Ideally, waiting until night would be preferable for my Seal, but it's better to leave before they find the body. This small bush is only hiding me from the front, and the dorm building to my right is providing decent cover on that side but somebody is bound to run into me from behind and I'll get caught for sure.

As I see it, there is only 1 option for me right now, this big lever moves the gears of the cyan gate and makes it rise and fall. 1 medium sized stone should be able to break it with the help of a bit of Sy.

After breaking the gear I have to get a bow from one of the guards. They have a recurved composite bow with stiffened ends made out of some kind of horn. That's good enough.

I'll just swipe it while the one closest to me is distracted.

This fucking prince playing with my brain like that is making everything a bit too simple, I can't tell for sure if he's lying or not about the rumors but just in case he is, I'll wear my Slayer mask.

Taking a deep breath made my throat burn a bit from the cold air as everything slowed down for a second.

I felt extremely calm.

I picked up a stone that was on the ground to my left. My hand trembled a bit. I channeled my Sy to coat the stone. While aiming at the metal gears, I used the Slayer's secret Sy technique to throw the stone with some help from Sy energy gathered around my muscles to make it go just a bit faster.

As the stone hit the mechanism with a loud metallic thud and the gears broke, the gate started falling down incredibly fast.

I quickly closed the gap between me and the guard and took his bow with my right hand and whatever arrows I managed to slip out of his belt in my left.

Before he could even react I already dove into his shadow while aiming at the shadow of the city's wall on the other side of the gate right as it was about to reach the ground.

The familiar mud blanket felt warm and comforting, being stripped of my senses gave me some relief.

It didn't last long however as things outside were still tense.

They didn't stop me in time, I should be able to make it out now.

As my Seal's word faded, I found myself outside of the city.

"Where did my bow go?!" A distant voice exclaimed

The carriage driver that just left the city looked back at the gate he had just exited, surprise plastered on his face, luckily for me he missed me in my black outfit under the big shadow of the wall as he turned his attention back to the road ahead to keep riding to his destination.

"Something broke the gate's mechanism, everyone keep your guards up, the murderer might be trying to use the confusion to escape!"

Those idiots don't even realize I'm already out, as my body was trembling from the excitement I started heading south towards the Hermesh border-crossing that leads to the Hadohian Wilderness.

I guess they found the body already. Perfect prince guy doesn't really owe me anything though, so it makes sense…

After reaching my destination, I'll have to walk west and stick to the riverbank while hiding. I can't go into the Hadohian area even though it is a great hiding place, it's not gonna help me reach Home.

The journey toward Silka, the port city, should take about a week or so and from there I need to somehow get into a trader's caravan or something and make my way to Silvermoon, the capital city of Rintiya. Where Home is.

Simple enough, all in all it should take about a month, unless there's unforeseen troubles.

I only managed to get 3 arrows. It should be enough to survive with, I'll just recycle while hunting.

As I constructed the plan in my head, a bunch of soldiers appeared in front of me in the distance, it was already night but I'm sure of it, they are the guards of Hermesh so the river should be close by.

Reaching the riverbanks, the sound of flowing water reminded me of certain poisons making their way to the heart when it flows through the bloodstream.

While avoiding the soldiers in the border-crossing of Hermesh I walked west for at least 2 kilometers before finally finding a good hiding spot for the night.

Without thinking too much about it, I started preparing for sleep. I definitely need to leave first thing in the morning. Sleeping in harsh conditions is something I've learned over the years training under master Kiyoko in random, wild, uninhibited areas.

Laying down and closing my eyes, the thought of actually falling asleep haunted me, in a bad way.

Dreading the idea of having to dream of my black-skinned friend that had a radiant smile that I can't seem to get out of my head even this long after his death, made sleeping a really tall task.

For some reason I've been dreaming about him more often lately. As if to serve as a warning to another accident that will happen intentionally in the near future.

As much as I hate to admit it, I think the real reason is this charismatic prince.

