Angele played with the emerald ring for a while and tied it back to his necklace. He tried to hide the whole thing inside his clothes. The carriages were moving forward ever so slowly, constantly bumping by the small stones on the road.
The baron sat opposite to Angele in the leading carriage while holding a black canteen full of wine.
“It’s nice that we found a river to wash ourselves and our clothes. Otherwise, the whole caravan would not smell good.” The baron drank some wine from the canteen and laughed after.
“Our water supply is still limited. It would be lucky for us if we could find another river in ten days. I can now smell the sweat from everyone the caravan.” Angele laughed too.
“Well, according to the map, we are already on a shortcut to another river.” The baron tried his best to find the best route. Angele looked at his father’s tired face. The baron was still strong, but the wounds and the sequela were affecting his mental state. He had lost everything and all his friends had betrayed him not so long ago.
Angele sighed. He knew Knight Audis’s betrayal was a big shock to the baron, but there wasn’t much he could do. Only time could heal the baron’s broken heart.
“Father, I am going to check the other carriages.” Angele said with a light tone.
“Sure, just don’t do any intense activities.” The baron nodded before saying. Angele nodded in response and looked at the baron’s face for a second. He opened the door and jumped off the carriage.
The sunlight poured into the carriage after Angele opened the door, making the baron’s hair look darker than before. He was looking at somewhere far outside the window as though he was reminiscing about the past. Angele somehow felt a bit sad after looking at his father, so he just walked towards the second carriage quickly.
“Hi, Young Master Angele.” One of the guards greeted.
“Want some fresh air, eh?” Another one greeted him. Angele liked those guards more than the post knights and he trusted them more. Angele nodded and smiled before jumping onto the second carriage. Maggie’s mother, Mrs. Jacklyn, was driving the carriage. This middle-aged woman was not attractive anymore, and Angele could see the wrinkles over her face. She looked like any other women in their mid-forties.
“Young Master Angele, you are here.” Mrs. Jacklyn smiled and greeted.
“Yea, are they ready?” Angele opened the door and asked.
“I heard they’re prepared.” Mrs. Jacklyn answered.
“Good.” Angele nodded and got inside the carriage.
The carriage was big, about the size of a large RV on Earth. It was like a large bedroom. Maggie, Celia and seven other people — 10 in total including Mrs. Jacklyn — could easily stay in the carriage together.
Angele had been surprised when he first saw one of those carriages, but he understood the reason when he realized that the size of a horse here was twice that of the ones on Earth. In the carriage, Maggie and Celia were organizing plucked flowers in the corner. They also caught insects and picked up fruits on the way. Those insects and fruits were piled up at the corner, emphasizing their colorful features. As Angele glanced around, he also saw other people sitting in other corners.
Besides Maggie and Celia, there were Maggie’s father, Celia’s mother, and three other children of the baron: two boys and one girl. The children were playing with some ants. A pharmacist named Henry was also on the carriage sleeping with a tired face. Cecilia, who was covered with a blanket, was sleeping as well in the corner.
The three children were Angele’s brothers and sister, but they lowered their heads to greet when they saw Angele going in. It was their show of respect to him, especially when they were made aware of how strong Angele was after the recent events.
“Angele!” Celia and Maggie put down the purple roots in their hands and came over to greet him.
“How’s the collection going?” Angele had a glance on the random things in the corner.
“As you ordered, we collected hundreds of different plants and insects these days. Everything is here besides the toxic ones.” Maggie proudly answered before Celia could even talk.
“You two did a great job.” Angele kneaded Maggie’s butt and also kissed Celia on her lips after praising the two of them. He didn’t care what the spectators would think anyway.
“You two can take a good rest now.” Angele put those plants and insects into a larger bag. He then jumped off the carriage and got into the last one. The last carriage’s coachman was Captain Mark, but no one else was in it. It was carrying all the supplies, such as food and water.
“Did my father come by recently? With Miss Katyusha?” Angele asked.
“The baron looked depressed recently, and Young Master, you should talk to him about it if you got time.” Mark shook his head and said. Angele nodded. Miss Katyusha was the mother of Celia; she was wise and sexy. There were many beautiful ladies in the castle, but only she chose to stay with the baron when the baron asked this time. The baron began to like her more after that, and they even had some good time in the third carriage on the way. After Angele became injured last time, the baron barely came to the third carriage with her.
“Father is a bit stressed recently. Don’t worry, he will get himself together.” Angele said.
“Yea…” Mark sighed and stopped talking after. Angele opened the door and got into the carriage. Besides the supplies, there was an empty space in the middle. Angele sat down by a wooden box and put down the bag in his hand. He took some purple leaves out of the bag and put them into his mouth. Angele’s face scrunched after chewing those leaves since it didn’t taste quite well. He looked disappointed after a while as he spat everything out on a piece of cloth he prepared earlier. Angele then grabbed a large green caterpillar that looked exactly like the ones on the earth, but it had two heads. It looked like a forked branch, but with its heads moving around in Angele’s heads and it having a lot of wrinkles on its skin, it looked very unappetizing.
Angele felt a bit sick. He applied a bit of strength on the caterpillar. The caterpillar died in a second and some of its green juice oozed out of its body. Angele dipped his finger in the juice and put it into his mouth.
“Crap!” Angele’s eyebrows scrunched, still looking disappointed. He kept trying different plants and insects, and it took him a while to empty the bag.
“Found two useful ones.” Angele said with a light tone. He put some black tree berries back into the bag and some triangle leaves as well.
He discovered about twenty different things that could increase his attributes, and he tried about thousands of different plants and insects. 4 out of 20 had no side-effects while the others all had something that would make Angele sick, so he only took the 4 with him. However, all the information was still stored in the chip including the useless ones. He merely wanted to keep adding things to his database that might be useful to him later on.
He spat out the remaining of the things he tried on a piece of cloth beside him, and dumped all of them onto the ground outside after.
‘How much information was recorded, Zero?’ Angele asked.
‘About 2341 types of plants, 49 types of insects, 21 types of animal tissues.’ Zero reported precisely.
“That’s a lot…” Angele took a deep breath and started thinking.
“Angele? Are you there?” Maggie’s voice came from outside.
“Come in.” Angele stopped thinking and said. A girl got inside the carriage quickly. Maggie’s body looked very attractive for her age, and yet only she was about 13 years old. Angele thought she looked like an 18-year-old girl on the earth. Additionally, she had decent sized breasts, attractive butt, and a slim waist. She was only wearing a gray one-piece and a pair of boots, but she still managed to show off what she was proud of. Her legs were fair and they looked shiny under the sunlight.
“Angele, I am here to change my clothes.” Maggie’s voice was very faint as she stood in front of Angele.
“Changing your clothes?” He whispered beside Maggie’s ear. Angele felt a bit aroused, but he still asked Maggie to sit in front of him.
“Yea… Changing my… underwear… if you are asking.” Maggie was blushing. Obviously, she wanted something else. Angele touched her long hair around her shoulder and smelled the fragrance on her.
“I will leave you here then.” Angele smiled and said in a light tone.
“Could you… do it for me?” Maggie shook her head, her expression very bashful.