Path to the nearest town

The atmosphere in the group of carriages had finished their conversation. After a few moments, the last carriage in the four carriages turned around as four knights hopped onto the vehicle.

"Report to the king about this as soon as you can," a middle-aged knight with a serious facial expression said, as they watched the fourth carriage turn and go back.

"What could be going on here?" a fat knight holding an axe with one hand then asked. Just a few minutes earlier, the forest was extremely dark. It was dark, not green. It was the famous forest of the Darn.

But now, it suddenly looked like a normal forest. There was even a big house that could be seen inside.

"Is that a mansion?" a young blonde knight with an uninterested facial expression mumbled as his eyebrows knitted. 

---

Meanwhile, the area that Kara and Chris emerged from was a route for carriages placed near a high cliff overlooking the vast green lands up to the mountains in the distant North. The clouds were hanging like cotton up above the clear blue skies filled with several birds flying across the skies.

At this moment, the sun brimmed on the blue-eyed kid's eyelashes, as a smile slowly blossomed on his face.

"I can't believe it. Were out." He said as if he was in a trance, and involuntarily gulped as he remembered thinking that this might never even come.

Kara just observed Chris, as he stared at the scenery.

"There's so much color." Chris added. For him, it was like he had only seen brown and black all this time. It was for the first time that he was witnessing this much radiance and glow.

Kara had to admit even he was a little awed. There was not much color to see in the place they came from. Even the other areas in the south continent were the heavy common sight. Looking at the floating jellyfish glowing and hovering in the air always made him think how enchanted those creatures and the place were. But he never felt this feeling.

"It's like warmth in flesh." He muttered silently, before looking in the direction of the road going south.

He turned his head, as he had noticed that the group of carriages began to move in their direction, heading north along the route. It seemed like they were even in a hurry.

Well, who could blame them? After witnessing the changes here, it was obviously strange so it could be dangerous. After the folks around here learn this, officers of the kingdom would clamor to here. 

"Maybe we could hop in. What do you say?" asked Kara.

"Yeah," Chris answered. The boy's facial expression has changed considerably. He was the happiest anyone had ever seen. 

Kara could just laugh internally. He could somewhat understand the boy, but he cannot comprehend his feelings very well.

They waited for the carriages to arrive at their location, which was in a little elevated area. Not long after, the first carriage arrived. Its wheels stopped when the three carriages all arrived at their area.

The first driver went out of the horse and approached them with a curious look on their face.

"You two are?" asked the coachman.

"Good afternoon. We are travelers and we had lost our way. Could we ride with you until we reach the next town?" Chris asked. It was like he just turned to a different person. Such a transformation was so face Kara couldn't help but roll his eyes internally.

Just then, the coachman turned around and looked at the other coachmen. He sent them a thumbs up and looked at Kara and Chris again, sizing them from head to toe.

He had seen a lot of travelers around, but the two boys gave a different vibe. The older boy wore a black sweater, black pants, and black boots. The younger boy had a black coat that covered almost half his body.

'Why are they both dressed in attires...so black?' he thought in full wonder, but didn't think too much.

"Sure. Do you know which town is next?" the coachman asked, lifting his hand as a gesture.

"We fear not." Kara shook his head and said, as he gave a natural apologetic smile. 

Kara was a handsome teenager. The coachman smiled with him. It did not look like the two boys were troublemakers. It did not seem like they were bandits, either. Bandits gave that feeling of strangeness or roughness. Compared to them, these two looked a lot like they were foreigners who lived inside big residences.

"Maybe they're from a rich foreign family?" The coachman entertained his wild thoughts before coughing.

Erm Erm

"I see," said the coachman in slow ponder, before saying, "Okay, you can ride with us to the next town. The more the merrier!"

Kara and Chris glanced at each other and followed the coachman to the carriage.

"You are so generous." Chris was continuing to play a totally different—somewhat cheerful—character as he easily approached the coachman as if they were friends.

Looking at their back, Kara gave Chris a disdained look of disgust.

Chris might not be a person who had many experiences, but he had played significant roles in entering enemy battlegrounds in the war. Because of that, it was not brainier that he can act very well.

They arrived at the first carriage, and the coachman instructed them to ride from the rear. The other passengers paid for the ride, he said. Thus, they could only ride from the rear, overlooking the road as they drove off. At their angle, they could see the other two carriages closely following at them.

