The carriages kept moving through the night as the jungle was too dangerous to camp in safely, the drivers alternated while Arad and Merlin allegedly spent the night awake, in reality, he remained awake and she went to sleep. Out of everyone here, he alone didn't need much sleep.
Thanks to everyone being sleeping and relaxed, Arad had managed to thinly spread his aura around the caravan and scare most of the predators, the remaining fools ended up as his late-night snack.
The caravan reached Matilda's village the next day, the place was called the Iron Snake Lake due to the countless rivers pouring their iron-rich water into their lake. Everywhere were the rivers turned, beast people gathered to collect iron sand to forge their weapons with.
As the caravan approached the village's gate, the tigers blocked their path and roared, "Outsiders! State your names!" The largest of tigers jumped forward, thrusting his long steel spear into the ground.
