Near the border between the Kruger Province and the Croma Province, Zarba's carriage could be seen moving at a quick speed along the road amidst the wheat fields in the evening as the skeleton horses, now looking just like normal white horses thanks to Xin's illusion enchantment, currently pull the carriage alongside the ranger knights who are riding on top of the golem mounts escorting the carriage, while some travelers who see the group of knights quickly make way for them on the road, afraid to get involved with the individual who has such a group of well-equipped guards accompanying them.
Inside the carriage, with gentle light from the glowstones illuminating the interior, the bored Zarba is sitting quietly while leaning his back on the seat beside Xin, who is sleeping like a baby next to him in her white pajama robe as she hugs a frilly pink body pillow with her arms and her leg draped over it.
Ever since Xin finished enchanting the golem mounts with illusion enchantment, the half-elf has been taking it easy, as she doesn't have to keep looking out for any people that might show up on their way for Zarba anymore, so she can just laze around like a house cat when she's not in the mood for reading stuff.
They had been traveling non-stop since Zarba went to some improvised-looking village nearby and dumped all of the bandit gang's stuff in the middle of the village under the confused gaze of the villagers, who were quite spooked by the group of unknown black knights that suddenly came to their village and began unloading random things in front of the village chief's house in total silence.
Zarba, who accompanied the ranger knights, also didn't even stop to explain anything properly to the villagers and only declared to them that it was a donation from a kind-hearted man before he immediately went away with his knights, leaving the villagers to look at each other uncertainly behind him.
With the useless goods taken care of, the group can now travel onward without any interruption to hide the skeleton horses from the uneducated people like before, as the tireless illusion-cloaked golems have traveled the land and covered the distance of hundreds of kilometers across the Kruger province in just a couple of hours.
Zarba shifted lazily on the seat next to the sleeping Xin as he turned to see the half-elf's sleeping form curled cutely around the body pillow with her black hair spilling across the red embroidered cushion. The faint rhythmic sounds of hooves and wheels filled the silence inside the carriage as Zarba yawned before he stood up from the seat.
Zarba moved quietly to avoid waking up Xin as he headed toward the carriage window. He then pulled aside the curtain just enough to peer outside. He sees the landscape rush past under the darkness of the night and pale light of the moon—a flat expanse of harvested fields giving way to a forest on the horizon.
Ahead of the carriage, the Croma province's border could be seen on the horizon. Zarba could almost taste the dampness of the Croma marshes on the night air; he was sure that if not for the magic runes to filter out the smell, he could probably smell the decaying vegetation and musky swarms by now.
It seems they would probably cross the province to Croma before dawn soon at this current speed of traveling.
'We are halfway there…' Zarba thought with some relief that next from Croma there's only Zenobia province left, as after that they will reach the Great Golden Empire borders with the Sanadia Kingdom, a classic medieval European kingdom from what he found out.
He also heard the rumors that right now the Council of Four, which is the four separate major organizations of the world, now rules that country instead of a very old and severely ill king as a regent of sorts for some reason.
Zarba doesn't know much else about the Sanadia Kingdom from the game, though, as the game plot only concentrated on the Great Golden Empire, so he doesn't really know what to expect in that country. He's just going to simply do what he has been doing so far and keep traveling anonymously and hope for the best, but if trouble somehow finds its way to him, then he's just going to overrun it with his infinite summoned units and bury it alive with bodies.
'I pray that my protagonist status doesn't suddenly act up and force me to be involved in whatever is going on over there though…' Zarba prayed sincerely in his heart since he saw it too many times in various stories that when the fictional protagonist goes somewhere, they will always end up in a troublesome or dangerous situation, maybe even both!
"Mmh…?" When he was raising the flag for himself, he felt it—a prickling sensation in his skin, like a gaze of something focusing on him from far beyond the material realm, a similar sensation to Xin's clairvoyance when she cast the spell to locate him, just like when the assassins first attacked.
Zarba tensed up as he immediately knew that some magician was trying to locate him while his left hand gripped tight on the curtain as the gold ring with a diamond-like crystal on his left middle finger glowed faintly with magic light. The magic enchanted ring heated up, its passive anti-clairvoyant ward flaring like a silent alarm.
Thanks to the enchanted ring, Zarba is safe from such things, but it can only defend against common scrying spells, though…
He scanned the darkness of the landscape outside warily, his eyes narrowed, wondering if there was any magician nearby, but from what he could see, there was nothing moving but the wind through the grasses as his summoned units rode on, oblivious to the spell that just targeted their summoner.
"Mmmmn… yes… take me… husband…" While the situation was going on, Xin just murmured in her sleep, shifting against the body pillow without noticing anything inside her dream…
÷×÷×÷
On the other side of the Great Golden Empire, Helga's crystal ball flickered with chaotic images: a blur of white horse legs kicking up dust, the black knights riding on the road, and the vague silhouette of a man. The image is fractured, dissolving into static like a broken TV screen and then just dispersed a second later. Helga was pouting a bit as she was shaking her head at the expected result. "Well, he's got some means of defense, just as I expected. Clairvoyance is not going to work."
Seraphina, sitting in front of Helga, gripped tight on the table edge. "Another method—please try doing those as well."
Helga snatched the crown prince's hair strand from on top of the crystal with a shrug. "Fine. Indirect it is. Let's see... where is the map...?"
"Ahh… so messy… I should tidy up the place… maybe tomorrow… or maybe next month…" She mumbled to herself while rummaging under the table, sending some random items and trinkets clattering around the tent, and then she finally pulled out a worn map of the Empire. She smoothed it over the table after she replaced the crystal ball with the map.
"Using a mini ritual to track his general location with the map should do the trick. Less precise, but wards usually don't block such methods very well, so we can try this method." Helga placed the hair strand on the middle of the map while she was explaining to Seraphina. "I'm going to need your help a little, though, so hold my hands. Focus on him—his face, his voice, his name, and especially your weird obsession with him..."
Seraphina immediately did as Helga said and clasped her friend's hands tightly while closing her eyes and letting her longing feeling for Zarba run amok. "Please find him..."
Then Helga started to chant with a low voice in a gibberish language, with her green eyes glowing faintly beneath her bangs. The hair strand of Zarba began to vibrate, then flew up and hovered in the air before the hair strand shot west across the map before stopping abruptly near the Croma Province border marker. It quivered there, emitting a faint, warm glow.
"He's currently around the Croma border," Helga breathed, releasing Seraphina's hands. The hair glow faded as the hair turned into dust from mana overload, a phenomenon when objects are overcharged with so much mana that they break down and turn into dust or simply explode. "He's probably about to cross to Croma tonight."
Seraphina feels pain in her heart as her prince Zarba's hair is lost forever, but she steel her heart before she snatches the map, tracing the route with a trembling finger. "The Croma marshes... then he's probably heading straight through Zenobia to the Sanadia Kingdom... where my father's assassins could be waiting for him anywhere and anytime…!"
Helga slumped back on her chair, looking at Seraphina behind her bangs. "I've done all you asked, Sera. Now get out and go home before someone accidentally sees you came here and starts gossiping about me scamming the Duke's daughter or something..."
"Uhh… Helga… there's still another thing..." Seraphina looks at her friend sheepishly as she then pulls out a letter with red heart-shaped wax from in between her generous cleavage.
"You actually want me to deliver your letter as well…?" Helga looks at Seraphina with a deadpan expression after seeing the letter. 'The audacity of this bitch…'