Trekking along the forest path across the river, we managed to head downhill once more. I could see the trail we should've taken before we were blocked. It seemed the river ran further down that way, something that Korbyn brought up.
"We have a river that flows to both sides. We have three rivers that do that, one's actually right next to our kingdom. Fun spot to swim in."
"Surely, these kids know how to swim?" Elena asked. "Most of the younglings in Ozoth know how to swim, I'm uncertain if you guys know."
"I can't swim!" I remember Chris said. And Korbyn gave him a chuckle.
"Oh, you'll learn. How about a swimming lesson with me? I'll toss you in there."
"Really?"
"Hopefully you have good arm strength, that river flow is quite strong. You might even drift downstream, haha!…That's not good."
Chris has remained silent the rest of our walk after that.
During our walk, I looked at Amelia and noticed she hadn't spoken either this whole walk, she had a stoic face for most of the walk besides her usual annoyed look. something seemed off to me…
Two hours passed with us walking, all of us either drenched from the heat going on. It was spring time right now, but The inevitable heat of summer was approaching. I had to flap my shirt just to air out the heat, While Lilith rolled her sleeves and unclipped her cloak. I didn't realize how much of a pain it'd be to be walking out in this heat. Luckily I was able to use a beginner water spell to fill up our bottles, kinda handy in this sort of situation.
The rest of the group seemed to feel the heat as well, Chris was sitting on Benjamin the horse and he looked drenched in sweat still. Chris's shirt was wet with sweat, he waved a fan that he had in his baggage along his face to keep cool. Kale also had his Cloak removed, alongside his shirt. Korbyn joined along with Kale's look much to Elena's Dismay.
"Can you respect the reputation we have as guards for King Vergis?" She said, but even as she turned to look back, I could see beads of sweat on her forehead and more sweat dripping down her chin.
We are all feeling this heat.
And now I'm starting to feel a bit thirsty. Guess it's time to whip out the magic again and drink some of it. I didn't have a bottle, so drinking from my hand will have to do…
I casted a water ball so that I could get a good swing of cold water. One thing I did learn in the University was this: Since Mana was basically the purest form of any magic, casting a water spell or wind spell ensures that they are clean unless combined with another spell. Safely put, it was pretty safe to just drink your own Mana than to take water from the rivers.
I draped my hand in front of me, pressing my lips against the ball of water as I began to drink from it. It was then I noticed from the corner of my eyes that someone was looking at me drinking.
Lilith waved her hand in front of her face, her eyes staring right at my hand.
"Care to share?" She asked. "Both of us don't have bottles to use. And I haven't gotten to drink anything for this whole trip!"
"Here." I moved my hand towards her. As we walked. She leaned forward even more to drink from the ball of water. Letting out a big sigh, Lilith wiped the sweat from her forehead and smiled.
Seems like Lilith had fully recovered from the ambush. I had a quick examination of her and quickly realized that she had some broken ribs, luckily my Healing spell was able to heal that up. And me? Well I managed to heal up my wrist when they were grabbed by Victor. Other than that, I didn't take as much of a beating as Lilith took.
"Fwah, cold water really helps calm the burning heat." Lilith let out another sigh. She then opened the top of her button shirt, allowing air to flow through. I could see beads of sweat shimmering along her cleavage. "Ahh…"
My eyes locked onto her now open cleavage, neurons were being activated right now and I was certain that they had gotten bigger than before. What is she eating? What has she been doing?
Wait, if she's half dragon…does that mean she stores fire into her chest? Nah, that sounds stupid…but stupid enough to make sense?
"Kota? Are you listening to me?Your water ball is deforming!" Lilith broke me out of my trance. I looked at my hand that was holding the water ball and realized that it had lost its shape. Water began to dribble onto my hand and onto the floor before suddenly popping and letting the rest of the water fall onto the ground.
Come on, Travis, losing focus like that. All it took was a cleavage of a girl and you managed to lose control, Behave yourself!
