"Alright, Annabel, there's an old friend we must visit if we wish to leave the empire in one piece. He can get us across but doesn't like it when people bring up the scars on his face. I am telling you this because I don't want you to upset him. Do you understand? Don't ask him anything regarding his scars."
Buster quite seriously tells me this while we resume our walk after sleeping a short while since we both felt a little tired the night before; however, as Buster mentioned before, since the guy from before did end up having troops, their camp smoke is visible a couple of miles away to the south.
"I get it, but shouldn't we be more concerned with that?" I point to the massive smoke coming from the direction of Master's house, which makes him tear up a little. "They've finally realized what we did and will be coming after us; fortunately, this light snowstorm will cover our tracks."
The snow falling from the sky also feels incredibly cold as the light air currents hit my cheeks violently. The day is so chilly I start trembling as I trail behind Buster, who leads the way and shields most of the cold air, using his body to break away the high air currents so I don't suffer as much.
"Son of a bitch, it's never been this cold before; Annabel gets closer to me. I can handle it, but you worry me." Buster slows down so I can catch up to him again. "Alright, here, I can use my grade 1 for the day, but you must stay warm. I don't need this."
Buster almost makes me tear up as he quickly turns around while taking his warm scarf and winter hat off so he can put them on me while his body starts to steam like before when he was using grade two, except he wasn't huge this time just a little more toned and shiny.
"Thank you," I tell Buster as he continues to walk forward without commenting on anything else. I'd never met such a person in my entire life, not even in my past life as a neet. Such a selfless, righteous guy who will not let harm through a defenseless brat like me, I will never forget this man, I swear it!
The rest of the journey to the first town takes a little over two days, as the first and second days are spent just walking toward it. Neither Buster nor I ate or drank much of anything the entire way to this new town, much smaller than I thought. The city looked like it only had about 200 people living in it.
The wooden houses built in a circle pattern remind me of the houses I'd seen in pictures from national geographic magazines. Houses made from entire logs stacked on top of each other with a stereotypical chimney sticking out of every cabin in town.
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"This is Frescoes town. My friend Thomas lives here." Buster says this, but this time, after walking for another hour or so after waking up, my body just refuses to move at all. As we step into the town, I simply freeze in place. "Annabel? Damn it, I've got you, don't worry."
Buster quickly but surely grabs me like a little doll between his arms while using his grade one with more intensity, quickly warming my entire body with so much heat I start sweating immediately. Still, I do not say anything until he finally stops before a good-looking cabin at the edge of town.
{Light kicks against the door}
"Thomas! It's me. I need your help!" Buster yells a little while using his feet to knock on the door for a couple of minutes until finally, someone comes to open the door; it is a very small boy who looks even younger than me inside, licking his fingers.
"Sorry about that. I was in the middle of dismembering dinner; please come in." The little boy says, yet this time, when the flames finally light u their face and body a little better, I finally realize that the boy wasn't a boy but some sort of dwarf since he had a beard and didn't act like a kid.
"Oh!? Who is that? I didn't know you had a kid, Buster! Ahaha!" Buster laughs along with Thomas as he finally places me on the floor inside the guy's cabin, which has all sorts of small things like little chairs and a table that's kid-sized with one enormous chair in the middle for some reason.
Buster is massive, so he barely fits inside, just barely avoiding the ceiling while walking inside the man's house, but for me, it all looks the right size for once. "Yeah, I didn't know I had a kid either until their mom showed up with her. She never came back for them, as you can see."
"Talk about a doozie! So! How may I help you, old friend, old pal?" The little dwarf man asks Buster while handing him a glass full of beer, followed by some hot drink since I was still shaking a little from the cold outside. I, of course, thank the man once he gives me the cup of hot tea.
"I need to cross the empire border; they wanted me back in the Colosseum, Thomas, you know what that means." Thomas's happy attitude quickly shifts into a more serious one as he turns around to look for something, swiftly picking up a large paper map.
"Those pieces of shit, they've also been harsh on the town as of lately. The emperor keeps raising our food taxes during winter. He is such an asshole." Thomas drops the big map onto his table, and Buster follows along with me since I wanted to see what the border might look like.
"As you know, Buster, the entire empire has border outposts guarding the empire against any threat at all times except for this point right here at the peak of the mountain, a place so cold and desolate only an experienced hiker will make it, they think it's a natural defense point, but it's our best chance at crossing the border into the neighboring nation of Demi-Humans."
"Got it. I can probably handle it, and I have no doubts about you, but my kid can't handle the cold well enough to make it through. Is there any other place we can cross?" Thomas looks at me and then at my little pointy teeth at the front of my mouth as he sighs.
"Her being a vampire will make the trip a bit longer, but yes, there's another gap in the border over here near Port Ormos."