Chapter 285
‘Damn it!’ he cursed internally, chastising himself for acting so strangely and suspiciously; there was no need to overexplain things. He should have simply admitted it, and that would be that.
His fingers curled into fists, nails biting into his palms as heat prickled at the back of his neck. Why was he making this so awkward?
He scolded himself—composed in front of Sera, yet now acting like a child. His earlier maturity was gone!
Even the little girl had carried herself better.
The little girl was more charismatic than he was; he had seen her exhibit leadership qualities earlier in the city when she convinced others to follow him.
Was he worse than her? The thought was sour in his mouth, leaving him grimacing at himself.
He took a deep breath and calmed down, waiting for her response.
The girl tilted her head, her brow furrowing slightly, as if the question itself was strange.
“Hmm?” She thought for a moment, her voice light, almost uncertain. “I don’t have a name, teacher. We were referred to as ‘slaves’ before, so it didn’t matter much,” she told him.
Oliver’s fingers curled slightly at her words.
He gave a stiff nod; it made sense. After all, no one bothers to name cattle.
Even humans rarely name livestock, so it was no surprise she had never been given one.
“So, what do you want to be called? Now that you are no longer livestock, you should have a name that people can call you,” he asked her.
“Umm…” She thought before shaking her head. “I don’t know many names, teacher. How about you name me?” she asked with a smile so hopeful it almost felt fragile. She had been with demons her entire life until now and only knew the names of a few demons. Her vocabulary lacked human names.
And Oliver, who came from human lands, must have a rich memory of diverse names, and he could select a normal name for her that fit human standards properly.
Oliver also understood her intention behind this request and thought for some time.
He tapped his chin, mind flipping through a long-forgotten catalog of names. Most were plain, old-fashioned ones from his place, names whispered at market stalls or carved into gravestones.
He considered various names he had heard and, in the end, realized that all he knew were generic names. If she was expecting a unique name, she would be disappointed for sure.
“Well, how does ‘Agnes’ sound?” he asked nonchalantly.
If she didn’t like it, he had more names.
But her face lit up like someone had handed her a treasure.
“Awesome! I am Agnes from now on!” she cheered with excitement.
A chuckle escaped Oliver, unbidden—a mix of surprise and amusement.
Oliver felt relieved and patted her shoulder. Then he started to look around to see which way would be best to move. He was just as clueless as she was in this matter.
The horizon was a smear of jagged rock and swirling mist, no landmarks he recognized—only the silent weight of unfamiliar land stretching endlessly in all directions.
Now he felt that he should have demanded Sera’s storage artifacts before sending her back. At least, they might have contained a detailed map of the terrain.
Agnes looked at his side profile and felt a warmth bloom in her chest, happy being with him.
The duo then traveled for some time after that and eventually found a hidden cave.
The entrance was a narrow slit, half-swallowed by thorny vines. Inside, the air was thick with dampness and the scent of moss-covered stone. They decided to settle there for the time being, resting from the exhaustion of all that had happened lately.
Agnes dropped to the cave floor with a sigh, her small frame sagging as if the air itself was too heavy. Oliver sat beside her, his back pressed to the stone wall, eyes half-closed but mind spinning too fast for rest.
Oliver knew that they were running low on rations, and if they did not stock up again, they might starve.
While he was more resistant and could endure starvation for some time, he could not completely ignore it.
His stomach gave a low, unsympathetic growl to remind him.
But he really didn’t know where to go further. If they wandered aimlessly, chances were they would get in trouble with dangerous demons.
And even more troublesome than demons were demonic beasts that were rampant everywhere and caused issues.
He frowned at that because, along the way, he had detected multiple demonic beasts but chose to avoid them and move through discrete channels in order not to attract them. He wanted to avoid fighting for now as much as possible.
Noticing Oliver’s distress, Agnes asked, ‘Teacher, what’s wrong?’
His brow furrowed, lips pressed into a tight line as his gaze darted across the cavern walls, searching for answers that weren’t there.
“Well, I was just thinking about where we should move next, but I am not sure about the directions here,” he admitted.
He was thinking hard, trying to remember any clues he could from the novel, but such minute details, even if there were any, he would not have remembered anyway.
Seeing his distressed expression, she spoke up in a calm manner.
Agnes’ voice broke the silence, soft but sure, like a candle flickering to life in the dark.
“Teacher, although it’s not much, I happen to know a few rough routes around the area.”
Oliver blinked in surprise at her words.
“You know? How?” he questioned.
“I used to clean at the Grand Archive Hall of the city and occasionally overheard conversations between the scholars, so I know a little bit. I don’t know if it will help, teacher.”
His eyes lit up. Unexpectedly, the help was beside him all along!
“Great! Tell me what you know, no matter how insignificant it may feel,” he quickly added.
He knew little to nothing about this place; things were new to him. Even she might know better than him about demon lands.
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