answered.
“Don’t worry, we have enough money. We will take two stops on the way, and we could get some supplies there. The worst case we can still hunt in the forest.” He said.
“How was your eye?” Angele nodded and asked.
“It’s fine, I can still live with one eye.” The baron said. Angele stopped talking and asked Zero to examine the baron’s body condition.
‘Karl Rio: Strength about 2.2, agility about 2.4, stamina about 2.1. Condition: Injured, strength and stamina will increase after the burst. The agility lowers.’ Zero reported, and it surprised Angele. The numbers were much lower than the last time. He just could not believe that.
‘Get me the previous data.’ He thought.
‘Karl Rio before the injury: Strength 2 to 4, agility 3.4, stamina 3.9.’ Zero reported.
‘Why did the numbers decrease?’ Angele asked.
‘Permanent organ damages.’ Zero reported.
‘Any chance of recovery?’ He asked.
‘Had a recovery chance of 11%. Many highly processed medicines are necessary.’ Zero reported, and listed a whole bunch of medicine names. There was no way for Angele to find those, and he probably could not help the baron right now. He took a deep breath, and sighed.
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5 days had past since they started to trip. There were only trees around the team, and they were still on the way. Angele and the baron had the first carriage, and the other two were full of supplies besides carrying people. Mainly food and water. Some of the girls had to walk for a while to let the horses rest.
Angele just sat on the carriage and he was recovering. He was badly hurt during the fight, and he needed good rest. The chip made him a recovering plan, and that helped him a lot. He could do some general activities on the fifth day.
Angele woke up from the dream, and sat in the carriage. His body was shaking as the road was a bit bumpy. He could hear the hooves stomping on the ground. The sunlight made the carriage very warm inside, and Angele grabbed some water to drink. The drink got warm too, and he opened the door to get some fresh air. He decided to sit by the coachman.
The sun light was really burning, and Angele just kept drinking water. The coachman was very slim and thin. His name was Ant, and he was one of the baron’s relatives. He looked weak in the grey suit. Ant smiled when he saw Angele sat by his side.
“Young Master Angele, you woke up.” Ant greeted.
“Where are we now?” Angele yarned and asked.
“Two more days and we will be out of the forest. The baron said there is a river ahead, and we could get some water there.” Ant answered politely.
Angele nodded his head, and started to look at the trees on the side. The carriage sometimes bumped due to the stones on the road. The wind was hot, and it was blowing all over his brown short hair. Angele still felt very hot, and he knew the baron was probably having some ‘fun’ with one of his wives in the back there. He was a bit speechless when he thought about it.
‘Zero, how was my body condition.’ He asked.
’20 secs of activity will blow up your wound. Estimated recovering time: 15 days.” Zero reported honestly.
“That’s going to take a while…” Angele said, and suddenly he smelled something.
“The smell of blood!” Angele sensed the smell from the warm wind, and yelled.
“Ant, stop the carriages!” He ordered.
Ant nodded right after he heard Angele’s words, and grabbed the long stick on the side. The stick had a whiter cloth on top of it, and Ant waved the stick several times. It was the signal to stop the carriages. The three carriages slowly stopped, and the people got a bit nervous about the situation.
“Rock, Berries, you two go take a look on the side, and the rest get ready!” Mark smelled the blood too, and ordered. Angele grabbed his gear and jumped off the carriage. Angele was checking his gear, and he saw the baron got off one of the carriages in the back. He was still putting on his clothes.
“What happened?” The baron asked with a light tone.
“Something happened in the front, I smelled the blood.” Angele said.
The way was forked in the front, and there were some blood stains on the left side. The blood was on the grass, and it made a trail to the side bush. It was the route they were going to choose.
People got noisy, and were trying to figure out what was going wrong. Angele and the baron got serious when they saw a broken wooden shield beside the blood stain. There was an owl and axe sigil on the shield, and it was enhanced with black iron. Apparently the shield did not help its master, it was broken, and it was covered by blood.