Chapter 505 Into the Verkoudhied Mountains

With his ride here to get him, Marcus got up and headed downstairs to his house’s front entrance.

Normally right now he would be doing a last-minute check on his storage and making sure he had everything he needed. But currently all he had on him was a single pair of clothing as requested, and his scythe that was hidden within his form.

“Lady Geist, I have brought you some tea and a muffin as you requested.” Stella said as she handed Marcus his quick breakfast.

“Thank you, Stella. I am glad that I get to have your cooking one last time before heading out.”

Taking the small breakfast that had been prepared for him. He quickly consumed the sweet and delicious muffin and washed it down with the soothing tea.

Then once he had finished, he heard the carriage stop at his front entrance, and a few moments later Clara opened the door to let Bianca in.

“Irene, I see that you are ready to go.” Bianca said, a bit surprised to see Marcus waiting right by the front entrance.

“Yes, well truthfully, I am quite exited to see your city. I do very much enjoy seeing different cultures and exploring different areas. Actually, that is one of the main reasons I agreed to take this position.” Marcus said, as he handed off his empty plate and cup to Stella and stood up ready to leave.

Smiling Bianca said, “Then let us not delay any longer. The carriage is ready to go, and we have quite the journey ahead of us.”

Exiting his estate with Bianca. Marcus for the first time got a very good look at the carriage that he would be riding in, and more importantly the beasts that were pulling it.

‘Those are some big goats!’.

Seeing the beasts of burden that were attached to the carriage, he was surprised that they were large goats that stood around ten feet tall and had pure white fur.

‘Level twenty-nine and level thirty-one, Echor Goats. These are not just your average beasts.’ Marcus thought as he did a quick appraisal before getting into the carriage.

Of course, he had not disregarded their coachman either who was also an ice elf and was likely Bianca’s attendant who was level twenty-one.

Once inside the carriage, he found that its interior was heavily insulated, and that the seats were quite comfortable.

Yet they were not alone in the carriage, as a woman that was covered head to toe in a thick enchanted cloth armor that had a veil hiding her face sat in one corner.

“Irene this is my protector Trisra. She will be accompanying us on the journey to make sure that nothing bad happens to us.” Bianca said, noticing Marcus’ gaze.

Nodding his head, Marcus said, “I see. Well then Trisra I will be in your care.”

However, even as Marcus acknowledge her, Trisra just sat their unmoving as if she was asleep.

‘I guess she is one of those stalwart silent types. Oh well not that it matters. At level forty-one certainly she is stronger than your normal guard, but even my iron golem is most likely stronger than her.’

Soon the carriage began moving as the two goats pulling it went into a quick trot.

As they made their way through the city, Marcus quickly noticed how well the shock absorption on the carriage was and began looking around.

‘Oh, a number of formations have been placed into his carriage. Wow, they even used celestial platinum in its construction. I wonder if this was made here in the kingdom or in the ice elf city?’

With nothing better to do he examined the carriage trying to understand what made it tick.

“Irene, we have just exited the city and are going to speed up quite a bit. I recommend that you take your seat as it may get a bit rougher.” Bianca said to Marcus, who currently was standing up and looking at the ceiling of the carriage.

Nodding his head, Marcus did as he had been asked and sat down, and not a moment too late, as the carriage began accelerating.

‘Woah those are some fast goats.’ He thought as they accelerated to a speed of around seventy miles an hour.

Certainly, Blitz could go faster, but he could not sustain this speed for an extended amount of time with a carriage attached to him.

“Those goats that are pulling the carriage are quite exceptional. I am not sure if I have ever seen any like them before. Would you mind telling me more about them?” Marcus asked Bianca his curiosity piqued.

“Ah, I guess that you would be interested in them Irene. These goats called echor goats are found only in the Verkoudhied Mountains near where my home is. They are quite docile magical beasts and have been living alongside us ice elves for quite some time. They are certainly not as fast as other beasts, but you find no better creature suited to traverse the mountains.” Bianca said a bit of pride in her voice.

After saying that, the two of them continued conversing about a number of topics. From the beasts and monsters in the area, to the ice elves’ customs. Passings the time as they made the long journey to the Verkoudhied Mountains.

