“Tsk, how anticlimactic.”, Sylvia utters under her breath.

“Isn’t it better that there’s no conflict?”, I say after a sigh.

She turns to stare at me, raising her right eyebrow.

“I’m bored too, but we are supposed to be discreet, no?”, I reply lightly.

She turns her back, saying, “The worst way to die is one from boredom.”

I shrug my shoulders, without saying anything.

I can’t say I disagree, but agreeing would leave a sour taste in my mouth.

It can’t be helped that we had some expectations for our first encounter in a month.

Suddenly, Sylvia pulls the carriage to a quick stop, pulling on the reins.

The horse neighs.

I look out of the carriage to look at Sylvia, who was looking into the distance.

Looking towards where she was looking at, we see some guards fighting off a gang of bandits.

We look on with leisurely expressions.

It’s like viewing television; it’s interesting, but it shows so often you’re not too amused by it.

I’m not good at fighting, but the lack of any action does bore me.

I’ve hardly gotten any exercise, besides my daily meditation.

After the guards beat the bandits into retreat, they don’t pursue, returning to the carriages to check on them.

“Men, we’ll stop here for the night, ready the tents!”, the commander of the guards shouts loudly.

The guards reply energetically, clearly happy to get some rest after the fight.

As the guards set up the tents, the Ma’am from Si Trading House, I’ll call her Lady Si since she hasn’t given her name, whispers something to her butler.

Her butler then beckons the guard commander over.

A small figure peeks out of the side of Lady Si’s dress.

It’s a young looking boy, even shorter than Sylvia, seemingly the age of 8 - 10.

He looks curiously around, before catching us in his eyes.

We’ve set up camp right behind them, with a small tent barely able to fit 2 people.

On the first night we ‘followed’ them, Lady Si showed us a slight gaze of contempt but otherwise didn’t say anything of us trailing behind.

It would make sense for 2 weak travellers to want to travel with a stronger party for protection.

We weren’t particularly inconveniencing them too, so she left us alone.

The young boy’s eyes lit up when he noticed us.

…looking at us pitifully eating stale hard bread over a small bonfire.

It can’t be helped.

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The stale and hard bread was the only thing we could carry on a single carriage that would last our long journey.

I feel slightly awkward at his heated gaze, since he noticed I was staring at them.

I look back at him and smile awkwardly.

He seems to have thought of something, grabbing something from a servant, before dashing off.

He seems to be heading in our direction… wonder where he’s going…

Wait, he’s coming for us?!

As this thought came up in my mind, we was already less than a metre away.

“Do brother and sister want some food?”, he asks with an innocent expression.

He raises his hands to reveal a bunch of dried fruits.

At this moment, Sylvia’s eyes lit up, as she says cutely, “You’re so nice, little boy!”

...as she proceeds to swipe the dried fruits in front of her.

However, he quickly pulls back his hands, saying, “I can give them to you, but you must do me one favour!”

Sylvia wanted the fruits but wasn’t about to agree thoughtlessly.

...and that was what I thought before she agreed.

“Of course! Anything!”, she said as she patted her little chest, reaching out again for the fruits.

She’s prepared to cheat a little kid for food…

The little boy, hearing that his request was accepted, was slightly shocked at the fast acceptance.

Seeing this, Sylvia took the fruits away with ease.

Not to mention him, I’m slightly stunned too.

I quickly regain my composure, saying, “I’m Xue Zhou, and this is Sylvia. Nice to meet you.”

Regaining his composure, he responds cheerily, “Nice to meet you, I’m Brent. Now that you’ve accepted the payment, you’ll heed my request, right?”

Looking at his expectant look, I nod.

“You’re from the east, right? I want to hear about your country! Mother told me that knowledge is important for a merchant!”, his eyes sparkle.

My face relaxes slightly, it’s good that there wasn’t going to be some huge trouble that we’ll be dragged into.

If it were so, we would stop following them without hesitation.

Hearing this, Sylvia’s eyes flash as she eats the dried fruits, beckoning me to continue.

Understanding her meaning, I agree, talking about some things I’ve learnt about the eastern countries from books.

As I mix half truth and reality, blending in some things I’ve seen in the Lei Kingdom for more realism, I encouraged young Brent to speak more on himself.

Lady Si might not be willing to talk, but young Brent seemed more than happy to share.

He said that they are a prominent merchant family in the Shui Kingdom, but his father had a lot of enemies. Due to one of these enemies attempting a kidnapping on him and his mother, his father decided to secretly let them leave the country to seek refuge in a hidden location before this storm brewed over.

As such, they were secretly sent out to escape to a hidden location before the crisis was over.

His mother, Lady Si, was also on tenterhooks because of this, and was thus quite rude to us, he explained.

He said he didn’t know where they were heading towards, only his mother knew.

Before we hear more however, some guards came to fetch young Brent.

Some guards noticed Brent heading for us some time ago, however, they saw us simply talking hence didn’t give much importance to the matter. They were close enough to act if we tried anything in any case.

They waited till Lady Si was done talking to the commander before telling her.

Upon which, they came to fetch him.

We wave smilingly as he’s dragged away.

As soon as he’s out of sight, Sylvia and I turn to each other.

We stare at the other seriously.

I let out a sigh.

“Who would have thought this would be so complicated.”, I say.

“This matter isn’t simple.”, Sylvia answers in a serious tone.

“A simple kidnapping can’t have prompted the man to let his wife and child out to escape.”

“Treason? That’s the most likely one.”, Sylvia suggests.

“Debt?”

“They have enough left to have someone want to kidnap them.”, she rejects.

“Treason, huh…”

“I can’t see through that woman.”

“I can’t guess her intentions too.”, I shake my head.

“It could be backup. A single young man and woman coming from the direction of a dangerous forest must have some abilities...”

“She wasn’t particularly friendly to us for that.”

“That’s true. She doesn’t sound like she usually so standoffish from Brent’s description.”

“He is her son.”

Sylvia and I keep silent, thinking.

“Wait.”, I speak up.

“Did you figure something out?”, she looks up.

“What you said earlier…”, I say slowly.

“She isn’t standoffish usually?”

“No, before that. ...A single young man and woman…”

She looks at me, with a threatening expression.

“Not that.”

“What then?”, she asks snappily.

“Think about it, if you put aside our genders, we’re two cloaked people travelling. One tall, one short.”

“Bait!”, Sylvia says out in realisation.

“It’s slightly far-fetched, but it's the only way to explain her cold attitude yet her willingness to meet us.”

“She probably intended for us to follow her.”

“A caravan led by a woman would seem less dangerous.”

“If we’re attacked, and we split up…”

Sylvia squints her eyes.

After a moment of silence, I speak up, “We should leave them while we have the chance.”

“We no longer have that chance.”, she says self-mockingly.

I think for a moment, before realising her words were true.

If I was Lady Si, and I’ve found such a convenient scapegoat, I would most certainly not let them leave.

If we left, simply sending a few guards to follow us would make it seem like there were 2 caravans with possible targets.

What’s more, we’ve followed after them for so long, if we split up, the tracks formed by the carriages would show our differing paths. Pursuers would likely pursue both.

Our safest choice is to simply keep following them.

We have the option of leave the carriage, but that means losing our only means of transport. We can’t possibly walk to the Assassin’s guild on foot.

Killing all of them may be possible with Sylvia’s strength, but for now… conflict is probably not a good idea.