"Ah, my mind was preoccupied. Did you still need water?" I looked at her, trying to focus on her face. My eyes veered from her eyes to her chest multiple times before she then gave me a flick to my forehead.
"Keep your eyes up! You can stare later!" She barked at me.
Eh, Later?
"You didn't even listen!" She pouted, she raised her finger and pointed at Claire and Amelia. "Did you hear about when I talked about Amelia?"
"My eyes…were attached to something. Can you repeat it?"
"Ugh, I said there was something wrong with Amelia. You noticed it, right?"
I veered my eyes towards Amelia and Claire. The two were beside Benjamin and Chris, who rode on top of him. They were ahead of us, but I could see Amelia staring off into the woods. Something preoccupied her mind. Claire didn't seem to bother noticing it, casually speaking with Chris about something.
"She's been staring off for some time. I'm kind of worried." Lilith's tone was concerning. And to be honest, I was a little. I don't think I've seen Amelia be this down before, I'm sorta missing out the aggressive nature she usually has.
"What do you think we should do?" I turned to ask Lilith, but instead of seeing Lilith, I saw the face of Korbyn. Who managed to get in between the both of us.
"Yeah, what should we do? I don't know what you two are talking about, but I'm in!" Korbyn smiled, his arm placed over my shoulders and Liliths. "Got bored of chatting with old man Kale, so I came slithering to you two buckos."
The smell of sweat filled my nose. It was then I realized how much this guy sweated. His face was basically drenched in the heat, his chin dropped of sweat as well. Lilith didn't seem to mind his smell, but I pinched my nose at it.
"We're worried about Amelia. Something's been up with her since we left the river." She answered him. She then tilted her head and raised a brow as she too noticed the ridiculous amount of sweat coming off his face. "Do you always sweat like that?"
"Yep!" Korbyn let go of me and Lilith, it was also then I realized that the man was glistening in sweat as well. "In this kind of heat, I sweat quite a lot! Guess it's just my body doing its thing!" His abs clenched and his arms flexed, sweat splashing from him. "So, the Amelia girl. Guess she's feeling off, huh? You know, I'm pretty sure I've seen her when she was younger."
"Er…Really?" A bit of sweat actually hit my face, so I wiped it. "Where?"
"Ah…Didn't talk with her. I recall being in the trading district and I saw her father, she most likely tagged along to learn alongside him. When was this…Like a couple years ago? Didn't seem like she really enjoyed being there."
"What were you doing there in the trading district?"
"Hm? Some time ago, there was an Illegal affair going on amongst the traders. Illegal imported goods and reports of traders selling illegal slaves as well, really brutal stuff." Korbyn put a hand to his chin, remembering. "If I recall, we only managed to find reports of some traders actually selling illegal goods. Usually we have all traders in our kingdom record their transactions, and we manage to catch some traders. As for the slavery…that was a tricky one."
"You guys keep records of that?" Lilith asked.
"Mostly. Most slaves are either those in debt or those who were tried in our court. We keep records of those people, in an effort to keep track of them. However, there's multiple occasions where we find slaves from other regions without any records. Those slaves are easier to buy as some people don't want any records of evening owning a slave. Cheap as hell too, it's quick money for those who are capable of capturing people. And Without a record, some slaves can become untraceable."
Lilith frowned. "Hm…so you couldn't catch anyone?"
"N. Seemed like everyone was selling slaves in the correct ways. Which
"Man." I butted in.
"Man? That's a dude?" Korbyn thought for a moment. "Hmm, Alrighty then. King Vergis believes him to be the cause of the kidnappings and quite possibly the reasoning of the unrecorded slaves. We've been trying to capture him for some time, but we always come back empty handed."
…Did he just trail off from the actual Topic? I thought we were talking about Amelia, now we're talking about this. I cleared my throat to get his attention, I should probably reel him back to the main topic me and Lilith were discussing.
"Ahem…does this have to do with anything about Amelia?"
"Hm? Oh!" Korbyn nodded, realizing his mistake. M"Sorry, got sidetracked. But if I had to take a wild guess…She doesn't like her father. She's probably in a mean spirit just thinking about walking back to her father."
