On the Road 1

But this plan had to be built on the fact that the Saladin Empire would indeed invade tonight.

Night was drawing near. The sky had completely darkened, though vast swathes of vivid red still lingered in the western sky. Half the heavens were blue-black, the other half pale red.

Outside the castle, in the empty ochre training ground.

The Baron stood with one foot on a large rock, his sole remaining eye fixed westward, where he had sent the scouts. Everyone else had already packed their belongings. Three large carriages waited quietly beside the road. The remaining twenty-odd people stood outside the carriages, awaiting news.

Anglie quietly asked Mark, the captain of the soldiers, about the route to the Andes Alliance. Cecilia followed timidly at his side. She had signed a deed of sale; she belonged to Anglie forever, so she could no longer return home.

"I heard the Andes Alliance is a completely different country from our Rudin Kingdom?" Anglie asked casually.

Mark was an old soldier in his forties, his face covered in a thick beard, his complexion sallow, one ear missing a piece. It was said that, during a past clash with Saladin men, a stray arrow had shot it off. "Yeah, I've been there once. That was when I escorted Lady Maria on a mission. Otherwise, we'd never have had the chance to go there." Mark sounded rather wistful. "Our Rudin Kingdom and the Saladin Empire both have kings as their highest authority, but over in Andes, it seems some kind of monarch is in charge. There's also some council standing alongside the monarch. Anyway, it felt strange. But Maruya Port is a fine place. It's far better than here—Candiya City doesn't even come close!" Even now, when speaking of events from years ago, Mark's face still lit up with excitement.

"The streets there were damn clean, and you could see every kind of person, buy every kind of thing. Shops stretched out in great swathes. The ships were like silver fish belly-up, packed so densely they covered the sea by the shore. That sight, tsk tsk..." Mark sighed in admiration. "It was the most beautiful place I've ever seen in my life."

"That good?" Anglie grew curious as well. The others nearby were also drawn in by Mark's description.

Seeing this, Mark became a little smug. He continued, "Traveling from here to the port, if we hurry, only takes half a year. That's considered fairly close. We'll have to cross a vast stretch of the Anse Grasslands, then reach the border markers. Plenty of people travel this route, so bandits and thieves are everywhere. But with the Baron and Young Master Anglie here, we don't need to worry too much."

Anglie frowned. "There are bandits too?"

"Yeah. Though there are far fewer now." A soldier beside Mark took over. "I'm from the Andes Alliance. When I came over back then, we ran into two or three groups of bandits on the way. Nearly half the brothers traveling with me died before we escaped here."

"Sounds dangerous," Anglie said quietly.

"Dangerous or not, we still have to go!" A low voice cut in. Everyone turned toward it. The Baron was walking over with a grim expression, a soldier panting hard behind him.

"Everyone, prepare to leave immediately. Those Saladin bastards have crossed the border. They'll be here in fifteen minutes!" the Baron roared.

Anglie tightened the longbow and quiver on his back, then checked the cross-shaped sword at his waist. Everything was ready.

Amid the clamor, the three carriages slowly started moving, then quickly picked up speed along the main road.

Inside the foremost carriage, drawn by four horses in two rows, Anglie sat beside the Baron. There was no one else inside.

"Father, this trip to Maruya Port will take at least half a year. Is the journey really that long?" Anglie asked doubtfully.

Even on Earth in his previous life, half a year would have been enough to cross most of Asia. Was this land truly so vast? He was deeply skeptical.

"More or less. Last time I went to Maluya, it took around six or seven months." The Baron answered with a frown. "Don't worry. Money won't be a problem. We'll pass through two cities on the way, and can resupply there. If it comes to it, we can hunt in the forest."

Anglie nodded. "Is your eye all right?"

"It's nothing. One eye doesn't affect me much." The Baron's brow furrowed.

Anglie said no more. He merely murmured in his heart, "Check Kyle Leo's physical condition."

"Kyle Leo: Strength: 2.2. Agility: 2.4. Constitution: 2.1. Current condition: injured. Following special burst, strength increases, constitution increases, agility decreases."

Anglie was instantly startled. These figures were far worse than the Baron's previous data.

"Retrieve the Baron's previous data."

"Kyle Leo before injury: Strength: 2.4. Agility: 3.4. Constitution: 3.9. Current condition: healthy. Following special burst, strength increases, constitution increases, agility decreases."

