Using the unwilling Lengsat as a mount, Sile sped off towards the central regions of the Northern Plains while the rest of the paladins and soldiers scattered in different directions in order to gather the reinforcements she requested. Whatever had the ability to make disappear a midsized tribe overnight was a force that couldn’t be taken lightly, since she had the ability and the power, she would give her all in order to uncover the truth.
It has to be said that Lengsat was fairly quick, especially at night. Since dragons doesn’t need much rest when traveling and a paladin would not die for skipping a couple days of rest, much less a paladin of Sile’s caliber, they covered a great distance each day. It only took them four short days to travel the distance that it would have taken the company at least one and a half month by foot.
Sile calculated that by the noon of the sixth day they could get to one of the larger tribes that occupied this lands, the Ember-fist clan. However, by the dawn of the fifth day, something called her and Lengsat attention.
“That… Is that an army?” Sile exclaimed, she was watching atop Legnsat’s back towards the horizon and she could see a huge number of indistinct figures moving slowly. She focused her gaze and she began to frown, “No, they are too disordered to be an army, but it seems like a lot of people from here…”
“It’s an exodus,” Said Lengsat in a deep voice, “I can smell their fear from here, they are just ordinary people.”
Sile’s expression turned grave, “Could it be that another tribe disappeared?”
“How the hell should I know?” Growled Lengsat, then he changed to a mischievous tone, “Should I go and ask?”
“Don’t even think about it, unless you want to be a random tribe’s dinner,” Said Sile after letting out a soft sigh. “Remain over here, I’m going to check it out.”
Lengsat was flying at an altitude of at least two thousand meters, however Sile decisively launched herself from her back. While diving towards the ground head first, for some unknown reason her hair didn’t get messy at all, in fact, it seemed as is only a gentle breeze was caressing carefully her hair, quite contradictory with the speed of her body.
She continued her free fall for some time until she noticed that she was close enough to the ground, then she caressed the shoulder guard of her armor and she produced a glowing feather. After that, she closed her eyes in concentration and crushed the feather inside her palm while using a tiny amount of light aura, causing it to become increasingly brighter.
The light from the feather seeped form from her clenched hand until her whole hand was glowing with that bright light. After she considered that she poured enough of her aura, she made a throwing motion and released the glowing ball of light to the air.
The light quickly scattered and the feather disappeared into nothingness. For a moment it seemed that Sile actually wasted her time producing the feather and infusing her aura into it, however, a little bit later the wind around Sile started to be gentler and gentler, her cloak started to flutter less and less and her body started to fall slower and slower, until she was being carried like a leaf in the wind, she resembled a wind fairy drifted by a morning spring breeze.
*Tap*
Moments later she carefully touched the ground, landing as graceful as a fawn after making a tiny leap. She smiled contently and shook off the non-existing dust from her armor.
Sile looked up and noticed that Lengsat was circling around her high in the air, and when he noticed that she landed perfectly he made a detour towards a small hill that was in another direction.
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*Sigh.*
Sile inhaled and exhaled deeply. She closed her hazel eyes briefly and when she opened them, a resolute look appeared in them. She searched near her neck for a necklace. She caressed the chain of the necklace until she found a trinket depicting a shield and a lightning bolt. It was her holy symbol.
She held the holy symbol and poured once again her light aura, and then she yelled with a commanding tone, “Summon holy mount!”
Not long after, a majestic looking armored warhorse with fur as white as the winter snow and an imposing, yet gentle, demeanor showed up galloping towards her. This warhorse was one full head taller than an ordinary horse, and radiated a vigorous feeling as if you could travel until the ends of the earth without stopping.
Sile waited until the armored white horse was near and then mounted it with one leap. Then she caressed the crest of the white horse and patted the armor near the shoulder, “Good boy,” She exclaimed charmingly, an affectionate look in her eyes, “You already know where I want to go, right?”
*Whiny.*
*Snort.*
The armored white horse neighed gently and then let out a soft snort while balancing his head up and down.
“Perfect then, let’s go!” Sile let out a soft chuckle and then urged the horse.
*Tabdak, tabdak, tabdak, tabdak.*
The horse started galloping at top speed towards the direction where Sile saw the group of what seemed to be a tribe. Although it was wearing a full armor, a heavy one at that, and carrying a person in its back, the speed it displayed was on par with a horse bred exclusively for speed, even a bit faster. The characteristics of a holy mount far surpassed any other mount by a huge margin.
On top of that, Sile was capable of summoning an even better mount, a celestial mount. However, the fact that she could maintain the armored warhorse while using just a tiny portion of her aura, the fact that she considered too flamboyant to ride a unicorn, and the fact that this warhorse was her first mount, made it so that she summoned the armored warhorse the most.
Although she saw some blurry figures on the horizon, that was when she was at an altitude of almost two thousand meters, so the distance between where she landed and where those blurry figures were was not a small one. It took her nearly one hour to get near them.
The most she neared the more she noticed that this seemingly exodus was a huge one, from the looks of it, there were at least fifty thousand persons traveling together, and most of them were civilians.
“Halt.” Upon seeing Sile approaching, a couple of guards that were on the vanguard of the group approached and one of them yelled at her, “No foreigners are permitted on this caravan.” Said the guard decisively, however, he felt an inexplicable pressure coming from Sile. Two of the five guards who approached had their hands near the quivers on their backs, ready to swiftly load an arrow on their bows in case that something unexpected happens.
“I’m Sile, True Paladin of the Holy Empire of Ivalice, master of the Order of Exalted Paladins. I wish to see the ones who are leading this caravan.” Sile said and then smiled gently, not a trace of arrogance in her face upon telling them her identity.
However, even if she was not arrogant about it, the guards couldn’t help but open wide their mouths with both incredulity, terror, and fervor at the same time.