…

“Lady Bianca, we have arrived at the foot of the mountains and the entrance to the path leading to the city. We only have around an hour left of sunlight, so would prefer we set up camp here or begin the trip up the mountain.” The coachman said through the window in the carriage.

“I believe that we should continue on. The foot of the mountain is not always the safest place as many beasts and monsters traverse this area. If I remember correctly, there is an area that has been cleared out around ten miles up the trail. We should stay there tonight.” Bianca said.

Nodding his head, the coachman whose names is Kellen closed the window and cracked his reigns beckoning the echor goats to continue.

‘Finally, we are in the last leg of our journey. I know that they said it was going to take us sixteen days to reach the city, but these last twelve just to reach the mountains has been pretty boring.’ Marcus thought as they began their assent.

He had gotten very used to simply flying around at high speeds, and traveling by carriage certainly took much longer.

Still there was a certain novelty in taking the journey slower, but after a few days it had become a bit monotonous.

In fact, they had only been attacked twice since they started this journey, once by a pack of weak monsters that the goats killed before they really did anything. And another by a small group of outlaws that Bianca’s protector Trisra dealt with in a flash.

This had left Marcus absolutely no excitement other than looking at the scenery outside or conversing with Bianca.

‘Well, it will all be worth it once I get to see the city.’

Soon they made it the last leg of their journey for the day and stooped at the cleared on the side of the mountain that was relatively flat.

It was a fairly beautiful area, with a stream flowing down the mountain and filling a small pool with cold water. Before heading further down to the base of the mountains.

Of course, the water was nearly ice cold, and even thought it was spring there was still some patches of snow on the ground.

‘Though the goats seem to be happier.’ Marcus thought, as he looked at the goats who had been suffering in the heat so far.

Even though the temperatures had only been in the mid fifties during the hottest parts of the day, the goats with their thick coats had seemed like they had been traversing a dessert.

Still, they were tough creatures and had soldiered on, plus they had a treat that they looked forward to every evening when they stopped.

Bleating loudly the two goats ran right up to Marcus who they had taken quite the liking to.

“I see you two are still a bit hot even thought we have now made it into the mountains. Here I will cool it down for you a bit.”

Activating his chill zone specter power, he rapidly dropped the temperature around him and the goats. With frost soon beginning to form.

Naturally the goats absolutely loved this. And while they had been indifferent towards Marcus at first, he was now their favorite person.

“Aeceran and Oribella certain have taken a liking to you Lady Geist. It is quite rare for an echor goat to show such friendliness to someone who is not an ice elf.” Kellan said as he began feeding the two goats.

After the two goats finished eating, Marcus helped Kellan brush them. Mostly just because he did not have anything else to do, and he liked touching their soft fur.

“Lady Irene, I hope that you do not find this rude, but you are not like most of those Borealian nobles. Most of them would never talk to me like an equal or even think of the notion to help out with the chores like brushing the goats as you do. They would have been complaining the entire time that they were not able to bring their servants, and that we were forcing a noble to experience inhuman conditions. I am really glad that Bianca chose you to be the kingdom’s representative.” Kellan said with a smile.

Shrugging his shoulders, Marcus said, “Well I was not born a noble but a commoner, so I really do not think about talking down to anyone based on their status. Anyway, what else would I do if I did not help out. I would be terribly bored to just sit around all day doing nothing.”

Once the two of them had finished grooming the goats and Marcus had made the area sufficiently chilly and built of with frost and snow. They went back over to where Bianca and Trisra were preparing dinner.

However, when Marcus arrived, they passed the duty onto him, since they had already gotten hooked on his cooking that was leagues better than anyone else in their small group.

“There it is ready. Since we have made it into the mountains, I have prepared a nice warm soup for all of us. Though it is not like any of us really get cold anyway.”

Quickly the four of them finished off the food Marcus had prepared and got ready for bed, leaving Trisra out for watch as always.

Yet unbeknownst to her, someone else was up and about as well.

Marcus having no need to sleep, had floated out of his tent and was thoroughly exploring the area while keeping an eye out for trouble.