505 Hey Old Geezer, Can You Please Chill?

Baiyi had used his master's memories to score admiration points with Lulu. What he did not expect, however, was that Mia, too, would be won over by stories she ought to know were not his!

As Baiyi watched his daughter, Mia, brim with anticipation, he could not help noticing how her smile and twinkling eyes greatly resembled Lulu's. This creeped him out a little. Did whatever Mia contracted from Lulu, which made both so hyperactive, grow stronger the more time they spend together?

If that was the case, then it was unfortunate for Baiyi that he could not renege on his agreement to visit the city with them; if he did that, he would hurt their feelings.

Calling their mean of transportation a "horse carriage" was farfetched. In reality, they were riding in a crude, wooden trailer that was being pulled by an old horse. Both goods and the passengers were crammed in the trailer, and there was not even room left to spread one's legs, even a little.

From the time that Baiyi and Mia met, they had never ridden on something as ignoble as this. They were used to flying or teleporting to their destination — as was the norm for most sorcerers. Even if they had to travel on wheels, Baiyi made sure to hire the most comfortable coaches available.

However, Baiyi was currently pretending to be a mere sorcerer's apprentice — a profession that left him unentitled to the level of comfort that he was already used to. Thus, he could only be squeezed in with Mia, Lulu, and Lulu's family and their many goods. The claustrophobic environment was rather uncomfortable.

Unlike him, Mia did not look uncomfortable. She had even managed to find a way to lie down comfortably — a skill she had acquired as a child raised in a rural hometown, where carriages like these were the primary means of transportation. Habits and skills acquired at an early age were not easily lost, even if one lived the lavish lifestyle of pampered princess for years after that.

Mia, who was comfortable in her position, began to chat with Lulu, who was lying beside her. Their discussion was held in whispers, as it was a topic for their ears only, not the adults.

Lulu's mother, who Baiyi considered quite fine for her age, was quick to detect Baiyi's discomfort. "You aren't very used to this, are you, Mr. Apprentice? Sorry; this is the best that we poor folks can offer. Please, bear with us," she apologized.

Had Baiyi not saved the young son of the old couple a few days ago, Lulu's mother would not have dared to talk to him right now. That heroic rescue changed his image from a bad-tempered recluse to a local celebrity; everyone in Aegir now wanted to get acquainted with him. The close relationship that his daughter and Lulu shared made them even closer.

"It's not a problem. This is not the worst ride I've ever been in," Baiyi answered humbly.

To him, nothing could be worse than the worst ride he had ever been on: one particular torrent link back on Earth. It had taken him from one encrypted link to another, and another, and then another. It managed to consume even more time later on due to the size of the download. When all was finally done and Baiyi thought he had gotten himself a stash of quality porn, the file had turned out to contain an entire season of Boku no Pico, instead. Bait at its finest.

"I heard from Lulu that you've been to a lot of places. I can only imagine that you are of noble birth or someone in the upper class, yes?" Lulu's mother asked.

Although the people living in Aegir had warmed up to Baiyi, they still knew very little about him. Hence, as they did with mysterious people, they tried to steer conversations they had with him towards his identity and past.

To their chagrin, Baiyi had always been tight-lipped; whenever he noticed conversations going down that path, he would withdraw from the conversation with a vague answer. When Baiyi heard Lulu's mother's question, he replied, "No, I am a nobody that was lucky to visit some places in the past."

Conversations of this manner did not last long. This was why Lulu's father — who was driving the 'carriage' — was not worried that his wife might have the hots for her mysterious neighbor in armor. One was a simple-minded housewife, who brought up conversations that revolved around her mundane life, and the other was a Voidwalker acutely tuned to current affairs and arcane knowledge; the two had nothing in common.

Both families were close because their daughters were good friends. The girls continued to chat even after their parents were now awkwardly quiet.

Fortunately, the journey was not as long as they had feared. In half a day, the group reached the border city closest to Aegir, Highland City. It was a populated city situated atop a meandering slope. Fortified by towering walls, Highland City could pass off as a natural extension of the mountains. The city was also one of the most important forts along the empire's border, so it used as an army base for a large number of border troops.

The number of soldiers that the carriage encountered on the road increased the closer it got to Highland City. The soldiers could not help staring at Baiyi, as he looked completely out of place in the dilapidated horse-drawn carriage. Lulu's mother instructed the girls to pull their hoods over their heads to shield their beauty from the eyes of men.

As the carriage neared the city gate, its speed slowed to a crawl. There was a long line of carriages, trailers, and coaches at the gate. They had arrived from different routes. After every harvest, merchants and farmers made their way to big cities like Highland City to conduct business.

Since Highland city also served as an important military base, the custom checks carried out at the gate were rigorous. The city had only two gates: one for those entering, and the other for those exiting. This explained why there was also serious traffic congestion in front of the city.

"Uh. It's always the same o' jam up here, but I swear this year's worse than last year's," Lulu's father said, sighing from the driving seat. He fished out a pipe and tobacco from his inner pocket and began to smoke to ward off his boredom.

"Aww! This is gonna take a really long time, isn't it?" Little Mia whined when she spotted the long line in front of their carriage.