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Dozing off with these thoughts in mind was hard, but not impossible and I really needed some sleep…

***

By the time morning arrived I had managed to sleep for just short of 3 hours to my estimation. My eyes struggled to open due to how little rest they got, my plans for breakfast were already set.

Out of the small bag that contained all of my belongings I pulled my spare white shoes, the white laces were perfect for my improvised bow and arrow fishing session.

Tying the white makeshift rope tightly to the back of one of my arrows, I made sure to try and pull it apart really hard just to make sure I won't lose one of my precious low quality arrows.

…

Seeing as I've never done this kinda thing before, it makes sense that I'll forget something so simple but, the situation I'm in right now won't really allow for it, watching my only rope drift away like that is just too sad...

HOW IN THE FUCK DID I MANAGE TO FORGET TO TIE THE OTHER END OF THE ROPE TO MY HAND?!?!

If it wasn't so depressing I would've probably burst out laughing right now at how incredibly idiotic it was…

Down to only 2 arrows and no rope to use, I gave up on fishing.

With an empty stomach and no other choice but to move forward and hope to find some wild animal I kept walking west on these seemingly lifeless vast and lush green fields that swayed like waves in the wind as a sudden scream of what I assumed to be a human child caught my attention.

Debating whether I should check it out, the thought that it might be an animal attacking humans, and that this animal could be my next meal prevailed.

I approached in silence while hiding behind a bush with red and orange, almost flame-like, leaves, the source of the scream finally came to view. In a small clearing in this very small, dense forest area, there is a small, horrified… human? with blue skin and red-nose, its eyes were beady and glowed in a shade of green. It's a mountain goblin, isn't it?

While the small humanoid was standing on top of a big rock between 2 trees waving with all of his glorious might an unimpressive-looking stick in the air.

The small 'Colossal Water Wolf' that tried to secure some food for the day probably noticed my smell in the bush behind it as the - probably - young yet ancient beast instantly turned around and started running in my direction.

I dealt with those beasts from time to time during my training, all wolves act the same.

Colossal water wolves were usually at least 3 meters tall and had the ability to produce water-like substance with a breath. They're quite the rare species and are very smart so I have to be careful here, even if it is on the small side, it still is about 2 meters tall. It will for sure take my 2 arrows to kill it.

When it reaches about 5 meters away from me, let's throw it off with a stone first, aiming at the right eye will make it either dodge left or use water to defend, one arrow to the left and another one in a straight line just between its eyes.

If even one hits, the game will be over, if not, I'll have to fight it bare-handed…

Throwing the stone with the same technique I used to break the gate's gears. The Sy coated stone launched with a strong snappy sound and flew faster than the wolf could create a water barrier so it jumped to the left, just in time for my arrow to pierce through the poor beast's left eye.

Not wanting to give it time to recover, I dashed forward out of my hiding place, avoiding the tree to my right while picking up a small stone off the ground. Using all of my strength I stuck the stone deep inside its skull and finished it off quickly.

This wolf's fur and its fangs will rack a healthy amount of money in Silka, that's a sick find.

"H-h-hum..ahn? Yir hoomz?" a small, chirpy voice, reminded me of the original situation.

"Hoomz? Human?" Goblins are friendly to humans for the most part.

He nodded and I confirmed.

There's no reason to be hostile, maybe he could even help ease my journey somehow.

"hoomz cam to mee hoem?" His cute little, shy smile revealed a row of tiny pointy yellow teeth as he approached me cautiously while holding out his hand in an inviting manner.

"Are you asking me to come home with y-" With a swift motion I caught the arrow that was about to hit my shoulder with my bare hand and the little goblin fell back on his butt with a terrified look on his face.

Had I not coated my hand with Sy, this would've left a nasty scar on my right palm, what incredible strength for what I presume to be a goblin archer.

Looking around me I realized that it wasn't only the archer that came to check on the child.

The entire forest-like area around me was filled with nothing until a second ago. Now there was an army of bald-headed blue-skinned humanoids at about my height or less with their weapons pointing at me.

How unfortunately lucky for me…