All of Cal’s effort apparently meant that he occupied the roof of the tallest building in the town center. He had a clear view of all the shops, and more importantly, he could see all the carriages leaving the town’s gate in the distance.
He figured that if he somehow missed Tavia in the town center—or wherever she was—he would still be able to catch her as she left Silverpine.
Cal had already spent around an hour just waiting patiently on the roof. He couldn’t deny that it was worthwhile. He had been thinking more about what Overseer Marek told him in the note.
He was coming to a dangerous conclusion of how the guild might have lied to him in his first life.
As much as Cal was ashamed to admit, he was highly predictable with his likes and dislikes back then. It wouldn’t have been out of the question for the guild to feed him a scenario where he thought less of Oleg.
This would especially be the case if something unfortunate had happened. The guild wouldn’t have had any qualms about lying.
After entering the core guild, he initially showed interest in knowing more about his friend. Around this time in his past life, they told him Oleg had settled into a leisurely mortal life. That quickly made him lose interest in tracking Oleg and caused him to dedicate even more time to self-improvement.
I’m driving myself crazy with theories.
Cal took a deep breath and tried to calm his worries. There was no reason to invent conspiracies when it was quite possible that he would get his answers soon.
He found it productive to continue as he was. He didn’t try to read any spells, nor did he try to think about what he would do tonight. He just kept his mind calm and focused on keeping an eye out for Tavia.
About an hour later, he finally saw her.
Cal didn’t dawdle and stepped off the roof. He landed on the paved ground softly. It still caused the mortals that saw him land to scream in surprise before looking up as if it would rain more humans.
He ignored all the commotion and swiftly reached Tavia before she could leave the town center.
“Tavia!” Cal saw her turn in surprise and mouth his name in shock. “I almost thought I would miss you.”
“What’re you doing here?” Tavia blurted out.
“It turns out that had some business here, and I figured we might as well get something to eat while we’re both here.”
Tavia narrowed her eyes and leaned forward slightly. She studied his face like it held the answers to the world's problems. “What’s the real reason? I know what it is, but I want to hear you admit it.”
Cal stared at the sly smile that appeared on her lips. He was starting to realize her thought process at the moment was utterly different from his.
That meant two things. She likely didn’t know anything about Oleg’s new circumstances, and that she was flirting.
He didn’t hesitate for long. He wasn’t above using this to his advantage. There is nothing to say he shouldn’t get his mind off the matters that were stressing him.
“I was a little worried that you would get some bad news. I came here just in case you need my support.” The sly smile on her face turned into something genuine from his words. “I’m guessing that everything went well with how relaxed you are. We can celebrate by having lunch.”
“… I’d like that,” Tavia said sincerely.
Cal made some small talk as he led them to a restaurant that he noticed was frequented by mainly [Alchemists]. He couldn’t imagine those snobs eating anything subpar.
He felt a slight twinge of guilt when he saw how happy Tavia was. It wasn’t his nature to go out of his way for anyone. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but he would’ve never thought about it in the first place. The only reason those words ever left his mouth was imagining what Oleg would’ve said.
Just because I wouldn’t have thought about it before doesn’t mean I can’t change. It will just take some adjustment.
“Pip’s,” Tavia read the sign of the restaurant. “I’ve heard some people talk about this one.”
Cal blinked and looked at the sign for the first time. He hadn’t paid any attention to it previously. He wondered if Silverpine had a thing for their owners naming the shops after themselves.
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“I’ve been watching the people who enter. I’m going by the quality based on that.”
“Oh, you’ve been watching,” Tavia teased. “I guess you needed to keep yourself occupied while you were waiting for me.”
Technically, that wasn't false, so Cal gave her a nonchalant shrug. He nodded at the greeter and said, “Table for two.”
Less than a minute later, they were seated in a semi-private corner of the restaurant—well, as private as it could be with the dining area near capacity.
“I just realized I hadn’t eaten in over a week.”
Cal raised an eyebrow over the menu at Tavia. “Good thing I’m here then. Were you really so busy that you forgot to eat?”
“It’s not that,” Tavia shook her head. “It was more about having no appetite since my friends decided to be idiots.”
Cal hummed, choosing not to air his doubts about her reasoning. Her friends were a recent issue that popped up. She should’ve had the time to grab something in the week before.
“Speaking of your friends, I assume you received some good news today? You look happier than I thought you would.”
