Hitchhike
The young man’s voice was resolute; his fists were clenched and his face flushed. Faint rays of light radiated from his body.
“So stubborn. Are you sure you won’t go back on your words? The moment you go to the eastern capital, I probably will no longer teach you!”
Leylin had a toying expression on his face.
“A Grand Knight isn’t anything much. There are probably a whole dozen in Jenny’s family. Let’s not even talk about the dangers on the way that will probably cause you to lose your life. What are you planning to do after you send her back? Be a captain of some guards at the Argus Family? Or perhaps, even worse, become a mercenary?”
“Have you thought of all these?”
Leylin asked.
Baelin had turned pale, but his voice was steady, “I know all that! But… but if I don’t send Jenny home safely, my heart will never be at ease. I know this for sure…”
“Fine! You can leave, but you are to never return.”
Leylin looked at this toy of his that was full of righteousness and gave an ultimatum before returning to his room.
*Boom!*
The door slammed shut, leaving Baelin standing outside, silently.
“Thank you, Baelin!” At this moment, a small, cold hand covered Baelin’s calloused palm.
“Jen..Jenny, you...” Baelin began to stutter as he spoke.
A finger that was equally icy — and was rather fragrant — was placed upon Baelin’s lips.
“You don’t need to say anything else!”
Jenny mumbled, and then rested her head on Baelin’s shoulders.
“When I was younger, what I liked the most was leaning against my Father’s body and resting my head on his chest. Now, can you lend me your shoulders to rest on for a while?”
“Of-of course. It’ll be my pleasure to…” Baelin stood there in a daze, his nostrils breathing in the fragrance from Jenny’s hair. He did not dare move even a muscle.
……
A night passed and Baelin looked at his crush who had left his side, and also the trace of dampness on his shoulders, before smiling wryly.
“Let us set off!”
On a mini horse-carriage carrying goods, Baelin wore rugged cloth and dressed as a horse keeper. As for Jenny and James, they were hiding inside a compartment of the horse carriage.
On the four sides of the horse carriage, large torches were lit, dispelling the darkness in the surroundings.
“Don’t worry! They won’t be able to discover you!” Baelin tried his best to console them.
As for Jenny and James, they could only look at each other and smile wryly.
As the Lord Marquis’s condition was worsening, Jenny and James only had a short respite to nurture their wounds before continuing on the journey.
Their employed adventurers and mercenaries were slain in the earlier journey, which made it obvious to everyone that someone was obstructing Jenny and her party. There were no more fools stepping forward to be their valiant protectors.
Furthermore, even the Baron who had lost a Knight and most of his elite troops felt a deep remorse. The way he looked at Jenny now was as if he was seeing the god of plague.
To him, the sooner Jenny — who was like a magnet for bad fortune — left, the better it was. In any case, it would be best that none of the incidents were to happen in the area he oversaw, so that he can be acquitted of the blame.
This attitude was even more apparent after he received an anonymous letter from the eastern capital. It was to the extent of rejecting to grant Jenny an audience with him.
In this feudalistic area, it was like many small kingdoms which were independent. After seeing the Baron act this way, all of the Potter Town’s citizens did not offer any help to Jenny thereafter.
For this small horse carriage, Baelin had to fork out three times of the market price to purchase it.
The seller even stressed that he would only sell to Baelin; he did not want to even have a buyer-seller relation with Jenny!
They simply had no confidence that Baelin could complete this simple purchase!
However, what else could they have done to ensure their safety?
Looking at the shops selling torches and the weaponry shop which were closed, Jenny and James were in dismay. As for Baelin, he looked even sadder.
However, he clenched his teeth and looked at Jenny sitting behind him, before cracking his whip.
*Pa!*
The horse carriage began to move, taking the three passengers out of this town.
“Wait a minute, can I hitch a ride?”
Just when the town behind Baelin gradually grew smaller and when his indecisiveness was at its peak, he heard a voice that sounded heavenly to the ears.
“Bo...Boss!”
Baelin rubbed his eyes and looked at Leylin wearing black robes with a small knapsack. Immediately, his eyes were filled with guilt and excitement, relief and many other expressions.
“Lord Leylin! We’re extremely grateful for you coming with us!”
At this moment, Jenny and James popped out from the narrow compartment of the horse carriage and smiled, as if relieved of a heavy burden.
From the looks of it, if this mysterious Mister Leylin was to join them, what more did they need to worry about?
It was evident that Jenny and James had joy on their faces no matter how hard they tried to conceal it.
