049 | Onwards to Barbari

I answered the paladin's question with a question.

"Are you really a mere paladin?"

The pressure around me disappeared and returned to normal.

"Haha! What an amusing child. What are your plans after this?"

I thought about it. I was actually going to have a meeting with Lisha and Rudif tonight to discuss our next plans. I don't want to linger in one place too long, and I feel like we've already done enough for Yanalia.

I'm currently thinking of either returning to Naskac or traveling to the next closest adjacent country.

"Probably leave Yanalia after a few days."

"I see..."

Liang Hai examined me before giving me another friendly smile. He reached into the air and pulled out a scroll, unraveling it in front of me.

"I have met with the sole survivor of Yanalia's royal family as well as the other three captains."

Ah, so he had already visited them prior to coming here. Sigh. I have a feeling there's going to be a troublesome and annoying task soon.

"The crown prince and now king of Yanalia has issued a royal decree, the leader of your Mercenary party. Under the orders of his majesty, Asher, Lisha, and Rudif of the Adventurer's Union are ordered to deliver a treaty of alliance to Barbari."

Barbari? That's a land inhabited by Half-Beasts and a mix of other races. From what Patricia taught me, it's a place with a rather primitive culture. It's rumored to be a land where they highly value Raw Energy over magic.

"How annoying..."

The paladin had his typical smile.

"It seems your destination has already been pre-determined. I hope you can best fulfill his majesty's wishes for the sake of Yanalia's future."

"Is there an option to decline?"

"There isn't. I wish you luck in your future endeavors, warrior."

Liang Hai reached into his Inventory spell and pulled out another scroll. It was the alliance treaty and it was significantly larger and heavier than the royal decree. I grabbed it from the paladin and stored it in my abridged version of the Inventory spell.

Liang Hai examined me once again.

"Interesting mechanic...Who knew that such a combination of spells could create a lesser version of the Inventory."

"Anything else?"

The paladin chuckled and shook his head slowly.

"There isn't. For now, that is. I must leave immediately to report to my superiors. We must start preparations to prevent the full revival of the Lord of Darkness."

"Is that so? Have fun then."

"Do you wish to join us? I'm sure such a talented individual like yourself would receive plenty of benefits and rewards."

"Ha, I'm not going to be subservient to anyone. I'll do what I want. Personally, I don't care about your Water Temple or the Lord of Darkness. Due to the two of them, how many people do you think have died?"

This war taught me enough about the Lords. They're nothing but selfish god-like individuals with their own morals. The Lord of Water may be willing to send help and protect innocents from the Lord of Darkness but what if in the end, all they were after was offerings?

Liang Hai was offended by what I said.

He drew his greatsword and held the blade up to my neck. I didn't bother doing anything. At my current level, Liang Hai is too much for me to handle. Even with everything I've got, I can't guarantee that I can even run away with my life intact.

"Do not question the goodwill of the Lord of Water."

"Paladin of the Water Temple. Don't believe everything that is told to you by your superiors."

"Do not!"

The blade went in a bit further and a small cut near my neck appeared. A droplet of blood fell on the floor.

"Liang Hai. I have seen many righteous and kind people similar to you, dedicate themselves to the wrong person. Do not be led astray."

"I will have your head if you continue to insult the Water Temple."

"I am not insulting anyone. All I am telling you is to be careful about the information being fed to you."

The paladin didn't move for a good minute. He was most likely thinking back on everything and making a decision for the current situation. Will he deem me a threat and get rid of me or choose to spare me.

"...Apologies, warrior, it seems I've...overreacted."

I now regret saying anything as Liang Hai proceeded to tell me his life story.

"Ever since I was a child, rampaging beasts ravaged my homeland. The Enlightened East didn't have as much power as the Allied Central back then. I was taken in and rescued by the Water Temple, I spent my entire life as their follower and devoted my everything to their cause. In order to gain the power to get my revenge."

Another mindless fool. Liang Hai seems okay now, however, sooner or later, he will lose his ways if all he thinks about is getting stronger for the sake of revenge.

"How do you know that the Water Temple hasn't done anything against their morals?"

"Everyone is kind and-"

"Don't be so naive. Think for yourself. How can you prove that the Water Temple is so orthodox? I don't want to anger you but have you ever thought that the Water Temple was the ones behind the rampaging beasts that destroyed your home? They weren't saviors but rather, the clean-up crew for something that went wrong."