Anglie's expression darkened slightly. "What caused the decline in physical condition?"

"Permanent internal organ damage."

"Is recovery possible?"

"Recovery probability: eleven percent. Required medicine: Ante Dingning, Luo Huanqing, Phenylpropyl Creatinine Agent." The Chip directly listed a large number of synthetic drugs that only existed on Earth. Anglie knew, however, that the Baron's body was likely beyond recovery.

He drew a deep breath and fell silent, letting out only a sigh.

The three black carriages and the twenty soldiers guarding them traveled through the forest for five consecutive days.

The surroundings remained an endless expanse of green woodland. This small convoy was as inconspicuous as ants within the forest.

Aside from the first carriage, which carried people, the other two were loaded with great quantities of dried food and water skins. Even with two horses pulling each carriage, they moved slowly and laboriously. The women occasionally had to get down and walk for a stretch to let the horses rest.

For the past few days, Anglie had been resting and recuperating in the carriage. He had also been badly injured in the previous battle and should not engage in strenuous activity. Fortunately, with the Chip's assistance, his wounds healed rapidly under a sensible routine. By the fifth day, he could move about freely without much trouble, so long as he avoided anything too intense.

Awakening from sleep, Anglie sat inside the carriage with his back against its wall, swaying along with the vehicle. The clopping of hooves outside came through clearly. The midday sun made the inside of the carriage increasingly stifling. Anglie picked up a water skin and swallowed a mouthful of water, but even it was warm. He lifted the curtain and sat beside the driver's seat.

The light outside was glaring. A wave of heat rushed into his face. Anglie frowned and took another swallow from the water skin.

The driver was a somewhat thin man named Ante, one of the relatives who had remained behind. He looked refined and scholarly, dressed in a gray short-sleeved shirt and long trousers. When he saw Anglie emerge, he hurriedly smiled respectfully.

"Young Master Anglie, you're awake?" he asked softly.

"Mm. Where are we now?" Anglie yawned.

"We'll leave the forest in another two days. The Baron said there's a small river not far ahead, where we can replenish our water." Ante replied respectfully.

Anglie nodded and sat beside the driver's seat, watching the trees on both sides continuously recede behind them. The carriage occasionally jolted as it rolled over small stones or shallow pits. Gusts of hot wind lifted his short brown hair slightly backward, yet brought not the slightest hint of coolness.

He knew that at this moment, the Baron was probably in one of the carriages behind them, "exercising" with one of the ladies who had come along. Thinking of that left Anglie speechless. He shook off the thought. "Zero, what is my current physical condition?"

"During a full-force battle lasting under twenty seconds, the wounds will not reopen. Estimated time until complete recovery: fifteen days." The Chip faithfully returned the information.

"Still that long..." Anglie frowned. Suddenly, he sniffed.

A faint smell of blood drifted into his nose on the oncoming hot wind.

"There's a smell of blood!" Anglie's expression sank. "Ante, tell the carriages behind us to stop!"

Ante's face changed as well. He nodded forcefully, took a long wooden pole from the side, and waved it hard outside the carriage. A strip of white cloth hung from its end. This was the signal for the carriages behind to slow down and stop.

The three carriages soon came to a gradual halt. The women and family members in the group began murmuring uneasily among themselves.

Anglie removed his bow, arrows, and cross-shaped sword, then jumped down from the carriage. "Locke, Beris, guard the sides. Everyone else, get ready." Captain Mark had smelled the blood too and immediately issued orders in a low roar.

As Anglie checked his equipment, the Baron stepped down from one of the carriages behind them. Straightening his clothes as he came, he walked over with a grim face. "What's going on?" he asked quietly when he reached Anglie's side.

"There may be something ahead." Anglie raised his eyes and looked forward.

Ahead lay a fork in the road. Sparse red bloodstains were scattered across the grass on the left, trailing all the way around the bend until they vanished behind the trees.

And that was precisely the direction they needed to take.

Amid waves of noisy insect cries, Anglie and the Baron both wore grave expressions. They had both spotted it: at one bloodstained patch, an iron-bound wooden shield carved with a round crest of an owl and a giant axe had been snapped in two and thrown beside the grass. Its black iron surface was covered in broad smears of dark-red bloody froth.