88: Chapter 63: Straight to the West 88: Chapter 63: Straight to the West Before leaving, I took Olivia to Longka and Platon to entrust the handling of urgent affairs and to notify the village officials of both places.
Finally, the day of departure arrived.
Leon woke up early, and while washing up, he didn’t forget to remind Lena to help pack the items needed for the journey.
This time wasn’t a flight; he would be well prepared with all the necessary travel gear before setting out.
Towels, toothbrush, tooth powder…
not a single daily cleaning supply was missing.
After drying his face and throwing the towel into the water, Leon looked up from the basin only to see Little Lina gazing curiously at his head.
“What’s up?” Leon touched his hair.
“Is there something on my head?”
Lena shook her head, “No, Brother Leon, it’s just that the color of your hair is very special.”
Leon pulled a strand of bangs straight, looked down, and glanced sideways.
It was still the original owner’s brown hair, which looked quite ordinary.
“You can’t see it yourself.”
Lina lifted her own hair, pointing to the roots, “I only noticed recently, but the color of your hair is different here.”
“Really?” Leon asked her to bring the copper mirror, then pressed his bangs down on his head to reveal his forehead.
About two centimeters from the root of the brown hair, the color transitioned gradually to a deep black, looking as if it had been dyed, usually hidden by the hair on his head.
Leon let go of his hair and picked up a wooden comb to straighten it out, not particularly concerned.
Perhaps it was a physical peculiarity of the original owner or some genetic trait from the people of this world, who knows.
Now, there was no chance to take a taxi to the hospital for a doctor’s examination.
Leaving the upstairs bedroom, Lokhak and Azeryan in the two neighboring guest rooms were also up, their sounds indicating they were getting ready.
Leon went downstairs first, donning the chain armor, and leather-lined armor, and then covered it with arm armor and shin armor for protection.
He put on a hooded cloak to shield from wind and rain, looking at his oddly matched simple attire.
He felt like he had turned from a Knight Master to a Demon Hunter.
If it weren’t for the long sword on his back making it difficult to draw, he might have even wanted to cosplay as Geralt just to see.
Indeed, for the three of them at present, traveling long distances while always wearing full knight armor would clearly be unwise.
Even though the warhorses of the Urian nobility had exceptional strength to bear an armored knight over long distances, unfortunately, the physical endurance of the three youths was not yet enough to withstand the fatigue of being armored day and night.
With limited baggage weight, Leon would only bring the luxurious armor of Baron Kantadar and the black robe he so despised.
It was to be worn by Azeryan in case of emergencies within Kantadar’s domain, to bluff under Baron Dawson’s banner.
The other two sets of knight armor had to be left at the estate for Olivia to keep safe.
Leon slung his sword, went to the backyard, and had Hawk bring out the horses.
A total of four horses were brought along, three war mounts for each of them, and an extra pack horse to carry the baggage and fodder.
When Lokhak and Azeryan had also dressed in their “Demon Hunter” casual armor, the three mounted their horses and rode out of the village.
They got up very early.
But in fact, the tenant farmers of the village rose even earlier.
They arrived at the village entrance and gazed out over the fields.
Household after household, whether men, women, young or old, had gone down to the fields early, with people doing as much work as possible to make up for the shortage of labor.
Leon spotted Olivia, who seemed to notice them.
The girl who was working with rolled-up sleeves stood up straight in the wheat field and waved at him.
Leon also waved back at the girl, as a simple goodbye…
Crossing over the hill, the three of them rode along the dirt road leading to the town.
At the first fork in the road, they turned west, passing through woodland and hollows, and the view suddenly opened up.
Blue skies and white clouds, the undulating hills of grass, the sunshine sprinkled across the vast plain, with rows of birds sweeping across the horizon in a serene sight.
No enemy soldiers to evade, nor vicious beasts pursuing them.
On the winding road, sometimes trotting, sometimes walking at a leisurely pace, stopping and going, Leon even found himself yawning on the bouncing saddleback.
Even with endless topics to discuss with his companions, there inevitably came a time when all had been said, unable to find more to talk about, and the group fell silent, focusing on making their way.
With the blessing of steeds beneath them, they arrived at the stronghold of the Thorns Flower family in just half a day.
The town was named “Farolis” on the map.
It wasn’t clear whether it was the ancestors of the Thorny Flower family who had used their surname to name the town or named their family after this city.
The outskirts of Farolis had a newly built outer town district similar to a shogunate town, with a population close to ten thousand, both inside and outside the city.
Though it couldn’t compare to Rolannar Holy City, the hometown of the original owner, this size was still not small for that era; besides, the populations of village settlements in the Baron Domain were far greater than that of towns.
Passing through the cluster of low buildings and arriving at the robust wall about eight or nine meters high, the guards at the city gate stopped them and, as per the domain’s regulation, collected a toll.
Leon reluctantly took out the leather tube that held his documents and presented the parchment that represented their status as knights to the guards.
The guard captain unfolded the luxurious parchment, carefully checking the Lord’s seal, before looking unbelievably at the excessively young youths and promptly apologized as he saluted.