Chapter 326 Rough Paths

Once they were finished with their meal and catching up on the interesting gossip surrounding the kingdom, Lucius and the group returned to the inn and spent the night there.

Lucius would take it as an opportunity to look at the map that Kiana had given him earlier.

It was something that showed the entire area of the Grantz Kingdom and featured the official roads that led to the various cities as well as marking which territories belonged to whom.

​ "Hmmm, something like this doesn't update so much considering how nobility don't often change up over the course of time." Lucius muttered as his finger landed on the official road that led to Aisse Territory.

There were areas that were marked with mountains and other landmarks which still led to Aisse Territory and this was the area that Lucius was going to head to with Gellor and the group.

"On my previous conversation with Kiana, these are the areas where the Plow Worms are staying at, and so we'll be heading there instead of Aisse right away." Lucius muttered to himself.

He had already gone over this with Kiana and even Gellor and his team two days prior, but this was something he liked to check one last time in case something came up.

It was better to err on the side of caution than anything else.

"I'll be transforming a Plow Worm and it will be by far the largest creature that I'll ever turn into a Lost here. It's not something that can be changed with soul power from the Necklace of the Damned, so I'll have to build up my hell energy again." Lucius closed the map and then went for his bed to meditate.

He'd spent the next few hours building his hell energy until he was satisfied, and then taking his time to finally rest.

When early morning came up, everyone in Gellor's mercenary group was already awake alongside Lucius and Kiana.

Even though Lucius spent several hours meditating, he still felt mostly refreshed thanks to the power of the Necklace of the Damned nourishing his soul.

It was a contrast to the others who trudged down the stairs and looked like they wanted more sleep. Even though they were mercenaries, it was quite likely that Gellor and his group preferred to travel when they were ready as opposed to early mornings.

"Is everyone ready to leave?" Gellor asked once they all met down at the stables. "Have you all checked your belongings and everything?"

"Done. We also resupplied for today." Finch replied. "Got it yesterday night, so we're all ready, Gellor"

"We also got some nice meal for the road from the innkeeper as well." Barty said, coming in back from the inn, he had additional meals with him which he started to load onto the horse.

"Ooh, I think she really likes you, Barty." Albus chuckled and elbowed his friend. "I never get that kind of special treatment even though we've been here like a hundred times."

"You tried to dance on top of her tables with your crane legs and bet that you could jump from one table to the end of the room. Of course she's not happy with you." Barty said with a roll of his eyes.

"Alright, where's Ariana?" Gellor sighed and looked at the others.

Lucius and Kiana looked around, but finally the mercenary arrived at the stable.

"So early huh." Ariana rubbed her eyes and bit back a yawn, noticing Lord Asher and Kiana. "W-which is good since the earlier we are, the less hot it's going to be on the road."

"Less traffic on the roads too. So we'll be going now." Gellor nodded and then turned to Lord Asher. "We are ready to leave now, Lucius. Apologies for the delay."

"Thank you." Lucius nodded.

The group left Etara's Cross and then headed down the southern road. This highway was going to be the one that took them to Aisse Territory as he read from the map last night.

It was around the end of the fifth day that they finally came across a fork in the road, it was something that wasn't placed as an official route to Aisse Territory, but it was the one that would take them to there desired location.

"Hmmm… the road's rather rough and unpaved huh." Albus whistled.

"It's not us who'll be walking there, but our horses." Ariana said. "What are you complaining about, crane legs?"

"Enough bickering." Gellor said and cleared his throat. "This is the path that we've discussed previously, right Lord Asher?"

"Indeed. Is there any issue?" Lucius asked as he stopped at the fork of the road.

"No, Lord Asher. It's just a route that we haven't been to before so we would like all of us to be on guard. It's best that you ride in the middle as we make a circle formation. You too, Kiana." Gellor said.

"You don't have to worry about me, Gellor." Kiana said. She was ready to activate her gift at a moment's notice, and even though she hadn't tried to do it much while on horseback, she was confident about her skills.

"Thank you. That sounds like a good plan." Lucius said. "We don't know what we'll be encountering in this path, do we?"

"There could be uh bandits on the road…" Finch frowned.

While they were mostly equipped to focus on handling rune beasts during missions, not all of them were exactly happy with the idea of fighting other people if it came down to it.

"Don't say stuff like that, you might jinx us." Albus complained. "What's most likely is that there will be animals and rune beasts that we'll see."

"Hmmm, I suppose we haven't been able to pack those beast repellent powder, did we?" Lucius remarked to Kiana. He remembered using them when they first defeated the fake bandits.

"There's been low supplies of it, Asher. Since the battle with Viscount Drew and all those dead bodies, I'm afraid that we've only acquired a certain amount." Kiana sighed.

"Don't worry, the team and I will be taking shifts for the night." Gellor said.