The female knight looked at the empty camp and said in a low voice with her head down, "Everyone has left. What should we do? It was not easy... to get my family's permission to come out and fight, but now I've fallen behind before the battle even started. If I go back like this, I'll never have another chance! All I know is that everyone is going to Ventona... What on earth should I do?"
Aurelio looked up and turned his gaze to the female knight. She had a sad expression on her face, without a trace of her usual smile. He thought to himself, "Reuniting with the main force is a problem worth considering. I came here with things to do and can't go back like this either." He forced himself to stand up and began to observe the surrounding situation.
His eyes swept over the road not far away, seeing the chaotic footprints and cart tracks on it, and then made a judgment: "The main force has gone along the main road."
The female knight asked, "Really? How do you know?" Aurelio didn't reply but just pointed to the main road.
The female knight quickly walked to the side of the main road following the direction he pointed. She bent down to observe and, seeing the fresh marching marks on the road, immediately perked up. Without waiting to return to Aurelio's side, she raised her voice and asked, "You're right. They took this road. How are you feeling? Can you walk? Let's catch up together! With fewer people, we'll move faster. We'll surely catch up with them on the way!" Before waiting for the other's answer, she began to introduce herself: "I'm Gloria, a knight of the Serencia Knight Order. And you?"
Aurelio hesitated for a few seconds and then simply told her his name, without mentioning anything else. After saying, "I'm fine and we can set out," he lowered his head and patted his whole body gently to brush off the dust on his mage robe. At this time, he saw the bloodstains on his body again and couldn't help frowning.
"Then let's set out quickly!" Gloria urged. She seemed unable to wait any longer. "Grab the necessary things and let's go!"
Before Aurelio could nod in response, the female knight had already taken a step and walked ahead towards the camp not far away. Aurelio, on the other hand, unhurriedly surveyed the surrounding situation while making his way towards the direction of his tent. What he really cared about were the books he had brought. Several books, including Theological Correction, were not precious manuscripts, but he would still rely on them to pass the time later.
He hadn't walked a few steps before turning in another direction. He pushed aside several collapsed tents, stepped over many corpses lying on the ground, and casually extinguished two or three still-burning flames. He walked through the camp and reached his destination. Standing where the horses were tethered, he saw several horses lying on the ground, including his pack horse. There was a conspicuous wound on the neck of the pack horse. He didn't know what weapon had caused it.
He thought to himself, "I'll have less stuff to carry. And I really should have insured the horse. Fortunately, I brought a backpack."
He walked towards the location of his tent and, upon arriving, realized that his tent had only collapsed and hadn't been burned.
Aurelio propped up the tent again and crawled inside. His suitcase was still in the corner, with the lid still fastened and no signs of being rummaged through.
He opened the wooden box and took out the spare leather bag inside. He first put the books into the bag, followed by the potions and the bulging money pouch. The remaining space was reserved for bread and dried meat. There were still a few clothes left in the suitcase. He changed out of the bloodstained robe and into a clean set, and then stuffed some light clothes forcefully into the bag. The rest of the heavy ones, although not cheap and with enchanted effects, took up too much space and could only be left here.
Just as he was about to leave the tent, he unconsciously turned his head to the right and saw the strange book that Valentino had shown last night lying quietly on the bedding.
"Strange. That guy wouldn't leave his book behind."
Only then did he suddenly remember the more detailed situation of yesterday's explosion - at that time, Valentino had been almost at his feet.
He took one step to the other side of the tent and opened Valentino's suitcase. There were few items in the box, only a very dirty velvet coat, three hardcover books in an unknown language, and five or six bottles of potions of different colors. "Both the books and the potions are very important to him." Thinking of this, Aurelio felt a hot flush on the back of his neck due to uneasiness. "He couldn't have already... This time I... Am I going to lose another friend?"
Feeling uneasy, he tried to squeeze the other items in the backpack to make some space and took the books and potions with him. He comforted himself in his heart, "I'll have a chance to return them to him. I didn't see his body outside. As long as there's no body, he might be alive, just like the teacher."
His hands were trembling as he packed the items. When he lifted the curtain at the tent entrance, he turned back and took one more look at Theological Correction lying on the ground. He took off the backpack, weighed it in his hand, and decided to turn back. He took out the items in the bag and made new choices again, making room for that book.
"I still need to lend it to him to read."
Aurelio crawled out of the tent and saw the female knight sitting on a large rock not far away. She was eating a piece of bread with her right hand. When she saw her companion coming out of the tent, she hurriedly stuffed the remaining small half into her mouth and stood up at the same time.
"Eat slowly. There's no need to rush."
Gloria nodded, grabbed the cup placed on the rock, and took a big swig of wine. She patted her chest a few times before swallowing the dry and hard bread.
She smiled a little awkwardly, "Suddenly I was a bit hungry... But I'm full now and we can go."
"It's okay. There's no rush."
She nodded, took out a piece of bread from the bulging cloth bag, and handed it to Aurelio, asking, "Since there's no rush, would you like to eat too?"
"No, I'm not hungry." Aurelio replied, "Don't just eat bread." After saying that, he took off his backpack and took out some dried meat and handed it to the other.
Gloria smiled as she took a few pieces of dried meat and then picked up the bottle of red wine and asked, "Then how about a drink?"
Aurelio neither took it nor made a gesture of refusal. He just crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. After a while, he simply replied, "No need." He wasn't used to drinking any kind of wine. Before, he had been practicing hard every day. When would he have had the time to drink for pleasure?
Gloria nodded gently but stopped eating and began to pack her luggage without saying a word.
"Full?"
"Yes, really full!" The female knight gave a positive answer with a smile.
Aurelio just felt that her expression was a bit strange. Her smile seemed forced, and the emphatic tone when she spoke made it seem even less real.
He tilted his head slightly and looked at a corpse not far away. It was the body of a Serencia soldier. On the chest of the corpse, there was a deep purple flower that looked like a lily, and a small silver coin was placed on the lips. According to the customs of Serencia, both the flower and the silver coin were necessary items for mourning the dead. He then looked at the bodies of several other comrades further away, and those bodies also had these two things.
"Did she put them there?" He thought, and then looked at the female knight with a lonely expression. "She missed yesterday's dinner and guarded me this morning. Maybe she was already hungry, but she only ate something now. But she even took the time to pay her respects to her comrades before eating. Such a person... How could I rush her? Moreover, she's my savior."