"About four whole days, my lord."
Before leaving his room, Invictus asked Aeriel if the doctor knew about his identity and his current situation. And Aeriel was not sure if Thorp knew.
"We are a burden to Thorp and his daughter for four days. We will be leaving after this, Aeriel. Staying here any longer will only add to their burden. My presence in itself is actually endangering Thorp and Graciela."
The father's and daughter's well-being was a concern for Invictus. After helping them by letting them in and treating Ariel's wound, saving her from imminent death, Invictus would not put them at further risk. If King
Estaroth ever catches wind of what Thorp did, they might get a public execution to set an example. But, Invictus is not sure if the king knows that he is still alive and kicking.
Not so long after eating breakfast, when Graciela also finished packing some food for both Invictus and Aeriel, adding a pouch of Plata, which is the currency in Estaria, Invictus and Aeriel expressed their utmost gratitude to Thorp and his daughter, then bid their farewells to each other.
"Someday, I'll definitely make it up for Thorp. He is a genuinely kind guy and deserves all he owns."
The two took an indirect path leading to a provincial town outside of the capital. He can't be seen walking around in broad daylight because almost every Estarian knows of his identity.
And since Thorp was aware of Invictus' situation, he had Graciela fetch a mask that only covers three-fourths of his face. Therefore, the left part of his upper face could be seen, although there was nothing particular that could be seen as a semblance, which could lead to people thinking of him as Invictus.
"The mask isn't some, but I'll have to put up with it. Even if we are taking a detour to reach our destination, it does not mean that we won't be encountering people."
Invictus heard Aeriel chuckle softly, her hand on her mouth and her eyes
disappearing as she did so.
"So, even Ariel finds my appearance funny?"
Thorp was quite fascinated by fashion. He has a lot of different types of clothes, those that are from the medieval era. Estarian fashion style varies from different eras and is adopted even outside of their kingdom's clothing style.
Underneath Invictus' grey linen vest was a white long-sleeve polo where he rolled the sleeves up to his elbow with his mask on. For his lower half was high-waisted black trousers whose end stopped above the shoe, preventing the hem from touching the ground. Back when Invictus still had his "everything" he would often wear a three-piece suit, a detachable
collar shirt, and a heavy overcoat.
Now, all he has was another pair of the same type of clothes he was wearing, so Invictus has to be very careful not to rip or get dirty.
"No, no, no," Aeriel frantically refuted Invictus' negative thoughts about
himself, flustered. "Lord Invictus still looks the same. Fine like wine."
He chuckled, patting Aeriel's head. "I was just kidding. Anyone should always have not little but enough confidence in themselves. Because who would believe in you if you yourself don't even trust yourself, right?"
"Yes. As everyone should."
By foot, Aeriel and Invictus traveled to reach the provincial town, avoiding possible monster-prone areas on their way. It took them a day and a half to reach the provincial town, making stops to spend the night wherever safety is.
The provincial town, located at a mountain top, has the lowest rate of monster invasion since at the feet of the mountain, it is protected by town guards. Elites are trained solely for preserving peace and livelihood.
Moreover, the whole mountain was installed with a magic barrier that senses aerial monsters flying towards the area aboveground.
And when this magic barrier that covers the entirety of the mountain detects an incoming predator, the elite archers and range magicians will take care of it.
The magic barrier will not sense an incoming bird flying towards the mountain. The spell was created only to detect the monster's core which
can be found inside their body.
Anyone does not necessarily have to kill a monster by targeting the monster's core because normal means can also kill it. It will be easier to bring down a monster by breaking its core, but some monster cores are valuable that can fetch a large sum of money.
So, if someone is not really trying to make money but just wants to experience a real-life battle, they would aim for the monster's core, but also try to kill it without trying to break the core. Because experience is everything, and there might come a time when you won't be able to target a monster's weak point.
Large and tall wooden logs surrounded the mountain's feet. The tip of the logs was sharpened to prevent monsters from hopping over their "fence."
The wooden logs came from particularly tall trees ranging from about three meters in height which were clearly harvested from the mountain.
One more important reason why it was hard for monsters to invade the mountain after being forcefully driven away by people was because of the ten feet deep water which was also surrounding the mountain a meter and a half wide.
The person in charge of the people's safety, the chieftain, was cleverly wicked enough to gather water monsters and let them loose to the
surrounding gulf.
It costs them a huge amount of money to buy a single species of monster that does not feed on their kind. Also, buying multiple types of monsters would only cause a loss on the provincial town's side.
And since there were little numbers of monsters stumbling around, the monster swimming deep within the gulf had nothing to eat. However, there is an alternative food the townspeople used to feed the monster, so they won't die of hunger.
"Umm, Lord Invictus, I've been meaning to ask," Aeriel began, finally letting herself speak her mind. "But why did you choose to go here instead of other local towns?"
They were about a few feet away from the entrance of the provincial town, also known as "Virval Highlands."