Through Baelin, they have successfully made Leylin, this mysterious person who was most likely a Magus, come with them. Even after returning to the eastern region, involving Leylin in their scheme was extremely beneficial!
As for these petty schemes, Leylin had not even needed to guess before he knew their train of thoughts. However, he did not express it explicitly and allowed Baelin to escort him up the carriage.
With this powerful expert Leylin holding the fort, the other three felt much better in an instant.
They threw away all that was used to conceal themselves, and also changed the interior of the horse carriage to make it seem like it was carrying passengers instead of goods. They no longer had to squeeze into that small space throughout the journey.
* Da Da Da!*
The wheels of the horse carriage spun as the two old horses galloped with all their might to travel forth.
“Master Leylin, why are you willing to give up on your shop and come with me to the eastern capital?”
Baelin glanced at Leylin who was resting at a side, restraining himself as much as he could before he asked.
“Of course it’s for you, you fool! How can I be reassured if I let you go alone?”
Leylin opened his eyes and spoke indifferently.
“Bo-boss, I’m so touched…” Baelin choked with emotion, sparkling tears gathering in his eyes.
“If you thought I’d say something like that, you’re gravely mistaken!” Immediately after, Leylin’s next words caused Baelin to be stunned.
“Business at Blazing Hammers is not doing well. I’ve been wanting to go to the eastern capital and find a suitable place to do some business or open a branch. Since you’re going, I’ll go too since you’re already going there.”
“No, you must be lying to me! You must be here because you’re worried about me, right Boss?”
Baelin looked ready to breakdown, while Jenny and James looked like they wanted to laugh, but did not dare do so.
“Just think whatever you want to think.”
Leylin stared, speechless, at this fellow who was a bit too egotistical.
He spoke indifferently and snuggled into his clothes, seemingly entering a deep sleep.
However, in his heart, he thought, “A.I. Chip, show me my current stats!”
[Beep! Leylin Farlier. Rank 2 Warlock, Bloodline: Giant Kemoyin Serpent. Strength: 21.1, Agility: 14.4, Vitality: 27.9, Spiritual force: 77 (104.3), Magic power: 77 (Magic power is in synchronisation with spiritual force) Status: Sea of consciousness is fragmented. Part of spiritual force is solidified.]
Over these two years, Leylin constantly used potions to heal his injuries. At this point, the injuries on his body had mostly recovered.
However, healing the damage done to his sea of consciousness and his spiritual force was a very slow process, causing Leylin to start feeling impatient.
Hence, after his emotions due to his Warlock bloodline had erupted, he had decided to go to the eastern capital and find a way to increase the rate of this process.
After expelling the mark from the rank 3 Magus Alric, he could now release part of his spiritual force and return his strength to that of a peak rank 1 Magus.
Whether in the south coast or in Twilight Zone, Magi with this power could go on a rampage. As long as one did not meet with a Magus above rank 2, they were basically tyrants!
Though the Twilight Zone had a lot of high-grade meditation techniques, there were still some differences in the overall strength as compared to the south coast.
Leylin, who also trained in a high-grade meditation technique, was very clear about these differences.
The high-grade meditation techniques passed down from ancient Magi could help a Magus get stronger at every rank with all sorts of amazing powers along the way, but there were still a few obvious disadvantages!
After training up to a certain point, regular mortal resources were of no use to them, and only bizarre or even items from another world would be able to help one progress in one’s meditation technique. If not, one would get stuck at some point.
In ancient times, Magi took over world after world and amassed vast amounts of resources. Also, the connection between Twilight Zone and the external world still existed, so this wasn’t a problem. However, the troublesome matter was: Not only had Twilight Zone lost its supply of resources from other worlds, it had even lost contact with the subterranean world itself!
Certain high-grade meditation techniques were extremely harsh when it came to the materials needed, and they also could not be substituted!
Hence, though the percentage of Magi here was a lot higher than in the south coast, there was probably the same number of rank 2 Magi on both sides.
As for rank 3 Magi, Leylin guessed they would be even lesser in number here than in the south coast!
After all, the higher the rank of a Magus, the rarer the materials they needed. This was even more so for Magi who used high-grade meditation techniques.
Without the help from these precious resources, Magi could only use time and make the occasional tiny amount of progress in these techniques. Such a speed would be enough to make a Magus have a nervous breakdown.
Most Magi used most of their lifetime and still could not break through the first level of their meditation technique, and were filled with unwillingness to accept their fate and were full of regrets at the time of their deaths!