206 Time is relative
After that morning in the camp, the gang opted to stay another week in Latgor. The winter was severe, some of the locals were still hopeless even after the death of the Counts, and food was scarce.
In addition, Luke and the others needed to decide what their next steps would be after there, but they shouldn’t make this decision alone. Therefore, Alexis sent Koven to the Cardinal Kingdom with a letter addressed to Pontiff Rebecca. Since Koven was a Summoner, he wouldn’t have problems with the weather like normal birds, and thanks to that, it should only take three days for him to reach his destination and another three days to get back to Alexis, whose location he could know without exerting himself.
Then, the flock began to help in everything they could in Latgor. From turning over the croplands with hoes to rebuilding the roofs of some houses that were broken because of the debris from the Manor that flew into the city, and because of the landslides from the hill.
In the Cardinal Kingdom, when Rebecca saw Amelia bring the green bird to her table, she already knew it was news from the half-dragon. Wasting no time, she opened the letter and began to read.
[Respectable Pontiff Rebecca, today we rid Latgor of the evil that plagued it.
First of all, I must request that you send some supplies and royal guards to this small town. I know that this may be an unfeasible request due to the perilous situation in our Empire, but still, the winter in the North is harsh, the terrain at the moment is infertile, and there are many sick people.
Furthermore, I must warn you that there were two demons here, not just one as expected. Also, there was a monster controlled by them ‘protecting’ the area. The demons were adequately sealed in the cubes, and the monster was killed.
Now you may be wondering why I sent a letter and didn’t come over with the cubes as expected. The answer is that the remainder of the group and I wish to return to Oukiwa because Luke found a letter in the demons’ office that connects them directly to the Smakusa Noble Family. Before you tell me, I know that we can’t act and arrest them without evidence, so we must return to Oukiwa and investigate them.
However, we will not act without your permission, so we will stay in Latgor until your answer reaches us. Please consider carefully the decision you will make.
– Signed by Alexis Dmitry].
After she finished reading, Rebecca picked up the quill on her desk, dipped it in the black ink, and immediately wrote her decision. Her cursive handwriting on the paper was elegant, and when she put the period on the letter, she spoke to Amelia:
“Pack your bags, Amelia. You will travel to Oukiwa.”
The woman with black hair and bangs showed her surprise for an instant, but soon pulled herself together and bowed to the Pontiff’s decision.
When the Pontiff’s answer arrived in Latgor, everyone in the half-wolf group was extremely pleased with her decision.
According to her answer in the letter, she couldn’t send royal guards to help Latgor, but she promised to solicit smaller clans to do it in exchange for rewards.
Moreover, Rebeca also thought it best that they go back to Oukiwa for the time being, because the Emperor didn’t even want to listen to her because his tenth child was soon to be born.
Hearing Alexis read this end of the letter, Luke spoke up with his arms crossed:
“Either this Emperor is very foolish or very powerful. There is no middle ground.”
“A continental War is knocking on his door and even we who are thieves realize it. Of course, he’s an idiot.” Matthew spoke, as he carried a sack of oatmeal with only one arm to place on the wagon in front of the porch on which the group stood.
“Former thieves.” Ynosuke corrected Matthew. He was carrying an oatmeal bag on each shoulder.
“Okay, Okay… former thieves.” After throwing the oatmeal into the wagon, the man with gray and brown hair spoke. “And pack it up. I don’t have the arm for it.” He pointed to the messy food in the wagon.
“Are you really using your disability as an excuse? Hahaha!” Zack was right behind Ynosuke, carrying two bags of oatmeal under each arm. “You’re not weak because you have one arm, you’re weak because you’re short.”
Matthew was highly offended by this. “I seriously doubt you’ll ever say that again!” He exclaimed, pointing his finger at the red-haired giant’s face.
“Shorty?”
Matthew looked at Zack better before starting a physical fight. “Ahhh! If you weren’t big as a bear, I would kick your ass right now!” He exclaimed and turned on his back.
The S-Class looked at that intrigue totally different from Meredith, John, and Luke, who were thinking it was funny.
Alexis noticed the lightness of how the gang of ex-thieves was looking at the alarming situation. Even a squad of royal guards would be so tense that they would hardly exchange sentences, but these people of the half-wolf gang were different; they didn’t care whether their enemies were demons or powerful nobles because each of them fully trusted their companions, no matter the intrigues.
*
The two-month journey to Oukiwa wasn’t easy for the half-wolf group. The winter seemed even longer than usual, it was challenging to find good and cheap food, and the horses were exhausted every day by the thin layer of ice covering the ground, which forced them to make extended stops. Luckily, the snow only covered the ends of the Skool continent, such as the city of Suzano in the North, so they weren’t surprised by any frost.
During this long travel time, Luke studied more grammar and arithmetic than ever before, because now he had plenty of time to spare and the help of the whole gang to correct his lessons. Although he soon realized that Matthew and Zack didn’t know as much about arithmetic as he thought.
Luke also surpassed the First Stage of the Sea Ornament. He noticed he was much stronger than before and was now more aware of each of his movements. The half-wolf’s speed also increased considerably when he finished the First Stage, because his blood was somehow flowing more easily within his veins and blood vessels. After resting his muscles for a week, Luke began to learn the Second Stage from Ynosuke.
This secondary stage of the Sea Ornament carried a different approach than the first. While in the first, Luke was training the fundamentals, in the second, he would learn more advanced and explosive techniques, such as the archer stance that almost killed him when he tried to mimic Ynosuke.
To everyone’s surprise, Luke managed to perfectly learn five of the eleven positions of the Second Stage in only four weeks, which should have taken more than a year. On that day, Luke told them about the <Eye of Horus> and how he used the ability for it.
Ynosuke and Alexis listened carefully the Luke’s explanation for this and warned him about the risks.
“From what you say, within this ability only your mind works, no?” Ynosuke asked. He didn’t understand much about Gene Abilities, but he didn’t doubt anything in case it was a Legendary Ability.
They had their wagon pulled over to the side of a road near Boiji, heating meat on fire to eat. When Luke nodded at Ynosuke’s questioning, he continued.
“So, since your body is not being trained, it is still very dangerous to use these positions.”
Luke listened carefully to the advice. “Yes, I know the risks, but I just wanted to learn them as soon as possible to maximize my learning. If I were doing wrong repetitions of the positions, I would end up training the wrong parts of my body, wouldn’t I? That could hinder my evolution.”
The long-haired man was surprised at Luke’s understanding; after all, the fact that the positions were difficult to repeatedly reproduce was what made the process of learning Sea Ornament so long.
“Are you studying within this your skill those books you bought too?” Ynosuke clenched his eyes, staring at the half-wolf. Without a shadow of a doubt, Luke was smarter since they had left Latgor.
Luke looked away. “Maybe?”
That subject ended there because Ynosuke didn’t want to pressure his friend. Three days later, they finally arrived in Oukiwa.