Of course, Ileya didn’t pay any attention to the carriage following behind her… she hadn’t even asked a single question about it.
Right now, she was simply staring at the map spread out before her.
It had already been nearly half a month since she left the Crystal Capital…
And judging from how rampant those recent bandit activities had been, it was clear.
They were now almost completely outside the sphere of influence of the Crystal Capital. (Of course, the Bloodblossom Demon’s infamy echoed throughout the entire Eastern Region.)
Along the way, Ileya had passed through no less than ten villages and towns.
How should she put it? In one sentence…
The farther you get from the Crystal Capital, the poorer… and the more chaotic it becomes!
And the next place to stop at was…
Ileya’s finger slowly moved forward and tapped on a spot on the map where several small houses were drawn.
This spot on the map indicated a “town,” but it didn’t have a name.
That wasn’t surprising… Clearly, whoever drew the map wasn’t a professional— just knowing there was a town here but not its name was completely normal.
Knock, knock, knock!
Just as the Lady was muttering to herself, a knocking sound came from the carriage window in front of her.
Then Amisa’s voice rang out.
“Lady, there’s fog outside.”
Hmm? Fog?
Ileya raised her eyebrow and reached out to pull aside the curtain beside her.
Sure enough, at some unknown point, a thin layer of gray mist had risen outside, making the afternoon appear as dim as a moonlit night.
The road that was once visible all the way to the end was now shrouded in shadows.
Such heavy fog… and it came so quickly…
While she was murmuring to herself, Amisa’s voice sounded again.
“Hm? This… isn’t right.”
“What is it?” Ileya turned her head, looking toward the road ahead.
In front, through the thin mist, she could vaguely see the outlines of some buildings.
And there was a rather tall watchtower.
A town without walls always had people on night watch every evening.
So a watchtower like this was pretty much standard for every town, not surprising at all.
And by the looks of their current position, they seemed to be right at the outskirts of the town.
“There’s a town up ahead. But just now, before the fog rolled in, I didn’t see any sign of a town… Did we take a wrong turn?” Amisa muttered to herself.
Hmm…?
Indeed, if it was just a ten-minute walk from the town, it wouldn’t make sense for bandits to show up.
So… just what was the situation with this mist-shrouded town?
“Lady, what should we do?”
In an instant, everyone’s gaze fell upon Ileya!
And at this moment, she was deep in thought.
Given the current circumstances, turning back might be the safest course.
At most, it would only waste a bit of time.
However…
Just then, she suddenly felt something in her pocket tremble twice.
Before she could wonder what was going on…
“Caw.” A small, purple-black head poked out of her pocket!
This is… Ileya’s pupils shrank suddenly.
Wasn’t this the Crow Symbol from Stream Town…?
Back then, she had tried to catch it, but it transformed into a purple-black feather.
Since then, Ileya had kept it in her pocket as a sort of protective charm.
Though she didn’t know why the crow had helped her, it… truly had saved her several times.
Whoosh, whoosh!
In the next second, the crow squeezed out of Ileya’s pocket and leapt onto the window ledge.
Before anyone could react, it spread its wings and flew away!
“Eh?!”
Ileya reached out again, trying to grab it, but every time she did, she was always a step too slow…
But… why was it running away?!
“Lady!”
Before the Lady could puzzle out the reason… Amisa’s voice rang out again!
“Look at the top of the watchtower!!”
In that moment, not just Ileya, but everyone turned to look in the direction Amisa was pointing…
On top of the watchtower’s roof, the shadow of a person was now standing—no one knew when he had gotten up there.
In the mist, it was impossible to make out his features; they could only see that his body was round and plump, with short arms and legs.
Rather than calling him fat, it was more like four limbs and a head had sprouted from a giant ball.
Whoosh, whoosh…
At that moment, the purple-black crow beat its wings and gently landed on the figure’s shoulder.
“Caw… Caw—!!”
The eerie call of the crow echoed over the forest and the town, while the round figure struggled to bow toward the group watching from the carriage.
Then he grabbed hold of the crow’s talons, and the bird carried him—flying off into the fog-covered town!
“Hiss… This… This is just impossible!” Holly, standing nearby, was dumbfounded.
That fat guy was carried away by a crow not even as big as his own head.
Was he inflated like a balloon or something?
Wait… balloon…
“Lady!!”
Just as Holly was beginning to notice something odd, a sudden rush of footsteps sounded from behind, followed by Arthur’s trembling voice.
“Um… I know that person too! He’s from the Golden Sun Circus, he’s the Beast Tamer!”
Beast Tamer… Ileya narrowed her eyes.
It looked like that person was not only after Arthur… but after her as well…
Could it be… all those times she had been saved from danger… it was always this so-called “Beast Tamer” from the Golden Sun Circus?
No, no, no… That’s impossible.
Reliel, Arthur, the Crow Symbol, even the Wall Relief…
Whenever she touched these things, she would feel a strange trembling deep in her blood.
It was through this sensation that she guessed all these matters might be linked to her mother’s family… the Seredon Family, who had been targeted by the Royal Family.
But whether it was the Clown or this Beast Tamer… Ileya hadn’t sensed the slightest stirring in her blood around them.
In that case…
Could it be that taking the crow away just now was a provocation… or perhaps an invitation?
Her scarlet eyes grew even darker.
“It seems… we have no choice but to go in now.”
Ileya muttered in a low voice.
“Tell Holly to get in the carriage. We… are entering the town.”
“Yes, Lady!”
Clip-clop, clip-clop…
At Ileya’s command, the carriage began to move forward again!
And behind them…
“Dad… Did we pass by here before… was there ever a town?”
A young man looked ahead at the carriage rolling into the mist-shrouded town, his voice trembling with fear.
“No… We’ve traveled this road so many times… there’s never been a place like this…”
The old man’s cloudy eyes stared ahead as well, his deeply wrinkled face so creased it was hard to make out his features.
“Should we… should we just… turn around and leave?” the woman holding a child behind them said in terror.
“Mm…”
“Ma—Master! Behind us… look behind!!”
The old man was about to agree when he suddenly heard his disciples shouting in fright from the back!
He stuck his head out for a look!
“Oh no!”
In the dense fog, running down the road toward them… weren’t those the very same bandits from before?!
How had they caught up so fast?!
Just now, they’d clearly been afraid of that noble Lady’s name…
But now, no matter what…
Whether you stick your head out or not, you’re risking a knife either way, so better to move forward!
“Hurry! Boy! Follow that noble’s carriage!”
“Y-yes!!”