CHAPTER 51: OUT OF TOWN AND THE START OF THE JOURNEY

After the soldiers were slumped over the table unconscious, Reese ushered Ard, Eva, and the others out of the restaurant. They all wore cloaks and hoods so their faces wouldn’t be seen. After that, they went to the right side of the city to a house where Reese kept his merchant wagon and several transport carts containing citizens of the Ateras Kingdom who were in the town. Ard, Geoffrey, Ainsley, Irwin, Patricia, and Claudia got into the passenger carts in the back.

Meanwhile, Mirea, Eva, Rosalind, Alicia, Milia, and Beatrice got into the merchant wagon with Reese and his crew, disguised as Reese’s assistants and wearing merchant-style clothing. The reason was that Eva and Beatrice, being princesses, were too conspicuous in the passenger carts, and Mirea was quite well-known in the town as the Student Council. After everyone was onboard, they waited briefly until all of Reese’s people returned, bringing more citizens who intended to leave the city.

Inside the passenger cart, Ard saw many women, children, and elderly people joining him. He turned to look at Claudia, who was sitting next to him.

"It looks like you’ll be returning to your tribe, huh?" Ard said.

"No, I’m going to Rellios with all of you," Claudia replied, turning to look at Ard.

"Oh, why? If we take the northern route, we’ll pass through your tribal settlement, won’t we?" Ard asked.

"Hmm... at most, I’ll stop by to see father for a moment, but I don’t want to stay in my village for too long," Claudia answered.

"Is it because Drago is there? You don’t want to be forced to marry him, do you?" Ard asked, smiling.

Claudia’s face instantly flushed red. Then she looked at Ard with a face full of questions and confusion.

"How do you know about Drago? I never told you anything, did I?" Claudia asked with a serious and confused expression.

"Just a guess... I can read people’s minds, hahaha," Ard replied. "Uuuh... that was close. In the past life, I dueled with Drago because of her," Ard muttered in his head.

"Hmm... is that really the case?" Claudia asked, moving her face closer to Ard’s to observe him.

"Hey... hey, your face is too close! Yes, it’s true... I’m not lying," Ard replied, raising both his hands and backing up a little.

Claudia immediately moved back, then leaned back against the cart next to Ard, crossing her arms.

"Fine, I believe you," Claudia replied.

Ard immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Then he turned to look at Geoffrey, Ainsley, and Irwin. Of course, they immediately raised their middle fingers and mouthed "fuck you," without a sound, but Ard read it clearly. Shortly after, several young men and women got into the passenger cart, and one of Reese’s employees also got in and closed the curtain.

The wagon began to move toward the city gate. Ard, Geoffrey, Ainsley, Irwin, Patricia, and Claudia’s hearts began to pound heavily. They continued to wear their hoods and glanced toward the wagon curtain.

When they arrived at the gate, several soldiers began to check the front wagons. They climbed up and looked inside the wagon. Ard hoped that Eva wouldn’t be discovered there. Then the soldiers came down and began to walk toward the passenger carts in the back. "Sssshk," the curtain was opened.

A soldier looked inside, examining the passengers one by one, almost all of whom were wearing hoods. Ard, Geoffrey, Ainsley, Irwin, Patricia, and Claudia glanced at the soldier while keeping their heads down, not removing their hoods. Shortly after, the curtain was closed again, and Ard and his friends immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

After that, the sound of the city gate opening could be heard, and shortly after, the wagons began to move out of the city gate. After they had been traveling for a while, Reese’s employee opened the curtain and tied it back so it would stay open.

Ard could see that the city was a little far away, and they were starting to head north by circling through the forest so they wouldn’t pass through the Orthus Empire’s capital, which was located north of the academy town.

"We’re out of the city. Safe," Geoffrey said.

"Phew... that was really tense," Patricia exhaled in relief.

"We all made it out, including Princess Eva... uh, sorry... I mean Eva," Irwin said.

"Don’t make that mistake again. If you call her Princess Eva and an imperial soldier hears you, it could be bad. We’re all common people now," Ainsley replied, adjusting his glasses.

"Now we’re heading north, and because of the detour, we’ll probably reach the port city of Vernice in two days," Claudia said.

