Alaric looked at the monster corpses around them and felt a bit regretful that they couldn’t bring them all to be sold.
“We should leave now. The smell of blood here will attract more monsters.”
There was no choice. They could only abandon the corpses.
Henry only collected some of the Iron Tail Bullafo meat to be used for their trip.
While he was putting in the meat he had gathered inside his leather bag, he noticed that some of the Iron Tail Buffaloes were looking at him with unkind gazes.
The old Elite Knight stomped his foot and scared them with his aura.
When the Iron Tail Buffaloes sensed his overwhelming aura, they immediately fled in the opposite direction.
At this moment, Alaric detected the presence of more monsters in the distance.
“We need to go. Some monsters are already on their way here.” Hearing his stern voice, everyone nodded.
After carefully checking their belongings, the group made a detour to avoid the monsters who were heading to the corpses.
Suddenly…
Crackle! Crackle!
Alaric looked up and saw flashes of lightning in the midst of the dark clouds. “We need to hurry up!”
He squeezed his legs harder to convey his instructions to the horse.
Meanwhile, the others also commanded their horses to move faster.
Facing a snowstorm at their current location wasn’t ideal. There were no markings or landmarks so it would be difficult to navigate the road once their visibility was reduced.
Along the way, they encountered some monsters, but they didn’t trigger a mission so Alaric decided to ignore them.
…
Several hours passed by in the blink of an eye.
The group was about to reach the halfway mark, but snow started falling, so they decided to find a safe place to camp. Forcing their way in the middle of a snowstorm would be a terrible idea since there was a high chance of them getting lost.
“My lord, it seems like there are no caves nearby,” Henry reported with a grave look.
A cave was the best place to camp during snowstorms since they could shield themselves from the cold. Unfortunately, there were only trees nearby. There wasn’t even a mountain or a hill.
Alaric scanned the surroundings and furrowed his eyebrows.
“Find a large tree and cut a space enough to fit all of us.” He instructed.
Hearing this, Henry nodded. He had also thought of this as his backup plan. “Yes, my lord.”
After looking around for almost an hour, they finally found a big tree.
Henry used his sword to cut a big chunk on its trunk. He also cleaned the space inside and made it suitable for them to rest.
“What about the horses?” Yvanna asked.
There wasn’t enough space for the horses to go in and this made her worried.
Both the old warriors glanced at her and awkwardly scratched their heads, unable to utter a response.
Seeing this, Alaric opened his mouth to save the old men from the awkward situation.
“We have no choice. We can only let them go.”
“But they might freeze to death.” Yvanna frowned. She couldn’t bring herself to abandon the horses.
“I understand your concern, Yvanna, but we have no time to look for a suitable place for them. Letting them go is the best option.” Alaric calmly replied. His main priority was to keep everyone safe. As for the horses, although it was regretful, there was no choice.
Yvanna was silent for a moment. She looked away from him, stroked the head of her horse, and muttered. “I’m sorry.”
…
By evening, the snowstorm became more severe and it looked like it would continue for several days.
At this moment, inside the big tree. Henry glanced at Alaric and reminded him in a whispering voice.
“My lord, the baron’s birthday is coming.”
“I know.” Alaric nodded calmly.
Meanwhile, Yvanna who was still slightly upset stared at him in surprise when she heard this. The displeasure in her heart instantly vanished and was replaced with guilt and self-reproach.
They helped me and escorted me here despite the dangers, but I actually felt displeased just because we abandoned the horses.
“I’m sorry. Because of me, you might not make it to your father’s birthday.”
She already knew a lot about Alaric, including his identity. When Henry mentioned the baron, she knew that he was talking about Alaric’s father.
“It’s fine. Before I decided to help you, I already considered this matter.”
He paused and sent her a reassuring smile before he continued.
“There is still some time before that day comes. I’m sure we can make it somehow.”
Yvanna felt better, but she was still embarrassed to face him.
There was a long silence after that. Only the fierce winds and the ‘ka-ka’ sounds of the flame could be heard.
…
The next day, the snowstorm that they expected to last for a couple more days miraculously settled down so the group immediately resumed their journey after Alaric’s routine exercises.
They tried to look for the horses, but they were nowhere to be found. Their tracks had also been covered by the piles of snow so even with Alaric’s trait ‘tracking’, they failed to find them.
Without their mounts, the group could only continue the journey on foot.
“Are you feeling cold?” Alaric asked when he saw Yvanna shivering.
“It’s still manageable.” Yvanna stubbornly responded.
Alaric didn’t believe this.
She has a soul mark, but she hasn’t become a beast soul warrior yet. Which means her physical condition is similar to that of a normal human.
Is this an elf’s pride?
Alaric thought.
He took a thick fur scarf from his leather bag and helped her wear it around her neck. “This will help you keep yourself warmer.”
He then took a glance at her hands and said. “Let’s change your gloves too.”
Arthur who was walking behind them smiled upon seeing this scene.
Ahh… Youth.
In the next twelve hours or about half a day, the group only managed to travel less than seventy miles because the snow was getting thicker which made it harder for them to walk.
Their clothes that had been warmed by the bonfire were once again dampened by the snow making them uncomfortable.
“My lord, I can’t recognize the path anymore,” Henry reported while shaking his head.
Alaric frowned and observed the surroundings. The trees looked oddly similar so it was difficult to tell which path they should take.
Because of his ‘tracking’, he instinctively knew which direction to go, but he still hadn’t put this instinctive tracking to good use.
I only use this trait in hunting so I don’t know how reliable it is.
Alaric sensed everyone’s gazes on him. They were waiting for his decision and their trust weighed heavily on him.
He took a deep breath before he made a decision.
“Follow me. I’ll lead the way this time.” Alaric stared deeply at them.
The two old warriors looked visibly surprised by his words.
Alaric had never displayed his navigation skills so they weren’t sure if he could do the job well.
However, despite the doubts, they still nodded and chose to trust his decision.
“Do you trust me?” Alaric stared at the elf.
“Mn.” Yvanna hummed in response.
Alaric smiled faintly and said. “Don’t worry. I will make sure that you can go back to your home.”
Yvanna’s eyes flashed with gratitude. “Thank you, Alaric.”
Under Alaric’s lead, they persisted with their journey.
At first, they thought that he was just blindly walking without a sense of direction, but his calm and steady demeanor made them rethink their thoughts.
Soon, the trees had become more numerous- a sign that they were getting closer to the Enchanted Woodlands.
“My lord, I sense someone approaching! There’s a lot of them!” Henry’s voice suddenly drifted into their ears.
Alaric frowned and placed his hands on the handle of his swords.
The two old warriors also prepared to engage in combat.
In the next moment, a few figures appeared on the branches of the trees, looking down at them with unfriendly eyes.
Elves!
Alaric and the two old warriors were stunned by their presence.
“Humans! How dare you infiltrate this sacred woods?!” Shouted an elf warrior who was aiming his bow and arrow.
“Huh?”
The elf warrior who seemed to be the leader of the bunch detected a familiar aura among the humans.
He frowned when his eyes landed on the person whose face was covered with a cloth.
An elf?
When he realized that it was an elf, his expression fell.
“How dare you filthy humans capture an elf?!” He roared.
The atmosphere became tense as soon as his words fell into everyone’s ears.
The elves nocked their arrows and aimed at the humans with furious gazes.
“Wait!”
Yvanna who was silent the entire time removed the cloth on her head, revealing her beautiful face.
“Lower your weapons at once!” She shouted in a commanding tone.
A shocking thing happened after she revealed her face.