North x Northwest

The trip went smoothly. From the time they set out early in the morning till they settled at night, no one encountered any inconvenience or accident. Even the clear weather seemed to be in their favour.

The procession had now reached the Mondovi Peninsula’s isthmus, with the forest at the foot of the Risch Mountains on the left and a sheer cliff and the sea on the right. From a certain point, villages were only encountered once every half a day along the Great Trade Route. Therefore, if travellers skipped a village past the afternoon, they would find themselves having to camp out on the road instead.

Long before the sun started setting, the progression began passing sparsely located houses, until finally a village and market came into view. Even though there was time till sunset, the party decided to enter the town.

Among the dense greyish-white one-story buildings, several stone buildings stood out.

The sun was still bright.

“It’s a little early…”

Lil got off the saddle and looked back at Ed, who was handing the reins of his own horse to a servant coming from the inn. She then took a big look around the village and sighed.

“I’m getting tired of acting like a leisurely tourist.”

“…Already?”

“I have never travelled this peacefully in my life.”

“…”

Even if she knew that such serenity might not last long, Lil was getting wary about her sagging body. In fact, her biggest fear was her posture becoming poor and her senses turning dull. She felt like she would relax without end if she continued like this.

Lil thought she should move her body and use a weapon for a change.

“Maybe I should ask one of the guards to stab me or something…”

“…What?!”

“The trip is so leisurely that I’m getting too comfortable.”

“Since when did you start to notice that? How do you know you’re getting too relaxed? And why bother with a guard when I’m right here?”

“I need a new training partner.”

“..?!”

Standing sullenly without answering, Lil passed by him.

“I want to go for a walk.”

“Alone?”

Ed sneakily hugged Lil from behind. When Lil reflexively put his arms away and slapped his shoulder, Ed quickly reached out to her again but this time held her hand instead.

Lil looked back in astonishment.

Their party, who was initially busy unloading the luggage in front of the inn, glanced at Ed with looks of confusion. Linhardt, in particular, looked like he would vomit at any moment, but when his eyes met Lil’s, he cleared his throat and looked away.

Lil suppressed a groan and continued her steps.

“Everyone thinks you’re weird.”

“That’s their outdated mindset. And I’ve grown tired of thinking about it now.”

“They probably assume you’re so crazy about a woman that you don’t care about saving face.”

“That’s true. If you want, I can even kiss the top of your foot right now.”

“…”

“Shall I do it?”

“…”

Ed asked eagerly, but Lil watched him with a disgusted expression and slowly shook her head. Ed grinned happily upon seeing Lil’s contorted face and playfully waved their clasped hands back and forth.

‘It’s surprising to me, who has suffered from stares all my life, that Ed can ignore the gaze of those around him so casually. He seems to have zero concern at all about ‘being seen by others’…’

“What are you thinking about, leaving me out?”

“..?”

Lil’s mind was preoccupied with such thoughts before she was brought back to reality by Ed, who took the back of her hand and rubbed his lips against it.

“When you’re with me, you should only think about me.”

“What kind of bullshit is that?”

“Now, you’re just making me sad…”

‘He’s acting like a big puppy again, refusing to even leave me out of his sight…’

She wasn’t exaggerating; he never left her side during the trip.

Now that she’d confessed her love for him, she couldn’t make excuses any more, so Lil had to hold hands with him, hug him back, or become the subject of his sketches.

‘In the beginning, I assumed it was just a hobby he enjoyed when he was on the Bell Rock, but Ed is drawing frequently these days… Especially me.’

Ed began rubbing his cheek against the back of her hand. Lil raised her head at his action, but after checking what he was doing to her hand, Lil’s gaze left Ed again and inspected the village instead.

The buildings huddled together at the foot of the mountain were simple. Leaves, faded yellow due to fall, shook desolately. Children were playing small pranks with each other around the well and people were lined up on the other side to draw water. The stone floor of the square, felt through the sole of her shoes, was much rougher and bumpier than the one in Roahn.

Ed, noticing Lil’s wandering gaze, spoke up.

