There will be two people that would join me on this expedition. I’d like to call it that as it sounded fancy. As much as I want to go alone, Henry wouldn’t sit still and Lyra also pleaded to bring someone along. As for Adam, we returned to usual.
“How many months will you be gone, Madame?” Adam asked as he gave me the coat. I and the two mages will depart today, and because I want no one to know about this except us, we will leave using the teleportation scroll.
“Depends but I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
I currently have the cube that has limitless storage so we don’t have huge items of luggage with us which is very convenient.
I looked at Gandi, one of the mages, and nodded. “We’ll depart now.”
“Take care, Your Majesty,” they all said in unison before the blinding light engulfed us.
[birds chirping]
“This is the limit distance that we can cover with the scroll, Your Majesty,” Gandi said as she burned the scroll with her magic.
“Ah, right.” I picked up the twig from the ground and swings it around the tall grasses to make way.
“Sarai, Gandi, you have to stop addressing me like that when we are outside the palace.”
They hesitated a bit but still nodded.
“How should we address you, Your Majesty?” Sarai asked.
I looked around. Where might we be? We are surrounded by tall grasses and huge trees.
“You can just call me by my name” I flatly said.
“Anything but your name, Your Majesty.” Gandi firmly said.
…they are quite strict, aren’t they?
“Hmmm… then, you can call me Lea for the meantime.”
“Is Miss Lea okay?” She asked again which I only answered with a nod.
I took out the map from my pocket and checked it.
I see. “So a few more walks in this land and we will arrive in Velasku,” the dukedom of the Hudson family. It is a bit closer to the border so we’ll see if we can get a horse in there. This time, I don’t want to travel in a rush unlike when we came to the palace the first time.
“We can teleport, Miss Lea,” Sarai offered but I shook my head.
“No, let’s just walk.”
We arrived in the town in just 30 minutes of walking. It was closer than I thought.
I looked around the town and nodded. “Hmmm… not bad.”
“Let’s purchase horses first,” I said as I glanced at Sarai and Gandi who is busy looking around.
“Adam informed me that a barn sale will be happening here today so let’s go check it.”
When we arrived at the place where a lot of people gathered, a grin appeared on my face. We forced our way in and saw that they are currently bidding the horses.
“Looks like we arrived on time,”
“600 reales for the horses!” A man in his 30’s shouted. That’s quite a high bid. Seems like the horses they put on sale is high quality. Well of course, Leonora, duh. What a dumb remark.
“600 reales by Sir Thomas! Is there anyone who wants to bid?”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The chatters of the crowd became louder. Looks like no one is going to bid higher than that.
“Going once, goi—”
“1000 reales for the horses,” I shouted making the crowd quiet down.
“OH! LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE A NEW BIDDER! 1000 REALES BY?” He gestured as if he wants me to tell him my name so I grinned. “Lea.”
“1000 REALES BY MISS LEA! GOING ONCE!!! GOING TWICE!!! SOLD!!! THE NEXT ANIMAL WILL BE VALAIS BLACKNOSE! THE STARTING PRICE IS 500 REALES!”
Whoa, that sheep is cute. Its face looked like a glimpse of the abyss.
“Should we get that sheep?” I uttered mindlessly as I listened to the continuous bids.
Sarai and Gandi are also speechless as they stared at the sheep. My, my, looks like I’m not the only one fascinated by it.
I shook my head. That’s not what I came for.
We stayed until the bidding was done so we can collect the horses.
“Ahhh~ that blacknose sheep is so cute~” Gandi babbled when she saw the sheep being carefully transferred to its new cage.
I leaned closer to her. “Too bad we can’t get it because we are out scouting,” I whispered.
She let out an awkward laugh.
“Let’s go and make our way to our first stop, Cerres.”
We immediately departed and arrived at the border after an hour of riding.
“So this is what the border looks like,” Sarai said as he showed our token to the guards.
“You may pass.”
