The afternoon sun was once again displaying its magnificence by ruthlessly cooking the mortals below. However, thanks to the stray breeze that blew by once in a while, the two men on the cart were still alive, though they were doing the best they could to keep themselves cool.
It had been three days since Kayden left Dragonsteel, and he quickly realized that he should have rented a carriage rather than settle for this dingy cart. The added roof would have been a lifesaver! To hell with saving money!
Of course, Kayden could cool himself off easily with ice magic, but the old gnome's presence meant that it was nearly impossible. He had tried countless times to do so, but the gnome stopped him at every turn. Casper didn't sleep much and always insisted on following him whenever Kayden tried to sneak away. The only time when he got to use it was during bathroom breaks, but even then, the cooling didn't do much… because Kayden was resistant to cold…
And as if that wasn't enough…
"Boy! Is there any water left?" Casper asked, panting heavily as he sweats up a storm.
"No… I've prepped enough water for myself only… I'm going to need to restock now thanks to you…" Kayden replied, equally as sweaty.
Just as Casper was about to make the seventh complaint of the day, Kayden finally spotted something up ahead. Something both tall and brown, spanning across the horizon came into view, causing Kayden to marvel at its sheer size.
It was a wall. Probably the longest one in the world.
"I think we're here!" Kayden excitedly pulled out a map he had of the Central Continent and began trying to pinpoint where they were, though Hel did it much quicker.
"[We're at Aeia, the border town closest to Dragonsteel. You can most likely replenish your supplies here.]"
Kayden repeated that information to Casper, who jerked up from his seat, excited at the prospect of getting to cool off.
"Well, what are you doing?! Let's GO!"
Together, they urged the horse to go faster and rushed toward the town. Along the way, Kayden could see more and more of the town the closer they got, and he quickly noticed something off.
Like most buildings, they were made of stone bricks and wood, and the pavement below was also paved with stone. One would expect the long wall to be made of stone as well, but instead, it was made with dry earth, spanning thousands of meters across the land to each side.
It was hard to pin it, but Kayden had a sneaking suspicion that the wall was just recently built.
'But that doesn't make sense… I'm pretty sure it wasn't like this before… and there's no way the town can build that wall in such a short time…'
He looked over at Casper, who didn't seem to find anything wrong with it. Kayden supposed that a gnome that never left the Verdant Forest until recently wouldn't know about human matters. He was going to have to ask around about it later.
It took them another fifteen minutes before they reached the outskirts of the town where the poor folk lived. Although he thought that, the houses weren't so different from the inner parts of the town, but rather, were just more run down. Additionally, there was that familiar atmosphere… that familiar stench… of despair.
Kayden found a kind-looking woman and decided to ask about the wall.
"Excuse me, Ma'am. Would you happen to know about that wall? I don't believe it was here before, right?"
The woman, who was dressed in tattered clothing, didn't answer him and instead held her hand out with her palm facing upward. It was the universal gesture for 'Give me money'.
Kayden grinned and pulled out a silver piece from his pouch to the evident surprise of the woman. One silver was enough to last them several days.
But before Kayden could generously hand over the silver piece, Casper stood up and suddenly slapped it out of his hand.
There was a sharp intake of breath as Kayden nearly cursed the gnome out. That was right. This stupid gnome could see through his illusions.
"Sorry about that! This boy is a stingy bastard! Here's an actual silver piece, now please answer his question from before."
Kayden glared at the gnome as the woman graciously took the coin and began fulfilling her end of the bargain.
When she spoke for the first time, they noticed that her voice was quite raspy.
"Cough. Cough. The wall here was only erected a few days ago."
"A few days ago?" Kayden asked in surprise. Building a wall of such size in a span of a few days should have been impossible.
"Yeah. It's best you go ask the guards. They know about the details better than anyone."
Kayden was about to complain that her information wasn't worth the one silver, but Casper quickly shut him up.
"Hey! That wasn't—"
[Target is using tier 2 spell: Deafen]
[Spell learnt: Deafen]
Kayden scolded the woman, but it felt like his words fell upon deaf ears. In fact, that was probably what happened, and he was now completely helpless. The woman merely dug in her ears, confused at her sudden deafness.
'I didn't think that this was included under illusion magic… This spell will come in handy when discussing things with Hel.'
With nothing he could say, Kayden settle for rude gestures, but an illusion was placed over him to make him look like he was giving a thumbs-up.
"Well, good luck with your future endeavors, girl. We'll be going." Casper said hurriedly, urging the horse onward before Kayden could try any more tricks. Once they had left the woman's vicinity, Casper sighed in desperation.
"Did you really have to do that? I thought you were sensible enough not to take advantage of the needy!"
"Hah! I will take advantage of anyone I want! Besides, it's not like I was stealing from her!" Kayden argued as he proudly shared one of his life's philosophies. "She didn't do anything deserving of the money. If you can spare a silver out of the kindness of your heart, why can't she spare the information out of the kindness of hers?"
Casper shook his head.
"It's the duty of the more fortunate to help out the less. The Verdant King and many other Gods say so. In fact, the God of Thieves' main philosophy is to steal from the rich to give to the poor. A silver piece is nothing to us, but a big help to them. So what's the harm?"
