Chapter 98 - Ambushed In The Forest

"Damn it! They already caught up." Artemis muttered as both she and Aiden could hear movement behind themselves.

They quickly jumped down the tress and decided to stealthily walk o the ground. Aiden hid using his shadows while Artemis could only rely on her skills to hide.

'Wish I could hide the two of us like Will does.' Aiden thought with a sigh as he remembered the way Will could hide people using his light element. That was a really useful skill to have.

Artemis suddenly stopped moving and lifted her index finger to her lips. Moments later, five people just moved above and had left the duo alone.

But Aiden and Artemis stood still for a few minutes in case it was a trap but after waiting for almost fifteen minutes, they realized that that the five people had passed away.

"Shall we move ahead now?" Aiden whispered as Artemis nodded and they set out again.

"Where do you think we should go? They might check the nearby villages and towns so there is no point in doing that." 

"I know a place where we can go. Just follow me." Aiden then took the lead as he swiftly moved towards the Shadowstone city.

But while doing that, a random question entered his mind. 

"Why are doing all this?" he asked Artemis without looking back at her face. The latter remained silent for a few minutes before responding.

"It's because you somehow remind me of who I was in the beginning. My village was attacked by another village when I was ten years old and that's when I had seen what war meant. I had matured quite early on and because of that.

I was taken by the opposite village as a slave since they had won the war. My parents and half the people of my village had been massacred. Though the Mondstad city was completely unaware of this." She suddenly fell quiet as they continued to move.

Aiden understood to quite some extent how she felt since it wasn't normal to open up about her past self to a complete stranger.

And that was why Aiden changed the topic.

"I am a spy." He suddenly said and heard Artemis chuckle.

"I could tell that much and if I had to say, we are probably heading towards the Shadowstone city. But why did a spy like you decide to run away with me when you could have just killed me and remained there? Did you get charmed by my beautiful looks?" Artemis said in a teasing tone.

"As if." Aiden's eyes unconsciously looked back as he carefully looked at Artemis's body for the first time. 

She had shiny silver hair that fell down to her waist. Her eyes were the same color and seemed to shine a little in the dark. Now that Aiden had a light element related job class, he could see everything more clearly.

< She has a D cup in case you were curious. I can give you her three sizes if you want though. >

'…'

Aiden was grateful that he was moving in front of Artemis and not behind her or otherwise she would have seen the weird expression on his face. But Aiden couldn't do anything since Sera had caught him off guard.

< As if your gaze wasn't moving there. >

'It wasn't. But now I feel that it would.' He replied with a sigh and looked forward.

The duo traveled like this for a week before they met their first hurdle.

"They have surrounded the entire village," Artemis said with a grim expression as they encountered many guards in the first village.

Artemis and Aiden had been able to drink and eat because of her collapsible restaurant or otherwise they would be forced to seek out beasts whose meet could both hydrate them and give them enough nutrition.

"Let's take a different route," Aiden replied and they started traveling again but to get to the Shadowstone city as early as possible, they had to cross a few villages, and somehow, all of them had tight security.

'Is it because I told that man about the raids or perhaps it's because they know who I am?' Aiden thought silently before he realized that he was still wearing the mask of the trickster.

He had gotten so used to it that he had forgotten to take it off. And Artemis had no idea how he looked like.

Perhaps the man with the gray hair had told about Aiden to some higher-up who knew him at the crown prince. But the possibility of that happening was quite low.

Because even in the Shadowstone city, most people didn't know how Aiden looked.

"Hey Artemis, how old are you?" Aiden asked casually as they were moving away from one of the towns because of the security.

"I am nineteen and by the way, you never told me your name." Artemis turned her head in Aiden's direction and cocked an eyebrow.

Aiden was finding out that this ability was quite common in the demon realm.

"My name is Aiden." He replied with a sigh but a wave of shock went through Artemis's body.

"Like Aiden Locksworth Shadowstone."

If Aiden had not mastered the ability to control his expressions, it would have been a dead giveaway. But he instead decided to tell the truth because of three different individuals.

"Yes, I am that Aiden and the heir to the demon throne," Aiden said with a sigh as Artemis smiled.

"You are actually telling the truth. By the way, you can take that mask off. I have always been able to see your real face." She added as Aiden raised his right hand and took the mask of the trickster off his face.

[ Good job. ]

[ Well done. ]

< Good job Aiden. >

'Don't you guys have something else to do? I mean I can understand Sera but are both of you this free?' Aiden asked Hestia and the god of shadows but heard no reply. This made his right jaw twitch.

"Aiden, I think that security in the last village was a trap." Artemis suddenly said in a sharp tone as she and Aiden could now see four symbols drawn together on nearby trees.

"A trapping formation…" Aiden muttered as both of them took battle stances.

And with that, a golden barrier suddenly erected up and thousands of daggers were launched at the two of them.