I crouch down and show my back to the girl, intending to give her a piggyback ride. I’m too fast to walk at her pace, and it likely would take us many hours of travel to get there.
“Lord Quinlan…?” She looks at me with shock.
Yeah, I knew it would come to this.
“Come, get on, I will run with you on my back. I don’t plan to spend the entire night walking.”
“Still…”
“Get on or I will princess carry you.” I threatened authoritatively. I’m fully aware that she won’t listen otherwise.
Her face reddens and then looks at me for a few seconds before nodding to herself once she comes to a decision, or perhaps the word resolution would be more accurate.
Anna seems to be the much more emotionally expressive, assertive, and cheery of the twins, but she is also a bit more naive and resembles the mental faculty of a girl her age should possess. Beatrice is shy, reserved, and much easier to embarrass, but at the same time she is emotionally more mature and, it might just be my bias, but seems to be slightly smarter.
With her on my back, I straightened myself up, then walked towards the road as I summoned my gate on a girthy tree trunk that was well hidden in the forest so that we weren’t seen by some random strollers.
I remind myself to pay attention to the potential greenskins and their ambushes on us, but the outskirts of the capital city should be at least somewhat safe. Otherwise, humble villages like the twins’ would’ve long since been overrun. The Winterwood family must have guard patrols roaming the area or something along those lines.
However, if the invasion’s intensity keeps increasing I do not doubt that the cities will completely shut their gates and huddle down until the royal army arrives, at which point the villagers would be left to either fend for themselves or migrate to the city and be miserable homeless people.
“I know it’s dark and we’re in the middle of nowhere, but I will be relying on you for directions.” I instruct the girl clutching at my neck with both arms. “Yes, Lord Quinlan. I should be able to find my way, it was necessary for us villagers to know the way to Aldoria because we came here to sell our produce and exchange the received coins for other essentials.”
Oh, that’s right. I nearly forgot that for years these two were the primary breadwinners while their father was high on narcotics, wasting away in the house while her teenage daughters tended to the fields and kept the household going.
Beatrice wasn’t lying at all with her previous claim, and we made great progress in a matter of minutes. She was evidently quite panicked based on the strength with which she gripped me, but, to her credit, she bore with it like a champ. No whining, no crying, not even a sound of pleading to slow down.
I refocus on the journey, using my night-vision capable primordial eyes to scan our surroundings for monsters or humans. I prefer to avoid both kinds.
I shoot down the road like a bullet. The dirt path stretches before us, and with my 50 Agility I’m moving so fast that the wind roars into my ears and clashes against my face, yet all this remains to be an effortless exercise. I’ve not even broken a sweat yet. Each step I take is swift and light as I tear through the night I can’t help but smile inwardly.
This feeling… Is just so damn liberating. I love my new life in this world, and I’m only just getting started!
The road ahead is beautifully straight and flat, which allows me to push my speed even further. I cast [Wind Step], my best movement-enhancing spell. My legs begin pumping like the pistons of a well-oiled machine as we race through the road akin to a Formula 1 car. I can feel her heart beating fast against my back, but she’s still holding steady.
Every minute or so, she taps my shoulder and whispers directions. “Please go left at the next possible opportunity, Lord Quinlan.”
In less than ten minutes we manage to reach our intended destination.
A small farming settlement sprawls out before us. It’s nothing more than a collection of a few dozen shabby houses, scattered across a patch of barren land. There are no fences, no lanterns lit- just a few wooden shacks standing at irregular angles. Their crooked forms barely manage to hold the walls together. The place looks as though it could be blown apart by a strong gust of wind.
The roofs are slanted with missing boards, and the walls are seriously weathered and warped. Entire houses seem to creak just from the slightest of breezes. The fields around the settlement are sparse, with only a few patches of sickly crops struggling to grow in the poor soil. Weeds seem to be sprouting with gusto, overpowering the useful plants easily. This entire place screams of neglect.
Its people are too lazy or unavailable to even grow their own food.
There’s no sign of life out here, save for the occasional flicker of movement from a stray dog or a lone goat wandering between the houses, looking for whatever scraps they can find.
If I had to describe this village in a sentence then it would be; ‘a sad mix of poverty, neglect and desperation.’
I let my passenger down and allow her to grab onto the hem of my armored attire. She would be truly lost without me guiding her in the dark. Beatrice says nothing, but I can feel the tension in her body rising with every step we take. This is her home. This is where she and Anna struggled to survive, day in and day out.
This is where she was sold to be child prostitutes together with her beloved sister, by the hand of their own father.
Seeing it in person now, it’s hard to imagine how they managed to keep going. ‘What a depressing place this is…’ I can’t help but think.
The strong narcotics have definitely laid waste to this settlement. I could easily blame the Wraithclaws for distributing it to severely disadvantaged people who they know won’t be able to keep paying using their meager traditional income, forcing them to sell their items, properties, and even children. However, the Vesper Consortium is just as much to be blamed, if not more.