Heimarian Odyssey

Chapter 147: Shock

The convoy paused their journey at sunset.

Locke, the deputy jarl, was about to give orders to the soldiers to set up the tents, barricades and traps around them. But before doing that, he had to report their situation to the convoy leader.

Locke went to the front of the convoy to see asked an upright and rigorous looking man who was riding on a brown horse. "Viscount Cage, can we pitch the tents here now?"

"Yes, Herr Locke," replied Cage.

Once Locke got the approval from Cage, he began to give orders to all the soldiers and servants.

Speaking of Cage, Locke had a good impression of him. He wasn't a hypocrite like most other nobles and he was a scrupulous man who did everything by the book. If Cage didn't tell him that he wasn't from the army, Locke would think that he used to be a soldier.

Cage also treated Locke quite well. He didn't flaunt his status as head of the diplomatic mission nor his higher noble rank to suppress Locke. While this was only what everyone else though, however, Cage didn't think of it in the same way.

He obviously didn't dare to offend Locke. There was someone of a higher rank than him in the mission, and he could tell that Locke had a very close relationship with said person.

Cage was sent there by his family and he had a favourable impression among the nobles, so the Faustian king hired him for this job. He didn't want to cause any unnecessary trouble.

He would even listen to Locke's orders if it was necessary even though he was the head of the mission. This was something he'd decided to do as he had no other choice. Angelina always looked at Locke as if she was looking at her lover and everyone in the convoy had noticed it. Cage was very shocked when he first found out about it, but he then eventually pretended to forget it.

It wasn't just Cage; everyone else in the convoy did the same. The children of the nobles were extremely jealous of the newly-knighted Locke as they thought that it was unfair that they couldn't be favoured by the princess as well.

Though, since the real big shot amongst them didn't say a word about it, the rest took it as implicit approval. Romm, who was cultivating with his eyes closed in the carriage at the centre of the convoy, and he was the aforementioned big shot.

At his level, he was no longer bound by the chains of a limited lifespan, but he still trained hard every day. His natural talent wasn't as good as everyone thought. In other words, all of his achievements 'till this day were the result of his hard work.

Romm sensed that someone was outside his carriage. He stopped practising and said gently, "Come in."

Angelina lifted her skirt and entered the carriage, which looked quite ordinary and didn't seem as big as her own from the outside. However, it had enough space to be called a room within. This was Romm's own spatial gear.

"Hello, Grandpa Romm," greeted Angelina.

The Faustian king could address Romm as 'Herr Romm' because Romm had vowed to serve the Faustian royal family for the rest of his life. Therefore, the king was superior to him.

But Angelina wasn't allowed to do so. Even Kenzir, who was the heir to the throne, could barely address Romm by his name. The 198-year-old Romm was old enough to be Angelina's grandfather. Although it was weird to call a middle-aged-looking man a grandpa, both of them were fine with it.

"Hi." Since Angelina was favoured by Garcia and was a royal, he was very friendly towards her. "I'll be leaving the convoy in two days' time. Nolan will be escorting you then."

Nolan was a high-rank Lehrling that was dispatched to the diplomatic mission by the king. In addition, there were two shadow guard jarls and a commander of the capital guards, all of whom were high-rank Knechts. The king had transferred all of the powerful people who were available to the mission. Nolan was the strongest among all the others in the convoy sans Romm.

"No problem. I trust Nolan," said Angelina sincerely.

"Okay. I'll give you the crystal scorpiondrake's purple scales before I leave. You can place them around the scorpiondrake egg, it'll help with the incubation."

"Alright." Angelina's face lit up with joy. When she brought the scorpiondrake egg back with her, her mentor assisted her in signing a master-servant contract with the unformed scorpiondrake, but there hadn't been any progress so far. If it wasn't for the sign of life that the egg gave off, she would probably think that it was dead.

Before becoming a Magister, a person should only sign a contract with one major monster as the frequent changes of familiars would cause irreparable damage to a caster's mental power. This was what Angelina was worried about.

If the egg died, she would be at least a third weaker than a caster of the same level as her due to the lack of mental power. If the other party had a familiar, the gap would widen.

After getting Romm's assurance, Angelina walked out of his carriage relaxedly.

As Romm looked at her beaming face, he was suddenly envious the vigour of youth. He didn't care about Angelina and Locke's matter as he wasn't obligated to do so. Plus, he should let the younger generation do whatever they wanted. Everyone had to grow and mature to come into their own. Romm didn't want to interfere in other people's lives.

He laughed when he realised that he was thinking too much. He wasn't even 200 years old yet and he was still considered young compared to other Erdritters who could live up to a thousand years old. Why did he always think like an old man? Perhaps Angelina calling him a grandpa had affected his frame of mind.

Locke purposely chose somewhere that offered some decent shelter to set up their tents at night. He was annoyed by the continuous drizzle during these few days.

The convoy formed a circle as they settled down. The capital guards watched over the outermost side, and the shadow guards guarded the inside. Under the orders of their supervisors, the servants began cooking.

Locke was sitting next to a campfire in the centre of the convoy roasting some food. They'd recently trekked through Melmos Forest, so the soldiers had captured a lot of small wild animals such as rabbits, bobcats and lynxes.

There were several officers sitting seated around him, all jarls of the capital guards and the shadow guards. Since Locke was the deputy jarl of the mission, these people were nominally his subordinates. He felt great leading a group of middle-rank and high-rank Knechts despite being only a low-rank Knecht.

The capital guards strictly followed orders and the shadow guards were deathly loyal to the royal family. So, only the descendants of nobles would disobey Locke's orders in the mission. Locke didn't really care about them as long as they didn't trouble him.

After Locke was done eating, he wiped his mouth with his sleeve and greeted his adjutant. He then went to look for Glace and the others in the convoy, leaving the group of envious people behind him.

The diplomatic mission had less than three hundred people and Locke had secretly brought five women along with him. Everyone gossiped about him, especially the noble children who hated him very much. They all complained in their hearts about how Angelina could be attracted to this scumbag.

Glace and the others had already eaten when Locke arrived at their carriage. He would normally ask the soldiers to deliver all their meals to them. Glace, Laffey and Suzanne were there, but not Kristin, who had probably gone playing with Lia.

Locke immediately dragged Glace into the carriage as he smiled awkwardly at Suzanne. The carriage was too small, otherwise, he would've dragged her along too. Glace knew that he was an impetuous person, so she just went along with it.

The carriage began to shake and soft voices could be heard. Suzanne and Laffey clicked their tongues at them, blushing, and returned to their carriage.

When things were starting to get intense half an hour later, someone suddenly lifted the drapes of the carriage and it'd given both of them a shock. Locke even laid down his arms and surrendered.

"Aunt, are you there?" Kristin's voice was heard in the darkness.

Glace didn't reply. She just panted softly. Kristin thought that her aunt was already asleep, so she just climbed into the carriage. She was tired after playing for the whole day and she wanted to sleep with her aunt tonight.

When she got into the carriage and laid beside Glace, she realised that something wasn't right. It seemed like there was someone else under her aunt's blanket. Kristin's face instantly turned red when she figured out what was going on.

At this moment, Locke was too embarrassed to continue pretending that he was invisible. He lifted the blanket and smiled awkwardly at Kristin. He put his finger on his lips and signalled her to go off to bed.

Kristin nodded, stupefied. Locke then continued where he left off, thrusting harder and harder.