Lord Ivan asked nervously, "You still have any more of that wine, Master Abel? If you do, could you let me buy them? I think Bernie's going to need them on his journey."
From Ivan's perspective, the wine could really help Bernie to get a lot better. He wasn't so sure when the next time they would find another ice fire ape was, so time was very precious here.
"Of course!" Abel laughed, "I've got enough to last Bernie for the entire journey. Just take them. After you've treated me so well, Lord Ivan, there's no way that I'm going to say my thanks to you while being empty-handed."
Lord Ivan bowed again, "Thank you so much, Master Abel! I hope you don't mind if I point it out, but it's a little late now, don't you think? It's probably for the best for you if you depart
now."
"Ah, yes, White Cloud!"
After a yell towards the sky, White Cloud came down to the ground beside Abel. After taking a few giant steps towards him, it started rubbing his body with its giant head.
Abel said as he scratched White Cloud on its head, "Come on, White Cloud! We're leaving now!"
And just like that, White Cloud lowered its body to let Abel get on it. It was an unbelievable sight for the dwarves. Abel didn't use a control card. He was just talking to it, and it obeyed him like it was born to do so. Not even the orcs could do that. With a control card, it was impossible for almost everyone to command a sky sparrow.
After getting on six giant armadillos, the Borton brothers rode them on top of White Cloud's back. These beasts were of reluctant at first, but after being scolded by their masters, they had no choice but to carefully get on.
Except for Bernie, every other dwarf here understood what's going on. The sky sparrow in front of them was not an ordinary bird. It must've been at least one rank higher than the armadillos for them to be afraid of it.
The dwarves all thought the same thing as they looked at each other, A spiritual beasts!
While the six giant armadillos got ready, Black Wind was having a nap inside the carriage. It didn't even bother looking at them, but these armadillos were looking like they were ready to fight for their lives. It was already shocking enough to see a mount wolf that was tamed by a human. Judging from the ways these shelled animals behaved, the dwarves learned that even Black Wind was also a spiritual beast.
Originally, White Cloud's back could take five orc warriors and five mounts on it. Now, there were nine dwarves, six giant armadillos, one mount wolf, one elf, and one human on it. Since nine dwarves were nowhere as big as five orcs, and three giant armadillos (despite the name) were just about the size of one mount wolf, there was still enough space for them to move around for a bit.
"Fly, White Cloud!" Abel commanded.
"Gu Gu!" White Cloud replied as it started waving its giant wings. Soon, the entire crew was off the ground and going towards the clouds. At this point, two giant golden eagles started tailing from behind. There was one golden flying mount rider on top of each one of them.
Abel asked Bernie, "Are the golden flying mounts coming with us?"
Bernie replied as he sipped on his crystal bottle, "These eagles have some very sharp eyes, Master Abel. We'll need their help if we want to find an ice fire ape."
Wizard Aitken added, "As fast as the golden flying mounts are, they can't travel for very long. If you don't mind, Master Abel, they might need to take turns to rest on the sky sparrow's back."
After hearing that, Abel was starting to get a whole new perspective of how good the sky sparrows were. Not only could they fly higher and further than all the other flying mounts, but their stamina was also among one of the best. They were also great for carrying heavy weights, which was why the orcs used them to carry war supplies for them.
Since the dwarves were riding with him, Abel chose not to turn on the barrier around White Cloud. That wasn't very good for Loraine. In a very short while, her little cheeks were starting to pale because of how cold it was.
When Abel heard Loraine chattering her teeth, he took out a bottle of synthesized rum bottle and poured it in a crystal bottle. Since he didn't want her to get drunk, he only poured about half a cup of it.
When Loraine received her cup, she took a small sip of the rum. Her face started reddening up. Soon, it became a lot less cold for her.
"Come here, Black Wind!" Abel called out at the sleeping Black Wind, which quickly got up and came after it went past the dwarves.
"Sleep here!" Abel pointed at the ground in front of him.
When Black Wind lowered its body, Abel took Loraine and helped her to rest beside its stomach.
"It's a lot warmer here," Abel said to Loraine.
"You stay here too, Abel," Loraine looked at him and said, "There's a lot of space for you as well."
Abel didn't decline. When he rested beside Loraine, he realized how warm Black Wind really was. Thanks to it, the chilling air was not so cold now.
Unfortunately, the Borton brothers didn't get to have this luxury. Their armadillos had shells, not furs. They could try to sleep beside them, but that didn't really help them get warm.
As for Wizard Kipling and Wizard Aitken, they just tried to hold onto their robes a little tighter. Since they weren't the muscular types, their bodies were a lot weaker than the rest. It wasn't like they could use their mana to warm themselves up. They were heading towards the Double Moon forest, the home of some very powerful spiritual beasts. Even if the journey was freezing cold for them, they had to preserve all the mana they could.
Bernie was the only one who didn't bother trying anything. Whenever he got cold, he just sipped on his rum. What Abel gave him was much better than the normal stuff, so he was just too focused on drinking it than to think about any other stuff.
Abel smiled as he noticed how everyone was dealing with this situation. After taking out eight bottles of his rum, he threw one bottle at each one of them.
"Here! Trust me. It's going to be a lot warmer after you drink it!" Abel shouted.
After thanking Abel with a bow, Wizard Kipling and Wizard Aitken opened the crystal bottle and took a sip. The coldness disappeared immediately as their breaths were filled with the smell of alcohol. Just like Bernie, a streak of fire went inside their bodies and cleared out all the freezing cold.
"Wow, this is some really good stuff!" the two wizards said. All dwarves were born to be winetasters, so they knew how good Abel's product was.
When the Borton brothers received the rum, instead of drinking them straight, they decided to hand them all to their leader. After that, the leader took all of them to Bernie.
Abel squeezed his eyes when he saw this. From what it looked, Bernie must've been more than just Lord Ivan's niece. If the six brothers were just as strong as double of the knights that were in the same rank as them, they would be as strong as twelve ordinary knight's commanders. That being said, Bernie must've been very important to be served by all of them.
"Just drink them yourselves!" Bernie pleaded to the Borton brothers, "It's going to be very cold this journey!"
The eldest of the Borton brothers smiled, "Your health is a more concerning matter, sir Bernie. Don't worry about us. Our skin is too rough against a little breeze."
"Enough, enough! I've enough for all you!" Abel smiled as he intervened with a few more bottles from his portal bag.
When Abel passed six more bottles to the Borton brothers, that's when everyone realized how much he had been packing in his portal bag. Normally, only the most precious items would be stored in a portal bag, but for Abel, he just stuffs in all the wines and food that he could in his.
And Abel was definitely not lying when he said he's still got more of the rum. The dwarves weren't going to complain about it, but honestly, the boy was seriously packed in with some very oddly-useful items.