"Hmm…" Lilith rubbed her chin, thinking. "Reminds me of myself."
"If I recall, Mr.Mallory was a well known trader in the district. He handled imported goods like magical scroll and other magical items, he was pretty strict when it came to how they were handled. There was no indication he was doing illicit work from our records, so he's been clean. But I guess family issues are different from business issues."
I took a look at Amelia, remembering she was scolding me for being afraid of seeing my parents. Seeing that she might be having similar problems to me…was she projecting onto me?
"I think you should follow her home, just be there in case something arises." Korbyn brought up the idea. "Worse case is that the whole house turns into a battleground, but at least you'll be there!"
Ok, good chance that'll never happen. But his idea sounds reasonable. Maybe Amelia will feel more at ease with me and Lilith around, I'm sure Kale wouldn't mind letting us help her before we help with Chris's issue.
As much as I dislike Amelia…Can't help but feel obliged to help when she put herself in danger for me earlier. It'll put us at even.
"Well, I'm off to annoy Kale. Going to flex my muscles right at him, show him an elf at his peak strength. Maybe give him a little demonstration of what a Wind King user can do." Korbyn stepped back from us and sidestepped. "We're just about there to Ozoth. Maybe another hour."
And Korbyn went off, crouching and walking to Kale who was walking with Elena with no signs of awareness. The dark skin man hugged Kale from behind, lifting the taller man up from his feet.
"You're open!" I heard a Korbyn yell.
"Ah, get your fucking hands off me! You're a sweating freak!" Kale tried to pry the man's hands off him. The two men were shirtless and basically holding each other close.
Nothing unusual here.
Focusing on other things though, I reverted my gaze back to Lilith. She seemed to not be bothered by the two men hugging, rather she seemed more intrigued by it. Was this an awakening for her? I don't know, and I don't think I'm prepared to handle that conversation.
"Hey, you think we should go with Amelia to her home?" Lilith thought for a moment when I asked her. She brushed her silver hair as she answered.
"We'll need to talk with Kale about it…But I think he'd be fine with us going. I'm sure Chris wouldn't really need us for what he's going to do with the king."
"If you think so."
Lilith frowned, folding her arms. "Hey, have some more faith in Chris!"
"Do you think he's going to do well with talking?"
"…This isn't about me! You and him are more acquainted than I am! I think you know full well what I think of him!" Lilith's face reddened. It wasn't long ago when we found out Chris was making stories of him and Lilith. I guess she is still disturbed by it. I mean, I am too. "So be a bit nicer to him!"
"Alright, I'll hope that Chris does well. Even though it's a slim chance." I raised my hands in defeat.
Lilith stiffened at my response oddly enough. She tapped her fingers together, as if waiting for a moment to speak once more. I gave her a curt look as she stuttered over her next words. Something that took me by a bit of surprise.
"T-that's right! I also have another r-request! It's more personal, b-but can you maintain a friendly relationship with Amelia?"
Ohoh, A little jealous that I'm in contact with another girl? That's a little new to Lilith. Well, I should listen to that. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure she'd punch a hole in me…
"As you wish, my queen."
"Don't say that!" Lilith hastily walked forward, embarrassed by what I said. She didn't look back as she moved ahead of me, but I could tell that she was cringing about it.
I laughed to myself as I tried to catch up with her. Just another hour or so with walking, and we'll be at the gates of Ozoth.
****
An hour indeed passed and all of us stood at what I assumed was the most beautiful gate I've ever seen. It put Prusha's large wooden gates to shame when comparing them. They had an elegant design to them and seemed to have been cleaned on a much more daily basis.
A large river ran underneath the drawbridge. A slight drop that I'm sure people must've dived off the drawbridge to get into the water. The drawbridge itself looked to be in good condition, it looked like it could withstand multiple people standing on it without faltering. Really this whole view that we all had made it seem like this gate was an entrance to the real magical world.
