Chapter 198: Detour
After exiting the Adventurer’s Guild, I made sure that there wasn’t anybody around before circulating magical power in my body at high speed and quickly ran to the gate.
It was great that with my level ups coupled with my body strengthening, my running speed had increased considerably but as expected, there were soldiers at the gate and there were even a large number of knights on standby.
“I should have guessed~. Even if I have not done anything wrong, they definitely won’t let me pass through.”
I thought of passing through by knocking them down but that would probably play into the hands of my opponent, so I don’t want to use that method and instead tried to borrow the Wind Dragon’s strength.
“Just now was a fluke but this time I must have a proper image of taking flight and landing … concentrate, concentrate.”
I entered an alley and searched for a place without soldiers using presence and magical power detection.
Then, I aimed for a place on the outer wall where it looked like there weren’t any soldiers stations there.
Well, I did say that I would put in my all to jump but I might actually soar beyond what I intend for and as I don’t wish to make a gamble now and I might be detected if I am at a low altitude, I decided to escape by flying through the sky.
“Wind Dragon, become my wings to freely fly in the sky.”
I sensed that wind was gathering and when I kicked the ground, I soared upwards and my body steadily flew higher, I reached 10 meters, 20 meters, no, even higher than that in the blink of the eye and was flying.
When I looked down at the Holy Capital while I was up there, I found that there were a few knights hiding under black robes waiting on the outer wall where there wasn’t supposed to be anyone.
“A magic tool that blocks presence and magical power? That was dangerous.”
Perhaps because they kept staring towards the direction of the gate, they did not notice me.
Well, they probably never would have guessed that somebody would fly through the sky.
Looking from above just like a spectator, I successfully escaped from the Holy Capital.
After flying for about another hundred meters, I once again returned to land.
The magical power consumption was getting intense and considering the road ahead, I felt that preserving magical power was the most important task.
For some time after that, I continued running while activating my body strengthening.
After taking some distance from the Holy Capital, I took out the Hermit Stable’s Key from my magic bag. I’ll have Fornoir come out.
Fornoir immediately came out after I turned the key.
“It might be hard relying on only the moonlight but can you take me to Meratoni?”
“Burururuuu.”
“Thank you.”
After stroking her neck, I straddled on her back.
“Very well, let’s go.”
“Burururu.”
Without fear of the dark, Fornoir energetically began galloping through the land.
I originally planned to wake Nadia and Lydia up and proceed together with them but since there were no other horses housed in the stables, I decided to keep them asleep until morning.
But now, that seemed to be the correct decision.
Fornoir’s galloping speed on land was faster than before and the bouncing motion was minimal so it felt as if I was flying through the air.
If an ordinary horse was running alongside us, it would probably be left in the dust.
While thinking that she was a really reliable partner, I occasionally cast Heal as we advanced.
Of course, even for an excellent spirit-possessed horse like Fornoir, continuously running would be difficult and she would sweat so while keeping an eye out for our surroundings, I let her rehydrate and cast purification on her to maintain her stamina and motivation as we proceeded.
The moon sank below the horizon and the surroundings gradually turned brighter as the east sky was dyed in a pale red light.
“It’s beautiful. Now that I think about it, I’ve not looked at the sky recently.”
When I muttered that, the joyfully running Fornoir gradually decreased her speed and began to slowly trot while staring at the sky.
“Looks like you really understand my words. I’m envious of Pope-sama who can converse with Fornoir.”
“… Bururu.”
“Ah~ Sorry. Ah, it’s already that village huh? Didn’t that take even less than half the time I usually take? As expected of you partner.”
While thanking and patting Fornoir, I looked at the village in the distance.
“They would probably still be sleeping at this time so I guess I don’t need to stop by this time.”
It was when I decided to pass by the village.
The Hermit Coffin Key flew out from my magic bag and turned in the air on its own, causing a door to appear and open.
“Ooo, it’s like that huh. Even if it’s inside the magic bag, once the people inside wakes up, it would fly out huh.”
Just as I was feeling surprised, Nadia and Lydia exited looking slightly languid.
“”Luciel-sama, good morning.””
“Morning. Why are the two of you looking so languid?”
It was Lydia who answered.
“That Darkness Spirit-sama’s magic was powerful so I feel slightly ill.”
“Ah. I see.”
The Darkness Spirit didn’t say that the magic cast on the two of them would be tough but I could tell that it was from their gestures.
I got off and after casting High Heal and Purification on Fornoir, I cast only Purification on the two of them.
“How is it?”
It looked like it helped regain some color to their complexions.
“I feel a lot better.”
“I can depart anytime if it’s like this.”
“Bururu.”
The two of them looked like they made a full recovery as they thanked me with smiles.
Incidentally, Fornoir also looked like she was saying that her stamina has recovered and she was feeling good so it was slightly funny to see.
“It can’t be helped since you two have woken up. Fornoir, do you mind pulling a carriage?”
“Bururu.”
She replied but unlike the relaxed mood previously, she looked melancholic while averting her gaze.
Lydia panicked.
“We can’t have Light Spirit-sama pull a carriage … that’s right, why don’t we purchase horses from that village?”
“That’s right. With a carriage, it would be troublesome if it gets stuck in a situation where we can’t move forward.”
Looking at her younger sister, Nadia also pointed out the dangers of moving via carriage so I also changed my thoughts.
“Burururuu.”
Looks like Fornoir also understands it well.
I felt like I heard such an auditory hallucination but I’ll leave it aside for now.
“It can’t be helped. Then, Fornoir, you can rest in the Hermit’s stable for now. I might need you to run again at a moment’s notice, so you should get some sleep too.”
Fornoir didn’t show any resistance as she nodded and entered the Hermit’s Stable.
“Then, see you soon.”
Fornoir shook her tail and entered without replying.
“Well then, let’s head for the village. Do the two of you remember that village?”
“It’s the village we visited before we went to the Holy Capital right?”
“Ah, now that you mention it, I do somewhat recall it.”
The two of them answered hesitantly but I reflected on my unreasonable question this time and talked about the village.
“I guess it’s natural that you two won’t recall by looking at it from such a distance and having only been here once. The previous time, we didn’t come in contact with the residents much but there was a demon within the village so it might give some hints to the incident with the Principality of Blange so I’ll try asking around.”
“”Okay.””
While thinking about how we fought with a demon in that village and about the village elder who became the demon and the villagers, I said that to the two of them who were pretending to not be concerned about their home country but they replied with a nod despite looking stiff so it was a relief.
Thus we detoured to the village.
Author’s note:
Thank you for reading.