The roasted meat was ready soon, and Philiya saw that I had roasted a huge piece, weighing dozens of pounds. She said, "We can't eat that much, can we?"
I smiled and replied, "This amount of meat is not nearly enough. I reckon I'll need to roast at least one more batch."
Although it had not been long, I knew that Little Feather could eat about fifty pounds of meat in one sitting. Feeding a gluttonous sacred beast was no easy task!
Philiya couldn't imagine that this small bird could eat so much; she thought I was the one who ate a lot and couldn't help but look at me oddly. "Even if you have extraordinary strength, you shouldn't need to eat that much, right?"
I was too lazy to explain. She would understand when she saw it during the meal; explaining now would be pointless.
Soon, the roasted meat was ready. Philiya took one bite and couldn't stop praising it.
However, when she saw the little bird swallowing large chunks of meat continuously, her jaw dropped and she couldn't close her mouth.
"Aren't you worried that it will overeat?" Philiya asked, dazed, after a while.
"In fact, I'm not worried about its stomach at all, but sometimes I do worry about my wallet."
Seeing her, who had always been so elegant since waking up, show such an expression, I couldn't help but make a rare joke.
She curiously examined Little Feather, but it was a pity that very few people could recognize a paradise bird, a sacred beast rarely seen and mostly living overseas.
If I hadn't seen them on Dragon Island, I wouldn't know either.
After eating and drinking, I was about to ask her what her plans were, but she timidly asked first, "Can I make a request?"
I smiled and said, "Meeting each other is fate. If you need my help, just say it."
She bit her lip and knelt before me with a 'thump,' saying, "I know this is very presumptuous, but I have no choice but to beg you. Please save my daughter!"
I hurriedly helped her up and said, "Take your time and tell me what's going on; there's no need for such a grand gesture."
I knew that in the Adas Continent, kneeling was a very serious gesture. Even officials meeting the king would only bow deeply, not kneel, which was a gesture reserved for slaves.
"It's like this," she said slowly after realizing she couldn't continue kneeling, "I have always lived with my daughter, Alice. Two days ago, bandits attacked our village. They killed everyone and took both me and my daughter. Because the bandits wanted to give me to some noble, I was spared. But my ten-year-old daughter Alice was sent away that same day, supposedly to be sold as a slave in the capital of Carter. So I beg you to save my daughter! I have no one else to turn to."
"Since I've encountered such a situation, there's no reason for me not to help. Don't worry; I'll do my best to rescue your daughter."
I answered, thinking that Carter's capital, Tero City, was on my way to Ostro. Rescuing her daughter would just be a detour.
Hearing my willingness to help, she visibly relaxed. Carrying such a burden alone must have been exhausting for a weak woman.
Despite her elegant demeanor, she must have been deeply anxious.
Since I decided to help her rescue her daughter, the next step was to find out where Alice had been taken. Unfortunately, Philiya only knew that Alice had been taken by slave traders to be sold in Tero City, without any details about their route or appearance.
From here to Tero, it was only a few hundred miles. Slave traders typically transported people in cages pulled by horses, covering up to a hundred miles a day. Two days' time meant they were likely halfway there. Even if we started chasing now, we couldn't intercept them before they reached Tero City. This meant finding them within the city, almost like finding a needle in a haystack.
Regardless, the most urgent task was to reach Tero City as quickly as possible to have any chance of finding the slave traders and Alice.
Without Philiya, I could transform and quickly catch up with the slave traders. But without knowing Alice's appearance or the slave traders' identities, there was no way to search effectively. Therefore, I had to take Philiya with me.
Thus, I had to be the driver. Although I wasn't very skilled at controlling the carriage, with the help of my true energy, it was a different story.
Like last night, I carefully used my true energy to control the two horses, driving the carriage smoothly. Even the best coachman couldn't do better.
I even tried channeling a small amount of true energy into the horses, greatly increasing the carriage's speed. Unfortunately, I couldn't and didn't want to transform in front of her. If she saw my dragon form and couldn't keep it a secret, it would bring me great trouble.
According to the clan leader, humans had been trying to slay dragons for thousands of years. Any dragon discovered by humans would face constant harassment. I didn't want to live like that.
Along the way, considering her recent days of fear and exhaustion, I took care of her meticulously, even sending Little Feather into the carriage to keep her company. At noon, I specifically found an inn in a nearby town for lunch.
Fortunately, although Little Feather devoured roasted meat, it had no interest in the inn's dishes, saving us a lot of trouble.
In fact, all sacred beasts don't need to eat; they only need energy. Little Feather enjoyed eating roasted meat merely to satisfy its taste buds.
At night, I initially wanted her to rest in the town, but her anxiety drove her to decide to travel through the night.
After asking around continuously, we finally learned in a small town that a slave caravan had rested there at noon the previous day. From the timing and location, it was likely the traders who had taken Alice.
Late at night, after a full day of channeling true energy to the horses, I was mentally exhausted despite my true energy's rapid recovery. The two horses, even with my support, were also too tired to continue. We had to rest.
Thinking about spending recent days sleeping in the wilderness and looking at the starry sky, I couldn't help but sigh.
"What happened?" Philiya asked, concerned, hearing my sigh from inside the carriage.
"Nothing," I said insincerely. "The stars are beautiful. Would you like to come out and see?"
"Mm," I was just saying it casually, not expecting her to come out. But after a moment of silence, she gently responded, lifted the thick curtain, and sat beside me.
"It's just that these days of sleeping outdoors made me feel a bit emotional, feeling like I can't fit into human society."
Although she had changed into a magical robe with a wide hood covering her face, the faint fragrance from her body made me restless. I quickly changed the subject to distract myself.
"I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble because of my situation," she said apologetically.
"It has nothing to do with you," I said calmly. "I was just feeling emotional for a moment. In fact, even if not for pursuing the slave traders, I might not have chosen to stay in the city."
"Why is that? Living in the city is safer and more comfortable than the wilderness," she asked, puzzled.
"That's because of my cultivation of battle energy. Meditating for a short time every day quickly relieves fatigue and restores my strength, making sleep unnecessary. So, it doesn't matter where I sleep. Besides, I'm keen on honing my martial skills. If bandits or magical beasts come looking for trouble, it would suit me perfectly," I explained.
She realized, "Oh, right. You can handle so many bandits alone, even defeating a Sword Saint. Naturally, you wouldn't fear bandits or magical beasts. But your battle energy is truly marvelous, not needing sleep, somewhat like a mage's meditation."
"I don't know how marvelous my battle energy is. Initially, I thought all battle energies were like this. Only after joining the Swordsmen's Guild did I realize I was already an expert and made quite a few jokes. Haha, thinking back now, it's really embarrassing! I used to live on a mountain with my master, learning martial skills and battle energy from him, rarely seeing outsiders and hardly ever going down the mountain. A few days ago, my master said my martial skills had reached a bottleneck, and the only way to improve was through constant battle, so I came down the mountain."
I couldn't tell her I came from another world and spent a year on Dragon Island, so I made up this story. But it wasn't entirely fabricated; I did spend my early years on the mountain with the old man, so I wasn't lying.
"What about your family? Why didn't they live with you?" she asked, surprised.
I smiled bitterly, "I've been an orphan since childhood, taken in and raised by my master."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know," she said quickly.
"It's okay. It happened so long ago that I don't care anymore," I waved my hand. "Let's not talk about me. What about you? I didn't expect someone who looks so young to have a ten-year-old daughter."