UNLIMITED SPEED

625  625. HUMANITY

'We simply didn't want a chase,' he shook his head, relaxing now. He almost doubted if there was a need for Lady Edna to deploy her beast.

Then again, if the expert considered it necessary, the abilities of those saints had to be something spectacular.

'I'm sure we startled them. It isn't every day you see an object moving at hypersonic speeds.'

Yuno's beast did not slow down even after wheezing past those structures. This continued until even the canyon was out of view and little by little small settlements began to unfold on the horizon.

"We should descend somewhere close," Lady Edna announced and Yuno nodded, pointing at a relatively small mass of trees which his bird descended towards.

They landed successfully and all four of them leaped off the huge bird.

"We're officially inside Papine now," Elder Velsvon announced, taking a deep breath. "The nation that almost wants to go to war with Cusk."

"Here you will find many creatures not native to the lands of Cusk. This place has a higher mana density compared to our beloved nation."

"I can tell that much," Noah stated, shaking his head. He swept his gaze on the lush greenery around them and quickly ignored that detail. It was nice but not spectacular anymore. "Isn't she rather… huge to travel with us," Noah suggested raising his head to gaze at the pretty bird. He had to raise his head properly and even at that her head was barely in view due to how close he was to her figure.

180m in height wasn't a joke.

"Eh… you're right. She's humongous." Yuno's eyebrows quivered and his bird voiced a complaint.

"She doesn't like being called big," the expert announced, floating to pat her side.

'Even if she Is,' Noah said. Inwardly of course.

"Yet that isn't a problem," Yuno revealed, spreading his hand to allow strange azure runes float out of his palm.

The air thrummed and the ground shook. A huge azure magical circle unfolded below Yuno's beast slowly. Gradually her figure started reducing in size, and in less than a minute she became small enough to stand on Yuno's shoulder.

Seeing Noah's interest in that manifestation the expert opened his mouth to speak. "This technique forcefully manipulates her size, but it's been perfected, so it doesn't hurt her. it's all temporary, however, and it needs a constant stream of energy to run."

"All of which comes from me of course."

"Will that cost affect you in a fight?" Noah asked understanding the parameters to keep a steady flow of essence. It could either be manual or automated.

 He determined that the expert had set its consumption to be automatic since it would allow him to fight.

But even that simple program required a high level of skill and he had to dedicate a portion of his mind to simply running it.

"In a fight? I'd release it then. It's far safer to have her in her normal size to assist me in a battle." The expert shrugged.

Noah was about to show his disappointment when the expert spoke.

"But no. Its presence is too negligible to affect my battle prowess significantly," he explained, not hiding the pride in his tone.

"I see… alright."

"We should get moving now," Lady Edna called their attention back to their primary focus.

Due to their illegal presence and the fact that the nation was filled with relentless entities, she determined that they would travel on foot for a while before resuming flight.

This was to throw the officials off their scent. They would be in search of a massive flying beast but that did not exist anymore.

Just according to her words less than ten minutes after their landing, the skies trembled as several flying beasts streaked by; in search of the beast that had bypassed them, more so at an astonishing speed.

Plans unfolded in their gazes as huge portions of greenery remained plentiful. But Noah wasn't satisfied with not interacting with the saints, but he could not disobey Lady Edna. He respected her.

Moreover, their journey was still long, and they still had the hurdle which was the gap between continents. It would be simply childish to want to go on a tour of the nation.

'Maybe later,' Noah comforted himself inwardly, following silently.

Once again words were barely exchanged. Everyone simply followed Lady Edna's lead. Valleys, mountain chains, rivers, plains even the outskirts of huge settlements reached their eyes during the days they spent walking.

With each passing day, Noah felt his mind draw closer to insanity. He longed to know how that society worked.

Also, the fact that those men and women remained a mystery to him didn't help. In honesty, there was no evidence that they would spend the next few months together.

By the end of the fifth day, they had walked a great distance but it remained negligible compared to the full length of the nation.

It was nighttime, Lady Edna had announced that they would be resuming flight the next day. Noah knew that would spell the end of his chances of seeing anything.

They built a simple campfire according to Lady Edna's wishes and each one of them sat around it.

Noah's had a dark expression sitting before those burning orange flames. At this point, he greatly considered moving.

'I'm a speedster, nowhere is too far for me… I can simply interact for a few hours before leaving again,' he affirmed to himself. Yet he could not stand to take his leave.

Deep within his thoughts, consideration, and desire held him in position, a war where each side fought for dominance.

Noah furrowed his brows at some point, his eyes had been stuck gazing into space, but to the outside world, he had been staring at the flames.

He raised his head to look forward and surprisingly found Lady Edna's gaze fixed on his figure. His thoughts changed and he regained his composure.

"You seem in distress, heir," her voice rang out in his head as he felt her consciousness interact with his.

"It's nothing," Noah replied, and she fell silent. She sounded exactly as she did in real life. Disconnected from the worries of the world. Unimpressed, maybe.

"Is it concerning the journey?" Her question made Noah's heart skip a beat, she noticed his reaction, as for the first time she saw more humanity in his rather divine features.

"What is it?" She questioned realizing her question had struck home in his mind.

Unable to resist and unwilling to tell a lie Noah conveyed his intentions.

"Is that so…" She responded after listening. Noah almost face-palmed himself.

"Is that all?" She asked, and he nodded already unwilling to go. Not after her reaction.

"I believe it's not a problem then… mere hours will barely impact our journey. Even a few days wouldn't do much. Our destination is still far ahead," she explained.

Noah froze.

He considered her words and felt skeptical.

Was it some type of test for the expert to see how good he was at making hard decisions? Since despite the reality of her words those hours or even days would be an addition to the speed of their journey.

Lady Edna saw this and addressed it.

"I have no hidden meanings than I have spoken. You've always been free to do as you wished. Our task was to accompany you to the Master," she explained, gaining Noah's rapt attention.

"Heir, the truth is that as long as you remain willing to see our master we are bound by his order to follow you around so long as you eventually get to him."

"You would be the lead of this journey if you knew your way to the dark continents."

Noah felt taken aback.