Anton went downstairs to look for his family and saw them still sitting at the table in the corner of the common room where they conduct the business of buying worn-out, old, or broken equipment.

The villagers were still looking at his father and his sister like they were fools for buying garbage but of course, they were not voicing those doubts since who didn’t want extra coins for the rainy season?

It was already past noon so Anton thought that the business would have concluded by now but he was surprised that his father and Anna were continuing even though he was sure that they were already hungry so he called the innkeeper and told him to prepare lunch for his family.

When Anders saw him, he told the villager that he was talking to that business would resume after lunch so the man took his dilapidated sword and went to another table to join his friends who already completed their business of selling their items to Anton’s father.

Anders also signaled to Anna that it was time for lunch so they joined their table and sat down.

“I already told the innkeeper to bring us lunch so we just need to wait a bit. Did you purchase a lot of things, Father? Anna?” Anton asked.

“I did! Lunelle, Nermina, and I managed to purchase a lot of interesting things. Nermina is so good at talking to the village women. She was able to unearth things that the women didn’t even consider selling to us thinking that we would look at those things with disdain,” Anna said praising Nermina’s acumen.

“This village has a lot more interesting things compared to the previous one and once you dealt with the items we would probably earn twice the value of what we would earn from the things we got from the previous village,” Anton’s father said.

“Are you still okay with your finances Father? Do you need the second pouch?”

Anders laughed when he heard Anton’s questions.

“Son, remember that the villagers knew that the value of the things they were selling was not great. We knew from the start that we would not spend a lot of coins on these things and it’s fair. Their things are old and broken and they only kept them either for sentimental reasons or it’s too much of a curiosity to dispose of but sentiments and curiosity don’t compare to real coins. Especially during these times.”

Anton nodded to tell his father that he understood. While they were eating a man suddenly rushed from the outside.

“Everybody, the undead attacked Mendi, and they’re not stopping. A lot of villages had already been destroyed by their ghouls and vampires. They would reach our village in a few days!” The man announced loudly which caused panic to everyone. Everyone ran to their homes probably to prepare their things for their exodus.

Anton was shocked and based on his father and guard’s expressions, they were horrified as well. They knew that the city would fall and the surrounding villages would be destroyed but they thought that they had plenty of time, at least a month but now the undead was only a few days behind.

“Everyone get your things. We’re leaving now!” Anders said.

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Lucas and his family rushed to their rooms to get their things. Anna went with them as well. Anders talked to the innkeeper and paid the man what they owed while Anton stayed where he was since he didn’t have anything that he would need to retrieve from his room.

“Anton come with me. A good thing that I don’t have anything in my room. Let’s go to the carriage so you can keep the things that we already purchased in your space. Unfortunately, we will not be able to purchase anything more from this village like food and other necessities.”

Anders rushed towards their carriage while Anton followed him. When they arrived there, he immediately kept all the things that he needed to store in his Private Stash. They waited for the others to arrive and after a few minutes, they saw the others rushing towards them.

“Father we didn’t even have time to hire a driver,” Anton said to Anders.

“It will be a long time before we find anybody since we will need to skip the other villages and concentrate on getting to Tiande City as fast as we can,” Anders replied.

Anton and Anna joined their father in the driver’s seat while Lucas helped his wife and daughter prepare their cart. Devon rode his horse and observed the surroundings doing his job as their bodyguard and then after a while, they left the village without looking back.

Anders saw that his daughter was afraid.

“Anna don’t be scared. We still have time to run and remember, your brother is a powerful wizard now and we will not be in danger.”

Anna smiled when she saw their father consoling her.

“I understand father. I’m not afraid, just a little worried that’s all.”

Anton removed everyone from the party and added just the horses then he activated the Prayer and Meditation Aura.

“Father, please tell Lucas that you can all rush a bit. I cast my healing spells on the horses so they should be able to run without stopping anytime soon.”

When Anders heard what his son said, he looked at Anton gratefully and called Lucas.

“Lucas, please tell your wife that you can let the horses run faster since my son cast his healing spells on them. “

Lucas nodded his understanding then went to his wife to tell her about the healing spells so the horses began to run faster.

The horses ran for so long that even Anton who knew nothing about the animals was a bit worried. He also noticed that his mana began to decrease a bit meaning that the horses had incurred some injuries that needed to be healed.

When Anton studied the horses closely, he saw that they were fine and as a matter of fact they looked lively and his worries were alleviated. He also cast his Blizzard spell but controlled the mana so it would turn into mana water that would drizzle on everyone. He saw that the horses enjoyed the mana rain and it gave them a boost of energy. Even he felt that the mana rain alleviated his fatigue somewhat and since it was just a drizzle, they didn’t get too wet.

“I feel sorry for the villages that we passed through. I hope a lot of people escaped,” Anna said sadly.

“We did warn them so let’s hope that some of them listened,” Anders said to console Anton and Anna but he knew that if the undead reached them, they probably were either dead or enslaved.

The horses ran for hours and Anders actually asked Anton to summon light to light the road so he cast Fire Balls on each hand but controlled the mana so two balls of fire would float on his hands and then he controlled the floating balls of fire to fly high enough in front of the horses to light the road but not bother the horses’ vision.

The two Fire Balls that floated above them were bright enough that the horses were not afraid to run fast even though it was night already. It was around ten in the evening when Anders stopped the carriage and the first thing they did was to make sure that the horses were okay. They were uninjured but they were starving so Anton brought out the grain from his private stash and Lucas assisted him in feeding the horses.

The balls of fire were still lighting everything so they weren’t bothered by the darkness. Lucas mentioned that he was worried that the light would attract trouble but Anders told him that if trouble came, they would handle it.

He also conjured enough mana water for the horses but Lucas taught him to not let the horses drink and eat fast because it would be dangerous for them. Anton also kept the Prayer and Meditation Aura active to make sure that the horses were calm and fully healed and the animals slept peacefully.