It's time to leave, Your Highness," said Luli with a bright smile.
"But we still have two days. We can leave tomorrow, you know," I said with a mouthful of chicken.
"We have to get there through the mountains, and that takes two days. We better hurry if we want to catch up," she said.
"Really? You should have said that earlier," I said, leading the way while she stared at me in surprise before following behind.
Luli made sure she packed the important things we would need for the journey: water, plenty of food, and of course, a tent since we would be spending the night in the mountains and continuing the next day.
"It's been over an hour, and we've been circling around this mountain nonstop. When exactly are we going to get there?" I asked, looking tired as I drank some water.
"We haven't even gotten anywhere yet, Your Highness," said Luli, who didn't even look a bit tired.
"Aren't you tired? Why am I the tired one here?" I asked as I rolled my eyes.
"You're the one who's interested in joining the contest, so you have to keep going if you want to meet up," she said.
"Why can't we just use the vanish spell?" I asked curiously.
"And get us killed? I've sealed our magic so we can't perform any spells. Even if I hadn't, we dare not cast any spells," she said with seriousness in her tone.
"But I'm tired. My legs are too tired to walk," I said.
"Let's hurry to get to a safe place. Then we can camp for the night and continue the journey tomorrow," said Luli reassuringly, to which I nodded in agreement.
"It's getting dark, Your Highness. We'll set up the tent here and continue the journey tomorrow morning," said Luli, who had started setting up the tent.
"My back hurts. My whole body hurts," I said, lying on the bed and wincing in pain.
"Your Highness complains a lot recently. In the past, no matter how hurt you were, you always held it in. But I'm glad you're able to express your feelings to me now. It feels good," said Luli with a teary eye.
"What are you talking about? Who doesn't feel pain in this world?" I said, laughing hysterically.
"You don't, Your Highness. You're always like that," she said sadly.
How come I'm feeling emotional, like someone who has been hurt a lot in the past? Of course I have, in my original world, I thought, as I forced out a smile.
"Enough of the chit chat. I'm hungry. Let's eat dinner," I said excitedly.
"Yes, Your Highness," she replied as she started dishing out the food.
"Why didn't you pack any meat? Why is everything vegetables? Do I look like a vegetarian to you?" I yelled upon seeing the food served in front of me, which were all green in color.
"That's all we can afford for now," she said.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked, my gaze fixed directly on her.
"It's all thanks to you, actually. You bought almost everything in the capital, only to leave everything behind in the end," she said.
"And what does that have to do with this?" I yelled angrily.
"You bought a plate of chicken this morning with the last coin, but don't worry, the vegetables will still meet the chicken along the way," she said with a smile.
"Vegetables will meet the chicken along the way? What idiot thinks like that? Just get me some meat, okay?" I yelled angrily.
"I'm sorry, but we better manage this, Your Highness. Gang will be here tomorrow with some money," she said, her head bowed before me as she trembled in fear.
"This is damn annoying. I really want some roast chicken badly," I said with sadness in my tone, but Luli just ignored me and started eating.
"Arrrrrgh... I'll better go to sleep," I said, as I lay down on the bed and closed my eyes.
"Don't you want to eat anything at all?" she asked, but I just wished she wouldn't say anything further, and I'm glad she yielded.
I woke up to the sounds of birds singing beautifully.
"It's finally the day to continue our journey, Your Highness," said Luli with a smile as she helped me get ready, and we were soon done.
We walked for several hours until my legs felt numbness and eventually surrendered to tiredness.
"We didn't even have breakfast before leaving," I said, sitting down on a rock with my hands placed on my stomach sadly.
"We already ate the last of the food yesterday. I hope Gang meets up with us soon," said Luli.
"Who ate the food?" I asked angrily.
"The contest will start soon, Your Highness. We better hurry, or you'll be late," said Luli, trying to ignore my question.
"What kind of maid are you, actually? You're rude and don't care about your master at all," I yelled, raising my hands to smack her on her shoulder, but she dodged, followed by an outburst of laughter from her.
"I'm sorry, Your Highness, but you rejected the last of the food yesterday," she said as she faked her tears.
"I haven't even hit you, so why the tears? Let me hit you then," I said, as I stood up but slipped, dragging Luli with me as we both fell and rolled down the mountains until we lost consciousness.
I finally opened my eyes. My body hurt from the countless rolling, and I held my waist in pain, trying to catch sight of Luli, who was nowhere to be found.
"Are you okay, Your Highness?" Luli asked, looking all worried as she suddenly appeared in front of me.
"Damn! You frightened me. Where did you go? You look terrible, and so do I," I exclaimed, examining myself and trying to remove the tree trunks and leaves stuck in my long hair.
"Inspecting the area to see how far we've traveled," she replied.
"Wow... look at that long queue. Are they sharing money there?" I asked jokingly upon seeing a long queue of people.
"We've finally arrived," said Luli as we moved closer, and behold, the plaque was boldly written "Mount Hua Sect."