Chapter 112: The Outpost (Part 1)
Meanwhile, about a hundred kilometers away from Baihao City, snowflakes were dancing down from the sky. On the snow-covered mountain road, two figures wrapped in thick gray-black cloaks stood there, gazing silently at the seemingly broken War Chariot in the middle of the road.
“…Can you fix it?”
Apparently, one of the wheels of the War Chariot had sunk into a deep pit buried under the snow, possibly due to speeding, which had led to a broken axle, and one wheel was quite mangled. It was clear that without fixing it, they wouldn’t be going anywhere. So, the shorter girl spoke up with a sweet voice, her breath turning into mist that lingered in the cold air.
“I can…”
The other woman replied, only to realize she was a bit cold and couldn’t resist rubbing her hands together.
“If you can, then fix it—”
“But, there’s no wood. I can’t fix it.”
“……”
If you can’t fix it, just say so!
I was starting to get annoyed.
After rushing here for days, just as we were about to arrive, the War Chariot had broken down. In this wilderness, we hadn’t seen a soul for ages—where would we find wood? Should we chop down a tree and make our own repairs?
Forget it…
We’ll leave the chariot here and ride the Horned Horse over.
With that thought, I stopped fretting and instructed the Sword Demon to organize the not-so-heavy luggage from the chariot. I then ran to untie the Horned Horse’s reins and led it aside, placing the luggage on its back. I handed one end of the reins to the Sword Demon: “You ride.”
“And you?”
She blinked, looking confused.
“I’ll sit behind you!” I couldn’t help rolling my eyes. “What kind of dumb question is that…”
“…Oh.”
However, this giant creature didn’t seem very healthy. Perhaps the local bullies hadn’t taken good care of it before we found it, and after running for days, I had started to feel something was off a few days ago. It seemed sick, moving sluggishly, needing to stop and catch its breath every half hour. Its body was also quite thin; it wouldn’t eat hay properly and had the runs…
I didn’t understand and couldn’t find a vet to look at it. I thought if we could just get it to the city, Baihao City should have professionals who can help. But since the chariot was broken, we had to ride it. The Sword Demon climbed onto the beast, holding the reins, while I hugged her waist from behind. Without a saddle, getting to any speed resulted in a bumpy ride, making my backside sore. We hadn’t gone very far when suddenly, the Horned Horse stumbled, letting out a whinny before collapsing into the snow.
“Ah—”
Fortunately, both the Sword Demon and I were quick on our feet and jumped off the beast right away, avoiding a messy tumble ourselves. Once steady, we looked back at the poor Horned Horse, which was struggling in the snow, unable to get back on its feet. It was panting heavily, and before we knew it, its legs began to twitch stiffly.
“What do we do?” I felt a bit lost. “Can we save it…?”
Looking over at the Sword Demon, I saw her shaking her head helplessly: “I don’t know how…”
“We can’t just watch it d*e here, can we?”
“All we can do is pray and hope someone comes by.”
The Sword Demon said this while squatting in front of the struggling Horned Horse, gently patting its massive head—beyond that, she didn’t know what else to do.
But in a place like this…
When will anyone come by?
How careless of us. I didn’t expect it to be this sick…
After waiting for what felt like ages without any sign of anyone passing by, while the Horned Horse continued to gasp louder, I stepped up onto a snowy hill by the roadside, trying to see if I could spot any travelers in the distance… any sort of people would do… ideally, a cart.
Wait?
Suddenly, I thought I saw something far behind the snow-covered mountains, a high tower peeking out from the mountainside.
Is that…
An outpost?
It looked like someone was there…
Who could it be?
The army?
“Hey, Anna—”
I immediately called down to the Sword Demon, pointing towards the tower: “Over there! Looks like there’s a checkpoint!”
It certainly seemed like a checkpoint on this road. Below the tower, there appeared to be a mountain road with obstacles, crooked wooden spikes set up… It was hard to see from this distance.
Once the Sword Demon heard my words, she stood up and looked in the direction I was pointing. Clearly, from her angle, she couldn’t see it, blocked by the mountains, and she showed a puzzled expression.
“Ah, forget it…”
I hurriedly jumped down the hill and rushed over to her side: “Give me the mask. I’ll go take a look first; you stay here.”
I had tossed the mask into the luggage bag earlier. That thing didn’t breathe well and was uncomfortable to wear constantly.
The Sword Demon turned around, untying the bag from the Horned Horse, and pulled out a rough-looking iron mask that covered much of her face but wasn’t unattractive. She handed it over to me.
This mask was something I had made later in the Valen Empire, at a village near the border. Due to time constraints and the blacksmith’s skills being rather apprentice-level, they had managed to craft a simple design that covered the upper half of my face and nose, resembling a crescent moon that obscured my left cheek while leaving my right half and mouth exposed. My eyes were, of course, visible too.
The reason for ditching the fox mask for this one was twofold: First, to match my “character setting”: I was now a down-and-out young lady with a ruined face. Typically, those with facial disfigurements wear masks like this to cover scars while allowing them to eat. Such individuals rarely want to draw too much attention, so an iron mask was more suitable than an eye-catching fox mask.
Second, I simply found the fox mask childish; besides, I had already worn it in front of more than a couple of people in Silgaya, so it might be remembered. Masks need to be changed regularly.
The new mask was handed to me by the Sword Demon, but she seemed a bit uneasy, giving me a cautionary word: “Be careful; it might be the Church people.”
I shook my head at her warning.
“Doesn’t seem like it…”
After putting on the mask, my voice sounded slightly muffled due to my nose being covered: “The armor color looks different. I saw a few people wearing red… I don’t think any Church Knights wear red armor, do they?”
At least, I didn’t remember any…
But…
Red armor?
That rings a bell…
“I’ll be back right away.”
I thought about it but couldn’t place where I might have seen that armor, so I decided to check it out; I’d know more once I took a look.
I put the mask on, then pulled my hood up to cover my tightly tied hair. Once wrapped up in my cloak, I was, from a distance, almost indistinguishable as either male or female. With that, I leaped away from the Sword Demon and the Horned Horse, bounding through the snowy hills towards the outpost.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…
The cold wind, mixed with falling snow, whistled past my ears.
I, of course, didn’t feel cold.
The concept of “cold” had long vanished from my senses.
But the terrain near the outpost was high, and as I got closer, I worried I might be easily spotted. So, I didn’t dare run too fast, sneaking between the snow hills. Soon, I could see the obstacles near the outpost clearly.
A wall of sharpened wooden spikes…
It stretched from the base of the tower all the way to the road, sealing off the entire path. Many people were milling around on both sides of the spike wall; even if the War Chariot hadn’t broken down, it probably would have been stopped at this point.
Indeed, they were in red armor…
Who are they?
As I got about two hundred meters from the outpost, I halted.
This was just around a bend in the road at the foot of the snow mountain, and stepping out would surely get me spotted. No doubt about it. The guard was quite strict; although there was only one watchtower, at least eight soldiers were keeping watch, and there seemed to be even more people below. Further away, there even appeared to be tents.
…Not the Shanter Army.
Whose army could it be?
This situation didn’t look good…