Satisfied with the time she had had to snuggle with Lulu, Mia finally remembered that Baiyi was there, too. This, she moved a bit to rest her head on his thigh, using it as a pillow.

It had been a long time since Baiyi enjoyed such displays of intimacy. He had been uncomfortable throughout the journey, but the gesture made him feel at ease.

"The two of you sure enjoy a very strong bond," Lulu's mother complimented.

"Well, we're the last of our family," Baiyi replied, after which he told Lulu's family a backstory that he had made up for such occasions. In this story, Mia's mother had died shortly after Mia's birth, so Baiyi had had to raise Mia alone.

When Baiyi had run this fake backstory by Mia earlier, she was against it, but at Baiyi's insistence, she had to relent.

It took a long time for their carriage to reach the gate, and by the time it did, Mia was already asleep. Biayi spotted teams of armed soldiers searching every carriage thoroughly before it was allowed to pass. Goods were searched, and the faces of passengers were checked to see if they matched those on the list of the most-wanted criminals. Some soldiers even went as far as to pull the cheeks of passengers and animals on board carriages, to check if they had masks on. Baiyi watched as some soldiers solemnly pinched the flabby cheeks of some pigs aboard the carriage before them, causing the pigs to squeal in alarm. Several carriages failed the checks and were led aside by another group of soldiers.

High up on a rampart beside the gate were several sorcerers armed with magic staffs, watching the process like hawks. Master-level power pulsated from these sorcerers, making them even more imposing.

Dispatching Master-level sorcerers to oversee custom checks was very unusual. Baiyi was sure this change was a result of his accident with the Book of Servitude. The sever chain of events that followed his mistake kept catching him off-guard. After Captain Aegis's visit, Baiyi thought that the dust had settled, but he was wrong. The manhunt was still ongoing.

He could not understand why that young Archmage refused to let it go. All he had done — albeit accidentally — was call out to the Book of Servitude for what seemed like a millisecond! Even for a ruler of an empire, it was unlike the young Archmage to be this paranoid.

'Unless…' An unpleasant thought emerged in Baiyi's mind, 'My not-presently-old master has lost his control over the Book of Servitude! That's the only explanation for this excessive reaction!'

That was a very big problem. Not only was the Servitude the Emperor's primary weapon, but it was also the lifeline of the Rohlserlian empire. The only reason the Archmage could afford to be bold was because of the book. Without it, the Rohlserlian Empire's defense would crumble.

That was not Baiyi's biggest worry. If this matter was not resolved, the Archmage's growth would be stunted, and his cultivation would be damaged; this way, he would never enter the Void and meet Baiyi in the future, becoming his master.

Baiyi could tell that the situation was not pretty. It had long since passed the Butterfly Effect, worsening into the Butterfree Effect!

He had to meet with the young Archmage to reverse this. If he did not, things would get really bad, really soon.

While Baiyi was lost in thought, a soldier walked over to the side of their carriage. When he spotted Baiyi, the soldier pointed the top of his lance at the Soul Armature and yelled, "Remove your mask, and state your name!"

"Alright, but I hope you're ready," Baiyi replied coldly. He removed his mask to reveal a horribly disfigured face, which he created using illusion magic. He had even amplified its grotesque appearance to resemble Freddy Kruger's.

Unsurprisingly, a lump formed in the soldier's throat, and he took a few steps backward, his face as white as a sheet. A few moments later, he gulped and stammered, with a faint hint of sympathy, "A-alright. I'm deeply sorry for… that. You're a strong and brave man."

No longer willing to search the carriage, the soldier waved at his colleagues in front to signal an all-clear. Just like that, Baiyi's carriage passed without any more impediment.

The soldier had been that scared because the sly Baiyi had cast a subliminal suggestion spell on him to make the face look worse than it already was.

The ease at which Baiyi's carriage passed through the customs checkpoint at the gate did not escape the eyes of the sorcerers atop the battlement. A sorcerer quickly called a soldier over and pointed at Baiyi's carriage. "Why did that one get a pass so quickly?"

"Give me a few moments while I check, Sir," the soldier answered respectfully and hurried down to the gate. A few minutes later, the soldier, who was panting, raced back to the sorcerer and said, "There was a passenger in that carriage that has a very horrifying burn. His appearance was so frightening that the soldier who inspected his carriage was scared silly, and in a daze, he gave them a pass. Furthermore, none of the criminals on our list have such horrible burn injuries, so it's safe to say that everything is alright."

"And what about the others in the carriage?" The sorcerer asked.

"Frequent visitors of Highland City, Sir. It's a family of apothecaries, who are one of our top suppliers. The army has worked with them for years — it's almost a tradition to have them deliver medicines around this time of the year."

The sorcerer was quiet as he combed through the information the soldier had given him. Suddenly, he frowned.

"Wait a minute. Something's not right here… Wasn't Rodrigue the soldier that investigated them? He's a war veteran — someone that should be desensitized to most horrific injuries! How is it possible that someone like him could not handle looking at a mere burn victim?! No, something must have been done to him. I want that carriage stopped right now!"

It was too late, though. The carriage in question had already vanished into Highland City's complicated alleys.

Baiyi could not help muttering, "Gosh, was it that obvious?"