NOVEL NEXT Chapter 264: Lugen City
The caravan traveled at a steady pace for a full day, and finally, they took a stop at night to camp. Riven and his group stayed together, a small distance away from the fire; they sat casually, watching the flames flicker.
"I wonder what students from the Royal Academy would be doing here."
They all turned to see who spoke, and it was the lady from the carriage, the one who had silky hair. She stood beside them, also watching the flames.
"How did you know that?" Riven asked, already suspicious.
"You don't have to be worried, I'm the only one that knows. I can hear a lot better than most people," she said.
Riven looked at her, still suspicious. "What do you want?" he asked.
She let out a soft smile, turned her head downward, and looked at him.
"What I want? It's nothing really, I just wanted to talk to someone that isn't swinging a sword and yelling," she said.
"Are you talking about your party?" Noel asked.
"Yes, them. They are nice, but not really my type of people. I only stay because of my brother," she said.
"So why not leave?" Noel asked. "I'm sure your brother would understand your feelings, right?"
"He would, but I'd have nowhere to go," she said, letting out a deep breath.
"Sometimes, it's better to just flow with what you get," she said with a smile. She walked a few steps away. "I hope we see each other when we get to the city," she said and walked away.
"What was that about?" Jack asked.
"I don't know," Noel replied.
"We should stay away from her," Sofia said. She watched as the lady walked away with a keen eye.
"Why? What happened?" Riven asked.
"You'll just have to trust me on it and stay away from her," Sofia said.
Riven looked at the woman again. He couldn't tell what about her made Sofia worried, but Sofia was a character written for her complexity and observation under all that silence, so there had to be something.
The night passed, and the next day the caravan was on the move. A few hours later, they made it to Lugen City.
As they got to the gate of the city, from outside, Riven was already stunned, looking at the massive walls and gates, with people going and leaving in hundreds.
Sure, he had seen the capital, but this city had its own flare to it, and that made it beautiful.
They arrived at the gates of the town. The city guards started checking all the carriages to ensure that there was nothing.
The guards were clad in armor and black uniforms, their helmets obscuring their faces to ensure that no one could see them.
One of the guards looked into Riven's carriage. He was immediately stunned to see a bunch of kids seated inside.
"Are they with you?" he asked, looking at the man that led the party. The man looked at them, wanting to say no, but his sister bumped her knee against his own.
"Yes, they are," he said, taking the hint.
The guard nodded and walked away, and the carriage got moving.
"Thank you, but that was unnecessary," Riven spoke.
"My sister signaled me to do it," the man said and looked at his sister.
"Well, they might have the right reasons to be here, but the guards would have delayed them and us to make sure," she said.
"Isn't the legal age of adulthood fourteen? They all look above that to me," one of the party members said.
"Well yes, but with the way kids grow these days, they might be under and need to start showing confirmation," the lady responded. Her brother looked at Riven and his gang.
"Are you all above fourteen?" he asked.
"Yeah," Riven replied without saying anything more. The carriage entered through the gate, and they were now in Lugen.
"So what are you all doing here?" the man asked.
'Arghhhh, I knew this would happen. I don't have time for small talk, but it doesn't seem like anyone else in the group wants to talk.
I can ignore them, but that would be more trouble. These types of people have their egos up in their throats, and if I don't respond it will hurt their baby egos and they'll come for trouble.'
"We are here to do some quests," Riven responded.
"Oh, so you are adventurers? That's pretty nice, especially seeing how young you are." His eyes shifted to Sofia for a few seconds. Riven noticed it, but he didn't say anything about it.
"Yeah, we are," Riven replied.
"Hmmm, so how about you adventure with us? We could help you out," he said.
"No, that will definitely not be needed," Riven said.
The man frowned at Riven's response. "And why is that?" he asked.
'Sigh, this dude is pushy. I liked it better when we weren't talking.'
"It's something we have to do on our own," Riven said and gave no more explanation. The frown remained on the man's face, but he said nothing more about it. He just agreed.
"I see. Then I hope you'll be successful at it," he said with a fake smile and then slumped away.
Soon after, the carriage came to a stop, cutting through the annoyingly painful silence that had been in the carriage.
Everyone got down from the carriage. They were finally in the city, and their ride had ended.
The moment they came down, Riven and his group vanished, not wanting to be a part of any discussions. They picked a random alleyway and walked into it.
"You seemed eager to leave those guys," Noel stated.
"It was the right decision," Sofia said. She looked behind her and then forward. "Those people gave off a very bad feel," she said.
"Yeah, it was the same for me, but I have a feeling this might not be the only time we see them. And if we do again, it might not be this easy to walk away, so we have to be cautious," Riven said.