Kayden pinched his nose and sighed, "You should really become a priest or something… It suits you. Also, don't compare me with the God of Thieves."
"Hmm? I thought you worshiped the God?" Casper questioned.
"Nope! I wish to… How do I put this? To replace him!"
Indeed, now that Kayden had the power of the System, his ambitions had grown drastically as compared to before. Originally, he admired the God, hoping to even have a fraction of his skill, but now, he was aiming for the position himself!
"[Heh. Your greed knows no bounds. Keep in mind that such a lofty goal isn't possible without me.]" Hel kindly reminded him.
"Ha! Well, good luck with that!" Casper laughed and looked away, and Kayden could tell that he didn't believe him. Well, that was fine, Kayden didn't believe he could do it either, at least, not as he is now.
With that, their discussion had come to a close, and they had found a stable to temporarily keep the horse. After covering the cart and horse with an illusory veil, both of them set off to do what needed to be done.
Casper wanted to ask around about his daughter, while Kayden had to resupply, as well as ask questions about the wall. Bidding a temporary farewell to the old gnome, Kayden left to find a guard to speak to.
Eventually, after a round of questions from a reasonable guard he found, he got the answers he wanted and was recommended a good place to restock his supplies and rest for the night. In a fairly large tavern named 'The Crispy Cow', the two reconvened and shared the information they learned.
Casper started first.
"Here's what I've learned. Riva, my daughter, was kidnapped before the wall was built, so it's very likely that they have already passed through. Apparently, the largest slave trading hub in the Arcadian Kingdom lies in the capital, so that will be my next destination."
Kayden shook his head, "The capital isn't exactly on the way to the Solus Academy though. I won't be able to accompany you there."
"That's fine. It's not guaranteed that Riva will be there anyway." Casper sighed, the worry in his voice apparent, "I'll need you to search for her during your stay at the academy. Any information you can get… is welcome…"
His voice cracked at the end as he buried his face into his calloused hands. Casper looked incredibly distraught, and Kayden could see why. About two weeks has passed since they made the deal, and they were no closer to finding his daughter. All the bravado Casper had was just a front; Him trying to stay calm even when the situation seemed hopeless.
Now that all that stress had reached a breaking point, it all came gushing out like water from a broken dam.
"It's… it's been a month since I last saw her… she'll be safe, right?"
Kayden had no words. There was just no guarantee for anything since slave traders came in all shapes and sizes. The best case scenario? Riva is perfectly fine, bought by a master who is nice, but that situation is quite rare. It was far more likely for the worst-case scenario to happen… and Kayden didn't want to think about it.
At that point, death might be a mercy.
Casper looked up at him with tears at the corners of his eyes. Kayden could guess the question he was going to ask next.
"Y-you… you should know. What's going to happen to her?"
Kayden unconsciously reached for his left cheek and scratched it. He had forgotten that Casper knew this small detail about him. Well, there was no way he could tell a worried father some morbid details, so the best he could do was play dumb. He shook his head and shrugged in response to Casper's question.
"I-I see… Then, what about your end?"
Eager to move on to other topics, Kayden shared all the info he had learned.
"There was a terrorist attack in the capital of the Adelastor Kingdom involving the use of tier 5 magic spell orbs. Thousands of people were killed. Thanks to that, Kingdoms all around Galio are tightening their security, and the Land God put up massive walls along the borders. Now, everyone needs a pass of some kind before they can enter different lands, and all spell orbs are to be forfeited to the guards."
This was news to Casper, whose mouth was agape in shock. Kayden couldn't blame him, he was shocked the first time he heard about it too.
'I mean, these spell orbs cost money! Now I'm supposed to hand them over for free?'
That wasn't the only problem. Now that there were guards checking the belongings of everyone that passed through, Kayden was going to have a hard time sneaking the drugs through. He couldn't risk just jumping over the wall, since who knows what the Land God had in store for trespassers? That guy built such massive walls in such a short amount of time!
Kayden was going to have to come up with some sort of plan.
But even more than his drugs, there was one detail that worried Kayden, a detail that he didn't share with the gnome. The terrorist attack happened a few days ago… on the exact day he left Dragonsteel. Now, that could be easily dismissed as a coincidence, but his master happened to have left for the Adelastor Kingdom on that very same day. This couldn't be a coincidence, right? He sure hoped it was.
'Well, I just hope she's safe. Hopefully, she'll contact me soon about this…'
After having a quick dinner, Kayden rented a single room at the tavern for himself. Casper wasn't going to sleep, and how could he? Kayden ordered a bottle of alcohol from the bartender and handed it to the distraught gnome.
Alcohol always seemed to make people happy, especially his master, and he figured why not the gnome too?
Of course, he wasn't going to pay for it. The gnome could handle it himself.
As for him, he was going to retire for the night early. Tomorrow, he was going to have to find a way to smuggle the drugs in, one way or another. Who knows? Perhaps just turning it invisible was enough to do the trick.
Either way, there was no sense worrying about it now. Yawning a goodnight to Hel, he crashed into the not-so-soft bed and quickly fell asleep.
Once again, Kayden was painfully obvious to how the course of his life was about to change once more. In the dark interior of his room, a soft, azure glow emanated from the sapphire ring on his pinky, brightening the room considerably, before disappearing…
And then, the ring remained dormant.