Chapter 145: Running
Everyone's face clearly showed sorrow.
Aoto spoke up:
"Kazuka's idea is probably the best; I think that's the only way."
Takeshi crossed his arms.
"Where can we run to escape the sun?"
"For now, just go somewhere a bit far, then we can hide for a bit; although we are exploring, we also need patience."
Airi nodded, looking at everyone once; everyone agreed.
"Then let's run."
Kazuka burst out laughing.
"Then let's run, that sounds so funny."
…
So the whole group decided to run very fast; otherwise, they would be caught.
According to the original schedule, the group would advance to a city then temporarily stop. But they were forced to change and go there to buy things then leave very fast.
Sitting on a large horse carriage, these three horses were also not like normal horses. They were a bit larger than large horse types, ash-gray in appearance, their bodies like moving muscle blocks with bones growing at the joints of their bodies. They were Bone Horses; their speed was four times faster than normal horses.
The horse carriage darted away very fast…
Inside the large carriage, the floor was a soft carpet with multi-colored patterns; one could roll out here and sleep too. Kazuka, Takeshi, and Aoto were sleeping like the dead. Because the front was a vast open space, they just had to go straight, so no one was controlling the carriage; they just let it run straight.
Ayaka was sleeping on Airi's lap very cutely; Airi's left hand toyed with Ayaka's long, light purple hair. Her right hand held the ring looped onto the silver necklace around her neck. This was the spatial ring she bought for 490 gold coins after bargaining for a long time; inside this ring were the items of the whole group. This ring was purple, with a small flat stone in the middle.
Initially, Airi did not want to keep the ring, but the whole group trusted and handed it to her; she didn't want to because during battle if she used her fists and accidentally broke this ring, 500 gold coins would be wasted.
But afterward, Takeshi bought Airi this silver necklace so she wouldn't have to wear the ring; Airi didn't like it and thought it was a waste of money, but it was already bought and everyone wanted her to keep it, so she had to.
Recalling when Takeshi gave her the silver necklace, he smiled and gave a thumbs up.
"You're a girl; isn't having some jewelry better?"
Airi immediately kicked Takeshi who was sleeping on the floor.
Beside her, Elyssia was still speaking:
"...What do you think?"
Airi nodded.
"I think we should just keep going like this, temporarily living in hiding for a bit."
Elyssia nodded and sighed.
"No other way."
Suddenly Airi picked up Raiga who was curled up beside her and moved him to Elyssia's lap.
"You watch him; I'm going outside to look at the sky for a bit."
Elyssia hurriedly caught Raiga with two hands carefully, not wanting to wake him up. Airi took the pillow from under her feet and placed it under Ayaka's head so she could continue sleeping.
While the group was preparing to leave, Raiga suddenly crawled over, so Elyssia was introduced too. It was as if this black snake Raiga knew everyone was about to leave, so he returned.
Airi stepped outside and gazed at the sky; she looked down below; the road surface seemed to be moving because the pulling speed of the Bone Horses was horrific.
Although currently her energy was hidden, that young dragon already knew. Airi also guessed it would report back; perhaps during the pursuit, they only needed to see two similar energy sources and they would chase and catch them immediately.
"I wonder what Arata will say to my father; what will he be like? When the information is reported, will he send people to catch me back?"
"It's been quiet for two years without sending people to find me. Surely the information that I am going with an angel, an Elemental, and humans will shock him."
She let out a long sigh, taking out a candy wrapped in paper. She rolled the candy in her mouth; her face clearly showed a sad and uncomfortable emotion every time she thought about being caught back.
"I pray not."
"I don't want to go back at all; even if everything isn't like before, I still won't. Current life is still more fun."
Takeshi crawled up from behind, his voice close to Airi's ear while she was completely distracted from her surroundings and her mind was drifting away:
"Do you have candy?"
Airi was startled and screamed:
"Aaaa..."
One hand clutched her chest, breathing hard upon realizing it was Takeshi.
"What are you doing?"
Takeshi burst out laughing and sat beside her; he reached his hand out in front of Airi.
"Give me candy."
Airi sighed and took out two candies wrapped in paper from her pocket, making Takeshi extremely happy as he quickly snatched them; one he put in his pocket, one he ate.
He was like an addict lacking sugar. Actually, from childhood until now, he rarely got to eat candy, so Takeshi craved it quite a bit. In the monastery with the sisters and many other children, sometimes food was even lacking.
"What are you doing?"
