Chapter 166 - Suspicious Presence

Although the fact that Zaos was fully armored and armed to fight, the nervousness of the kids only lasted for a while. Once they started talking, they completely forgot about his presence. Aside from him, most of the boys were taking turns in driving the eleven carriages, each carriage could carry six people, so there were a lot more people than Zaos had expected to see.

"I did the right thing by not trying to bring Nyana…" Zaos thought.

Since the drivers were constantly changing, the trip to the lake lasted for a while longer than predicted. In those stops, the kids also tried to find reasons to enter Drannor and Ameria's carriage. They sure were popular among the blockhead kids…

"Birds of a feather, I guess…" Zaos thought.

Despite that, Zaos began to relax and enjoy the trip as well. It has been a while since he had the chance to look at the nature around the capital. Everything looked so green and full of life that just breathing the clean air made him feel invigorated. But before he could relax too much, he fixed his posture and began to look around in search of possible threats. However, the most dangerous thing he found was some chirping birds.

Reaching the lake had been easy since it was a place where many people visited on their days off and because there was a clear road. After crossing a certain forest, Zaos saw in the distance the lake. It was much bigger than he had anticipated.

"I wonder if those morons know how to swim…" Zaos thought.

Zaos probably didn't know either, but he knew the logic behind it. The only problem was that he was fully armored, and he wouldn't be able to do anything if something happened. Finding a spot near the lake to park the carriages would be easy. Still, they didn't want to be in a place where every single visitor of the lake could see Ameria.

"Where are we going to stop?" Zaos asked. 

"Any place is fine," Drannor replied.

As expected, Zaos was the only one who was thinking through. He looked at Ameria, but she was looking at the lake full of expectation, and her eyes were shining… he couldn't count on her either.

"Oh, screw it…" Zaos thought and then decided to stop at the closest place.

Once the first carriage stopped, the others quickly followed behind. In the blink of an eye, almost all the really excited kids left the carriage and approached the lake…Zaos couldn't help but wonder if they didn't have bathtubs at their homes.

"Wow, the water is so clear…" Ameria said.

In just a few minutes, all the boys took out most of their clothes and then jumped into the water with their own swimsuits. Zaos didn't know if they were really that eager to swim or if they just wanted to make the girls show their own swimsuits, or if they just wanted to show their physiques.

"At least let your damn horses in an appropriate place to rest, dumbasses…" Zaos said and then sighed.

No one was there to hear Zaos's complaint. Still, he expected at least that much since he was the only one who could take things seriously and act like a reasonable adult that likes to nag a lot. Fortunately, the area didn't have any visitors nearby, so Zaos knew that Ameria would be safe, and he didn't have to worry.

"Come to think of it, if that voice said to protect Ameria, I guess this is the first time I am doing the job I was meant to do since the very beginning…" Zaos thought. 

Once Zaos dealt with the horses, he decided to sit at the top of one of the carriages to have a good view of the area. Maybe he was getting relaxed due to the fact that the place was pretty relaxing. The kids weren't getting carried away while they were playing, but he assumed that things were going pretty well for the time being.

A few hours passed in the blink of an eye, and then the area around the lake began to be filled with visitors. Due to the fact that he was the center of attention and he was always at the center of the group, the other people didn't have the chance to see Ameria. Still, Zaos made sure to keep an eye on everyone who approached the kids a little too much. That being said, that never happened since the visitors were mostly commoners, and the carriage showed that those kids were nobles. Even though their guards weren't nearby, trying to cause a problem with them wasn't the wisest thing to do.

"Mmm?" Zaos suddenly got up and then looked behind him when he felt a presence behind him.

Zaos frowned because he didn't find anyone behind him. While the presence apparently wasn't that close, he felt that the presence also disappeared when he moved slightly. Was that just his imagination? He could only see trees behind him, and there wasn't any sign of unseen presences in hundreds of meters.

"Did something happen, Zaos?" Drannor approached when he noticed that Zaos finally moved a little bit.

"No… it was nothing," Zaos replied.

Since Drannor noticed Zaos's reaction pretty fast, it seemed that he wasn't that relaxed either. While he wasn't showing, he was making sure to keep an eye on his surroundings. He was a blockhead, but he was a blockhead that survived some difficult battles and was trained for three years in the North.

"Let me know if you see something out of place, but try to be subtle," Drannor said. "We don't want to scare others since we are unarmed."

"You are unarmed, not me," Zaos said. "Regardless, I won't alert you because without a spear, you are close to useless."

That annoyed Drannor a little bit, but he deserved at least that much after the recent events. Regardless, Zaos soon began to look around again because he was one hundred percent sure something approached him from behind. It didn't seem like the magic presence of someone dangerous. Still, Zaos knew that whoever was the owner of the presence, it couldn't be underestimated.