The wagon used to transport goods was rather simple—just a square frame, with a piece of burlap draped from one side to the other, and the supporting structure was made of bamboo bent by fire.
After reaching the road, a bit of sunlight shone in.
That sliver of sunlight happened to fall right on Enya, and the warm feeling was actually quite pleasant.
The morning sun wasn’t harsh, and the overall temperature of Red Pine City was comfortable.
If it weren’t for the underdevelopment here, many people would probably come to this place to escape the summer heat.
Enya glanced into the distance; to the north lay a chain of endless mountains, standing like a wall blocking the way.
The old coachman turned his head and gave a kindly reminder.
“There’ve been a lot of outsiders in the city recently, Madam Phil, please be careful.”
“Mm, I will.”
I’ll try to be careful not to use too much force.
She gave a soft chuckle.
Bored, she asked the coachman how many years he’d been here.
“Me? This old man’s been here since birth—must be about sixty years now…”
The old coachman sighed.
He was a talkative man, and without realizing it, he said a bit more.
“The current lord is just too kindhearted. Even those refugees who only eat relief food and don’t work were let in. Those people are foolish, too, running all the way here.”
“If it were me, I’d have gone to the Empire. I hear they need strong workers there. But alas, I’m too old—they wouldn’t want me, and with my wife and sons all here, where could I possibly go?”
Enya felt as if she was being scolded along with the rest.
She asked, “If you could leave, would you?”
“Of course! Years ago, anyone who could leave Red Pine City did. Those who stayed are the ones who couldn’t go—tied down by all sorts of things, or maybe they just don’t think anywhere else would be any better.
Us commoners, no matter where we go, it’s the fate of starving to death.”
As he spoke, the old coachman shook his head, then suddenly smiled.
“But now, things have gotten better. We’ve finally made it through the hard times. The current lord is so merciful, not only did they not raise taxes, but even exempted a lot of them. Us commoners can finally catch our breath.”
“Just don’t know how long this good fortune will last…”
The old coachman started talking about his family—five sons to raise, seven mouths to feed.
At his age, he still had to come out every day to haul goods.
Fortunately, with this cart, they hadn’t starved.
Soon, the wagon arrived at the Adventurers’ Guild.
After handing over the magic potions, Enya went to collect payment for the batch of goods.
The attendant lady whispered to her, looking rather mysterious.
“Madam Phil, someone’s already accepted the task you posted!”
“Mm… that’s really great.”
Enya gave an awkward smile—there was nothing surprising about this.
Right?
But the attendant lady’s smile grew even brighter.
“It was a very young girl who took it! Oh, and she has the same hair color as you.”
“Ah?”
Enya was a little surprised, but didn’t pay it much mind.
Silver-haired people were rare, but not so rare that she was the only one.
The attendant lady looked at Enya with expectant eyes, as if she wanted to read something from her face.
But Enya just nodded calmly.
Seeing Madam Phil’s reaction, the attendant lady froze, unable to find the words she’d prepared.
“Ah… uh… that…”
After thinking carefully, she immediately realized she had misunderstood—Madam Phil had no relation to that Estelle girl at all!
She bowed and apologized at once.
“Madam Phil, I’m terribly sorry! I just assumed you were connected to that girl called Estelle, and thought you’d posted the task for her on purpose. I apologize for my presumption!”
“……”
Enya was just collecting some materials, that’s all!
The attendant lady pinched the hem of her uniform skirt, her face flushed red.
She’d wanted to use this topic to get closer to Enya, but ended up making a fool of herself, trying to be too clever.
Seeing her anxious expression, Enya couldn’t help but comfort her.
“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”
She reached out and patted the attendant lady’s shoulder, a faintly meaningful expression appearing on her face.
“Maybe I really am related to that Estelle girl, or maybe I’m just deliberately hiding it? So don’t tell anyone, okay?”
“Mm…”
The attendant lady looked at the gentle Madam Phil, her face turning even redder.
After Enya left, the attendant lady finally recovered.
What Madam Phil just said was just a little joke to comfort me—she really has nothing to do with that Estelle girl.
A colleague lightly bumped her, half-joking.
“Hehehe, that’s not how you go about currying favor.”
“Mind your own business!”
“You want to learn alchemy from Madam Phil, right?”
“……”
“I’ve heard alchemy requires a huge investment, and even then, there’s no guarantee of success. So I’d advise you to give up on that idea. Madam Phil has a close relationship with the lord, after all.”
“So what do you think is the relationship between the lord and Madam Phil?”
“No relationship! Don’t say things like that! You want to die? I don’t want to die! Oh, by the way, I heard from adventurers who just returned today that a Demon appeared.”
“A Demon… I wonder how Anna and the others are doing. I hope they all come back safely.”
At the city gate, soldiers were checking identity cards one by one.
An officer looked up and noticed someone in full armor walking over from a distance.
He frowned—wearing full armor in broad daylight and not showing your face?
Definitely suspicious!
He was about to go over and stop this suspicious person for questioning, but the fully armored figure quickly ducked into an alley.
By the time he got there, they had already vanished.
Outside the nearly seven-meter-high stone wall, a figure clad in silver plate armor landed silently on the ground.
Moving at lightning speed, they dodged the eyes of the patrolling guards atop the wall, and disappeared completely into the woods fifty meters away.
…
Deep within the northern mountain range, a five-person team, after days of trekking, had finally arrived at their destination—a long, narrow fissure.
Standing in front of it, they could feel a chilly wind blowing out.
Anna put away the map in her hand and stuffed it into her pocket.
Next to her stood Milly, whose heart was already pounding faster.
“As long as we can get the Black Anling Flower this time and return safely, I’ll have a chance to break through to Fifth Rank. Becoming Fifth Rank means I can go to the Goddess Church of the Western Wind Empire to study as a high-level priestess.”
Milly could already picture herself wearing that beautiful high priestess uniform.
The future seemed so close!
She threw her arms around Estelle beside her, rubbing her face in the girl’s hair, unable to contain the joy in her heart.
“Anna, Ruby, Marpel, and my soft little sister Xiangxiang Estelle—thank you all so much!”
“We’ve only just reached the entrance. We haven’t even gotten the goods yet.”
Though Anna said that, she was still smiling happily.
The others were all smiling too, but they were also consciously avoiding one issue.
This adventure might be the last for the four of them.
Perhaps after this, they’d each go their separate ways and it would be hard to gather together again.
There were quite a few footprints at the cave entrance, showing that people had been here before.
The Adventurers’ Guild had special channels for buying information, and the map in Anna’s hand had been bought from the guild—probably left behind during an investigation.
After making their preparations, the five officially entered the cave.
The sturdy warrior Marpel took the lead, followed by Ruby, Anna, and Milly.
Estelle was responsible for bringing up the rear.