The sun wasn’t up yet when Colin woke up Anton to inform him that Anders announced the caravan was leaving so he joined his family for breakfast and after doing his business in the camp toilet, the caravan began moving. The movement woke up the sleeping villagers and hastily prepared their things so they could follow the caravan.
The villagers didn’t want to get left behind since they now knew that the surrounding towns and villages were not safe from the undead and that the caravan was guarded by a powerful wizard. They knew that sticking with the caravan would almost guarantee that they would arrive in the city of Zalnothel safely.
Anton didn’t enter the World of Sanctuary since he felt that the caravan was still in danger. When the sun peaked from the horizon, he flew up to check the surrounding area. He immediately noticed an army of the undead in the far distance about an hour away from their location on horseback. He also noticed some groups of undead in the surrounding area but saw that the undead were avoiding the area where the caravan was located.
He activated the special effect of his buffs and his aura so Anton would become visible even in the morning light. He wanted to show himself as a deterrent to the surrounding undead and it sort of worked since the nearer undead groups suddenly retreated.
The army in the distance also looked like they were not moving. It’s as if they were waiting for Anton and his caravan to get farther away before any sort of movement would occur but that was just his assumption.
The surrounding undead in the area made Anton worried since he didn’t know if he was powerful enough to contend with the more powerful undead beings. The vampire he captured mentioned that the three liches in the undead army that attacked the last village were called elder liches but they were not powerful enough to apply to become part of the Undead Coalition council.
The vampire mentioned that a true Monarch Lich that was a member of the council of the Undead Coalition was as powerful as a grand archmage of the wizard of Zalnothel and based on the power that Anton had shown, he was not powerful enough to contend with one. The vampire did add that a powerful lich like that would not go near Zalnothel because it would trigger an all-out war with Zalnothel and even though the Undead Coalition was not afraid, the Coalition would prefer that the surrounding cities would be under them before they initiate a war with Zalnothel.
That meant that the Coalition fully intended to conquer all of the lands and Anton knew that he couldn’t keep running. He was planning to join the forces that would contend with the Undead Coalition when he reached Zalnothel. Once his family was ensconced safely in the city and were living comfortably as a rich merchant family, he would tell his Father his plans of joining either the Zalnothel army or any government agency that would fight with the Undead Coalition or maybe even earlier than that. That meant that only his sister would join a magical academy but before allowing Anna to do so, he would investigate first.
Anton didn’t want Anna to join a magic school and then suddenly the school would send its students to perform dangerous missions. He wanted his sister to be safe and not to endanger her life for the sake of the city.
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He was a bit glad that he was able to get that vampire’s treasure since it would allow his family to live in the city comfortably then he thought of asking his father to leave the city and travel farther away to make sure that they were safe but he knew that Anders wouldn’t agree but he would talk it out with his family first.
The caravan was traveling slowly enough that the villagers who joined them could keep up without any issue but Anton knew that soon they wouldn’t be able to. It was a very difficult journey with everyone being goaded by fear but he decided that he would help by healing the villagers come the night.
Anton stayed up in the air for about an hour more just to make sure that the undead would not go near them. When he saw that the undead army was still not moving toward them and the small groups of undead nearby weren’t approaching the area where they were, Anton flew down and joined his father on his carriage to talk to him.
He asked his father, Lucas, and Nemina to join him inside his father’s carriage.
“Did you see anything, Anton?” Anders asked his son.
“There’s an undead army about a couple hours of horseback ride away from our caravan and a lot of small undead groups in the area. We would need to keep traveling fast enough until were near enough to the city of Zalnothel to be sure that the undead would not attack us.”
Anders, Lucas, and Nemina looked worried when they heard what Anton had said so added something that would alleviate their worries somewhat.
“When I flew up and made sure that I was visible, the undead army stopped moving toward us and the nearby undead groups moved away from the area where we were. So I’m sure that we will not be attacked but I still would recommend that we remain vigilant.”
Lucas just nodded as if saying that it wasn’t needed for Anton to say that they had to remain vigilant since he would do so anyway. After that, he asked to talk to his father alone.
“Father, when we reached Zalnothel and our family was settled comfortably, I planned to join an organization that would fight the Undead Coalition. I’m truly livid at what those monsters were doing and since I have the power, I will use that power to fight them.”
Anders looked worried.
“Can you just join your sister in entering a magic academy and then learn more things so when you’re needed, you will have more power to contend against the undead?”
“I know it’s very dangerous but maybe the reason why I was given this power was to make sure that these lands are not only covered with undead monsters. We tried running Father but the undead kept reaching us. Sooner or later, we will be cornered and at that time, the undead will be truly powerful. I know that in the grand scheme of things, I’m not powerful enough to make a difference right now in the Undead Coalition’s bid to conquer the lands but I don’t want to remain passive.”
“I understand. But you have to make sure that you remain safe!” Anders said fiercely.
“Of course, Father. I assure you that I will not stop growing powerful, and if my magic system is not enough, I will also concentrate on learning the magic system of these lands. I will also run away if I’m in a truly dangerous situation and you know I can teleport and fly.”
Anton also told his father that before they allowed Anna to enter a magic school, they would need to investigate first to make sure that the school would not randomly send Anna on a dangerous mission or something like that and his father agreed with him.
He also informed his father that once they stopped during lunchtime, he would heal and fill the stamina of the horses and the people to make sure that everyone would be at their peak.