Airi turned away and looked up at the sky.
"Gazing at the sky."
The sky today was very cloudy, no sunlight, many birds flying.
Takeshi didn't know what to say; he was at a loss for words.
"What is there to gaze at in this sky?"
Gazing at the sky is just a saying to pass the time if someone disturbs their peace. Why gaze at the sky if free? Actually, it's just temporarily resting one's eyes on the empty sky without scenery and letting a mind full of thoughts drift away.
Takeshi saw Airi's pensive gaze; he also didn't know what to say, privately guessing it might be about her potentially being brought back. Trying to salvage the conversation, he forced an awkward laugh:
"Haaha, this time we're taking a carriage. We'll take a lot of time; you should rest." Then he stalled when he saw that trying to salvage the conversation, he was now speaking as if wanting to end it.
Because Airi and Takeshi had been together for a long time, she also guessed what Takeshi wanted to do. But also because they'd been together long and she'd seen all his traits, she didn't mind:
"Go inside and sleep; let me have some peace."
Takeshi could only be bewildered and turned back inside, still trying to look back at Airi.
…
Fourteen days passed; the group had just crossed a country and was traveling on a small, narrow dirt road surrounded by trees with no people or guards.
A kingdom is very wide, so crossing is quite difficult. But when buying this horse carriage, they were left with two whips. One red and one yellow. Of these two whips, the red one can whip very painfully; the other can whip a wound and it will recover; that's why they traveled that fast—partly this was also not a large kingdom. Both whips were created by those with corresponding abilities, showing they had quite a good business mind.
Aoto went to the mirror and gazed at himself; he remembered the mirror maze but then brushed it aside and stared at himself in the bright white mirror on the wooden table in this carriage. What attracted his eyes was that his originally blonde hair had now changed to green, making him feel quite unfamiliar with himself.
Kazuka lay on the floor with his arms over his forehead and eyes closed but not sleeping.
"Just passed one kingdom; now we must pass at least 20 kingdoms to be completely separated."
He sighed in his heart "haizzz," a feeling of discomfort clear inside his head.
"Didn't expect such a thing would happen; as expected, that old woman was right. Everything was peaceful then trouble just came."
"From the moment I went out until now, just a few steps and trouble meets me. But luckily trouble comes but adding everyone is also great. But being attacked by a dragon and threatened is truly hard to expect."
Takeshi sat outside, letting the horses run straight along the dirt road, his heart full of worry.
"Don't let trouble happen... don't let trouble happen."
Elyssia sat on top of the horse carriage and caught the breeze; the feeling of wind hitting her face made her incredibly comfortable. Her ice-colored eyes had turned black and her platinum hair had also turned black long ago.
"Aa, so comfortable."
Airi and Ayaka had gone to sleep; both lay in a corner of the large carriage covered in blankets sleeping soundly. Elyssia, Airi, and Ayaka guarded the night, while Kazuka, Aoto, and Takeshi guarded the day, but Elyssia didn't want to sleep so she came out to play.
The surroundings changed; the carriage left the forest and arrived at an empty patch of ground with many rocks. Takeshi felt it wasn't right and pulled the reins to signal the horses to slow down. There were many small rocks around; if the carriage went fast, it could cause the carriage to flip if it hit a few rocks.
Takeshi's hands were free; he saw a rock block in front obstructing the way. With his earth element control ability, he thrust his left hand forward and swept to the left. Immediately the rock block was tossed away, leaving a space that made him satisfied to let the carriage continue running.
Initially, Selena gave them quite a lot of money, but Aoto also used quite a bit to buy Elves. Afterward, the group only had 600 gold coins left, specifically 643 gold coins. Then used 490 gold coins to buy the storage ring, so 153 gold coins remained. After that was buying this extremely large horse carriage for 40 gold coins, but since it was precious horses and a high-quality carriage, such a price was expected. Then the whole group bought clothes and food supplies for the super long trip, so only 13 gold coins remained for backup. This storage ring was quite high-quality; it stored items in another space of one with space control ability, so it wasn't eroded by time and could preserve items quite well. Therefore, all big merchants had a few on them; they usually traveled empty-handed because their hands already wore several spatial rings.
Currently, the group had prepared very fully; they just needed luck not to be chased down early. Every one of them knew that once chased down, blocking was impossible, because the information sent back surely meant the races had prepared fully; there would never be a case of being poorly prepared and then pushed back. In short, they had to run fast; being chased down meant it was over.