“This small town is called Kano. As winter is approaching, hunting season is in full swing. If you’re itching, how about we go hunting?”

“That sounds good. Where can we do it?”

“Well, Smuggler’s Forest is down there, but I wouldn’t recommend that area.”

“Oh, is that the forest we saw when we went out on the boat?”

“That’s right.

“…”

Lil recalled the mysterious forest.

‘If I remember correctly, it’s an old hunting ground that turned into the home base for smugglers throughout the years… didn’t I see lights flashing from it that night?’

“…Let me first look for the village chief…”

Ed muttered while looking around. At the same time, a respected person from the village recognized Ed and came up to greet him. When Ed brought up the topic of hunting, the man appeared delighted and asked them if they wanted to help with the hunt. He explained that the harvest hadn’t been good this year and that they were in desperate need of food for the village in order to survive the winter. Because during winter time, fewer merchants were moving along the Great Trade Route, so if things continued like this, they might even starve to death.

Having heard all that, Lil nodded with Ed, despite thinking it was probably an exaggeration to say that a village located in the middle of the Great Trade Route would starve to death.

***

The moment the couple mentioned they would go hunting, Linhardt and the guards eagerly joined, causing an uproar in the village as all the hunting dogs were brought out.

While preparations were in full swing, Lil checked on both her crossbow and bow. She also took a rifle with her just in case, but since the place they were heading to wasn’t an official hunting ground, she had no intention of using it. Curious eyes followed her movements when she climbed onto her saddle. It made her reminiscent of those long-forgotten ‘gazes’ she used to receive a long time ago. Fortunately for her, no one here actually opened their mouths to whisper about it.

As the group was finishing up, someone shouted from not far away.

“…There aren’t enough people here!..”

“…We just need one more person!..”

Lil nudged Ed’s side with her elbow.

“I think you should go over there.”

“…Why?”

“You’re good at hunting.”

“…”

‘Judging by his stories so far, I know that Ed’s someone very familiar with hunting for survival. After all, hunting skills are essential to survive alone in the middle of the jungle.’

That was why Lil reasoned there was no need for both her and Ed to be on the same team.

“Otherwise, the power in our group will be too concentrated. We initiated this to help the villagers, so it would be best to move efficiently.”

“…”

Ed looked at Lil, wondering how she could so casually send him away like that.

“Bye now.”

Without a shred of sympathy, Lil pushed his shoulder, leaving Ed with no other choice but to trudge his horse to the side. Slumping his shoulders it was obvious that his previous energy had gone somewhere. Lil soon took her eyes off him and looked around her. When she spotted herders trying to keep the dogs apart, Lil asked the man standing by one of the well-trained dogs.

“Are we going deer hunting? Or, roe deer?”

Shail, who was next to her, answered in confusion.

“Yes, right? I heard we’ll mainly catch roe deer and deer. Of course, we may also spot and catch some rabbits.”

“What about wild boars?”

It was the herder who answered this time.

“I scouted the area this morning, but it was all in vain…”

Lil nodded her head.

Since she didn’t know the terrain very well, she planned to wait in the canyon and shoot her crossbow when the herder drove the deer down with the dogs.

After a while, their hunting group moved. The herders went ahead with their hounds, and Lil followed behind with her horse. At the rear were attendants who pulled the carts and donkeys.

During their ride, Lil found out that Shail had been assigned as her escort.

“Back then, you shadowed as my guard whenever I left the mansion, right?”

“Yes.”

“It must’ve been a lot of trouble for you. I appreciate it.”

“Thank you.”

“When you followed me, did you perhaps notice any suspicious activity?”

Shail seemed taken aback by Lil’s choice of words, so he answered a beat late.

“…No one seemed suspicious when I followed you.”

‘This means that the Obernyu’s Royal Guards moved with extreme caution. Well, Maxwell already knew that I was getting escorted, that’s why he must’ve been tailing me behind the escorts.’

Lil wracked her brain about his possible intention.

‘What on earth did he want to warn me about?’

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