The paladin must have spent his entire life fighting seeing as how he blindly trusts others without any proper backing or evidence. It's almost laughable and ironic that someone from the Enlightened East could be so ignorant.

"I...will think upon this further. Thank you for worrying about me."

Sure. Whatever you want to think.

"Now, let's do something about this shall we?"

I tapped the greatsword that was still next to my neck. Too close for comfort.

"A-ah!"

Liang Hai lifted the blade away and applied his water magic on my neck and healed the cut easily.

"Thanks. It's good as new."

The paladin cleared his throat.

"Ahem. It looks like your next course of action is to depart to Barbari."

He looked down at the ground, Liang Hai couldn't maintain eye contact with me.

"I'll...keep what you said in mind. I never doubted the Water Temple and followed them without asking much. I'll see you another time, warrior."

The paladin smiled. Different from his typical friendly customer service smile. This time, it was almost saddening. Liang Hai left and the door clicked closed as he left.

I lay on my bed and sighed.

"I guess our destination has already been figured out."

* * *

I spent the rest of my free time improving my magic power. I waited until the mutt and Lisha came back. When they returned they were dirty and dusty.

"...What have the two of you been doing?"

The mutt answered, "Uhm, repairing and moving stuff."

Lisha simply nodded. She tried patting the dirty spots on her arms and clothes as if she just noticed them.

"Go wash up first. I'll tell you guys what our next plans are."

The two left and returned quickly. Lisha and Rudif's hair was all frizzy after coming out of a frantic shower.

"You guys didn't have to rush..."

Rudif shook his head and spat water everywhere, including my face.

"..."

"S-sorry, Asher! It's just a habit."

Lisha spread out a weak fire spell over her palms, acting as a hairdryer as she brushed her hair through her fingers.

"Anyways, someone asked us for a favor."

Rudif dried the rabbit with a towel after he sprinkled nearly everything in the room with water from his hair.

"Who would ask us for a favor? We're new mercenaries, aren't we? We didn't even exist a month ago."

Lisha moved on to drying other strands of her hair, "Mhmm, what does the manager want from us, Asher?"

"It's not from Pen. The king asked us for a favor, but it's sent out as a royal decree."

"A ROYAL DECREE?!"

Rudif did not need to scream that loudly, "That's not a favor anymore! That's an order!"

On the other hand, Lisha was confused.

"Why us though?"

I sighed. I really didn't want to do this favor for Yanalia but it seems it'll probably benefit us.

"During the initial attack, the Grim Reaper struck the royal family first when they were outside the kingdom. The sole survivor is the crown prince."

"That's so tragic..."

"Regardless, he seems like a competent ruler. He wants us to deliver a treaty of alliance to an adjacent land known as Barbari. Do you remember what Patricia mentioned about that, Rudif?"

The mutt didn't answer, "Uhm...I can't remember right now..."

Useless as always. To my surprise, Lisha knew about it.

"Isn't it a primitive land that only values Raw Energy?"

I nodded, "Precisely. I believe it would be beneficial for all of us if we were to learn their ways of utilizing Raw Energy. Who knows? I might even finally break through to the next level. Also, there's a bunch of Half-Beasts who live there so you can learn how to transform."

"Really?! I can finally do it! Let's go immediately!! What are we waiting for, come on!"

"Calm down, mutt."

Who knew that he would so eager to become my personal carriage.

"We will leave early tomorrow in the morning. I'll talk to Emily about lending us some horses for our trip."

"H-horses?"

Lisha seemed awfully scared for some reason. Don't tell me...

"You don't know how to ride a horse?"

"I never got the chance to. But I really want to! It's just that my family won't let me go out at all so..."

Ah, that's right. Lisha is a poor girl that's been ostracized by her family. I should take this chance to teach and show her the things she couldn't do herself.

"Wake up earlier tomorrow," I said. "I'll teach you how to ride a horse. It's a pretty useful skill. Even Rudif knows how to."

Rudif nodded his head, confident of his abilities and being praised.

I don't know why Rudif insisted on learning horseriding. He was constantly begging Rowan to teach him. Once he learns how to transform, there would be no need to learn how to ride a horse. He would become a giant wolf that will perform exceptionally better than a mere horse.

Plus, he also boasts offensive capabilities if were a giant wolf.

"Get some sleep, you guys must be tired from helping the kingdom all day."

Lisha nodded and got up to return to her room. Rudif rolled into his bed and dozed off. I fell asleep shortly after.

Despite my complaints, I'm actually quite excited to be going to a land where Raw Energy is common.