The stone walls that hid the Kingdom behind it were well made, a slight glimmer shined on them. I then realized that these walls were most likely magically enchanted, something I believe Only Prusha has for their university…
Really makes me question what the hell Prusha was. Comparing the two was like comparing a cheap motel to a luxury one. Ozoth by the looks of it, is miles ahead of what Prusha looked.
Then I remembered what King Lucian kept alluding to. Always saying to keep the Market district open, never ruin their Reputation. It was all business to him, from running the kingdom to how he treats Chris.
I glanced at Chris, who was riding on Benjamin. The younger boy had a look of awe as he stared at the large wall. Probably his first time seeing something like this too…He's probably going to write something about this in his stories, isn't he?
Lilith looked in awe too, but she was looking down towards the river. When I took a glance down alongside her, I noticed that there was a hole just below the stone walls across from us. Some odd reason, they kinda looked like sewage pipes.
"Look at how far this goes down! And look at how far the river goes!" Lilith exclaimed, she smiled and laughed as she looked down the river. "I want to head down there at some point!"
"Hey, we have stuff to do first." I patted her shoulder. She began to sulk, so I reiterated myself. "We have things to do, but I'm sure we'll at some point see what's down there."
"I hope so! I want to relax and lay in the river!"
Then, Me and Lilith heard shuffling. I turned around and saw Elena standing on the Drawbridge.
Elena stood in front of us all, Her green uniform had its upper buttons undone which revealed what was Underneath. It became apparent to me that she was hiding some massive mounds within that outfit. She wasn't as big as Tera, but it was a commendable effort. They hugged tightly against her uniform and seemed to threaten to explode the other buttons to her uniform. Seems like she was hiding the fact she had them in the first place but the heat got to her. How the hell do those buttons even stay together? Either way, Elena took no mind of it and continued on. She had a welcoming smile on her face as she then raised her arms as if showcasing what was behind her, which was the entrance into Ozoth.
"Welcome to Ozoth, The kingdom of the Great Library and Home to King Vergis!" She announced. "For starters, let us assist in guiding you to King Vergis. Chris has important things to focus on with him, so that is priority. The two blue haired girls…" Elena looked at Claire and Amelia. "Welcome home, I'm sure you two will find your way home."
Claire bowed her head to her. "Thank you so much, Miss Elena."
Elena only nodded and looked towards Kale. "Let us head inside. I'm getting tired of drenching myself in my own sweat. We'll head straight to King Vergis, let's move."
Kale nodded, he then put his shirt back on. The Man needs some dignity while heading into the place. He began to talk as she pulled his shirt on. "Alright, kids. This should be easy. Once Chris begins his talk, I'll be able to stay beside him to make sure he doesn't cause much trouble. But I'll need you two to stay as well to le-."
"Up-up-woah!" Korbyn waved his hands. "Not necessary to do that, kale. Let's let the both of us assist in that. Give the kids a good break."
Kale finally out his shirt on, suspicion filtered his face as he looked at Korbyn. "Erm…But they need to watch over Chris, it's their duty."
"Yeah…But what would they need to do when Chris has you? And the fact that this'll be a secure meeting? Maybe cut the kids some slack with what they did to stop that Pink haired…person's attack. I think the kids need some more time to ease up." As he finished, Korbyn quickly winked at me and Lilith.
Kale looked at him for a good moment before rubbing his head. "Well…as much as I'm mad at the two, it probably would be nice for the two to experience the kingdom and see what's there. Plus…I don't think it'd be that hard to handle Chris." He looked at me and Lilith. "Alright, I'll handle Chris's situation. I guess you two can explore, just don't get lost."
"Ah-We'll just tag along with Claire and Amelia!" Lilith quickly suggested.
Korbyn smiled at her. Obviously smiling at how his idea was being used by us.
"…Alright, that's fine. Those two should know the place better than me. At least Claire." Kale then sighed. "Ah… just don't get into any troubles…"
"No promises! But I'll be sure to not!" Lilith held a thumbs up to Kale.
And with that, we set out with Claire and Amelia while Kale set out with Chris to meet the king…