Tavia frowned slightly. “Calling it good news would be a stretch, but the fact that I know they still live… somehow, is as good as it gets. They decided to set themselves up in a border town called Burning Tree. As long as they don’t venture deeper, there’s a chance that they could be pulled out of that territory.”
Cal noted the new information in his mind and recognized the town she mentioned. It was on the map he bought, but no trade routes were connected. In fact, there were no trade routes connected to the Frostguard Dominion at all.
“That’s good,” Cal said with a small smile. This was the perfect time to ask. “What about Oleg? I’m guessing that he's still safe?”
“For someone who doesn’t want to know much, you sure ask a lot about him,” Tavia said with narrowed eyes. But she did answer, “He was last seen in Purple Vale a few days ago. I think he’s planning to cross over into the Harvest Union’s territory. A smart move, if you ask me.”
Cal took this in quietly. Purple Vale was the largest town in the Star Fields—the southern region of the Celestial Order’s territory. It bordered the Harvest Union’s territory. “Why is that a smart move?”
Tavia stared at him for a moment in surprise before smirking. “I forgot that you're even more clueless than mortal children about anything outside the guild. The Harvest Union is a neutral territory that is entirely comprised of farms. Too many guilds depend on them, so the Harvest Union has inherent protection with their position. Oleg can go far in that place.”
Cal smiled falsely and nodded his head in agreement. The timeline was too convenient. There was a good chance that Oleg really did get snatched up.
“I think that’s enough talk about our friends,” Cal flagged down a waitress. “Let’s order.”
***
The lunch with Tavia ended many hours ago. It was a good one, all things considered, though she was curious as to why he chose to stay in Silverpine when she left.
Cal was once again sitting on the roof of the tallest building in the town center. He had been waiting for night to fall, and now that it had, it was time for him to leave the town.
He stepped off the roof for the second time the same day, but thankfully, no mortals were around to get panicked about raining humans. He swiftly made for the gate and gave a slight nod to the guard who helped him as he left. He stepped off the path once he was out of sight of any of the guards.
Cal headed east. Unfortunately, there was no forest to give him easy cover. He traveled through grassland and the occasional farmland.
If he hadn’t experienced the headache that was farming, he would’ve been far less aware of trying to avoid damaging any of the precious crops the hard-working farmers had planted.
He didn’t meet any obstacles on the way to the border—not that he thought he would. Guild members had no reason to patrol the territory's interior, and mortals wouldn’t care what he was doing as long as he didn’t disturb their lives.
The border itself was another story. Cal wasn’t sure how it worked since the guild wasn’t keen on sharing details.
He knew there weren’t enough Apprentices to constantly watch every bit of the border, but he also knew it was highly effective despite that.
… That is an exaggeration. The guild told me it was highly effective. Which could be hilariously false.
Cal knew that he should be approaching the border by now. He would be surprised if he wasn’t already standing on it.
The farms and the fields of crops were suspiciously absent even though the land was plenty fertile. He kept pace and moved forward without speeding up rapidly or slowing down too much. If he acted confident, he should be able to sell that he was used to crossing the border frequently.
A few minutes later, Cal was certain he was no longer the Celestial Order’s territory. Even though guild members of the Apprentice rank were supposedly able to leave, he still expected something to happen.
He finally accepted that he had casually waltzed past the border another few minutes later.
This could be an unexpected boon if Overseer Marek didn’t purposely make it easy for me. Even without considering my possible departure, I might be able to help out Tavia’s friends.
Cal shook his head and stopped thinking about the distant future. He quickly traveled to his target. He had been keeping track of the distance from Silverpine and would reach twenty miles within the next minute.
The land in this territory wasn’t as lush. There were occasional farms here and there, but he mostly saw ranches. There were a surprising amount of cows and horses roaming around. He hadn’t seen one human on this side—mortal or guild member—but he had seen thousands of animals.
Cal felt his brain might be a little broken. His automatic thought was on how nice it would be to start a farm with so much healthy soil.
He smiled at himself as he reached the abandoned quarry—his destination.
Cal couldn’t sense the presence of anyone else. That wasn’t surprising since he was hours early. He wanted to get to know the quarry before the meeting happened.
He wanted to know if there were any escape routes he should watch out for, and more importantly, he wanted to find a good spot to hide and still be able to eavesdrop.
Cal observed the unstable walls of the quarry.
He also wanted to find the best way to… take care of everyone in the meeting. If necessary.