BXBX NOVEL Chapter 193 The Adversity Of Being A Bystander (3)
The food comes just right after we finished our talk. By that time, almost half an hour has passed, so the waitress who brings the food is a little bit worried.
She apologizes profusely and even says that everything is on the house as compensation. I know everything will be burdened on her salary, so I wave her apology off and explain that I was joking.
After finishing the meal, the girls immediately go to their room and sleep. Winerva and Lunea sleep together, meanwhile, Millonia sleeps alone because her roommate (me) is busy gathering information from the people of the Barony.
The first thing I immediately find out is the fact that Lunea's exile is not known by the public. The stir in the palace is also kept secret, so none of the people has any idea of the ruckus that happened two weeks ago.
This fact is both good news and bad news. On the one hand, we can move a little bit more freely because no citizen will chase us away even if they recognize Lunea; however, it shows how much the Kingdom has fallen into the traitorous Hero's hands.
"Some of the Heroes have gone missing for the past three days—have you heard it?"
"Eh, really? Did they run away from their duty? I can't blame them, though; fighting those abominations is hard."
"No, no. It would have been better had that been the case. The problem is that they disappeared during their mission. There is a possibility that the Cursed Creation has started their move."
Listening to the mutterings of the three random people, I wonder if the events were caused by the Warrior from the other Demon Realm. The Verniculos Kingdom may have the most "interaction" with humans, but I am sure those events weren't caused by our Warriors.
'I thought I was the only one who had the initiative to pluck the flower before it bloomed,' I remark inwardly. 'Is it probably because of the fall of Lysimork? Are the other Demon Kingdoms concerned about our power?'
Shaking my head faintly to clear the unnecessary thoughts from my mind, I continue walking to gather more information to better understand the world's current situation.
My focus is now on finding the bastards who were my former classmates, so anything unrelated to it should be ignored for the time being.
…
Six hours passed in the blink of an eye when I returned to the inn. The girls have woken up from their sleep, looking refreshed and famished.
Joining them at the table, the food comes not long after. They have also ordered for me, so we can eat at the same time.
After finishing our meal, we immediately get out of the inn and go somewhere quiet where no eye can spot us. We are going to set on our journey, so having eyes on us will defeat the purpose of our disguise.
Once we reach the quiet place, we stop in our tracks. The place is covered by a lot of tall trees, so it is a safe place for Genelos to reassume his original form.
"Lunea, take this," I say as I turn around and throw a marble-sized crystal at her.
"Sound Crystal?" she mutters. "Do you want me to…?"
"Yes," I nod my head, "give him a call."
Lunea nods her head, rather hesitantly if I may add, and channel her Mana into it. She then mutters the Magic Code, which works as the number of the call destination.
As the Sound Crystal lights up, radio static is heard for a couple of seconds. When it disappears, it is immediately replaced by the sound of horse hooves tapping against the ground.
[Who is this?]
"Sir Mike, this is me."
[Princess Lunea?]
From the way he sounds, Mike seems a little bit flustered that a Princess is calling him. As I expected, he doesn't know about the matter at all.
Lunea looks at me with eyes that say, 'What should I do next?' and I tell her to say that she wants to meet him. She does a double take as if asking if I am serious, but she does what I told her regardless.
[Is there a special occasion for you to wish to meet me, Princess?]
"I need your help… I think I am being stalked and I am afraid it is one of the Heroes from my Kingdom."
[What an unpleasant thing to hear.]
"Will you help me, Sir Mike?"
[Tell me where you are, Princess. I will help as much as I can.]
'Well, well, well. Look at how brave our Hero has become. He has never been like this when I was bullied.'
As I am busy musing about how righteous the bastard now sounds, Lunea turns to me and asks me for help. I stop musing and tell her what she has to say.
"I don't want the stalker to scurry in fear because of you, so I will just come to your location. Please, tell me where you are, Sir Mike."
[Ah, I am currently in Allegio Viscountcy. I am on my way to a small village called Acadia.]
"Very well, I will be there in two days. Once again, thank you for the help, Sir Mike."
[See you in two days, Princess.]
The call ends and the time for us to go has come.
We are currently in one of the outermost Baronies in Cresundia, Cessia Barony. It is fairly close to Allegio Barony but saying that we will reach it in two days is kind of forcing it.
We can still make it in two days, but Genelos has to fly faster than he already did before and we have to cut our rest time completely. At most, we can only rest on the ground for two hours, which is not enough to sleep.
"I hope you are strong enough to handle the harsh flight later," I remark.
"It has always been harsh anyway—is it going to get harsher?" Lunea asks.
"Thanks to you, it is," Millonia chimes in. "As close as it is to the border, Cessia Barony is still 12,000 Absitan away from Allegio Viscountcy. While covering the distance in two days is not a stretch, you will have to sacrifice a lot."
"For examples?" Lunea asks in dread.
"Rest hour," Millonia answers solemnly.
"Ah, is that so? I thought it would be more than that," Lunea responds nonchalantly, causing Millonia to blink her eyes in bafflement. "It is a journey—minimal time rest is a normal thing."
Millonia turns to me as if saying, 'Is this kid for real?' I shrug and then tell Genelos to assume his true form.
Before I tell the girls to hop on, I approach Lunea and pat her head. It was just a mere assumption before, but now I am sure that she is going to be a good sidekick.
"Here," I take out a book and hand it to her. "This has everything about Middle-Class Spells covered. You learn quickly, don't you? I want you to learn everything in this book. The two days we will spend flying may help you."
What is with the pat? It is to show my appreciation and expectation. Since I can't enslave her, I can't tell her to do what I want her to do. I need to make her feel appreciated so she will work accordingly. Acting as if I am proud of her is one of the ways.
I am inclined to believe it is a success since she is blushing as she softly says, "Thank you." She doesn't even realize that I just want her to be more useful to me.
"Hold on tight. I won't bother to save you if you fall."
When everyone is already on the Genelos' back, I cover all of us with a literal windshield. It is a layer of air that surrounds us to prevent any of us from falling and protect us from air friction and the decreasing temperature.
Genelos soars to the sky so quickly that those who might see him could only see a streak of black light ascending to the sky before disappearing. During the day, due to his black skin, flying without any Concealment Spell attracts attention, which is why we use one.
Genelos is flying faster than he was before, but none of the girls seems bothered by it. Of course, it is all possible because of the windshield.
So far, only Lunea has thanked me for my consideration. I never expected the other two to thank me due to our relationship but they don't look grateful at all, which slightly irks me.
"Hey, did you shower separately from us?" Millonia asks as she sniffs my clothes. "You don't smell at all. Are you already so strong that no one can make you sweat anymore?"
"I use Magic to keep myself clean all the time. Valeria taught me how to do it once and I always used it ever since."
"Wasting Mana for such a mundane thing—you reek of a Mage."
"Is that a wrong thing though?"
"Nah, it's just weird that I don't smell pheromone from a Demon."
I have learned how to control my pheromone—it is as easy as controlling my bladder. Since I think it will be hilarious if I can stimulate Millonia, I release my Demonic pheromone after she said her piece.
The battle maniac breathes in the pheromone cluelessly and only realized it is what it is when she feels there is something wrong with her body. She knows what happens, of course, so she punches my back while cursing at me for five minutes straight.
I merely chuckle at it but then immediately turn solemn when she hugs me tightly. The moment I feel something warm and wet behind me, we make a silent promise to never talk about it to anyone.
Just like that, two days passed in the blink of an eye.