I nodded at the guards and took the tiny notebook I have in my pocket and wrote down ‘Walls’.
I’ll talk about this to Adam and the rest when I get back. For now, [inhaled loudly] I’m going to take my time exploring every nook and cranny of this game. Well, it’ll be probably just two months but you get my point.
“Have you both been to Cerres?” I asked. We decided to camp near the river as the sun is about to set.
“I’ve been there at least three times to collect some materials,” Gandi replied.
“Oh. That’s why you don’t look surprised at the border. I haven’t really left the capital since I was always preoccupied with my work.” Sarai said as he munched the food we brought.
Gandi looked at him strangely. “You haven’t been outside Aswain?”
“Yes. I was stationed in the magic tower as soon as I graduated from the university. I was really surprised when Sir Adam came to the tower and asked for me. Never in my entire life would I dream of traveling with the king.” He looked at me with eyes beaming in admiration.
“Come now, no talk about me being the king outside the kingdom.”
They laughed lightly.
“We will arrive in Cerres tomorrow night if we maintain our pace. We will pass by the uninhabited land by midday and we wouldn’t be making our stop until we reach the borders of Cerres so I hope you two rest well tonight.”
It’s been three days since we departed from the border. We sometimes use the teleportation scroll so our travel was cut short as Gandi said it would usually take 3 weeks of travel without it. I preferred it that way since the path we took is the jungle— it is covered with dirt and insects. Not really ideal for sightseeing.
The next day, I woke up sweating and the pain in my rib is excruciating I cannot help but grimace. It’s been a while since I felt this pain. What the hell is the cause of this?
I breathe in and out in an attempt to calm down and thank heavens if it truly exists, the pain subsided.
I stood up and went to the river to wash my face and do some stretches. The pain is completely gone and even if I poke it deliberately, I cannot feel the same pain as I did earlier. Was it like a stabbing pain that occurs out of nowhere? And it’s also strange because it only appears at dawn. When was the last time I felt that pain? A month ago? I should take note of that.
“[yawn] Good morning, Miss Lea,” Gandi greeted while fixing her hair with a hair tie. She then walked closer to the river to wash her face. Seconds later, Sarai woke up.
After we finished eating our light breakfast, we continued our journey.
“A grassland. We are close to a deserted land. Can you use the scroll, Gandi?”
She nodded and tore the scroll. Moments later, we are in the middle of the desert.
If my calculations are right, this area here is the one that Cerres wants to claim… but why? It is uninhabited for a reason. It is a desert.
“Can we scout this area before we continue to Cerres?” I asked as I looked around the desert.
“Is there a particular reason for that, Miss Lea?” Sarai asked.
“Yes. However, I won’t be telling you the reason why.” I can’t tell them ‘Just because’, right? That would sound ridiculous.
I took the notebook out and wrote the details of my pain earlier. Also, in case we will found something in here.
As Sarai and Gandi were about to leave my side to scout, the ground suddenly rumbled.
An earthquake? But the rumble was just on one particular sid—
“Move back here!” I shouted when I noticed something huge moving below the surface.
They both moved closer to me. Seconds later, a huge snake appeared in front of us.
“Use the scroll now, Gandi!” I shouted again and the next thing I know; we are back to the grassland.
“W-W-W-What the heck is that thing?!” Gandi asked while shaking.
“Quick thinking, Miss Lea…” Sarai uttered with wide eyes, still shocked by what he saw.
Hah. Now what. Seeing that we were back at the grassland, that would only mean we cannot go to Cerres without passing that land.
“You haven’t seen it before?” I asked Gandi as soon as she calmed down.
“No, I haven’t. I crossed that land 6 times but that thing never appeared even once.”
Could that be the reason why Cerres wanted that land? Probably. I still don’t know the mechanics of this game fully well so I could only assume that.
“Sarai, Gandi, I want you two to wait here,” I uttered as I get down from the horse.
They looked at me with confusion so I sighed deeply and said,
“I’m going back to that desert. Alone.”