Of course, Chris did not fail to wave at them as if he was the most friendly kid in the neighborhood. The other coachman looked somewhat tired, but the image of a little good-looking boy waving at him made him looked positive and cheered up.

With his crimson eyes, Kara looked at Chris.

"Amazing, right? It's like putting a mask on," whispered Chris, mimicking a gesture of putting a mask on his face.

Kara sighed in his heart and instead focused on trying to reach May inside his head again. But she did not reply or gave anything.

Kara grinned lightly. He still did not know how this "being one" with May works. No idea. Kara knew he could only meet May when it was silent and dark, but he learned he could speak to her even he was under the sun as long as he was conscious. From what he observed, she could also be watching him right now.

Seeing no developments on that, Kara found that Chris had turned his back.

Without turning his head, Kara glanced at the inside of the carriage and saw that it had all sorts of passengers on it. Some passengers—near the exit—started to approach the young boy wearing a black coat.

Like him, the boy had pure black hair with some luster on it. His handsome young face had a radiant smile. His eyes were and blue, big and pretty, which made him have a magnet for people's curiosity. This boy was naturally Chris.

"Where are you two headed boy?" an old man with a stuffy white beard asked Chris, as he momentarily looked at Kara, who just looked at him. It was obvious who was the approachable one.

"To the nearest town." Chris replied.

"Oh? Do you not know where you are really going? The nearest town is not in a very good situation right now. So we are going to help them." The old man said, looking at the figures hidden on the darker side of the carriage.

Kara was all ears. He can also look well in the dark. Thus, when he looked inside earlier, he had also not failed to notice what kind of people were inside.

Almost certainly, these people they were with were adventurers. A party of adventurers. Four of them. The other two carriages must be the knights he saw cautiously approaching the big house of May earlier.

"Did something happen?" Chris asked, also noticing the party of adventurers.

The set up of these carriages was simple. Adventurers were riding in the first carriage. Knights were riding in the second and third carriage. Obvious enough, it was clear this was not a normal group. 

As for the old man, it was more likely he might be some important figure as he did not appear or smelled like an adventurer at all. He wore a white and black attire and had a warm-looking face that made him looked like he was some friendly professor or something.

"The kingdom received a report that a notorious group of bandits attacked the town and injured a lot of the townfolk." the old man dolorously said. 

"I see… that's cruel." Chris muttered, looking at the old man's face with a little moist in his blue eyes.

'Huh?' The boy was a professional. 

Kara shifted a little and looked at Chris' face. He could not discern if his expression was real. Kara felt especially strong intuitively, but he cannot surely discern what was actually running in Chris' thoughts.

It was at this moment.

"Doctor Angelo, you should not reveal reports from the kingdom to strangers," a male voice from the carriage said.

"Haha. It's just a report, and does it look like these two boys are the enemy?" Dr. Angelo replied, chuckling. It gave the impression that he was very carefree and ignorant of reality. But it would be a great mistake to think like that.

Kara and Chirs knew that Doctor Angelo wasn't your weak, ordinary old man. The old man was a mage. But they didn't put too much thought into it.

Just then, as Kara looked inside, his eyes crossed paths with the owner of the male voice.

The adventurer was a muscular man in his twenties. He had a short sword in his waist, and a leather armor that covered most of his upper body. The other adventurers were armed and dressed like him.

'Did I do something wrong to him?' Kara thought, seeing that the male adventurer was staring at him longer than he wanted.

Doctor Angelo stopped laughing as he glanced inside. He knew the adventurer was looking at Kara.

"Corre. You're scaring the boy."

"I know," Corre immediately said, "But we need to be especially wary right now as we are nearing the town. The bandits' hideout might be closer than we think. They might be waiting to ambush us." 

"That's right. There's no harm in being wary of strangers, no matter how weak they look like." Another adventurer said. It was another male. 

"We also need to report on the situation around here. There are a lot of things that just happened. Why did the Forest of the Darn suddenly became like this?" A female voice said. 

"What is in that house?" Another female voice asked mumbling. 

Sigh.

"That's why Sir Faller sent some men to report to the king what happened here." Doctor Angelo sighed, looking at Chris and Kara's youthful faces with warm emotions. "The problems in this kingdom is unending. I hope the young generation doesn't suffer too much. The king doesn't have too much power."