Volume 11: Chapter 10 – Sinister Clouds in the Dark of Night
“Brother Eighteen, what’s wrong?”
“Ah!” I got caught up in my memories. “Nothing much, I was just thinking about when I first started to learn magic. You’re right that at the beginning, light magic doesn’t have any offensive power, but it gets better once you reach the intermediate level.”
Ke Er Lan Di said, “Nobody cared about light magic before, but it’s different now. Everyone is fighting to learn it. Those that haven’t laid their foundations in magic have gone to learn light magic.”
I asked, stunned, “Why? It’s really very hard to train to higher realms in light magic. Its improvement speed is much lower than fire magic.”
Ke Er Lan Di sighed. “Talking about this, you need to know about the God’s Envoy. You know who the God’s Envoys are, right? It’s that fellow that succeeded in getting our three Human kingdoms, Demons, and Beasts to reconcile. I heard that he was initially from your Kingdom of Aixia. His light magic is extremely incredible. It’s said that he’s already beyond the Magister’s realm and is just a step away from the realm of Grand Magister. Currently, everyone from the Kingdom of Aixia treats him as their pride.”
There was such a thing? Why didn’t I know that? I felt very comfortable hearing him praise me. “That’s what I heard from the rumours, but how powerful is he truly, I want to seek for his guidance if a chance arises.”
Ke Er Lan Di laughed. “Alright, let’s increase our pace. If not, we’ll miss our resting point tonight.” Upon saying that, he spurred his horse forward. I could only follow him and grit my teeth.
Riding a horse wasn’t fun. My entire body was extremely sore after half a day of riding. I was lucky that my physique wasn’t bad and managed to endure it. The sky darkened. Due to accommodating me, we hadn’t reached the next city.
Ke Er Lan Di pointed to the forest by the roadside. “Let’s rest here tonight and continue tomorrow.”
His subordinate said, “Lord, if we don’t catch up some time, we won’t be able to reach the fort at the appointed time. What do you think?”
Ke Er Lan Di waved his hand. “It’s not something important. It’s alright to be late a few nights. I’m also a little tired. Let’s rest here today. We’ll just wake up earlier tomorrow to head out.”
My heart warmed after hearing his words. ‘He was really thoughtful. Ke Er Lan Di was a really good guy, worth befriending and even if it was to recruit me.’ I silently led my horse to follow the troops into the forest. After tying the horse, a few cavalrymen cleared some space. Some started to light a fire, and some began to bring out their bedrolls that they carried and placed them on the floor. Everything was in order, it could be seen that they were all well trained.
Everyone crowded around the fire and ate their rations. The sky had completely darkened. Ke Er Lan Di really knew how to enjoy himself, as even though it was only rations, they were still good food and wine. It was the same kind of wine that we drank at the inn.
“Ever since I joined the army, I always liked this wine. First it’s bitter, but the sweet aftertaste moves me.” Ke Er Lun Di said that, slightly intoxicated.
I took the wine in his hand and drank a big mouthful of it. “Can soldiers drink wine? I remembered that the armies from the three kingdoms are restricted from drinking.”
Ke Er Lan Di laughed. “I know this better than you do. However, this type of wine doesn’t have much impact, and aren’t I secretly drinking it now? My brother subordinates were influenced by me and love this wine as well, so they won’t report me.” He grabbed the wine bottle in my hands and drank a mouthful. The blood red wine seeped out from the sides of his mouth. His heroic spirit momentarily affected the crowd as they started to drink too.
This type of feeling wasn’t bad—sitting in front of a fire, eating delicacies and drinking good wine, it was really nice! The gentle breeze caused the leaves to rustle as it blew through the clearing. In addition to chirping of insects, it gave me a rather calm feeling.
After everyone had their fill, only four knights were on watch duty and everyone else started to rest.
Ke Er Lan Di lay side by side with me in watching the stars. He said, “Eighteen, this isn’t the first time you rode a horse, right?”
I smiled wryly. “You could see that? It can’t be counted as my first because I’ve ridden a couple of times before in my childhood.” When I mentioned about my childhood, I started to think about my parents at the faraway Aixia. I didn’t know how were they now. I hadn’t been back for such a long time already. They must be missing me greatly, but I really couldn’t head back now as there were too many things that I needed to settle. Moreover, I had such a ghastly appearance. I wondered if they could still recognise me.
Ke Er Lan Di smiled. “I’ve been a soldier for many years. If I couldn’t figure this out, I would have wasted all my years of training. I could tell from the posture when you rode the horse. You’re already not bad. If it was an ordinary mage, they would just fall forwards. Learning to ride a horse isn’t something you do in one or two days.”
I withdrew my thoughts. “If you were to continue bringing me along, it’ll definitely affect your speed. How about you head back first? We can still meet up in the future.”
Ke Er Lan Di said, “It doesn’t matter. Since we embarked together, we should reach our destination together. It’s alright to be a bit slow, currently the three Human kingdoms, Demons, and Beasts have successfully reconciled. Moreover, there’s the man made rift made by the God’s Envoys. There shouldn’t be any problem.”
The temporary peace might not be something good because the Monster Race were plotting in the dark. They might start to massacre the various races when they reemerged.
Just as I wanted to speak, the sky darkened. It seemed that a sinister cloud had covered the clear night. Ke Er Lan Di also noticed. “Hmm? It can’t be that it’s going to rain, right? There’s no shelter here. If it were to rain, it will be terrible.”
The power of the Holy Sword at my chest suddenly surged. My entire body tensed up. I knew what that cloud was. It was the Holy Sword’s alert that immediately made me become wary. I said seriously, “Ke Er, that’s not right. It doesn’t seem to be clouds. Quickly, have everyone on alert. This atmosphere isn’t right.”