"Have you been there, Claudia?" Patricia asked.

"If I want to return to my village, I always take a ship from there," Claudia replied.

"True, I’m the same. Because from there, it’s closer to cross to the northern continent, and from there, we can take a carriage east across the continent," Ainsley added, adjusting his glasses.

The wagon continued to move along the road branch that passed the edge of the forest without stopping. Ard peered into the front wagon. He saw Milia, Alicia, and Eva standing at the back of the wagon. Ard’s eyes widened as he saw that Eva’s hair, which was originally silver, had turned black, and it turned out that black hair suited Eva very well.

Eva looked at the back wagon and saw Ard stepping out to sit next to the wagon driver. Alicia and Milia immediately waved at Ard cheerfully. Both Eva, Alicia, and Milia seemed relieved because they had successfully left the city. Then Mirea, Beatrice, and Rosalind also peered back.

Meanwhile, Geoffrey, Ainsley, Irwin, Patricia, and Claudia also peered from behind Ard. Then they all waved at each other with cheerful faces. Reese, who was sitting on top of the wagon, only turned briefly to look at all of them and smiled, then he turned back to look ahead.

A few hours later, when night began to fall, the wagons stopped at the edge of the forest. Reese’s employees got down to build a bonfire and tents. Reese directed all his men, then he planted a staff-like item, which was a magic object, into the ground, creating a large, invisible semi-circular shield to ward off wild animals and protect the camping area.

Ard approached Reese, who had just finished planting the staff-like device around the campsite. Reese turned to look at Ard, standing with his hands on his hips.

"Thank you, Reese, for helping us," Ard said.

"You’re welcome, but don’t relax yet. We’re not safe just by reaching here," Reese replied.

"I know," Ard replied.

"So, what’s your goal in the Rellios Kingdom?" Reese asked.

"Right now, I don’t know. We’ll probably just stay there temporarily to be safe," Ard answered. "There’s no way I’m going to tell him I plan to go to the elf settlement, which is closer to reach from there," Ard muttered in his heart.

"Hmm, true. It might be safer there. My intel says Fredonia might side with Ateras if the war drags on, but we don’t know how things will turn out," Reese said.

"I see. The alliance between Fredonia and Ateras is good. Usually, if Fredonia gets involved in a war, Rellios will definitely follow," Ard said.

"Yes, that’s true, and if that happens, this war will become the longest and largest in history. But your decision to go to the Rellios Kingdom is correct, as long as Princess Eva doesn’t get found out," Reese replied.

"Speaking of Princess Eva, why is her hair black?" Ard asked.

"Oh, that? I changed its color because her natural hair color is very rare and conspicuous," Reese answered.

"Haha, true enough," Ard replied. "I should have known that was his doing," Ard muttered in his heart.

Ard and Reese turned to look at the tents that were starting to go up and the fire that was beginning to burn. The night was getting darker. Dinner was already prepared. Ard sat down with his friends. "Plop," Beatrice suddenly slapped his arm.

"Ugh... so many mosquitoes! Why do we have to camp again?" Beatrice grumbled.

"Don’t be like that, Princess Beatrice. Please don’t complain," Rosalind scolded, wiping Beatrice’s mouth with a handkerchief.

"Good thing we had that training session, right?" Milia said.

"Yes, true. So we don’t have to be surprised in a situation like this," Geoffrey replied.

"Even though it was only one night and we went home the next day... it was quite memorable," Patricia muttered.

"How could it not be memorable? We were attacked back then and fought desperately to defend ourselves," Irwin said.

They fell silent again, enjoying their food. Ard looked at the stars in the sky that were beginning to appear as the night deepened, even though the moon wasn’t in the center yet. "Thump," Eva suddenly leaned her shoulder against Ard’s next to her.

"What are you thinking about?" Eva asked.

"Nothing, just that I didn’t expect this tenth life to be full of new things I didn’t know about before," Ard replied.

"Yeah, me too," Eva replied.

"Black hair suits you," Ard replied, glancing at Eva.

"Thank you. If it could stay like this, I’d be happier because my hair would be the same color as yours," Eva replied, smiling.

Then both of them looked up again to enjoy the twinkling stars in the sky, with an occasional shooting star passing by.